Learning and Teaching Aspects of Inquiry-based Chemistry Experiment

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Learning and Teaching Aspects of Inquiry-based
Chemistry Experiment
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What is chemistry?
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How to help students learn chemistry?
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Why chemistry is difficult to learn?

• Matter can be represented on the macroscopic,
  particulate, and symbolic levels.
• It is important to provide opportunity for
  students to link up their understanding through
  hands-on activities, processing of information
  and thinking.

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Practical work an important component in
science learning

• Cognitive domain
• Improve pupils understanding of science
• Promote their conceptual development
• Illustrate, verify or affirm theory work.

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Practical work an important component in
science learning

• Skills domain
• Develop manipulative skills
• Promote higher-level, transferable skills(such
  as observation, measurement, prediction and
  inference)
• Develop communication skills

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Practical work an important component in
science learning

• Affective domain
• Practical work is motivating and exciting
• Generate interest and enthusiasm
• Help learners to remember things

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Two types of practical work

• Verification
• Inquiry-based / Investigation
• Inquiry involves raising questions, posing
  explanations, testing them for validity, and
  presenting the evidence to others. (Yager, 2001)

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What is the present situation?

• Cookbook dominated ? Ownership?
• Do students have opportunity to decide on / think
  about data collection strategies to be used in an
  experiment?
• Hands-on ? Minds-on?

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Science as Inquiry the NSESs

• Design and conduct a scientific investigation
• Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather,
  analyze and interpret data
• Apply critical thinking skills to establish
  relationships between evidence and explanations

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The NSESs claim that students who are involved
with inquiry are the ones who

• better understand basic science concepts
• develop an appreciation of "how we know" the
  science that we think we know
• understand the real nature of science
• develop the needed skills to become independent
  inquirers
• can use the skills, abilities, and attitudes
  associated with science and scientists

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ASEs Recommendation

• Teaching and learning in science should provide
  opportunities for learners to
• enquire, predict and hypothesize
• explore, observe, investigate and discover
• solve problems
• discriminate, judge and evaluate

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Excerpts from UK Scheme of Work for KS3 Unit 9M
Investigating scientific questions
http//www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/pdf/secondarysche
mes/sci9m.pdf
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Pan-Canadian Protocol for Collaboration on School
Curriculum

• Skills
• It is expected that students will...
• Initiating and planning
• Performing and recording
• Analysing and interpreting
• Communication and teamwork

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Science as Inquiry Science education in Hong
Kong
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What is an inquiry-based chemistry experiment?

• addressing problems
• making hypotheses
• designing ALL or PART of the experimental
  procedures
• decide what and how data to record, to analyse
  and to interpret
• drawing conclusions
• making evaluation

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What do students acquire in S1-3?

• The ability to
• observe closely and carefully
• classify
• measure accurately
• handle equipment and apparatus properly and
  safely
• infer from observations and experimental data
• predict
• propose hypotheses
• interpret data
• control variables

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The new chemistry curriculum Skills and Thinking
Processes

• performing experiments to expect
• more instructions to help students develop
  practical skills
• designing and performing experiments to
  expect
• less instructions but more space to students to
  carry out inquiry-based learning

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The new chemistry curriculum Skills and Thinking
Processes

• Example

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The new chemistry curriculum Skills and Thinking
Processes

• Example

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The new chemistry curriculum Skills and Thinking
Processes

• Example

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The new chemistry curriculum Skills and Thinking
Processes

• Example

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The new chemistry curriculum Skills and Thinking
Processes

• Example

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Prepare for implementation

• Analyse current situation and reflect critically
• Strength Weakness Opportunity Threat (SWOT)
• review current practice
• understand culture
• Share experience
• Develop vision and visualize potential benefits

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Resources for implementation

• Resources on inquiry-based chemistry experiments
• acquire
• modify
• develop
• Equipment and apparatus
• Textbooks
• Reference books
• MSDS

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Prepare people for implementation

• Team building
• panel chairman
• teachers
• laboratory technician
• Work and teach collaboratively to bring the best
  skills to make learning meaningful
• Find creative ways of looking at using existing
  resources and making better use of them
• Develop mission and implementation plan together

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Implementing tip 1

• Prepare students to
• review their concepts and understanding about
  scientific investigation or inquiry
• develop their and practical skills
• learn how to develop a plan and write a report
• Allow students to use inquiry for learning

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Implementing tip 2

• Remind students to consider safety issues
• Provide adequate safety instruction and feedbacks
  to students plans
• Provide personal protection equipment (PPE) and
  access to fume cupboard etc. for students and
  remind them to use

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Prepare for implementation

• Be ready for
• noise (unavoidable for active learning, healthy
  phenomenon)
• encountering a little messy at start
• students are not ready to write their own
  reports, start with small

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Evaluation

• Work with students, laboratory technicians and
  fellow teachers to review the implementation
• Positive and negative comments are equally useful
• Be prepare to make changes and seek ways to
  improve

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How many?

• What is the number of inquiry-based chemistry
  experiments needed?

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Reference Article

• Title A Model for Extending Hands-On Science to
  Be Inquiry Based.
• Author Huber, Richard A. Moore, Christopher J.
• Source School Science Mathematics, Jan 2001,
  Vol. 101 Issue 1, p32
• Abstract Presents a model describing one
  approach for extending hands-on activities into
  inquiry-based science lessons. Disadvantages of
  student's engagement in worksheet and
  textbook-based hands-on activities Facilitation
  of students in planning investigation
  Implication for the professional development of
  science teachers.

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Reference Book

• Title Inquiry-based experiments in chemistry
• Author Valerie Ludwig Lechtanski
• Publisher Washington, D.C. American Chemical
  Society Oxford Oxford University Press, 2000.

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Thank You