high impact teaching for science

7/30/2019 High Impact Teaching for Science

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H igh-im pact teaching foscienceby Peter Hudson

Teachers generally enter the profession to 'make a difference' to stude nts' l ives, yet long-impacts on students' iearning need to be considered to determine teaching practices make a difference. This qualitative study analyses responses from 167 adults (pre-serteachers) aged between 19 and 51 about their memories of positive and negative primscience education experiences, and high-impact science iessons that infiuenced them. resuits indicated that high-impact teaching for science inciuded: teacher's enthusiatargeting misconceptions, excursions, usabie and practical science, group work, haon experiences, and interactivity with life. Low or negative impact invo lved : disengaactivities such as sensory-repulsive tasks, unciear reasons for learning science, teachlack ofenthusiasm, chalk and taik or copying teacher's work, and denigrating studepersonal ideas. Implementing science iessons with one or more elements of high-imteaching may lead towards making adifference, particularly if these teaching practproduce in students positive long-term memories about their science education.

T eachers enter the profession to'make a difference' to students'l ives (Neal, McCray, & We bb-Johnson, 200 1). Some note teachingas a 'cal l ing ' {Hansen, 1995 ; Schwarz,1998), and as a way to have positiveeffects on students' thinking for real-lifelearning (Alder, 2002; Noddings, 2001).Making a difference to students' learningmay be linked to effective teaching(Knobloch, 2003); however the long-term effectiveness of te aching can bedifficult to ascertain. Test results mayindicate current levels of understandingparticular kno wledge, and other formsof assessment, such as observation ofstudents' work and portfolios, can alsopresent evidence of students' learning.Yet, 'making a difference' assumes goingbeyond imm ediate assessment results.Ma king a difference has more to do w ithlong-term impacts on students' thinkingand possibly life actions as a result of

tend to develop their own lessons and'make their own curricular decisions'(Ball &Feiman-Nemser, 1988,p. 421). Effective teaching evolves fromexperiences and beliefs about teaching(Wideen, Mayersmith, & Mo on, 1998,p. 130), particularly as beliefs 'are part ofthe foundation upon which behaviors arebased' (Enochs & Riggs, 1990, p. 694).The difficulties in defining effectivescience teaching are embedded in thenumerous characteristics and roles ofthe classroom teacher. It is generallyaccepted by researchers and educators(e.g., Hanie, 2005; Loughran, Mulhal l ,& Berry, 2004) that effective scienceteaching requires an understandingofthe subject matter, which needs tobe taught in engaging w ays. There isalso empirical research and scholarlydebate about what constitutes effectivelearning. Some of these theories includeauthentic learning (Herrington & Oliver,

2002; Wong, Britton, & Ganser, 20A teacher's unpretentious, caring nacan motivate students to work to thfullest potential (Alder, 2002; Easto2002; Knobloch, 2002; Noddings, Students have offered perspectiveson describing good teaching, whichmainly focus on teachers' interpersqualities and subject expertise. Re(Wright, 1984) on students' perspecof good science teachers profferedpositive stereotypical terms such aswarm, friendly, and interesting. Wasked what makes an effective teacone study {Project 21, 1987) involv6,645 Year 10, 11 and 12 students had a range of teacher experiences(primary and secondary), listed thefol low ing characteristics and quali tcaring, understanding, encouraginghelpful, patient; communicatesand makes learning enjoyable; fairdiscipline, unbiased; effective class


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ices? On e high-im pact factor onappears to be the's affective do ma in. Kno blocha difference in the lives of their

ct teaching for learning about

qua litative study, 167 a dultsce p rima ry teachers) aged19 and 51 responded to a

ences, high-imp actons, and teaching practices

tion exp eriences: (1) Asa positive experience? W hy

ered at the beginningResponses

recorded and coded to tabulate& Simon,

ce teachers' mem oriessitive p rimar y science lessons, tbe

e long-term effects. Data wereinto themes as they emerged.

females (n=167). Thirty-two percentpre-servicehowever, as this was the secon d

43 % were between22 years of age, 31 % betweenwere over 4 0 years of age. Theyame m etropoli tan

and practical knowledge. Hands-onexperiences. Interactivity with life.Purpose for learning, and Excursions forscience understandings. There are alsoresults and discussion for pre-serviceteachers' negative responses abouttheir own learning of science. Graph 1shows the freque ncy of responses i romthese adults (n=167). All responses fellinto one or more of the eight categories(i.e.. Misconceptions are targeted.Enthusiasm from teacher. Group work.Usable and practical know ledge. Hands-on experiences. Interactivity with life.Purpose clearly articulate d. Excursions).Some adults responded with more thanone practice (e.g.. Group work andExcursions). N il responses we re alsorecorded.

Graph 1. Frequency of responses for each of the high-impactteaching for science practices

This was successful in proving me wrongbecause I thought it was possible."The experimental chal lenge to themisconception was indelibly printed onthe learner's min d. Participant 50 wro te,"We learnt about the development ofthe egg to chick. I thought the egg yolkbecame the chick's internal parts and eggwhite became the chick's external parts."Further evidence for targeting students'misconceptions can be provided throughconcept mapping or asking students towrite on a topic prior to commencing ascience unit of work.Enthusiasm from (he teacherTeacher enthusiasm for a subject ca nplay a role in students' l ikes or dislikes ofa subject and their mem ory of it. Beforediscussing this enthusiasm, the adu lts

in this study hadmixed feelingsabout their ownprimary scienceeducat ion, wi thseven specificallyclaiming theycould notremember doings( ience in primaryschool, whichmay have to dowith the age oftho participantsI e., six of theseN'spondents were40 years old).These p articipa nts,who could notI (-member aprimary sciencelesson, respondedaccordingly, "Ican't remember,but I'm sure it wasOK - I haven'tbeen turned off forl i fe" (ft i rt icipant98). Othersasserted that

This study supporis research (Unal &C o j u , 2005) that has emphasised theneed to target students' misconceptionsabout scientific concepts. The literature(e.g., see California fourna! of ScienceEducation, 2005, which devotes Volume5 Issue 2 to 'Dealing with sciencemisconceptions') highlights targetingstudents' misconceptions as an effectivescience teaching practice. This studyshowed that chal lenging students'

science was more"embedded into the KLAs |Key LearningAreas!". One participant stated withoutany context to the science taught, "Yes,it was interesting, and no because it wasrepetitive" (Participant 39). Conversely,16 participants acknowledged theteachers' enthusiastic nature for teachingscience. Those who emphasisedteacher enthusiasm highlighted positiveexperiences in science, while the reverseoccurred for those who experienced


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much science study, when we did itwas always interesting and educationalbecause of the teachers" (Participant112); "I thoroughly enjoyed al! of thescience investigation undertaken atprimary school. The teachers andstudents were enthusiastic about science,and the science experiences were maderelevant to life " (Participant 116); and"1 remem ber studying the solar system anumber of times, but the most interestingtime was when we studied it in Grade 6and that was due to my creative,enthusiastic teacher who made learninga great adven ture" (f^r ticip an t 14). Atypical negative response indicated theexperience to be: "Not positive becausethe teacher was boring and failed toget my interest. It made me feel like afailure" (Participant 159).Group workAs science knowledge is sociallyconstructed (e.g., Vygotsky, 1986),group involvement seemed to have animpact on these participants' long-termmem ories. The discovery or investigationof science with peers providedopportunities for social interactionand an element of fun. For instance,Participant 120 wrote, "Experimentingwith magnets. It was a fun groupactiv ity". Participant 72 also highligh tedher experience of interacting w ithher peers with the science behind theactivi ty, "Standing on an upside-downtable on top of bal loons and addingmore people unti l the bal loons popped.It was the first time I'd tho ught aboutpressure and the spreading of weightto achieve balance". One participantrecognised group experiments in primaryscience as a foundational experiencefor secondary work, "We used to doa lot of group experiments that weresimplifications of experiments I did laterat high school and uni. They createdthe bui lding blocks of my knowledge"(F^rticipant 131). Group involvementprovided opportunit ies for independentdiscovery, "Doing an experiment onelectrici ty. We were actual ly a l lowedto do i t on our o w n. So because wecould conduct itourselves itmade itmore enjo yab le" (Participant 77). On ceagain, science concepts were uncoveredas a result of high-impact teachingthat faci l itated group involvement, "InGrade 4 w e used straws to construct abridge together. The aim w as to see ho wstrong we co uld make the bridge andfigure out what shapes were needed

Participant 27 affirmed, "Learningabout the human body, growth andreproduction Ialways found fascinatingand 1 think helped me understandwhat makes human beings so similar(scientifically)" [parentheses included!and Participant 33 stated, "Simpleelectric circuit - conceptual izedthe way electricity works and gavean understandingof the del ivery ofelectricity to our hom e." Even moredifficult science concepts can bepresented in practical ways and assiststudents to remember their learning ofscience. To illustrate, "Pulleys and leversintroduced me to the notions of physicsand instil led in me a great interest in thecause and effect of physics" (Participant130) and "Studying inertia/frictionexperiment in Year 5. Such a complexconcept on paper but once we playedw ith ramps and cars it all m ade sense.This is wh en Iunderstood the needfor practical experience" (Participant131). Integrating science w ith other keylearning areas also dem onstrated usableand practical science, "Mak ing paperairplanes and learning and calculating itsspeed etc. (tied in with maths). Ithelpedme get my head around itbecause it wasfun, I wanted to learn" (Participant 161).These three participants (Participants130, 131, and 161) were males;however females were also encouragedby experiments that led to practicalknowledg e. Participant 78 explained ,"Creating a cage to protect an egg whendropped five metres taught us morethan just science - it was enjoyable,interesting and worth wh ile - applicationin life - not just science" and Participant102 stated, "We were studying leaves,plants, flowers. We were able to exitthe classroom, find flowers and pointout the name and parts of them. It wasan enjoyable experience." Conne ctingexperiments to real-life scientificknowledge appeared to have long-lastingeffects on these adults, particu larly asit was between seven and 38 yearsago when these participants (n=167)attended their primary schools.Hands-on experiencesThe literature frequently highlightsthe need for hands-on experiencesfor learning about science concepts.Participants in this study commented onhands-on activities such as "Creatingmini-greenhouse inside water bottle[as] exciting and fun" (Participant 123),

a period of t im e" (Participant 25) or"ma king m ousetrap cars and racing in the school" (Participant 9), particiemphasised that "science can be fu n(l^rt icipan t 9) and remembered thespositive experiences. Han ds-on scieducation experiences can have lasand personal effects on students. Fexample. Participant 154 (nine yearsafter primary school education) builand shaped a boat from a rectangulablock of wood to test its buoyancy.She wrote, "I stil l own the boat as it'special to m e and I was proud of myefforts". It was claim ed that hands-experiences needed to be purposefwith links to scientific knowledge. Ysome adults in this study remembercertain hands-on activities but did nunderstand the relationship to scienkno wle dge . For exam ple, Participa117 stated, "Volcano eru ption wasfun but the teacher didn't provide ascienti f ic knowledge" and similarlyused l ight bulbs and m ade circuits series. W e experimented w ith switcfor them. Not sure of the effect onme - I guess ithelped me learn aboelectricity, power sources. I rememit today, so itmust have been posit(Pariicipant 114)Scientific concepts that have littlerelationship to a designated experimmay be misleading . For exam ple, texploding volcano using bicarbonasoda, vinegar, and red dye may probe visually effective but this chemireaction may not provide accurateinformation on volcanic eruptions.scientific purpose of the experimenneeded to be explained clearly.Interactivity with lifeThese adults remembered scienceactivities that had an element ofinteractivity with life, as il lustrated fol lowing three comments:

Life cycles of chickens - hatching growing in an incubator in the schoclassroom. Iwas fascinated to wathem grow. It was the most interesbit of science that Icould relate to(Participant 13)The study of tbe tadpole changinga frog. My teacber let us eacb havown tadpole in a jar, wbicb we fedWe bad to draw pictures of our tadevery few days and note any bodiltransformations -1 was amazed aexcited and I felt l ike Iha d discove


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tbe life cycle of chickens thoughexperiences. (Participant lib)

arning , as students appearedin l iving things.

re students discover for themselvesof l iv ing

r exam ple. Participant 88 stated,- I went on to study agriculture/

- continuing to get a trade- nursery. "Iinerent en vironments. I think this (plus

ofmy parents) has had aIt provided

Ina greater ap preciation of l iving

ItsIsuppose, that I enjoy

ns for learningconte nt. Five participants

ingful. On the other hand.lesson, reflected o n

remember an experiment wben wedyes in m ilk then drizzledinto the bowl tbe milkin. to watcb tbe coloured dyes swirlsure wbat I learnt but Ialways remember tbat. I think it wasof 'cbanges' perhaps.lts, practical experiences

thermometer, rain gauge, andr) prom pted posit ive and

at the time. I thought itwas fun butdidn't real ly think too much aboutit" (Participant 51) and "Teaching meabout photosynthesis in Year 6, theteacher only drew a diagram but neverreally told us how itworked properly"(Participant 96 ).Excursions for developing scienceunderstandingsMany of these adults had strongmemories of their science excursionswh ile attending primary sch ool. Visitsto a planetarium, science centre, andmuseums provided "enjoyable and greatexperiences" and showed "how fun [sic]science can be ". Participant 128 stated:Going to the science museum was veryexciting as we learnt a lot about sciencewbicb m otivated me to wa nt to study

science. I no w believe that hands-onexperiences and field trips are an integralpart of kids' learning about science.Thoughtfully-organised excursionscan provide students with mem orablescience investigations. There wereseveral adults who remembered camp ingin bushlands to investigate flora andfauna. Others remembered exploringthe Earth and beyo nd. Participant 110claimed he "started loo king for andcollecting fossils after an excursionto Shorncliffe to study fossils andsedimentation". Another commentedon a 'space night' sleepover at school"where we got to look through atelescope at a few planets and themoon and stars. It was the most excitingschool experience I have ever had"(Participant 37),Negative responsesThe aim of the questionnaire wasto determine me morable, posit iveexperiences in primary scienceeducation to uncover possible high-impact teaching strategies. However,19% of these pre-service teachersremembered negative experiences.Although an adult may have positivememories about a science experiment,another may find the same experimentuninteresting or even repulsive. Forexample. Participant 6 reported thatnurturing bean sprouts in cotton wo olprovided a "thri l l ofgrowing andparticipating in the science of 'createdl i fe '", wh ile Participant 18 claimed,"growing seeds in cotton wool -BORING!" [emphasis inc[udedl. Thisindicated that some teachers may not beinformed about their students' interests.

that were repulsive (e.g., dissecting afrog), which also implied a blurringbetween memories ofprimary scienceand secondary science, and anotherwhose senses were assailed unpleasantly,"My 6th Grade teacher had the classburning Cheetos, Vicks Vapour Dropsand napthalene [sic] flakes over can dies,which certainly didn't bui ld greatrespect for science amongst students"(Participant 90).Primary students' statements andresponses to questions sho uld be treatedw ith respect. Den igrating or ridicu[ingstudents' ideas may have long-termnegative impacts for learning scientificconcepts and/or science topics. Ateacher's need to respond quickly tostudents' questions and answers tosecure credibility may lead to inaccurateand dem eaning practices. For example,"In Year 1, when learning about chickeneggs, I could never understand why Iwa swrong when I said that the baby chickenate the yolk . It was frustrating, and as aresult, Idisconnected m yself from thesituation" (Participant 19). This adultremem bered her Year 1 science lessonbecause of a teacher's response, wh ichmade her feel humiliated in front ofher peers. Furth erm ore, this Year 1 girlundermined the teacher's credibility bywithdrawing cognitive engagement fromscience lessons.Low or negative effects may also haveto do w ith lack of explanation for eithercond ucting the activi ty or conceptsunde rpinning the activi ty. "We madea circuit using wires, light bulbsand a battery. ! did not understandit, go t itwrong and did not enjoyit " (Participant 155), which was notdissimilar to Participant 54's comment,"W ho cares? Just fl ick the switch." Thisnegative experience may have ledParticipant 54 to announce as a second-year pre-service teacher, "1 w ill teachlimited science ifnecessary." Primarystudents' Interests may be lost ifpurposesand explanations for conductingexperiments are not clear: "M akin g asoda bubble rocket - I didn' t know howto do itbecause itwasn't explainedpro pe rly" (Participant 79). In ad ditio n,students may become disengaged ifexperiments are uninteresting. Forexample, "We had to try and separatewater and oi l , Ididn't enjoy it becauseI didn't feel like itwas science, it just

seemed stupid to me" (Participant 41).Conversely, clear explanations canfacilitate success and a keen interest


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In summary, high-impact teachingfor science may in clude the teacher'spersonal attributes (i.e., enthusiasmfor teaching the subject). Importan tly,group involvement provides thebasis for sharing understandings ofscientific concepts with usable andpractical science lessons. Hands-onexperiences were also highlightedby these participants, which furtherincluded interactivity with life andactive participation on science-basedexcursions. Participants claimed thatteachers who articulated clear purposesfor conducting science activitiesmotivated student involvement. High -impact teaching for science has beensummarised in Table 1. Conversely,teachers' lack of enthusiasm, beinguninformed about students' interests,presenting disengaging activities thatassailed the senses, lack of hands-onexperiences with considerable 'chalkand talk', and denigrating students' ideasappeared as low or negative-impact

or m ore high-impact science teachingpractices may 'make a difference'towards influencing students' positivelong-term memories about science andtheir science educ ation.Although teaching approaches canvary between different educationallevels, and an individual's preferredlearning style may change with age andexperience, these high-impact teachingpractices have a student-centred focusthat can be adapted to suit individualstyles. Indeed, exem plary primary,secondary and tertiary teaching practicesmay be interchangeable and relevantto effective teaching regardless of tbelevel. The high-impact teaching forscience indicated in this study can haverelevance at all levels of educa tion. Forexample, targeting misconceptions andhands-on experiences are applicableto lower primary as much as tertiaryscience courses. Pre-service teachereducation courses need to embed high-impact teaching strategies in their coursedesigns and present ways of a voidingeach ing {Table 1).

Table 1. Higti-lmpact and Low o r Negative-Impact Practices for PrimaryScience TeachingHigh-Impact Teaching for Science Low or Negative ImpactMisconceptions are targetedEnthusiasm from teacherGroup workUsable and practical scientific knowledgeHands-on experiencesInteractivity with lifePurposes are clearly articulatedExcursions for science understandings

Uninformed on individual interestsTeachers' lack of enthusiasmReasons not articulatedChalk and talk or copying from OHTPersonal ideas denigratedDisengaging activities

ConclusionThis study investigated 167 adults'responses abou t their mem oriesof positive (and negative) primaryscience education experiences thatmay lead towards de veloping high-impact science lessons. The high-impact teach ing practices in this studyhave close correlations to models ofeffective learning such as authenticlearning (Herrington & Oliver, 2000),problem-based learning (Savery & Duffy,1996), and constructivism (Vygotsky,1986). The results indicated high-impact teaching for science included:targeting misconceptions, teacher'senthusiasm, group involvement,usable and practical science, hands-on experiences, interactivity with life,purposes for teaching science arearticulated, and excursions with soundscience directions. Low or negative-impact practices were also described by

negative practices. Considerations ofpositive and negative teaching practicescan assist teachers and pre-serviceteachers to plan for high-impact sciencelessons as a potential way of ma king alifelong difference to other students.ReferencesAlder, N. (2002). Interpretations of the meaningof care: Creating caring relationships in urbanmiddle school classrooms. Urban EducAtlon.37{2). 241-266.Ball, D., & Feiman-Nemser, S. (1988). Usingtextbooks and teachers' guides: A dilemm alor beginning teachers and teacher educators.Curriculum Inquiry, (18), 401-42 3.Bandura. A. (1986). Social foundations ofthought and action: A so cial cognitive theory.Engiewood Cliffs, N|: Prentice- Hall, Inc.Easton, L. B. (2002). Lessons from learners.Educational Leadership, 60(11, 64-68.Enochs, L. C , & Riggs, I. M. (1990 ). Furtherdevelopment of an elementary science teachingefficacy belief instrument: Apre-service elementary scale. School Scienceand Mathematics, 90{8), 694-706.Hansen, D. T. (1995). The call to teach. New

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