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Student-Centered Learning in an Earth Science, Preservice, Teacher-Education Course

Journal of College Science Teaching—July/August 2009 (Volume 38, Issue 6)

Student-Centered Learning in an Earth Science, Preservice, Teacher-Education Course

In an effort to get elementary teachers to teach more science in the classroom, a required preservice science education course was designed to promote the use of hands-on teaching techniques. This paper describes course content and activities for an innovative, student-centered, Earth science class. However, any science-content course could be adapted in a similar manner to include more student-centered activities.

In an effort to get elementary teachers to teach more science in the classroom, a required preservice science education course was designed to promote the use of hands-on teaching techniques. This paper describes course content and activities for an innovative, student-centered, Earth science class. However, any science-content course could be adapted in a similar manner to include more student-centered activities.

In an effort to get elementary teachers to teach more science in the classroom, a required preservice science education course was designed to promote the use of hands-on teaching techniques. This paper describes course content and activities for an innovative, student-centered, Earth science class. However, any science-content course could be adapted in a similar manner to include more student-centered activities.

If ever a subject could benefit from a strong dose of perspective, it’s evolution. This important new book supplies the necessary insights by bringing together the views of leading scientists, professors, and teachers. Working from the premise that only those students whose schools teach them about the nature of science will truly understand evolution, the collection gathers 12 influential articles first published in the NSTA member journal, The Science Teacher.
If ever a subject could benefit from a strong dose of perspective, it’s evolution. This important new book supplies the necessary insights by bringing together the views of leading scientists, professors, and teachers. Working from the premise that only those students whose schools teach them about the nature of science will truly understand evolution, the collection gathers 12 influential articles first published in the NSTA member journal, The Science Teacher.
 

Science Sampler: Classroom management, rules, consequences, and rewards! Oh, my!

Science Scope—Summer 2009

Teachers must start with an organized classroom. Think through how you want your classroom arranged, how students will turn in work, and where supplies are located. Students should also be instructed how the classroom is set up and who should be retrieving supplies. Having numbered containers with supplies is a quick way to distribute materials and check that everything has been returned at the end of the period. This article outlines additional classroom management plans that will prepare new teachers for the first day of school and throughout the entire school year.
Teachers must start with an organized classroom. Think through how you want your classroom arranged, how students will turn in work, and where supplies are located. Students should also be instructed how the classroom is set up and who should be retrieving supplies. Having numbered containers with supplies is a quick way to distribute materials and check that everything has been returned at the end of the period. This article outlines additional classroom management plans that will prepare new teachers for the first day of school and throughout the entire school year.
Teachers must start with an organized classroom. Think through how you want your classroom arranged, how students will turn in work, and where supplies are located. Students should also be instructed how the classroom is set up and who should be retrieving supplies. Having numbered containers with supplies is a quick way to distribute materials and check that everything has been returned at the end of the period. This article outlines additional classroom management plans that will prepare new teachers for the first day of school and throughout the entire school year.
 

Staying up-to-date on professional issues

By Mary Bigelow

Posted on 2009-06-30

I subscribe to many blogs and other RSS feeds to try to stay up-to-date. In a previous post, I noted how RSS feeds from organizations such as NASA, Scientific American, and the National Science Foundation provide summaries of current issues and interesting topics in science.
There are many other resources that can give us up-to-date information on issues related to teaching and learning. I particularly like the Inside School Research blog from Education Week. It includes brief summaries of current research with a link to the full report or study. Recent topics include independent-study schools, teacher mobility, the value of frequent quizzes, cell phones in the classroom, and value-added measures.
I also like the ASCD (Association for Curriculum and Supervision) Inservice blog. Recent topics include Tracking “Makes You Feel Like You’re Not Smart”, Hypotheses: They’re Not Just for Science Anymore, Practice, Practice, Practice (Or: Homework, Homework, Homework?), Middle School Math and the Achievement Gap with links to reports or book chapters with more details.
I’ve also started to follow some interesting “tweets” on Twitter. Yes, I know that people post trivial and mundane information (I’m eating lunch. I’m at the beach.), but I’ve found some interesting folks to follow (e.g., NSTA’s Lab Out Loud guys) as well as organizations such as NSTA, ASCD, and the Cornell Lab of Ornithology that provide leads on interesting information. And I’ve started to tweet with some of my own “finds.”
Of course, you don’t have time to read everything, but when you can get summaries or abstracts to skim, you can pick and choose what is relevant.
Please share any of your favorites!

I subscribe to many blogs and other RSS feeds to try to stay up-to-date. In a previous post, I noted how RSS feeds from organizations such as NASA, Scientific American, and the National Science Foundation provide summaries of current issues and interesting topics in science.

If you’re waiting to be convinced that computers offer more than pricey bells and whistles in the classroom, this is the book that will open your mind to technology’s potential. But even if you’re an early (and avid) adopter, you’ll discover intriguing new concepts for technology-based teaching strategies that help students really learn science concepts.

The featured technologies range from the easy to master (such as digital cameras) to the more complex (such as Probeware and geographic information systems). Among the chapter topics:
If you’re waiting to be convinced that computers offer more than pricey bells and whistles in the classroom, this is the book that will open your mind to technology’s potential. But even if you’re an early (and avid) adopter, you’ll discover intriguing new concepts for technology-based teaching strategies that help students really learn science concepts.

The featured technologies range from the easy to master (such as digital cameras) to the more complex (such as Probeware and geographic information systems). Among the chapter topics:
If you work with linguistically and culturally diverse students, you and your students will benefit from the foundation this book provides for teaching both science and language. Science for English Language Learners brings you the best practices from different but complementary fields of science education and English language teaching, integrating the two.

The book is designed so you can easily dip in and out of the topics you want. It’s organized into four sections:

1. Principles and practices that science and English teaching share
If you work with linguistically and culturally diverse students, you and your students will benefit from the foundation this book provides for teaching both science and language. Science for English Language Learners brings you the best practices from different but complementary fields of science education and English language teaching, integrating the two.

The book is designed so you can easily dip in and out of the topics you want. It’s organized into four sections:

1. Principles and practices that science and English teaching share
A classic resource for teachers is now back in an updated edition! Using an inductive and experimental approach, Animal Coloration aims to increase students’ awareness of the ways wild organisms are adapted to their environments. Even though the activities suggest a specific teaching procedure, each activity is also intended to be an investigation by the students and an opportunity for them to make and test hypotheses based on their observations. Through these activities, students will begin to appreciate how scientific knowledge and understanding are attained.
A classic resource for teachers is now back in an updated edition! Using an inductive and experimental approach, Animal Coloration aims to increase students’ awareness of the ways wild organisms are adapted to their environments. Even though the activities suggest a specific teaching procedure, each activity is also intended to be an investigation by the students and an opportunity for them to make and test hypotheses based on their observations. Through these activities, students will begin to appreciate how scientific knowledge and understanding are attained.
Behind the stereotype of girls’ not doing well in science are some reasons, mostly based on one fact: They are often—and most often inadvertently—treated differently in the classroom. The authors of Girls in Science engaged in years of working under a grant funded by the National Science Foundation on this all-too-real problem of gender-equitable science teaching.
Behind the stereotype of girls’ not doing well in science are some reasons, mostly based on one fact: They are often—and most often inadvertently—treated differently in the classroom. The authors of Girls in Science engaged in years of working under a grant funded by the National Science Foundation on this all-too-real problem of gender-equitable science teaching.
Introduce your students to the magic of stories—delivered through educational case studies that will help you put science into vivid context. Start With A Story offers an abundance of strategies, tips, examples, ideas, and resources to free your students (and you) from dry lecture formats.

Start With A Story is a collection of more than 40 essays published primarily as columns in NSTA’s member publication, Journal of College Science Teaching. The collection examines every aspect of the case study method.
Introduce your students to the magic of stories—delivered through educational case studies that will help you put science into vivid context. Start With A Story offers an abundance of strategies, tips, examples, ideas, and resources to free your students (and you) from dry lecture formats.

Start With A Story is a collection of more than 40 essays published primarily as columns in NSTA’s member publication, Journal of College Science Teaching. The collection examines every aspect of the case study method.
 

Critical science "skills"

By MsMentorAdmin

Posted on 2009-06-27

What are the critical skills you think students need to be successful in science?
—Niki, Baltimore, Maryland

In science department meetings, we often agonize over what and how much content to “cover.” We lament that students don’t seem to remember much content from one year or subject to the next. Inquiry and in-depth study often take a back seat to presenting content that will be on a final exam or state test.
When identifying skills critical to science, I wonder if we should include traditional skills such as balancing equations, calculating answers to problems, measuring, or memorizing definitions? Communications and mathematics are certainly critical in science, but they should be put in context. Most of us as adults read for a purpose such as entertainment or information. Most of our writing is purposeful, too: memos, reports, logs, journals, self-expression. Few of us do arithmetic calculations without a specific purpose (although I am addicted to KenKen puzzles).
One of my favorite quotations (often attributed to Albert Einstein) is “Education is what’s left after you’ve forgotten everything.” In other words, even though we might not remember everything, we take basic experiences from a learning environment with us into new situations. When I switched from teaching middle to high school, the principal asked about my philosophy of learning. I had never written any formal document, so I listed the “big picture” skills I wanted my students to take away from my classes. I also posted these in my classroom, discussing them with the students:

  • Problem solving: Not in the sense of the problems at the end of the chapter or “problems” such as global warming or pandemic diseases, but the ability to work through a situation by asking questions, defining problems, investigating, engaging in inquiry, observing, finding and evaluating information, communicating (both verbally and graphically), and active listening.
  • Risk-taking: We need to get students out of their intellectual comfort zones and try something where the answers may not be known ahead of time, if at all.
  • Imagination/creativity: Kindergarten students are wonderful at this, and then we somehow program it out of students. We insist they do things exactly as we tell them to do, or we give students a template (a good thing to start with), then never allow them to deviate from it or customize it to their own learning.
  • Dedication: It’s easy for students to be distracted, but seeing a task through to completion, knowing one’s strengths, working on one’s weaknesses, and striving for more than mediocrity are real boosts to self-esteem—even better than someone saying “good job.”
  • Enthusiasm (my students preferred the word enjoyment, which was fine with me): Learning is interesting and it’s part of what makes us human. Not all learning experiences are necessarily “fun,” but good teachers can make any topic interesting by showing their own passion and through engaging classroom activities.
These “skills” are not measurable in the sense of a standardized test, and they evolve as students progress through the years, gaining more exposure to content and in learning subject-specific skills. They require modeling by the teacher: if a teacher is not a risk-taker or has little enthusiasm for a topic, it’s hard for students to develop that attribute. I found it was important to make the classroom a “safe” place where students can develop and use these skills, to put them in the context of the content topics, to recognize and support student efforts in these areas, and to help students see the connections among the content, other topics in science, other content areas, and within their own lives.

Lifelong and independent learning beyond the classroom is based on these skills. We have to realize that not all students will pursue a science-related career or even have the same passion for the subject we have. But they will be voters, taxpayers, parents, employees, business owners, travelers, professionals, and hobbyists who will need not only basic content knowledge but also the skills to be lifelong learners in science-related issues. How many of our schools’ mission statements contain that phrase? What are we doing to make sure this happens?

What are the critical skills you think students need to be successful in science?
—Niki, Baltimore, Maryland

In science department meetings, we often agonize over what and how much content to “cover.” We lament that students don’t seem to remember much content from one year or subject to the next. Inquiry and in-depth study often take a back seat to presenting content that will be on a final exam or state test.

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