Pulling the Pieces Together:Bernice and the World

What is means to teach and learn: coming to understandings

We started with a fish

• The first thing we read used Leo Lioni’s book, Fish is Fish to help us understand the idea of conceptual change.1. We understand the world based on our interactions2. Our perceptions are limited, which limits our

understandings3. As we make connections we either assimilate the new

information into schema or we accommodate our schema (change our conceptions) to account for new knowledge.

• Let’s think about this from the perspective of a child.

Bernice is interested in the world.

Bernice interacts with the world

The world reacts and responds to Bernice

Bernice develops new understandings.

This is what we mean by conceptual change. But it isn’t always easy.

How does this relate to Science?

• At a basic level, science is about the natural world and children come to school with experiences in the natural world – they have schema when they come that either assimilate or need to accommodate concepts learned in school.

• Science, like other school subjects, is a discipline. That means there are cultural, historical, and institutional influences on how and what is done in science.

Cultural Situation

Historical Situation

Institutional Situation

Bernice’s understandings are situated:

Bernice’s understandings become part of a ‘toolbox’ of knowledge, abilities, and understandings that Bernice has about the world.

Teachers’ jobs are to help mediate – this is where ZPD comes in – the situations and Bernice’s interactions to enable her toolbox to be filled with that which is most meaningful and useful to Bernice.

So now let’s stretch…

• How do the ideas I’ve just presented relate to the CER(R) framework in What’s your evidence?– Which are claims?– What is evidence? Do children’s experiences

constitute evidence?– Where is the reasoning?– Where does rebuttal fit? – What is the teacher’s role in rebuttal? How is this

teaching for conceptual change? How is it ZPD?