preprimary student teachers’ view about the skill of observation suomela, l., ahtee, m., juuti,...
TRANSCRIPT
Preprimary student teachers’ view about the skill of observation
Suomela, L., Ahtee, M., Juuti, K., Lampiselkä,
J. & Lavonen, J.
University of Helsinki
Presentation at EECERA conference, 29.8. – 1.9. 2007, Prague
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 2
Backgroud
Science process skills became into the focus by the
introduction of the SAPA (Science – A Process Approach)
program.
Skills, like observing, classifying and inferring, are related
to cognitive processes.
Skills have central role in concept development.
However, there appears to be little knowledge how to
support the development of these skills.
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 3
Aims of the research
Our aim is to understand what our students think about teaching science process skills,
in the first phase “to observe” is in focus
We want also to improve the student teachers’ knowledge and skills in teaching science process skills in preprimary and primary school
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 4
A sample of fieldwork at school
Task: Children (8 -9 years old, working in small groups)
were given a task ” make observations of the marks of
winter and write on a white paper what you find”
Teacher: student (the basic courses of biology,
geography, etc. must be done before practising teaching)
Place: Helsinki, southern Finland, a park near the school
Time: January, some years ago
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 5
There´s always snow in Finland in the winter?
(Middle Finland, Alavus, in the end of December 2006)
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 6
and ice… (Middle Finland, Alavus, in the end of December 2006)
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 7
or is there ? (Helsinki, Baltic sea in the end of December 2006)
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 8
Christmas, Helsinki 2005, city centre, high noon
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 9
What did the children found out?
”there´s snow”
real world: it was a time of winter in Helsinki when snow had smelted away and the groud was black, grey, hard and moistly, but there was not snow anywhere
so, the children didn´t make any observations!
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 10
THE OBSERVATIONS CAN BE THE BASIS OF KNOWLEDGE
individual observations are crucial
one needs to identify details and similarities
drawing conclusions and classifying is essential
(according to Taba 1966, 1967)
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 11
Learning to observe
”gains a place in an interconnected complex of inquiry processes”
”is more than just seeing and looking”
” is a starting point of scientific processes”
(Howes, E. 2007: Educative experiences and early
childhood science education: A Deweyan perpective on
learning to observe. Teaching and Teacher Education.)
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 12
About observation
The Observer
• senses
• curiosity
• motivation
• ability to concentrate
• knowledge
The Object
• details
• entirety
• change
The Environment
• physical
• social
• tools and materials
• classroom display
The use
• classify
• make concepts
• connect
• infer, etc.
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 13
Observation
Observation
pre-existing knowledge
experiencesis influenced by
gather information
“learned and transferred”
cannot be
identify patternsallow us to
should be
understand orders
check ideas
detailed
relevant
dialogue
guided
theory- independent
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 14
Data Collection
This research – a questionary - was conducted in autumn
2006 in the department of Applied sciences of education,
University of Helsinki
Preprimary teacher students (N = 71, mainly females)
participated in the study
Students have the course “didactics of science”
usually in the third year of their curriculum
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 15
Research questions
What do you think is “to observe?”
What do you understand with the skill of making observations?
What do you think is crucial when you are
teaching children the skill of making observations?
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 16
Some results concerning the observer
The great majority keep interest and attention essential
Ability to concentrate is also important
Observations are made with senses - more than half
(58 %) mentioned senses
Earlier knowledge effects on what is really observed
- more than half ~ 54% thinks so, but
An observer must forget all existing conceptions
- 10 % writes like this!
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 17
Results concerning the object
Half mentioned the object:
details –entirety, essential features
One student wrote that
”there is never false observations”
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 18
Results concerning the environment
Only less than third of the respondends mention
environmental factors (more social, few physical) and
time
Tools or instruments “are not needed?”
´ As few as 9 (~ 13 %) students considered also
equipments, but none arrangements in classroom.
Nobody mentioned equipments such as lenses,
microscopes or telescopes.
Third of the respondents think that you need to make
notes from the observed things, phenomenons
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 19
Results concerning the use of acquired information
What to do with the information obtained from the
observations is not considered
“You need to compare and classify what you have
observed” –only fifth of the respondents think like this
Only some write about “connecting the acquired
information to existing knowledge”
Liisa Suomela & al. Eecera 2007 20
Implications
Focus on general principles how to make observations
in science
Focus on giving plenty of opportunities to get experience
and routine in making observations and notes.
The teacher needs to become consciousness of pupils’
existing knowledge and observations of the same
observable phenomenon