Barbara A. Crawford

Embracing the Essence of Inquiry: New Roles for Science Teachers.

‘‘This is the thing I really get excited about. There are some great ideas here, some really neat projects. Wanda and Joan are working on amphibian decline. Ann is interested in territorial behavior or some sort of feeding behavior in crawdads. That is a good one to study because crawdads are an important decomposer in the stream. We’re looking at what kinds of criteria in a stream make it habitable for different kinds of organisms. And when you see those different combinations of organisms, what do they mean? How do you interpret them? I mean we’re really getting into higher levels of thinking, because we’re looking at different kinds of organisms and interpreting them in terms of stream health.’’ Jake, biology teacher, Northwestern High School. fl 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. J Res Sci Teach 37: 916 ‐ 937, 2000

Enacting Project-Based Science: Experiences of Four Middle Grade Teachers.

The case studies in this article demonstrate how 4 middle grade teachers addressed the challenges and dilemmas of enacting project-based science in their classrooms. The teachers attempted to enact several common features of project-based science, including student collaboration and ownership and the use of technology. The 4 teachers faced dilemmas with respect to balancing their use of time and content coverage with granting students autonomy. They also needed to solve the problems of addressing their districts curriculum while engaging their students in project-based science and of maintaining order as they attempted this new approach to teaching science. Project-based science was presented as a way to think about innovative instruction by providing a possible means of enactment and not a method. We found that the potential of project-based science could be realized through teachers collaborative work with peers, enacting projects in their classrooms, and reflecting on their enactments. We also found that teachers understanding took the form of practical, not theoretical or propositional, knowledge.

Is It Realistic to Expect a Preservice Teacher to Create an Inquiry-based Classroom?

Inquiry-based instruction, in which teachers engage students in scientific investigations and problem-solving, surfaces as foundational to national science education reforms (American Association for the Advancement of Science [ AAAS] , 1993; National Research Council [NRC], 1996). Knowledge of inquiry is a key outcome for students and involves the ability to conduct inquiry and develop an understanding about scientific inquiry (NRC, 1996, p. 105). These reforms explicitly ask teachers to shift the emphasis from textbooks to exploring questions that are student-centered and can be answered empirically. Teaching Standard B of the National Science Education Standards states that teachers focus and support inquiries while interacting with students and that inquiry into authentic questions generated from student experiences is the central strategy for teaching science (NRC, 1996, p.32-33). In addition, the National Science Education Standards advocate that teachers design investigations that are demanding, yet feasible for students to carry out, and situated in real phenomena, in classrooms, outdoors, or in laboratory settings. However, orchestrating this kind of instruction is not a simple endeavor. Inquiry-based instruction challenges the most expert of teachers (Gallagher, 1989; Krajcik, Blumenfeld, Marx, & Soloway, 1994; Marx, Blumenfeld, Krajcik, Blunk, Crawford, Kelly, & Meyer, 1994; Tobin, Kahle, & Fraser, 1990). Challenges to create this kind of instruction escalate in the case of novice teachers who have the liability of inexperience in several domains of knowledge of teaching, including pedagogy, pedagogical content knowledge, knowledge of students, and knowledge of classrooms (Shulman, 1986). Because this kind of teaching demands that teachers build on students current states of knowledge, one might question the ability of preservice teachers to successfully carry out this kind of instruction. Given that preservice teachers have to deal with all the complexities of the classroom as novices, this study focused on the central question: What is the feasibility of a preservice teacher to successfully construct an inquiry-based environment?

Scaffolding Preservice Science Teachers' Evidence-Based Arguments During an Investigation of Natural Selection

In this qualitative case study, preservice science teachers (PSTs) enrolled in their advanced methods course participated in a complex, data-rich investigation based on an adapted version of the Struggle for Survival curriculum. Fundamental to the investigation was the use of the Galapagos Finches software and an emphasis on giving priority to evidence and constructing evidence-based arguments. The questions that guided the research were: (1) What is the nature of the scientific arguments developed by PSTs? (2) How do PSTs go about constructing scientific arguments (emphasis on processes and strategies)? (3) In what ways do the scaffolds embedded in the Galapagos Finches software influence the development of PSTs arguments? Two pairs of PSTs were selected for in-depth examination. The primary sources of data were the electronic artifacts generated in the Galapagos Finches software environment and the videotaped interactions of both pairs as they investigated the data set, constructed and revised their arguments, engaged in peer review sessions, and presented their arguments to the class at the end of the unit. Four major patterns emerged through analysis of the data. First, using the software, PSTs consistently constructed claims that were linked to evidence from the investigation. Second, although PSTs consistently grounded their arguments in evidence, they still exhibited a number of limitations reported in the literature. Third, the software served as a powerful vehicle for revealing PSTs knowledge of evolution and natural selection. Finally, the PSTs approach to the task had a strong influence on the way they used the software.

Elements of a community of learners in a middle school science classroom

The idea of a learning community has gained attention as a desirable environment that could provide opportunities for students to engage in solving problems in collaboration with peers. However, definitions of a community of learners are varied, vague, and not well-developed. The goal of the research described in this study is to examine the nature of a middle school science classroom during the development of a community of learners by focusing on the teacher–student interactions and the connections made by students with people outside the classroom. The first investigator served as both teacher and researcher in this study. The teacher used a project-based approach that allowed learners to find solutions to authentic problems or questions generated by the students. Students used a process of inquiry and collaboration to find these solutions. An analytical framework developed from the literature consisted of the following components: authentic tasks; interdependency in small group work; negotiation of understanding; public sharing; collaboration with experts; and responsibility for shared learning and teaching. The framework was used to analyze the multiple data sources, including videotapes, interviews, a teachers journal, and electronic correspondence. Eight major themes emerged from the analysis. These themes included: (1) tasks connected to real-world questions generated more collaborative interactions than topic-bound tasks; (2) collaborative interactions in groups increased when tasks were student-initiated; (3) providing instructional support for students contributed to group decision making; (4) group productivity increased when students gained ownership; (5) student dialogue centered on the procedural aspects of the activity when completing teacher-designed activities; (6) when public sharing centered on discussions of their own experiences, students were more cognitively engaged; (7) interactions with outside resource people increased students investment in the project; and (8) when students worked in teams answering their own questions, they took responsibility for learning and teaching. The findings of this study point to three important factors that influenced the learning community in this middle school classroom: (1) the importance of the driving question in contributing to the authentic nature of the investigations; (2) the importance of the teachers role in supporting students in collaborating with peers and people outside the classroom; and (3) the extended time required for teams to develop collaborative relationships. The role of the teacher appears critical in transforming the roles of students and teacher in creating a community of learners.