Making Inferences and Critical Thinking

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dennis Pack on January 28, 2009 at 4:04am

Hi Catherine,
Oh yes ... the old reluctant learner! May I suggest having a serious look at what you are trying to teach them and see what it connects with in their life? If it doesn't connect, they aren't likely to be interested. Is "what they see" of any meaning to them?

Today's students are sadly even more serious about "Why do we have to learn this?" than they have ever been in the past.

The good news is, with science, there has to be a connection somewhere. Can't avoid it!

Make it relevant ... they will come!

I see you use probeware so there should be many possibilities to engage them.

Maybe they will be more likely to take risks if you do ... refuse to explain/guide/spell out.
Do you usually ask them questions? Do you ever require them to generate the questions?
"The question is the answer" ... I have had good success with assignment that require questions, not answers.
In groups they may be willing to discuss each others questions and more than likely actually be thinking about what the answer is. A key bit of teacher input is to ask "What made you ask that question?" (ie: What do you know that made you think of that?)

Thinking = processing = understanding .... but relevance makes it real!

If you'd like me to try to give you a more clear example, suggest a topic I'll see if I can break it down (no promises!).

Cheers
Dennis

Permalink Reply by Catherine Laguna on January 28, 2009 at 7:52am

Thanks, Dennis, I know you are right about making it real. This group has been difficult but things are starting to turn around. I believe we just had an unusually large group of negative personalities that outnumbered and diminished the students who might actually be interested. So many of them have the wait to be told attitude, very relaxed, even happy, not concerned about grades, only mildly interested in hands on activities...difficult to connect with. And I think they intimidate the others, none of which are strong leaders.

Here is a project we are starting. The goal is for the students to learn about the types of energy, energy resources, how energy conversions lead to usable energy, and conservation of resources. So...I gave them job applications to join the schools "Energy Commision" with the responsibilities to research the energy resources, determine their feasability for Pennsylvania, and the end product to write a letter to the Governor of PA to explain what we learn. We will be doing a lab in which they use cars and ramps to calculate PE and KE and we will be doing research using the Internet where students work with a team each focussing on a different aspect. They will make a digital presentation of some kind to share with the class on their chosen resource. Last year the kids did very well with this and one group made their own wiki to "save the world" by sharing all their information. But the kids last year participated and this year they are much more passive...
I'd love more suggestions!
Cathy

Permalink Reply by Dennis Pack on February 24, 2009 at 1:08pm

Hi Catherine ... sorry for the delay getting back to you. I was waiting for a notice that you had actually responded ... must check my settings again!

It sounds like things are on the improve. Amazing the influence of classroom chemistry. Sometimes giving the "leaders" responsibilities helps ... though it can be a scary undertaking.

Your project appears to be successful. I do have a couple things that might be worth trying sometime ...

- instead of writing a letter, could they make a PowerPoint presentation, a website/page or a photo essay? The wiki sounds like a good activity. Maybe a blog would work, too.

- do they research the local geography? I see you have some hills and a reservoir nearby. Guess there are also coal and oil deposits as well. Did they exploit the hills for wind power and building roof tops for solar? Or something as simple as making sure new developments are oriented to maximize south-facing roof tops/walls? This could be followed up with an activity that looks at the solar gain vs angle of incidence or the effect of overhangs on buildings. Maybe a little conservation as well as resources.

- I was wondering if a task of designing a local skate park would be a more relevant task related to the cars and ramps exercise. Not sure how that activity relates to the "energy commission" part. You may have seen this, but I did find a fun program you can download for free and install on your own computers ... you can find it at: http://phet.colorado.edu/simulations/sims.php?sim=energy_skate_park
Perhaps a skate park type of motion activity might be more relevant than an "energy commision" type. Might engage those reluctants a bit more.

Hope there is something useful to you there. I'd be interested to see what you think.

Cheers,
Dennis

Permalink Reply by Catherine Laguna on February 24, 2009 at 7:41pm

Hi Dennis,
I love the energy skate park simulation too! I had some trouble getting them going but the students produced some good projects. They are getting used to working on projects slowly but surely. In this project we never got to the letter writing because they took longer to do the research than I thought they should. They made some nice projects, however, that used power point but with the condition that all graphics were all homemade and the words had to be written on cards or in the speaker notes box under the slides. I wanted their projects to be visual. That had an interesting effect. Students were much more informed about their topics because they had spent such attention on creating their graphics.

After this we did another project on the scientists who contributed to the Atomic Theory. The research went much more smoothly and the projects (conversations between the scientists set in modern day situations) were made in a two day period. They get so much more accomplished when they buy in to the project.

Permalink Reply by Dennis Pack on February 25, 2009 at 12:21am

Hi Catherine,

Sounds like you are making good progress with your class. Don't see anything wrong with dropping the letter when they are being productive with what they are doing. Sometimes think we focus too much on quantity instead of quality. I'm all for doing "less" but doing it better ... more depth, less breadth.

I had a look at some of their work. I like the guidelines you gave them ... own graphics, cue cards ... nothing worse than an essay in the form of a PowerPoint presentation! You did well!

"They get so much more accomplished when they buy in to the project." Think they call that engagement! Nice, isn't it!

Cheers
Dennis