(1) (knowledge) What are some strategies for scaffolding theory construction in the classroom?
(2) (synthesis) Imagine you are in a kindergarten classroom. A student in your classroom believes that plants have digestive systems the way humans do. Why might the student believe this? Design an activity which is authentic and addresses the misconception.
1) In order to provide appropriate scaffolding for students, there are a few important strategies to use in the classroom. Teachers should make great effort to use WHY and HOW questions so that students take their thoughts one step further. Students should be asked to develop hypotheses before being given information. Teachers should present information with models and examples and provide adequate and relatable information so that students make connections about concepts and ideas. Teachers should provide information on appropriate learning levels and ask students to think and reflect upon what they are learning. In this way, students are able to form deeper meaning and can thereby store it in their long-term memories.
ReplyDelete*Could be classified under #2 - understand. Students are asked to retell, in their own words, what some strategies are and this demonstrates a deeper understanding of material.
2) A student to whom this concept (digestion in plants vs animals) is completely new may make assumptions solely based on what they know as a human. Humans grow larger with food. Plants grow larger with food. Therefore digestion could take place similarly. It would be important to find out and brainstorm together as a class what we already know about each. In this way, you can develop both a schema and script surrounding human digestion vs. plant digestion. You could start by having every student eat a cookie or cracker and imagining where that travels to next after the mouth. You could have one student act as a model in the front of the room and as students are talking through the process of human digestion, point out where on the model this happens (using some editing when the process is nearing the end of the explanation). Likewise, you can use an actual plant to learn about digestion in plants and compare and contrast these differing systems. For example, "where do we intake food?" "where do plants intake food?" You could use "how" and "why do you think" questions to allow students to form their own hypotheses about plant digestion before making sure they all have a clear picture about how it really works.
*This question makes students think on a deeper level and form an understanding and logical explanation one way or another. They may be asked to recount what concepts or schema they already know about plants and animals in order to make sense of it. In this way, they are also analyzing (level 4) what they know or do not know as well as evaluating the processes.