I thought that I would let you know a little about some of the things that I am working on and I would like to ask you for some input.
I started my research career conducting ecological research. Most of my research has been theoretical in nature and I have only done it because I want to know the answers. More recently I have recognized that there are many issues whose solution would benefit from a “scientifically literate” general public (and science is cool!!). There are lots of really creative scientists conducting interesting research now, but I don’t think that there are as many people (at the university level) working to make science more understandable and interesting to the general public. Thus, over the last few years I have become much more interested in environmental education and science curriculum development.
I (in collaboration with two of my biology department colleagues) am currently working on a project we call the Malaysian Bat Education Adventure. Our goal is to use the ecology of Malaysian rainforest bats as the focus of an integrated science curriculum from K – 8th grade. The logic behind this plan is that too often science concepts are taught in small disconnected bites that lack any common context. By developing an integrated learning progression focused on the ecology of bats (bats are pretty cool) we hope to help students understand important science concepts better. In less than two weeks we will start testing some of our ideas by having 4th and 5th grade teachers at a Lubbock elementary school try using our curriculum. We hope to finish up a website containing this information in the next week or so and I will send you the link when it is finished to get your critique.
Recently, a number of us from science, math, and education departments received a big grant to develop a Masters Degree that attempts to integrate math and science for Middle School Teachers. We were successful in obtaining this grant largely because of the success of the Multidiscplinary Science Masters program you are involved with.
I have enjoyed thinking about how I would teach science to 4th graders and middle school students. When my fellow professors and I get together for our weekly beverage session, the conversation often turns to our frustrations about our students’ weaknesses. For example, some things that frustrate me are that too many college students (1) have such a hard time making and interpreting graphs and (2) don’t know how to write the scientific name (Genus name first letter capitalized, species name all lower case and the whole name italicized or underlined). Some of these weaknesses are simple and could easily be introduced to early grades and then be reinforced as the students progress through their science career.
Our goal is not to criticize the teachers that come before us (it is always depressing to hear my colleagues complain about something that their students don’t understand and then realize that “I taught them that in Intro Biology”). However, it has been helpful for us to think about what would be important skills for students to develop early in their science education so that they would be comfortable working with them by the time the reach college.
All of this is a prelude into asking for input. I am sure that you have similar conversations about your students with your colleagues. What knowledge, skills, attitudes, etc. would you like your students to have when they arrive in your classes? What suggestions do you have about how science education could be improved? How could your students performance be improved by changes in their education in other fields (math, English, etc.)? What can we do to try to increase communication among science teachers at different levels and among teachers of different subjects at the same level? Let me know what you think.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Wow...I second the frustration!
ReplyDelete*What I see as a big road block is critical thinking. Students do not want to discover the answer themselves many times but just want the answer given. I teach 8th grade and we are so focused on TAKS that we teach exactly how you said "...in small disconnected bites that lack any common context." Students don't see the connection to their lives and therefore are not curious enough to start that critical thinking process. This year I did get some things changed a little in our scope and sequence to make topics flow more into each other but I have a much bigger plan that I just can't sell to my department.
*Consistancy among science teachers. We often teach lab skills differently requiring less or more than the teacher before. Things like what the experimental design should look like, what the lab write up should contain, etc. Even teaching formulas between math and science can vary enough to be confusing for students.
Natascha, Thanks for your comments. It is frustrating when you realize that any one of us if merely on link in a long chain of science education. Things would obviously work much better if there was thoughtful coordination among the links.
ReplyDeleteI like your comment abou consistency (between and within years). If we teach students to do things the right way and then build on it early on, then the won't know there are different ways of doing things and doing it right should be second nature. It is indeed sad how conmparmentalized different departments and grade levels are and this sadly has a negative effect on education.
We will definitely try to focus on consistency (of presentation, format of assignments etc) when we start to develop our K-8th curriculum.
As many teachers across the state agree TAKS and TEKS are 4 letter words! ( If you know what I mean). The current TEKS are under review thank God! However we still have the TEKS as they are for now. You can teach a TEK as you interpret it and then when it come to state testing day they might ask a question that you never thought of asking your students and you feel as if you let down your students and that you did not do your job. Oh how I miss the day of achievement(norm reference) tests.
ReplyDeleteI was at a teacher training almost 17 years ago when a presenter said If you want me to improve test scores quickly as possible.... show me the test!. The TEKS still seem written a without an aire of exactness.
In the district that I am in now compare to the one I came from is alot smaller in population. The district has 600 students compared to the 950 students that the middle school where I taught at previously. The larger school had the ability to colaborate with other teachers on the campus as well as teacher from other campuses within the district. We do not have that luxury. How ever we are attempting to start a math and science colaborative among the smaller schools within our area in attempt to solve this problem. Our principal is very proactive when it come to this and has even offer days to go and visit with other teachers from other districts.
I do not know why more teachers do not take adantage of the opportunities offered by many universities during the summer. One university offerd stipends, teaching materials, and even technology to teachers who completed the summer programs but still their were empty seats in the class. Sadly.... Even with a Masters Degree few school districts offer greater salary increases unless your are in adminstration. Sad but True!
Thoughts on the Malaysian Bat Adventure Project...... Sounds like fun!
In your study are you going to show something unique about these bats are you going to tie in with bats that are found in Texas and show some sort of relatioship between the two. Prehaps you compare the differences and similairities between these bats. What an awesome undertaking!!!
Karlton thanks for your post. I agree that there are some huge problems associated with the current TEKS. I have been able to briefly look at a previous version of thet proposed revised TEKS and they looked much better so hopefully they will be a more useful tool. Theoretically, I think that it should be useful to have well thought out and useful standards for teachers to follow and to have the students tested on their mastery of these standards doesn't inherently seem like a bad idea. However, designing this test is a true challenge. I have taken a look at what I think was an earlier verion of the TAKS test for grade 5 science and I found many of the questions to be nearly nonsensical. In fact, there were times when three Ph.D.s in Biology could only guess at what the correct answer is. As I am sure any of my former students will tell you, I am not a gifted test question writer (especially when trying to use multiple choice questions to test large numbers of students simultaneously, so I sympathize with the difficulty of writing a question that applies to every classroom across the state.
ReplyDeleteWe probably need to come up with better ways of measuring student learning and assuring school accountability than using scores on a standardized multiple choice test. As assessment becomes more of a concern in higher education we are worried that someone is going to try to impose standardized tests on us. I can tell you that there is a lot of effort going on at Tech (and I imagine most other colleges and universities) to effectively assess our classes and programs.
The funny thing is knowing about graphs and writing scientific names is part of TAKS. There are several questions relating to these concepts on the 10th and 11th grade tests. We can't always blame everything on the TAKS. Sometimes we sound like our students blaming someone or something else. We are suppose to teach all of the TEKS. I teach with the 5E method and using inquiry. I love watching my students at the beginning wanting me to spoon feed them and when I dont, they get frustrated. Since they do not want after school tutoring or lunch detention, they start pushing themselves. This spoon feeding idea comes more from my pre ap biology than my regular students and special ed students. I have noticed this week since we returned from the holidays, a lot of improvement. Not as much whining. Our school district is pushing critical skills in the lower grades. As a high school teacher, I am excited, the students will come in better prepared and hopefully we will be prepare them for college. This is one of my pet peeves. That schools do not prepare students for college level classes. I know I felt indadequate when I left high school for college and I of course was not around when TAKS and TAAS came out. Little older. My son was a TAKS student in pre ap and ap classes. He felt like he was behind at his college compared to other students.
ReplyDeleteI think cummunication is one of the key issues. In my district we have been struggling with our science scores. One of the major obstacles is finding the time to communicate with the staff just at the high school, about what curriculum is taught where and when, to insure a correlated sequence. It is so frustrating that so much time is wasted in inservice events that have nothing to do with our subject matter and how it is presented.
ReplyDeleteOne idea we have instituted, with respect to other fields affecting science education,is english students are requrired to read something scientific as 1 of their 6 required AR books.
Thanks for your comments Julie and Mike. It is depressing how many students in college (most of them wanting to be Drs.!) are still waiting to be spoon fed. I am glad that you guys are out there tying to get them to think about the material. Elementarly aged kids have always seemed really smart to me so there is no reason that they can't be thinking critically about all sorts of issues when they are young.
ReplyDeleteOne problem with truly placing critical thinking (or thinking critically about science) is that many elementary teachers don't have a strong background and they might never have taken classes that demanded that they think critically about science (even in college). Thus, I think that we all need to be thinking about how we can help the elementary teachers (who were mostly trained as generalists) to be more comfortable with teaching their students to think critically about science.
The fact that good communication between people teaching at different levels and teaching related subjects at the same level seems so obvious that it doesn't even need saying. So why is this communication so hard? (we are certainly bad at it at the college level). I think it is great that you are having students read a science book. This is such a simple idea once you think about it.
I would have to agree with your comment about elementary science teachers not having enough foundation in science. I can say this, as the rest of the group already knows, because I am an elementary teacher. I currently teach 6th grade science and the reason for my desire to work with this program is to increase my level of scientific understanding. Students end up with several misconceptions because they either naturally come to us with them or (I have witnessed) teachers with little background plant the seeds for these misconceptions. I have worked as the science facilitator for my previous campus. My main concern was the level of comfort in my teachers to instruct science. Many times their only background knowledge of a concept is when they were students in the public school system themselves. I strongly believe if we want to see our science scores to increase, we need to better prepare our teachers. It has to start in elementary before the misconceptions take root. I also agree that we as teachers need to colloborate. The days of going into your room and shutting the door are over.
ReplyDeleteI just realized that I posted as Karlton. It is supposed to be from Brandy. Don't know how I managed to sign in as my husband. SORRY!!
ReplyDeleteI guess that one of the joys of taking a class online is that you can be whoever you want to be. If you want to masquerade as you husband this semester I guess that would be OK.
ReplyDelete