Inquiring into Science Learning and Teaching


Spencer Foundation Program for Practioner Research: Mentoring and Communication Grants
Duration: October 1, 1996 - September 30, 1999
Budget: $34,000

With support from the Spencer Foundation, we examined issues identified in the context of our own science teaching practices. The teachers' projects included:

How Do You Learn What You Are Supposed to Teach?
Monica Eng

How do I gain knowledge about what I am going to teach? How do I gain knowledge about students' background on the topic they are going to learn? What is the objective of the lesson and how can I focus it? What resources are available? How have other teachers taught this topic? How do I explore student knowledge? What is my approach going to be with this topic? How can I motivate my students? In this case study, I plan to tape record interviews with teachers and students about a topic and to keep a journal about the issues I consider in planning a first grade lesson. During the small group discussion, I plan to share my experiences in interviewing learners and in preparing the lesson.

Making a Text-Based Science Unit Accessible to Students of Varying Reading Level
Barbara Francisco

The Ecosystems Unit provided by the Montgomery County fourth grade science program is based on a few hands-on activities and extensive reading about specific animals and plants, the Chesapeake Bay, and human threats to the health of that Bay and its inhabitants. I plan to develop supplemental materials and activities to enrich the unit and to prepare students for their reading. In this case study, I plan to audio tape the discussions that prepare the students for the reading and create with them graphic organizers as reading guides. During the small group discussion, I plan to share the process involved in enriching such a science unit and invite participants to compare examples of the text and the reading guides that were developed.

How Can I Tap into Children's Curiosity in Science Learning?
Rebecca Kwan

Children's curiosity is often ignored because of the teacher's agenda. This curiosity is the source of knowledge. Curiosity brings wonders and questions. It then generates actions to answer its questions. Curiosity is the basic spirit of science learning. In this case study, I plan to follow up with children's questions in class to develop scientific ways of learning. In the small group discussion, I plan to share my experiences in teaching science in my first grade class by showing documents such as children's writing and pictures and sharing the results of my children's curiosity.

Student-Generated Performance Assessments
Diantha R. Lay

Having completed a unit on the life cycle of the butterfly, I would like to be able to measure the learning that took place in my second grade class. Because the ability in my class is so diverse, I want to assess on a broad level as well, differentiating as necessary. As an educator, I believe that students need to have a vested interest and input in their learning. I want to see what type of performance assessments students in the primary grades can generate. Therefore, it is my goal that the students as a classroom community develop their own performance assessment projects on this unit. The assessment projects will be displayed at our school-wide science exhibit in January. In this case study, I plan to compare what was taught and how that is reflected in the projects. By comparing the instruction and the projects, I can assess my effectiveness as an educator in teaching this unit. During the small group discussion, I plan to share the performance assessment projects that the students develop as well as a video presentation of the projects. I also plan to share the comparison of what was taught and what the students learned.

Talk to Me So You Can Figure It Out
Elisabeth Ramadhan

How can an educator best encourage students who have been schooled in the direct teaching approach to think, hypothesize, analyze, and reach conclusions with confidence and enthusiasm? Students generally tend to be reluctant in answering questions for fear of being "wrong." Can this fear be eliminated if they are encouraged to take risks without fear of reprisal from either peers or the teacher? For example, I encourage my fourth grade students to respond to questions and participate in class discussion by assuring them that "mistakes" are desired responses. In this case study, I plan to tape some discussions and select examples of students' comments and questions when they were willing to take risks. During the small group discussion, I plan to invite participants to interpret an excerpt from a discussion in which students figured things out by talking about what they think.

Teaching Other Content Areas through a Science Perspective
Deborah Roberts

Math and science are like twins, different personalities but very connected. Reading, language arts and social studies are all about the world we live in and real life. Science also is about the world we live in and everything that we do is connected to it. As a first grade teacher, I have been trying to make myself very conscious of constantly bringing out the science of other content areas. I try to evaluate every material that I use, and activities that we do, for connections to science. I am trying to raise the awareness of my students to a level where they are pointing out science connections instead of me making those connections for them. In this case study, I have been documenting and reflecting upon things I have done that have worked, or that have not worked, and why. During the small group discussion, I plan to share a video clip and/or student work in which students are making such connections and invite participants to discuss their perceptions of the students' thinking.

Making Connections from One Science Topic to Another
Shelly Williams

As a fourth grade teacher, I want my students to be able to build on what they have learned in each science unit and to try to connect it to something that they are learning in class at that time or to experiences that they are having in their day-to-day lives. I want them to be able to take what they learned in studying our first unit and to apply it to the next unit, and then if they can see any connections there, when we move on to the third unit, I want my children to be able to build on that information. A challenge for me is to differentiate my science program so that if I pose questions, whether they have to read and/or do a hands-on activity, all my children are able to do it, are able to understand it, and are able to apply it. When we are doing an activity, I write down what the children are asking me based on the experiences they are having in a particular science activity, and I reflect about what steps I need to take next with them or what I need to do differently in order for the students to be responsible for their own learning. In this case study, I outline a long-term lesson, how I went about teaching it, how my students went about learning it, my assessment of why it was or was not successful, and why it worked for some and not for others. During the small group discussion, I plan to invite participants to join me in analyzing the students' writings about a particular science experience.

If interested, please call Emily van Zee, (301) 405-0056
or send an email message to ev14@umail.umd.edu


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