In both readings for this week , it is clear that specialists suggest that students not only inquire and do hands on work, but have the opportunity to talk about what they are working on and what they have just experienced. In Ready Set Science, they mention the strands of science and how important it is that all the strands interact, but rarely do. Similarly, in the Gunckel reading, she mentions how inquiry is good, but if there is no explanation to back up what just happened, the students are missing as much as if they hadn't done the hands on work at all.
Although I am just starting to observe Science everyday, I do know that my students have time to experience the lessons on there own. That being said, I'm not sure whether or not they have the opportunity to then explain what they have experienced and how they can replicate what happens in the classroom again in the outside world. I truly believe that not being able to see how science concepts transfer to life outside of the classroom means that the students are not understanding the concept completely. Seeing a two sided bouncy mall rotate around a yellow lamp is one way to show the moon revolving with the earth around the sun, but if the students don't see how the moon's phases change throughout the month, then they aren't making the transfer of information and therefore are not fluent in the information.
This is going to be a huge challenge for me. I see my students everyday so I should have time to work with them to make them become experts on the topics and be able to transfer the information from the class to the world, but I know that it requires a lot of reflection, and a lot of practice if the students are to be successful learners of science.
I understand, and relate, with how getting students to the point of transferring the knowledge learned in class to their real lives can be a challenge. And you are correct when you say it'll take time. And time is one thing CPS does not grant us. Luckily for us, we have periods so I think we have a better opportunity to reach our students at this level because our instructional time will not be cut or sacrificed due to stress on reading and math.
ReplyDeleteIt is also more difficult for our students to transfer science to real-world because science instruction has not been steady throughout their past few years in school. As we heard in class, most of the classrooms our interns are placed in don't see much science at all. This means we are starting, for the most part, at zero.