Science PCK WorkshopMarch 24, 2013

Dr. Martina NieswandtUMass Amherst

mnieswan@educ.umass.edu

Today’s Schedule9:00 am – 10 am: Concept map: Learning and teaching

in Science and Technology

10 am - 10:45 am: Supporting key pedagogical practices (Part 2): Inquiry-based teaching and

learning – lesson plans

10:45 am - 11 am: Break

11 am – Noon: Supporting key pedagogical practices (Part 2): 5-E learning cycle model

Noon – 12:30 pm: Lunch

12:30 pm – 1:45 pm: Principles of assessment and designing performance task assessment (joint with

Math group)

1:45 pm – 2 pm: Wrap Up: Key “takeaways”, topics for next time, homework, evaluation

Concept map

Your task:In groups of four create a concept map explaining: How do students learn and how can teachers support their learning in science and technology?

Use the terms listed in the word bank below to create the concept map; you don’t have to use all the words:

Word Bank

Everyday conceptionsMisconceptionsConstructivismConceptual changeLearningPrior knowledgeScientific InquiryEveryday experiencesScientific concepts

Meaningful understanding5-E Learning CycleObservationsInferencesHypothesisExperimentingAssessment

What is a Concept Map?

Essential Features of anInquiry-based Classroom

Learners engage in scientifically-oriented questions

Learners give priority to evidence in responding to questions

Learners formulate explanations from evidence

Learners connect explanations to scientific knowledge

Learners communicate and justify explanations

(NRC, 1996, p. 29)

(Probe #12, Vol. 3, pp. 93-100)

Related Ideas about Doing Science Grades 5 to 8

Understanding about Inquiry:Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of investigations

Observing and describing objects, organisms, or events

Designing and conducting experiments

Seeking information

Making models

No fixed set of steps but scientific investigations usually involve:

Collection of relevant evidence

Use of logical reasoning

Application of imagination in devising hypotheses and explanations to make sense of collected evidence

Related Ideas about Doing Science Grades 5 to 8

History and Nature of ScienceScientist formulate and test their explanations of nature using

Observations,

experiments, and

theoretical and mathematical models

Inquiry-Based Lesson Plans

Pair up with a colleague in your subject area and/or with a technology education colleague.

Your task: Remodel the given lesson plan in a way that it reflects an inquiry-based lesson.

Use the “Continuum of Scientific Inquiry” as a guideline for changing the lesson plan (p. 5 English, p. 7 Arabic)

Or

Use the “Essential Features of Classroom Inquiry and their variations as a guideline for changing the lesson plan (p. 6 English, pp. 8-9 Arabic)

5 E Learning Cycle

Engage

Explore

Explain

Elaborate

Evaluate

5 E Learning CycleEngagement - students’ prior knowledge accessed and

interest engaged in the phenomenon

Exploration - students participate in an activity that facilitates conceptual change

Explanation - students generate an explanation of the phenomenon

Elaboration - students' understanding of the phenomenon challenged and deepened through new

experiences

Evaluation - students assess their understanding of the phenomenon

5 E Learning Cycle

Phase: Engage

Role of teacheraccess students’ prior knowledgehelp students become engaged in a new concept through the use of short activities that promote curiosity and elicit prior knowledge.

Role of activityMake connections between past and present learning experiencesexpose prior conceptionsorganize students’ thinking toward the learning outcomes of current activities.

5 E Learning Cycle

Phase: Explore

Learners role:complete lab activities that help them use prior knowledge to generate new ideas,explore questions and possibilities, and design and conduct a preliminary investigation.

Function of phase:provides students with a common base of activities within which current concepts, misconceptions, processes, and skills are identified and conceptual change is facilitated.

5 E Learning Cycle

Phase: Explain

Role of Teacher:

Help focusing students’ attention on a particular aspect of their exploration experiences by providing scientific explanations, introducing important vocabulary, or discussing and clarifying misconceptions.

Introducing a concept, process, or skill that capitalizes on the student explanations and experiences from the Explore or Engage parts of the lesson.

Phase initiated when students have a distinctive opportunity to articulate their own understanding of the concepts encountered during the lesson cycle thus far.

5 E Learning Cycle

Phase: Elaborate

Role of Teacher:Challenge and extend students’ conceptual understanding and skills through providing of new experiences.

Students do:Apply their understanding of the concept by conducting additional activities.

Learning outcome:Students develop deeper and broader understanding, more information, and adequate skills.

5 E Learning Cycle

Phase: Evaluate

Teacher role:

Evaluate student progress toward achieving the educational objectives.

Students do:

Assess their understanding and abilities

Constructivism

A learning theory that draws on students' existing knowledge, beliefs, and skills.

With a constructivist approach, students synthesize new understanding from prior learning and new information.

Ultimately, students begin to think of learning as accumulated, evolving knowledge.

Constructivist Teacher/Teaching

The Constructivist Teacher…sets up problems and monitors student exploration,

guides student inquiry, and

promotes new patterns of thinking.

Constructivist Teaching …Means working mostly with raw data, primary sources, and interactive material;

asks students to work with their own data and learn to direct their own explorations.

retrieved March 23, 2013 from: http://enhancinged.wgbh.org/research/eeeee.html

Key “Takeaways”

On a piece of paper please answer the following questions in English:

What did I learn today?

What do I still want to know?

Topics for Next Workshop

My ideas:

Revisiting and deepening 5 E Learning Cycle – Does it work in practice as a model of inquiry-based learning?

Levels of representations in Science (macro, micro and symbolic) and students learning difficulties with these levels

Best practices in assessment for Inquiry-based teaching

Integration of technology in science teaching and learning

Engineering design

Special Needs students – differentiated instruction

Managing the science classroom

Topics for Next Workshop

Your ideas: …..

Homework for next Workshop

With your colleagues in your learning circle

develop a series of 5-E learning lesson plans (3 to 4 lessons) about a science/technology topic that is difficult for science/technology teachers to teach to their students.

Use the 5-E learning lesson template as a guide for your lesson plans as well as other appropriate materials that you received in the workshop.

If you have an opportunity, use these lesson plans in your workshops with your teachers.

What you

liked,

found

helpful,

want more

of next

time

What you did

not like or

did not find

helpful, what

you want

less of next

time

Things you found interesting, puzzling, or surprising. Maybe you want more.

Evaluation