After reading this article let me give great credit to those who are elementary majors. I constantly found myself caught up in the conversations of the children which drew my attention away from the article. I had to re-read many of the conversations to get a grasp of what was going on which added to my frustration in the reading; however, I was able to gather some key insights.
The author mentions in the beginning of the article that “I was not truly interested in the people sitting around the table or curious about what they might think or say. Mainly, I wanted to keep the discussion moving and to avoid awkward silence.” Everyone at one point or another has seen some facet of this example, whether it be in themselves or in their students. It is a key point to remember that we must make sure that this does not occur amongst our students. Granted this is easier said than done but what I am getting at is this: if you see a student purposely dodging a question we have to reposition them in the correction direction, especially in a field such as science. As many of you know science is a field that builds upon itself and it is easy to fall behind. If a student is constantly “dodging a bullet” then they may hold on to their misconceptions and may never unlearn them. One example of this is the idea of why seasons occur. In the video we watched last semester many students, even college graduates, still had the wrong ideas about why we have different seasons. It is our responsibility as educators to try and remove these misconceptions and point our students in the right direction.
The author also makes a statement regarding her students by saying “he asked a question or made a casual observation, then repeated each child’s comment and hung onto it until a link was made to someone else’s idea.” This helps to show that we need to enforce the wait time notion and can then use the responses of students to build upon our question. Again this is a major factor in the science field because we are constantly working with peers and colleagues to build upon our own understanding. If we help to teach this major lesson to our students then we will start pointing them in the right direction to scientific inquiry. They will learn that a scientific burden does not necessarily have to be carried alone and that it is okay to ask for help and search for insights.
The last quote I want to bring up is possibly the best and most relevant quote in my opinion in the entire article. The author says that “real change comes about only through the painful recognition of one’s own vulnerability.” How fitting is this quote for science education or education in general for that matter. We have been beaten with the notion of accommodation and assimilation for our years in the program and this line helps to reinforce that belief. Students must come to terms with a problem then understand why they are wrong, this way they can unlearn mistakes and relearn the proper methodology; however, if the student chooses to ignore this realization then their misconceptions will continue to grow and may inevitably never be unlearned as mentioned above.
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5 comments:
Ryan- Responding to your thoughts about "dodging the bullet"-How can we help those students that choose not to participate, are shy, or don't know what to say? Some students are just really shy and don't want to respond in front of their class. I think turn-and-talk or elbow-partners work well, where a student is sharing with one other person his/her thoughts about a question. Another strategy that works is doing a "quick write" in which students have a minute to write down their response and then respond aloud. This gives the students time to gather their thoughts. Another idea is to randomly call on students using a "fair can". In the fair can are the names of all the students on popsicle sticks. The teacher will pull out a popsicle stick and that student has to respond. A colleague shared with me a spin on the popsicle sticks where you have some blank popsicle sticks so you decide who to call on, but the students think it's random. That's an opportunity to call on someone that doesn't usually participate meanwhile he/she thinks it was by chance. A little sneaky, but maybe effective.
Hi Ryan,
I got thinking about the same issue in your blog. What can we do as a teacher to help those students who dodge the bullet, especially since we want to address their misunderstandings as well? One issue especially is those students who feel it isn't their place to question. When I was student, there were times I really didn't feel like it was okay to challenge the teacher or even other students. As a science teacher, I would have an explicit conversation about the nature of science with my students. Talk to them about the need to be curious and ask questions and encourage them to do so. This hopefully would let them know that it is okay to question and they won't be punished for it. Then, we have to follow through as teachers with our actions. When they do question, we have to be ever so careful to find value in their ideas.
Nicole
I fully agree with what you guys are saying but i think if you build a common ground on equality amognst your students then someone won't be shy in their ability to respond. I do know what the "isn't my place" rationale is like but with science i want my students to know that this is a major function of science, to always pose questions whether or not you don't understand. Upon re-reading my article i guess it does come across as being a pick on student and have them respond type of scenario, but i would more than likily instill your fair can policy in a class room kim. I have heard many great things about this but have yet put it into practice. I usually tended to have a buddy system where if someone didn't know the answer they could "phone a friend" for help, but the person who asked for help would have to build upon the response of their friend.
I totally agree with what everything is saying. I think it is very difficult to get some students to participate. I think that conversation might not be with the whole class- It could be self talk where a student talks themselves through a concept that they may have misunderstood. Also, creating a classroom community where mistakes are not only ok but part of the norm will help those students to come out of their shells. If everyone can support one another then this conversation can flow more freely in the classroom.
This is tricky. We want everyone to be engaged. But talking may not be the only way that occurs. I have had students who are quite meek but have wonderful ideas below the surface. In a sense, the only reason I need for them to express those is to reassure myself that the mind is working.
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