Please enable JavaScript.

Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.

Teaching Primary Science Constructively: Chapter 1 - Teaching Primary…

- - - - are interested in and understand the world around them
      - engage in the discourses of and about science
      - are able to identify questions, investigate and draw evidence-based conclsions
      - are sceptical and questioning of claims made by others about scientific matters
      - make informed decisions about the environment and their own health and well being
- - - - Concept development
        
        learning of concepts need to be in contexts that are relevant to the learner.
    - - becoming and being a member of a 'learning [here, scientific] community'.
      - "An individual's [student's] understanding of the [scientific community's] concepts, theories and ideas is [therefore] a dynamic process resulting from acting in situations and negotiating with other members of that ["school classroom science"] community"
      - emphasise that science learning:
        
        moves from social to personal plane
        
        is mediated by the sociocultural context; that is, the signs and symbols that comprise our environment, especially language.
        
        requires that learners be introduced to the social language and context of science, usually a role for teachers to play
        
        is a dynamic and transformative process
    - - Learning Constructively means that
        
        Learners must construct their own knowledge on the basis of what they already know and the sociocultural context in which they find themselves
        
        learning is an active process in which learners try to make sense of their experiences to construct understandings of the world.
        
        learners develop knowledge and ideas in science that make sense to them by linking new information to their existing conceptual frameworks.
        
        new information is incorporated into learners' existing mental structures in ways that are meaningful to them (it is not written on a clean slate)
      - To teach based on these assumptions means:
        
        selecting activities that build upon and respect learners' prior experiences and that are perceived by students to be purposeful and interesting.
        
        building teaching programs that develop concepts rather than the learning of facts.
        
        the concepts selected should be embedded in issues that are meaningful to students.
        
        fostering the development of science language and communication skills.
        
        providing opportunities for students to 'learn how' rather than just 'learn that'.
    - - Constructivism is an epistemology, a theory of knowledge used to explain how we know what we know. We believe that a constructivist epistemology is useful to teachers if used as a referent; that is, as a way to make sense of what they see, think, and do. Our research indicates that teachers' beliefs about how people learn (their personal epistemology), whether verbalized or not, often help them make sense of, and guide, their practice.
  - - - Why?
        
        Need to recognise that all science concepts are presented through representations, even the language on a page.
        
        For students to develop... new understandings of phenomena they need to learn how to use the particular languages of science (linking appropriate vocabulary and commentary with visual and mathematical modes) to make these new understandings clear to themselves and to others.
        
        "students are more motivated and learn more when they have opportunities to refine understandings through revising representations." (Using representations for teaching and learning in science
        Jim Carolan and Prain, Vaughan, Waldrip, Bruce)
      - 'Representational negotiation'
        
        Definition:is how students negotiate their meaning of a phenomenon (e.g., evaporation) across contexts and time through various forms of representation.
      - Types of representation
        
        teacher-constructed and/or provided (e.g., textbook material)
        
        Science domain specific
        
        3D Models
        
        tables
        
        graphs
        
        diagrams
        
        science journals
        
        multimodal reports
        
        appropriate vocabulary
        
        measurement
        
        Students' own representations of concepts, processes and topics
        
        Generic representations used in community and classroom
        
        everyday language
        
        cooperative small group work
        
        whole-class guided discussion
        
        posters
        
        word walls
        
        power-point presentations
        
        charts
        
        verbal reports
        
        role-plays
        
        debates
        
        narratives
        
        This group enables students to link everyday meaning-making with meanings in science.
        
        "Students need to appreciate that all models (ad analogies) have limitations and must think critically about them. One way to do this is to refer to classroom models as 'good enough' models for present purposes, as this means their adequacy must be assessed."
      - Theoretical perspective
        
        relationship between observing, representing, and meaning-making.
        
        representational competence is about knowing how to interpret and construct links between an object, its representation, and its meaning. A representation becomes a sign when it signifies something (a key idea or explanation) about the object (or referent) to someone (the learner)
      - Cognitive Science Perspective
        
        students need to be supported to
        
        map perceptual links between science activities and their 2D and 3D representations
        
        connect representations with meaningful everyday experiences and interests
      - Need to look into Pierce's Triadic Model
- - - - Inquiry based learning
      - Discovery learning
      - The epistemology that is dominant in most educational settings today is similar to objectivism. That is to say, most teachers view knowledge as existing outside the bodies of cognizing beings, as being separate from knowing and knowers. Knowledge is "out there," residing in books, independent of a thinking being. Science is then conceptualized as a search for truths, a means of discovering theories, laws and principles associated with reality. Objectivity is a major component of the search for truths which underlie reality; learners are encouraged to view objects, events and phenomena with an objective mind, which is assumed to be separate from cognitive processes such as imagination, intuitions, feelings, values, and beliefs (Johnson, 1987). As a result, teachers implement a curriculum to ensure that students cover relevant science content and have opportunities to learn truths which usually are documented in bulging textbooks.
  - - - References
        
        Trialogue (Roberts, 1996)
        
        IF-SO Framework (Carolan, Prain, Vaughan, Waldrip,Bruce 2008)
      - Crucial for students to have opportunities to create their own representations of the domain to motivate them, develop representational competence, and learn science.
        
        The teacher and class then need to assesses the convergence or compatibility of these representations with authorised ones
    - - to learn, a person's existing conceptions of the world must be unreliable, inviable. When one's conceptions of the world are inviable one tries to make sense out of the situation based on what is already known (i.e., prior knowledge is used to make sense of data perceived by the senses)
    - - A cooperative learning strategy allows individuals to test the fit of their experiential world with a community of others. Others help to constrain our thinking. The interactions with others cause perturbations, and, by resolving the perturbations individuals make adaptations to fit their new experiential world.
    - - personally by the individual
      - between individuals in the classroom
      - between the classroom community and the broader scientific community
    - - Macro Level
        
        students engage in inquiry-oriented or investigative learning as a community of (science) learners
        
        Constructivist Teaching models / schemata
        
        Can be used to guide lesson or phase sequencing at the macro level
        
        Main components of lesson sequences
- - - - 'hands-on'
        
        (Active Engagement)?
      - 'hearts-on'
        
        (Interest based)?
      - 'heads-on'
        
        (Inquiry based or mental engagement)?
- - - - typically refers to ideas students hold before they encounter school science
  - - - argues that students alternative conceptions are related to their mental or cognitive structure(s) and/or frameworks(s). Students have coherent but not necessarily scientific ways of looking at the world that could account for many of their alternative conceptions. These 'ways of looking at the world', it is hypothesised, are underpinned by the manner in which various ideas are linked in each learners mind (called their cognitive structure(s), framework(s) and so on).
    - - argues that students' knowledge is more like 'knowledge in pieces' in their minds, possibly layered and more contextually based.
  - - - simply add new ideas encountered in science lessons to their existing ideas; that is, still retain their existing ideas. #
      - modify their existing ideas, but not necessarily in line with a more scientific interpretation of phenomena or events. #
      - this means formal science learning can lead to a range of unintended conceptual learning outcomes
      - reject new ideas #
  - - - Definition: descriptive continuums of how students develop and demonstrate more sophisticated understanding over time.
      - References
        
        Science Inquiry Learning Profile for PreK-4
        
        Focus on Science Inquiry sub strand of ACS
      - Learning progressions go hand-in-hand with well-designed assessments.
        
        Types of assessments that suite learning progression development
        
        shorter ongoing assessment "probes"
        
        tasks/assessment that uncover student thinkg
        
        Formative
        
        Teacher observations (ongoing and Systematic)
        
        Evidence in student work (What's there/what's missing)