Download P4.1_3.0d 'Children's Ideas' Authored by Keith Ross, Uni. of Gloucestershire. Accessed from date created Aug

Download P4.1_3.0d 'Children's Ideas' Authored by Keith Ross, Uni. of Gloucestershire. Accessed from http://www.ase.org.uk/sci-tutors/ date created Aug 2004. [ This document can be freely copied and amended if used for educational purposes. It must not be used for commercial gain. The author(s) and web source must be acknowledged whether used as it stands or whether adapted in any way. ]

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A constructivist approach to science teaching A constructivist approach to science teaching

• Elicitation - starts from the naive conceptions of learners.

• Intervention.• Reformulation.• Evaluation.


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Ross, K., Lakin, E. and Callaghan, P. 2004 Teaching Secondary Science (second edition) London: David Fulton –chapter 7. Fig 7.1


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Impact and ElicitationImpact and Elicitation

Come into the class carrying two ice hands

If you put a glove on one ice hand, will that make the ice melt slower, faster or make no difference?


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Elicitation - Tell each OtherElicitation - Tell each Other

Tell each other:

Compared with the unwrapped ice hand,

will the wrapped ice: • melt faster?• melt at the same rate?• melt more slowly?

Explain why you think this way.


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Tell each other why it is better than ‘Hands up’ (and why it sometimes isn’t)

Tell each other why it is better than ‘Hands up’ (and why it sometimes isn’t)

• all think it out for themselves • rehearse a verbal response without making a fool

or exhibition of themselves. • Those without an answer hear one from their

neighbour (instead of silence)• pupils who were not asked say to themselves “yes

- that’s what I said”, or “I didn’t think that”.

• Chaos?


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Insulation means making you warmInsulation means making you warm

A true storyA true story: The water in the tank of the toilet had frozen. Later that day someone had put a blanket round the ice-filled tank. Will that make it easier or harder for the ice to melt.?

Ross, K., “Brenda Grapples with the Properties of a mern” p. 80 in Littledyke, M., and Huxford, L. (1998) “Teaching the Primary Curriculum for Constructive Learning” London: David Fulton


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Ice Cream ElicitationIce Cream Elicitation

How do you keep things warm when you’ve got a ......?

You wrap them in towels and things like that / ....?.... / newspapers

Now how does the newspaper keep things warm? What’s the things it keeps warm?

Fish and chips


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So if you wrap fish & chips up in newspaper and you bring it home it’s warm when you get home is it?

yes / yes

What about ice cream?

... ? ... / it melts


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If you wrapped it up in some newspaper how would that help it to melt?

.... .... / It would insulate it / it would make it warm

Where would the warmth come from

… from the air trapped inside ..

… but the air might get cold?


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Insulate means Insulate means

To the children - to make hot

To the scientist - prevent flow of heat energy.


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Intervention Intervention

Aim is to challenge (or support) their views

Get each group of pupils to set up some ice - wrapped and unwrapped.


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Re-construction and Application

Re-construction and Application

• the blanket material prevents heat from flowing

• oven gloves, gloves for making snowballs• Your bed, covered in a blanket all day is not

warm when you get in at night• cool boxes used to keep things hot• ’fridges and ovens are lagged.


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The CandleThe Candle

What is the function of the wax?

To hold what is burning To slow the rate of burning To burn - it's the actual fuel

What is the function of the wick?



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Wax is FireproofWax is Fireproof

What is burning?

The wick… /…

What did you say, Sarah?

The wax and the wick / both are burning


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Both are burning?

You said just now that the wax did not burn

It doesn’t burn fast…it melts it / melts it / otherwise if it burns it’d be.. / yes, but if it did it would all flame up – the wax stops it from burning up...

yes and when they both burn up it creates a fume

the only way it can get past is by melting it / is by melting it / it doesn’t burn fast then it just melts it won’t catch alight it’s fireproof


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So wax is fireproof is it?

well it melts / it melts / doesn’t flame up / ‘cos the flame goes up not down so that’s why if you held a bit of candle there [to side of candle] the flame would go up the side of the wax and melt it

So what is the purpose of the wax?

to stop it burning


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ConceptionConception

• Concepts are products of existing ideas stored in our brains and the raw data we receive through our senses

• When we experience blankets keeping us warm, we imagine the warmth coming from the blanket

• ... so we assume that wrapped ice will also melt.

From: Ross, K., “Brenda Grapples with the Properties of a mern” p. 71 fig 6.2 in Littledyke, M., and Huxford, L. (1998) “Teaching the Primary Curriculum for Constructive Learning” London: David Fulton


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TemperatureTemperature

ii. when the water from the two cups are mixed

from Figure 4.2 of Stavey, R. and Berkovitz, B. (1980) ‘Cognitive conflict as the basis for teaching cognitive aspects of the concept of temperature.’ Science Education 64 (5) 679-92 )

i. when water at 600C in a jar is shared between two cups


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View graph

CDromOriginal figure by Keith Ross


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Figure 4.7 Graph showing the percentage of survey pupils who conserved mass/weight of sugar when it dissolved (from Holding, B. Unpublished PhD thesis University of Leeds School of Education 1987)


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CDromCDrom

• Mass of gas (CD and demo)• Exhaust gas question (CD)

CD available from:

www.glos.ac.uk/science-issues


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Constructivism and Planet careConstructivism and Planet care• Our use of resources is leading to

• depletion of supplies of raw material • consequent pollution of land sea and air

• resources could come ‘from anywhere’ • and could be ‘burnt away’ or left to decay

‘into thin air’• It is not a sound approach to environmental

issues to have to tell people what to do to be ‘green’.


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Try making the bulb light using only one wire and the cell

Try making the bulb light using only one wire and the cell


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Electricity - Progression in children's ideasElectricity - Progression in children's ideas

• Children begin with a source-sink model for the flow of electricity

S w i t c h

W a l l W i r e

L a m p

From Littledyke et al (2004) Teaching Primary Science. Cheltenham: University of Gloucestershire


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Two meanings of ‘electricity’Two meanings of ‘electricity’

• Electrical energy that is transferred• Electric current that flows round a complete circuit• The CD and workbook tackle this conceptual problem• let’s see:


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Smartie ModelSmartie Model

- +

A B

Keith Ross original drawing


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Which are animals?Which are animals?

• Cow• Boy• Whale• Spider• Worm

To you?

To a 6 year old?

To a Y7?

Tell each other


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Osborne, R. and Freyburg, P. Learning in Science. Aukland: Heinemann – chapter 3. Fig 3.2


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Figure 4.4 How does the light and our eyes help us see? (From Guesne, E. 1985 ‘Light’ in Driver, R et al (eds) (1985) Children’s Ideas in Science,

Milton Keynes: Open University Press. )


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The eyes as receptors of light


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Using light to ‘see with’


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The children are standing on the Earth.

They are all holding stones.

They let go of them.

Draw lines to show where they all go.

Nussbaum, J. (1985) ‘The Earth as a Cosmic Body’ in Driver, R et al (eds) (1985)Children’s Ideas in Science, Milton Keynes: Open University Press.


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“The Earth is round”

Nussbaum, J. (1985) ‘The Earth as a Cosmic Body’ in Driver, R et al (eds) (1985)Children’s Ideas in Science, Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Fig 9.10 page 182


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Children’s notion of up and down

Nussbaum, J. (1985) ‘The Earth as a Cosmic Body’ in Driver, R et al (eds) (1985)Children’s Ideas in Science, Milton Keynes: Open University Press. Fig 9.9 p 180


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What are the forces acting on a ball thrown upwards?

Half-way up

At the top

Half-way down

Push from hand

Push from hand

Gravity


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Finding out children’s ideasFinding out children’s ideas

• TPS page P14• Interview, not teach• Ask for reasons• Be interested but supply no ‘right’ answers


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The misty mountain of scienceThe misty mountain of science

• and the valley where we live with our everyday ideas

[Ref Ross, K., “Brenda Grapples with the Properties of a mern” p. 80 in Littledyke, M., and Huxford, L. (1998) “Teaching the Primary Curriculum for Constructive Learning” London: David Fulton]


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Telling children scientific ideas. Telling children scientific ideas.

• This is like landing them on a mountain top in the mist, with no idea where they are

• It will be isolated knowledge, and likely to be forgotten in a few years.


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Progressive, child-centred or discovery methods Progressive, child-centred or discovery methods

• letting them play in the valleys. They never see the mountain tops which are covered in mist.


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Constructivist approaches to learning Constructivist approaches to learning

• take children’s existing ideas into account - their view of their valley of understanding

• children can then be led up the mountain, in sight of the valley below, and now are able to see how the whole landscape links up and how limited their existing view was


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Science Science

• Not learnt by heart• A set of ideas and models

which attempt to explain natural phenomena.


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The real world helps us make sense of the way it works The real world helps us make sense of the way it works

• Would we avoid entering a butcher’s shop, despite the notice “No animals allowed”?

• Would we refrain from saying “I need some warmer clothes for Christmas”?

Documents

Download P4.1_3.0d 'Children's Ideas' Authored by Keith Ross, Uni. of Gloucestershire. Accessed from date created Aug