Exemplary Science Teaching

Reflections on Effective Science Teaching
By Brandon Robinson

    According to Millar and Osborne in a 1998 report titled Beyond 2000, many students who successfully complete their compulsory science credits move on from high school and lack the capability to link the scientific knowledge they learned about in school to an everyday context outside of school (Feinstein). What is the point of teaching science if they cannot use it? Many science teachers spend too much time teaching from the textbook and not enough time getting to know the students. Some science teachers still treat applied classes as watered-down academic courses, which I find frustrating for the sake of the students. In the 1970s, a new interdisciplinary field called Science and Technology Studies (STS) was created and was devoted to researching about science, learning science, and doing science. The studies provided a framework for everyday science instruction, which lead to the 21st Century Model of the secondary science curriculum by the Nuffield Foundation (Feinstein). Exemplary science teaching is based on these studies and provides students with a foundation in science that will prepare them to overcome these challenges so that they can pursue science through education, career, or personal interest.

    Just like the scientific method, exemplary science teaching can be achieved in many different ways as long as certain goals are met (Crockett). The goal of every science teacher should be to provide students with the means to pursue science in higher education, enter the workforce and be able to understand and communicate scientific ideas, and to become scientifically literate. It is critical that science teachers understand that all students are capable of learning and to be sensitive to their goals and barriers (Staver). To meet these goals, science teachers must promote a safe environment and create effective lessons that engages students, allows them to explore and explain conjectures, provides effective assessment strategies, and develops scientific literacy. All lessons should be include learning goals that are made very clear to the students. These are all vast topics amongst themselves, but I would like to briefly reflect on each.

    One of the first goals of any classroom should be to create a positive learning environment. All science classrooms should have safety protocols in order to ensure physical safety and all participants should promote respect for one another. Students need to feel safe to learn effectively and this requires their esteems to remain intact. Science teachers need to realize that students will make mistakes and this may prevent them from participating and growing because they are afraid. Science is about hypothesizing and analyzing observations - the fact that the hypothesis may be incorrect is of no matter in the end as long as the student has achieved the learning goal. Anne Davies said that learning is about risk-taking, making mistakes, and modifying ideas, and some students are too afraid of making mistakes (Lisser 1). I make mistakes while I am teaching, but I have always found it helpful to let the students know I have, rather than try to cover it up because I am the 'all-knowing' teacher. I was teaching a group of grade 12 physics students how to solve a difficult question about a car on a banked curve and I tried six different methods that were all unsuccessful. I problem solved out loud and asked for their input. Later at home, I realized I had friction in the wrong direction and I returned and explained my error the next day. My mistake was beneficial to the students because they realized that I make mistakes too, and now they know six different ways to solve the problem.

    A key component to exemplary science teaching is differentiated instruction. This is part of the progressive style of teaching that promotes a student-centered approach where lessons are catered to the students based on their needs outlined by their learning styles (Lisser, 5). According to the Learning Period adapted from the National Training Laboratories, students only maintain, on average, 5% of the information lectured to them, but retain 90% when teaching others (Lisser 2). The retention rates increase as the lessons become more student-oriented. What I consider to be a foundation for differentiated instruction is the 5-E Learning Cycle outlined below in Figure 1 (Lisser 2).

Figure 1: 5-E Learning Cycle and Instructional Strategies

    It can be seen in Figure 1, that the learning cycle requires students to engage, explore, explain, elaborate, and evaluate, which can implemented in a three-part lesson structure - engage, action, consolidate. I believe that the most important step is the first one - engage the students. Students must be interested in the material for their minds to really grasp what is going on, especially with science. It is through engagement that students activate prior knowledge and open their minds to the activities and this is easy to do with science (Lisser 3). I always try to start my lessons with an opening activity, even if it only takes a minute to conduct. The students get used to the routine and enjoy it, as long as the activities are well-thought. While I was visiting a school in the United Kingdom, I used an activity I learned from Beth Lisser to introduce potential energy. A 2-L pop bottle was filled with water, three small holes were created and covered with tape. I had the students circle around me and 'predict-observe-explain' what happened as I uncovered each of the holes. I even challenged their hypothesis that water would come out of the top hole by laying under the bottle while wearing a suit-and-tie. I knew surface tension would prevent water coming out, and the students absolutely loved it and became involved with the activity. The opening activity set the mood for the rest of the lesson and I referred to the bottle experiment as I taught potential energy. It was a simple experiment that grabbed their attention, activated prior knowledge, and led to a very successful lesson. I got the students doing science and this is just one example of differentiated instruction.

     DeBoer claims that a key component to encourage learning is to have students identify their ideas, clarify, and then challenge these ideas because they will continually redesign their thinking and either reinforce or increase their understanding (Crockett). This could be considered part of the explore, evaluate, and elaborate sections of the learning cycle in Figure 1, or even the action phase of the three-part lesson (Lisser, 3). Again, differentiated instruction should be considered for this since students learn better through each other. Examples might include group work, team games, think-pair-share strategies, investigations, or reading activities (Lisser 3). Scientists in the real world collaborate to achieve their goals; therefore, activities that promote group efforts are valuable. A simple example conducted in our science teaching class involved groups brainstorming their ideas together, writing them on a whiteboard, sharing with the class, and then writing new or modified ideas in a different color. Activities like this provides students with a chance to discuss and explore ideas from several other people, rather than what is 'right or wrong' from the teacher. It is also wise to explore ideas together through class discussions. If someone knew all the answers, we would not need scientists, so it is critical to promote exploratory activities in science. As I lead a science discussion, I always ask my class lots of questions to maintain their attention and to hear their ideas. Since I read a lot of science literature myself, this gives me more opportunities to show my enthusiasm for science and to enrich the discussion with ideas that help students learn about science. It also provides opportune time to explain misconceptions, which should always be clarified to students before evaluations take place. All lessons should end with a consolidation phase that offers students a chance to clarify and apply knowledge or skills they have gained throughout the lesson (Lisser 3). Consolidation can be conducted using various techniques such as discussions, summaries, journal entries, or graphic organizers (Lisser 3).

    The brief descriptions above have only touched the surface of what a science teacher should include in a lesson. Sometimes teachers struggle with how to effectively think ahead and plan out units. I believe that the best method is to conduct backwards planning. Each unit should be looked over entirely before planning a single lesson. It is important to first understand curriculum requirements and create learning objectives based on them. I really like the method introduced in the science education class where the specific expectations were printed and cutout individually so that a flow-chart could be created to develop a unit structure. This made it very clear what was expected by ministry standards and what order to teach each lesson. It also makes it clear when to schedule laboratories, field trips, and guest speakers. Once clear learning expectations are made that are aligned with ministry documents, assessments can be developed that demonstrate curriculum requirements, then individual learning goals that set the structure for each lesson can be thought out.    

    Two more important aspects of exemplary science teaching are carefully planned inquiry and STSE lessons. Inquiry lessons should connect all investigation skills indicated in each specific expectation in the curriculum document that include Initiating and Planning (IP), Performing and Recording (PR), Analyzing and Interpreting (AI), and Communicating (C) (Lisser 4). Each inquiry lesson must be carefully designed to promote the required investigative skills that are also engaging and interesting to the students. It would also be a valuable learning experience for students to design their own experiments as this is a requirement for many working scientists. Effective inquiry lessons are extremely useful to students because it is the most opportunistic time for them to do science - conjecture, make mistakes, and learn from them. According to the Ontario grade 11 and 12 science curriculum, STSE lessons should promote Science, Technology, Society, and the Environment (Ontario Curriculum). These lessons are particularly useful for students to make connections between science and issues outside of school such nuclear technology, global warming, and politics. STSE lessons are great for cross-curriculating scientific material with other subjects such as math, civics, and social studies. In the science education class, I was in a group that analyzed a culminating project about pregnancy and reproductive technologies and I believe projects like these would definitely provide students with insight to sensitive issues to support higher level thinking within out outside of a high school context.

    To learn about science and make connections to the big ideas, students must become scientifically literate. Many students are challenged when they attempt to read a science textbook, answer a word problem, or try to communicate their scientific ideas through writing (Barton et. al). Science textbooks are written in a different style than many other subjects and this introduces a challenge to many students. Some also get intimidated by lengthy word problems and have trouble breaking it down into something easier to manage. Science teachers should always try to promote strong literacy skills in their classrooms. It is important to activate prior content knowledge so the student can make logical connections, draw conclusions, and create new ideas (Barton et. al). A pre-anticipation guide can be used to provide students a chance to think about the material before they read it, and then verify or challenge their original conjectures after the material has been read and engages the student with critical thinking. While the student reads a scientific passage or word problem, they can be taught code-the-text techniques where they note different aspects of what they are reading using symbols, highlighting, etc. Graphic organizers, such as mind maps and graphs are great techniques to endorse because they allow students to visually organize their ideas or quickly make notes. Science teachers should also provide opportunities to writing in a scientific context to build their ability to communicate their ideas. Writing activities should be included where students, for example, write laboratory reports, summarize articles, or explain their ideas. I promote these types of techniques because I have seen vast improvement in the capabilities of my students when used. One student who I tutored in chemistry improved her grade drastically because she began underlining and circling different parts of word problems, allowing her to interpret it better. Students require strong literacy skills in science and this should be part of every science teacher's objective.

    Effective assessment strategies are vital to any science teacher. Exemplary science teachers must understand how to create effective assessments of learning, as learning, and for learning for science students, as outlined by Growing Success in 2010 (Lisser, 6). Growing Success provides extensive information on each one of these assessment types, so I will leave it to the reader to familiarize themselves with them.  Two key aspects of assessment is that students are assessed based on curriculum specifications and that the requirements of the students are appropriate (Crumrine).

    My assessment strategies vary depending on the dynamics of the class. For example, some people can be quite knowledgeable about how Newton's Laws applies to a rollercoaster, but unable to convey this knowledge on a written test. It is important to do an 'assessment for learning' by using a variety of assessment strategies early on to gauge the performance of each student during different types of assessments. For example, I like to provide students with formative quizzes, take-home and in-class assignments or projects, presentations, and inquiry-based lessons. This helps me understand what the students know, how to plan my lessons, and how students are progressing (Lisser, 6). Diagnostic assessments are useful for determining student readiness prior to each unit (Lisser, 6).  I learned an effective 'assessment as learning' strategy from an expert teacher presentation that involves open-book formative quizzes where the students keep a quiz journal and highlight the questions they had trouble with. The quiz journals promote student self-assessment and are useful for studying for tests. Test results, for example, can be compared to the highlighted questions in their quiz journal to provide positive feedback. For 'assessment of learning', it is important to understand the students' strengths and weaknesses and to be able to summarize their progress (Lisser, 6). I am interested in providing multiple ways for the students to complete a summative assessment rather than having only one option of a written exam.  Throughout the term, science teachers can assess for understanding through a variety of techniques such as think-pair-share, journal writing, polls, and quizzes (Lisser, 6).

    Descriptive feedback regarding student assessment should be linked to the learning goals and success criteria, according to Growing Success (Lisser, 6). Students are motivated to learn when they receive feedback that starts with a positive comment and one way to improve because they are praised and receive constructive criticism.

    Self-assessment of my science teaching strategies is just as important as the assessment of my students. I usually ask students for feedback about my lessons so that I can reflect and adapt them. For example, I was asked by a student to provide a traditional board note during a grade 11 sound lesson to accommodate her learning style. Based on feedback from the rest of the class, I ended up modifying the rest of the unit to board notes. I did not find the lessons particularly engaging, but the students enjoyed the unit and met their learning goals, so I was pleased. Professional development that focuses on enhancing a teacher's ability to effectively communicate scientific material is crucial for every science teacher and self-assessment and reflection definitely contributes to achieving this (Alsop et. al).

    With exemplary science teaching, students who complete their science credits will be able to make connections between what they learned in their science classes with what they come across outside of school. It is through teaching students in meaningful ways about science and how to do science that they can really learn science. Exemplary science teaching bridges the gap between content knowledge and the big ideas of each unit so that the students can confidently pursue higher education, careers, or personal interests related to science. Science teachers should strive to provide a safe environment that encourages student engagement, exploring and explaining conjectures, effective assessment, scientific literacy, and differentiated lessons that are fun and interesting.
   
References
Alsop, S., Bencyze, L., & Pedrettyi, E. "Voices and viewpoints: what have we learned about exemplary science teaching?" Open University Press. 2005.

Barton, M.L., Heldema, C., & Jordan, D. "Teaching Reading in Mathematics and Science." Reading and Writing in the Content Area. Nov 2002. Vol 60(3). p. 24-28.

Crockett, C. "What Do Kids Know - and Misunderstand - About Science?" Improving Achievement in Math and Science. Feb 2004. Vol 61(5), p. 34-37.

Crumrine, T. & Demers, C. "Formative Assessment: Redirecting the Plan." The Science Teacher. p. 28-32.

Feinstein, N. "Prepared for What? Why Teaching "Everyday Science" Makes Sense." The Phi Delta Kappan. No. 10 (Jun 2009), pp 762 - 766

(1) Lisser, B. Power Point slides: Nov 21, 2011. Moodle.

(2) Lisser, B. Power Point slides: Oct 10, 2011. Moodle.

(3) Lisser, B. Power Point slides: Oct 3, 2011. Moodle.

(4) Lisser, B. Power Point slides: Mar 5, 2012. Moodle.

(5) Lisser, B. Power Point slides: Jan 9, 2012. Moodle.

(6) Lisser, B. Power Point slides: Nov 21, 2012. Moodle.

Staver, J. "Teaching Science." International Academy of Education. Series 17.
"The Ontario Curriculum Grades 11 and 12 Science." 2008. Ontario Ministry of Education.