Inquiring minds want to know.....

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     Still at Miami University in Oxford.  Just now getting used to the lab and working on high end scientific problems.  Also just had an "Ah Ha" moment.  It boils down to this...if you are doing science research, everything is working, there are no problems and you understand what is going on...then it is really not science research.  There is no such thing as "good" or "bad" data..it is just data.

     And if this were not enough to blow my mind we are taking an educational seminar.  Part of the seminar is reading a book about inquiry, science and methods of teaching.  We are getting to the conclusion perhaps we might want to teach the topic of science in the same manner as it is done.  That would involve some changes.  Some of the book is the same ideas that have been repeated for some time ( Bloom's taxonomy, state standards and Piaget).  There was something that struck me though...what type of teacher do I really want to be?  I guess the reason it hit me is that about every 3-5 years there seems to be a renewed focus/problem in education.  It almost feels as if people are throwing spaghetti at the wall...let's try something and hope it sticks.  Given the continual cycles, what would happen if I come up with my own plan?  Here is what the author suggests (Teaching High School Science through Inquiry and Argumentation, Llewellyn).

     1. Build an understanding of inquiry.

     2. Develop on understanding of the change process.

     3.  Construct a mind-set for the emerging practices.

     4.  Translate new knowledge into practice.

     5.  Create a culture of inquiry.

     So if I bite, the question is, why?  I am not sure if this is going to work but at least there seems to be mounds of data and evidence that kids will do better if I am an inquiry teacher.  So let's look at question 1....

     Here is what I am going to run with (Flick and Lederman, 2006).

     "Inquiry stands for a fundamental principle of how modern science is conducted.  Inquiry refers to a variety of processes and ways of thinking that support the development of new knowledge about the processes scientists use to develop knowledge that is the nature of science itself.  Thus, inquiry is viewed as two different students outcomes, ability to do scientific processes and the knowledge about those processes."  Llewellyn suggests the third part is how the teacher helps.

     So it boils down to this...inquiry is what students know, what they can do, and how I can help them learn science by doing science.  Now I just have to figure out the "change" part.....