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Leslie G. Fatum
HWP 2010
What strategies can I employ to get my
students to write about their own thinking,
every day?
How do I explicitly teach metacognition?
What can I do to develop mindfulness in my
students through looking closely, exploring
possibilities and perspectives, and introducing
ambiguity?
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The nature of science is inquiry. However, as
a teacher of science during the past two
years, the state and district standards and
curriculum mandates have stressed “mastery”
of abstract and arbitrary knowledge bytes
that are conceptually and contextually
disconnected from my students’ prior science
education, as well as having little or no
relevance to their day-to-day experiences.
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After months of asking my students to “think”
about the concepts, rather than just memorizing
trivial minutiae or benchmark practice exam
answers, I finally came to the realization that they
not only did not know what they were thinking -they literally were not thinking about what we were
discussing.
From this realization, I began my quest to uncover
strategies and routines that would lead them to
this disposition of mindfulness. A first step is to
practice “visible thinking” (metacognition) through
activities that require the students to not only
actively think about what is occurring, but to
identify and describe their thoughts about it.
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Metacognition requires that students have knowledge
about, awareness of, and control over their learning (Baird
and White, 1996; Koba and Tweed, 2009).
Conceptual change requires that teachers elicit various
student explanations for the teacher and the student to
consider. Students need to reflect on and discuss their
understandings, compare and contrast explanations,
consider arguments to support or contradict explanations,
and choose possible explanations based on the evidence
they have gathered (Hewson 1996; Hipkins et al., 2002;
Koba and Tweed, 2009).
Thinking is invisible, but there are ways that teachers can
make it visible to their students, helping them to become
more metacognitive and to see high school as more about
exploring ideas than memorizing content (Koba and
Tweed, 2009).
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Concept cartoons about evolution from San
Diego State University (developed by Dianne
Anderson and Kathleen Fisher, 2002
www.biologylessons.sdsu.edu/cartoons/conc
epts.html)
Paper and pen/pencil
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They were created by Brenda Keogh and Stuart Naylor
in 1991
They feature cartoon-style drawings showing different
characters arguing about an everyday situation
They are designed to intrigue, to provoke discussion
and to stimulate scientific thinking
They may not have a single "right answer"
Concept cartoons stimulate students to discuss their
ideas, including those that are normally reluctant to do
so. This gives teachers access to those ideas. It also
gives students access to each other's ideas, which may
prompt them to reconsider their own.
The visual cartoons and minimal written text provide a
valid assessment strategy for students with poor
literacy skills, reluctant learners, and ESOL students.
Concept cartoons appear to reduce the risk of fear of
giving a "wrong" response.
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1. Practice developing your own thinking log
+/- concept cartoon.
2. Using pre-crafted cartoons on evolution,
record your first thoughts about a statement
by the character that you feel best expresses
your own views on the meaning of the
concept.
3. Share responses in your group.
4. Revise your responses if your thinking
changes.
5. Share out with the class.
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Use bullets, not sentences
Go with your gut reaction
Write a brief rationale for your thinking
Share your thoughts with your group
After you are done, you can add different
thoughts from a new perspective (up to five
total)
If you want to, draw a concept cartoons with
your characters expressing their thought in
ONE simple sentence
Selected students will share with class
In biology, competition is one of
the many symbiotic relationships
occurring in nature. Same or
different members of species
compete for resources, especially
for limited natural resources.
The adjustment or changes in
behavior, physiology, and structure
of a population of organisms to
become more suited to an
environment over time.
(Of, or pertaining to) An allele or a
gene that is expressed in an
organism’s phenotype, masking
the effect of the recessive allele or
gene when present.
Phenotype: The expression of a
particular trait, for example, skin
color, height, behavior, etc.,
according to the individual’s
genetic makeup and environment.
In order for evolution to occur, there must be
genetic variation. Genetic variation brings about
evolution. Without it there will be no evolution.
There are two major mechanisms that drive
evolution. First is natural selection. Individuals
with advantageous traits are more likely to
reproduce successfully, passing these traits to
the next generation. This kind of evolution
driven by natural selection is called adaptive
evolution. Another mechanism involves genetic
drift, which produces random changes in the
frequency of traits in a population. Evolution
that arises from genetic drift is called neutral
evolution.
In biology, Darwinian fitness or
simply fitness of a biological trait
describes how successful an
organism has been at passing on its
genes. The more likely that an
individual is able to survive and live
longer to reproduce, the higher is
the fitness of that individual.
It is the process by which heritable
traits that increase an organism’s
chances of survival and reproduction
are more favoured than less beneficial
traits. Originally proposed by Charles
Darwin, natural selection is the process
that results in the evolution of
organism.