Designing Inquiry-Based Learning Environments

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Designing Inquiry-Based Learning Environments

• Ravit Golan Duncan Rutgers University

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Overview

• The design of COOLClassroom
• Try it yourself- Model the Hudson River Plume
• Proficiency in Science- What do we want students
  to learn and know?
• Using Data- the Coral Reef Investigation
• Design Frameworks and the Design Process

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Building a Design Team
Educators Teachers
Scientists Domain experts
The Team Collaborative team that builds on each
others expertise.
Education Researchers Learning Scientists
Interface Designers Programmers Graphic artists
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Learning Sciences

• Building theory in education through the design
  and empirical testing of learning environments
  that are
• Knowledge centered
• Learner centered
• Assessment centered
• Situated within a learning
  community

NRC How People Learn (Bransford, Brown
Cocking, 1999)
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Cool Classroom Environment
Hudson River Plume
http//new.coolclassroom.org
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Cool Classroom Environment
Knowledge Centered

• Inquiry-based and organized around
  questions/problems
• Includes hands-on and minds-on activities- both
  on and off line.
• Investigations conclude with the development of a
  scientific explanation

Mirrors scientific practice (Duschl, 1990
Donovan Bransford, 2005)
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Surface, build, and revise ideas(Driver et al.,
1996 Ford Forman, 2006)
Student Centered

• Initial activities serve to surface students
  prior knowledge
• Investigation activities help students build
  understandings of the core concepts
• There are opportunities to reflect on learning
  and compare initial ideas to final ideas

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Assessment Centered

• Formative assessment is critical for learning
• Reflective journal questions provide an
  assessable record of student thinking
• Supports teachers in tailoring instruction to
  meet students needs

Make thinking visible (Black Wiliam, 1998
Bransford, Brown Cocking, 2000)
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Community Centered
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http//new.coolclassroom.org/adventures/explore/pl
ume/6
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Take a picture of your model
White Board Tools
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Your models
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Student Models of the Plume
A
C
B
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Proficiency in Science

• What do we want students to learn about in
  science classes?

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Proficiency in Science

• Content- core concepts and theories
• Practices- the process/method of science
• Epistemology- how scientific knowledge develops

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Proficiency in Science

• Know, use, and interpret scientific explanations
• Generate and evaluate scientific evidence and
  explanations
• Understand the nature and development of
  scientific knowledge
• Participate productively in scientific practices
  and discourse

NRC 2007 report Taking Science to School
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Model-Based Inquiry

• Models are abstractions that highlight certain
  features that help explain and predict natural
  phenomena
• The development, testing and revisions of models
  is a core practice in science
• Model-based inquiry is a flavor of inquiry that
  emphasizes the role of models as
  tools-to-think-with

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Developing Models from Data
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Reef Ecosystems
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Articles
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Data Maps
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Example Model (7-8th grade)
Final Model
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Language of Design

• Design space - all possible options
• Design decisions- choice of one option
• Tradeoffs - benefits and costs associated with
  each choice

You can design however you want to but you must
always know what decisions you made and what were
the associated tradeoffs
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Design Frameworks Backwards Design (UbD- Wiggins
McTighe, 1998)

• Driven by end goals- what we want students to be
  able to do (performance oriented)
• Strength is in the focus on creating greater
  coherence and alignment between goals, learning
  experiences, and assessments

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Design Frameworks Backwards Design (Wiggins
McTighe, 1998)

• Determine enduring understandings
• Few core ideas as enduring (3-5)
• Filters- big idea at heart of domain requires
  un-coverage engaging
• Evidence
• Ongoing assessment (formative) not just at the
  end formal and informal performance oriented
• Valid, reliable, authentic, feasible
• Learning experiences
• What is the enabling knowledge?
• Match learning goals to activities
• Provide scaffolding
• Coherent and goal oriented for students

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Design Frameworks Learning for Use (Edelson,
2001)

• For each target goal
• Motivate beyond the hook, this is creating a
  need to know. Create demand/elicit curiosity
• Construct provide opportunities for learners to
  construct the objective understandings (this is
  where scaffolding comes in)
• Refine/Apply provide learners with opportunities
  to use the knowledge and reflect on it, thus
  refining it.

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Design Process

• Backwards Design
• 1. Begin with goals- what are the knowledge and
  skills you want individuals to develop
• Learning for Use
• 2. Think about motivating problem or project
  (contextualize)
• 3. Define the backbone- main sequence of events
• 4. Develop activities within the backbone
• Dont tell the answer, have learners figure it
  out- they learn goals in context of project
• 5. Provide opportunity to apply knowledge
  (culminating task)

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Design Frameworks Learning for Use (Edelson,
2001)

• Learning theories
• Constructivism learners construct knowledge
  this takes time and is incremental kids bring
  knowledge with them
• Goal directed we learn what we need to know,
  learning is initiated by the learner
• Knowledge is contextual retrieved based
  on contextual cues (indices)
• Application For knowledge not to be inert
  we need to know how to apply it

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The End

• ravit.duncan_at_gse.rutgers.edu

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Readings

• Edelson, D. C. (2001). Learning-for-Use A
  Framework for the Design of Technology-Supported
  Inquiry Activities. Journal of Research in
  Science Teaching, 38 (3), p355-85
• Wiggins, G. McTighe, J. (1998). Understanding
  by design. Association for Supervision and
  Curriculum Development Alexandria, Virginia.
• Rivet, A. E., Krajcik, J. S. (2008).
  Contextualizing instruction Leveraging students'
  prior knowledge and experiences to foster
  understanding of middle school science. Journal
  of Research in Science Teaching, 45(1), 79 - 100.
• Moje, E. B. (2007). Developing Socially Just
  Subject-Matter Instruction A Review of the
  Literature on Disciplinary Literacy Teaching .
  Review of Research in Education 2007 31 1-44.
• Moje, E. B., Collazo, T., Carrillo, R., Marx,
  R. W. (2001). Maestro, what is quality?"
  Language, literacy, and discourse in
  project-based science. Journal of Research in
  Science Teaching, 38(4), 469-496.

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New Age in Science Education
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Students Explanations