As I keep reading our assigned articles, I have to say that my ideas of learning and teaching have significantly expanded. Even though I have heard of constructivist theory in Educational Psychology class and teachings of Vygotsky, I really did not have clear understanding what application of that theory represents in the classroom. Looking at my previous educational experiences, I was completely unfamiliar with different and new learning and teaching strategies. I knew that teaching strategies in the US were different to the ones in Bosnia or the whole of the Balkans but I did not know how exactly.
While I still lived in Bosnia I talked to some of people that studied at American and Canadian universities. I always asked: " Well, what is it like to study there?" One guy that studied in Canada and came back to Bosnia was a short period told me that it is easier than in Bosnia, less stressful, but they teach you what you need. I don't think I ever really understood what he meant by that, I just taught it is easier but never knew why. I did not even know that different teaching practices exist and they they are continually developed and refined by research. My only notion of American public education was that children were allowed to wander around the classroom and that there was less discipline. I never explored what was the reason behind such instruction and classroom management.
The insight that makes me particularly happy is that teachers use various methods of assessment to guide their instruction and that students are assessed in various ways not only the two typical ones.
Also feedback was not very common or familiar notion in my public education. Not that I can recall.
I only remember once in the Shakespeare class at the college, that professor, gave written explanation on the final written exam, where he pointed out the things I did well and the things I should have addressed. That information gave me more insight into my further studying in preparation for the oral exam. ( in the ex- Yugoslavia countries, all final exams are comprised of written exam and oral exam for each course ). Even now I think we should have had more assessments prior to the final exam on Shakespeare. In that way if we were on the wrong track or if we missed something, we could have improved that. That is why I think final exams at the College of Liberal Arts, at the department of English Language and Literature in Banja Luka, Bosnia did not necessarily showed real potential and knowledge students could develop in their majors.
Reading the various articles on approaches to science teaching has extended my understanding on how to teach science in the classroom. Social constructivist theory methods of teaching science were completely unfamiliar to me. The notion that a teacher would create formative assessments to find out the students' opinions and understanding on certain scientific phenomena to guide his/her instruction was not something I ever expected of my teachers. It is completely unfamiliar concept in education in the Balkans. I believe that most of our education is based on behaviorism so far. Just in recent decade there were changes to public education implemented by the European Union in Bosnia and most Balkans countries. At that time I was already our of high school. When I try to look back at the science education in public school so far, I know that students were expected to adopt the scientific concepts, repeat that information on tests. We did not have standardized tests throughout public education. There was one type of evaluation not present here. Student would be called to come in front of the blackboard, science teacher would ask questions from the material we have covered so far. Student would explain the scientific concepts covered in certain lesson and solve few problems related to the concept. He would usually get three questions that cover three lessons. Each lesson covered one scientific concept. So if he/she did not know the material very well and was not able to explain the concepts well, he/she would get a bad grade. I think that type of evaluation was quite good as well as the tests. The ideas that I have learned in this class so far expressed through the social constructivist theory would be an excellent addition to teaching and learning science. The idea that teacher should pay attention to what students already bring to the class, their own understandings of certain phenomena and the idea that teachers should decide what to teach based on their students' incomplete or wrong understanding of something seem mind opening. Because when students graduate high school they will remember from all the things they were taught in science only the ones they really understood. What is really the point of studying something if we are just to repeat teacher's words and explanations without understanding them ourselves. Doing experiments and making our own predictions and conclusions under the guidance of the teacher does seem to be a teaching strategy that will enable students to graduate the school with some real understanding of the scientific concepts they were taught.
ReplyDeleteBy going to the web site of Iowa CORE I learned that Iowa and other American states have developed standards in science and other subjects that teachers should base their teaching on. I really never taught of standards before. That does not mean that they do not exist in my native country. I just did not have the opportunity to think about them. I like how the Science standards are constructed so that by abiding them teachers all over the US and Iowa will be able provide all the children with general scientific concepts that should be acquired during their public education.
ReplyDeleteI have learned that inquiry based science instruction is a better method for students to develop understanding and knowledge of scientific concepts. In inquiry based science students involvement is increased. Students are engaged by various questions that stimulate their natural curiosity and exploration. Students come up with different plans to test their ideas about certain scientific phenomena. They freely investigate and discover for themselves. They are not controlled by teacher to the extent that they have to just follow his/her instructions and never dare to experiment on their own. They make their hypothesis, that may be wrong but they are allowed to make mistakes like scientists when they make their own experiments. By conducting various investigations and comparing their results with other students in the classroom, they can learn to refine their explanations also explore other valid sources of information to make their arguments.
I have learned that five features of classroom inquiry. Students are engaged by scientifically oriented questions. In their experiments they give priority to scientific evidence that is based on reason, observations and measurements rather then on personal beliefs, superstitions and misconceptions.
ReplyDeleteStudents must respect the rules of evidence to form their explanations of certain scientifically oriented questions. Further, learners evaluate their explanations in light of other alternative explanations through the dialogues with their peers or they can check their results with those proposed by teacher or instructional materials. Learners share their explanations and other students can question their reasoning just like scientists do among themselves. If their arguments are not constructed well they have to refine them. Inquiry based science instruction makes students better understand the ways scientists explore the world and its phenomena and how they come to their conclusions.
I have also learned that these features of inquiry based science in the classroom can vary in terms of amount of learner's self-direction and direction from teacher. So some inquiries are going to have more or less teacher guidance.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteReading the article Activitymania, I realized that most of my science education was activity mania. The article made me realize that as a teacher I should engage students in hand-on activities that they should be able to investigate on their own. Those activities and scientifically oriented questions I should base on the students lives and interests.
ReplyDeleteThe hypothesis students make during experiments should not be provided by me, but they should arise from students' questions and be based on their experiments. I would also have to share the control with students. The classroom and instruction should be student centered. I should not be over helpful and provide detailed instruction of how to conduct experiments. Students should be allowed to propose their own ways of inquiry. Assessment in the classroom should be long-termed oriented on the process and not focused on the right or wrong answers.
Last week by doing circuit experiment in two different ways and reading Janice Koch chapter "Moving Beyond the Science Kit" I learned that as a future teacher when teaching science I should not rely on prepackaged science kits exclusively. When introducing certain lesson in science to my students I don't have to give them definitions of unknown terms before hands- on activities. They will still be able to conduct experiments and make their own explanations. What is especially important is that I engage them in activities by posing scientifically oriented questions, that will make students think critically. Instead of completely dominating the whole activity and expecting students just to follow my instructions I should provide the materials for the experiments, engage them in questions and let them explore on their own. In that explorations they should be allowed to make mistakes. During the activity I could guide those students that need help and offer suggestions. After students conduct their experiments I would introduce them to the scientific term related to that experiment.
ReplyDeleteAfter that I would ask students to come up with other questions they would wish to further explore and are related to the experiment. I would further expand on the lesson by asking students questions connected with lesson but at the same time questions that are related to everyday experiences and interests of my students. In this way students would be likely to learn better, because they would be conducting their own investigations and would be invested in answering their own questions.