EDUC 6470 Week 5

From our syllabus: "What is the teacher's role in an inquiry-based classroom? What are the challenges?"

Readings

Druger (2006)<bibref>Druger

2006</bibref>

How can I possibly read this without bias against the author after having read his diatribe against students from 2002?<bibref>Druger:2002</bibref>

Druger lists vocabulary as the base of subject matter competency. That there is such a base for learning is questionable, learning, to me, being a complex network of experiences and interpretations and expressions. That vocabulary must come first is also questionable, because it demotes experience to something that can't be learnable without a vocabulary for expression. Such a view of the basis of learning is prevalent perhaps because it is reinforced by our methods of assessing learning, through vocabulary-based checks on expression, rather than evaluating experience or performance.

I do like Druger's second goal, to expose students to the vastness of what is unknown. The earlier, the better, so that students know they can enter a field fertile for inquiry. In his last goal, he seems to be wavering on the importance to him of engendering self-motivated learners. Early, he says it's the most important, later, one of the most important, and his first goal, learning vocabulary, seems to trump this one in his telling.

Druger warns "Elements that are transferable and generalizable for other introductory science courses will be emphasized." (p. 37) What part of Druger's paper lists a pedagogical method that is unique to the content, biology? Alternatives to dissection is one. Maybe the emphasis on vocabulary?

Pestel (2002)<bibref>Pestel

2002</bibref>

Like Druger, Pestel believes that students need to read before a discussion to get "basic information" to inform the discussion. Her reason is time restraints. What amount of time would change this?

At the end of her article, Pestel asks "Where do I draw the line between allowing students to talk and making sure that the correct ideas are communicated clearly to all students?" The key phrase here is "correct ideas." If students are reasoning, then their ideas are more correct than if they are guessing or rehearsing. She could tell the students that they haven't learned something well if they aren't using reasoning and the knowledge-bases available to them.

Keys & Bryan (2001)<bibref>Keys

2001</bibref>

Crawford (2000)<bibref>Crawford

2000</bibref>

Themes

Themes this week include:

• It's up to the teacher to devise specific inquiry activities. (Pestel and Keys/Bryan)
• We use special methods to get students to digest the textbooks we made them buy. (Pestel and Druger)

References

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