Wednesday, February 22, 2012

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?  

Monday, February 13, 2012

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

Wednesday, February 8, 2012

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?