skills learning

7/28/2019 Skills Learning

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Facilitating students

ownershipof learning in science by

developing lifelong

learning skillsLearning is most effective when the scientific context used in the classroom is a transformedextension of the students real world and so inspires students intrinsic motivation,encouragingstudents to ask meaningful questions and seek their own answers through an inquiry orinvestigative approach. The Student Owned Learning Model (SOLM) provides a pathway fortransferring ownership of, and responsibility for learning, from the teacher to the student andreflects the way scientists and others construct and verify answers to their questions,therebypromoting the development of students lifelong learning strategies. In so doing, SOLM is apowerful springboard for teachers implementing the futures-oriented draft NationalCurriculum(Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority [ACARA], 2010).

Introduction

It is clear from the research that primary schoolstudents enjoy science when it is student-centred

and focused on relevant investigations involving an

inquiry approach (Goodrum et al., 2001). Similarly,

we know students attitudes towards science decline

as they progress through schooling, which is not only

an issue in Australia but also the majority of western

countries (Sjoberg & Schreiner, 2005). While this decline

is a complex issue with many interrelated factors

highlighted in the science education literature, intrinsic

motivation, engagement and student identity are

critical components (Panizzon & Westwell, 2009).

Furthermore, as students move from primary to

secondary education, the many demands on teachersto complete mandated syllabi, measure student


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achievement against performance standards, focus

upon external high-stakes testing, and higher degrees

of accountability, can conflict with other priorities

and further accelerate this rate of decline. Evidence

from the US and UK indicate that if left unchecked,

these external factors can become curriculum drivers,

resulting in student learning being based solely upontest achievement (Wiliam, 2000).

We know that students interest in science is heightened

when they have the opportunity to select relevant and

meaningful issues that link to their local community and

when they are able to negotiate their own learning

goals (Schraw et al., 2006). This is because intrinsic

motivation is maximised when students have some

ownership and responsibility for decision-making about

their learning. Aligned to this is the need for students

to develop metacognitive skills that allow them to

question their learning processes, develop learning

plans, and ultimately reflect upon the changes in their

own learning (McInerney & McInerney, 1998). Clearly,these skills need to be introduced early in schooling

and developed alongside scientific knowledge,

understandings, skills, values and attitudes, which are

critical components of any science curriculum.

If students are to personally engage with science and

its applications within society, they must be scientifically

literate (Goodrum et al., 2001). This is particularlyimportant given the present rate oftechnological and

social change that requires continuing engagement

with learning-to-learn strategies throughout life, in order

to maintain skills and knowledge currency (Cornford,

2000). The importance of these skills is demonstrated

by the fact that critical thinking, problem-solving, and

self-management appear in the Charter on Primary

Schoolingdeveloped by the Australian Primary

Principals Association (2007). The SOLM presented

in this paper, supports students developing their own

successful learning pathways, guides students beyond

their schools scientific studies, and links with their

personal contexts throughout life to promote

successful citizens into the future.The Student Owned Learning ModelThe model presented in Figure 1 was developed in

response to primary preservice teachers concernsabout teaching science. Based upon the successful

features of Faire and Cosgroves (1988) interactive

learning model, SOLM incorporates aspects of the

social and cultural learning contexts of students more

explicitly. In particular, it builds upon students initial

ideas and supports conceptual growth while allowing

students to enhance their metacognitive awareness.

Subsequently, the learning process transfers much

of the responsibility for learning from the teacher to

the student. In this context, the role of the teacher is

to interact with students, support their investigative

strategies, challenge their scientific ideas, monitor their

progress, and stimulate their metacognitive awareness.

As highlighted in Figure 1, the model comprises a


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number of major components along with feedback

loops, or iterations, which reflect the dynamic,

interactive nature of how people learn science. The

interdependent components are like nodes, or steps

in a ladder, emphasising the principal focus for that

section. However, students may, and frequently do

return to previoussteps

, or jump to later components

at any time, as scientists do. The remainder of this

paper unpacks the various components of this model,

providing practical examples around implementationLearning ContextCreating a learning context involves transforming the

workspace to model students real-world interests

around a curriculum focus (e.g., life cycles in nature).

Even with the implementation of Primary Connections

and the drafted National Curriculum, there is a

higher degree of flexibility for primary teachers to use

opportunities that arise in the classroom as particularavenues for scientific study. Possible themes for

investigating science often emerge through class

talk, the questions raised from students outdoor

experiences, or a local environmental issue of interest

and relevance to the students.

When interest occurs there is likely to be greater student

engagement, generating intrinsic motivation that results

in immediate ownership driving the learning process

(Duit & Treagust, 2003). While it is not always possible

to pursue themes of interest for all students, with some

careful thinking it is usually possible for the creative

primary teacher to help students understand

real-world relevance.Importantly, the role of the teacher is to engage as

an active member of the learning community while:

encouraging cooperative learning strategies;

orchestrating the workspace to induce

engagement;

ensuring the availability of resources; and

evaluating students readiness for further learning.

StudentQuestionsStudents are more highly motivated to raise relevant

questions and to seek answers when their curiosity is

aroused prior to commencing their study. Questions

are generated when students are involved in: exciting workspace transformations and

new experiences;

personally relevant environmental stimulations;

challenging discussions with parents and/or

resource personnel;

informal and formal student-student and

student-teacher conversation;

engagement via the media and/or internet; and

exploratory and other activities that challenge

their previously held views.

It is important that all students contribute to the question

pool, as differing backgrounds, experiences, interests

and curiosity levels stimulate different questions. Ingeneral, large talk-fests, such as class brainstorming


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sessions, are dominated by a vocal few, thereby

reflecting the interests and concerns of a minority group.

In contrast, all students can contribute and retain their

anonymity by writing their questions on strips of paper

(with the teacher doing this for younger students) and

maintaining ownership by sorting the questions into

investigative themes. The use of large hoops, arrangedas a Venn diagram, acknowledges the overlap

between questions. Displaying themes or topics on

posters, along with students initial questions, helps to

generate further questions over the course of study.. Teachers contribute to the question pool by using it

as a means of probing for alternative conceptions

and encouraging the development of scientifically

accurate conceptions. They encourage students

questioning by:

seeding the learning context with stimulating

models, textual and digital materials;

engaging students in question sorting-strategies;and

assisting students to unpack and clarify their

questions.

Ultimately, helping students to ask their own questions

is an important step in developing their independence

and ownership of learning, and is a crucial contribution

to the development of metacognitive and lifelong

learning skills.

Before-ViewsStudents initial perceptions and conceptions provide

teachers with evidence of thinking before additional

learning and teaching occurs. Before-views allowstudents to match existing beliefs with explanations,

clarify their personal conceptions, expose alternative

conceptions, and recognise ideas as their own. Popular

strategies for obtaining students before-views include

concept mapping, surveys, one-to-one interviews and

interactive questioning.

Information Searc hing and RetrievalThe possession of skills in this area is critical for enabling

students to seek out relevant data in constructing

answers to their scientific questions. Given that these

are lifelong skills, once introduced they will be refined

and expanded throughout the educative process.Development of these skills will involve students:

collaborating with others;

conducting literature searches of electronic

and printed materials; and

negotiating with resource personnel (scientists,

teachers and school librarians).

Teachers play a pivotal role by:

determining the literature and resource personnel

available;

identifying and enabling access to relevant and

safe internet sites; and

providing opportunities for students to develop

searching and retrieval skills in a range of forums(e.g., electronic and printed media and audiovisual


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resources).

Procedure SelectionWith possible scientific questions identified, along with

some background knowledge of the area, students

need to select appropriate procedures to investigate

their own questions. This can be achieved by seeking

guidance from their parents, teachers, colleagues, and

other resource personnel (e.g., representatives from

museums, zoos, or environmental resource centres)

and by using various information-searching and

retrieval mechanisms alluded to in the previous section.

By the completion of this step, students are wellpositioned

for identifying, selecting and justifying their

preferred investigative procedures for answering their

scientific questions.ExploratoryActivityThese activities help students become more immersed

in their scientific question and theme, stimulating theirinterest and curiosity, engaging their creativity, while

encouraging questioning. During an exploratory activity

students learn to:

work collaboratively;

use social language to clarify meanings for

questions, make observations, or challenge their

initial views;

consider the notions of fair testing;

select appropriate materials and equipment;

conduct trials of their planned investigation;

collect, analyse and interpret evidence in relation

to their before-views;

negotiate tentative answers to their scientific

questions;

justify their answers using the evidence

obtained from their exploration and their

information retrieval; and

evaluate their design and procedures used.

Exploration is important because through these

experiences students often learn that there are a

number of possible solutions for any scientific problem

or question. Additionally, it provides students with a

basis for:

challenging their alternate conceptions;

formulating future investigative strategies;

extending their existing ideas; and

stimulating cognitive growth.

The role for teachers is to use interactive questioning

techniques to challenge students scientific answers, to

encourage further construction and reconstruction of

their understandings, and to help them move towards a

scientifically acceptable conception.

Iteration of these StepsHaving worked through the initial steps of the model,

students are likely to generate further iterations

(refer to the middle section of Figure 1), clarify their

scientific questions and continue to refine and modify

the procedures trialed, in order to capture the data

necessary to answer their questions. Importantly, this


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process models what happens with real-science as

scientists learn from and modify their research directions

based upon the data and observations made as they

investigate hypotheses.

AnswersIn developing tentative answers for their questions,

students must reconstruct their scientific understandings

using their recent experiences and comparing

these with their before-views. This is challenging for

many students, particularly if required to justify their

explanations to their peers. The result is that it ensures

that students own their learning.

It is critical then that the teacher encourages students

to form answers from their experiences with the

assistance of their group and teacher. The role for

teachers therefore is to: seek supporting evidence for tentative answers;

investigate new scientific questions (keeping theirminds inquiring); and

evaluate the appropriateness of their answers to

questions and the validity of their reasoning.

Communication in ContextCommunication with a group of peers allows students

to test their personal views against the views of others

and the generally accepted scientific community

(Littledyke, 2008). For example, this often occurs in the

classroom when one groups answers differ from that

of another group, thereby requiring some negotiation

and teasing-out of explanations. A critical outcome

of this level of sharing is that it potentially expands

a students individual thinking to incorporate the

conceptions of others. Communication is fundamental

in developing scientifically literate students who are

positioned to appreciate scientists continuing revision

and reconstruction of scientific ideas in response to new

evidence and peer review.

After-ViewsOnce students construct answers to their scientific

questions they are ready to record their after-views

by applying the same methods as those used for

their before-views. By comparing these two records,

students and their teachers can identify the degree

to which scientific ideas and thinking have changedand developed over the course of the study. This is a

very powerful metacognitive strategy (McInerney &

McInerney, 1998).

AssessmentAs a critical component of the teaching and learning

process, assessment allows students to reflect on and

monitor their own progress towards their future learning

goals (Schraw et al., 2006). Assessment provides

an ongoing and systematic process for gathering,

analysing, and using information to draw inferences

about the needs, strengths, abilities and achievements

of students (Linn & Miller, 2005). As such it identifies (i.e.,involves formative and summative tasks) what students


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know and can do and where they need to focus

their attention in their future learning. For teachers,

assessment not only enables them to monitor individual

student progress but it helps to inform their own

practice in terms of the types of opportunities that are

required to enhance student learning in science. When

considered in this manner assessment needs to: focus on diagnostic strategies that map evidence

of, and reasons for, a students change in learning;

include strategies that empower students to

reflect upon their prior learning and so inform their

planning for future learning; and

incorporate interactive questioning as a means

of reviewing changes in students thinking and

scientific understanding.

EvaluationIn contrast to assessment, evaluation is defined as the

systemic process of gathering, analysing, and using

information to judge the merit, worth and/or valueof a program, project or entity (Rossi et al., 2004).

Subsequently, it needs to be considered in relation

to students and teachers.

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