Grade 10 Science-in-English for Second Language Learners:
The Scientific Method and Experimental Design
http://moodle.met.ubc.ca/course/view.php?id=695
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For assignment #3, I decided to utilize all of Unit 1 – “What is Science,” as the Content Module. The unit was redesigned following assignment #2 to include 3 “modules” within the unit, but I felt that there was not enough varied material to present within any one module of the unit, so I chose to complete all three modules together as part of this assignment. The Content Module, complete with links, can be seen in Appendix A of this assignment.
This course is based on a real course with some very specific considerations. It is part of the Super Science High School advanced placement program at my school. Students are part of the SSH program, and they have been grouped into their own homeroom classes and have a separate curriculum from the rest of the school. The Science in English course is a “Super Saturday” course. The course does not normally administer grades, as it is part of the “Super Saturday” format, but teacher recommendations from this course can carry weight towards their “school recommendations” for entrance into the very competitive university programs. This proposal includes standard grade submission, for the purposes of this assignment.
I wanted to design a content module that could extend the learning opportunities for the students, as well as allow the limited class time to be used for purely active-learning type lessons. To guide me in designing a course that can do this, I found the work of Fink (2005) to be tremendously helpful. This content module was developed with this framework in mind, starting with the backwards design principles of putting the learning goals first, and designing the assessment practices to fit the goals of the course. Fink’s (2005) forward-looking assessment principles were strictly followed in the design of the assessment in this course. Wherever possible, I tried to incorporate “exercises, questions and/or problems that create real-life context for a given issue, problem, or decision to be addressed.” (p.13). My goal is to create students who see the world through the eyes of an experienced experimenter… they see testable questions and variables and constants in everything they look at because they have had their education rooted in the real-life context provided by the course.
Situational Factors
- There are only 16, 80-minute classes in a year, held on Saturdays.
- Students are native speakers of Japanese, and secondary speakers of English with diverse English language skill within each class, with students ranging from upper-beginner (CEFR A2) to upper-intermediate (CEFR B2) range of skills.
- All students applied to be part of the advanced placement program for science education, and all have higher than average scores in science.
- Grade 10 students have studied science and have participated in science experiments and lab work, but have never designed their own experiments before.
- Students have a moderate working vocabulary of science terminology in Japanese, but almost no working knowledge in English.
- Students will design and conduct their own experiment by the end of the course, as outlined in the objectives of the course.
- The course has no test component, but summative assessment will be delivered as part of the feedback for their capstone project. In addition, formative assessment will take place throughout the year in the form of active-learning lab projects and assignments.
Assumptions:
Students will already know how to bake bread and have reviewed their notes regarding the terminology presented in previous classes. This also follows the recommendations of Baviskar et al. (2009), who suggest eliciting prior knowledge in students is essential for constructivist learning.
Considerations
- The purpose of this LMS course is to extend the learning opportunities for the students and introduce new pedagogical techniques to the school.
- The design is to extend learning through a blended delivery format, with the class time being used for active-learning opportunities and individual or group lab work.
- Other pedagogical goals are to link the two classes of students together using asynchronous discussions to allow for student-student interactions to assist in integrating their knowledge through this interaction.
Specific Learning Objectives for this Module
- Students will utilize the scientific method to design an experiment, in a small group, by:
- Examining available materials and developing a testable question from the materials present,
- Forming a hypothesis,
- Designing the method and procedures to test the hypothesis, including exercising control over the variables involved.
- Students will collaborate in small groups to design, present and reflect on their research by:
- Outlining their experiment, results and conclusions in a format that can be evaluated by course mates in an asynchronous discussion forum,
- Reading and commenting other group’s experimental designs,
- Reflecting on their own work by answering questions of their course mates about their work.
- Students will participate in instructor-driven experiments during class time.
- Students will begin to use English in their science curriculum and learning.
- Students will familiarize themselves with an LMS-driven online course.
Content and Pedagogical Rationale
This course was completely structured around the principle of interactive learning (Fink, 2005), also known as active-learning. To achieve this, a constructivist design pedagogy has guided my curriculum and course design. One of the critical assumptions behind constructivism is that learners will restructure their own ideas to form new knowledge (Novodvorsky, 1997). Also of note, Novak & Cañas (2008) outlined the very important distinction between rote learning and meaningful learning. Additionally, Kober (1993) points out that: “For the activity to be effective, teachers must link it with specific science concepts and allow ample time for analysis, interpretation, and classroom discussion.” This content module followed the principles described by the above authors.
One way to achieve this is to utilize a social constructivist platform as detailed by Vygotsky (1978) where he describes learning as “a socio-cultural mediated and collaborative process that occurs through interactions and sharing with others” (Ciampa, 2013, p.93). To accomplish this collaborative process, the lessons will be conducted in small group active-learning activities. Additionally, the LMS will be utilized to encourage student-student interaction in the course material through the use of discussion forums. Students will be required to submit their experimental design to a discussion forum to allow course mates to read and comment on their work, as well as being required to comment on other student’s posts. This method allows students to apply their knowledge and evaluate it through feedback (Baviaskar et al., 2009).
The primary activity of this module was the active learning lab where students were presented with a variety of experimental materials scattered around the room. Students must collectively decide on a single question to test and proceed with designing an experiment to test this question. This follows the constructivist principle of creating cognitive dissonance to stimulate concept formation (Baviaskar et al., 2009). Novodvorsky (1997) also suggests that this method allows higher-level assessment by allowing students the time to construct relationships among the concepts structured around the primary concept (designing an experiment).
For second-language learners, video blogs serve another transformative pedagogical purpose. I seek to enhance the students’ English language acquisition through the use of video blogs. Hsu et al.’s research (as cited in Aydin, 2014, p.248) noted improved oral performance in English language learners when using multimedia blogs. Research indicates that blogging can significantly improve students’ writing performance and their ability to monitor their own writing, all while increasing their level of motivation and attitude towards writing (Aydin, 2014). Ahluwalia et al. (2011) suggests that students show increased motivation when asked to perform tasks that students interpret as meaningful, which supports a task-based approach. Finally, Poling (2005) reported that classroom blogging led to deeper and more meaningful interactions among students. In the same study, it was revealed that a collaborative blog connecting students of different classes offered exciting experiences for learners. I plan on connecting the two classes together through the discussion forums by having shared forums for every topic. It is my hope that this leads to greater discussion in my learners.
Navigation, LMS Tools and Assessment
SSH students have reduced hours of English instruction each week to compensate for additional hours of science instruction. This means students of this course have little chance to speak or listen to English. This makes communicating difficult instructions orally very difficult. I did not want to create my course introduction in a digital medium that would be difficult for my students to process
Because of the English ability of students, all navigation elements were designed using text only. This allows students to copy text into an online dictionary if they become lost in the navigation. Graphical elements do not work as well for this purpose. To aid in this goal, the site has been designed with the 5 modules laid out in linear fashion, so make it easier for Japanese learners to navigate. Additionally, embedded visual instructions were used to minimize misunderstanding and apprehension with using an LMS. An embedded video with instructions on how to utilize new technology was also provided in Japanese for this reason.
Lessons were delivered as downloadable PDF files, due to the limited wi-fi some students have in their homes. For this reason, the assignment tool was not used as it does not allow asynchronous communication. The feedback was not utilized for the same reason. As mentioned previously, reliable wi-fi is an issue for some students at home, and so it was felt that the lesson tool would be problematic for some students. A simple, easily downloadable PDF file as the lesson seemed the best course of action.
Quizzes were utilized as one method of assessment, while the discussion forum made up the majority of the assessment, with students being evaluated both for their ability to present their ideas, as well as being able to engage with other students in asynchronous communication, which allows students time to formulate their responses, thus minimizing their apprehension about using English.
A glossary of terms was used to assist in vocabulary development. This was opened up to the course and treated as a language wiki, with students being evaluated at the end of the year for their contributions to the glossary. Finally, the discussion forums were utilized in this module to host an audio blog for students to record their introduction message and upload it to the forum for other students to listen to and comment on.
Instructor’s Role
As has been mentioned earlier, this course is a blended delivery courses with heavy constructivist design elements. This relegates the instructor to presenting material though the LMS, and using class time for plenary feedback of student activities. Each student will be individually evaluated by assignments and activities, as well as receiving a score through group projects, and oral presentations. As a constructivist course delivered in a blended format, my role as instructor is to pose questions, problems and challenges to students that elicit knowledge to be constructed by the students themselves. The NMC Horizon Report (2015) suggests that an online environment that stimulates social activities and critical thinking can be effective in accomplishing this goal. This critical element guided all aspects of design for this content module.
Course License
The course will be published under the Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike (CC BY-NC-SA) license (Creative Commons About the Licensing, 2017). This will let other educators remix, tweak and build upon the course, so long as they make it publicly available. My goal is to promote the number of institutions that teach science in English here in Japan. As far as I have been told, by the ministry of Education, there are only a handful of such courses currently running in the advanced placement program for science in Japan. Since English is the language of science (considering the number of publications), it is extremely beneficial for science graduates to have a solid grounding in learning, using and publishing science in the English language. The license is displayed above the course syllabus on the main page of the site, just below the introduction.
References
Ahluwalia, G., Gupta, D. & Aggarwal, D. (2011). The use of blogs in English language learning: A study of student perceptions. Profile, 13 (2), p.29-41.
Aydin, S. (2014). The use of blogs in learning English as a foreign language. Mevlana International Journal of Education, 4 (1), 244-259.
Bates, T. (2014). Teaching in a digital age, Chapter 4, 6, 8 and 9. Retrieved from https://opentextbc.ca/teachinginadigitalage/chapter/6-5-the-addie-model/
Baviskar 1, S. N., Hartle, R. T., & Whitney, T. (2009). Essential Criteria to Characterize Constructivist Teaching: Derived from a review of the literature and applied to five constructivist‐teaching method articles. International Journal of Science Education, 31(4), 541-550.
Creative Commons About the Licensing. (2017). Retrieved from https://creativecommons.org
Chickering, A. W., & Ehrmann, S., C. (1996). Implementing the seven principles: Technology as lever. American Association for Higher Education Bulletin, 49(2), 3-6.
Ciampa, K. (2013). Learning in a mobile age: An investigation of student motivation. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 30(1), 82–96.
Fink, L. Dee (2005). A self-directed guide to designing courses for significant learning. Retrieved from https://www.deefinkandassociates.com/GuidetoCourseDesignAug05.pdf
Kober, N. (1993). What we know about science teaching and learning. Washington, DC: Council for Educational Development and Research.
Media Smarts. (2017). Digital and media literacy. Retrieved from http://mediasmarts.ca/digital- media-literacy
McTighe, J., and Wiggins, G. (2004). Introduction: The logic of backward design. Understanding by design: Professional development workbook. Alexandria, VA: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. Retrieved from http://www.ascd.org/ASCD/pdf/books/mctighe2004_intro.pdf
New Media Consortium. (2015). NMC horizon report 2015: Higher ed edition. Retrieved from http://cdn.nmc.org/media/2015-nmc-horizon-report-HE- EN.pdf
North, B. (2005, May). The CEFR levels and descriptor scales. In Multilingualism and assessment: Achieving transparency, assuring quality, sustaining diversity. Proceedings of the ALTE Berlin Conference (pp. 21-66).
Novak, J. D., & Cañas, A. J. (2008). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct and use them. Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Pensacola Fl, http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/theory-of-concept-maps
Novodvorsky, I. (1997). Constructing a deeper understanding. The Physics Teacher, 35, 242-245.
Novak, J. D., & Gowin, D. B. (1984). Learning how to learn. Cambridge University Press.
Novak, J. D., & Cañas, A. J. (2008). The theory underlying concept maps and how to construct and use them. Florida Institute for Human and Machine Cognition Pensacola Fl, http://cmap.ihmc.us/docs/theory-of-concept-maps
Novodvorsky, I. (1997). Constructing a deeper understanding. The Physics Teacher, 35, 242-245.
Pink, D. H. (2011). Drive: The surprising truth about what motivates us. Penguin.
Pritchard, D. (2014). What is this thing called knowledge?. Routledge.
Vygotsky, L. (1978). Mind in society. London: Harvard University Press.
Poling, C. (2005). Blog on: Building communication and collaboration among staff and students. Learning & Leading with Technology, 32(6), 12-15.
Appendix A: Unit 1 – What is science?
| Week | Goals/Lessons | Readings/Videos/Resources | Activities | Assignments | |
| 1 | Understand the syllabus, outline and assessment for the course | Student Syllabus | |||
| 2 | Utilize the LMS to access and download information, submit assignments and engage in synchronous and asynchronous communication with peers and teachers. | Watch “Embedding Audio into Keynote” video | Upload Introduction Video | ||
| 3 | Lesson #1: The Floating Soda Can Activity | Read 1 – Introduction to the Scientific Method Lesson | Add 3 words to the course glossary | Complete the Soda Can Assignment | |
| 4 | Be able to collaborate on the creation of a course glossary of science terminology | Read 2 – Introduction to the Scientific Method Lesson | Complete the Soda Can Quiz | ||
| 5 | Lesson #2: Grandma’s Baked Bread Activity | Complete Grandma’s Baked Bread Assignment | |||
| 6 | Understand the basic steps involved in the scientific method. | Read the instructions for your Experimental Lab | |||
| 7 | Lesson #3: Experimental Design Lab | Download the Group Presentation Checklist | Complete the Lab Quiz | ||
| 8 | Be able to design a rudimentary experiment from observations made from the natural world. | GROUP PROJECT: Experimental Design | |||
| 9 | Be able to engage in discussions, including offering suggestions and opinions, on the scientific writing of peers | Comment on 2 other group projects |