Inquiry-Based Biology Activity

Inquiry-Based Biology Activity

Truthfully, before we talked about inquiry based learning and inquiry-based biology activities, I was not a believer of its overall usefulness. I have heard so many times the buzz words, “it keeps students actively engaged in their own learning process. But I was not by into those buzz words. For me, inquire based learning was just one of the numerous undertakings to try to improve and streamline the learning and teaching process, and that within another five to ten years, the next great innovation in learning was going to be uncovered amongst the ancient Dead Sea Scrolls. However, I can actually see the validity of using inquiry-based biology activities in my classroom.

For example, the teacher can create various models in order to either further a student about a particular biological concept. Likewise, students can also create models to increase his or her understand about things such as osmosis.

In the process of students designing their own models, it becomes increasing evident which aspects about a particular lesson needs to be either readdressed or modified in order to increase your student’s understanding.  Therefore, Inquiry-based biological models can be used easily to see whether or not your students’ prior knowledge has changed during the course of the lesson and the semester.

Types of questions asked and the Big Picture

        Writing questions in biology

(How My Views Have Changed About Writing Them.)

        Although I am still somewhat leery about the Big Picture and what is said to be able to be accomplished through its use, during last Monday's class, I began to see a very important aspect with regards to its use that I had not previously considered. Prior to Monday's class, I had not realized just how important the questions that are being asked by a teacher in his or her attempt to assess and challenge students' misconcepts about a particular subject truly are. During the class, I began to see that teachers can also accidentally instill misconcepts about the very subject matter he or she is trying to teach simply by asking questions that ultimately lead his or her own students down an unintended pathway.

        Take for example when we reviewed the different questions that were written by our class after we viewed the movie, "The Lion King." Many questions did not even began to address the vast array of the ecological misconcepts that were presented in the movie. Some questions could also easily instill even greater ecological misconcepts inside students' minds if they were presented to them. Thus, the way in which questions are structured and asked is also an important element in making sure that the information a teacher sets out to teach is actually being taught by them.

        However, with this being said, coming up with questions that will both provoke thoughtful analyses on the part of students and keep them on task will be hard. Because although in spite of the fact that many say that if students are having a hard time with a particular subject (area) to spend more time on it, the teaching curriculum and what has to be covered in a certain amount of time will not always allow a teacher to do this more than just occasionally.Therefore, the way in which questions are structured around the Big Picture becomes even the more critical and important for a teacher to implement correctly in his or her classroom.

What I Expect To Get Back As An Instructor

       I expect to get several things out of asking questions that focus on the Big Picture. First of all, I except my students to be able to engage in thougth provoking analyses about any subject matter that is taught by me or by any of their future teachers. I except this because I believe that if a teacher helps his or her students to become truly interested in what is being taught, students will then automatically take control of their own learning experiences. I also expect my students to gain a through understanding  of any subject matter that is being taught to them because by my continued focus on the Big Picture and making sure that I ask the right types of questions, my students will hopefully also begin to ask these types of questions as well.

The Lion King and the Big Picture

        How Does The Lion King Ecology Inform Our (My) Big Idea

        First of all, I still do not know how I feel about the Big Picture Idea and how it relates to education. In class, we keep talking about how the use of the Big Picture Idea will enable teachers to better link their students' learning environments with real life experiences. We have also discuss that by using the Big Picture Idea, it will make it much easier for students to gain greater control over their own learning experiences.

        When I say I am still not completely convinced, it is because many countries, such as Korea and India, still employ traditional models for educating their students, and their students are out performing ours. However, I am in no shape or form defending the use of traditional models as being more effective than Constructivism. But I am saying that I do not believe that one teaching model can be utilized to effectively teach all students.

        Take the Lion King for example. Even though the Big Picture Idea is supposed to help students gain a better and complete understanding about Ecology by allowing teachers to uncover and resolve many of their students' misconceptions about it, research has shown that many misconceptions are not changed merely by presenting individuals with information that contradicts their old beliefs. In fact, many individuals routinely force contradictory information to fit into their old beliefs rather than accepting them of being true. Radiometric Dating is but one example of  how
individuals try to force new information to conform to their old beliefs.

        Many individuals, who truly want to believe that the earth is no older than seven to ten thousands years old, vehemently assert that Radiometric Dating other than the use of Caron 14, a dating method that can determine the age of fossils up to 50,000 to 60,000 years, is both inaccurate and unreliable. Thus, despite the fact that most in the Scientific community believe that Radiometric Dating is both accurate and reliable, these same individuals contend to assert that non Carbon 14 Radiometric Dating that estimate the earth being approximately 4.5 billion years old cannot and should not be believed over Biblical references.

How Have My Ideas Change As A Result?

      The point that I am trying to get across is that just because a teacher employs the Big Picture in order to help their students gain a better understanding about Ecology while at the same time dispelling their misconcepts about it, will not always prove to be any more effective than other teaching models (traditional and non-traditional). However, with that being said, I do see how the use of the Big Picture can be utilized in order to help students remain focused on important information and concepts that are  being taught.

        Once again, I will reference The Lion King and how it relates to Ecology. Even before, many students ever get the chance to be formally introduced to it, movies such as The Lion King have already planted many misconceptions about ecological systems and animal hierarchies in their minds. Thus when children are not even old enough to go to school, they are already led to believe that ecological systems are based on good (Lions) versus evil (Hyenas). This is also where and why I believe that the Big Picture Model can aid teachers in uncovering many of these misconcepts. However, if a  teacher does not continually probe his or her students regarding their misconceptions, the Big Picture model is then no more effective than Traditional models. Therefore,  additional safeguards must be constantly utilized in order to help students dispel their misconcepts or they will only force new information to fit older beliefs and cause their misconceptions to be further reinforced.

         In addition, although many students may consciously realize that one animal cannot and does not make a big difference in "The Circle of Life," we as Americans are cultural taught that one individual can make a big difference in the lives of  others. Therefore, teachers also have to be aware of the fact that many of their students' misconcepts are also cultural, societal, religious, and political based and they may also need to undercover the true nature of their students' misconcepts before they are able to change them.

Biology Appilcation Class

What is science?

Science is a process that attempts to understand different types of phenomena through carefully and systematically designed and constructed observations. In the process of making sense out of these different phenomena, science inevitably constructs a lexicon of knowledge that is articulated between others through the use of language (scientific) that is unique to this field.

Does language matter?

With most human endeavors, language, a social agreement on what different definitions mean, is important for passing on important information that is, in many cases, unique to a particular cultural or society. This is also the case with scientific language versus everyday language.

Is the difference between common, versus scientific language?

In order for an individual to be able to fully participate (become a member of) in the scientific community, he or she must become fluent in scientific language. This is due to the fact that the accepted way(s) in which ideas, discoveries, observations are communicated are very different from common everyday language usage. For example, in common everyday language, acclimation and adaption are thought be and used synonymously. This, however, is not the case within the scientific community. In the scientific community, acclimation is the process of an individual organism adjusting to a gradual change in its environment during a short period of time, whereas, adaptation is a biological trait that results from the process of natural selection.

Evidence versus Data.

Evidence:
Evidence is the use of information (data) in order to support a particular claim and/or a particular
conclusion. For example, videos, photos, audio recordings, and written documentations are different types of carefully and closely analyzed data that are routinely used or referred to in order to give additional credence to various claims and conclusions.

Data:
Data, on the other hand, is information that has not as of yet been carefully and/or closely analyzed. Therefore, data is all information that has not been carefully and/or closely analyzed and/or cannot be reliably used in order to support a particular claim(s)

How do I view big ideas in teaching and learning?

Although the utilization of big ideas in teaching is supposed to help students move away from simply remembering facts and figures to truly understanding them, since I do not have any experience using them, I am not sure actually how I feel about using big ideas to teach biological subjects.For example,I clearly understand and agree that real learning begins after a student has gotten what he or she previously taught he or she understood wrong. However, I also hate the idea that many of these misconceptions will become so ingrained inside a student’s mind that he or she will never be able to completely break away from  thinking that  these same misconceptions are based on carefully and closely analyzed data .

The above statement is also why I am not completely sure about only utilizing a Constructionist's way of teaching. First of all, I believe that no one method can effectively teach all students and that the students have to be the ones who show you how to teach them. Secondly, I do have concerns about students who put very little effort and/or energy into their educations Lastly, I still need to figure out how to get my students motivated to the point where they will actually want to be responsible for their own learning.