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Re: inquiry based courses




I've enjoyed reading responses on using inquiry based teaching environments.

My original post was excessively negative-students had many good things to
say about their experience too. But there were enough negative comments to
make my backside feel a bit singed.

My experience with the Workshop Physics format was that the second time
through it was considerably better than the first. I hope this trend shows
itself in my Physical Science for El Ed Majors course.

Based on student comments, and the suggestions of people on the list, there
are some things which I'll do differently next semester.

1. Talk to students at the beginning and throughout the semester about
why we are running the course in the way we are.

2. Don't be committed to a single curriculum package. Use things from
several sources. Put them together in a way that makes sense from the
local environment point of view.

3. Work on bringing closure to a topic in a student's mind.

Further comments on these points:

Point 2:
The AAPT curriculum Powerfull Ideas In Physical Science has some really
outstanding features to it. Many of the activities do make good connections
with everyday phenomena that students can easily relate to, such as using
margerine as an example system for mixtures. My students really liked the
boiled egg/raw egg demonstration as a density puzzle. The light activities
appear very thoughtfully sequenced. I also appreciated the research based
rationale included in the materials. There are many other good features to
the package.

There are a few weakneses, at least from my point of view, which the authors
might want to address in future editions.

The activity format is over used. Every activity has exactly the same
format: ask for a student's idea, ask for the group members' ideas,
make observations, make sense of the observations. By the third week this
became tedious. It probably didn't help that my students were mostly
junior education majors who have been taught to show a critical eye to
lessons, educational activities, and educational environments. They are
also taught that frequent use of a particular lesson format is a
cardinal sin. We need to find more subtile ways of using the learning cycle.

One way that the McDermott group materials, Physics By Inquiry, seem to
provide more variety is just by asking more questions that have an
"application" flavor to them, to use learning cycle language. Questions or
puzzles that require applying the ideas will also help in my point 3, helping
students achieve closure. Application oriented questions help both
student and teacher check whether there is understanding. The AAPT activities
just need more of these questions.

One feature that was present in Arnold Aron's original masterpiece, The
Various Language, was tying all the activities to a few very broad themes
that had some historical/intellectual substance to them. Aron's themes,
or storylines, were
(1) establishing the Newtonian synthesis--the heliocentric view of the solar
system and the framework of Newton's laws of motion;
(2) establishing the atomic hypothesis.

All the activities in his book contributed to an understanding of these themes
and the contribution was noted throughout.

This connection between activities/ideas and intellectually substantive themes
seems to be missing in a lot of the more modern inquiry based learning
materials.

Point 3:

Providing students with a sense of closure on a topic seems to be my biggest
challenge. Part of the solution will be in the curriculum materials, adding
more questions that help student and teacher assess understanding. But
the problem, and also solution, is also a classroom management issue.

When is it appropriate to directly answer a student's question?
When is it best to have a full class discussion?
How do I make class discussions most productive when groups often are at
quite different places in an activity or sequence of activities?

These are some of the questions I will struggle with...

One idea that was mentioned (by Jerry Hart at Moorhead State U.),
and that seems to be helpful, is to have
students write down a question at the end of class on a file card. These
can be addressed immediately on the following day. I'm going to try this.

This response is becoming too long-winded. Also, its lunch time.

Chris Wentworth

Department of Physics
Doane College
Crete, NE 68333-2496
402-826-8257 (O)
402-826-8199 (FAX)
cwentworth@doane.edu (Internet)







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