The Karplus Lecture: History and the Next Revolution

1
The Karplus LectureHistory and the Next
Revolution

• Robert Tinker
• The Concord Consortium
• http//concord.org

2
About Bob Karplus

• Born Vienna 1927
• Harvard PhD in physics, 1945
• Physics research at Berkeley to 1960
• Education at Lawrence Hall until 1983
• NSTA Distinguished Service citation
• "a spirited teacher and dedicated science
  educator."

3
Contributions to Education

• Three seminal, interrelated contributions to
  science education
• Cognitive psychology focus neo-Paigetian
• Learning Cycle
• SCIS

4
Piaget

• Im convinced that one could develop a marvelous
  method of participatory education giving a child
  the apparatus to do experiments and thus discover
  a lot of things by himself. Piaget (in
  Bringuier, 1980)

5
Learning Cycles

• Karplus three steps
• Exploration
• Concept Introduction
• Application and Discovery
• Bybees Five Es Explore, Experiment, Explain,
  Extend, and Evaluate.

6
SCIS

• K-6 hands-on program. 13 units.
• Principles
• Increase scientific knowledge
• Develop science attitudes
• Build and define inquiry skills
• My kids took SCIS II in the 1980s
• SCIS 3 currently sold by Delta Scientific

7
SCIS in Context

• SCIS was one of three projects that
  revolutionized elementary science teaching. (Can
  you name the others?)
• ESS (EDC) and S-APA (AAAS)
• Contributions
• Hands on
• Focus on phenomena
• Emphasis on student learning

8
The Science Curriculum System
History
Teachers
SCISS-APAESS
Skills ExperiencePreparationTPD
Curriculum

• Standards

Whats Possible
What can be experiencedWhat can be
measuredWhats affordable
Texts
9
Technology Creates New Possibilities

• Measurement
• Observation
• Guided exploration
• Materials
• Collaboration
• Teacher professional development

10
Technology Enables

• New technology supports greater emphasis on
• Measurement
• Change over time
• Core concepts
• Reasoning from core concepts
• Emergent behavior

11
Exemplars

• Probeware on handhelds
• Models and simulations

12
A Scaffolded Model
13
Exemplar Research

• Students can read and interpret time graphs in
  grade 2-4.
• Probe experiments allow students to relate
  position-velocity-acceleration graphs in high
  school.
• Middle school students can transfer atomic-scale
  thermodynamics explanations.
• More research is needed.

14
Exemplar Implications

• Students can experience more core concepts
• Formal mathematics is no longer a barrier to
  science understanding
• Atomic view supports Physics First
• Deeper, core content can be treated earlier at
  all levels

15
Core Science Concepts

• We need greater emphasis on fewer core concepts
• The standards included hundreds of topics with
  little guidance about relative importance
• Core concepts simplify science learning
• Core concepts are important

16
My Core Science Concepts

• The three evolutions
• Biological
• Earth
• Cosmic
• Atomic scale interactions
• Dynamics and thermodynamics
• Reactions and interactions
• Properties of materials

• Organisms
• Reproduction and genetics
• Biochemistry of systems
• Intelligent behavior
• Computers and robots
• Learning

17
About the Core Concepts

• Interrelated. A spiral approach is needed.
  (Karplus advocated this)
• All involve emergent properties
• All are too complex for formal derivations
• All are amenable to measurement or simulation

18
The Vision

• A K-14 spiral sequence focused on core concepts
  at each level.
• Using technology for improved
• Student experiences and reflection
• Exploration of emergent phenomena
• Focus on core concepts
• Teacher professional development
• Resulting in learning that is deeper, earlier,
  less formal, less dependent on memorization, and
  more lasting.

19
What About Standards?
History
Teachers
SCISS-APAESS
Skills ExperiencePreparationTPD
Curriculum
Standards
What can be experiencedWhat can be
measuredWhats affordable
Texts
20
Standards Must Change

• Both science standards were developed in the
  context of what was feasible at that time
• Both science standards envisioned revisions and
  reformulations
• Neither standard makes significant use of
  technology

21
What About Texts?
History
Teachers
SCISS-APAESS
Skills ExperiencePreparationTPD
Curriculum
Standards
What can be experiencedWhat can be
measuredWhats affordable
Texts
22
Texts Reflect Demand

• Texts have incorporated SCIS-SAPA-ESS
• For instance Batteries and bulbs is universal
• Increased emphasis on student exploration
• Slow change is more a reflection of consumer
  demand than textbook resistance to change

23
What About Teachers?
History
Teachers
SCISS-APAESS
Skills ExperiencePreparationTPD
Curriculum
Standards
What can be experiencedWhat can be
measuredWhats affordable
Texts
24
Teaching Can Change

• Teachers are already using probes and simulations
  (NAEP results)
• Teachers learn by teaching
• Technology offers new resources
• Just-in-time, course-specific support
• Open source software
• Online communities

25
Emerging Technologies

• You aint seen nothin yet
• The camera (CCD devices)
• Bio-probes and nano-probes
• Ubiquitous wireless, portable computers
• Computational models of core science content
• Open source software

26
A New Revolution

• Technology allows us to push Karplus agenda to a
  new level
• Karplus would be in the vanguard of this
  revolution. His goals
• Increase scientific knowledge
• Develop science attitudes
• Build and define inquiry skills

27
Join the Revolution!!

• http//concord.org

28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
Phase Change
33
(No Transcript)