Adventurous Learning (and Teaching)

1. Adventurous Learning (and Teaching) Chapters 13 and 16 in Inquiry: The Key to Exemplary Science

2. National Science Education Standards • Teaching Standards • Courses became more student driven • Assessment Standards • Look at understanding and reasoning more than memorization • Content and Inquiry Standards • Moves the class away from lecture so it better facilitates inquiry

3. “Lecture-free teaching” • Include small active learning exercises in every class • Design own activities • In-class activities take longer than lecture classes “Coherence is vital, both within each class meeting and also from week to week throughout the semester.”

4. Inquiry-Based Learning • Start with guided instruction to give necessary background knowledge • Slowly give students more responsibility in materials and methods “A marked decrease in passivity among the students.” “…I reassure them that discovering an incorrect hypothesis or a flawed experimental design can produce even more significant learning than having the results be as expected.”

5. Response “…more effectively engages students in the process of science, and improves learning while developing scientific process skills.” • retain more, easier to relate to, learned over memorized, keeps me interested, • “I wish that I could have had this kind of exposure to science at an earlier age.” • “…better understanding of the material and can apply it to different situations.” • “inspiring as a future teacher”

6. Stepping out of our comfort zone • Comfortable with how we were taught • Give students complete control of learning • Transitioning from lecture to inquiry

7. Inquiry Pays Off • Meets needs of students with different learning styles • More student interest and motivation • Developed inquiry • Making connections • More fun

8. “’If we are supposed to understand science, shouldn’t we be doing it?’” “’This was great. Why don’t we do every science unit this way?’”