Multiculturalism and InquiryBased Activities

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Multiculturalism and Inquiry-Based Activities
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• True or False Children learn like sponges,
  soaking up knowledge as if it were water.

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• True or False Children learn like sponges,
  soaking up knowledge as if it were water.
• FALSE

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Why not?

• Brain-based studies show they are very
  discriminating. They build theories and throw
  away the ones that dont fit. This includes
  ones that are simply uncomfortable but correct!!
• Students prefer to test their theories vs.
  peers and to see if the new belief matches
  previously held beliefs. Students need both!

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Why does Inquiry work?

• The short answer is that Inquiry works because it
  more closely reflects how the human brain
  actually learns.
• This is called constructivism.

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Constructivism

• The education theory that addresses the fact that
  knowledge is built by the student according to
  prior experience and understanding.
• Knowledge is not transmitted from one person to
  another. It is constructed in the mind of the
  learner attempting to make linkages between what
  is already known and to test the degree of fit
  between that knowledge and the new information
  coming in.
• Remember New knowledge is ALWAYS suspect.

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Constructivism and the Non-traditional Science
Student

• This results in a double whammy for science
  teachers of non-traditional students, because now
  both content AND teacher are suspect.
• To combat this, the teacher must find out what
  the student knows, what interests them and
  capitalize on that.

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Dead White Guys John Dewey

• (1859-1952) First American constructivist who
  believed that learning and experience go hand in
  hand and knowledge comes from a personal
  interaction between the learner and his or her
  environment.
• Believed that most activities presented to
  students too often involve the interests of the
  teacher and not the student.
• He also advocated outdoor learning.

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Constructivism and the Non-traditional Science
Student

• Outdoor learning has been shown to be highly
  effective for ALL students but especially so for
  non-traditional students who may have language
  difficulties or cultural biases.
• Example Native Americans and Latinas asking
  Questions

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Dead White Guys Jean Piaget

• (1896-1980) Swiss constructivist who also
  believed that learning resulted from interactions
  between the learner and the people and objects in
  their environment.

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Dead White Guys Jean Piaget

• Piagets theories have four key ideas
• People develop through stages of cognitive
  growth.
• Knowledge results from the changing social
  interactions between the learner and the
  environment.
• Knowledge is constantly being constructed and
  reconstructed from previous and new experiences.
• Cognition is self-regulating. (Huh? This means
  that people are continually testing what they
  know vs. what is happening around them.)

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Constructivism and the Non-traditional Science
Student

• Take home message you need to train your
  students how to do inquiry over time and
• You need to know what the students are thinking
  in order to challenge them and discrepant events
  or other inquiry activities are wonderful ways of
  getting in.

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Dead White Guys Lev Vygotsky

• (1896-1934) Russian constructivist who believed
  that language and social interaction were
  extremely important in developing knowledge.
• Without peers and teachers modeling and providing
  support, students will take fewer chances.
• Modern equivalent is scaffolding.

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Dead White Guys Lev Vygotsky

• Scaffolding an activity that requires skills
  just beyond the learners current abilities as an
  individual but that can be accomplished in a
  group or with support from the teacher.
• Example Scientific Article and Decoding Skill
  builder

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Dead White Guys Lev Vygotsky

• Take home message
• You ARE a reading teacher no matter what it says
  on your door. This means you need to include such
  activities in your science lesson plans.
• Ask your reading specialist for help.
• Non-traditional students really do need to work
  collaboratively.

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Less Dead White Guy David Ausubel

• Believed that without linkages to prior
  knowledge, retention suffers.
• Chinese proverb Tell me and I forget, show me
  and I remember, let me do it and I understand.
• The single most important factor influencing
  learning is what the learner already knows
  ascertain this, and teach him accordingly.
  (Ausubel, 1978)

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Constructivism and the Non-traditional Science
Student

• Need to link to student.... Need to to know what
  the student knows first!
• Find out where your students families are from.
  (Be sure to ask about grandparents NOT parents
  because some of your kids or their parents may be
  illegals and will shutdown out of fear.)