Teacher Resources - Chapter 7 - Agenda Strategies
SECTION 1: HOW ADOLESCENTS LEARN
This chapter organizes ideas about learning into two key topics, theories of learning and learning styles. You will also find that Chapter 8, Models of Science Teaching, is correlated with the theories that are presented here. Although Chapter 7 is more theory-oriented, and Chapter 8 is more practical, together they form an important link between theory and practice.
Initial Case to Consider: A New Approach to Learning
A second year teacher implements a constructivist approach to teaching in her high school biology class. A parent complains to the teacher's principal claiming that her son is wasting his time in this class. You can use this to start the chapter in class. An alternative way is to set this case study up on your bulletin board, and request that each student make at least one post to the case prior to coming to the next class. At the next class session, divide your students into five groups, and assign each group one of the questions that appears in the text related to this case. Questions include: How would you deal with this situation? What would you say to the parent? Is the teacher on sound footing regarding her theory of teaching. Give each group 5 - 10 minutes to discuss the question, and arrive at consensus, and be prepared to make a 2 minute report to the full class.
Figure 1. Team learning is an integral aspect of implementing a constructivist approach to teaching in the science classroom.
Inquiry Activities
There are four inquiry activities in this chapter. These can be used in a variety of ways to engage your students in the content of the chapter. You could do all of the inquiry activities with your class, or you could assign each inquiry to a different group in the class. Devote one class session enabling each team to work together to accomplish the tasks associated with the inquiry. Each team then will be responsible for "teaching" about their inquiry. Inform them that they will have no more than 15 minutes to convey the essential ideas to the class. Then integrate these inquiry reports into your plans for this chapter.
Inquiry Activity 7.1: How Do Students Learn Science?
In this inquiry student will assume the role of researcher and interview one or more teachers or peers seeking the circumstances in which they think students learn science best. Students will need to design a series of interview questions that appear in the text and then conduct the interviews.
With pre-service teachers: If possible arrange for your students to interview some practicing science teachers. Arrangements could be made for them to visit a middle school or high school, or if you are teaching a graduate science education class of practicing science teachers, make arrangements for your in-service teachers to interview them. If neither of these arrangements works, have them interview each other, or other pre-service students at your college.
With in-service & advanced graduate students: If your class is populated with practicing teachers, they can be "interview subjects" for each other in this activity, or they can interview one or more teachers at the school where they teach.
Depending upon how you want the results to be used, suggest to the students that use audio and video in their interviews (but make sure that they obtain permission for this, and how the results will be used). The audio and video results can be used as part of a presentation on "how students learn science."
This is an important process (interviewing), and you might want to carry this forward into your student's practicum and teaching experiences.
Inquiry Activity 7.2: Concepts versus Big Ideas: A Deweyan Experience
In this activity students will select a cluster of concepts that they might teach in one area of science (perhaps from the NSES or the Benchmarks, or the State Standards where you teach). The notion in this inquiry to help students identify and articulate "big ideas" that subsume the concepts that they select.
Inquiry Activity 7.3: Meeting of the Minds
In this roleplaying inquiry, students assume the roles of theorists, and generate a discussion of teaching and learning from the various frameworks represented by the theorists. This would be a good activity to video tape, and then play back for analysis and discussion.
Inquiry Activity 7.4: Ideas About Student Learning Styles
This activity is best done in small groups whereby students collaborate to generate concepts maps reflecting what they know about (1) Factors affecting student learning styles and (2) What are ways to accommodate students with different learning styles? If you split your class into teams, some teach can be charged with concept map 1, and others with concept map 2. Have them draw their maps on very large sheets of chart paper, and have them use these to share their completed map. Use this activity as an introduction to the section on Student Learning Styles.
Students and Science Learning
You might present the chart below. Instead of including the items below the headings, brainstorm with the students on the first two categories (learn about and learn how to). Have the students generate at least three ideas in each category.
They can learn about |
They can learn how to |
Processes they undergo |
Knowledge products of scientific inquiry Nature of the scientific enterprise |
Act upon or apply information Learn strategies to seek new knowledge |
Internalize values Assess self interest in science |
Theories of How Students Learn
This brief section is an introduction to the sections that follow on specific ideas of five theorists: John Dewey, Jerome Bruner, Jean Piaget, Ernst von Glasersfeld, and Lev Vygotsky.
A couple of points. Firstly, there are some science educators who would suggest delaying the introduction of theory by letting it evolve out of practice. This might be considered the "practice-to-theory" path. Alternatively, you might be more drawn to the "theory-to-practice" pathway. In either case, practice and theory are linked, and we might consider them going together like peanut and jelly! For us, you can't have one without the other. Thus, we recommend thinking of Chapter 7 (more theory oriented) and Chapter 8 (more practice oriented) as a bonded pair.
You might also point out to your students that the section in the Science Teacher Gazette entitled "Research Matters" is a wonderful example of linkages between practice and theory. These are consumer oriented research reports written by members of the National Association for Research in Science Teaching. They show the value of research to the practicing science teacher. You will find several of these reports on the Companion Website.
Organization of Theories of Learning
Table 7.2 in the text (Comparison of Theories and Perspectives of Learning) should help you organize the next three sections on learning theories. Five theorists' ideas are outlined in the Table, and then each is discussed in the sections that follow in the text. The complete chart is a useful teaching and learning tool for the chapter. You can use it as a graphical advanced organizer helping your students mentally organize the theories that will be introduced here, and tied to the very practical models of teaching in the next chapter.
Constructivist Theories of Learning
"Constructivism asserts that knowledge resides in individuals; that knowledge cannot be transferred intact from the head of teacher to the heads of students. The student tries to make sense of what is taught by trying to fit it with his/her experience." This quote is from the Research Matters piece in the Gazette of this chapter by Lorsbach and Tobin. According to these researchers, constructivism is an epistemology (branch of philosophy that studies knowledge), a theory of knowledge used to explain how we know what we know.
You might use the Figure below to do a deomonstration with your students (The coin toss and throw). In the figure, a coin is tossed into the air and comes down on a surface. After you do the demo, make a drawing similar to the one shown in the Figure 5.1 and then ask "What are the forces on the coin at point B, when it is moving upward through the air."
Figure 2. Coin Toss Problem
The results should demonstrate that many students (including yours) hold alternative (naive, misconceptions, incorrect) ideas, as will many, if not most of their students.
Sociocultural Theories of Learning
Three prespecitives are presented under this rubric, including sociocultural, feminist and Deweyan. In a sense this is amplication and extension of the previous section on constructivism. However, in this case, a greater emphasis is on learning in a social context. I strongly recommend that you read J. L. Lemke, "Articulating Communities: Sociocultural Perspectives on Science Education," Journal of Research in Science Teaching 38, no. 3 (2001): 296-316.
The sociocultural perspective implies that the construction of learning takes place in groups and by implication that collaborative (cooperative) learning strategies needs to implemented in science classrooms. You will find many applications of cooperative learning in The Art of Teaching Science. See Chapter 8 for details on implementing cooperative learning.
The feminist perspective aligns with sociocultural theory. Two concepts are important here. The first is the notion of situated cognition, and the second is the idea of a community of practice.
The Deweyan theory of experience is based on John Dewey's philosophy of education. Two ideas are presented here, the conception of learning, and experience and ideas-based teaching. Dewey believed that learning is embedded in experience, and thus you might want to look carefully at his "ideas-based teaching" conception. This is another way of looking at situated cognition, in that teaching consists of providing worthwhile experiences that lead to transformation.
Have your students particiapte in Inquiry Activity 7.2 (Concepts versus Big Ideas: A Deweyan Experience).
Student Learning Styles: Implications for Teaching
There three important concepts in this section and they are: (1) The psychology of learning styles and the learning styles model; (2) Brain-Based Learning and the 4 MAT System; and (3) Metacognitive Strategies
Present the Learning Styles model developed by Rita and Ken Dunn. Ask your students under what conditions they like to study and learn? Do they like it quiet? Do they study alone? You might want to visit the The Learning Syles Network. Another interesting site is the Institute for Learning Styles Research and in particular their overview of the 7 perceptual styles.
Figure 3. Learning Styles Model developed by Rita Dunn.
Bernice McCarthy is the developer of the 4MAT system, which is shown here.
Figure 4. Types of learners in the 4MAT system. See page 202 for further details and reference.
We recommend you visit the 4MAT site About Learning. At the site you will find resources that you can use with your students to help them implement 4MAT.
The last part of this section on learning styles focuses on meta-cognitive strategies including:
- Mind mapping
- Illustrating and drawing
- Brainstorming
- Planning strategies
- Generating questions
- Evaluationg
- Teaching capability
- Communication skills
- Journal keeping
These strategies are tools that students can use to help them understand about their own thinking, and they in turn can apply this to their own classrooms by implementing one or more of these strategies as part of their course syllabus.
SECTION 2: SCIENCE TEACHER GAZETTE
Research Matters: Constructivism as a Referent for Science Teaching by Anthony Lorsbach and Ken Tobin.
Case to Consider: Theory of Science Teaching (on the Companion Website)
In this case a beginning teacher (with a provisional teaching certificate) is puzzled that another beginning teacher could possibly be trying to implement a theory of teaching, when surviving the first two weeks was the order of business. This is a great case to discuss because it will bring to the surface a variety of concerns that beginning teachers have for issues such as classroom management, discipline and paperwork.
Case to Consider: The Student Who Thought He Failed (On the Companion Webiste
In this case the discussion focuses on the use of pre-assessements (as part of a cognitive theory of teaching), and the impact they have on students' views of themselves as science learners.
Science Teachers Talk (on the Companion Website)
In this Science Teachers Talk column, How do you accommodate students' varying learning styles in your classroom?
Problems and Extensions
There are 6 P & E's in this chapter, anyone of which would provide the seed for a great classroom activity and discussion. For example, P & E no. 5 asks students to design a model of learning based on their work in the chapter and from their prior experiences. This is a good advance organizer for the next chapter in which the theories they have looked at here lead to models of teaching and leanring.
Readings
Here you will find a collection of readings on theory in science teaching. You might want to look at the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Vol. 38 no.3. There are several papers in this issue that focus on theory and science teaching.
On the Web
You will find Five links for this chapter. I've added additional ones focusing on learning styles and the 4 MAT system.