As seen in this week\u2019s video, \u201cA Private Universe,\u201d scientific concepts in astronomy can be difficult for students to grasp, as seen in the case of Heather, a very bright student in Boston.\u00a0 Students have their own explanations for phenomena they have observed, and it is often the job of the science teacher to correct misconceptions.\u00a0 To do this, teachers must first have a knowledge of a student\u2019s current understanding.\u00a0 This fits well with the idea of constructivism, as discussed by Catherine Fosnot.<\/p>\n
Fosnot discusses two \u2018giants\u2019 in the field of constructivism.\u00a0 There is Piaget with his concept of cognitive equilibration – the balancing of assimilation (the organization of experience with one\u2019s own logical structures or understandings) and accommodation (comprised of reflective, integrative behavior that serves to change one\u2019s own self and explicate the object in order for us to function with cognitive equilibrium in relation to it) (Fosnot, 1996. p. 13).\u00a0 There is Vygotsky, who proposed a \u201cZone of Proximal Development.\u201d\u00a0 He argued that scientific concepts do not come to the learner in a ready-made form. They undergo substantial development, depending on the existing level of the child\u2019s ability to comprehend the adult\u2019s model (Fosnot, 1996. p. 18).\u00a0 Fosnot describes constructivism as using misconceptions to create disequilibrium, which facilitates learning (Fosnot, 1996. P. 29).<\/p>\n
The workings of our universe are a mystery for many learners, as shown again by Vosniadou and Brewer in 1992.\u00a0 \u201c[M]any children said that the earth is round but also stated that it has an end or edge from which people could fall. A great deal of this apparent inconsistency could be explained by assuming that the children used, in a consistent fashion, a mental model of the earth other than the spherical earth model\u201d (Vosniadou & Brewer, 1992).<\/p>\n
Heather\u2019s struggle (and her teacher\u2019s!) was familiar to me.\u00a0 In Grade 4 Science, as part of the \u201cLight and Shadow\u201d unit, I try to show students every year how the position of the moon in relation to the sun and the earth gives us the phases of the moon.\u00a0 I usually have students up holding the globe, a styrofoam ball and a big lamp.\u00a0 I think I have been somewhat successful in getting this concept across, but there are often interesting misconceptions that come up during class discussion.<\/p>\n
So\u2026 Can technology help?\u00a0 In 2010, Sun, Lin and Wang made a VR model of the sun and moon for elementary children, and found that students with access to the 3-D model achieved significantly better grades that students receiving traditional instruction.\u00a0 I would love to try this with my own students!<\/p>\n
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References: <\/u><\/p>\n
Fosnot, Catherine. Constructivism: Theory, perspectives, and practice. Teachers College Press, 2013 Chapter 2: Constructivism: A Psychological theory of learning<\/p>\n
Sun, KT., Lin, CL. & Wang, SM. Int J of Sci and Math Educ (2010) 8: 689. doi:10.1007\/s10763-009-9181-z<\/p>\n