Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards A Guide for Teaching and Learning (2000) / Chapter Skim
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5 Preparing Teachers for Inquiry-Based Teaching
5 Preparing Teachers for Inquiry-Based Teaching
Pages 86-113
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From page 87... ...
The chapter begins, however, with a The National Science Education broad overview of the role profesStandards -- and particularly the sional development can play in redistandards for the professional develop- recting teaching and learning toward ment of science teachers -- are a inquiry. useful organizer for these questions.
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From page 88... ...
The program consisted of six-week full-time summer institutes and seminars during the academic year. My first important insight occurred when I was involved in a long-term inquiry at the beginning of the first summer.
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From page 89... ...
They also identified how they thought they could answer their questions, what experiments they could design, and data they could collect that would provide sufficient evidence to explain what was happening. It was obvious from the high level of student engagement in their investigations and from their performance and feedback that they were making sense of the physics concepts and building their inquiry skills simultaneously.
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From page 90... ...
I informally assessed my students' knowledge almost daily. Frequently, I began lessons with activities to set the context for helping students discuss conceptual ideas and make my presentations more meaningful.
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From page 91... ...
He is using inquiry, from field work to inquiries inquiry in all three of the ways speci- fed by the literature to inquiries into fied by the Standards by teaching his own classroom behaviors, such as inquiry abilities, an understanding of his research on teacher-student talk inquiry, and science subject matter time. through inquiry.
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From page 92... ...
The next three vignettes in this chapter de scribe a range of science courses and professional development experiences that give teachers an opportunity to learn the major ideas of science disciplines through inquiry. The first vignette tells the story of a university based physicist who teaches teachers within the structure of a university course.
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From page 93... ...
Whether intended or not, teaching methods are learned by example. The common tendency to teach physics from the top down, and to teach by telling in lectures, runs counter to the way precollege students (and many university students)
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From page 94... ...
They are guided in developing more complex concepts, such as electrical power and energy. Proceeding step-by-step through deductive and inductive reasoning, the students construct a conceptual model that they can apply to predict relative brightness in any circuit consisting of batteries and bulbs.
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From page 95... ...
This how the program is structured. guided inquiry is essential at the In Lillian's story, we see the instruc- introductory level so that the students tors' decision to guide the learning can later use their developing knowlprocess so that the college students edge and conceptual understanding to are forced to confront difficult concep- dig more deeply into the key ideas of tual ideas and to go through the physical science.
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From page 96... ...
The key to the questions was first understanding the content. The content had been the focus of the summer institute and as a result I had devel oped a conceptual understanding of several basic science concepts including balance, mass, and volume.
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From page 97... ...
How ever, in subtle ways, over a period of many years, I began to teach in the way in which I had been taught in the summer institutes. I know that early on I began to pay attention to the questions that I asked, for the questions stood out in my mind as the tools that, when deftly wielded, resulted in the desired state of understanding in me.
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From page 98... ...
I have come to a much clearer recognition of what will "fly" and what will not as a result of the research-based curriculum I worked through in the summer institutes. These materials were carefully designed to build conceptual under standing in logical, sequential steps.
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From page 99... ...
. Still others result is mastery of subject matter A Kindergarten Teacher Learns Inquiry at a Science Museum: Joanna's Story How do I design a classroom environment that facilitates children's efforts to conduct investigations?
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From page 100... ...
We all had been intrigued with an exhibit called colored shadows; it didn't make sense to us that colored lights (red, blue, green, etc.) could cast different colored shadows (yellow, magenta, cyan, etc.)
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From page 101... ...
Or it can be done several essential aspects of inquiry- through professional development based teaching: designed especially to help teachers teach through inquiry. The following · How both science subject matter vignette illustrates the former through and inquiry outcomes can be built into the continuation of Joanna's story: learning experiences.
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From page 102... ...
The National Science Education Standards call for young children to gain an understanding of the properties of objects and materials as well as of light. We pursue these understandings in part through our mixing of different colored paints and then the mixing of colored lights.
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From page 103... ...
Joanna's story demonstrates her the most regularly taught topics in continuing development of "pedagogi- one's subject area, the most useful cal content knowledge," a term coined forms of representation of those by Lee Shulman (1986) to represent a ideas, the most powerful analogies, third component of teaching expertise illustrations, examples, explana tions, and demonstrations -- in a that is unique to teachers.
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From page 104... ...
But many other strategies also are being used throughout the country to help both prospective and practicing teachers learn more about teaching science through inquiry. the observations that piqued her Loucks-Horsley et al.
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From page 105... ...
the effect of those responses on the The following vignette illustrates students. They also can consider the several of the ways teachers can teaching decisions that were or could learn and practice their teaching of be made to help the students learn.
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From page 106... ...
Then we were each asked to choose a lesson that interested us from early in the unit and come prepared after teaching it to lead an in-depth discussion among the teachers at our next session three weeks later. We were to bring some "artifact" to focus discussion -- for example, some student work, a video or audiotape of a teaching episode, or some student assessments.
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From page 107... ...
While we were teaching, we had support from our school's science coordinator, who had taken an in-depth one-week summer session on the curriculum and participated in monthly follow-up seminars with the other coordinators. Jenny had a strong science background and had previously pilot tested the curriculum materials we were learning to use.
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From page 108... ...
It was a terrific discussion and emphasized for us how important it is to consider our students' thinking, our role as teachers in building on their ideas and helping them to learn, and how important it is to increase their inquiry abilities so they can investigate more carefully and discover important science ideas from the National Science Education Standards. Sandy's story illustrates how the teacher to seek more knowledge use of a new curriculum can provide a about science content and teaching vehicle for students to learn, at the approaches.
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From page 109... ...
Teachers at any level may know an enormous amount about · It provides teachers with learn- some things but not others, and the ing experiences different from the stage of their careers should not more traditional college course or in- dictate what they will learn and in service workshop to include one-on- what depth they will learn it. one experiences such as coaching, The Standards emphasize the collaborative work such as study importance of lifelong learning by groups, and "job-embedded" learning making it one of four professional such as action research.
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From page 110... ...
In Joanna's case, a teacher who had not previously experienced inquiry had her eyes opened to its possibilities as a source of ongoing learning. Through professional development, she acquired the confidence to con tinue to inquire into science concepts.
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From page 111... ...
We decided to take soil samples that we could analyze back in the laboratory. When we reached the dump site again, the geologists asked us to describe the general topography of the land and compare it to the contour lines on a topographic map.
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From page 112... ...
addition, it often does not explicitly help teachers learn inquiry abilities and understandings. Programs are needed PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT that explicitly attend to inquiry -- both PROGRAMS FOR INQUIRY as a learning outcome for teachers and BASED TEACHING as a way for teachers to learn science Professional development often subject matter.
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From page 113... ...
All of the programs university courses for prospective helped teachers learn science subject teachers, to immersion in inquiry in a matter, develop inquiry abilities, and science museum, to a three-year do so through their own opportunities masters program. Yet all share some to inquire.
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