Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Helping Future Elementary Teachers to Learn Science the Way We Expect them to Teach Science Western Washington University Susan DeBari (Geology) Scott Linneman (Geology) Deb Donovan (Biology) Alejandro Acevedo-Gutierrez (Biology) Andrew Boudreaux (Physics) Emily Borda (Chemistry) Ed Geary (Science Education Director) Dan Hanley (Institutional Research) Whatcom Community College Bernie Dougan (Geology) John Rousseau (Biology) Sara Julin (Physics) Skagit Valley College Ben Fackler-Adams (Geology) Brad Smith (Geology) Val Mullen (Biology) Paul Frazy (Chemistry) Everett Community College Alecia Spooner (Geology) Pamela Pape Lindstrom (Biology) Rene Kratz (Physics) NW Indian College Terri Plake (Geology)

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER The pre-service emphasis: Future elementary teachers (~190/yr accepted into the program) enter the university with weak science backgrounds Large lecture classes (the pre-existing option) do not provide a coherent learning experience that meets their needs (i.e. how we want science taught in schools) Science methods and practicum courses therefore had been spending significant time focusing on elementary science content rather than content-specific pedagogy

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Where did we start? Highly influenced by research on learning: How People Learn Bransford et al. (2000) Key Findings –Engaging Preconceptions –Developing a conceptual framework –Metacognition

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Where did we start? Highly influenced by Physics and Everyday Thinking curriculum Emphasizes –Preconceptions –Doing and thinking –Metacognition

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER PET features (that we adopted): –Individual thinking and writing, small group discussion, whole group discussion –Energy diagrams –Whiteboarding –Instructor’s role: questioning Classes are small (max 27)

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER The Curricula: All have modules (chapters) with multiple activities, each of which consists of a learning cycle No lectures: curriculum is frontloaded SCED 201 SCED 202SCED 203SCED 204 CHEMISTRY AND THE INFORMED CITIZEN Geology & Everyday Thinking

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key Finding #1: Addressing prior conceptions Each activity within a chapter begins with “Initial Ideas” –“On your own, write down what you think….” –“Discuss your answers in your group. Prepare a whiteboard that illustrates your ideas and be prepared to share it with the class” ON YOUR OWN SMALL GROUP DISCUSSION GROUP PRESENTS TO CLASS

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key Finding #1: Addressing prior conceptions 1. Share initial ideas in a small group WHAT DOES THIS LOOK LIKE? 2. Represent range of ideas on whiteboard

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key Finding #1: Addressing prior conceptions 4. Generates class discussion 3. Share with the class

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key Finding #1: Addressing prior conceptions Example Direct comparison of 3 different “initial ideas” No discussion of “right” or “wrong” at this stage.

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER UTILIZE MANIPULATIVES, DATA, AND EXPERIMENTS Key finding #2: Conceptual frame- work & sense-making

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key finding #2: Conceptual frame- work & sense-making Sense-making: Continuous writing, discussing, whiteboarding Framework: Knowledge builds from previous chapters

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER SENSE-MAKING IS NOT THE INSTRUCTOR’S ROLE Key finding #2: Conceptual frame- work & sense-making

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key finding #3: Metacognition Student thought process is tracked in writing from initial ideas through analysis questions to summarizing questions. Initial ideas Activities within the chapter: analysis/interpretation questions Summarizing questions Chapter reflection

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key finding #3: Metacognition Student thought process is tracked in writing from initial ideas through analysis questions to summarizing questions. Initial ideas Activities within the chapter: analysis/interpretation questions Summarizing questions Chapter reflection “What visible features on Earth’s surface provide evidence for energy transfers within Earth? Where do these features occur? Are they distributed randomly over Earth’s surface or do they occur in discernable patterns?”

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key finding #3: Metacognition Student thought process is tracked in writing from initial ideas through analysis questions to summarizing questions. Initial ideas Activities within the chapter: analysis/interpretation questions Summarizing questions Chapter reflection “As you just did for the Atlantic Ocean, follow all the plate boundaries and look for patterns in your specialty data”

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key finding #3: Metacognition Student thought process is tracked in writing from initial ideas through analysis questions to summarizing questions. Initial ideas Activities within the chapter: analysis/interpretation questions Summarizing questions Chapter reflection “Create a new plate boundary scheme based on the data from all four scientific specialty data sets”

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key finding #3: Metacognition Student thought process is tracked in writing from initial ideas through analysis questions to summarizing questions. Initial ideas Activities within the chapter: analysis/interpretation questions Summarizing questions Chapter reflection “Compare the direction of plate movement arrows to the plate motion arrows you and your classmates drew in Activity 1. Discuss and try to explain any discrepancies”

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key finding #3: Metacognition Student thought process is tracked in writing from initial ideas through analysis questions to summarizing questions. Initial ideas Activities within the chapter: analysis/interpretation questions Summarizing questions Chapter reflection “Re-examine your plate on the 3-D bathymetric/topographic map of Earth in the Initial Ideas. What evidence can you now see that these boundaries exist?

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Key finding #3: Metacognition Student thought process is tracked in writing from initial ideas through analysis questions to summarizing questions. Initial ideas Activities within the chapter: analysis/interpretation questions Summarizing questions Chapter reflection “How do you see your efforts in this cycle as relating to the way that scientists do their work?“

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER What constitutes a “chapter”? Overall purpose Activity (several per chapter) –Purpose –Focusing question –Initial ideas: individual, group, class –Single or multiple experiments –Embedded discussions –Summarizing questions & final discussion Chapter summarizing questions

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER ALL WWU elementary ed majors: One quarter of constructivist physics (PET; =SCED 201) REQUIRED Year-long constructivist science sequence (PET, GET, LSET, CIF; =SCED ) RECOMMENDED Science methods course (SCED 480) and science practicum course (SCED 490) that focus on use of exemplary curricular materials. REQUIRED

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Gains in Science Education Students’ Content Knowledge (Fall 2005 to Spring 2008)

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER Content Test Scores for Science Education vs. Traditional Lecture/Lab Science

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER ** Significantly higher pretest scores for 20X students ^^ Significantly greater gains scores for non-20X students

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER ** Significantly higher component score for 20X students

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER How these courses connect WWU and the feeder community colleges (Everett, Skagit, Whatcom, Northwest Indian)

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER For further information: PET: GET: Susan DeBari LSET: Deb Donovan CIF: Emily Borda