Creating Science Teacher professional development program for F-12 teachers. Proudly presented by Dr Joseph Ireland PhD – Inquiry Learning (QUT)

Write down what you think is meant by the phrase “Scientific knowledge is created.” 2

 Questions  Theories  Experiments  Conclusions  Communicate (There is more to that, but it will do for our purposes today) How scientific knowledge is created 3

Help students see the purpose of science!!  Find a cause or problem they are passionate about  Research it, look for solutions  Test out the solution  Come to a conclusion  Tell everyone why it matters! 4 Science for social reform

What do these words mean? Experiment? Theory? Hypothesis? Scientific Laws? Observation V’s Inference? Core V’s Frontier science? Points to ponder from the scientific glossary 5

 Who invents a theory matters; what’s their background, motives, experience?  How they say it matters, what evidence they have?  What are they actually saying, what does it mean? Science is a people activity 6

 Human influences (who)  Inquiry skills (how)  Content (what) Surprise, this is the new curriculum! 7

 Inquiry as experiences – making science engaging and hands on.  Inquiry as problems – helping students to be problem solvers.  Inquiry as student questions – helping students to ask and answer their own questions. So what is inquiry teaching (according to teachers) 8

Questions not only help you to determine what your students are actually learning; the questions you, your students, and future scientists ask will determine what science becomes. - Dr Joe. Questions are the basis of science. 9

 Six specific recommendations are here proposed which could assist teachers. They are:  (a) Making teachers aware of the study;  (b) Making use of the KWL technique in science education;  (c) Challenging teacher epistemological beliefs to allow the source of knowledge in science education to be evidence and not just expert opinion;  (d) Using more appropriate terminology in the classroom;  (e) During inquiry units based on the 5E’s method, making special effort to validate and explore student generated questions during the explore and elaborate phases;  (f) helping teachers see how Category 3 can be successfully applied at all year levels. 10

Discuss ways in which you can put student questions at the centre of your curriculum:  Have an engage activity and write down student questions.  Have a question book and leave it open, or a poster, or a page in their books.  Have a wonder corner where they can redo activities in their own time.  Have free time at recess. 11 Question Quest

 Look again at your definition from the start of the phrase “scientific knowledge is created.”  The gap in the study: Science is all about generating questions and testing ideas.  When a teacher is presenting science as ‘facts to be memorised’ rather than ‘ideas to be tested’ they might be teaching about science, but their students aren’t doing science. 12

How can we help our students become testers of scientific ideas, rather than memorisers of other people’s thoughts? 13

Notes 14

 What is science (definitions)  Modern curriculum  Dr Joe’s research  What are questions? Including questions in the curriculum  Creating knowledge. overview 15

 Descriptive (closely observing a situation, common to anatomy and taxonomy, etc)  Correlational (comparing information for patterns, common to sociology, etc)  Experimental (establishing causal relationships through the control and insolation of the influence of variables) Lederman (2004) cites 3 general levels of scientific inquiry; 16

1. Children develop dispositions for learning such as curiosity, cooperation, confidence, creativity, commitment, enthusiasm, persistence, imagination and reflexivity 2. Children develop a range of skills and processes such as problem solving, enquiry, experimentation, hypothesising, researching and investigating 3. Children transfer and adapt what they have learned from one context to another 4. Children resource their own learning through connecting with people, place, technologies and natural and processed materials 17 OUTCOME 4: CHILDREN ARE CONFIDENT AND INVOLVED LEARNERS

 Furtak, E. M. (2006). The problem with answers: An exploration of guided scientific inquiry teaching. Science Education, 90(3),  Ireland, J., Watters, J., Brownlee, J., Lupton, M. (2012). Elementary teacher’s conceptions of inquiry teaching: Messages for teacher development. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 23, 2, Available at or officially.  Ireland, Joseph E., Watters, James J., Lupton, Mandy., & Lunn, Joanne M., (2014) Approaches to Inquiry Teaching: Elementary Teacher’s Perspectives. International Journal of Science Education. Ireland, Joseph E.Watters, James J.Lupton, MandyLunn, Joanne M.International Journal of Science Education  Lederman, N.G. (2004). Scientific inquiry and science teaching. In L.B. Flick, & N.G. Lederman, (Eds.), Scientific inquiry and nature of science : implications for teaching, learning and teacher education. Dordrecht, Netherlands : Kluwer Academic.  Sandoval, W. A. (2005). Understanding students practical epistemologies and their influence on learning through inquiry. Science Education, 89 (4), Bibliography 18