WWW Site for John Lawrence Bencze, Assistant Professor, Science Education, OISE/UT (University of Toronto)

"On-site Curriculum Resources"
- Ideas I hope you can use.


Introduction
Welcome to "On-site Curriculum Resources."  This is a set of pages that provides educators, mainly in science and technology education, with ideas and resources I have developed over the years. Please use them for educational purposes. If you feel motivated to do so, send comments, suggestions, critiques, etc. about them to me @ Mail to Larry.

Information and resources available through this site fall into two broad categories; i.e., for: i) Teaching & Learning (T&L) and ii) Action Research (AR) (AR). I believe that, because teaching and learning are so contextual - i.e., so dependent on myriad factors in particular teaching and learning situations - particular ideas and resources for teaching and learning must be used in concert with ongoing action research; that is, a continuous process of reflecting and attempting to improve teaching and learning. 

T&L Resources

AR Support

You may copy any information for educational purposes. Included amongst these are files stored in "pdf" format, which can be downloaded, read and printed with Adobe Acrobat Readerô software - which is free through the link at right.

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Teaching & Learning Resources


Resources provided are related to the model for teaching and learning at right. The approach is based on constructivist learning principles, about which more information is provided @ Constructivism. The model also addresses two broad aspects of the curriculum; that is:

  • Conceptual Understanding:This refers to what students learn about products of science and technology; e.g., laws, theories, inventions. Students may learn about laws governing gases, a theory of evolution or how machines (kinds of inventions) work. As depicted in the central "Conceptual Thinking Cycle," the model suggests student learning involve cycles of: 
    • Expressing Ideas: Lessons would begin with students saying what they know, showing what they can do, indicating how they feel, etc. about topics;
    • Learning Ideas: Teachers would work to ensure all students learn fundamental products of S&T;
    • Judging Ideas: Students would be encouraged to conduct tests (e.g., experiments & studies) of their design to judge what ideas, skills, etc. make sense to them.
  • Procedural Understanding: For each of the conceptual learning phases, students should also learn procedures and characteristics (the nature of) science and technology. For example, for Expressing Ideas, students could learn how to develop cause-result predictions & hypotheses and, as well, to depict these as concept maps. For Learning Ideas, they could learn how to work in cooperative groups. For how to Judge Ideas, they could learn how to design & critique experiments.

More information about these two broad categories is available @ Learning Domains. Fundamental to use of the model at right also is a model for control of learning developed by Roger Lock. This model (shown in the lower left at right) analyzes lessons according to teacher (TD) or student (SD) control of procedures and teacher (CE) or student (OE) control of conclusions. More information about Lock's model is given @ Control of Learning

The model above was developed in collaboration with six practising teachers. Their many contributions to this approach are gratefully acknowledged.


 
 

Domains of Learning

Deciding what students should learn in a school programme is a complex matter. An inevitable question is, 'Whose interests would be served by having students learn certain ideas, develop certain skills, etc.?' Given that governments often must attempt to appease those who support them, it is apparent public schooling may be used as a mechanism for supplying business and industry with workers and consumers. More information and links to relevant resources about domains of learning are provided @ Goals & Rationale for S&T Education.

Apart from this very political aspect of curriculum decision making, various authors have recommended a number of ways to categorize what students might learn. Some refer to learning in the cognitive (mental), the psychomotor (manipulative) and the affective (e.g., attitudinal) domains. This would apply to all subject areas. For science education, Derek Hodson (1998) suggests students need to make progress in three domains; i.e., they need to learn:

  • science; i.e., developing an understanding of various products of science & technology, including its laws, theories and inventions ('technologies'). This is comparable to the "Understanding Basic Concepts" domain in Ontario;
  • about science; i.e., learning, generally, how science & technology create their products and, as well, how these fields relate to society and the environment. This is comparable to the "World Beyond the School" or "STSE" domains in Ontario; and,
  • to do science; i.e., developing expertise (cognitive, psychomotor and affective) enabling students to conduct scientific investigations and invention projects of their own design and leading to their own conclusions. This is comparable to the domain of "Developing Skills of Inquiry, Design & Communication" in Ontario.

However, more broadly, these three categories can be reduced to just two overall domains of learning, as adopted by the National Curriculum for England & Wales (DfE, 1995): i) Conceptual Learning (i.e., Concepts & STSE outcomes), and ii) Procedural Learning (i.e., Skills). These also form the basis of the teaching and learning model above and relevant resources linked to this site.

Control of Learning

Much of what student learn can be planned and analyzed by thinking about who is in control in teaching and learning situations. Roger Lock (1990) developed a way to analyze this, as depicted at right. I have found this analysis to be very helpful and try to keep it in mind throughout my teaching and in my reflections about my teaching.

Lock's model involves a grid in which two continuua intersect. The horizontal line refers to control of methods or procedures of an activity; i.e., it may be teacher-directed (TD) or student-directed (SD) or some combination of these.The  vertical line represents control of conclusions of the activity; i.e., the activity may have pre-determined conclusions and be closed-ended (CE) or the activity may have no pre-determined conclusions and be open-ended (OE) or the activity could be partly closed and partly open (CE, OE). 

Lock's grid is useful in understanding the model for teaching and learning above. Although details of use of Lock's grid with this model are given on related Web pages linked to this one, some general principles are:

  • When teaching pre-determined Concepts & STSE outcomes, use TD,SD/CE activities;
  • When helping students to develop Skills, use TD,SD/OE activities; 
  • When allowing students to conduct their own scientific investigations and invention projects, they must be mostly SD/OE; and,
  • Never use SD/CE activities, since students have trouble discovering what teachers intend.


 

References
 


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