ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
*****************************************************************************

The case Mary describes is very common and it is important to draw the
distinction between hands-on "activitymania" and authentic inquiry.  To be
fair to school teachers, this malady is also quite common in the classrooms
of ISIs, even ones that claim a "place-based" approach.  Moving to authentic
inquiry takes a fundamental shift in how people see children as learners, to
come to think of children's role as working to create their own meaning and
understanding, instead of working to absorb the teacher's understanding.

The good news is that focused and sustained professional development (80-100
hours per teacher per year) can lead to the adoption of real inquiry
practices in the classroom, IF the professional development routinely and
constantly models the practice of authentic inquiry and asks teachers to
debrief and become metacognitively aware of the process they went through.
We have seen this very clearly in the evaluation of the Da VInci Teacher
Leader Institute.  Activitymania can be a developmental phase on the road to
inquiry, so one should not give up on teachers who fall into this practice,
but instead encourage them to reflect on how they can deepen students use of
science process skills (the Exploratorium's Fundamentals of Inquiry
professional development curriculum is an excellent resource for this work).


Dave Smith



On 10/30/07, Mary Manner <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> <snip>  I've concluded that the hands-on,
> process-oriented science classes that are taking the place of text-book
> oriented science classes don't really represent "reform".  They're still
> canned and predictable exercises, hardly different from traditional work
> sheets and take more time to complete.  The kids get that there is a
> "right"
> answer, which the teacher knows, and their job is to find that
> answer.  This
> is not science.  <snip>




-- 
David L. Smith
Da Vinci Science Center
Allentown, PA
http://www.davinci-center.org

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