Chapter 8
"What are some of the best ways that you have found to get adolescents thinking in your science classes?"
Angela Gula
The best way to get adolescents thinking in science class is to model the thinking process for them and have them work to make connections between the concepts taught in the class. Having them working in small groups is also another great way to get them thinking within their comfort zone. A small group setting provides a "safe" environment for students to voice their thoughts and discuss them with peers.
Anna Morton
I find technology, especially the Internet, to be an exceptional educational tool. I use Internet to establish a classroom climate of research. My students often engage in projects that require them to research a particular topic, such as endangered species or genetics. Students have access to vast libraries from prominent research institutions. Some of these sites are interactive and allow students to test what they have learned. Some of my students find dissecting a horrible experience; therefore, using the Internet dampens that horror and students experience dissection through visual imaging. The Virtual Frog Dissection has proven to be a rewarding experience for my students. The Internet also increases the desire to learn or motivation with my students. Because the multimedia nature of the Internet engages my students, which results in their becoming more interested in the topic, this leads to students asking more questions and engaging in intense class discussions.
Technology is not limited to the use of the Internet. My students often construct brochures and power point presentations to demonstrate their understanding of the content. They also write letters using word processing to express themselves to their families and friends about what they are learning. The use of laboratory equipment, (microscopes and oscilloscopes), affords students the opportunity to begin to develop some of the behaviors of scientists. Students begin to think as scientists, in their pursuit of knowledge and understanding through the use of technology.
Barry Plant (Australia)
I use what we call ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) extensively in the science classroom. A student in my class will research ideas and information using electronic based resources such as the Internet, plan experiments using simulation programs, record experimental results using data loggers, analyze data using a spreadsheet program or a graphical calculator, and report using word processing or electronic presentations.
I have found the use of simulation programs as an excellent way of allowing students to explore ideas and experiment without some of the dangers or ethical concerns associated with more typical laboratory activities. Students can test out an electronic circuit using a computer based simulation program before connecting one using real materials.
Ready access to the Internet through a cluster of computers attached to the rear of my classroom has provided my students with extra dimensions to the learning process. We can visit locations, explore information collections, research social concerns, communicate with others, the list goes on.
Henley Sawicki
I have found that as I use things that students are familiar with, they think more critically about science. For example, I have students make MySpace webpages to associate different organelles with each other. They create text messages for transcription and translation. Essentially, I try to use any method of reaching the kids in their world and bringing science into it.
Scott Schomer
The best way I have found to get students thinking is to engage them in discussions or activities in which the "answer" to the situation is delayed to a later time, or there are multiple solutions or where the information is immediately applicable to their lives. Sometimes I delay giving the answer and just give students clues and get them to use what we've learned or what they may already know to try and get them to take the initiative toward solving problems. Another way to get them thinking is to have demonstrations in which the unexpected occurs or demonstrations involving concepts the students have very little prior contact with.
Michael O'Brien
Relate science content to students' lives. By making the connection to the world outside the classroom students begin to think of science as relevant to the world they live in. If science becomes relevant to the students they will bring their world into the science classroom and begin to make the connections themselves.
Rachel Zgonc
I find discussion to be most effective with my students. Discussion can take many different forms and I use it very differently in my middle school classes versus my high school classes. In the middle school, I find that the discussion needs to be much more structured. I act as the leader of the discussion and the students discuss, comment, or ask questions about concepts and ideas I put out there for them. In the high school, the discussion essentially starts off in this same manner, but it becomes less of a focus once the discussion gets under way. In the middle school it is usually (although it depends on the individual class) imperative that the students raise their hands. In the high school, I find the discussion method to be effective is the students can speak freely and I am simply there to monitor and direct the discussion.
Is the discovery or inquiry model of teaching important in your approach to teaching? Why?
Ben Boza (Botswana)
I find the inquiry model of teaching important indeed in my teachings and as an effective method of participatory learning whereby the learners perceive themselves as being responsible for the knowledge they unearth. When utilizing this model, it gives the students the opportunity to discover things by themselves. By unraveling the mystery shrouding a certain new concept to them by themselves, it generates the ‘Eureka' experience, which actually makes a big impact on the student. As such, it makes the learner identify with the new knowledge gained and can easily grasp the logic behind it and how it is applicable.
Michael O'Brien
The inquiry model of learning is very important to my approach. I feel that students that explore and find for themselves the ideas and concepts about science are more engaged learners. Specifically it puts the learning where it belongs which is with the student not the teacher. With inquiry based learning the students are not only engaged in the present but are learning about how to learn for the future.
Ginny Almeder
Since science is both a body of knowledge and a process, I value the inquiry learning approach. Knowledge of facts is necessary to develop scientific literacy but having opportunities to apply the knowledge in new contexts in order to develop problem-solving skills is essential. For the teacher, there is a delicate balance between presentation of factual information and the discovery process. However, with careful planning, both approaches can be successfully integrated. For example, after reading introductory material from the text or lab manual, students can be asked to describe the problem of a planned lab activity, devise hypotheses, and make predictions. During the post-lab session, students can discuss alternative hypotheses and experimental design as well as various interpretations of the data and suggestions for further experiments. Projects provide another vehicle for developing problem-solving skills. Individual students can present their proposals or projects and benefit from a class discussion of variables and controls.
John Ricciardi
The essence of sciencing is discovery; the primary discovery of knowing oneself in relation to one's surrounding. For me, the inquiry-learning model is the most important if our focus is first to know oneself---through the process of knowing the envelope of nature around us. As a teacher of astronomy and quantum physics, I must help focus my students' attention to aspects of physical reality that normally are not perceived by our primary senses. The size and distance extremes of an electron and a galaxy super cluster are awesome. We can only know these objects by "blindly touching them in the dark" with our instruments. One prime task in these sciences is to visualize, extrapolate, imagine, and wonder about these things we can't naturally see. This kind of thinking is a real, vital part of science; it unfolds and reveals nature by discovering our own "inner tools" and identity...our own potentiality.
Gerry Pelletier
This learning model is the essence of my science teaching approach. In order for a student to truly understand scientific ideas and concepts they must experience them for themselves and question what they observe, hear and manipulate. Every one of my students is required to participate in a science fair exhibit at school. I feel that this is the most important project in their middle school science education. They are required to use all of the skills that have been developed in our science program. They must develop their own topic, form their own hypothesis, develop an experiment that tests their hypothesis, collect and analyze data and draw a logical conclusion. This to me is learning. Students questioning, inquiring, observing, solving a