Later in this book you will discover that secondary students come to science class with existing ideas about the science content that you will teach. Novices of a field of study, such as students in your future science classes, possess initial conceptions of the field, say Earth science or physics. Many of these ideas or initial conceptions are actually alternative frameworks or ways of thinking developed by students. Nevertheless, these alternative conceptions represent a good place to begin instruction. Thus, this activity is designed to help you think about, and explore your existing ideas or your frameworks about science teaching. It's not a pre-test, but rather an opportunity to discuss your initial ideas about science teaching from a holistic and problem oreinted vantage point.
Materials
Procedures
1. Read each of the situations given for the conceptual themes listed in the Figure 1.3
2. Write the themes on individual index cards. Shuffle the cards, and place them face down on a table around which four to six students are sitting.
3. Select one person to start. The person selects a card from the top of the deck of index cards to identify the unifying theme. Read the problem situation associated with the theme aloud to your group. Use the questions listed in the third column to guide your exploration of the theme. To explore the theme, you can:
a. Give your initial point of view and share it with the group. You can ask other group members if they agree or disagree.
b.. Ask each group member to write a brief statement, and then read them aloud to the group.
c. If the problem situation merits it, role play the situation with other member of your group. The person drawing the card, and selecting this method asks for volunteers and directs the role playing scene. The enactment should take no more than two or three minutes.
Minds-On Strategies
1. How do your initial ideas compare with other students in your class?
2. What is a framework? How do frameworks develop? How can they change?
3. In what ways do you think your initial ideas or frameworks about science teaching reflect the most recent research and practice of science teaching?
Figure 1.2: Exploring Your Initial Conceptions of Science Teaching
Unifying Theme of
Science Teaching Problem
Situation Assessing Your
Initial Conception Nature of
Science Carl Sagan says that
"science is a way of thinking, much more than it is a body
of knowledge." What is your view of
science? Do your agree or disagree with Sagan? What are the
implications of Sagan's definition for science
teaching? Learning You overhear a
science teacher explaining to her eigth grade earth science
class that intelligence is incremental, not fixed. She
believes that this will encourage students to try harder,
especially when learning new, and difficult ideas and
concepts. What is your view of
intelligence? Do you think teaching students about human
intelligence might help them learn science? Goals According to a
report on science teaching written by a prestigous group,
the main goal of science teaching is to produce a
scientifically literate society. Do you agree with
this? Are there other goals that are worthy, and should be
an integral part of science teaching. Curriculum The title of a
keynote address at a major conference on science teaching
is, "The Science Curriculum: A Nonchanging
Phenomenon!" What is the science
curriculum, anyway? Is it nonchanging, or has the curriculum
changed over the years? Science, Technology,
Society A science teacher
announces at a departmental meeting that she is going to
include the following topics in her survey biology
class---ethics and animal rights, birth control methods,
abortion, and aids counseling. One teacher objects saying,
"these are too controversial, we'll have half the parents in
here." What do you think?
Should topics like these be part of the science curriculum?
Why? Models A first year teacher
uses a nontraditional teaching model during the first week
of school. It is a small group activity with hands-on
materials. Students used meter sticks, and were asked to
measure various heights and lengths with the sticks.
Students were confused. How could they measure something
bigger than the meter stick? Another pair of students was
carving symbols and words in the meter stick, and another
group couldn't decide whether the smallest marks were
centimeters or millimeters. Are nontraditional
models of teaching prone to problems and the unexpected?
Should they be avoided by first year teachers until they get
their feet wet? Strategies The most common
strategy used in high school science teaching is lecture and
discussion. Many science teachers claim that this is an
inadequate strategy for most students, and suggest other
strategies. What do you think?
Isn't lecture an efficient way to teach science? Are there
other strategies that might reach more students? What are
they? Planning At a conference
between a student science teacher and her college
supervisor, the student expresses anger that the students
didn't enjoy the lesson that she had spent three hours
planning. She just can believe they were rude during a
lesson she planned so hard for. How important is
planning for lessons? Does this student teacher have
expectations that are too high? How would you react in such
a situation? Assessing A teacher announces
that he is going to let students work in small teams on
three quizzes each term. The students will turn in one
paper, and each will recieve the group's grade. Do you think this is
a good idea? Why? Would you employ such an assessment plan
in your class. Management &
Facilitation A fellow student
returns from observing high school science classes with two
maps drawn of the clasrooms visited (Figure 1.2).
What can you infer
about the each teachers' view classroom management? How does
their view of facilitating learning compare? Science for
All A number of schools
around the country with large numbers of at-risk students
have adopted an approach called "integrative learning." This
holistic approach appears to be successful with students who
are disinterested in school, and normally end up dropping
out. How would you teach
the at-risk student, the student who has had a continous
record of failure in school, and clearly is prone to drop
out of school? Can all students learn science?