4/6 - Kim K - Minds On Modeling

           A key point about science teaching that I noticed from these papers is that one needs to actually be a “good” teacher in order for modeling to be successful.  This is because modeling in the classroom is so dynamic and different each time a lesson is played out.  One of the obstacles of modeling instruction is for the teacher to let students drive instruction and learning; however, this is also one of the affordances of modeling since students take ownership of their own learning and figuring out answers.  Another key point of modeling is that a teacher will not have time to cover all the content he/she would like to cover.  If modeling instruction is executed correctly though, the students will be able to apply their knowledge of how certain phenomena work and apply to unfamiliar ones with success.  I really liked that Schober felt that he got to know his students better through modeling instruction, and that is definitely an affordance in my eyes.

In my future classroom, I hope to maintain a classroom environment where students ask thoughtful questions to each other and listen to each other’s explanations of their models.  Getting students to cooperate in this manner will allow for me to get all students to succeed and come away from my class enjoying it more than any other science class.    I plan on using computational modeling to aide in students’ thinking about phenomena that are not easily represented with a physical model.  It would also be advantageous to use computational modeling as a way for students to manipulate various factors in complex systems (e.g. Climate Change Modeling).  Often times, I would probably ask students to create a physical model of a phenomena we would be working on and then “go deeper” with a computational model that they could manipulate.  Overall, I thought the testimonies were more insightful than necessarily helpful.

Question:

With using modeling in your future classroom, would you treat regular students different from AP students?

4/6-Elizabeth-Models and Blocks

In their articles, Finkbeiner and Braunschweig both discussed their experiences as teachers and their introduction into the world of modeling physics. 

1.     key points:

·      depth over breadth

·      teachers and students are partners in learning

·      modeling includes student inquiry, cooperative groups, designing experiments, creating diagrams, argument and explanation, and deployment of the model

·      modeling teachers achieved higher gains in Hake’s studies of FCI

2.     connection to other readings:

·      Both Finkbeiner and Braunschweig discuss the process of modeling within the classroom, which have been discussed in many previous readings, including Schwarz’s article.  In his article, Schwarz emphasized that successful modeling is an interactive process that involves constant revision, argumentation, and investigation.  Furthermore, he notes that modeling is an ever-changing process where the students are constantly revising, and changing their models.

3.     affordances and obstacles

·      Through these 3 articles, the positive outcomes of modeling are very evident.  After even 1 year of modeling, Finkbeiner and Braunschweig both experienced increases in testing results.  Furthermore, students (in the Braunschweig article) expressed more of an interest and understanding of the physics concepts.

·      Modeling also allows for a coherent structure (in part because of the 90 minute period), which is essential for student success.

·      There are always obstacles/struggles that teachers face, such as covering a certain amount of material in a short amount of time and not interfering with student collaboration.

4.     computational and representational modeling in my classroom

·      Based on previous readings and discussions, it is essential that computational and physical representations should be used in the classroom.  I think that physical models would be heavily used in the beginning of the year as students are more familiar with them.  As the school year progresses, computational models will be introduced and furthermore, as the students become familiar with them, manipulate them themselves. 

5.     role of modeling in my classroom

·      Ideally, modeling will take a prominent place within my classroom.  Based on studies and articles, including the 3 we just read, modeling improves student learning and understanding dramatically.  Thus, it would be great to include it everyday.  However, I think modeling will mostly occur during lab days, which are once a week.  Ideally, I would like to include modeling instruction at least 2-3 times per week. 

6.     testimonies helpful or not?

·      I really liked these articles because I wanted to know how teachers who didn’t know about modeling and had never used it in a classroom approached it.  Their positive outcomes and high success were great and good to hear.  However, a lot fo schools do not have block schedules like that (90 minutes) so I was just wondering how successful it would be in a shorter class.  While Finkbeiner did discuss the obstacles teachers face with 45 minute classes, I would like to hear advice about the best way to model in shorter class times.

7.     Questions:

·      Are the tests that the authors looked at to gage their success reliable?

·      What if students do not correct their misconceptions? 

·      Should teachers engage in modeling everyday? 

4/6 Laura - Modeling and all that Jazz

            I thought it was really interesting to read the perspective of teachers actually implementing modeling in their classrooms currently.  In the Braunschweig piece, I especially enjoyed reading the student’s responses to modeling curriculum.  It was exciting to see the theoretical benefits we’ve been discussing in class (comprehension, confidence, identification as someone who can, etc.) represented in their perspectives, which covered both cognitive and socio-emotional gains in a pretty impressive show of metacognition. Braunschweig’s emphasis on positive communication encompasses a lot of what we’ve learned about in psychology and classroom ecology as key to a strong learning community, and it was great to see an actual example of how to achieve this.  I will definitely be incorporating his ‘questions-only’ peer feedback strategy for whiteboard discussions in my future class! As a music lover, I also identified with his closing jazz metaphor, which I think astutely highlights the beauty that can be created through collaboration and flexibility. 

            While Finkbeiner’s writing style was slightly less engaging, I thought it was really valuable to see the tangible results of modeling – especially from someone who seems a skeptic.  His points contribute to our ongoing discussion of depth versus breadth, confirming that students understand as much and more through modeling even when fewer concepts are covered.  In Schober’s piece, I liked his articulation of all the different pedagogical techniques encompassed by modeling, including “engagement tools such as Socratic dialogue, individualized instruction, multiple representations of phenomena, kinesthetic experiences, cooperative learning and emphasis on coherency of concepts,” which we have been learning about all year in many different classes.  With so many excellent strategies readily incorporated, its no wonder that modeling is so successful!

Questions:

- All the papers we read this week were from the perspective of physics teachers, how do you think teaching modeling will differ for other scientific disciplines?

- How can we help students, like the one who reported the drawback: “It puts a lot of responsibility on the experimenter to think," see the value in more challenging approaches, especially when they may have never been asked to think in this way before?  

4/6 David Bergsmith Modeling Approach to Teaching

       A model approach to teaching uses ideas from students, drawing upon previous knowledge and asks students to make observations, plan and test hypotheses and make revisions. Braunschweig talks about using this approach in his experience with a model based approach to teaching. In his teaching, Braunschweig’s students make a list about factors that effect the swinging of a pendulum. Students use what they already know to first make a list of all possible factors. The class revises the list and is asked to explain and argue which ideas make for good choices to consider. This form of reasoning builds scientific knowledge and may also allow addressing misconceptions.

       These accounts of a modeling approach to teaching all ask students to explain and argue their thinking throughout the class. Schober says that discourse in the class between students and teachers and between students is the most important factor in determining the success of this approach to teaching. “The questioning strives to reinforce key ideas and definitions; confront misconceptions; and provide students with opportunities to elucidate the model, extend the model to new situations, applications and contexts, and establish connections among the verbal, diagrammatical, graphical, and mathematical representations of phenomena.” Schober says in his account of model-based instruction. These conversations in the classroom build knowledge among the students and this description of what the conversations should include is most helpful of all the accounts.

       Modeling instruction may cause a decrease in the breadth of topics covered in class. With this obstacle in place, instructors should also focus on developing scientific investigation and academic skills such as literacy and numeracy. Teachers can place focus in class upon asking reasoning questions such as asking for explanation and allowing argumentation and looking for evidence that was used when forming conclusions. Effective and clear explanation and argumentation skills will allow students to be inquisitive about questions they may face on standardized tests and in the real world. While modeling instruction does not always allow students to explore all topics during the course, the focus of developing an inquiry classroom and students as investigators may outweigh the shortage of breadth of content in the classroom.

       Modeling, both computational and physical/representational will serve as a means of reference and comparison in my classroom. Students will be able to use models as shared experiences to construct knowledge and in application of concepts and relationships. Models and the phenomena explored in models may be used as evidence when describing concepts and the construction of theories. Computational modeling may be used more than physical/representational models due to the possible manipulation and exploration of relationships. However, as a teacher I will have to make decisions about my class and what types of models will best help construct knowledge for my students. My students should also have opportunities to use all types of models and then explain, argue and revise their thinking through the exploration of use of models.

       Are there models that show how hand soap cleans your hands? Possibly showing the differences in antibacterial soap and non-antibacterial soap? This could be an effective model to explore the replication of prokaryotic cells. If there aren’t models that represent this, what ideas do you have about it?

4/6 Caitlin Farney Modeling Modeling Modeling

The authors of this week’s readings discussed modeling taught in physics classrooms. A common idea that all three authors discussed was how modeling is very different than traditional teaching because it makes students more active in the classroom. Being more active, according to the articles, helps the students learn and understand the material more deeply. Another theme was authenticity. Finkbeiner mentioned that, with a modeling teaching method, the “student’s classroom experience is more closely related to the physicist’s.” This theme was important in other articles we have read, including the Shwarz and Sampson articles. When the students have the chance to act as scientists and engineers, the material becomes more meaningful, and the students have a better opportunity to learn important science practices.

Finkbeiner and Braunschwieg did both have concerns with the modeling teaching method. They were both concerned about time. Not all classes may reach the same conclusions at the same time, so the pacing can be difficult. This lead to Braunschwieg and Schober mentioning that there is more active planning and instruction that has to be done on the teacher’s part. It might take me some time to learn how to effectively teach using modeling. Both authors also discussed not being able to cover as much material as traditional teaching would be able to cover. However, Finkbeiner and Schober did report a rise in their student’s test scores, which shows how this might not be that big of an issue. The students may not be learning as much material, but they are learning certain concepts well enough that they are able to predict and figure out other problems.

These articles were a little different from the other articles we have read because the modeling that the authors are using in their classrooms is not computational modeling, but physical and representational modeling. However, the teaching methods are still similar. The students still get to create their experiment, analyze data, discuss what they observed, revise their ideas, and then create a model to represent what they observed. On the other hand, there is a little less of student agency, as the experiments in these articles are paradigm experiments. In my future classrooms, I will have to decide when each modeling method will work the best for different lessons, such as evolution concepts versus physiological systems.

Can the whiteboard part of the modeling cycle be directly translated into a computational modeling unit? Also, all of these examples were of modeling being done in physics classrooms. How easily can parts of the modeling cycle be used in another science, such as Biology, where some concepts are a little less formula based (such as taxonomy)?