Crawford (2007)
“Learning to Teach Science as Inquiry in the Rough and Tumble of Practice”
The most interesting part of this piece was the many reasons that the five pre-service teachers did or did not incorporate inquiry into their teaching. Even though the field of science education has been promoting inquiry-based learning for decades, many classrooms do not reflect this change. This is a much more complicated problem than I had originally expected. The world outside of the universities can affect even the most well-prepared inquiry teachers.
I liked the definition of inquiry used in this paper. I’ve read other papers that expand upon the many definitions of inquiry (much like Lampert’s work with practice), but I am particularly fond of this one:
“…students in K-12 science classrooms develop abilities to do scientific inquiry, gain understandings about scientific inquiry, and that teachers facilitate students in acquiring deep understanding of science concepts through inquiry approaches” (p. 614). I was confused by the next sentences regarding student outcomes. How can we require standards that enforce students’ “appreciating the diverse ways in which scientists conduct their work”? This is an assessment nightmare.
Lampert (2009)
“Learning Teaching in, from, and for Practice: What Do We Mean?”
This was a very interesting and informative view of the nuances in the word practice. The part of speech, singular versus plural form of the word, and the grain size or subject of the sentence becomes vital in distinguishing the definitions. The author concludes that a consensus about this term needs to be reached in order to achieve a common language, a prerequisite for collectively solving the problem of “learning the work of teaching” (p. 12). I’m not sure that I agree. That’s the beauty of the English language, yes? We can use one word to mean many things. When speaking about The Practice of Teaching, I don’t think it is appropriate to rely on a definition that is synonymous with rehersal. Why can’t all of these definitions be true some of the time?
“When educators use the term best practices, another question immediately follows: best to achieve what goals?” (p. 12) This is a key question that needs to be revisited when discussing any teacher’s or teaching pracice. Differences in practices closely reflect teaching and learning values, like the learning theories we’ve been discussing all semester. The kinds of activities that happen in research and in leading a classroom are based off of an individual’s beliefs about learning. So, these questions become vital for understanding the context of the learning: what is important to this person? What goals are they trying to achieve?
Windschitl, et. al. (2012)
“Proposing a Core Set of Instructional Practices and Tools for Teachers of Science”
This reading introduced me to some new vocabulary: (1) high-leverage instructional practices, (2) ambitious teaching, and (3) teaching practices vs teaching moves. I admire the authors’ intent to identify a core set of HLPs, but I think this is a very ambitious task. My experience in science classrooms is limited to being the student or a teaching assistant, so I am not confident in my ability to critique the Model-Based Inquiry Framework applied to multiple classroms, different in content, teacher view of learning, and in student background.
Do the NGSS solve the problem of students not being able to identify the “Big Ideas” in science? Can the core disciplinary ideas and cross-cutting concepts be used in the Model-Based Inquiry Framework to organize teachers’ learning of practices as well as their subsequent teaching?
(Apologies to my group for the late post. I had it saved to a Word document and forgot to post last Friday. I have cupcakes to ease the pain…)
Hi Aubree,
First of all – Happy birthday and thank you for bringing those delicious cupcakes last night. They were much appreciated!
I definitely agree that inquiry should be better defined depending on how the author is using the word. It is tossed around in education so much that the meaning has become extremely broad. If more words were defined (even if you don’t agree with the definition) then there would be less lost in translation. I still find it interesting that depending on your culture and experiences the same word can hold so many definitions. oh, situativeness… However, I think authors are becoming more aware of these variations and try to define words that cause confusion.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
-Kate
Your response is very nicely organized! I agree that all of the definitions of practice are true, but I think the author’s point is that some of them might be more useful for informing teaching and teacher training than others. Identifying core HLPs certainly is ambitious. Do you think it is unobtainable, as Kate does, or just very difficult?
Can’t wait for cupcakes!
-Ryan