One article that I found extremely interesting was one called "Learning to Teach Inquiry Science in a Technology-Based Environment." by Michelle Williams. The more I read of this article, the more I was interested in what it was saying. The point of the article was a case study of a teacher who taught some of her science units using a technology called Web-Base Inquiry Science Environment (WISE). I had never heard of WISE before. The main idea behind it is that students can see and show how they are thinking about science. The teacher used the students thinking about things to really guide her teaching of a unit about plant growth.
One of the ways the teacher implemented WISE was by the use of Scaffolded Knowledge Integration (SKI). The four main concepts behind SKI are:
1. Make thinking visible for students
2.Make science accessible for students
3.Providing social supports for students
4. Promoting autonomy for lifelong science learning
One thing that really stood out for me while reading this article was how much it related to some of the things that we have talked about in class. The whole point behind WISE is based on what students are thinking about and how they are processing what they are learning. It is completely student focused. Also, the four concepts of SKI reminded me a lot of some of the student goals our class created. The article talked about teaching students how to think about science and making it some thing they will do the rest of their lives. I really liked that idea. Learning in general should be a lifelong process, not just something we get through for the first part of our lives.
I wasn't able to read the article but this sounds like a really good concept. Helping students make connections to content is always helpful in maximizing learning. Making thinking visible is a great way to help students feel successful in any content area, especially science with all of the diagrams and large vocabulary words. Also helping students to think about science as something they will do for the rest of their lives will help them find science in everyday items and experiences.
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like a really interesting article! I really like the idea of "making thinking visible." The WISE science environment sounds like it really promotes active mental engagement and critical thinking. Questioning students thinking and helping them think through and develop their ideas is an effective model for teaching.
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