Phys 7810, Accommodation Summary and Questions 9/19/06 Accommodation of a Scientific Conception: Toward a Theory of Conceptual Change, Posner, Strike, Hewson, Gertzog, 1982, Science Education 66(2) Summary: Student misconceptions are “highly robust”. When presented with new material, students can assimilate (fit new ideas into old frameworks, often holding two conflicting ideas in their minds at the same time), or accommodate (replace or reorganize previous ideas). Assimilation is much easier on the student and will be attempted until the cognitive conflict is so high that the student must replace his or her incorrect ideas. Additionally, in order to accept a new idea it must be intelligible and appear initially plausible. Student’s willingness to accept a new idea depends also on their general views about knowledge and about science. Student’s Newtonian persisted after instruction with Special Relativity. The original ideas either shared “brain space” with new ideas with the student unaware of the contradictions, or the old ideas were modified but not replaced. Their research shows that conceptual change can be guided through anomalies (congnitive conflict) and by addressing student’s fundamental assumptions about knowledge and science. Questions: 1. Accommodation takes time. It is not a process that happens overnight. Are physics students able to radically change their ideas in the time allotted in our courses? 2. If our students do not accommodate but simply assimilate, is it possible that what they have learned by assimilation will perhaps change into correct concepts later in life as they experience more physics in the real world? 3. What kinds of questions can we ask students, for example when tutoring, that will help us understand what they are really thinking?Phys 7810, Accommodation Summary and Questions 9/19/06 Situating Constructionism, Seymour Papert and Idit Harel, Constructionism, Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1991. Summary: This article is written to allow the reader to construct his or her own rich understanding of constructionism. A simplistic understanding is that constructionism is “learning by making”. The author poses the hypothetical question that a reader might ask: Won’t we all come up with different definitions if we construct our own definitions? He then reasons that if we share and discuss our ideas we will converge on a single definition. He goes on with illustrations that might help us construct our definition of constructionism. Later the author questions whether it really matters that we converge on the same definition because constructionism is still in its formative stages. The author states that part of constructionism involves working with concrete rather than abstract materials. By this I assume he means actually building or making something instead of dealing with ideas. Several anecdotal stories are told and available resources are mentioned, one of which involves LEGOs. The author states that in the ideal case programmable motorized construction kits could be used by young children in play and that they would then internalize scientific knowledge needed for life. I was confused when the author wrote about the difference between the nature of knowledge and the nature of knowing. Questions: 4. We were to learn about constructionism by constructing our own definition as we read. I found the paper extremely confusing and did not make sense of it until near the end. Then I went back and read it again. It seemed like a lot of work and not really worth the effort. How did you find yourself learning from this paper? After experiencing it, what do you think about constructionism (as demonstrated here) as a way to learn? 5. What kind of changes would students need to make in their attitudes toward learning if we were to adopt constructionism as the primary way of teaching science in this country? 6. Is this all philosophy or is there any evidence that this kind of teaching and learning works for giving students a broad and deep understanding of science and mathematics? In other words, sounds like fun, but does it work and what do students really learn? Has any research been done? We do have the apprenticeship model of learning that has been used throughout the ages, but is it sufficient for teaching all that students need to learn in this day and age?Phys 7810, Accommodation Summary and Questions 9/19/06 Redish pages 30-36 “Five Footholds of the cognitive Model”, 40-42 “Cognitive Conflict and Bridging”, and 124-141 “Lecture Based Methods”. Summary: The Five Footholds include the principles of constructivism, context, change, individuality, and social learning. Three of the footholds are described on pages 30-36. Redish defines constructivism differently than Seymour. He agrees that individuals construct their own knowledge, but does not include the need for concrete materials. He implies that students construct their understanding of ideas being presented. What they construct depends on the context and on what connections they are thinking about at that time. It is easy to learn something that fits with an existing schema, but changing a well-established schema is difficult, so new information should be presented in a familiar context and with analogies. Since changing a schema is so difficult, we learn best when presented with cognitive conflict in which our old explanations do not work but the new ones do work. The Tutorials are designed to activate cognitive conflict. Bridging is a more positive approach in which we begin with what students know and give them questions they will answer correctly. From those correct answers we bridge to new ideas. There are many lecture techniques that seem to improve learning. These include setting up the context, chunking, helping students take notes perhaps through a skeleton structure, speaking well, asking authentic questions and valuing process as well a correct answers. Convicing your students that you care about them and care that they learn is also important. Other techniques include interactive demonstrations, conceptests, pre-packaged interactive lecture demonstrations (IDLs) and Just in Time Teaching (JiTT). Questions: 1. Do you prefer the ideas of cognitive conflict or bridging, or do you think a mixture of these techniques is needed to help students learn? 2. How important do you think it is to learn