Week 2 Memo
(What Kind of
Explanation is a Model?, Reconsidering the Role of Experiment)
In the Chapter 2 reading, Lehrer and Schauble aim to,
“…better understand what makes this form of reasoning [Modeling] demanding and
what forms of instruction best support its long-term development” (Pg. 10). They are trying to understand the
relationship between the development and learning of modeling, as well as how
to effectively facilitate this teaching and learning tool in a school
setting. The chapter outlines some of
what makes modeling challenging. This
includes what was talked about last week in discussion about lack of resources
and limited time, as well as concern that students must learn what is on the
common core. The chapter then goes into
more detail about introducing new students to modeling and doing it in a way
that allows students to participate in the invention and revision of models. The chapter describes arranging the conditions
for seeing, inventing measures, developing representational competence, and
developing an epistemology of modeling. In the end they sum it up when they state,
“tasks that provoke variability of solutions and representational forms are
more likely to support the development of a broad representational repertoire
and an understanding of audience and design trade-offs”(Pg. 20).
In the chapter 5 reading, the focus is on experimentation
and the role it should play in science education. The authors are interested in the development
of scientific reasoning and how elementary school students learn to participate
in this form of argument (Pg.1). The
chapter explains that experimentation alone is not a good thing. Students need background context in rhetoric,
representation, and modeling if the experimentation is to be a meaningful
activity. Without the background context,
experiments may not help teach students much of anything at all. The chapter goes into much more detail about
teaching effective modeling and even gives a few detailed examples. These examples highlight how teachers can
help students learn through modeling, as well as how to use experimentation
effectively.
The theme that stood out most to me in both the readings involved
the role of experiments in effective modeling.
The articles had a focus on how to build structure around
experimentation as a teacher, so that teachers can provide the right support to
help students develop learning through modeling. I found the examples of modeling to be very
helpful in understanding the process. I
was shocked to read about how many students couldn’t give an explanation of
what the purpose of the experiment they just did was. It makes me wonder how many scientific experiments
I have done in school where I really didn’t understand what I was doing or
why. The whole idea of pre-made experiment
kits with instructions and how that takes away all of the inquiry was something
I never really thought of. The week 2
readings definitely helped me get a better understanding of how the process of
modeling works. It really showed how interconnected both the teacher and
student are in the process of developing effective modeling skills.
I was also fairly surprised that the students could not explain what the purpose of their given experiment was. The particular example I am thinking of is the lesson in rock erosion. I wish that Lehrer had given more details about that classroom dynamic because I wonder if the teacher prompted them with any questions about what they were observing. Did she go over the erosion results and discuss what they meant? Or maybe Lehrer intervened before a class discussion could occur. I guess we will never know.
ReplyDeleteI find it ironic that pre-made experiment kits are a major resource for a lot of schools in the Nashville school system. Although I do not know much about them, I gather that they are fairly prescriptive, rather than investigative, in their experiments. Perhaps a teacher could modify the kit so that more modeling is involved though!