Chapter 6: Redefining Inquiry in science
Schmoker’s approach to science is similar to his approach to
Social Studies. Focus on the essentials,
read and write often and allow students the time to discuss the topics with
each other. Here is the bulleted
overview of the chapter:
·
Close reading of selected portions of the
science textbook
·
Regular reading and discussion of current
science articles
·
Interactive lecture
·
Writing every day
·
A reasonable number of carefully chosen labs
that reinforce the content
He emphasizes the need for more reading of the science textbook
with a focus on vocabulary and relating the graphics to the text and often
times reading then re-reading the same passage to fully understand it. “Students
who used textbooks and wrote purposefully about content learned more content”
(pg 170). I liked the testimonials from scientists
stating how important reading is and that you don’t just “do” science, you have
to be able to read about it and understand it.
One very interesting point Schmoker makes in the chapter is
that in the US we simply try to teach too much science than we have time for.
He states “In the highest achieving countries the number of core concepts and
standards taught in science is less than half of the United States.” (pg 165) In the next couple of years we will be
adopting the Next Generation Science Standards that will only add more to the
plate and leave less time to go in depth in each topic.
Schmoker stresses the fact that kids learn science better
from reading, writing and discussing science than they do from working on
labs. I disagree when he states that
most of the labs in schools don’t have anything to do with the standards being
learned, in Davenport all of the labs are carefully chosen to correlate with the
Iowa Core. But I can say that this year
I had to carefully decide what activities were worth keeping and what labs were
important enough to keep. I came to find
out exactly what Schmoker states. The
students learned more information more quickly from direct instruction, reading
text and articles and having discussions.
As much as I like labs and I hate to admit that we probably do too many,
I think he’s right. Middle school kids especially have the tendency to stray
off task, take all short cuts possible and delegate their way to learning as
little as they can slide by with.
He finishes by highlighting how important it is for students
to be given many opportunities to write about what they know, defend their
thoughts, argue a point and otherwise write their thoughts down to make them
more coherent, precise and organized.
