[PDF] - Physical Properties and Physical Changes to Matter Science content PDF Document

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Physical Properties and Physical Changes to Matter

Science content for middle school teachers

(Grades 5–8)

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Group Norms

Those who work, learn.
Look for solutions, not blame.
Focus on systems, not people.
Everyone has expertise.
Challenge ideas.
Share talk time.
Respect our professional environment.

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Coffee Talk

“Scientific inquiry reflects how scientists come to understand the natural world, and it is at the heart of how students learn. From a very early age, children interact with their environment, ask questions, and seek ways to answer those questions. Understanding science content is significantly enhanced when ideas are anchored to inquiry experiences.”

National Science Teachers Association Position Statement on Scientific Inquiry October 2004

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What does inquiry look like?

NSTA recommends that students

Learn how to identify and ask appropriate questions that can

be answered through scientific investigations.

Design and conduct investigations to collect the evidence

needed to answer a variety of questions.

Use appropriate equipment and tools to interpret and

analyze data.

Learn how to draw conclusions and think critically and

logically to create explanations based on their evidence.

Communicate and defend their results to their peers and
thers.

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How can educators foster inquiry-based learning?

NSTA recommends that science teachers:

Plan an inquiry-based science program that incorporates

appropriate content knowledge.

Implement approaches to teaching science that cause students

to question and explore and to use those experiences to raise and answer questions about the natural world.

Guide and facilitate learning using inquiry by selecting teaching

strategies that nurture and assess students’ developing understandings and abilities.

Design and manage learning environments that provide

students with the time, space, and resources needed for learning science through inquiry.

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Inquiry in the classroom

“The learning cycle approach is one of many effective strategies for bringing explorations and questioning into the classroom..”

NSTA Position Statement on Scientific Inquiry October 2004

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Why use the learning cycle?

The learning cycle is a model of both instruction and learning, and is based on cognitive research and constructivist theory.

We construct and reconstruct meaning through our

experiences.

Experiences enable us to develop schema, or mental

models, that include all the knowledge we have accumulated over time.

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Why use the learning cycle?

Our mental schema are changed, enhanced, or enlarged by the processes of

Assimilation—We take in new information and

experiences and incorporate them into our existing ideas.

Accommodation—Old ideas are changed or replaced

based on new information or experiences.

Organization—New information is organized into our

mental schema and can be used in, or applied to, other situations.

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Piaget’s model of mental functioning

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What is the learning cycle?

The learning cycle is based on Jean Piaget’s model of mental functioning, and includes three phases of instruction:

Exploration provides students with firsthand

experiences to investigate science phenomena;

Concept introduction allows students to build

science ideas through interaction with peers, texts, and teachers; and

Concept application gives students the opportunity

to use these science ideas to solve new problems.

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