How to Teach the Process of Science. This module was authored by Anne E. Egger, Stanford University, as part of a collaboration between Visionlearning and the SERC Pedagogic Service, and includes the products of a July 2009 workshop on Teaching the Process of Science. Integrating the process of science into your teaching does not necessarily require making major changes. It can simply involve making the process of science more explicit in the activities and methods you are already using. On the other hand, if you are considering starting from scratch, think about designing your course around the process of science. Key strategies Whether you are thinking about making big or small changes in your courses, the same principles apply in emphasizing the process of science: Be explicit Making the aspects of science that you consider implicit within your teaching explicit can significantly improve student understanding of the nature of science (McGinn & Roth, 1999 ).
Tell stories Use real data Assessment. What science teachers need to know. Inquiry Based Science: What Does It Look Like? "Inquiry Based Science: What Does It Look Like? " Connect Magazine (published by Synergy Learning), March-April 1995, p. 13. To help in answering this question, teachers and administrators participating in the Vermont Elementary Science Project observed and discussed the actions of students engaged in hands-on, minds-on science exploration. Then they created this, "On the Run Reference Guide to the Nature of Elementary Science for the student " (1991, with revisions 1992) They wrote, "The intent is not to use this guide as a checklist, but as a statement of what we value in the areas of science processes, science dispositions, and science concept development We urge you to capture evidence of your own students engaging in these indicators " When students are doing inquiry based science, an observer will see that: Children View Themselves as Scientists in the Process of Learning. 1.
Children Accept an "Invitation to Learn" and Readily Engage in The Exploration Process. 1. Implementing the inquiry Continuum in the Classroom. By Meri Johnson, Science Consultant, Clermont County Educational Service Center A school district in Ohio had barely passed the OGT science test with a 75% passage rate. However, when analyzing the data from individual schools, the district found that one school had a 92% passage rate, a score significantly higher than the other schools' scores. The size and the subgroups of the higher-achieving school were similar to those of the other schools in the district. So what was that school doing that was different from the others? After further investigation, it was found that this school required students to perform more student-directed inquiries than the other schools. Instead of listening to long lectures and doing "recipe-type activities," students designed their own experiments. What a difference! Learning science through an inquiry approach can be very beneficial.
What Is Inquiry? Inquiry is central to science learning. Figure 1. The inquiry continuum can be used in multiple ways: Modeling for Understanding in Science Education - Teaching Strategies. Lesson Study Group at Mills College.