IBSE and how children learn

1. IBSE and how children learn Wynne Harlen Fibonacci European Training Session, March 21st 2012

2. Agenda • IBSE and why it is important • Why start at the primary level • What we know about how children learn • The importance of skills • Implications for pupils activities • Implications for teachers’ activities • Implications for CPD

3. Defining inquiry-based science education • IBSE means students progressively developing key scientific ideas through learning how to investigate and build their knowledge and understanding of the world around. They use skills employed by scientists such as raising questions, collecting data, reasoning and reviewing evidence in the light of what is already known, drawing conclusions and discussing results. This learning process is all supported by an inquiry-based pedagogy, where pedagogy is taken to mean not only the act of teaching but also its underpinning justifications. (IAP 2011)

4. Why IBSE Some possible reasons: • To provide more future students of science who will become scientists and technologists? • To give provide scientific literacy for all students whether on not they will continue to study science? • To develop skills of inquiry that can be used in other areas besides science? • To give students sound understanding of scientific concepts? • To ensure students know key scientific facts? • To promote life-long learning?

5. 2 important answers to ‘Why IBSE ?’ • Current views of learning • active participation of learners • first hand experience • emphasis on value of talk, dialogue, reflection • Current views of what students need to learn • scientific literacy • learning how to learn throughout life

6. Why IBSE? Reason 1 • IBSE is consistent with current views of how learning takes place, that is that: • children work things out for themselves from an early age (eg from repeated actions) • they often arrive at ideas that conflict with scientific ones because they are based on young children’s necessarily limited experience and reasoning • seen from the children’s point of view they are reasonable • these ideas cannot be easily replaced by giving the ‘right’ answer

7. Why IBSE? Reason 2 • IBSE is consistent with current views of what students need to learn in preparation for the modern world: • A grasp of the ‘big ideas’ which enable active participation in science and technology-related decisions (‘scientific literacy’) • A basic understanding of what science is, how it works and its strengths and limitations • Ability to continue learning, developing awareness and understanding of the process of learning, through reflection on what has been learned and how.

8. Why start at the primary level? • Children are developing ideas about the world around them whether or not they are taught science (Piaget, Osborne and Freyberg, SPACE) • Their ideas result from (limited) reasoning and may be ‘unscientific’ but need to be taken seriously • Moving towards more scientific ideas means using the skills of scientific inquiry • Attitudes (towards science and of science) develop early • Developing and changing science skills and ideas contributes to developing habits of learning and reflection.

9. What we know about how children learn Evidence collected by Piaget and later by others • children work things out for themselves from an early age – from repeated actions • they often arrive at ideas that conflict with scientific ones because they are based on young children’s necessarily limited experience and reasoning • seen from the children’s point of view they are reasonable

10. The rain cycle

11. Inside the incubating egg

12. Or…

13. Seeing the bottle

14. ‘your eyes sort of work like a light’

17. How students are learning in an inquiry classroom • Learners making sense of new experiences for (not by) themselves • Being active in constructing knowledge through their mental and physical activity (not passive receivers) • Linking new experiences to past ones • Testing ideas and reconstructing their own ideas • Using ideas from others

18. A framework for learning through inquiry New experience/question Alternative ideas Bigger idea Possible explanation Existing idea Prediction Plan and conduct investigation Interpret data Conclusion

19. New experience/question Alternative ideas Possible explanation Existing idea

20. New experience/question Alternative ideas Possible explanation Existing idea Prediction Plan and conduct investigation Interpret data

21. New experience/question Alternative ideas Bigger idea Possible explanation Existing idea Prediction Plan and conduct investigation Interpret data Conclusion

22. The role of inquiry in learning science: two caveats • Not all learning in science involves inquiry • Conventions, names, etc are best taught directly • But when understanding is the aim, then inquiry is the appropriate approach • Not all use of inquiry skills in science is scientific inquiry • The content on which inquiry skills are used must enable the development of science concepts • For genuine inquiry, learners don’t know the answer to the question or problem they are investigating.

23. Inquiry in action: classroom prerequisites • Materials and equipment appropriate for the activities and age of the pupils • Access to secondary sources of information • Classroom arranged for pupils to work in groups • Giving sufficient time is for discussing pupils’ ideas, clarifying the question being investigated, collecting data, discussing what has been done and found out • Pupils have note books or folders for keeping their records • Pupils are taught techniques for using equipment, including measuring instruments, safely and effectively • Pupils are helped to use appropriate scientific terms and representations • Tolerance and mutual respect are encouraged • Pupils’ work is displayed in the classroom.

24. Inquiry in action: experiences of learners • Pursuing questions which they have identified as their own even if introduced by the teacher • Raising further questions which can lead to investigations • Making predictions based on what they think or find out • Taking part in planning investigations with appropriate controls to answer specific questions • Carrying out investigations • Gathering evidence by observing real events or using other sources which enables them to test their predictions • Considering how their results answer the investigation question • Trying to explain their results • Collaborating in group work • Talking to each other or to the teacher about what they are observing or investigating etc

25. Inquiry in action: teachers’ activities • Asking for pupils’ own ideas • Helping pupils to express their ideas clearly • Giving pupils positive feedback • Encouraging pupils’ questions • Involving pupils in planning investigations with appropriate controls • Ensuring pupils check their results • Helping pupils to keep notes and systematic records etc

26. Rationale for the diagnostic tool • This is the thinking that has been built into the Fibonacci Diagnostic tool • Over to Susana