Exploration and Meaning Making in the Learning of Science (Innovations in Science Education and Technology)

Exploration and Meaning Making in the Learning of Science (Innovations in Science Education and Technology) Review

This book provides a broad and deep rationale for various pedagogical practices associated with the teaching of science. The main thesis of this book is that the exploratory phase of scientific inquiry is undervalued and its purpose misunderstood. Furthermore, there is a need for an expanded conception or alternative way of thinking about the so called learning cycle that has been frequently cited as the pedagogical model for a fair number of curriculum programs. A pedagogical model is proposed that recognizes learning cycles as ones that build on each other in an in-depth developmental manner. It presents an alternative paradigm that gives more attention to the motivation of students and assigns an essential role for student input. The overall goal is to move the reader to think more holistically about the practice of science education. This original and unorthodox book summarizes the author’s present thinking about curriculum design and direct work with students. The author draws upon his varied experiences to present a case for the importance of direct engagement with phenomena and materials. He argues that this practice is more than a matter of motivating students to become engaged in inquiry. The first four chapters lay out different levels of a pedagogical approach and an overall theoretical orientation. The middle chapters focus on what might be called sensory knowledge. These are concerned with the role of different sensory engagement, movement as related to gestural representation and the role of empathy in exploration. The last four chapters are about the role of aesthetic, play, variable exploration and metaphor in their shaping of science education experiences. Each chapter is introduced with a scenario or case study describing the behavior and talk of elementary or middle school students. The intention of these scenarios is to help the reader stay grounded while considering the more abstract development of research reports and broader philosophical issues.

Making Teaching and Learning Matter: Transformative Spaces in Higher Education (Explorations of Educational Purpose)

Making Teaching and Learning Matter: Transformative Spaces in Higher Education (Explorations of Educational Purpose) Review

This volume captures the spirit of collaboration and innovation that its authors bring into the classroom, as well as to groundbreaking undergraduate programs and initiatives. Coming from diverse points of view and twenty different disciplines, the contributors illuminate the often perplexing debates about what matters most in higher education today. Each chapter tells a unique story about creating vital pedagogical arenas that have the potential to transform teaching and learning for both faculty and students. These exploratory spaces include courses under construction, cross-college and interdisciplinary collaborations, general education reform initiatives, and fresh perspectives on student support services, faculty development, freshman learning communities, writing across the curriculum, on-line degree initiatives, and teaching and learning centers. All these spaces lend shape to an over-arching, system-wide project bringing together the often disconnected silos of undergraduate education at The City University of New York (CUNY), America’s largest urban public university system. Since 2003, the University’s Office of Undergraduate Education has sponsored coordinated efforts to study and improve teaching and learning for the system’s 260,000 undergraduates enrolled at 18 distinct colleges. The contributors to this volume present a broad spectrum of administrative and faculty perspectives that have informed the process of transforming the undergraduate experience. Combined, the voices in these chapters create a much-needed exploratory space for the interplay of ideas about how teaching and learning need to matter in evolving notions of higher education in the twenty-first century. In addition, the text has wider social relevance as an in-depth exploration of change and reform in a large public institution.