Maskan - Week 2

In order to be an efficient scientist, individuals need to demonstrate their ideas. Most often this is done through models. Models show and explain how a certain scientific thinking or theory is based, and provides evidence of what we know and how it may look. Unfortunately in the classroom modeling has often been a fragmented and static tool that shows a small or limited representations of the real world application.

Through this reading I understood how to incorporate student thinking and past knowledge in the classroom. In order for my students to understand science they must have the opportunity to “practice” being scientist. This is be possible by using effective models in the classroom that would require my students to build ideas, test, and revise their work and thinking. This also allows my students to build knowledge and use the activities as an opportunity to work and make corrective measures like a scientist.  When planning a unit, I can can use students’ prior knowledge into the new curriculum and allow students to create a connection on what they know and what they will learn. This can be used as anchoring event, where students attempt to explain a science phenomenon with their own reasoning. By having students come up with explanations, students will be more engaged and curious to know the “why” or the underlying explanation. Essential questions can also be used to help guide and relate student lives, experiences, and allow relevance into the unit.  Next, students can create a model and explanation and throughout the unit come back and revise their models based off critique of other models, new evidence, and ideas. These steps of revision can teach students how the science world is data based, and that accepted principles could be changed and revised just like their experiment/activities in class.

These readings helped tie together how working as scientists can allow students to bridge gaps between different principles and allow students to “create” the work rather just “do” the work. It allows students to personalize their learning and make revisions, build, and test their ideas based off new evidence, just like what scientists do in the real world. By fostering this instruction in the classroom, it ties in student engagement because students can create models to explain phenomenon that will make sense to them, while also allowing them to tie concepts into their world. 

While reading, I was thinking how my classroom culture and relationship is an important component in order to effectively use the above methods. I worry that some students may feel frustrated or intimidated by revising their thinking, and a foundation of trust needs to be built between student/teacher, and peer to peer. This way a student is comfortable to put down their guard and revise, accept new models, evidence, and ideas that may challenge their model.