Friday, February 20, 2015

2/23 Joey: Applying Appropriate Pedagogical Principles

The article by Harlow Et Al. gives some great insight into how potential teachers might apply pedagogical resources in appropriate or inappropriate ways to a model-based course.  This article was very relevant to me because I am a prospective teacher and understanding how to navigate the new modeling-based approach to teaching is key to my future success.  The article cites three problems of practice teacher educators must help preservice science teachers understand, “ (1) engaging students in science, (2) organizing instruction, and (3) understanding students’ ideas (p. 678)” (pg. 1100).  The paper makes reference to both diSessa and A Framework for K-12 Science Education.  The article draws on the importance of modeling and how the model-based approach to science education helps unify students’ understanding. Attending to students’ ideas and challenging students’ current understandings of scientific phenomena is key to scientific inquiry and the modeling process.  The research drew on how potential science teachers viewed certain pedagogical resources appropriately or inappropriately.  The goals of the class were, “(1) an appreciation for the role of students’ ideas in the teaching and learning of science and (2) an introduction to how to teach science through modeling” (pg. 1104).  The study looked specifically at four pedagogical resources held by the potential teachers in the course:  The teacher’s role is to provide the right answer, guiding students is less certain than telling them (the right answer), a good model includes scientific terms, and children are creative thinkers.  It was really interesting to see how some students viewed these resources so differently compared to others.  I agree that a good teacher consistently poses, rather than answers, questions (pg. 1116).  Guiding students towards a more accepted scientific model allows them to engage more with the material and get more out of the experience compared to just telling them facts from a textbook.  The article also brought up a great point that it is not necessarily the scientific terms that are most important in a good model, rather it is the testability and alignment with evidence(pg. 1116).  Finally, it is important to understand that creativity is not a hindrance when modeling scientific phenomena, rather it is an essential part of the modeling process.
The importance of revision of models as discussed in multiple papers, can also be seen when modeling with NetLogo.  Re-writing code and making manipulations to add more variables or account for different factors is key.  As far as creativity goes (which is such a key in the modeling process), NetLogo offers almost infinite possibilities for model creation and revision.  I would love to use NetLogo in my future classroom, at least some of the models that exist to let students explore different scientific phenomena.  However, from my own experience struggling with learning what each specific code word means (let alone how to revise and write it) I could see how challenging it could be for students to learn (almost like a new language).  That being said, I like how it is color-coded and tells you problems with your code.  Given enough time (not sure how long) I am sure myself and students could benefit greatly from computational modeling through NetLogo.  
Questions: 
What other pedagogical resources besides the four mentioned could be used appropriately or inappropriately by potential teachers?  I think this could make for a fruitful discussion, as the four mentioned brought up some important ideas.

It seems to me scaffolding and making sure to give just the right amount of guidance would be one of the biggest challenges, how can teachers manage the uncertainty of student models? and how do we know what questions to ask to guide students to a more accepted scientific model?  Assuming it depends on the student and current model, would it almost have to be like a clinical interview?  If so, how could a teacher do this with 30 students and such limited time?

2 comments:

  1. Joey, you bring up a very good realistic question regarding how to come up with good guided questions and how to deal with various models. I think a big part of preparation comes from mastering content area so that you are comfortable probing student responses on the spot. As probably experienced, you cannot prepare for the unexpected things that happen in the classroom so strong familiarity with the subject is critical. I think with a class of thirty students, you will not be able to have an interview with everyone, so I think it becomes more of a student-teacher joint effort. When I say this I mean students can write down their thinking processes for a models, submit them to the teacher, so the teacher is prepared for talk about them with the students. This takes out some of the unexpected (not all by a far shot) and allows the teacher to find common problems among models that maybe s/he could address as a whole. However, these would be addressed in a discussion format so students would come to their conclusions themselves, not through pure teacher instruction. I think this mixture of individual and group guidance is good for a big class size.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree with Elizabeth and you that uncertainty is a large challenge when organizing instruction and allowing students more freedom when creating or using models. A student-teacher effort would be good, but maybe group modeling activities would also reduce uncertainty. This way, students can check each other's ideas (revision before even starting), and maybe reduce the time it would take to learn the coding (as they are helping each other out). Hopefully, this would also reduce interview (or other ways of understanding students' ideas) time, because then you won't have to talk to everyone individually. As Elizabeth mentioned above, class discussion would be helpful, as it could bring out student ideas. Class discussion would also bring in the idea of having a scientific community and the explanation of concepts practice that A Framework suggested.

    ReplyDelete