Teaching for Conceptual Change: The Sweater Article

By teaching her children through experimentation of their own beliefs, Mrs. O'Brien did her students a service that isn't always an option for teachers and students. Her students learned a valuable lesson - that their ideas might be wrong - and how to actively problem solve in order to change their ideas. I really appreciate that the article pointed out Mrs. O'Brien's struggles to allow her students to test their theories and to hold her tongue when she wanted to introduce the "correct" answer to them. Even though she lost some valuable teaching time, she gave her students an opportunity to test theories, evaluate their theories and form new ones, and start all over again.

The article brings up several barriers to conceptual change - stubborness, language, perception and development. One of the things I learned from this is that these barriers are not going to be overcome by "teaching" students... you have to let the students teach themselves and each other. A stubborn child is less likely to give up their convictions if you try to feed them vocabulary and ideas that they aren't able to test on their own.

Teaching in this way is valuable for student learning, but unfortunately, it's probably not considered effective in terms of classroom time. The experiences the students did took time and even though the students eventually came to form a new, more correct idea about heat, Mrs. O'Brien allowed a lot of class time to come to those conclusions. This isn't always possible, so how, as teachers do we reconcile the need for student exploration and the time constraints of school curriculum expectations?

Keeley: Assessments

There's a lot of valuable information in the Keeley article. Assessment is one of the most important aspects of being a teacher - you have to know where your students are at, where they're going and how to get them there - in order to be a successful teacher. This is done through formative assessment - the focus of Keeley's article. One of the things that really stood out to me in this article was describing formative assessment as "assessment for learning, not assssessment of learning." I've not really considered it in this way before, but it makes sense because I'm using these assessments to guide my teaching.

Last week we read about student misconceptions and difficult it can be to change the framework in which they've previously stored knowledge. Keeley points out a very important aspect of formative assessment, that is that it not only identifies where students are grasping concepts and using critical thinking, but it also exploits their misconceptions and incomplete thoughts. Ignoring these discoveries in formative assessment results in stronger beliefs in those misconceptions down the road (I'm thinking the gifted student in the video with the curly-cue path of orbit).

The other key idea that Keeley talks about is using the "probes" (assessment types) to guide explorative learning for students and curriculum development for teachers. Specifically, what resonates with me is the idea that incorrect responses to probes can be catalysts for investigations, discussions and experiments.  By allowing students to further investigate their misconceptions, they'll be better able to understand why it's not wholey correct and will be more successful at correcting their misguided schema.  Similarly, for the teacher, allowing the students to explore their misconceptions can help create a new method for teaching the subject matter, and maybe preventing or correcting future students' misconceptions. 

Misconceptions

This was an interesting article. First, I think it a little problematic to do a study on misconceptions based on interview answers. Students may experience discomfort/anxiety in that sort of setting, which could significantly vary the results. I also think 184 students is a very small sample size for this type of investigation. They only spoke with 30-55 kids per age level. I do appreciate that students were asked follow up questions based on their initial response, but again this could cause discrepencies. For example, in the sample questions given on page 2 (66), the researcher follows up the students response, "This object will float because it is made of wood." with "Does wood always float?" The second question implies that the student's initial response was wrong and could cause higher anxiety in the student, or cause the student to guess or "fish for" the "correct" answer that the researching is looking for.
I think the issue being researched is an important one. As the author points out, it's apparent that the material is not being retained by students, and also clear that text books are not providing adequate coverage of content.
Despite the flaws I saw in the study, I agree with the researchers' conclusions. It is greatly beneficial for teachers to learn to recognize and prevent misconceptions. I've had some other teacher education classes that put an emphasis on common student errors and how to acknowledge and correct or prevent them. This part of a teacher education program is crucial in producing effective teachers.

Peters - Theoretical Foundations for Constructivist Teaching

As a feminist scholar I focused a lot about social interactions and social constructions within society, so I tend to put more stock in Vygotsky's Social Constructivism theory. Piaget makes solid arguments for child development, but I tend to agree more with Vygotsky's theory that learning happens through social construction and social interaction. I think I also relate better to Vygotsky's theory because the learning tools Peters mentions are the ones I use myself, such as signs (semantic mediation) and social collaboration. In the science classroom, Vygotsky's theory is particularly relevent in that students learn science through exploration and experimentation, usually in groups where they can discuss and make connections with the materials as a group. The teacher provides guidance and scaffolds to assist students, but the exploration is directed by student interaction and questioning. The use of science notebooks also makes sense in the context of Social Constructivist Learning. Students create "signs" for themselves and ask questions or make observations that inspire new learning or redirect focus of the lessons.

Krajcik pg54-71

I have always been a strong believer in the social constructivist model of teaching, and the Chinese proverb "Tell me, and I forget. Show me, and I remember. Involve me, and I understand." has long been a favorite of mine. This is how I best learned as a student, so it makes the most sense to me as a teacher. I also like the constructivist model of teaching because it addresses students' learning at all levels of Bloom's taxonomy. This alignment can be seen easily in comparing Dale's Cone of experience with Bloom's Taxonomy. As I was reading the article, I was able to clearly see which levels were being reached in Bloom's as the sample activities and lessons were described. For example, the base of Dale's cone - Direct Purposeful experiences - can be seen in the example about students investigating the question, "where does all our garbage go?" Rather than just learn about landfills and decomposition from books, videos or lectures, the students did a meaningful hands-on experiment which had multiple purposes and inspired continued learning (demonstrated by the new questions about worms and oxygen mentioned later in the article). Krajcik does a really great job of demonstrating how the constructivist model pushes students to Bloom's higher levels of learning.
The other thing I really like about how Krajcik presented this information is the "connecting to National Science Education Standards" boxes. For myself, as a teacher in training, I sometimes have a difficult time interpreting the education standards as they're given. Being able to connect the standard with a description of how to teach the concept and an example of a lesson that incorporates that teaching method and the standard is very helpful.
Overall, I really like this article. It's very helpful in understanding how the constructivist model of teaching works well in Science education. I have always thought of science as a hands-on, experiment-based subject, this article describes how science is taught from all levels, and more importantly, how to help students retain and synthesize the information.

Rising to Greatness

One of the main issues I take with this article is it is relying on standardized test data (NAEP, ACT, etc) to rank the effectiveness of Iowa's education system (comparitively with other states in the US and with other countries in the world). There are many factors which influence the outcomes of these scores - on an individual level, text anxiety, etc and on a global level, how scores are recorded. It's difficult to be able to campare and say that Iowa isn't doing as well we Iowa students' scores dependent upon the way the test is issued, how the scores are reported and human error. This is especially true of the camparisons the article makes to international schools. Iowa's children, who are exposed to the core curriculum, can't possibly be expected to do as well as children in other countries who are being exposed to many different important life skills as part of their school curriculum.
While I think the overal goal of the article is sound - to make Iowa an education powerhouse again - the evidence provided to support it is problematic. There has to be more factors considered than testing.

Diffendoofer Day!

1.What does it mean when someone knows how to think?

When someone knows how to think they are able to process information in a way that makes sense to them. The thinker is able to consider the context of the thought in terms of what they know, their past experiences and the potential for new experiences because of those thoughts. Thinking is a process of considering facts and ideas. It is a critical part of learning because it allows the thinker to compartmentalize ideas into their brains.

2.How does a teacher teach a student how to think?

A teacher can help a student to think by asking divergent, open ended questions which do not direct the students thought process, but encourages exploration of ideas and concepts.

3.Have you ever been in a class where you really had to think?

In grade school, I was in the TAG program, so everything we did in that class encouraged independent thinking. The idea was to let us explore ideas with the freedom to take tangents and form our own conclusions about ideas.

Line of Learning

“How do elementary students learn science? What classroom environments facilitate elementary students’ science learning? What should teachers know and be able to do to design and foster effective elementary science learning environments?”

19 JAN 2012

I am a firm believer in learning science through experiencing science. The best lessons allow students to see, hear, write, AND do. Students should be able to experience science through their senses - by smelling, feeling, seeing - rather than listening to lectures or reading textbooks. A lab-type classroom is most condusive to this type of learning, but hands-on learning can be done in a regular classroom as well. For example, a classroom I recently volunteered in had students learning about animal kingdoms. They learned about the kingdoms, then watched different types of animals in their natural habitats on a video, then found materials to actually make an example of an animal from each kingdom. The results were phenomenal, and the students will have an easier time remember the information because they'll be able to recall the activity of making an animal.
Teachers should create an environment where students feel comfortable manipulating hands-on activities, engaging in discussions and materials, and asking questions where relevent. Teachers also need to be sensitive to students' needs - for example if a student is uncomfortable with a lesson or activity, the teacher needs to have an alternative lesson/activity planned to accomodate those needs.

24 Jan 2012

The readings this week reinforced the idea of social learning in the science classroom and the use of hands-on, interactive experiences to increase retention. Additionally, I was made to consider the importance of recognizing possible misconceptions students might have before they occur, and the value of preventing misconceptions in a student's learning. This wasn't a foreign concept, but not one I had closely considered, and definitely not in the context of science education. My previous experience with thwarting student mistakes/misconceptions was in math education, where it seems a little more obvious.

31 Jan 2012

Students have misconceptions that are sometimes difficult to identify (generally because we, as teachers, blatantly disregard pre-assessment, or wrongly assume that students know something).  These misconceptions are also not easily overturned, even with one-on-one instruction, as was evidenced in the video we watched in class about the Harvard graduates and high school students. What this tells me, as a pre-service teacher, is that I need to be cognizant of misconceptions my students might have, and give them an opportunity to explore alternate responses.  By allowing them to explore the alternative, rather than just telling them through instruction, the students will gain a better understanding of why their idea of something is misguided, and will retain the correct information better than they would through simple replacement instruction.


6 Feb 2012

The Keeley probes for teaching science are an effective way to clear up preconceptions students have about science topics.  The format for asking a specific question, followed by an open-ended inquirey for the student to explain their reasoning presents the teacher with a better understanding of where the student's misconceptions come from and where the lesson needs to go.  Pairing the probes with technology by creating an online forum to collect student responses gives teachers an easy and effectivce way to assess student understanding and misconceptions/preconceptions. 

13 Feb 2012

As a teacher in the state of Iowa, I'm obviously going to be teaching in line with the Iowa Core standards.  One of the important things about teaching that I learned this week is how to identify which standards are covered by the materials and experiments I'm using.  By first identifying the essential concept being investigated, I can identify the standard and benchmark I'm striving for. I can use the National Science Education Standards to create lessons and experiments that are meaningful and effective for students.  My learning goals and learning performances are based around the standard I've identified.  

20 Feb 2012

The five essential features of inquiry provide the framework for which all classrooms should be based.  In order to be an effective science teacher, I will need to be sure these essential features of inquiry are a part of each lesson and experiment.  My role as the teacher in this type of classroom is to help form the students why questions into how questions, and guiding them to reliable resources to answer those questions. I will also need to engage the students through a variety of teaching methods.  Students would be using their senses and other instruments to obtain evidence to answer their how questions. They would be gathering evidence in their science notebooks. Students would look at their evidence and form conclusions based on their findings. They would interact with their peers and share explanations and reasoning.  The teacher can bring in outside experts or known data for the students to use to dispute or back up their findings.   The students would understand well enough to be able to relay the information to someone else or recall their findings in a thoughtful explanation.


26 Feb 2012

Although the five essential features of inquiry might be present in all classroom activities, they may not be utilized to their full potential, or in a way that is most effective for students.  Having a student-centered classroom with teacher guidance rather than teacher-led activities is important for maximizing student learning and comprehension.  So, the feature of students engaging in a scienfically oriented question ranges from having a classroom in which students pose the question, to students engaging in a question provided by the teacher. Each feature of inquiry can be judged on a continuum from student-centered to teacher-directed. In general, having a more student-centered environment is going to be more beneficial, but teacher-direction/guidance is also important, somtime more important than other times.  The key is to make sure each feature of inquiry is included in some capacity.

4 March 2012

Student assessment is an important part of ensuring student success.  Formative assessment should always be taking place. Students should be given credit for the things they've done, rather than just get graded on the final project they produce.  Assessment is not just a job for the teacher, but should be done by teachers, peers and the students themselves.  It should be consistent, valid and reliable, and students should be aware of what is expected of them. Giving the students a rubric which is linked to the learning performances of the lesson will help them to know what it is they're expected to learn from the activity/lesson. 

12 March 2012

Creating a valid and reliable scoring rubric based on the learning performances will help students better understand what is expected of them.  It's important to make sure these rubrics do not include fluffer points that aren't related to the inquiry. Creating the rubric around the learning performances helps eliminate those fluffer categories that don't contribute to student understanding/learning.  They may be valuable academic ideas, like penmenship, writing, grammer, etc, but they are not necessarily beneficial to the scientific inquiry the student is working toward.  By using the learning performances set in the lesson, you can ensure the students are actually accomplishing the goals they set out for.

5 Good Reasons to Use Science Notebooks

My initial reaction to this article was "what the heck are science notebooks?" Is this some sort of special notebook, or just a notebook used for further exploration by students. I think the article could have done a better job of describing exactly what the teachers at Miller were using with students.
However, the article did point out several advantages that I think support the use of these notebooks. For one, having a place where students can express concerns and questions to which teachers can alter or suppliment their curriculum is a huge advantage. Those students who are less vocal in the classroom setting are still heard and get their questions answered in this way. I have always had the intention of giving my students a venue for asking questions or expressing concerns privately, but having a subject specific outlet, like Science notebooks, is a great idea too.
The other key idea that I liked from the article is how the notebooks provide the teacher a way to do formative assessments on the students' conceptual understanding, vocabulary and language and writing skills. It is certainly a great way to assess how students are thinking about the material, and provides an anxiety free way for students to express their thoughts/ideas.
Finally, I have to commend the Miller teachers for the way in which they approached the use of Science notebooks. Anytime something is being implemented, its important to evaluate how it will be best used by all. And, by meeting frequently to discuss what's working and what could be improved makes the use of the notebooks more valid and beneficial for the students and the school.