Thinking Critically about Nothing

It is so hard to choose where to start when it comes to Schmoker’s chapter on science. For example, my heart rate increases every time I read the line, “Worse yet, the majority of these activities have little or no connection to essential science content.”  He makes such ridiculous connections between bad instruction and activity and good instruction and literacy.  Quality content-relevant teaching and activity-based inquiry instruction are not mutually exclusive.  To save you all from the rant-like post that would follow if I continued thinking about this quote I have instead decided to focus on this one:

“You cannot think critically about nothing.”

The problem with this line is that when it comes to science students are not starting with nothing.  La Tabula Rosa is an old idea – but it just doesn’t pan out (we talked about this a lot in my grad program.  How about you?).  Students develop all kinds of ideas –especially science ideas –outside of school: ideas about plants, animals, the sun, their own bodies, what happens when you throw something, and so many more.

Please watch this video.  I know it is a little long (~8 min), but I find it pretty powerful and all around awesome:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVtCO84MDj8

To highlight:

“If you just present the correct information five things happen:

1.      Students think they know it.

2.      They don’t pay the utmost attention

3.      They don’t recognize that what was presented differs from what they were already thinking

4.      They don’t learn a thing.

5.      They get more confident in the ideas they were thinking before”

When you challenge student preconceptions they think it is confusing, they have to work harder, they might not like you very much (that one is mine)– but they actually learn!

I find active, authentic inquiry labs a great way to challenge misconceptions while at the same time teaching science content and nature of science.  When students do something expecting certain things to happen and then get surprising results is just the jolt they need to shift their thinking.  To not be hypocritical literacy-based instruction can also, of course address misconceptions.  I have a unit I love based on misconceptions about sea-level change due to global warming that is all based on newspaper letters to the editors.