High Quality Science Instruction: Findings from Research

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High Quality Science InstructionFindings from
Research
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Consider the Lesson Vignettes

• Individually, read the two Sinking and Floating
  lesson vignettes and respond to the following
  questions on the reflection sheet
• Which lesson is better? Why?
• Which lesson is more likely to lead to student
  learning? Why?

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Consider the Lesson Vignettes

• Discuss the responses as a table group.
• Which lesson is better? Why?
• Which lesson is more likely to lead to student
  learning? Why?

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Effective Science Instruction What does research
tell us?

• There has been, and continues to be, much debate
  over what constitutes effective science
  instruction.
• Reform
• Students working in small groups
• Hands-on activities
• Focusing on topics selected by the students
• Traditional
• Delivering information through lectures or
  reading
• Students working on practice problems and
  worksheets
• Students doing confirmatory lab activities

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Highly Rated Lessons by Use of Lecture/Discussion
and Hands-on/Laboratory Activities
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Effective Instruction

• Current learning theory focuses on students
  conceptual change, and does not imply that one
  pedagogy is necessarily better than another.

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Effective Instruction

• The following elements of effective instruction
  are derived largely from the learning theory
  described in the National Research Councils
  volumes How People Learn (2003) and How Students
  Learn Science in the Classroom (2005).

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Motivation

• However well-designed the instruction, students
  are unlikely to learn if they do not have a
  desire to do so.
• Instruction needs to hook students by
  addressing something they have wondered about, or
  can be induced to wonder about, possibly, but not
  necessarily, in a real-world context.

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Eliciting Students Prior Knowledge

• Research has shown convincingly that students do
  not come to school as empty vessels rather, they
  come with ideas they have gleaned from books, TV,
  movies, and real-life experiences.
• These ideas may either facilitate or impede their
  learning of important ideas in science.
• There is considerable evidence that instruction
  is most effective when it elicits students
  initial ideas, provides them with opportunities
  to confront those ideas, helps them formulate new
  ideas based on the evidence, and encourages them
  to reflect upon how their ideas have evolved.

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Intellectual Engagement

• Research on learning suggests that the hallmark
  of effective lessons is that they include
  meaningful experiences that engage students
  intellectually with important science content.
• Lessons need to engage students in doing the
  intellectual work, and make sure that the
  intellectual work is focused on the learning
  goal.
• When observing classroom instruction, its
  helpful to ask yourself, If I were a student in
  this class, what would I be thinking about?

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Use of Evidence to Make and Critique Claims

• Being scientifically literate requires
  understanding both scientific ideas and the
  nature of the scientific enterprise. Students
  should be encouraged to view science as a process
  by which knowledge is constructed, not as a
  collection of facts.
• An integral part of the scientific process is the
  collection and interpretation of data, which is
  then used to critique claims and see if they are
  supported by the evidence.
• Students are less likely to revert to their prior
  incorrect ideas if they are familiar with the
  evidence that confronts those ideas and supports
  the scientific consensus.

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Sense-Making

• Effective science instruction requires
  opportunities for students to make sense of the
  ideas with which they have been engaged
• Making connections between what they did in a
  lesson and what they were intended to learn.
• Connecting the new ideas to knowledge that
  students already have, placing the lessons
  learning goals in a larger scientific framework
  and helping students organize their knowledge.

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What Does Effective Instruction Look Like in the
Classroom?

• There are multiple ways each critical element can
  be incorporated into instruction.
• Not all five need to occur in every lesson, but
  rather they may play out over a series of
  lessons.

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Motivation

• Extrinsic motivators
• deadlines for research projects, classroom
  competitions, and tests and quizzes affecting
  students grades
• Intrinsic motivators
• usually stem from intellectual curiosity and a
  desire to learn.

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Eliciting Students Prior Knowledge

• KWL charts What students know about a certain
  concept (K), what they want to know (W), and
  finally what they have learned (L) by the end of
  a lesson or unit
• Demonstration of initial ideas using drawings,
  concept maps, or cartoons.
• Teacher questions
• Encouraging students to raise questions of their
  own allows teachers to access their existing ideas

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Intellectual Engagement

• Students have opportunities to engage with
  appropriate phenomena while investigating
  meaningful questions.
• Can be through a hands-on experience
• Can be through an interactive lecture (Socratic
  discussion)

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Use of Evidence to Make and Critique Claims

• Students should use evidence to support and
  critique conclusions (both their own and other
  peoples).
• Evidence can come from a hands-on activity,
  examples from their own life, or data they are
  given and asked to analyze.

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Use of Evidence to Make and Critique Claims

• Drawing appropriate conclusions from data also
  requires students to have confidence that the
  data are valid.
• Consequently, discrepancies or conflicting data
  need to be resolved.

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Use of Evidence to Make and Critique Claims

• In some cases, teachers can explain an idea and
  describe how scientists came to that conclusion.

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Sense-making

• Sense-making can occur in a number of ways, for
  example
• Whole class discussion with appropriate teacher
  questioning
• Written student reflection using well-designed,
  guiding prompts, e.g., considering how, and why,
  their thinking has changed or
• Application of ideas to other contexts.

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Task Considering the Elements of Effective
Science Instruction

• Please read each lesson vignette and consider how
  the lesson does/does not exhibit the elements of
  effective instruction. Document your thoughts on
  your individual reflection sheets.
• After, discuss your thoughts with others at your
  table.

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Reflection

• Look at your initial responses to the first
  activity with the Sink and Float lesson
  vignettes
• What changes, if any, would you make to your
  responses? Why?
• How would you improve any elements that you
  thought were unlikely to be effective?

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What Have We Learned about the Elements of
Effective Science Instruction?

• Motivation
• Eliciting students prior knowledge
• Intellectual engagement
• Use of Evidence to Make and Critique Claims
• Sense-making

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References

• Moje, E. B., Collazo, T., Carrillo, R., Marx,
  R. W. (2001). Maestro, what is quality?
  Language, literacy, and discourse in
  project-based science. Journal of Research in
  Science Teaching, 38, 469-498.
• National Research Council. (2003). How people
  learn Brain, mind, experience, and school. J. D.
  Bransford, A. L. Brown, R. R. Cocking (Eds.).
  Washington, DC National Academy Press.
• National Research Council. (2005). How students
  learn Science in the classroom. M. S. Donovan
  J. D. Bransford, (Eds.) Washington, DC National
  Academy Press.

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References

• Nuthall, G. (1999). The way students learn
  Acquiring knowledge from an integrated science
  and social studies unit. The Elementary School
  Journal, 99(4), 303-341.
• Nuthall, G. (2001). Understanding how classroom
  experience shapes students minds. Unterrichts
  Wissenschaft, 29(3), 224-267.
• Weiss, I.R., Pasley, J. D., Smith, P. S.,
  Banilower, E. R., Heck, D. J. (2003). Looking
  inside the classroom A study of K-12 mathematics
  and science education in the United States.
  Chapel Hill, NC Horizon Research, Inc.