Brain Behavior Institute 2009 - Session 1

Hands On science is a form of inquiry- emergence is the s.ame. Students will greatly benefit from "the  distinctive role to create a rich environment in which participants are engaged in learning" and therefore there is real learning happening

When I think "science," I produce: evolution, education, research.

As we were discussing the process of science today, I think an important stressing point revolved around the concept that "truth" is a word only used in distrinct contexts.  "Truth" shouldn't be a concept conceived with the notion that it applies to all encompassing permanent fashions.  "Truth," as we came to understand it today, has many focal points that apply to it (personality, creativity, individuality, culture) that weave a story around certain facts and build what we consider a "truth," staying in context.  Wil Franklin brought up an interesting assertion that I think has a lot of backing: where will discussions arise from if there is no "truth," or another way of putting it, no consistent "fact" with which to draw upon?  He stated that it all seems very subjective, with little consistency to base a discussion upon.  I believe that this has founding, but I would offer my thoughts: perhaps we do need to emphasize the fact that there are "truths," but only in certain contexts.  Therefore, discussions could, in fact, reolve around the "truths" that we have understood, but only in the boundary of that context.  In so doing, we could not only explore the "truth" within certain boundaries, but we could also compare that "truth" or a "truth" we have found in another context -- which brings us to comparing two contexts, and therefore we can use those two contexts and subsequently two "truths" to make new observations which may lead us to similarities or dissimilarities and therefore the loopy science method is expanded.

I think that, as a student, we find it difficult to be "graded" if we are thinking too abstractly, rather than concretely.  As Antoinette brought up today, it seems that testing encourages this mentality of individual progress and distinct answers.  However, perhaps it is the process that should be emphasized, rather than the "right answer."  How do we reform our testing to accomplish this?  I think this is a good discussion point for later usage.

Emergence

something that by itself is not what it becomes:

music notes turn into musical scores, songs,anthems for singing

single instruments turn into a band, full orchestra

mixture of ice and snow become snowflakes and each are different

Science...what I 'know' it is (at least in part), is Research, Inquiry, and Investigation.

What I 'want' to know (at least in part) is how to create and design a webpage.

What I will 'learn' (at least in part) is how to do just that.

Thanks for the opportunity to share and receive :0)

Experiments, Expanding, and Fascinating are the first three words I used to describe science. 

Story Telling & Story Revising

IEP- documents and IEP meeting are good examples of storytelling and story revising. During the meeting teachers, therapists, and psychologists report on the progress of a student. Based on the observations reported, the IEP is written to reflect the observations to meet the individual needs of that student.

Getting It Less wrong:  Students are trained to get things right. However, we learn best from our mistakes and mistakes can are very teachable moments.  Also, the notion that there could be more than one answer is rarely explored.

Good Points:  This process requires observations and personal perspective.

Bad Points: Your observations and personal perspective is based upon your prior knowledge, the environment, and personal experience.  The situation has the “crack” of personal perspective

Conclusion: I love the idea of “Looping Telling Story”.  As a special educator, I use a similar thought process in using behavior modification when completing a “Formal Behavior Assessment”.  I summarize observations of the student’s inappropriate or less desirable behaviors.  Next, I would write a goal and objective or specially designed instruction.   Then, I would decide based upon more recent observations if the replacement behavior has occurred or the accommodations are appropriate to foster the success of the student.  Finally, based upon the summary of most recent observations would help the IEP team to decide what the next appropriate step would be for this student.

Science as story telling:

Good points:

Allows all learners to become more active with less fear of being “wrong”.

Allows students to utilize and share background knowledge.  Creating open dialog and shared experiences therefore creating teaching and learning experiences.

“Getting less wrong” works well within the classroom setting when utilized with the question, “Why are your results different than…?”  Opens the mind to considering what could be done differently next time.

Bad points:

Opens subjectivity to new learners which becomes difficult for students still within the concrete thinking stage.

Often students want an answer cut and dry – this often becomes frustrating for the student.

My three chosen science words were hard, boring, and fascinating. These became the first words that came to mind based on the opinions that I hear from students and parents on a regular basis. I spend a great deal of time teaching students to get rid of the preconceived notions that science is hard or boring. I utilize the premise that a student has plenty of background knowledge to incorporate into the new learning processes and labs are subjective therefore they will only be asked, “Why is your lab different from the expected results?” By eliminating the stress of being view as “wrong” the student usually finds some fascination.

The three words that first came to my mind when I heard "science" were:

• big bang theory
• questions
• experiments

Some themes that teachers expressed interest in learning more about were:

• music and the brain
• language and the brain
• ways to teach students to retain information better
• special education and differences in the brain
• right-brained thinking

The three words that first come to mind when I hear the word science are:  fun, exciting, and inquiry learning.

I personally still have problems with the "crack".   I think that the teacher is the person in the crack and the person that keeps both sides flowing. There are some students who would find making observations and summaries fun and others are reluctant.  My goal is to try to teach students to make observations and summaries instead of just trying to find facts and answers.  This is the hard for me, especially at the 9th grade level. My goal is to try to create ideas that will help me.  This morning I made a summary of observations and I will test to make more summaries and hopefully I won't fall through the crack.