Camila, etc.
I felt that the study for this article was genuinely fantastic. Although I have a rather naive point of view, this seems like a very original case study in which to research how students react to working in a collaborative environment. The five goals that are set in the abstract are distinct, clear, and effective.
I don’t want to get hung up on this for more than a sentence or two, as I’m wont to doing, but I was just speaking with one of my teachers the other day about the assessment of individuals when science is meant to be a social effort. “Educators often think of science knowledge as something that is possessed by individuals. Our methods of assessment make this clear:… “
I thought the teacher did a great job at explaining to her students the importance of sharing their ideas in the class. I’m not sure how receptive to this sixth graders would be, but if the teacher never said it the students would never understand it.
Overall I felt that this article covered a lot of theory we’ve been talking about in my classes. It seems to really be an excellent representation and defense of social cultural theory, and with my current (shared) knowledge it’s tough for me to come up with an opposing argument.
Students’ Questions, etc.
I felt that this article was a pretty good supplement to the first. It’s another study in social cultural theory, but this time takes the teacher farther out of the equation. I like these case studies a lot because it puts into perspective how to utilize the different theories we’re learning about, and it shows us some useful classroom practices.
Drama, etc.
In a nutshell, I thought this study was awesome. The children are young enough where they get to use their imaginations, but their actions are showing that they understand the basic concepts that they have been learning. This is also an activity that will stick out in their minds for a few years until they have a higher level of understanding of the concepts. Although this article doesn’t tie in as directly with our other articles as I thought it would, it still gives a good example of how the individuals in the group all share the same basic concepts and ideas and vocabulary. Overall, I found this study very effective.
Tags: JRST1
Your comment in the drama article blurb about students sharing a basic understanding of concepts and vocabulary brought to mind the idea of group think for me. I think that the students forming their ideas about the states of matter and food webs through a group interaction is a great idea and it gives students the opportunity to see how other students are working through their explanations and coming to conclusions about content. I too was a big fan of the whole idea presented in the article.
The Radinsky et al. article pointed out that the current educational standards we hold our science students to are primarily directed toward an individual level, rather than on the social level. As teachers how can we make a socially constructed subject (which is deeply rooted in the nature of science), so dependent on standards with an individualistic viewpoint? The point you made about how you can possibly assess social knowledge on an individual level is something I haven’t thought about too much until this week, but I do find it very interesting.
Cory, I too enjoyed reading these case studies because it put a lot of the theories that we have been talking about in class in perspective for me. I sit in class thinking that something might work or trying to establish a situation in which one of the theories is most effective in practice, but I never really come to a conclusion that makes me believe that bits and pieces of these theories can actually work in practice. It was refreshing, to say the least, to read about actual studies that involve actual people, instead of just reading about what a few people have to say regarding the theory of the learning. I am beginning to understand a little more about how some of the theories we have read can be fit together to produce successful results in a classroom. Although there was no exam in the articles to say that the students truly learned and understood all of this information, the studies did appear to illustrate an increase in learning through the social interactions of students.