|
SECTION 1: MODELS OF SCIENCE TEACHING This chapter is correlated with Chapter 5, in which several theories of learning were presented. This chapter presents models of teaching based on those theories of learning. The models presented here are the scaffolding that will be helpful to your students as they begin to plan lessons and create an environment in the classroom that fosters active student involvement. Underlying all of the models presented is the notion that students should be involved.You can start anywhere in the chapter. Each model has its own protocols, and can be implemented using the material in the chapter. This and the following chapter are very practical, and have been designed to help your students implement specific approaches to teaching. Initial Case Study: Descent from Innocence In this chapter, the focus is on practical applications by presenting a number of models of teaching. As science educators, we typically have emphasized an inquiry approach to teaching. But for the beginning teacher, this can be a nightmare. In this case, a teacher, with very good intensions, tries to implemnet a laboratory activity about the metric system. Are the teacher's expectations too high? How would your students suggest the lesson be modified to make it more successful? Models of Teaching There are many ways to teach. You and I know that. In this chapter several models of teaching are presented, and with these, we are only scratching the surface of the possible models that have been developed. I recommend that your look at Bruce Joyce's and Marsha Weil's Models of Teaching, which presents a vast array of teaching models. As you can see, I've organized the models along three lines of theory: constructivist, sociocultural, and behavioral.
Inquiry Activity 6.1: Teaching to Learn: Reflective Teaching This inquiry has been one of the most important types of activities that we have used with our students. In fact, I typically would make assignments for reflective teaching lessons on the first day of class, and ask the students to be ready to "teach" a reflective teaching lesson the next class session. Here is how reflective teaching works. In this inquiry each of your students will teach a short lesson to a small group (four to six) of peers. If you have enough students in your class (let's say 18), then form three groups of six. Within each group, each student will teach a 15 minute lesson, and conduct a 5 minute reflective session with that group. You will need six different lessons (I've provided 4 (See Table 6.2, p. 214 and pp.248-250 in the text). Make the assigments for the teaching lessons on the same day and tell students to be prepared to teach on the next class session. Thus, you will carrying out six rounds of teaching within each small group. I usually spilt this over the next two class sessions. You can do three rounds in about an hour or so. Use the procedures outlines in the inquiry on page 214 to explain to the class the procedures to be followed. In short your students will:
At the end of each round of teaching, bring the groups together to have a large group reflective session. Use the questions in the Minds-On Strategies to guide this session. The Reflective Teaching Lessons: You will find 4 lessons in the Science Teacher Gazette section of this chapter (pp. 248-250). Use the model I have shown to develop additional lessons (if needed).
Figure 2: Reflective teaching lessons. These lessons can be viewed on pp. 248-250, and they can be used by your students in Inquiry Activity 6.1: Reflective Teaching. Constructivist Models of Teaching There are many different models of teaching that can be called constructivist. In our work with the prospective teachers in the program at Georgia State University, the Global Thinking Project, and in seminars for the Bureau of Education and Research, a four-stage model of learning was used as our constructivist template. The four stages were based on the Learning Cycle Model and included the following stages (pp.215-216):
I've found that the best way to help others understand the constructivist model is to have them "construct" a lesson sequence based on the model. There are several tools to help you with this task: learning cycle lessons, and Inquiry 6.2: Constructivism in the Bag. Learning Cycle Lessons I've included two learning cycle lessons (Learning Cycle Lesson 6.1 and 6.2) that you have your students read and discuss, or that you could carry out with them and use it for a discussion.
Links to Lessons Inquiry 6.2: Constructivism in the Bag: Designing Constructivist Activities
Figure 3. Constructivism in the Bag: Here is a collection materials (shells, calipher, metriic ruler) that are placed in a plaswtic ziplock bag and given to a group of teachers who use them to design a constructivist lesson. Using a bag of science materials, your students will design a constructivist lesson sequence based on the learning cycle model. I've done this activity with thousands of teachers in seminars and propspective teachers as part of their course work. Preparation. You will need to create enough baggies of science matierials so each group (of two to four students) can select one from your collection. Try and have more on hand than you have groups. I have typically developed Earth science bags, Life science bags, and Physical science bags. Below is a chart showing what you might gather to create 3 bags in each of these areas of science.
Figure 4: Materials needed to create 9 "constructivism in the bag" bags. Place the materials listed for each bag, eg. fossils into a plastic ziplock bag. When you do the activity, let the student groups choose ONE bag to be used to generate a constructivist sequence. Conducting the activity. Once the students have chosen a bag of science materials they should use the lesson planning template to create a poster report outlining their constructivist sequence. Create a poster and show it to your students so that they have an idea of what they are to expect. The poster might look like this: Invitation--finding out
about student's prior knowledge Exploration: describe one
key activity or inquiry Explanation: how will
students hear alternative views and talk aloud
about their ideas Taking Action: describe
how students will take action or apply new
concepts Evaluation: How will
student leanring be assessed? Authors: Names of the
constructivist designers Figure 5. Poster showing how to have students organize the elements of a constructivist sequence in Inquiry Activity 6.2. Students should briefly describe each phase of the sequence, and include diagrams to illustrate some of their ideas. When students have completed their poster (give them about 30 minutes to do this activity), have each team select a team member to present the poster to another group. You can have these presentations done simulteaneously in your classroom. Follow up the presentations with a discussion of constructivist lesson sequence. Assignment: At this point you might have each student select a content area/concept, and design on their own a lesson sequence. Have them bring their completed sequences into class, and pair students off to share their lessons (they should make a copy to share with their partner, and one for you to review) with each other. |
Generative Learning Model The generative learning model is another form of a constructivist model (see Table 6.5). Use Table 6.5 (p. 223) to show how the generative model compares to the constructivist model (Table 6.3). Collaborative Learning Models: Sociocultural Theory into Practice (Cooperative Learning) Cooperative learning is the content of this section, and I've organized the concepts this way: Cooperative Structures. A cooperative structure is way of organizing the social activity of a group of learners, and as such each structure will result in a slightly different way that students cooperate to learn. You will find 13 structures described on pp. 224-226, and 9 structures described on pp. 236-237. Structures I, pp.
224-226. These structures can be used to organize a
lesson that is oriented toward cooperative
learning. Anyone of the structures can be used, and
in fact, two or more structures can be combined to
generate creative lesson plans. Structures II, pp.
236-237. Used in the Direct/Interctive model as a
way of accelerating interactivity among your
students. Typically these structures follow a
presentation (mini-lecture) by the teacher, and are
used in a "wait-time" to help students process
science concepts and ideas presented by the
teacher. Collaborative Models of Teaching. Two distinct approaches are used to organize the cooperative learning models I've chosen here.
Direct/Interactive Teaching Model I've presented this an active model of learning, and one that many students will find powerful. It also can be used as an overarching structure for lesson plans. In this regard, the elements of constructivism and cooperative learning can be integrated into the model. The model shown below lays out the sequence for the direct/interactive teaching model. An important aspect of the direct/interactive model is structuring content. I've outlined several ways that you might want to present to your students. You might assign one of these to each student and ask them to design a lesson which uses the structuring technique to organize the content they are going to teach.
Figure 6. Direct/Interactive Teaching Model. From Structure to Interactivity. Once students have decided upon how to structure the content, the "cooperative learning structures" described in this section (pp. 235-237) can be used to involve the students in learning teams in one or more interactive modes, e.g. pair and compare; pair, compare, and ask; periodic free-recall, with pair-and-compare. These simple cooperative learning structures infuse direct instruction lessons with a high degree of interactivity.
Inquiry Models of Teaching What is inquiry? Ask students (in small groups) to identify what is inquiry, and what examples they can give. Have them discuss the reading on inquiry on pp. 237-240 Inquiry and the Standards. You might use the material on p. 238 to outline the notion of inquiry as set forth by the National Science Education Standards. Are these reasonable goals for K-12 students? Problems with Inquiry. You might read a paragraph or two of the material raising questions about inquiry, and in particular what the researchers quoted here think we should aim for to make inquiry a realistic goal for our students. Models of Inquiry Inquiry session. This is a model of the "inquiry session" developed years ago by Richard Suchman. It is described in detail on p. 240. One of the keys to an inquiry session is the selection of a discrepant event (or demonstration or EEEP) by the teacher. Note that in this model, the students are engaged by asking questions or proposing theories to explain the phenomenon in the discrepant event.
Figure 7. Sequence of an Inquiry Session (see pp. 239-241) Inquiry Activities. I've included a few inquiry-based actiivities that you could assign to small groups of students, who must present them ot the class, and analyze how inquiry is achieved in the activity. See pp. 240-241 for these inquiry activities:
Inductive inquiry vs Deductive Inquiry Inquiry Activity 6.3: Inductive versus Deductive Inquiry In this activity your students look at a chapter in a secondary science textbook, and analyze it from both inductive and deductive inquiry points-of-view. You might split the class in half, and have one side design the chapter inductively, and the other half design the chapter deductively. After reporting to each other, discuss the questions in the Minds On Strategies on p. 242. Discovery Learning I've included a section on discovery learning according to the work of Jerome Bruner, and have included examples of how to implement a discovery approach to learning. You might use the Dinosaur footprint activity (see Figure below, and page 243) with your students.
Figure 8 . Dinosaur Footprint Puzzle Activity (see p. 243). In this activity students use their observation and inference abilities to interpret "fossil" footprints. These are actually footprints made by dinosaurs perhaps during the Cretaceous Period in central Connecticut.
Figure 8. Dinosaurs during the Mesozoic Era Other Models of Teaching I've included four additional models that you might want to introduce to your students. These models come from other disciplines, and provide a broad spectrum to enhance teacher's modes of teaching. The models (see pp. 244 - 246) include:
SECTION 2: SCIENCE TEACHER GAZETTE Think Pieces You will find four Think Pieces (p. 246) that focus on models of teaching. Any one of these would be an excellent assignment for individual students to work out, and present to a group of peers. Case Study: Hugging A Tree In this powerful case, (p. 246-247) a controversy arises between the supervising professor and a student teacher over the nature of a lesson the supervisor observed, the expectations assumed by the college professor. Reflective Teaching Lessons I've included four science lessons (pp.248-249) that you can use if you choose to do Inquiry Activity 6.1: Reflective Teaching.
Reseach Matters: Constructivism as a Referent for Science Teaching by Anthony Lorsbach and Kenneth Tobin (pp.250-253) This is a must read for your students. It describes the nature of constructivism, and how teachers might want to reflect on their teaching to incorporate a constructivist model into their classrooms. Science Teacher Talk: Is the disovery or inquiry model of teaching important in your approach to teaching? Why? Ben Boza (Botswana), Micheal O'Brien, Ginny Almeder, John Ricciardi, and Jerry Pelletier discuss their views on this question. This is an important question, and you might have your students answer the question prior to reading and discussing the question as a group. Problems and Extensions There are seven problems that involve students in using different modes of learning and presentation to demonstrate knowledge and understanding about models of science teaching. Anyone of these could be used as a basis for a project on this chapter. Readings You will find a collection of readings related to the chapter theme of models of teaching. In addition to the reading in the Research Matters section in the Science Teacher Gazette, these provide a firm basis for understanding the implementation of models of science teaching. On the Web You will find five links to sites that will expand your students knowledge of science teaching models.
|
|
Figure
1: Models of Teaching as They Relate to Theories of
Learning
