How Students Learn Science Chapter 7 How Adolescents Learn Science

How Students Learn Science

Chapter 7

How Adolescents Learn Science


Case to Consider: A New Approach to Learning

Ruth Wilson took a graduate course for teachers in the summer. In the course, she became extremely interested in a theory of learning, called constructivism. One of the basic notions underlying the theory was that students “constructed and made meaning” of their experiences. The theory implies that learning experiences should provide freedom and support for the students as they form their conceptions or gain understanding of the subject matter.

Prior to the opening of school, Ms. Wilson changed her curriculum plans based on the constructivist theory. Ms. Wilson sought to develop a teaching approach that would develop her students’ capacity to work at science learning in a manner that more fully represented the nature of science. In some instances she designed instruction that allowed students to make choices among learning activities, and specialize in aspects of certain topics such that particular students and groups might develop deeper knowledge

• The Problem• How would you deal with this situation?

What would you say to the parent? Is Ms. Wilson on sound footing regarding her theory of teaching? How do explain your teaching theory to your principal? What is your personal view on this approach to teaching and learning?

about areas of interest. At the end of the two weeks, she helped the student groups to decide and select curricular topics and related learning activities that interested them.

Much to Ms. Wilson’s surprise, a rather irate parent called the school principal early in the semester, complaining that her son felt like Ms. Wilson didn’t know what she was doing. The parent complained that her son was not learning anything, and demanded a conference with this teacher.


How to Read This Chapter

• This chapter considers theories of learning and learning styles relating to adolescents science learners.

• John Dewey wrote about science learning in the early part of the last century, and from then on, science education researchers have worked with practicing science teachers to try to explain how students learn. You will find the learning theories divided into three categories:

– constructivist– socio-cultural– behavioral

• You might want to look at any one of these three approaches to learning, and see how they relate to your own ideas about learning. You also might be interested in exploring ideas on student learning styles, and how these ideas influence science instruction. You will also find that Chapter 8, Models of Teaching, is correlated with the theories that are presented here. This chapter is more theory-oriented; the next chapter is more practical. Together they serve as a resource to help you connect theory and practice.


Invitations to Inquiry

• How important is it for the secondary science teacher to understand learning theory?

• What did Dewey, Bruner, Piaget, Vygotsky, and von Glasersfeld offer for our understanding of learning?

• What is constructivism, and why has it emerged as one of the most significant explanations of student learning?

• What is meant by multiple intelligences? How will these impact student learning and your teaching practice?

• How do learning styles influence adolescents’ achievement in school science?

• What is metacognition, and how can it help students learn science?


Chapter 7 Map


Inquiry 7.1: How Do Adolescents Learn Science?

• Interview adolescent learners in middle or high schools, their teachers and parents to elicit a variety of perspectives on how adolescents learn science.

• Refer to this activity in the text for suggested questions and procedures.


Learners, Schooling, and Education

“Learning science meaningfully is simply not achievable for the vast majority of students in the context of traditional school science.”

“Education is one with growing. The criterion of the value of a school education is the extent in which it creates a desire for continual growth and supplies the means for making the desire effective in fact.”


Dimensions of Science LearningThey can learn about: They can learn how to: Processes they undergo:

• Knowledge Products of Scientific Inquiry (Facts, Principles, Theories)

• Nature of the Scientific Enterprise (Methods, Habits of Thought, Approaches to Problems)

• Values and Attitudes (of the Scientific Community, Society at Large, Local Community, One's Racial or Cultural Group, One's Family)

• Applications and Risks of Science and Technology (Societal Context, Personal Context)

• Science Careers (What Scientists Do, Who Scientists are, How Scientists Get Educated)

• Themselves (Interest in Science, Capacity to Do Science)

• Act Upon or Apply Information (Evaluate, Manipulate, Solve Problems)

• Learn (Strategies to Seek and Acquire New Information, and to Seek and Acquire New Skills

• Produce Knowledge (Question, Test, Evaluate)

• Internalize Values (About the Utility and Risks of Science and Technology, Habits of Thought and Conceptual Skills, and Who Does Science

• Assess Self (Interest in Science, Capacity to Do Science)

• Make Choices (About Studying Science, Science Careers, and Applying Science Knowledge and Skills to Daily Life)


Theories of Learning

Learning Theory or Perspective Key Ideas

Constructivist Perspective

1. Constructivism-Von Glasersfeld

2. Cognitive Theories-Piaget, Bruner

Construction of knowledge with individual mechanisms or social influence; Changes in mental structures

Sociocultural

1. Sociocultural Theories-Vygotsky

2. Feminist Perspective

3. Deweyan Theory of Experience

Social organization is the agent for change for the individual.

Knowledge is “gendered”.

Learner engages in “an experience”.

Behavioral Perspectives

Operant Conditioning-Skinner

Changes in overt behavior of the learner as a result of experience


The Deweyan Theory of Experience

• Dewey said that teachers cannot “give ideas directly to students as if they were bricks”.

• How does nonschool learning, informal learning, incidental learning, and transformative experiences relate to Dewey’s theory of experience?

• Design an activity that takes Dewey’s ideas into consideration.


Inquiry 7.2: Concepts versus Big Ideas

• In this inquiry you will learn to distinguish between scientific concepts and Dewey’s notion of a “big idea”.

• Review Table 7.3.• Consult content Standards or a

state curriculum guide, select one or more concepts, and use them to identify big ideas that correspond to them.

• Discuss strategies for teaching for conceptual understanding and appreciation of the big idea.


Big Ideas

Big Ideas


Discovery Learning

• Find out what the following ideas mean, and how it helps explain Bruner’s notion of discovery learning: – Curiosity & Uncertainty

– Structure of Knowledge

– Sequencing

– Motivation


Cognitive Learning Theory

1) Importance of Content Knowledge

2) Integration of Skills and Content

3) Intrinsic Nature of Motivation

4) Role of Learning Groups


Cognitive ProcessesLearning occurs not by passive reception of transmitted information, but by active interaction with objects and ideas. The nature of this interaction is an adaptation involving three mental processes described by Piaget.

• Assimilation• Accommodation• Equilibrium

Teachers involved in a constructivist and discovery summer workshop at Georgia State University.


The Learning Cycle

Figure 7.3. The Learning Cycle & the 5E and 7E Models

Atkin and Karplus Bybee – 5E Eisenkraft – 7E

ExplorationInventionDiscovery

EngageExplore Explain Elaborate Evaluate

ElicitEngageExploreExplainElaborateEvaluateExtend


Conceptual Change Teaching• Help the student become dissatisfied with their

existing conception.

• Help the student achieve a minimal initial understanding of the scientific conception.

• Make the scientific conception plausible to the student.

• Show the scientific conception as fruitful or useful in understanding a variety of situations.



Vygotsky & Sociocultural Perspectives on Learning

Vygotsky was among the first to assert that schooling provided the environment for a dialogue between the student’s pre-existing conceptions and the logic of scientific concepts.

He argued that the development of scientific concepts could be achieved in cooperation with adult interaction, and indeed with others (peers and other adults).

Vygotsky coined the phrase “zone of proximal development,” meaning the place where the student’s rich experiential knowledge meets the systematic and logical thinking of the adult world. Central to the “zo-ped” would be dialogue which would enable the student to develop “upwardly” their spontaneous concept meeting the abstract scientific concepts in their “downward” development toward concreteness.

The implication for science teachers is to make science knowledge available on the social plane, and to provide opportunities for students to make sense of science via thoughtful discussion with their classmates, teacher, even parents, siblings, and other children.


Role of Cooperative Learning in the Sociocultural Perspective

• “One of the key implications of the sociocultural perspective on student learning is collaboration within groups in the classroom. Collaborative learning (cooperative learning) is viewed as a promising application of sociocultural theory”

• Give support for this notion. • What is the meaning of

sociocultural theory?


Feminist Perspectives and Participation

Does the scientific enterprise generate value-free truths or situated knowledge embedded in cultural values?

Feminist pedagogies “… attempt to give more consideration to students’ ideas and needs than traditional teaching. The teacher acts less like a dispenser of knowledge and more like a midwife, helping students in delivering their own ideas.”


Multicultural Perspectives on Learning

In a constructivist view, a multicultural perspective would see science classrooms as socially constructed, which would mean that the multiple forms of knowledge would be incorporated into a teacher’s approach.

Multicultural classrooms would value consensual and democratic learning, and would focus on cooperative learning instead of direct instruction.


Inquiry 7.3: Meeting of the Minds

• What would they talk about if you brought together a theorist from the following perspectives:

• Constructivism

• Behaviorism

• Socioculturalism

• Feminism

• Role play, and use the procedures provided to facilitate the activity.

• Upon reflection, which theorists provided the most powerful argument explaining how students learn?


Inquiry 7.4: Ideas about Learning Styles

• Draw a concept map about Factors Affecting Student Learning Styles

• Draw a second concept map about Ways to Accommodate Students with Different Learning Styles

• Discuss with colleagues, applying emerging conceptions to your work with adolescents.

Learning Style Test MI Test

http://www.engr.ncsu.edu/learningstyles/ilsweb.html

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks3/ict/multiple_int/index.htm


Psychology of Learning Styles

• Consult Figure 7.3, Learning Style Model developed by Rita and Ken Dunn. Use the model to discovery elements of student learning styles including:

– Environmental elements

– Emotional elements

– Physical elements

– Sociological elements

– Psychological elements

• How can these elements be of practical value in setting up a classroom? In planning lessons?


Brain Hemisphericity

• Look at the lists to the right. Check off those items that you prefer over the others. Do you prefer left or right brain things, or was there no difference?

• Find out who was Joseph Bogan and Roger Sperry.

• How do researchers think the brain hemisphericity might impact:

– Motivation

– Creativity

– Rationality

– Emotions and feelings

The Left Hemisphere The Right HemisphereDoes verbal thingsLike sequenceSees the treesLikes structureAnalyzesIs rationalIs theoretical

Sees RelationshipsGrabs for the wholeLikes random patternsSees the forestIs fluid and spontaneousIs Intuitive


4MAT

• 4MAT is a learning style system that identifies 4 types of learners:

– Imaginative learners– Analytic learners– Common sense learners– Dynamic Learners

• Refer to Figure 7.4 and describe the variables that define each type of learner.

• Design a lesson in which you take into account the four types of learners.

• Visit the 4MAT site at: About Learning, Inc.

http://www.aboutlearning.com/


Metacognitive Strategies

• Mind Mapping

• Illustrating & Drawing

• Brainstorming

• Planning

• Generating questions

• Evaluating action

• Teaching capability

• Communication skills

• Journal keeping

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How Students Learn Science Chapter 7 How Adolescents Learn Science