Atlas-inhouse [compatibility Mode]

Active Teaching and Learning Approaches in Science (ATLAS) Workshop

Phase 1

Aims The workshop aims to introduce the participants to a wide range of teaching and learning approaches designed to: to:

• raise the motivation and achievement of students in science • put constructivist principles into practice • develop scientific literacy, capability and key skills • encourage collaborative learning • assist the teaching of ideas and evidence

Outcomes Participants in the workshop will have:
gained knowledge and understanding of a range of effective teaching and learning approaches
gained first-hand experience of using, as well as being involved in a range of effective teaching and learning approaches


developed the confidence to write curriculum materials which incorporate the teaching and learning approaches
trialed, reviewed, evaluated and discussed the potential use of the approaches

Learning Pyramid Average Retention Rate Lecture

5%

Reading

10%

Audio-Visual

20%

Demonstration

30%

Discussion Group

50%

Practice by Doing

75%

Teach others / Immediate use of Learning

90%

Types of learner and preferred learning styles

It is important to be aware that in most groups there are essentially four types of learners, each having a preferred learning style. These have been identified as follows:

Type of learner

Activist

Reflector

• stand back Preferred • new experiences and observe learning style • active • review the participation learning • ‘in at the deep end’ challenges

• thinking and decision making

Theorist

Pragmatist

• structured • relevancy situation, clear and purpose usefulness • system or model observed • analysis and generalisation

• opportunity to tackle real problems

• I hear and I forget • I see and I remember • I do and I understand

Main Differences Between Active And Passive Learning Teaching-centred passive learning is characterised by: • teacher exposition • accent on competition • whole-class teaching • teacher responsible for the learning

• teacher providing knowledge • students seen as empty vessels which need filling up • subject knowledge valued • teacher-imposed discipline • teacher and student roles stressed • teacher decides curriculum • passive student roles • limited range of learning styles and activities

Student-centred active learning is characterised by: • group work • accent on cooperation • resource-based learning • student takes responsibility for learning • teacher is a guide/facilitator

• student ownership of ideas and work • process skills are valued • self-discipline • students seen as a source of knowledge and ideas • student involved in curriculum planning • student actively involved in learning • wide range of learning styles employed

Active teaching takes place when the teacher: • encourages student responsibility for learning • gets students to think for themselves • offers a wide range of learning opportunities and strategies • encourages any activities that lead to the active learning situations described above

Active learning takes place when students: • have personal involvement in their learning • make decisions about the outcome of their work • own their work • test their own ideas • plan and design their own experiments

• report their results to the rest of the class • evaluate their results • solve problems • discuss and interact purposefully in groups • reflect on the work they have done and formulate their ideas

Activity 1 What active teaching and learning approaches do you use? Make a list of the active teaching and learning approaches you use. You will be asked to give at least one approach from your list during the following brainstorm.

When introducing Active Learning try to: • be realistic about the situations you present to students and the outcomes you expect • begin with a short activity and a simple task

• extend existing teaching methods, e.g. if you run group discussions make these more student led • prepare yourself for limited initial success. Students need to acquire the necessary skills progressively over a period of time.

What forms of reading take place in science? Blackboard, OHP’s (Instructions, notes, etc.)

Worksheets

Text books

Reference books Exercise books

Which of these reading forms do you think lead to active reading? Which lead to passive reading?

Comparison of active reading and science practical work The active processes encouraged by active reading are directly analogous to the ordered processes used all the time during practical investigations

Practical investigation

Active reading process

Searching for information Collecting information Grouping and classifying Evaluating

Collecting and sorting information • library searches to find out specific information for project work can be made more active if the information is classified or sorted in some way • pre-selected passages of text can be used to limit the degree of initial research necessary

Cloze • cloze is a predicting exercise • words are deleted from a text at certain intervals • students asked to reconstruct the text by predicting the missing words e.g. Digestion is the process which insoluble food, consisting large molecules, is broken into soluble compounds having molecules. Deletion on an irregular basis offers even greater potential: e.g. Digestion is the process by which insoluble food, consisting of molecules, is broken down into compounds having smaller molecules.

Cloze • with irregular deletion the teacher has control over the word omitted • can choose important or key words to leave out • cloze works best when the initial few lines have no deletions at all • it helps students to follow the text style • a final paragraph without deletions is also useful.

Cloze can be used: • as a basic study skill • to assess a pupils understanding of a topic • to involve students in decision making • to increase motivation • to stimulate group discussion

If cloze is used, guard against the following: • it needs to be used selectively • it can produce unpredictable responses • deletions need to be carefully considered • too many deletions are frustrating • the technique makes no attempt to analyse text if deletions are regular

Pictograms • similar to exercises found in children’s puzzle books where a word is changed into a picture • fun to do and can motivate students, especially younger ones • may aid memory

Emphasis • this technique can be used to pick out single words, phrases, sentences, paragraphs or data from a text. • emphasising helps with revision and the general organisation of work.

Try encouraging students to: • emphasise key words or concepts • classify work using colour coding, underlining, highlighting or ringing • highlight areas of text according to purpose, e.g. statement of fact, opinion, application of idea, etc.

Sequencing • powerful technique allied to the cloze method • the text is physically divided up and then shuffled • students rearrange the pieces of text into the correct order

• can also be done with the aid of diagrams • particularly useful for developing planning skills for practicals

e.g. practical instructions can be muddled and given to a student, who must then put them into order. This can be made more difficult by omitting some instructions.

Labelling • the labelling of diagrams can be used to encourage active reading for information. • to begin, labels can be supplied for cutting out and sticking on to prepared diagrams. • students can progress from this to examining text to find appropriate labels for diagrams.

labelling can be used: • to encourage students to ask questions about text • to get students to consider ideas hidden in text • to annotate diagrams as an aidememoir • to help students classify text

But remember! • careful selection of diagrams and text is important • too many labels can cause confusion

Activity 2: Active Reading • try some of the active reading activities provided • how do they actively engage the students in the learning? • in your teams write one example of a cloze activity, an emphasis activity, and a sequencing activity

Active Writing Developing active writing in Science Types of active writing Diaries Poetry Newspaper reports

Letters Prose

Presentations

Plays

What types of active writing can be used? • • • • •

Active and creative writing include: diaries • poetry • plays investigation reports • letters newspaper reports • prose TV and radio interviews Which? Type consumer reports These writing approaches help students to clarify their own thinking in science, just as small group discussion allows students to explore ideas.

Why encourage active writing? Active writing encourages students to: • take responsibility for their own writing • clarify and express their own ideas • communicate their findings to others • express personal feelings and reactions to scientific issues and theories

Diaries • give students the opportunity to reflect on their own learning • allow students to communicate their own ideas on a topic before any teaching begins • give teachers valuable insight into student understanding, particularly useful in mixed ability classes • provide writing opportunities for real communication and allow students to clarify and record information

Letters Writing letters in science: • aids revision • develops and reinforces concepts • helps teachers to identify things students have misunderstood • introduces a style of science writing that is useful in later life Writing letters at the end of a module, unit or topic provides students with a context for communicating what they have learnt.

What are the possible problems? The following comments point out shortfalls in active writing exercises which should be guarded against: • ‘This is a waste of time’ • ‘I don’t know what to put’ • ‘why are we writing like this?’ • ‘Not newspapers again’ • ‘I don’t want people to look at my diary

To counteract this, the teacher can: • provide a range of activities • liaise with other departments • keep initial projects short • with diaries, ensure privacy

• encourage group discussion of activities to provide ownership

Activity 3: Active Writing • Working in a group review the examples of active writing activities provided and then: list a range of topics that might encourage students to create newspaper reports list a range of topics which will stimulate group discussion followed by letter writing list a range of topics that might encourage students to write poems write an activity that will engage the students in active writing. Remember to introduce the context and include the stimulus.

Group Discussion (Talking and Listening) Types of discussion activities Creating a climate for discussion

Small group discussion

Active listening

Whole class discussion

Establishing the ground rules for group work Student-centred active learning needs to be well structured and controlled. It is therefore important, particularly with larger groups , to establish ground rules at an early stage. What are the rules for establishing ground rules? There is really only one! Get the group to establish the ground rules themselves.

Suggested ground rules

• • • • • • • •

Compare your students’ ground rules with the following suggested set of ground rules don’t interrupt anybody listen to each other be responsible for what you do stick to the rules! respect each others opinions don’t say anything if you don’t wish to no snide remarks refrain from making trouble

How can we encourage students to keep to the rules • keep reminding them • display rules in a prominent place • remind them that the rules are their own and so, their responsibility • make sure there is consensus and that the rules represent a contract between the group

Active listening • active listening is an essential component of discussion work • it is important that students can build on what others have said, to keep discussion flowing • too often we think someone communicates well because they speak well • the best communicators are also efficient listeners.

An active listener should: • sit quietly and look at the speaker • relax and make any non-verbal responses that come naturally, e.g. nodding or smiling • concentrate on listening and suspend all judgements and questions • make verbal responses that only reflect or paraphrase the main points discussed

How can we improve students’ listening skills? There are a number of things we can do to encourage students to be more active listeners: • pose questions to a wide range of students • ask students to make brief notes on a talk, demonstration, video, etc. • bring students around the front bench with note books. They will feel more involved in the proceedings • move around the laboratory to get closer to students sitting further back • practice active listening skills. E.g. begin a class discussion and then ask successive students to reflect on key phrases talked about before adding something of their own.