learning-science-concepts· Regarding aspects of learners' scientific conceptions; understanding the learning process; and facilitating science learning.
> In 2000 I taught in East Anglia. Having come from NZ
> where constructivists have captured the nation's curriculum (or at
> least made constructivist science teaching possible), I found the
> English system completely traditional.
>
> I taught GCSE Biology and Physics and felt that I was part of a
> conveyor belt designed to force a bunch of facts into kids' heads. I
> rarely carried out with the students a holistic, real science
> investigation.
>
> Does constructivist science education exist in the UK?
I think in some cases this type of education is impossible. Consider, for
instance, the concept of entropy. All textbooks define the entropy through dS =
dQrev/T. Yet
in the respective education research paper (E. Carson, J. Watson, U. Chem. Ed.,
2002, 6, 4) this is not mentioned. There is not even a hint that the entropy
change
could have anything to do with the heat absorbed. Can one at all think of
constructivism in such cases? Honesty should be restored first. For the moment,
in public
teachers demonstrate confidence in education but privately write things such as:
The expression dS = dqrev/T was given to the students but not derived;
students were asked questions about the meaning of this expression during
the research but none of them showed any understanding of it.
In 2000 I taught in East Anglia. Having come from NZ where constructivists have captured the nation's curriculum (or at least made constructivist science...
I find it amusing that somebody should show such unrestrained and indiscriminate support for constructivism in science education given for some of the highly...
Eric is quite right: however - the principles of constructivism in science education are derived from empirical evidence from science teaching/learning and...
... I think in some cases this type of education is impossible. Consider, for instance, the concept of entropy. All textbooks define the entropy through dS =...
OK - the constructivist theory of learning has a lot going for it. However, the way of teaching which has been developed in view of the theory clearly has a...
Jenny Cumming
jenny.cumming@...
Mar 19, 2003 6:56 pm
I would need to know what Jenny means by THE way of teaching - I suspect she refers to the approach in the published CLiSP schemes(?) ... as Robin Millar...
I'm relieved to find that there are people who think that 'chalk and talk' could be constructivism-it's social constructivism by whole- class interactive...
Yes, 'chalk and talk' could be consistent with constructivism- it has a large spectrum one end of which is where chalking and talking is entirely by one...
What is needed, in my view, is some serious theoretical work in which educational constructivism is clearly differentiated from philosophical constructivism or...
Sociologists believe that all knowledge is a human construct. Science is no different from other subjects in that all scientic theories, models, and...
Jenny Cumming
jenny.cumming@...
Mar 25, 2003 2:18 pm
... I am afraid misconceptions emerge later. "Warmth on our skin" can be caused by heat as well. Perhaps the teacher would like children to know that light is...
The misconceptions may appear later, but the point is that the everyday experiences on which they are based begin at birth!...
Jenny Cumming
jenny.cumming@...
Mar 26, 2003 5:16 pm
I think we should pause to consider the basic arguments here. The notion that all knowledge is a human construct is either so obvious as to be completely...
Eric may feel that the constructivist premise is trivial, and that may be a fair comment in philosophical terms. However, it is far from trivial in education,...
Keith's comments about educational constructivism are well taken. This is why I have urged the need to carefully distinguish between this and philosophical...
... Let me disagree. Children's intuitions can be characterized as naive but they don't contain the embrio of the future misconception. Rather, the latter...
Perhaps I should have said, All scientific theories, explanations and models are human constructs....
Jenny Cumming
jenny.cumming@...
Apr 1, 2003 7:51 am
Thanks for the response Jenny. But I am now confused. It seems to me that you did more or less say that. How is your new version a clarification of your...
"Better still, are you actually saying anything at all or just typing symbols onto an empty space for your own amusement?" Now, now. Dr. Keith S. Taber ...
I am not the organizer of the following venture but recently discovered it and thought others might be interested. An article recently appeared in Chemical &...
Yes, I was thinking of the approach begun by CLIS, but see also the SPACE research project (I am a primary specialist). I don't see how chalk & talk could be...
Jenny Cumming
jenny.cumming@...
Mar 25, 2003 11:24 am
John Cruden and others Over the last couple of decades, a major shift has been taking place in the way learning is viewed, away from seeing it as a process ...
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