Title: The Learning Cycle
1The Learning Cycle
- The Use of Innovative Instructional Strategies
- Jeanelle Day, Ph.D.
2The Learning Cycle
- To create meaningful learning, instruction has to
be adapted to help students - Become aware of their prior knowledge
- Work cooperatively in a safe, positive learning
environment - Compare new ideas to their prior knowledge
3We must also help students to
- Connect new ideas to what they already know
- Construct their own new knowledge
- Apply the new knowledge in ways that are
different from the situation in which it was
learned.
4Traditional Course Lessons
Lesson Begins
Lesson Ends
Instructor tells/lectures content, questions
students Student answers questions, recites
work and problems
Instructor provides verification and
summary Student Asks for clarification
5More Meaningful Learning
Lesson Begins Here
Science Lesson Ends Here Leading to the NEXT
Exploration
6Why Use a Learning Cycle?
- It allows students to
- Become aware
- Recognize shortcomings
- Apply critical reasoning
- Search more efficiently
- Apply what they learn
- Transfer knowledge
7A Deeper Look..
- History of the Learning Cycle
- Created by Karplus (late 50s-early 60s), and
fully conceptualized by Atkin and Karplus (1962)
as guided discovery and used in SCIS elementary
science program. At the same time, written about
by Chester Lawson in his book, Language, Thought,
and the Human Mind (1958). In 1967, Karplus and
Their first named the learning cycle and the
component phases. Reinterpreted by Barnes in
1976, with alternate versions by Driver (1986),
Karplus (1977), Erickson (1979), Nussbaum and
Novic (1981), Renner (1982), and Rowell and
Dawson (1983). There is no One Right Way to
design a learning cycle.
8The Learning Cycle-First Stage Exploration
- If we accept that each of us must develop
understandings that we have about a concept for
ourselves, then an alternative instructional
method is most appropriate. The learning cycle
was created out of concern with pupils gaining
experience and this becomes the first stage of
the model. - Learners are provided with suitable experiences
in order to create for themselves what is to be
learned. - This is where experience must be given in order
to allow students to assimilate what is to be
learned with prior knowledge. - A common weakness in this stage is not allowing
sufficient time, and that the time must be spent
with the materials and activities that will lead
to the concept. A strong exploration provides
opportunities for students to assimilate the
concept from more than one activity.
9The Learning Cycle Second Stage Invention or
Term Introduction.
- The students and/or teacher derive the concept
from the data, usually a classroom discussion.
The learner is introduced to some
appropriately-specific terminology in relation to
the phenomenon being investigated. The teacher
uses this to assist the learner to interpret what
has been found. - Five factors to be included in a term
introduction include - The findings of the exploration need to be
reviewed and summarized. - All findings used must be the students.
- The concept must be stated in the students own
words. - The proper terminology of the concept should be
introduced. - One or more reasons for the importance of the
concept need to be given.
10The Learning Cycle Third Stage Concept
Application or Expansion
- The purpose is to provide students the
opportunity to organize the concept they have
just learned with other ideas that relate to it. - The scientific terminology of the concept must be
used during the concept-application phase. The
new ideas of the learner are meshed with existing
knowledge in order to expand both that knowledge
and the newly acquired idea. Additional
experiences to help this elaboration process are
an essential part of this stage. These
experiences would have some of the attributes of
experiments because the outcomes would not be
known even though the pupils know the concept
that is the subject of investigation.
11What to include in each phase
- Exploration (initial actions)
- Help students try out and confront their prior
knowledge - Ask probing questions to diagnose students prior
knowledge on the science idea. - Focus students attention on science experiences.
- Encourage students working cooperatively in
groups to recall and relate prior knowledge to
the new science idea. - Make public students prior knowledge
12What to include in each phase
- Invention (next actions)
- Ask students to reflect on and explain related
experiences, concepts and terminology in their
own words (e.g. whole group discussion of the
exploration activity) - Ask students to clarify the new idea and justify
statements with evidence. - Provide definitions, clear explanations, and
terms for the new science idea. - Provide clear examples of the new science idea or
model the new skill. - Provide for student practice using the new
science idea just explained. - Provide a concise, brief closure of the key
science idea.
13What to include in each phase
- Expansion (concluding actions)
- Provide additional practice to help students use
terms, definitions and explanations experienced
previously in the lesson. - Provide application activities in new, relevant
contexts, at the same time helping students to
recall their original alternative explanations. - Provide activities to help students transfer the
new science knowledge to increasingly real world
events. - Provide a summary of the important events in the
science lesson.
14An important note
- Each phase of the learning cycle uses one or more
teaching methods to accomplish its purpose. The
choice of the methods to use depends upon 1) the
type of science idea(s) or skill(s) to be taught,
2) prior knowledge and specific learning needs of
the student, and 3) part of the learning cycle
with which the teacher is involved.
15Preparing Learning Cycles
- Select the concept students are to learn and
write out a concise statement of it. - Select the activities students will use to
collect data and to guide them toward forming the
concept in the term introduction. - Prepare instructions to use as an outline and/or
to give to students for collecting the data. - Be certain that the instructions direct students
ONLY in the collection of data, and DO NOT
provide information that allows them to ascertain
the concept from the instructions alone. - Prepare teacher guidelines for the term
introduction or invention phase. The guidelines
will consist of carefully structured questions to
lead the students through the interpretation of
their data and TO the concept. - Select the activities to be used during the
concept application or expansion phase. Be sure
these activities freely use the concept AND its
terminology. - Prepare evaluation materials that are to be used.
16In Order for ANY Instruction to Work, There MUST
be a Match
Needs of the Student
Match Required for Meaningful Science Learning
Science Instructional Strategy to be Used by the
Teacher
Science Content and Skills to be Learned
17Exploration Phase Summary
- Encourages learning through students own inquiry
and focuses their interest. - Involves minimal guidance or expectation on the
teachers part. - Often provides an experience that confronts
students old way of thinking. - Begins with a preplanned open or divergent
question from the teacher. - Involves students in working in cooperative
groups. - Encourages observation of the natural world and
raises questions for the students. - Provides for student interaction with ideas and
materials as well as the collection and
organization of data. - Encourages students reflection in selecting
resources, discussion, and debate. - Encourages trying out prior ideas, suspending
judgment, predicting, hypothesizing, and testing.
- Provides students with adequate time to relate
prior knowledge to the new idea or skill. - Allows students to know the purpose and objective
of the science lesson. - Allows teacher to know students present
understanding of the idea or skill.
18Invention Phase Summary
- Follows adequate exploration of the science idea
or skill where some development may have
occurred. - Encourages discussion of past experiences with
the science idea or skill in the exploration
phase and elsewhere. - Allows learning from explanation through an
interesting variety of teaching methods and
student hands-on, minds-on learning activities. - Introduces an idea or skill in a structured
manner through additional experiences using a
variety of mediums including student senses,
teacher explanations, technology interfaces,
films, textbook readings, field trips,
cooperative group discussions, Internet searches,
guests to be interviewed, and others. - Encourages students to develop as much of the new
idea or skill as possible through providing one
or more complete cycles of explanation, giving
clear examples and modeling, and checking for
understanding. - Provides a closure on the new idea or skill.
19Expansion Phase Summary
- Provides for learning through repetition.
- Provides additional time and experiences for the
science idea or skill to become part of the
students thought processes (conceptual change) - Provides application activities in new, relevant
conte3xts while helping students to recall their
original alternative explanations. - Encourages retrieval from long-term memory by
helping students form an abstraction from
concrete examples. - Extends the range of applicability of the new
science idea or skill outside of the learning
setting by transferring it to other relevant
contexts and times. - Provides a summary of the important events in the
science lesson.
20Next Steps
- You will now be given a rating sheet for a
learning cycle lesson. - In pairs, take the two sample lessons and rate
them according to the rubric. - Compare the two lessons on strengths and
weaknesses.