Uncovering Student Ideas

The new series, Uncovering Student Ideas in Physical Science- 25 Force and Motion Assessment Probes, by Page Keeley and Rand Harrington, will be out in late fall 2009. What particular concepts related to force and motion would you most like to see in this volume? Rand and I welcome your feedback as we identify and develop a set of probes. Are some ideas more problemmatic than others? What seems to be the common difficulties students (and teachers) have related to this topic?

Often in my workshops and presentations I tell the story about going to a microbrewery after the day ends with a group of teachers attending a summer institute. Having presented on the topic of misconceptions, and how students can use words wothout meaning, I frequently illustrate an example by asking a question of the bar tender that goes like this: ” I was wondering why there is all this water on the outside of my beer mug?”.  In this example (and the teachers were sitting with me waiting to hear the response), the bar tender replied “Oh, that’s just condensation.” But then I asked, “But where does this water come from?” Well, that is when it got interesting as he pointed to the inside of the glass and said, well, it kinda comes out of here and then goes out here and touches the glass…” The point is-even adults, like this college age bar tender, can use the word “condensation” but not know that the water comes from the air.

Well, I was in Austin, Texas a couple weeks ago and told this same story to the group I presented to. That night I went out to a BBQ joint with my friend Vanessa and decided to replay the scenario I described in my presentation.  I said to the cute, college-age, young server, “My friend and I were curious about all this water on the outside of my margarita. Can you tell me why it’s so wet?” He gave the predicted answer- “Oh, that’s just condensation.” Well, I then asked (looking at my friend with a twinkle in my eye)- “Yes, but I just don’t understand where it came from- how did it get there?” Then it got really interesting as he explained the permeability of the glass and then went on to talk about molecules and energy transfer on the outside of the glass. I stopped him and said, “But I don’t understand, are you saying it came from inside the glass or outside?” He answered by saying “Both- because it is permeable.” Well, I thanked him and then it got even better when he said, thinking we were two women who didn’t have a clue about science, “I was a biology major in college and I really love this stuff.” Clearly- he threw a lot of concepts out there but didn’t know how to put them together to make sense of the phenomenon.

If you have never tried “Where Did the Water Come From?” in Volume 4, try it with your students, your spouse, servers at resturants, your children, etc. The answers you get may surprise you!

Good News! Uncovering Student Ideas in Science- Volume 4 is hot off the press. It arrived just in time for the NSTA National Conference in New Orleans. I mentioned this blog in the opening chapter. I guess that means I better start blogging on a regular basis (I think I am finally getting the hang of this!). This volume brings the series up to 100 probes. Wow- 100 questions that reveal fascinating insights into children’s (and adults’) thinking. My favorite probe in Volume 4 is the “Chicken Eggs” probe. Why is it my favorite? The right answer to the probe isn’t what’s important- it’s the variety of interconnected concepts that surface when one thinks about whether a chicken egg weighs more right after it is laid, right before hatching, or whether the weight remains the same. Concepts such as food, transformation of matter, conservation of mass, embryo development, open versus closed systems, gas exchange, permeable materials, etc. are all relevant to this probe and can provide teachers with interesting data on students’ prior knowledge and experiences. I love this one because the best answer is so counter-intuitive!

Last month I received an email from a high school biology teacher in Maine that really speaks to the power of using assessment probes to promote thinking and student discussion. I just have to share this with everyone! Read on…

“I know you probably hear stuff like this all the time, but I’m reading the ‘Lookback’ reflections that I have my classes do every 10 class blocks, and I just really loved this one by a foreign exchange student from Ghana. We did a zillion things during the cell unit, but half of her reflection had to do with two probes. This is what she said”:

” I have learnt many things these past few weeks in your biology class. With almost all the things you taught in your class, I had already learnt them in my former school but I had either forgotten or I did not really understand them when I was taught You helped me really understand them in the diverse ways in which you taught them. For instance, with the rotting apple, you did not go ahead and tell us how apples rot. You made us write what we think, get into groups, discuss what we think and finally discuss it as a class. It was through the discussion that you made us all see how the apples actually rot and finally disappear. This helped me to understand and I think I would not have understood it very well if you had just given us all the information from the start.

The “things are made of cells” activity with the pictures of things really helped me to differentiate between things that are made of cells and things that are not. You did not just tell us but made us dicuss it with our mates beforehand. This made me realize that sometimes our mates are the best people to explain things to you. it was after this discussion in groups that we discussed as a class and finally you explained the ones which we could not figure out. When I am now in doubt about whether things are made of cells, I remember the funny way one of my mates explained it in class and I am able to tell whether it is made of a cell or not.”

Maybe this “anonymous” teacher will share some more stories (I hope so!). Do others have stories to share?