Here We Go!

Finally, weeks upon weeks have been leading up to this moment. The time has finally arrived, the stage is set and its showtime. Time to survey the students. It has been a long time coming and I am going to break down the weeks prior to this day.

Of course I came up with a topic- Scientific Inquiry Instruction in the Classroom and its benefits. This idea worked perfectly here at MLC since scientific inquiry is a major criterion for their IB curriculum and the students take inquiry quizzes that help to mimic the strands seen on the CAPT test. Then a wrench was thrown (come to think of it, they do this on Survivor) and I had to think of my research through the lens of social capital. At first that was hard to do, but what's the fun if everything is so easy, right? I tell my students that ESPECIALLY when I do inquiry labs and well, I have to take my own advice. So I came up with some working definitions of the three components of social capital as you have read in a previous post and made a survey.

Now making the survey was hard. Forget the whole part of me trying to figure out formatting (I have had this Mac since the summer), but I really wanted my questions to ask what I wanted them to ask. I never thought I had to be so calculated during this step of this thesis process but I definitely needed lots of instruction and guidance. I got great feedback on all parts of this survey, from its presentation, survey items, and how to introduce this so I get what I needed. Well I was ready to hand out this survey but time seemed to pause here at MLC. I kept moving but I was the only one that was not stuck in the mud....it was CAPT testing time (cue gloomy music). I couldn't make a move, I couldn't hand out surveys, I couldn't even use the microwave because it might make to much noise. I understand that the students were stressed during this three week testing period, but SO WAS I! Finally CAPT was over and I was able to hand out my surveys, but I decided to go to the US Virgin Islands, well because I planned to almost a year ago, when I had no idea this was the fate of my future. Of course I had fun in the sun, saw dolphins by Buck Island, and drank fresh coconut water all day but all I could think was, maybe I should email the teachers and have them hand out the surveys, but I wanted to be there so I had to wait. I come back, my planes were super delayed and I lost my voice. I have to hand out the surveys.

Well today I handed out some surveys and will finish the rest tomorrow. The students and teachers were great and I was smiling so hard because the time is finally here. The weight of this survey has been lifted, but only for a few because now I have to input the data to Excel. But that is neither here nor there. Today after I gave my survey speech for the 3rd time I told the students "Thanks for your precipitation (I take Meteorology 101) oops I meant Participation, and I am starting on my next step which should be smooth sailing, but if its anything like those little hopper planes I took on vacation, it will be a bumpy ride.

Next Steps:
Organize and analyze data

Knee-deep in a pile of Research

As I get further and further into my study of scientific inquiry, its applications, benefits, and its true meaning, I realize that my thoughts and the people in education thoughts had to have come from somewhere. So this is where I am now in my thesis process:  literature review. Google Scholar and UConn Libraries are my best friends. What is so great about the Internet sources is the fact that you can click on who cited this article and then click on who cited that article and so on. And in about a few short hours of reading abstracts I have compiled a list of about twenty sources. I have collected articles that look at cognitive development and analytical thinking, processing skills involved for inquiry, student opinions regarding inquiry based labs, guided inquiry and many others.Will I use them all? Probably not and I will probably need to find more. 


My goal in the next few hours (days) is to extract information from these sources that can highlight and help prove my hypothesis. I have been looking at scientific argumentation and using found evidence to support my claims as recommendations for science literacy through inquiry-based classroom instruction. Might as well take my own advice and use evidence (found from educational researchers) to support my claims (Inquiry based instruction is beneficial). 


 I have recently purchased more ink to print out these articles since I cannot stand to read pages among pages on my computer screen and will slowly dig away at my mound of articles. Throughout this year I have become pretty good at annotating literature whether its putting stars, highlighting,or underlining and I will be looking for strong data that will help to explain my results from my survey(more to come about that in the future). I actually taught a lesson to my seniors about how to read a scientific journal and extract pertinent information from heavy duty writing. I am searching for that lesson plan now....


 So I have my favorite reality TV shows on DVR for later, got out my comfy clothes, have an array of highlighters handy and I am ready to work. The Hunger Games series and other recreational reading will have to wait. 

Eeek! Where Am I Going With This?

So I thought I had my inquiry project all mapped out from the initiation to the survey and then the implementation. I am now a tad off kilter. Where did I go wrong? Due to my pride I refuse to say I did anything wrong but I may be a little bit overwhelmed. This feeling was not there until I saw on Facebook that we had exactly 2 months or 60 days until graduation which meant this project has to be done WAY before that. I took a step back, met with some people, sent a few harassing e-mails to people I think can help me, cleaned out my gmail (which is surprisingly very calming), ate way too many carbs, and did a week of Pilates for Dummies. It all sort of helped as I came to the conclusion that this is a cycle where I have to refine, define, revise, add, subtract all parts of this project, especially in the planning part and realize that once that is all set, I simply have to collect my data and those numbers will help me do the rest. 


But when will the planning be done? I can only hope soon, but I need it to be perfect and if it can't be perfect I need these blueprints to be up to my standards= perfect.


I am at the stage where I have created a survey for my participants, ie science students at my high school placement, and working on it to create questions that really get to what I need to ask. I do not want to trick these students, I do not want to ask unnecessary questions, but I do want to ask questions that will help me to extract pertinent information. Looking at this project through the social capital lens (possible project title but for now I will call it PROJECT INQ) has indeed focused this study and I am getting more comfortable with its parameters. I have defined the pieces of social capital as follows:


Trust- Trustworthiness ins the science classroom between students and teachers. The teacher delivers the information but also needs to be able to instill confidence in students in the subject area and creates an environment that leads to success.


Networks- This is how students receive their information and can be greatly influenced by a variety of factors. These networks can be strong or weak however they are means to guide information in the social structure of the science classroom.


Norms- These are the behaviors and cultural manners that are seen throughout the classroom and shared among all grade levels that participate in science.


My next steps are to revise, refine, distribute my survey and input my data. I am not an Excel Wiz but by the end of this I just might be :) 

A Formal Informal Survey

I will be looking closely at the relationship between scientific inquiry performed in the classroom and the weekly testing scores of the high school students that are currently taking science here at my high school placement. Maybe there is a significant relationship and maybe there isnt but in any case inquiry based lessons should be performed in the classroom. 

With the advice from the department head, I took an informal survey of the teachers and asked " About how much Inquiry is done in your classroom per week?" I let the teachers use their own definitions of inquiry and I gathered the following data.

Physical Science- grade 9- one to two times a week and it depends on the unit

Biology- grade 10, general and honors- at this given time he has done inquiry 2-3 times this week and it is more in the honors course

Chemistry- grade 11- about three times a week and more can be done in his honors course as well. He did state that in his honors class its more genuine and less guided than in his other course.

Interesting. It seems to me that this science department puts in a lot of effort creating lesson plans that can include scientific inquiry whether or not its more guided or less frequent per topic, all science teachers are doing it because I think they know the benfits that can come from it. I will be looking closely at the inquiry tests and seeing if there are true benefits.

 I hope so. Because I love inquiry and having students grapple with the unknown. Its more rewarding when you put together something without the instructions right?  

Inquiry Based vs Traditional Learning

This post was written because I found a PowerPoint that looks at scientific inquiry in the classroom. The author examines the roles of teachers and students, student participation and involvement, curriculum goals and the differences between Inquiry- based learning and Traditional learning methods. In an traditional science classroom according to the author, the teacher's role is to be a director and the student's role is to be a direction follower. In a contrasting Inquiry based classroom, the teacher is more like a guide and the student is the problem solver. There is a passive sense of student participation, decreased responsibility of student involvement and the curriculum goals are more product oriented in a traditional learning classroom. Conversely, in an inquiry-based class, there is more active student participation, an increase in responsibility of student involvement, and the curriculum goals are more precess oriented. YES, this is definitely putting traditional teaching methods in a negative light. YES this is highlights the positives of inquiry-based teaching methods. Do NOT feel obligated to teach only one way because I think there might need to be a good balance of both in the classroom. BUT there is a reason why inquiry is being so closely studied, because there ARE benefits for student construction of knowledge which is why we teach. It is not for us that we do what we do,  but its for the student's sake. 

My FAVORITE slide from this presentation:

                                                  Common Misconceptions About Inquiry

•  Inquiry equals Hands-on - Hands-On does not necessarily mean inquiry and vice versa
• Inquiry teaches science process, not content - Inquiry uses science processes to teach content
• Inquiry is the sole approach for teaching science - Inquiry is one approach in a balanced science program
• Inquiry is unstructured or chaotic - Inquiry can be noisy but it is productive noise. Inquiry must be carefully planned or it is unproductive.

Look at the photo above. It graphically organizes inquiry based science education and I think it effectively demonstrates what should happen in the science classroom. Notice it does NOT related science education to the scientific method. (More on that later) Inquiry is only ONE approach and used with conjuntion with other teaching methods I think it will really benefit students in constructing knowledge from the ground up. 

" Students will own their knowledge when involved in discovery."




Blog Reference: http://www.asdk12.org/depts/science/ESCARGotWeb/documents/InquirySciencePpt.pdf

Scientific Inquiry

According to the Connecticut State Frameworks, Scientific Inquiry is a thoughtful and coordinated attempt to search out, describe, explain, and predict natural phenomena. It involves processes that include questioning, data collection, analysis, interpretation, and sharing of findings for critical review. Scientific Literacy is defined as the ability to read, write, discuss, and present ideas in science and it also includes the ability to search for and assess the relevance and credibility of scientific information. 


 Goal #1 is to closely examine how science educators teach a content-rich curriculum in a way that is innovative, exciting, and engaging for students. Many students will agree with the statement that "Science is hard and boring." What are we as teachers doing that fails to promote, encourage, and stimulate these students? Students will now become disinterested in the subject  which evidently aids as a major factor in lackluster numbers of students in the STEM fields.


Goal #2 is to do research in a technique that approaches science learning through questions, claims, and evidence. This approach looks to science argumentation as a critical component of student content understanding and helps to mold students into inquirers that use solid evidence to support their claims. 


Goal #3 is to provide an intervention at my current highschool student teaching placement using a model called the Science Writing Heuristic or SWH which is a plan to promote laboratory understanding --> which will have students question and use evidence to support their claims --> which will be engaging and stimulating to students --> which will aid in scientific literacy and inquiry --> which will instill confidence in science students --> which can lead to students making decisons to go into the STEM fields.


Do you see where I am going with all of this?