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High Quality Science Instruction: Findings from Research

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Findings from Research Consider the Lesson Vignettes Individually, read the two Sinking and Floating lesson vignettes and respond to the following questions on the ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: High Quality Science Instruction: Findings from Research


1
High Quality Science InstructionFindings from
Research
2
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3
Consider the Lesson Vignettes
  • Individually, read the two Sinking and Floating
    lesson vignettes and respond to the following
    questions on the reflection sheet
  • Which lesson is better? Why?
  • Which lesson is more likely to lead to student
    learning? Why?

4
Consider the Lesson Vignettes
  • Discuss the responses as a table group.
  • Which lesson is better? Why?
  • Which lesson is more likely to lead to student
    learning? Why?

5
Effective Science Instruction What does research
tell us?
  • There has been, and continues to be, much debate
    over what constitutes effective science
    instruction.
  • Reform
  • Students working in small groups
  • Hands-on activities
  • Focusing on topics selected by the students
  • Traditional
  • Delivering information through lectures or
    reading
  • Students working on practice problems and
    worksheets
  • Students doing confirmatory lab activities

6
Highly Rated Lessons by Use of Lecture/Discussion
and Hands-on/Laboratory Activities
7
Effective Instruction
  • Current learning theory focuses on students
    conceptual change, and does not imply that one
    pedagogy is necessarily better than another.

8
Effective Instruction
  • The following elements of effective instruction
    are derived largely from the learning theory
    described in the National Research Councils
    volumes How People Learn (2003) and How Students
    Learn Science in the Classroom (2005).

9
Motivation
  • However well-designed the instruction, students
    are unlikely to learn if they do not have a
    desire to do so.
  • Instruction needs to hook students by
    addressing something they have wondered about, or
    can be induced to wonder about, possibly, but not
    necessarily, in a real-world context.

10
Eliciting Students Prior Knowledge
  • Research has shown convincingly that students do
    not come to school as empty vessels rather, they
    come with ideas they have gleaned from books, TV,
    movies, and real-life experiences.
  • These ideas may either facilitate or impede their
    learning of important ideas in science.
  • There is considerable evidence that instruction
    is most effective when it elicits students
    initial ideas, provides them with opportunities
    to confront those ideas, helps them formulate new
    ideas based on the evidence, and encourages them
    to reflect upon how their ideas have evolved.

11
Intellectual Engagement
  • Research on learning suggests that the hallmark
    of effective lessons is that they include
    meaningful experiences that engage students
    intellectually with important science content.
  • Lessons need to engage students in doing the
    intellectual work, and make sure that the
    intellectual work is focused on the learning
    goal.
  • When observing classroom instruction, its
    helpful to ask yourself, If I were a student in
    this class, what would I be thinking about?

12
Use of Evidence to Make and Critique Claims
  • Being scientifically literate requires
    understanding both scientific ideas and the
    nature of the scientific enterprise. Students
    should be encouraged to view science as a process
    by which knowledge is constructed, not as a
    collection of facts.
  • An integral part of the scientific process is the
    collection and interpretation of data, which is
    then used to critique claims and see if they are
    supported by the evidence.
  • Students are less likely to revert to their prior
    incorrect ideas if they are familiar with the
    evidence that confronts those ideas and supports
    the scientific consensus.

13
Sense-Making
  • Effective science instruction requires
    opportunities for students to make sense of the
    ideas with which they have been engaged
  • Making connections between what they did in a
    lesson and what they were intended to learn.
  • Connecting the new ideas to knowledge that
    students already have, placing the lessons
    learning goals in a larger scientific framework
    and helping students organize their knowledge.

14
What Does Effective Instruction Look Like in the
Classroom?
  • There are multiple ways each critical element can
    be incorporated into instruction.
  • Not all five need to occur in every lesson, but
    rather they may play out over a series of
    lessons.

15
Motivation
  • Extrinsic motivators
  • deadlines for research projects, classroom
    competitions, and tests and quizzes affecting
    students grades
  • Intrinsic motivators
  • usually stem from intellectual curiosity and a
    desire to learn.

16
Eliciting Students Prior Knowledge
  • KWL charts What students know about a certain
    concept (K), what they want to know (W), and
    finally what they have learned (L) by the end of
    a lesson or unit
  • Demonstration of initial ideas using drawings,
    concept maps, or cartoons.
  • Teacher questions
  • Encouraging students to raise questions of their
    own allows teachers to access their existing ideas

17
Intellectual Engagement
  • Students have opportunities to engage with
    appropriate phenomena while investigating
    meaningful questions.
  • Can be through a hands-on experience
  • Can be through an interactive lecture (Socratic
    discussion)

18
Use of Evidence to Make and Critique Claims
  • Students should use evidence to support and
    critique conclusions (both their own and other
    peoples).
  • Evidence can come from a hands-on activity,
    examples from their own life, or data they are
    given and asked to analyze.

19
Use of Evidence to Make and Critique Claims
  • Drawing appropriate conclusions from data also
    requires students to have confidence that the
    data are valid.
  • Consequently, discrepancies or conflicting data
    need to be resolved.

20
Use of Evidence to Make and Critique Claims
  • In some cases, teachers can explain an idea and
    describe how scientists came to that conclusion.

21
Sense-making
  • Sense-making can occur in a number of ways, for
    example
  • Whole class discussion with appropriate teacher
    questioning
  • Written student reflection using well-designed,
    guiding prompts, e.g., considering how, and why,
    their thinking has changed or
  • Application of ideas to other contexts.

22
Task Considering the Elements of Effective
Science Instruction
  • Please read each lesson vignette and consider how
    the lesson does/does not exhibit the elements of
    effective instruction. Document your thoughts on
    your individual reflection sheets.
  • After, discuss your thoughts with others at your
    table.

23
Reflection
  • Look at your initial responses to the first
    activity with the Sink and Float lesson
    vignettes
  • What changes, if any, would you make to your
    responses? Why?
  • How would you improve any elements that you
    thought were unlikely to be effective?

24
What Have We Learned about the Elements of
Effective Science Instruction?
  • Motivation
  • Eliciting students prior knowledge
  • Intellectual engagement
  • Use of Evidence to Make and Critique Claims
  • Sense-making

25
References
  • Moje, E. B., Collazo, T., Carrillo, R., Marx,
    R. W. (2001). Maestro, what is quality?
    Language, literacy, and discourse in
    project-based science. Journal of Research in
    Science Teaching, 38, 469-498.
  • National Research Council. (2003). How people
    learn Brain, mind, experience, and school. J. D.
    Bransford, A. L. Brown, R. R. Cocking (Eds.).
    Washington, DC National Academy Press.
  • National Research Council. (2005). How students
    learn Science in the classroom. M. S. Donovan
    J. D. Bransford, (Eds.) Washington, DC National
    Academy Press.

26
References
  • Nuthall, G. (1999). The way students learn
    Acquiring knowledge from an integrated science
    and social studies unit. The Elementary School
    Journal, 99(4), 303-341.
  • Nuthall, G. (2001). Understanding how classroom
    experience shapes students minds. Unterrichts
    Wissenschaft, 29(3), 224-267.
  • Weiss, I.R., Pasley, J. D., Smith, P. S.,
    Banilower, E. R., Heck, D. J. (2003). Looking
    inside the classroom A study of K-12 mathematics
    and science education in the United States.
    Chapel Hill, NC Horizon Research, Inc.
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