2/23 Jenna - Pedagogical Resources in the Modeling Classroom

Harlow et al.'s article about "pedagogical resources" reminds us of the mindsets of teachers that are asked to put model-based science education to use in their classrooms. Harlow et al. examine the pedagogical resources - small ideas and assumptions about teaching that are picked up through experience over time - that pre-service teachers bring to the table when learning to model and to teach through modeling. They identified four such resources, applied in both appropriate and inappropriate ways by the students in their modeling course:

1. The teacher provides the right answer.
2. Guiding is less certain than telling.
3. A good scientific model includes scientific terminology. 
4. Children are creative.

This article is interesting because it brings many of the pedagogical resources I (and we as a class) hold to light. For pre-service teachers who have not experienced this kind of instruction in their own learning experiences, it is no doubt difficult to shake these assumptions away, or to leverage them in a new context. It is also not particularly surprising to me that the researchers found these resources extremely prominent in their students' thoughts; experience, as I mentioned, is one reason pre-service teachers have these assumptions, and another is the current testing and standardization atmosphere. As we've mentioned in class and in our blogs, standards and testing put a lot of pressure on teachers, and modeling-based instruction can seem to be a counterintuitive response to that pressure. What I think Harlow et al. do well is that they explicitly forefront pedagogical resources and show how they impact teacher attitudes and decisions. By making our own pedagogical resources explicit, we can more closely examine how they are shaping our approaches to instruction, and adjust how we apply our resources so that they are more aligned with our ideals.

• What do you think of the notion that pedagogical resources are applied appropriately or inappropriately? What is this appropriateness relative to? Can resources be applied appropriately in one context but not in another?
• What are other pedagogical resources that you believe shape your thinking about teaching (with models or otherwise)?