Learning in Science

1. Learning in Science

4. Vygotsky(Constructivist) • Learning stems from experience • Involves language (and discussion) • Clarifies thinking • Requires processing • Within a social and cultural context • Within Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) • Is contextually-based • Howe, 1996

5. Vygotsky(Constructivist) • People learn • Everyday concepts (spontaneous) • “Scientific” concepts (non-spontaneous) • Concepts • Are constructed • Linked concepts transfer to new experiences • Howe, 1996

6. Prior Knowledge

7. Piaget(Constructivist) • Learning is active, constructive process • Learning derived from experience • New Knowledge • Assimilated • Accommodated • Learning is individual and internally driven • Developmental stages in learning • Linked to physical development • Limit learning • Howe, 1996

8. Prior Knowledge I’d like the duck, but I have a plane to catch. I was brought into a large white room and my eyes began to blink because the bright light hurt them.

9. Prior Knowledge

10. Prior Knowledge Which does not belong in this group? Salamander Jellyfish Tree Fish Jesse Ventura

12. Constructivism • Characteristics of Knowledge • Builds on Prior Knowledge • Derived from reality • Is adaptive, useful • Is rational • “Created” by individuals • Socially constructed • Shapiro, 1994

13. Constructivism • Types of Knowledge • Rote (“situated” ) • Fuzzy Conceptions (Alternative conceptions) • Meaningful • Cognitive network: Schema • Illustrated through concept maps • “Misconceptions” • Novak, 2002

14. Animal Needs Oxygen May be a Needs May be a Bird Food Can Fish Reproduce May be a Trout Prior Knowledge Pyrrhuloxia

16. Misconceptions Examples: Leaf color Seasons Condensation

17. Misconceptions • Constructed from experience, “prior knowledge” • Rational (make sense) • Useful • Common and typical • Stable and resistant to change

18. Conceptual Change • Assess prior knowledge • Clarify prior knowledge • Create dissatisfaction with current concepts • Discovery process • New concept is understood • New concept is believable • New concept is useful • Continued experience with new concept Strike & Posner, 1982

21. Constructivist terminology • Proposition – A statement identifying the relationship between concepts Consider: Flowers have pistils. Flowers are part of plants. Dogs have legs. Water flows down hill.

22. Constructivism • Concepts – regularities in events or objects Consider: Chair Dog Running Blue Sunny Novak, 2002

23. Concept Maps

24. Relevance Learning Motivated by relevance • To learner’s world. • To prior knowledge • To relationships (socially valued knowledge) Affected by • Unobservables • Sensory perceptions (taste, smell) • Prior ideas, knowledge, models Schollum & Osborne, 1985

25. Language in the classroom • Teacher’s words may be ignored if unfamiliar • Teacher’s words may be used without understanding (sounding scientific) • Student’s words may be ignored. • May involve unidentified mismatch between student and teacher. (examples: living, animal) • May be identified mismatch. Bell & Freyberg,, 1985

26. Instructional Mismatches • Intention for activity • Context - conceptual • Purpose – goal of activity • Design – relevant variables • Activity goals • Action may be without skills or direction • Get results • Reflection – considering findings Tasker & Freyberg, 1985

27. Pollution misconceptions • Brody – Misconceptions • Anything natural is not pollution • Biodegradable materials are not pollutants. • Things are either pollutants or not pollutants. • The human race is indestructible as a species. • Solid waste in dumps is safe. Brody, 1987

28. Objectivism • Different in world-view and philosophy • Knowledge is waiting to be discovered (or taught) • Systematic, objective observations lead to knowledge (the inductive process) • Learning is a process to obtain “true” knowledge • Shapiro, 1994

29. Knowledge • Conceptions • Rote Knowledge • Fuzzy Conceptions (Alternative conceptions) • Misconceptions

30. Knowledge Vee • The Knowledge Vee – demonstrates process of constructing/analyzing knowledge • Conceptual components • Principles – relationships among concepts explaining how concepts appear/behave. • Theories – explain why concepts appear/behave the way they do • World View – belief and knowledge system motivating and guiding learning • Novak, 2002

31. Knowledge Vee • Methodological components • Records (empirical observations) • Transformations (graphs, etc organizing records) • Knowledge claims – summary statements based on records • Value claims – statements of value of knowledge

32. Beyond Constructivism • Real world can be known objectively • Language is bound by reality (p. 58) • Knowledge • Claims checked against reality • Sources are sensory (empirical) • Sources are culturally transmitted • Osborne,

33. Beyond Constructivism • Critiques of constructivism • Knowledge development not same as K learning • Leads to relativism • Can’t explain knowledge not based on direct experience • Nature of Science (NOS) not necessarily relevant to learning (p. 67) • Osborne,

34. Beyond Constructivism • Science: • Provides Knowledge of objective, real world • Based on experimentation (uses referents) • Involves verification • Is reliable • Is objective • Knowledge is relatively stable • Osborne,

35. Theoretical Perspectives • Constructivism • Social • Radical • Instrumentalism • Postmodernism • Realism

36. Cognitive Processes • Progressive differentiation • Subsumption • Superordinate learning • Integrative reconciliation Novak, 2002