copy of science thinking skills

8/13/2019 Copy of Science Thinking Skills

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Think about the following questions:

Do we teach our students how to think ?

What activities contribute to growth in

students thinking ?

What are the characteristics of a

thinking classroom ?

How can students thinking be assessed ?

The first part of this session will tackle thefirst two questions. The second part will

tackle the third question which is on

assessment.


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What are examples of thinking skills ?

What do you expect students to do whenyou ask them to ..

observe something ?

classify objects or events ?

infer about an object or event ?

communicate about an information ?


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Do we teach our students how to think?

constant interaction with the environment

experimentation and analysis

Students make most sense of

science when doing hands-on

activities then reflecting aboutit through talking and writing.


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thinking classroom ?

Risk taking is encouraged

yet failure can be

accepted ?

The thinking classroom views learning as a

group experience with commonly accepted

goals. While respect for the opinion of othersis encouraged, the individual students sense

of competence in their thinking is also

developed.


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thinking classroom?

The goal of learning is thinking.Emphasis is on activities that

develop thinking rather than

covering materials and passingtests.

Students are actively involved in the process of

learning and thinking. They are not simplyrecipients of information. The environment

fosters inquiry and asking questions, not just

answering them.


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An individual going

through a science activity

coupled with thinking

processes is definitely

experiencing several

science processes.

Science processes are thinking processes.

When these thinking processes have been

internalized, they become thinking skills.


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Levels of Thinking Processes

Basic thinking processes

Integrated thinking processes

Higher level thinking processes


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Basic Science Processes

inferring

classifying

observing

measuring

predicting

communicating

Basic Science

Process Skills


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Observing

Using one or more of the five senses

to gather information about an object

or an event. It may include the use ofapparatus or equipment.


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Classifying

Grouping or ordering objects or

events into categories based onproperties or criteria


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Measuring

Involves using quantitative observations

using standardized measuring tools ornon standardized objects.


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Communicating

Giving or exchanging information. It

also involves using words and or

graphic symbols to describe anaction, an object, or an event orally

or in writing.


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Inferring

Making an educated guess to explainabout an object or event based on

observations.

Whatever one thinks after making an

observation is called an inference.


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Predicting

Stating the outcome

of a future event

based on a pattern of

evidence.

Predictions are based on prior

knowledge through experiences or data

collected. To predict means to foretellwhat will happen about something

beyond actual observations or

measurements.


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Integrated Thinking Processes

Controllingvariables

Defining

Operationally

experimenting

modelling

Interpreting

data

formulating

hypothesis

Integrated

thinking

processes


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Defining Operationally

Defining an object or event based on

your experience with it.

An operational definition should be

thought of as doing definition


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Controlling Variables

Showing how attributes vary bymanipulating variables.

It is keeping all other variables

constant or the same during theexperiment except the one whose

effect we want to determine.


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Formulating Hypothesis

Constructing a statement that istentative or can be tested, about

what is thought to be the expected

outcome of an experiment (basedon reasoning).


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Experimenting

Putting most of the process skills together

in one activity.

It is designing a test to check out a question

or a hypothesis.

Experiment should be a fair test so that

what is found is reliable and true.

A fair test often consists of two setupswhich are the same in every way except for

the variable whose effect we are testing.


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Representing Data

Records of measurements in theform of drawings, tables, and

graphs.

Organizing measurements to makeinformation easier to interpret.


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Interpreting Data

Reading and understanding tables,graphs, diagrams, or maps.

Explaining information presented in

a table, a graph, a diagram, or amap and/or using it to answer

questions.


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Making Models

Involves developing a conceptual orphysical representation to explain an

idea, object, or event.

Anything that is not real but is arepresentation of an actual thing can

be called a model.


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Making Conclusions

Forming answers to questions based onevidences found.

Comparing experimental results with

those predicted from hypothesis. If the

experimental results agree with the

predicted results then the conclusion

is that the hypothesis is supported.


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Higher Level Thinking Processes

Critical thinking

Problem

solving

Creative thinking

Decision

making

Higher levelthinking

processes


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Problem Solving

Could be in the form of short stories

that present problems in the context

of real world situation or

experiences.

Key variables, concepts, essential

information are identified before asolution can be attempted.


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Critical Thinking

Identifying key issues, asking strategicquestions, developing answers to those

questions, and deciding what action to

take.

Teachers facilitate critical thinking not by

giving students direct answers to

questions and solutions to problems, butby asking questions.


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Creative Thinking

It involves creation or generatingideas, processes, experiences, or

objects, critical thinking is concerned

with their evaluation.

To solve real life problems we move

back and forth several times between

creative and critical reflection as wedevelop solution or weigh the

consequences of any one solution.


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Critical Thinking vs Creative Thinking

analytic

convergentvertical

probability

judgment

focusedobjective

answer

left brain

verbal

linear

reasoning

yes but

generative

divergentlateral

possibility

suspended judgment

diffusesubjective

an answer

right brain

visual

associative

richness, novelty

yes and


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Decision Making

Recognize the problem.Analyze the problem.

Consider your goals.

Look for alternatives.Select the best alternative.

Put your decision into action.

Accept the responsibility.

Evaluate your results.


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What activities can develop students thinking?

Lessons where students explore new

phenomena in which they act based on

previous knowledge or previous procedures

(thinking skills), or both.

Activities which lead to results that can

be challenged or contradicted.

Lessons where students can come upwith tentative answers or more effective

procedures.


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What activities can develop students thinking?

Lessons where the more effective procedurecould be used to generate new arguments,

predictions, or data to allow either the

change of old beliefs or the construction of a

new belief (or concept).

Lessons where students can test the

extent to which new concepts or procedurecan be applied in additional contexts.


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Lets do some activities !!

Defining operationally

Hypothesizing

Controlling variables

Predicting

Making models

Decision making in an investigation

HAVE A NICE TIME

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