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Water Density
University of Hawaii GK-12 fellows, coordinators and evaluators work together
at water density inquiry stations. The stations are designed to allow participants
to explore different modes of inquiry within the context of the teaching and
learning cycle. The stations explore open-ended inquiry, problem-solving inquiry,
structured inquiry and direct inquiry. Part of our goal is to help GK-12 fellows
become facilitators of inquiry for students. As fellows experienced each type
of inquiry, centered on the same topic of water density, they were able to
construct their own views of the learning cycle.
The water density stations were developed by scientists and educators at the
California Center for Ocean Science Education Excellence (COSEE-CA), which
is located at the Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley. COSEE-CA, funded
by the National Science Foundation, has produced a set of curricula for Communicating
Ocean Sciences (COS) and Communicating Ocean Sciences for Informal Audiences
(COSIA). For more information on their programs, visit their website: http://www.coseeca.net/collegecourse/
          
Nature-of-Science (back
to top)
As part of their science teaching training seminar, University of Hawaii
GK-12 fellows developed a lesson on a nature-of-science concept and team-taught
the lesson to a group of 9th grade students at the University of Hawaii
Laboratory School (a K-12 experimental school). The goal was to provide
our GK-12 fellows with an opportunity to teach fundamental scientific processes
in a safe environment where they could get feedback on their teaching skills.
Fellows worked in pairs and each of the lessons was designed
to address a necessary topic in science literacy: scientific error, scientific
hypotheses, and scientific replication.
The 9th grade students who participated in the lessons had very
positive feedback. They learned about probability, made hypotheses about hermit
crabs, and discovered how to avoid random and systematic errors. Students
said about the lessons presented by fellows: "I really actually understood
what they were saying and what they were trying to tell us. They made it fun
and simple".
Fellows also benefited from the experience; they were able to
talk with each other as well as external observers about effective classroom
management skills and effective communication skills. The lessons themselves
were also valuable. In fact, fellows have used each other's lessons with their
teacher partners, and the fellows are planning to share their lessons at the
Hawaii Science Teachers Association (HaSTA) meeting on October 20, 2007.
               
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