Concept Change Leading to Conceptual Learning

1. Concept Change Leading to Conceptual Learning Dr. H. T. Seema Khan HOD Chemistry DACW Phase VIII, Karachi

2. Knowledge is like light.  Weightless and tangible,  it can easily travel the World, enlightening the lives of people everywhere.

3. KNOWLEDGE

4. "Education is nothing more nor less than learning to think." Peter Facione

5. Education • The greatest treasure and assets of a nation are its educational institutions. They make or mar the destiny of a nation. • The strength of a country is built on human resource development and education is seen as a potent instrument for economic and social development in a country. • Effective management of knowledge is endorsed as an essential element for the survival of a nation, yet again, the ways in which knowledge is imparted in our schools and colleges remains poorly implemented.

6. "The truth is, that those who have never entered upon scientific pursuits know not a tithe of the poetry by which they are surrounded." ... Herbert Spencer

7. CHEMISTRY: THE CENTAL SCIENCE

8. Chemistry: The Central Science • From Living sciences to Physical sciences, from environmental chemistry to green chemistry and from industrial chemistry to nano-chemistry it is around us . • Every day and every moment make us realize the importance of chemistry. • Chemistry has also paved the road of luxury and comfort which many people rely upon today. • While teaching, the relevance of such concepts or facts, descriptions and info be given to students • After all, what would the world be like today without some of these chemical inventions?

9. Our Subject and the Object SUBJECT OBJECT

10. OUTCOME

11. The Traditional View of Knowledge

12. Expectation from Teaching Profession • Imparting of Knowledge. • Training of Mental Abilities. • Grooming and Building of Character and Personality

13. Ground Realities • Our education system is declining. • Syllabi not revised for more than a decade. • Prescribed books are not edited timely. • Coaching centers. • Annual system of examination with a maximum of eight month teaching • Selective study and solving of past years papers. • Last but the foremost mode of assessment favouring the rote memorization

15. Basics Of Change • This desire for change is the most important factor leading to identify the need for change. • The need for change is the rationale or "WHY" that creates urgency and belief. • Once the "WHY" is clear, it is necessary to have clarity of "DIRECTION". • Once the "WHY" and the "DIRECTION" are known, a "VISION" can be articulated. • With the "WHY", "DIRECTION" and "VISION" in place we can create an “environment for change".

16. Desire For Change • This desire for change arises when happening or situation or system you are a part of shows a continuous decline that starts harming the whole environment. • Communication is one of the most  vital processes to create this desire for change.

17. WHY? • It creates urgency and belief within oneself and the surrounding people. • It must be factual and believable and make clear the need of changing as much as the benefits of change. • The teachers need to be fully versed in the "WHY" to be able to face the challenges that will come from within the organization, students and parents.

18. DIRECTION • Without clarity of direction, teachers may choose different paths to solve the "WHY". Each path may be perfectly acceptable, but the power of change can only be harnessed if everyone walks in the same direction. • It is necessary to differentiate direction from "THE ANSWER" at this point. Where we are going is different from how we will get there.

19. VISION • "VISION" should be clear and articulated. This vision must be shared otherwise it will be of no use. • The "VISION" should be simple, straightforward easily understood and have meaning like • how the education system should work. • What measures should be taken to make proceed education system forward.

20. Environment for Change • With the "WHY", "DIRECTION" and "VISION" in place we can create an “environment for change". • This is the condition where the teachers, students and the institution are ready to accept the change • Communicating these key elements and experiencing the challenges will create a desire to move or motivate towards critical thinking and conceptual learning or leads to ACTION.

21. In 21st Century • There is no vision without curiosity • Vision without action is a daydream. • Action without vision is a nightmare. • Vision with action can change the world.

22. Conceptual Change • Conceptual change is generally defined as learning that changes an existing conception (i.e., belief, idea, or way of thinking). • In conceptual change, an existing conception is fundamentally changed or even replaced, and becomes the conceptual framework that students use to solve problems, explain phenomena, and function in their world.

23. Critical Thinking is the essence of Conceptual Learning.

24. Critical Thinking • Thinking critically means not just listening and accepting everything you see and hear. • Thinking critically means active thinking. • Asking questions about what you see and hear, evaluating, categorizing, and finding relationships.

25. Activities Involve in Critical Thinking • Interpreting according to a framework. • Relating theory to practice. • Making an idea/ hypothesis and supporting it. • Using appropriate evidence. • Making links between ideas/ hypothesis. • Asking questions to satisfy every query.

26. Critical Thinking Conceptual Learning Evaluating Predicting Describing Analyzing Synthesizing Categorizing Establishing cause and effect Comparing and contrasting Identifying problems and solutions

27. Basic Assumption In Teaching For Conceptual Change

28. Conceptual Change Approaches

29. Strong Foundation in Chemistry • Concepts’ development is more important than content overload. • and • Thinking is more productive than memorization.

30. Constructivism • Constructivism is a very broad conceptual framework in philosophy and science . • The theory addresses four major aspects: • Predisposition towards learning. • The ways in which a body of knowledge can be structured that can be most readily grasped by the learner. • The most effective sequences in which to present material. • Good methods for structuring knowledge resulting in simplifying, generating new propositions, and increasing the manipulation of information.

31. Piaget's theory • Much of the Constructivist theory is linked to students’ development research from their child hood by Swiss developmental psychologist Jean Piaget. • Piaget's theory has two major parts: "ages and stages“.

32. Bruner’s Principles Bruner's constructivist theory is a general framework for instruction based upon the study of cognition. • 1. Instruction must be concerned with the experiences and contexts that make the student willing and able to learn (Readiness). • 2. Instruction must be structured so that it can be easily grasped by the student (Organization). • 3. Instruction should be designed to facilitate extrapolation and or fill in the gaps (going Beyond The Information given).

33. General Implications of Cognitive Constructivism • Learning is an active process: Direct experience, making errors, and looking for solutions are vital for the assimilation and accommodation of information. • Learning should be whole, authentic, and "real": Piaget helps us to understand that meaning is constructed as children interact in meaningful ways with the world around them.

34. Span of Concentration • Research has shown that students’ attention span lasts for only 15 to 20 minutes, thus, how much do students really learn in a 45 or 50 minute lecture? • Studies show that students are not attentive 40% of the time they are in class and that although attention is high for the first 15 minutes, it declines rapidly until the final 10 minutes of class. • With this in mind, Our work as teachers is to combine active methodologies with traditional lecturing (passive) techniques to foster learning among students.

35. Average Percentage Retention The percentages listed below represent the average amount of information that is retained through that particular learning method. Note what method produces the highest retention rate. • Lecture = 5% • Reading = 10% • Audiovisual = 20% • Demonstration = 30% • Discussion Group = 50% • Practice by doing = 75% immediate delivery of class lecture to others= 90%

36. General Hindrances • It should be recognized that a student's prior knowledge may help or hurt the construction of meaning. • Students’ prior knowledge comes from their past experiences, culture, and their environment. • Generally prior knowledge is good, but sometimes misconceptions and wrong information can be a hindrance. • Sometimes time must be spent correcting prior knowledge before new learning can occur.

37. Teaching based on Conceptual Learning • Learning always builds upon knowledge that a student already knows; this prior knowledge is called a schema. • Because all learning is filtered through pre-existing schemata, learning can be more effective when a student is actively engaged in the learning process rather than attempting to receive knowledge passively. • This can lead to cognitive conflict where there is a conflict between the existing and the conceived knowledge

38. Learning • Conceptual learning is an active learning process by which students learn how to organize & focus information in logical mental structures. • Conceptual learning is a catalyst for challenging students to think at more advanced levels. • When students only hear the lecture without being a part of it , this learning is passive. • In Lecture based learning, students are not attentive all the time in a class and if there is no interesting data it declines more rapidly. Active Learning Passive Learning

39. Teaching Strategies • There are two ways on which teaching is based • Teacher centered • Student centered. • Teacher centered learning is in the form of lectures, presentations, hand-outs asking questions and providing answers or any other having interaction with the student and knowing the mental ability of the student.

40. Teaching Strategies Teacher Based Learning

41. Teacher Based Strategies • One of the first things a teacher must do when considering how to teach students is to acknowledge that each student does not learn in the same way. • This means that if the teacher chooses just one style of teaching (direct instruction, collaborative learning, inquiry learning, etc.), the students will not be maximizing their learning potential. • Obviously, a teacher can not reach every student on the same level during one lesson, but implementing a variety of learning styles throughout the course allows all the students will have the chance to learn in at least one way that matches their learning style.

42. Five Key Phases to Teach • Orientation • Comparison of Ideas • Reconstruction of Ideas • Application of Ideas • Review

43. Concept Mapping • A concept map is a diagram consisting of boxes or graphics that represent concepts and labelled lines that represent relationships between the concepts. • Concept maps help students in better learning as well as enabling them to make links and correlations between different phenomena and concepts

45. Like Dissolves Like

46. Alternative Conceptions And View Of Learning

47. Student Centered Strategies Some of the strategies are • PBL: Problem Based Learning • CSL: Case Study Learning • D2L: Desire to Learn • J.I.T : Just In Time • T.C.L: Time Constraint Learning

48. Using Student Centered Learning Strategies in the Classroom • If we consider that learning is enhanced when students are engaged in the processing of information, then our challenge as teachers is to find creative ways to design dynamic learning environments that involve students in doing and thinking about the subject.

49. The PBL teaching • The teacher helps the students analyse the problem statement and establish a learning agenda. • The learning agenda is organised around several questions. • The teacher gives some lectures and tutorials. • 4. Information is organised during the development of theproblem and to track progress. • As each area is clarified, issues are removed and replaced with new learning questions that arise from new information.

50. The PBL teaching • Once it is gathered, the information is evaluated for its usefulness and how it changed the nature of theproblem. • Finally, at the end of the unit of study, the studentsdevelop a resolution to their problem. • The resolutions are tested for their positive and negative consequences which are compared. • The costs and benefits of alternate • decisions are considered.