Prior Knowledge Investigation

1. Prior Knowledge Investigation Water Availability and the Water Cycle Jennifer Uerz, MAED Candidate Secondary Science Education Virginia Tech

2. Advantages of using Prior Knowledge in Education • Create a meaningful, individual connection between each student and the material presented • Meaningful connections foster more personal analysis of material and better retention (Piaget’s theory of assimilation and accommodation)

3. Problems with Prior Knowledge Misconceptions! • Humans are scientists in life constructing theories about the world around them (Kuhn, 1989). • These theories may or may not be correct. • Prior knowledge can interfere with new learning if incompatible with material presented (Dole, 2000).

4. Goals: • Analyze students’ prior knowledge and misconceptions • Design a lesson to build off of prior knowledge and address misconceptions • Analyze students’ learning and the lesson to find out whether it was constructed in a way that changed incorrect constructs

5. Initial Interview Questions

6. How much of the world’s water is freshwater? Correct Answer = 2-3% Class Range= 1-63%

7. How much of that freshwater can we (humans) use? Correct Answer = 0.003% Class Range= 0.3-100%

8. Why can’t we use all the freshwater on Earth? • Student 1= some is polluted and there are animals living in the rest • Student 2= fish/sharks are living in it • Student 3= fish are living in it • Student 4= not sure

9. Draw what you think the water cycle looks like. Student 1

10. Student 2

11. Student 3 (representation) Clouds Evaporation Rain Lakes

12. Student 4 (representation)

13. Water Lesson Overview • Day 1 = What is water? How is it used? • Day 2 = How much water is there on Earth? Where is it? How much can we use? • Day 3 = What is the water cycle? How does water travel through the water cycle?

14. Introduction to water Definition of water Students analyze personal water use Water usage outside the home Importance Day 1 Objectives

15. Day 1 Strategies:“Aqua Words” Activity • Critical thinking- Brainstorming • Auditory, Visual and Spoken- Class discussion • Application of problem solving/critical thinking (identifying a known substance) • Spoken and Spatial- Creation and sharing of individualized products (water definition pages)

16. Day 2 Objectives • Demonstrate water availability. • Give students a sense of how little water we have to work with and why we need to take care of it. • Show students where water on our planet exists.

17. Day 2 Strategies: “Drop in the Bucket” Activity • Visual and Auditory- Demonstration • Written- Questions Activity Sheet • Auditory and Spoken- Class Discussion on Water Usage and Availability • Auditory, Spoken and Written- Water Facts game; review, to stimulate interest

18. Day 3 Objectives • Review the water cycle. • Help students realize the complexity in the water cycle. • Illustrate where some of the otherwise available freshwater is tied up.

19. Day 3 Strategies: “The Incredible Journey” Activity • Kinesthetic-students journey through the water cycle (movement to different stations, rolling dice) • Spoken and auditory: Listening to and sharing individual journeys • Visual- pictures of various locations in the water cycle, drawing of individual water cycle journey • Spatial- illustration of water cycle journey • Written- description of movement from location to location (to accompany water cycle picture)

20. Post Lesson Interview How much of the Earth’s water is freshwater? Correct Answer =2-3%

21. How much of that freshwater can we use? Correct Answer = 0.003%

22. Why can’t we use all of the freshwater on Earth? • Student 1= Some is trapped as groundwater and some is frozen as glaciers. • Student 2 = The unusable part is caught up in glaciers or ice or is polluted. • Student 3 = Its polluted and animals live in it. • Student 4 = Because we need to conserve some.

23. Water Cycle Depictions Student 1 *no noticeable alteration

24. Student 2 *no noticeable change

25. Student 3 *incorporation of more than one location (puddle/river/ocean)

26. Student 4 (representation) *no noticeable change

27. Discussion of Results For the question concerning amount of freshwater on Earth, all students were within 2% of the answer. They understood the discrepancy between the amount of water and the amount of freshwater on Earth.

28. Discussion of Results Though no students interviewed produced a correct answer for the usable freshwater question, 2 of the 4 did understand that less than 1% was available and all 4 did realize that little of the freshwater on Earth was actually available for our use.

29. Discussion of Results All students interviewed exhibited more complex thought when answering the question concerning why all freshwater was not available for use. Before the lesson the primary answer was because of animals living in the water; afterwards the students expanded their ideas to include pollution and water caught up in other locations (glaciers, ice, groundwater).

30. Discussion of Results Only 1 student of the 4 interviewed altered his water cycle diagram to reflect learn about the more complex nature of the water cycle.

31. Reasoning behind Results • More time was needed to work with the new material and review. • Student 4 was the only student of the ones interviewed that was absent from class. His absence, lessened his exposure to the material and may have contributed to his diminished retention.

32. Suggestions • Incorporate prior knowledge into lessons to stimulate student interest. • Address misconceptions and give students a chance to work through them on their own. • Spend time with multiple activities and review, allowing students the chance to work with the new material in various different ways.

33. Questions?