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Background information:
Two sessions were designed to teach grade 5/6 students a scientific topic through a bio-ethics and ecojustice approach using constructivist principles.
With my group we deveoped the first lesson which aimed to address the issue of deforestation.
Outline of lesson 1:
Artefact:
Other equipment:1. scrap materials e.g. straws/blocks/wool/toothpicks 2. Building materials: bluetac/stickytape/scissors
Form and function + Bioethics and Ecojustice approach
Aim: Students will explore the form and function of forests and the issues in relation to bioethics and ecojustice
Process:
1. ‘The neighbourhood is in need of water, how could you provide them with enough water for them to wash their dishes, have showers and maintain a healthy garden?’Allow students to explore the environment, build structures and problem solve in order to provide enough water to the neighbourhood. Teaching strategy: Listen for dialogue to inform discussion (approx. 10mins)
2. Use visual and auditory cues to evoke students’ visualisation of the forest. Discuss the forest – what is it like? And direct students’ to think about the benefits of the forest. How does water affect the forest?
3. Challenge task: extend scenarios to challenge the children – to have them put scenario in real life contexte.g. building restrictions/money restrictions/ use of water/ must cut through forest/ must not cut through forest
Socio-constructivist influence on two science sessions
Principles Learning is an active process
Reflective activity and metacognition
Problematised
Learning is contextual
Motivation
How they have been shownStudents ‘explore’ the environment in a play based scenario – constructing their buildings and manipulating the environment as they desired.
We provided an experience that encouraged:- Ask questions about processes- Problem solve by thinking allowed- Flexibility in their approach to learning- Learn to summarise- Reflection on learning;
Students will reflect on what they know about forests based on a series of guided questions”. Our first session had time for reflection to occur after each problem solving task as a group, a whole class and also using a ‘think-pair-share’ approach in order to engage all children in the critical reflective process. For our second session, the initial activity requires reflection of their previous knowledge and then in small groups reflect on what they have learnt about the form and function of forests.
Within lesson one, we initially posed a problem for the students to try and solve together. After further reflection we scaffolded their learning through increasing the complexity of the problem. Within session two, the students are faced with many problems and are required to distinguish between their effects in order to help students work towards comprising solutions.
Although we were assigned the specific scientific approach and topic, we aimed to contextualise the topic as much as possible for the students we were expecting. In order to do this, we researched the area where the school was and found that there were numerous parks and reserves around the area, with surrounding neighbourhoods nearby. This then formed the basis of our idea to pose the problem between the form and function of the natural environment, and how it is impacted and can impact the community based on their co-existence.
Not only have we aimed our lesson plans to be engaging for students, but they have a clear aim of motivating students’ learning through being
Prior knowledge is key
relevant to their lives. We have, in both lessons, aimed to show students how the content is relevant to their own lives, and what they can do in order to protect the environment
Within our initial lesson plan, students’ prior knowledge was highlighted through their dialog whilst problem solving the initial task, as well as during the reflection and questioning time. For example, many of the students constructed and proposed the use of water tanks in order for water to be delivered to the town; in analysing this through questioning, we discovered the prior knowledge of some of the students – as one student stated: ‘ I have a tank in my backyard’ – ‘ it also collects rain water’ This knowledge was then scaffolded through the questions posed during reflection time, in order to extend their thinking.
Prior knowledge was crucial in developing the second lesson. We reflected on the children’s prior knowledge and linked it with what they wanted to know, as well as the learning outcomes we hoped for them to achieve. We felt that students somewhat understood the detrimental effect of deforestation and the form and function of the forest, though needed extension in regards to the good and bad effects of the forest. We also had to consider the students’ prior knowledge in regards to language, and therefore our activity was highly visual involving group work and minimal reading required to conceptualise the content.
Reflection of science session using constructivist approach
1.The topic title and guiding questionsOverarching idea: Form and FunctionFocus area and title: Effects of changing ecosystems – DeforestationTeaching approach: Bioethics and Ecojustice
Guiding questions from students in order to inform session two:1) What if animals don’t live there (in the forest)? 2) Why can’t you pay someone to get the water?
2.A critical analysis on the design based on how the students reacted to it The design of our lesson was visually stimulating and engaging for students through numerous modes; visually, kinaesthetically, auditory etc. and so students seemed excited and interested from the outset. A weakness of our design however, in hindsight, was that it required a large amount of discussion and group collaboration in order for students to attain the learning outcomes. Although the learners were supported in such discussion and collaboration, the reliance on such modes in order to successfully achieve the learning outcomes was too heavily weighted and undesirable for the students we worked with due to language barriers. The students’ reactions therefore were not as we had expected, as participation in the problem solving activities and especially in group reflective discussions was minimal; often left to the same, more confident students to continually contribute.
3.What challenges did you face with the students attitudes and reactions during the session?One of the main challenges we faced was the lack of student contribution to discussion. It seemed as though most of the students were reserved and hesitant to put forth their ideas, especially within a large group. With such a reaction, this initially led me to think that the students were disengaged, though I do not believe this was the case. During the lesson it was discovered that there were language barriers between ourselves and the students, and so with assistance from the classroom teacher and translator, the students’ attitudes and contributions were better understood, which was essential in guiding our discussion and formulating the second session to be in line with the students’ interests and abilities.
4.Which challenges you found in teaching a lesson/teaching activity based in a social constructivist theory of learning? Although the students seemed actively engaged, this was mainly on an individual basis - whereby they were not really working together to problem solve and scaffold each other’s ideas. This was much the case during whole class reflection times. In this way we found it difficult to adhere to our original design of the activity through socio-constructivist methodology, as it would have been easy to give the students the answers and ‘right way’ rather than have them problem solve and reflect in order to gain their own understandings.
5.How could you improve the lesson designed As there was such difficulty in communication within our session, we adopted two teaching strategies which were unplanned in order to adjust to the needs of the lesson. Through the ‘think-pair-share’ approach, students who were not overly confident in sharing their ideas and information to the whole group were able to voice their ideas and reflections to a partner who then could share their ‘interesting idea’ with the class. The use of modelling also helped students to build confidence in sharing, as examples of ‘I wonder’ questions were shared with the students through the use of simplistic language, which encouraged the students’ to contribute. Both of these strategies, though not initially planned, were essential in fostering the students within the session, so therefore should be included in order to improve the lesson.
6. Any other comments you would like to make.Although issues regarding language barriers and not knowing the students we were teaching arose, I believe it is essential to provide quality science lessons for all students, and have learnt a lot in regards to modifying and adapting lessons based on socio-constructivist and social justice principles.
Conclusion:
Through critical reflection of my own lesson plan and pedagogy, as well as reflecting on the similarities and differences with other pre-service teachers, I have gained more insight into challenges and effective processes to use within science education. It has become clear that science, along with any other curriculum area, will pose challenges in catering for diversity and providing rich experiences to foster students’ learning. I have learnt that in order to effectively implement socio-constructivist principles, teachers would benefit from knowing their students as it is a highly child-centred approach. This shows the clear connection between socio-cultural approaches and constructivist theory, and how this connection is essential to science education. It is also clear that teachers need to have clear learning outcomes for students, and provide a supportive environment for the students to explore, learn and reach such outcomes. It is a challenge for teachers to allow students to guide their own learning, though I now see that it is essential to have trust in the students to make their own connections to the content. Through provision of such an environment, I believe teachers will best support the learning of all students.
