Student Stories of Ideal Science Lessons.

Abstract

The purpose of this interpretive research is to examine the beliefs of two high school students concerning their ideal learning environments. The paper contains two student stories and accompanying interpretations addressing the teaching and learning of physics, and the roles of students and the teacher in ideal classrooms. The students want their teacher to build caring relationships with them premised on trust and respect. This is seen as a way to create a warm classroom climate enabling students to engage in rich science conversations with their peers and the teacher during small group activities and discussions. It also would promote a free exchange of ideas during individual science projects. Teachers may enhance learning by listening to students and monitoring and adjusting their classroom lessons based on students' pedagogical preferences.

Introduction and Background

Educational researchers and classroom teachers can learn much about teaching and learning by listening to what students say about their preferred learning environments. In 1995, Corbett and Wilson wrote that educational research had traditionally focused on researchers and teachers while minimizing student voice. Although there have been efforts to employ a form of ethnographic interpretation to structure student experience (Harwell, 2000; Brickhouse, Dagher, Letts,& Shipman, 2000; Allen & Crawley, 1998; Hammer, 1994), few studies have allowed students to express their ideal learning environment through their own stories of teaching and learning.

This paper, containing two student stories from a dissertation (Robinson, 1995), has been designed to allow the voices of two high school students to be heard. The stories explore the roles of students and teachers in what students consider their ideal learning environments. This effort is consistent with the call for needed science education research addressing an interpretative methodology centering on student roles in relevant or "real world" contexts (Anderson & Helms, 2001). Listening to and interpreting student voice can inform the science education based movement (NRC, 1996) by offering more complete descriptions of what goes on in the minds of learners (Kohn, 1999).

Methods and Methodology

The field site consisted of a high school classroom containing nine students who were enrolled in an intensive 12-week physics course. Permission to conduct the study was secured from the teacher, students, the parents of students, school administrators, and the University Human Subjects Review Board. All names of persons and places are pseudonyms to maintain confidentiality. Class periods were one hour and fifty minutes in duration. Fifty-two of the fifty-six class meetings were observed while the course is in session that result in more than ninety-five hours of classroom observations. During regular class meetings, the researcher functioned primarily as an observer, although on occasion he participated by tutoring and questioning students in one-to-one and small group settings.

Interviews were a primary source of data for this study. Two students were interviewed during the time the class met and for a period of three months afterwards. The two participating students narrated a dream sequence where they imagined themselves in their ideal physics classroom. Elements of their preferred roles as noted during interviews were included in their narrative. This was done to expand and thicken the narrative by providing additional examples and clarifying the intentions of the characters described by the students. Students authenticated the stories by reviewing and editing the developing drafts that resulted in the two stories presented in this paper.

The construction of student generated classroom stories based on their own experiences can be used to amplify student voice in educational research. Stories have the power of communicating both emotional and cognitive interests (Richardson, 1998). This is crucial to addressing the preferred learning environment of adolescent students in high school science classes. Story narratives crafted by students projecting themselves in imagined classroom contexts are authentic to their own imagined experiences that evolve out of their worldviews.

Some qualitative researchers may report their data in the form of story narratives to represent student experience in an authentic, creative, and trustworthy way. Stories relate personal interests, intentions, motivations, and conceptual knowledge in a familiar communicative genre (Patten, 1999), and they have the potential of providing enriching, empathetic responses in readers who seek an understanding of students' classroom experiences (Hones, 1998). Stories can promote understanding through relevance as readers achieve verisimilitude with the research text.

As mentioned above, this research is interpretive in nature. It is a form of narrative inquiry where student experience is represented through student stories. Clandinin and Connelly (1994) write that "people by nature lead storied lives and tell stories of those lives, whereas narrative researchers describe such lives, collect and tell stories of them and write narratives of experience" (p. 416). In a slight modification of this description, the research participants actually construct their own narratives by examining their beliefs about teaching and learning and re-presenting those beliefs through their own stories. The researcher clarifies student meaning as the stories are under development, and identifies intention and motivation related to character action and interaction.

For Sally's Story see issue's website
http://www.rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/sump.htm

Interpretations

Sally learned to apply the concept of density derived from the concepts of mass and volume. Sally, the novice problem solver, gains experience by taking part in a laboratory and discussion that enable her to make comparisons of the densities of solid objects. In the laboratory, she collaborates with Jim and Alice in determining the volumes and the masses of the various objects. These three students act as co-participants to calculate the densities of the different materials. Sally assumes a pragmatic view of interpreting the densities of the same sized bolts. She concludes that the most massive bolt is more dense than the other bolts since all of the bolts are the same size. A vital experience to enable Sally's construction of the concept of density occurs as she manipulates the aluminum, brass, and iron bolts. Sally learns that the volumes of the bolts are identical yet the masses are different depending on the type of metal from which the bolts are made. The most massive bolt (brass) is made of the denser metal as compared to the other two bolts (iron and aluminum). After the laboratory activity, Sally has a better understanding of how to calculate the densities of various sized objects. She can now link the formula: density=mass/volume with the concepts of density, mass, and volume through her own classroom experience.

Sally can learn by questioning the teacher and other students to understand density. In the circle talk, Sally understands by taking part in discussions about the concept of density. She becomes a co-participant in the classroom as she talks about the meaning of density with the other members of the class. Sally asks questions about the densities of various objects in fluids. She learns that matter that is less dense than the fluid it is contained in will float and matter that is more dense will sink. Sally has observed ice cubes floating in water, and after taking part in the laboratory, she has a mathematical heuristic to understand the relative densities of water and ice. While in the circle, Jim mentions that ice has less mass for a given amount of volume as compared to liquid water. Sally understands that since the volumes are the same and the mass of the ice is less, then the density of ice is less than that of water. In the same way, Sally comes to understand that a brick is more massive per unit of volume than water. Thus it sinks in water. Again, through the co-participation in the classroom discussion, Sally and the other students negotiate the relative densities of water, ice, and bricks and come to construct the concepts of density, mass, and volume. This co-participation promotes Sally's thinking since she actively engages in meaningful conversations about the topic.

Sally needs to engage in this form of classroom dialogue to gain familiarity with the discourse practices of the scientific community. Simply solving textbook word problems does not help her learn mechanics and represent her understanding to the degree that the members of the scientific community, (i.e., the teacher), understand her representations. Sally needs to make the mental constructions through her own active problem solving coupled with conversations with other students as well as the teacher.

From Sally's perspective, the teacher creates opportunities for each student's voice to be heard. Students like Sally who are reticent in the classroom need to be encouraged to take part in open classroom dialogues where they may become co-participants in the knowledge that is constructed. Mr. Benson may further facilitate student learning by being cognizant of the students' discourse community. This means creating classroom learning linkages between the students' discourse practices and his own discourse practices. For Sally to connect to the teacher's discourse, rich dialogue based on her prior experiences and understandings of mechanics is essential.

Learners, like Sally, must come to critically reflect on their experiences to make sense of their own constructs. Learners ought to, in Vygotsky's words, carry on an internal conversation in which they construct meanings for themselves (1978). Sally's first tentative steps in the learning of mechanics is to become cognizant of her previously held knowledge constructs. As Sally comes to actively reflect on her own constructions, she may think about alternative representations of what she understands. Next, Sally may try out other ways of interpreting experience. By reflecting on what she knows, Sally may construct a benchmark from which to compare and try out new ways of thinking about her own experiences.

Enabling students like Sally to make the link between the classroom discourse communities is not a simple or straightforward task. However, some descriptions may be offered which apply to some high school aged learners. Students ought to feel comfortable enough in the classroom to speak about their constructions of word problems. It is not enough, however, to have the student talk about the word problems; the teacher must carefully listen to the student and constantly evaluate what actions are necessary for the student to construct understandings compatible with those held by the members of the scientific community. Students like Sally with a limited mathematics background need opportunities to express their own understanding of physics concepts. Another consideration is for physics teachers to include laboratories and projects in their daily lesson plans. These kinds of hands-on activities are often more engaging than simply listening to a lecture or reading a textbook. Although laboratories and activities cannot guarantee an increased understanding on the learner's part, they may nonetheless encourage it for some high school learners like Sally. The following section contains the ideal lesson of another student in the physics classroom named Frank.

For Frank's Story see issue's website
http ://www.rapidintellect.com/AEQweb/sump.htm

Interpretations

Frank's ideal lesson illustrates the kinds of classroom actions and interactions necessary for his learning of mechanics. Frank conducts a project dealing with the acceleration of a steel ball rolling down an inclined plane. By Frank's standards, this kind of project allows variables such as displacement, time, velocity, and acceleration to be investigated. Variables such as time and displacement can be measured as the ball accelerates down the inclined plane. Frank is able to represent what he observes with the use of graphs that illustrate displacement, velocity, and acceleration over specific time intervals. Frank provides a narrative description of these concepts as he points to the graphs on the overhead before the entire class. The narrative description, which is a verbal representation of the graphs, allows Frank to bridge the gap between the teacher's discourse community and his own. This kind of bridge helps Frank become a member of the scientific discourse community. In Frank's mind, this is the essence of learning school science.

One interpretation of Frank's actions and interactions in the classroom as revealed in his ideal lesson is that he wants to gain membership into the scientific community. This form of knowing is different than how he would think about mechanics outside of school if he had not participated in the physics course. Frank would not have thought about these concepts to this depth without the formal instruction in the physics classroom. He would not have been able to use mathematics as a tool to investigate and quantify motion. From his ideal environment, Frank must adopt novel ways of thinking about his experiences including a rich assortment of mechanics demonstrations and laboratories.

Frank believes that the physics class ought to consist of projects in which variables are controlled and tested. And for this reason, the inclined plane is appropriate for Frank's learning of physics. From his involvement in this project, Frank is able to perform the mathematical calculations which are linked to his conceptual knowledge of acceleration. He shows that acceleration is the rate of change of velocity and the appropriate unit for acceleration is [ms.sup.-2].

Frank prefers to use mathematics to represent his understanding of mechanics. He employs graphs to illustrate displacement, velocity, and acceleration for his inclined plane project in the story. Frank is more familiar with using mathematics as compared to illustrating mechanics through a narrative description. Mathematical forms of representation are more readily available to Frank due to his interest in learning and using mathematics.

Frank desires a more authentic form of assessment in which he and the teacher can review his inclined plane project together. In this authentic form of assessment, Frank believes he can learn from his errors and discuss them openly with the teacher. Frank believes that projects ought to be an important part of his grade in the physics class. In his ideal lesson, Frank would be able to share what he learned with the teacher through the review of the video recording of his class presentation to further his goals of learning physics, earning a good grade, and being entertained in the classroom.

Conclusions & Implications

The voices of high school students like Sally and Frank can be heard if teachers listen empathetically to students in both whole class and one-to-one interactions. Classroom interactions premised on mutual respect for all participants encourage the development of empathy (Kohn, 1990). To facilitate empathy among students, secondary teachers ought to relinquish classroom control at times by a) offering student-centered science projects focusing on authentic experiences in the lives of students, b) promoting cooperative learning activities where students work closely with one another to jointly solve problems, and c) sponsoring classroom discussions where each person feels empowered to speak about and examine his or her understanding of the subject.

Sally prefers structured discussions in which each person's voice is valued and heard. This form of discussion format would encourage her to ask questions of the teacher and other students, and would make her more willing to answer the teacher's questions. Frank wishes that the teacher would engage in more one-to-one question and answer sessions and classroom demonstrations. In his mind, students ought to conduct laboratories to learn mechanics. These forms of instruction would enable him to further question the teacher about the concepts, thereby enhancing the development of his own scientific voice in the classroom.

A warm professional relationship is present between Mr. Benson and Sally in her ideal lesson. The teacher is friendly, encouraging, and receptive to students needs. Sally is able to communicate openly with the teacher and other students in the classroom. Kahle (1994) notes girls prefer to have science learning environments where they can ask questions and engage in classroom discussions. In Sally's ideal science classroom, interactions are modeled after the talk circle where each person's voice is valued. The talk circle is a formal instructional method designed to create a learning atmosphere that facilitates dialogue among all participants. These interactions foster rich question-and-answer conversations in the classroom.

Frank engages in a caring relation with Mr. Benson to learn mechanics. He and Mr. Benson interact on a one-m-one basis while investigating the acceleration of a ball rolling down an inclined plane. In his ideal lesson, Frank gains a voice not only by speaking before the entire class, but also by sharing ideas openly and freely with the teacher. Frank is involved in a dialogue with the teacher that enriches his understanding of mechanics.

Not only should teachers create empathetic classroom learning environments premised on care and respect (Noddings, 1992; Samuels, 1999), but educational researchers should also engage in empathetic relationships with their research participants (Kohn, 1998). Secondary school students are more likely to speak openly about their preferred classroom experiences if they have a sense that what they say is valued by the teacher. It is also essential for students to know that what they say will be reported in a fair and honest manner that will not adversely effect their grade or strain their relationship with the teacher. Having students review and authenticate interview data and the subsequent research text maintains student trust and respect for both the researcher and research process.

Based on the beliefs of Sally and Frank, student learning is enhanced if teachers maintain a warm and cordial relationship with students. Teachers foster this kind of relationship by engaging in classroom practices that enable students to jointly solve problems using scientific tools and processes in small group and individual problem solving activities. During these activities, teachers take on a supporting role to enable students to construct meaningful knowledge. Accordingly, traditional teacher-centered instruction that maintains teacher authority through a system of rewards and punishments needs to be minimized whenever possible since this will create barriers between high school students and their teachers. Under the current educational structure of most public school systems student learning is assessed and rewarded with grades; however, students like Sally and Frank can come to view grades as a byproduct of their learning and not the other way around. Learning can become the primary internal motivating factor for students if their interactions with peers and teachers are based on respect, trust, and a search for scientific understanding.

Students like Frank and Sally expect the teacher to be a knowledge expert as well as a person who can create a warm classroom climate that fosters their own communication and sense of well being. From Frank and Sally's perspective, teachers need to balance their role in the classroom between being a co-learner with students during individual investigations and being a voice of authority providing sound judgement during whole class instruction. There are times for teachers to take on both roles in the classroom to maximize learning and maintain safety in the science classroom.

The goal of this paper has been to promote the idea of listening to students to find out their preferences regarding teaching and learning. The stories in this paper serve as an example of what students can tell us about how they learn best. Student beliefs regarding their classroom roles are grounded on their prior educational experiences both in and out of school. Students have much they can tell us about how they learn. Educational researchers and teachers need to listen to student voices and adjust their research and teaching accordingly.

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Scott Robinson is an assistant professor of science education at SUNY Brockport. His qualitative research focuses on the interactions of students and teachers in secondary science classrooms.