1. The Use of Innovative Instructional Strategies Jeanelle Day, Ph.D.
The Learning Cycle
The Use of Innovative Instructional Strategies
Jeanelle Day, Ph.D.

2. The Learning Cycle
To create meaningful learning, instruction has to be adapted to help students:
Become aware of their prior knowledge
Work cooperatively in a safe, positive learning environment
Compare new ideas to their prior knowledge

3. We must also help students to:
Connect new ideas to what they already know
Construct their own “new” knowledge
Apply the new knowledge in ways that are different from the situation in which it was learned.

4. Traditional Course Lessons
Lesson Begins
Lesson Ends
Instructor: tells/lectures content, questions students
Student: answers questions, recites work and problems
Instructor: provides verification and summary
Student: Asks for clarification

5. More Meaningful Learning
Lesson Begins Here
Science Lesson Ends Here Leading to the NEXT Exploration

6. Why Use a Learning Cycle?
It allows students to:
Become aware
Recognize shortcomings
Apply critical reasoning
Search more efficiently
Apply what they learn
Transfer knowledge

7. A Deeper Look….. History of the Learning Cycle
Created by Karplus (late ’50’s-early ’60’s), and fully conceptualized by Atkin and Karplus (1962) as “guided discovery” and used in SCIS elementary science program. At the same time, written about by Chester Lawson in his book, Language, Thought, and the Human Mind (1958). In 1967, Karplus and Their first named the learning cycle and the component phases. Reinterpreted by Barnes in 1976, with alternate versions by Driver (1986), Karplus (1977), Erickson (1979), Nussbaum and Novic (1981), Renner (1982), and Rowell and Dawson (1983). There is no One Right Way to design a learning cycle.

8. The Learning Cycle-First Stage: Exploration
If we accept that each of us must develop understandings that we have about a concept for ourselves, then an alternative instructional method is most appropriate. The learning cycle was created out of concern with pupils gaining experience and this becomes the first stage of the model.
Learners are provided with suitable experiences in order to create for themselves what is to be learned.
This is where experience must be given in order to allow students to assimilate what is to be learned with prior knowledge.
A common weakness in this stage is not allowing sufficient time, and that the time must be spent with the materials and activities that will lead to the concept. A strong exploration provides opportunities for students to assimilate the concept from more than one activity.

9. The Learning Cycle – Second Stage – Invention or Term Introduction.
The students and/or teacher derive the concept from the data, usually a classroom discussion. The learner is introduced to some appropriately-specific terminology in relation to the phenomenon being investigated. The teacher uses this to assist the learner to interpret what has been found.
Five factors to be included in a term introduction include:
The findings of the exploration need to be reviewed and summarized.
All findings used must be the students’.
The concept must be stated in the students’ own words.
The proper terminology of the concept should be introduced.
One or more reasons for the importance of the concept need to be given.

10. The Learning Cycle – Third Stage: Concept Application or Expansion
The purpose is to provide students the opportunity to organize the concept they have just learned with other ideas that relate to it.
The scientific terminology of the concept must be used during the concept-application phase. The new ideas of the learner are meshed with existing knowledge in order to expand both that knowledge and the newly acquired idea. Additional experiences to help this elaboration process are an essential part of this stage. These experiences would have some of the attributes of experiments because the outcomes would not be known even though the pupils know the concept that is the subject of investigation.

11. What to include in each phase:
Exploration (initial actions)
Help students try out and confront their prior knowledge
Ask probing questions to diagnose students’ prior knowledge on the science idea.
Focus students’ attention on science experiences.
Encourage students working cooperatively in groups to recall and relate prior knowledge to the new science idea.
Make public students’ prior knowledge

12. What to include in each phase:
Invention (next actions)
Ask students to reflect on and explain related experiences, concepts and terminology in their own words (e.g. whole group discussion of the exploration activity)
Ask students to clarify the new idea and justify statements with evidence.
Provide definitions, clear explanations, and terms for the new science idea.
Provide clear examples of the new science idea or model the new skill.
Provide for student practice using the new science idea just explained.
Provide a concise, brief closure of the key science idea.

13. What to include in each phase:
Expansion (concluding actions)
Provide additional practice to help students use terms, definitions and explanations experienced previously in the lesson.
Provide application activities in new, relevant contexts, at the same time helping students to recall their original alternative explanations.
Provide activities to help students transfer the new science knowledge to increasingly real world events.
Provide a summary of the important events in the science lesson.

14. An important note:
Each phase of the learning cycle uses one or more teaching methods to accomplish its purpose. The choice of the methods to use depends upon 1) the type of science idea(s) or skill(s) to be taught, 2) prior knowledge and specific learning needs of the student, and 3) part of the learning cycle with which the teacher is involved.

15. Preparing Learning Cycles
Select the concept students are to learn and write out a concise statement of it.
Select the activities students will use to collect data and to guide them toward forming the concept in the term introduction.
Prepare instructions to use as an outline and/or to give to students for collecting the data.
Be certain that the instructions direct students ONLY in the collection of data, and DO NOT provide information that allows them to ascertain the concept from the instructions alone.
Prepare teacher guidelines for the term introduction or invention phase. The guidelines will consist of carefully structured questions to lead the students through the interpretation of their data and TO the concept.
Select the activities to be used during the concept application or expansion phase. Be sure these activities freely use the concept AND its terminology.
Prepare evaluation materials that are to be used.

16. In Order for ANY Instruction to Work, There MUST be a Match
Needs of the Student
Match Required for Meaningful Science Learning
Science Instructional Strategy to be Used by the Teacher
Science Content and Skills to be Learned

17. Exploration Phase Summary
Encourages learning through student’s own inquiry and focuses their interest.
Involves minimal guidance or expectation on the teacher’s part.
Often provides an experience that confronts students’ old way of thinking.
Begins with a preplanned open or divergent question from the teacher.
Involves students in working in cooperative groups.
Encourages observation of the natural world and raises questions for the students.
Provides for student interaction with ideas and materials as well as the collection and organization of data.
Encourages students’ reflection in selecting resources, discussion, and debate.
Encourages trying out prior ideas, suspending judgment, predicting, hypothesizing, and testing.
Provides students with adequate time to relate prior knowledge to the new idea or skill.
Allows students to know the purpose and objective of the science lesson.
Allows teacher to know students’ present understanding of the idea or skill.

18. Invention Phase Summary:
Follows adequate exploration of the science idea or skill where some development may have occurred.
Encourages discussion of past experiences with the science idea or skill in the exploration phase and elsewhere.
Allows learning from “explanation” through an interesting variety of teaching methods and student hands-on, minds-on learning activities.
Introduces an idea or skill in a structured manner through additional experiences using a variety of mediums including student senses, teacher explanations, technology interfaces, films, textbook readings, field trips, cooperative group discussions, Internet searches, guests to be interviewed, and others.
Encourages students to develop as much of the new idea or skill as possible through providing one or more complete cycles of explanation, giving clear examples and modeling, and checking for understanding.
Provides a closure on the new idea or skill.

19. Expansion Phase Summary:
Provides for learning through repetition.
Provides additional time and experiences for the science idea or skill to become part of the student’s thought processes (conceptual change)
Provides application activities in new, relevant conte3xts while helping students to recall their original alternative explanations.
Encourages retrieval from long-term memory by helping students form an abstraction from concrete examples.
Extends the range of applicability of the new science idea or skill outside of the learning setting by transferring it to other relevant contexts and times.
Provides a summary of the important events in the science lesson.

20. Next Steps
You will now be given a rating sheet for a learning cycle lesson.
In pairs, take the two sample lessons and rate them according to the rubric.
Compare the two lessons on strengths and weaknesses.