Harris - Week 2

The chapters read for this week's blog focused on explanatory models and the ways in which to implement them. Certain key features of the models are detailed to show that they should focus on processes, be positioned within a context and make use of imagery to display both the observable and unobservable. However, the true value of these models appears, to me, to be the ways in which they work to engage the natural curiosity of students. By asking the students to develop their own explanations and then find or collect data to support and revise their thinking, the students become responsible for their own learning. They are encouraged to pursue those questions within the unit that they find interesting and develop different strategies to find answers. This relevance helps to show them where science fits both in the larger world and within their own lives. It helps lift the science off the pages of textbooks to become far more interesting and interactive.

The other crucial portion of these models is that they are not only allowed but also encouraged to be revised. In my classroom I stress to my students that science is a process, constantly evolving to incorporate new information. I encourage them to take risks volunteering explanations in which they are not 100% sure. We have used models similar to those described to try to create hypotheses and predict possible results. However, they have often served more as culminating performance tasks than as working models to be used throughout the unit. Having the more detailed structure provided in these chapters will help me better plan these models and anchoring events in the future so that they may be used more effectively.

Even after spending 7 months emphasizing process over product and importance of hypotheses both correct and incorrect, though, many of my students are still scared to be wrong. As current standardize tests emphasize the importance of the right answer above all, I wonder what the rubric for these models would look like to invest students in putting in their full effort while still showing them that mistakes are alright, inevitable and, even valuable. I think that, perhaps, the large scale projects described would need to be scaffolded and worked up to so that students could gain the confidence to step into the role as lead investigator.