My last blog began to look at what an effective science classroom should look like. When researching, I came across an article that focused on an inquired-based learning. This type of learning encourages students to explore and gather evidence about the natural world to learn about science. The article also provided a list of teacher actions and student actions. There was one student action I wanted to take a deeper look at. I believe that student engagement is an important component in an effective science classroom. When students are engaged, they are more involved and motivated to learn about the content.
When researching for ideas on student engagement, I came across an article at http://www.edutopia.org/. This article lists ten steps to better student engagement. There were several of these steps that I wanted to highlight. One step recommended that teachers create a culture of explanation instead of a culture of the right answer. This strategy encourages teachers to use questions and problems in the classroom that can be solved using multiple strategies. This will also encourage students to use higher level thinking and spend more time on the process rather than the “right” answer. So many teachers want students to focus on the getting the “right” answer that they forget about the “teaching” component.
Another step I wanted to highlight from the article recommended that teachers cultivate their engagement meter. This step encourages teachers to be aware of their students and what activities get them engaged. This skill will allow you to create lessons that will keep your students interested and on task.
Student engagement is such an important part of student learning, but engagement doesn’t equal learning. Engaging activities must still have a purpose and contain content. When you lose sight of these components and focus solely on the activities, you may suffer from what is called “activity mania”. This is something I want to take a look at in my next blog.
No comments:
Post a Comment