Workshop 1
 Contents
|
Section D Transformations: beliefs about learning
Activity
D2 Energy and change |
|
Aims
-
To explore factors related to beliefs about learning
that may influence teachers’ transformations of the ‘Energy and Change’
innovation.
-
To consider these issues in the light of your own
beliefs and teaching experience.
Background
Beliefs about how pupils learn clearly influence
how innovations are taken up. The abstract pictures in the ‘Energy and
Change’ materials are designed to help pupils to generalise about situations
and to see differences and similarities between them. This is an important
aspect of scientific thinking. The activities that use these pictures are
intended to focus pupils’ attention on important features of situations
and to stimulate discussion amongst them. How well do teachers think that
pupils will understand these pictures? Do they think that the activities
are useful learning tools? The following stories address these questions.
[N.B. These stories are based
on research into the work of teachers implementing this innovation. Though
they are not based on particular individuals, they do focus on issues that
were identified in the research.]
What to do
1. It is best to do this activity in a group
of two or three. Before you start discussion, however, work individually
and read through each of the stories on page 2.
For each story, decide whether you are:
-
broadly sympathetic to the position outlined in the
story (S)
-
broadly unsympathetic to the position outlined in
the story (U)
-
neither (N)
Write the appropriate letter next to each story.
2. Discuss each story in turn within the
group. It may be useful to think about the following:
-
What is the key idea of the story?
-
Are there points that the teacher makes that we all
agree with?
-
Are there points that the teacher makes that we all
disagree with? If so, is this because we disagree in principle or because
we think the teacher has said something factually incorrect? Or because
they say something which may apply in their own situation but not in yours?
-
What are the issues where we do not reach a consensus?
What are the reasons for this?
3. After discussion, work individually again
and look back over all of the stories. Pick out a few key sentences, which
you agree with and think address the most important ideas for you. Underline
them. Pick out a few sentences that you disagree with strongly. Underline
them in a different colour or style. (Make a note of what the colours/styles
mean so that you can work it out later.) You will be returning to these
sheets in a later session. |
