How Students Learn History, Mathematics, and Science in the Classroom (2005) / Chapter Skim
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A FINAL SYNTHESIS: REVISITING THE THREE LEARNING PRINCIPLES: 13 Pulling Threads
A FINAL SYNTHESIS: REVISITING THE THREE LEARNING PRINCIPLES: 13 Pulling Threads
Pages 567-590
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From page 569... ...
The collection of chapters in a sense serves as a demonstration of the second principle: that a solid foundation of detailed knowledge and clarity about the core concepts around which that knowledge is organized are both required to support effective learning. The three principles themselves are the core organizing concepts, and the chapter discussions that place them in information-rich contexts give those concepts greater meaning.
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From page 570... ...
Moss's approach to teaching rational number as described in Chapter 7 uses that knowledge of percents to which most students have easy access as an alternative path to learning rational number. She brings students' recessive understanding of proportion in the context of reasoning about percents to the fore and strength ens their knowledge and skill by creating multiple contexts in which propor tional reasoning is employed (pipes and tubes, beakers, strings)
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From page 571... ...
2. Provide opportunities for students to experience discrepant events that allow them to come to terms with the shortcomings in their everyday models.
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From page 572... ...
Scientists are more aware of variation be cause they engage in careful measurement and attend to differences at a level of detail not commonly noticed by the lay person. Stewart and col leagues had students count and sort sunflower seeds by their number of stripes as an easy route to a discrepant event of sorts.
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From page 573... ...
And the scientific theory of evolution is challenged today, as it was in Darwin's time, by those who believe in intelligent design -- that all organisms were made perfectly for their function by an intelligent creator. To allow students to differentiate among these views and understand why Darwin's theory is the one that is accepted scientifically, students work with three opposing theories as they were developed, supported, and argued in Darwin's day: William Paley's model of intelligent design, Jean Baptiste de Lamarck's model of acquired characteristics based on use, and Darwin's theory of natural selection.
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From page 574... ...
The ingenious counselor told the king to have the clueless counselors pick up ten pebbles each. He then had them stand behind a table that was set up where the army was to march past.
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From page 575... ...
But the purpose of the accounts, in this case, is to allow students to experience a time when ideas that they themselves may hold were challenged and changed, and that purpose can be served even if the accounts are somewhat simplified and their contested aspects not treated fully. ORGANIZING KNOWLEDGE AROUND CORE CONCEPTS In the Fish Is Fish story discussed in Chapter 1, we understand quite easily that when the description of a human generates an image of an upright fish wearing clothing, there are some key missing concepts: adaptation, warm-blooded versus cold-blooded species, and the difference in mobility challenges in and out of water.
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From page 576... ...
And he demonstrates very persuasively in his work that students bring preconceptions about the discipline that are just as powerful and difficult to change as those they bring about the specific sub ject matter. For teachers, knowing the core concepts of the discipline itself -- the standards of evidence, what constitutes proof and disproof, and modes of reasoning and engaging in inquiry -- is clearly required.
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From page 577... ...
But as Box 13-1 suggests, others attempted to provide conceptual understanding without adequate mastery of the core concepts themselves. Ma's work provides many examples (in the teaching of multidigit multiplication, division of fractions, and calculation of perimeter and area)
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From page 578... ...
In fact, Tr. Barry's manipulative would not convey any conceptual understanding of the mathematical topic he was supposed to teach.
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From page 579... ...
If teachers simply give students the knowledge to incorporate, the practice and skill development of doing one's own mental search is shortchanged. Group work and discussions encourage students to engage actively in the mental search; they also provide examples from other students' thinking of different searches and search results.
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From page 580... ...
With experience, however, students become produc tive questioners, learning to attend to content and ask genuine questions.
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The dialogue in Box 13-4 provides an example of a student becoming clearer about the meaning of what he observed as the teacher helped structure the articulation.
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If the male can protect his Group work and group or classroom discussions have another potential pitfall that requires teacher attention: some students may dominate the dis cussion and the group decisions, while others may participate little if at all. Having a classmate take charge is no more effective at promoting metacognitive development -- or supporting conceptual change -- than hav ing a teacher take charge.
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From page 583... ...
As students discussed the kind of person Columbus was, Bain asked them to write a 2-minute essay before discussing further. Such an exercise ensures that students who do not engage in the public discussion nonetheless formulate their ideas.
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This was true even though the common time limitation meant that the self-explainers solved fewer problems.
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From page 585... ...
This brings conscious attention to the change in a student's own thinking. Similarly, the reflective assessment aspect of the ThinkerTools curriculum described in Chapter 1 shifts students from group inquiry work to evaluating their group's inquiry individually.
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From page 586... ...
. In many of the examples of student discussion through out this volume -- for example, the discussion in Chapter 2 of students exam ining the role of Hitler in World War II -- one sees individual students becom ing clearer about their own thinking as the discussion develops.
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From page 587... ...
Knowing that students will likely have had no experiences that support grasping the size of an atom, he spends time on this issue, using familiar references for relative size that allow students to envision just how tiny an atom is. But to achieve effective learning by means of lectures alone places a major burden on the teacher to anticipate student thinking and address problems effectively.
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From page 588... ...
3. Liping Ma's work, described in Chapter 1, refers to the set of core concepts and the connected concepts and knowledge that support them as "knowledge packages." 4.
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14. For example, he highlights core concepts conspicuously.
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From page 590... ...
590 HOW STUDENTS LEARN IN THECLASSROOM OTHER RESOURCES National Academy of Sciences.
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