CARA ALLAN’S TEACHING

JOURNAL

Biology and Society

2007
&
Teaching Life Science
2008
 Allan, Cara 2

Date: 9/11/07
Course Week 1- Introduction- What should we teach?

Personal Reflection: My thoughts on teaching High School students.

I have to admit that I am very nervous to think about teaching as my

career path. I am not especially fond of kids, or hormonal adolescents. I
know I have faults of being impatient and demanding. I can see many
conflicts arising from this. However, I chose high school because I have
a respect for the problems facing that age group. Peer pressures,
puberty, college, the whole self conscious/ personal fable that every
teen suffers. In the face of these problems they must still squeeze out an
education from teachers who seem to not care that all the busy work
and assignments leave the adolescent with little or no time to enjoy and
experience the momentous changes occurring to them. I have
experienced it myself, and watched as my two younger sisters struggled
to meet high expectations and the massive quantity of deadlines
assigned by their high school teachers. I understand that high
expectations are necessary to get students to strive to be their best, I
wonder if it is not ultimately hurting them in their education. My sisters
and I would do homework till the wee hours of the morning, then drag
through school exhausted just to do it again and again until Saturday
when we slept in late, got yelled at for putting off chores by our parents
and had to balance family with the massive load of homework that
teachers assume you can complete in your two recovery days before the
vicious cycle begins anew. I know we were pissed off belligerent
individuals during this time, and it hurt our time at school and our time
with our family. I always, and I still feel, that high school teachers were
concerned with assigning grades. While I was desperately Google-ing
the answers to yet another history essay, I didn’t feel like I was learning
anything. I was simply a cup that would be filled with knowledge, swirl
it around to make it fit my paper, then dump it out in order to make
room for more knowledge that I deemed ‘pointless’. This is not
learning. All my high school papers were done with me falling asleep
over the keyboard. (I was also an athlete, so my exhaustion was
physical as well as emotional and mental). What did I learn? I met all
the high expectations. I graduated in the top 15 of my class. Still I feel
like all that time was wasted with trying to “get a good grade” and not
trying to obtain knowledge that I could build on later in life. All this
said, I feel inclined to test my theory that high school can be productive
and that you can learn and have that knowledge to put to use later in
life. I want to make my students look forward to learning and not to be
 Allan, Cara 3

afraid of the grade that will ultimately make or break their college
application when asked for a transcript or GPA. Despite all the
distractions, I think I can make the 50 minutes or so of class time last
them till their bio 101 class where they can remember and expand on
their knowledge and not feel as overwhelmed as I have.

Date: 9/17/07
Course Week 2- Lesson Critique 1

Personal Reflection- My embarrassing moment in class

Wow was I embarrassed when we were asked what the NOS (nature of
science) is. I could not find the words, I doubted myself and I had no
idea how to begin answering the question. How could I possibly answer
the other class questions if I couldn’t even understand the topic of the
first one? I am here to become a science teacher and I panicked over the
term “Nature of Science”. I feel better though, that when the class
started to discuss it my thoughts came back to me and I was
comfortable with what the NOS is. I feel like my discomfort was in part
due to the fact that my own education was taught according to the tests.
Everything presented was facts and there was no mention of theories. It
wasn’t until college that I began to understand the concept of theories
and of popular opinion of experimentation validity. This is another side
of the science curriculum that I feel I would have enjoyed learning
about. There are so many questions I would like to ask my previous
science teachers. One question is why didn’t we ever take the time to
explore current events. We hear that a theory was dismissed or
discredited, but the how’s and when’s are missing. I came to Rutgers
for the research opportunities but I had no idea what I was getting into.
The NOS should be the foundation from which lessons are developed
and presented. Our prior knowledge and culturally accepted beliefs are
how we interpret science, and I feel that to be unbiased we must show
students as many angles toward a topic as possible. Even if it disproves
Darwin’s theory of evolution.

Date: 9/24/07
Course Week 3- Scientific modeling

Personal Reflection-Becoming a part of the Science Teacher Community

It was exciting to hear how easy it is to network in the science teacher

community. The number and size of the organizations really make me
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feel like I am joining a community and not entering into my own little
world of a classroom. Even if you get support from your administration,
or have a “mentor” who has worked with the same curriculum, outside
ideas and materials are always refreshing. Bringing tried-and-true
materials and lessons from a convention has got to be impressive to
your administration and can help collaborate with fellow teachers in
your department. The materials you can encounter in these organization
gatherings is a fast and efficient way to compare, contrast and choose
the best sources to integrate into your own teaching style and maximize
the efficiency of your classroom. I will definitely look for Professional
Development opportunities and support from the schools I apply to. I
hope to also visit some conventions in the near future to become
accustom to how they operate and get a head start in networking with
other science teachers.

Reflection Prompt- What are the Features of a Scientific Argument

A scientific argument is an important way to share ideas, clarify

concepts, and discover new ways of thinking. A participant in a
scientific argument as well as an observer must find a balance between
the arguments to support their beliefs and the possibility that they are
incorrect because of the other side’s argument. Students must learn to
be open-minded when approaching a scientific argument, and must
learn to seriously consider the arguments used against their views. We
learned in “Adolescent Development” a concept called suspended
belief or suspended disbelief which allows the thinker to put their belief
(or disbelief) on “hold” and see past it to the argument at hand. I
believe this is necessary to benefit from a Scientific Argument. A
scientific argument has a theory, supported by data. Until it can b
disproved, it can be used to support other theories. Usually there are
multiple sides to an argument, with groups of learned people debating
the validity of the argument with their own proof and data.

Date 10/1/2007
Course week 4- Scientific Argumentation

Personal Reflection- Knowledge Building communities

The topic of knowledge building communities unlocked a door in my

mind for the potential a science classroom holds. While I think this
networking among peers would help stimulate interest in science, I
have to wonder if the current school system would cooperate with such
 Allan, Cara 5

a method of teaching. As commented in the Duschl reading, time is the

main obstacle for teachers, and since a knowledge building community
is dependant on the voluntary input of students in group learning, time
may become a significant reason that such communities would not be
efficient to teach children within the school day. If science was the only
topic being learned, time would be available for discussion and
exploration and interaction. The fact that most schools give you a 55
minute window to present a problem and speculate on it then rush off to
the next class doesn't leave the students any down time to unwind their
thoughts on a subject. What if all school became a public forum? I can
imagine a stimulating community where all subjects are integrated
together, and all students tackle questions together and play off each
others strengths to delve into deeper understanding. Explorations such
as this would work in theory, but students and especially adolescence
students who are dealing with puberty and a change in brain activity,
might use the opportunity to fade to the background and use others'
ideas as their own. Also the evaluation methods of teachers would have
to be revolutionized to counter this tendency and to accurately measure
the success of the community as a whole and individuals alone.

Date 10/8/07
Course Week 5- Model Based Inquiry

Personal Reflection- Time concerns with Scientific Argumentation in the

Classroom

Formulating your own models and devising ways to prove/disprove

takes up a whole lot of time. I was thinking about this in class and was
trying to come up with ways to help manage time while still giving
students the opportunity to partake in these types of labs and put the
Nature of Science to work. I thought that maybe some guided help
would let labs such as the devising model lab I was a part of today in
class. That got me thinking about the various labs available and used by
many different teachers to a wide array of students using all different
learning and teaching styles. With all these variables, there would be
great difficulty in creating a 'guided' lesson without letting some kids
struggle and without giving away the answers to others. I know I was at
a loss on what concepts to focus on, and given enough time I am sure I
could come up with a satisfactory answer to the question, but with time
restraints i needed more guidance to get me on track. However, some of
my peers took the same information I had and ran with it, and came up
with good experiments and models and everything. Would the
additional instruction I needed hinder their creative process of
answering the question? How can we account for the different students
 Allan, Cara 6

and still give all children the same quality of education?

During the discussion of our models I was reminded a lot of the
previous class' reading about the networking knowledge community
among peers. Even with the teacher's clarifications and elaborations on
different points, the class was engaged to question and discover and
compare; we really put our science to work. This is the kind of
community I would like to foster in my classroom, but I am not sure if
it is possible without being able to manage assigning the project
appropriately. I hope that the GSE will train me to create these sorts of
experiments and put them to good use.

Date 10/15/07
Course Week 6- Lesson Critique II

Personal Reflection: Changing my Views

I think most of my ideas for Scientific Inquiry were modeled on the

board today in class. I am happy that I contributed, but people should
argue my ideas too. I need a good argument. Oh well. Maybe next time
I'll play devil's advocate. I feel like our model was applicable to the Jim
Minstrell's class. I liked his ideas and how it followed a Scientific
Inquiry that is applicable to any scientific community. This new
information is making me revise my teaching philosophy. I would like
to teach using scientific inquiry, but it makes me nervous that the
teacher will rely on the students to set the pace and devise the
questions, but I feel like it is so much more effective. It will be a
struggle for me to give up a portion of the control of the classroom to
achieve an inquiry classroom, because I like order and structure and
knowing what is coming next. Science is not structured however, and to
really bring science to my students I will have to make my teaching as
erratic, exciting, and surprising as the topic I am teaching.

Date 10/22/07
Course Week 7-Inquiry into Cancer I

Personal Reflection: Reaction to the Semester

We are about half way through the semester, and I would like to reflect
on what I feel the course has added to my ideas and beliefs about
teaching. I believe this class is organizing my ways of thinking about
science and the proper way to teach science. On one hand, I feel this
 Allan, Cara 7

course would be beneficial for student, because the knowledge of the

purpose and background to science really helped me open my mind and
start a framework to organize the knowledge of science that I have and
that I am learning. Also, the fact that science is always changing and
always theoretical lends a new dimension to the learning of science as
not simple facts, but as exploration and questioning that normally
students are to daunted and intimidated to do. Also I appreciate the
introduction of resources available that I as a teacher can tap into to
learn about obstacles in learning that plague many students on any
given topic. I think with the control of learning/discovery in the hands
of the students, and the stress of memorization of facts and data,
students will be able to break out of the mundane and repetitive school-
associated stupor and become engaged in learning. I want to change
learning, not only in science but in all classrooms, to be more beneficial
and wholesome for the students. I want learning to be productive and
applicable to life and better the lives of the learners.

Date 10/29/07
Course Week 8-Inquiry into Cancer II

Personal Reflection- How this Inquiry works

By developing our own models about the origins of cancer, it has

become very obvious where my own experiance with cell biology has
dropped the ball. By using a model inquiry method, I am able to
connect the dots between a wide array of information, locate the areas
that need improvement and find the appropreate material to supplement
my knowledge. I am thinking, would this be as successful if I was
taught this lesson before my prior education? I would definately have to
supplement more information to make a cohesive arguement and
support my arguement. But would I have had enough information and
avenues of thinking to draw from to create what I did today? The
results of this lesson would probably been more narrow, the information
more overwhelming, and the connections between information more
vague without my prior knowledge. Therefore, should the inquiry based
learning be witheld till later in education, when there is a broad pool of
random information established? I feel like this would be more
successful, but the previous material would be frustrating and
disjointed. Should the entire process of education be just that, a
process? If this is the case, I feel like there has to be a change in the
communications between teachers of different age groups and grades.
The environment of the classroom would have to be more open to
outside teachers and ideas.
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Date 11/5/07
Course Week 9- Inquiry into Cancer II

Personal Reflection- My Time Away

Because I was away for this class, I think it is more productive to

comment on that than speculate on the class I missed. In Nicaragua I
saw a school in session as my sister and I walked the streets. The
students were in a building with no windows and no chalkboard. They
were all in uniform. It reminded me of a ‘Little House on the Prairie’
schoolhouse. Not that the establishment was old or dirty in any way, but
I could see a lack of equipment that American school usually have and
that students expect. I wonder what the quality of teacher education is
in this area. I wonder when the quality of teacher is underminded by the
lack of funding and instruction materials. I wonder if the information
being taught is from up-to-date books. I would like to explore this
further, maybe when I am certified. I think experience in this or a
similar area will help me be a more resourceful and accommodating
teacher. Maybe I should look for a Peace Corps. position following
graduation.

Date 11/12/07
Course Week 10- Inquiry into Cancer III

Personal Reflection- Still Away

After seeing the children in other Central American countries, I can

appreciate the American system of education. Things such as lunch
meals and climate control seem underappreciated in America, and are
obviously missing here. I feel like things like this should be put to
better use and more economically distributed in the multitude of
schools in America. Also the very basic buildings used for school here
make me think of all the bells and whistles we put in our curriculum
and impose on our students. We look for ‘well rounded students’, but
while American students are striving to be well rounded, they are
surpassed by other countries who encourage their students to specialize
and apprentice. There are kids here doing advanced math because it is
their job to sell family goods. Some of them have really impressed me
with their ability to multiply and divide prices.
 Allan, Cara 9

Date 11/19/07
Course Week 11- Model-based inquiry in the classroom I

Reflection Prompt- Given the models of the Egg experiment, what would
be your next instructional move and why?
The students seem to be struggling with the concept of equilibrium.
They hint at the movement of materials till the egg and surrounding
environment is "equal". This concept should be retaught to clarify and
explain this phenomina that the children seem to observe. The students
also seem to glaze over the interface between the egg and environment,
suggesting that there is some confusion and information missing
regarding membranes. Things such as pores are used to explain the
means by which water and 'goo' cross from one environment to the
other, but the point of the assignment is to explain this structure.
Therefore a question prompt or simply a class conversation directed
towards explaining the pores could help the students focus on
discovering the membrane mechanisms. I think following this
assignment, my next instructional move would be to have the students
share their ideas and then form a list (on the board) of concepts they
think are important to address in their models. Things such as
membrane, pores, density, equilibrium, and particle size should be
included. After this students should individually or in small groups
revise their models to incorporate and explain these important concepts
to more accurately answer the question prompt.

Personal Reflection- Struggling with the teaching approach.

After learning about how the cell/ lead lesson plan was developed I had
a thought. To develop a detailed plan it is necessary to anticipate the
incorrect models and imperfect knowledge students will bring to the
discussion. I think I will have a problem continuing the lesson plan
after this point because once I know the answer I am trying to get at i
have a problem thinking in other terms. Also I think in my presentation
it will take a lot of practice for me to not immediately correct students,
because I know that the students exploring their own ideas and finding
the mistakes themselves will educate them more thoroughly than me
simply telling them. I still don't feel entirely comfortable stringing the
child along under their false assumptions in the entire lesson.
 Allan, Cara 10

Date 11/26/07
Course Week 12- Model-based inquiry in the classroom II

Personal Reflection-

Assessment now seems to only follow a lesson and does not provide the
opportunity to use the assessment as feedback to alter the lesson and
make it more productive and meaningful for student-teacher
interactions. After assessment in education today, the teacher moves on
to the next topic and whether or not the students understood is
irrelevant to how the class progresses.

Date 12/2/07
Course Week 13- Model based inquiry in the classroom III

Personal Reflection: Positive Reinforcement

Today I had a really good idea that I was excited to share with the class.
It was a new model to explain the concept under scruteny and it was
something no one had mentioned yet. I was so excited and the teacher
really narrowed her teaching to draw the classes attention on my point.
She drew a model on the board, asked for my input, and told a scenario
using my name. All this positive reinforcement made me so happy and
gave me a feeling of value. It also got me thinking about these subtle
ways to get kids excited, to get kids to feel valued, and to boost self
esteem. The teacher didn't know that I had a rough weekend and I was
stressed and had a terrible morning. She just knew by rewarding my
participation with public positive reinforcement I would not hesitate to
participate in the future. But this moment in class really impacted my
whole day. As a teacher I am going to have this impact on kids. I think
as easy as it was to cheer me up by using my ideas publically and
incorporating it into the lesson, it must be as easy to make a kid feel
bad about participating. Little things a teacher says and does offhand
will have a huge impact on the kid the comments are directed at or that
have their ideas under scruteny. Even though my idea was wrong, and
ultimately a way to disprove it followed the first experiment, the
incorporation of my idea into the lesson was done in a manner that it
seemed novel and exciting. It made my day to feel like I created that
novel and exciting idea.
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Reflection Prompt: What do kids struggle with when giving examples?

An integral part of teaching using inquiry is the students learning to
form models and explain their reasoning. This concept is hard for
students because most of their schooling is based on facts and
memorization and their own ideas are never encouraged to flourish. In
addition, models are initially built with a lot of unknown factors. It is
hard for students to take the time to come up with and to contemplate
the unknown and missing elements that would drive the inquiry
process. In school, students are pressured to get the right answer and to
do it as quickly as possible. Most testing is based on this concept with
time limits and short answer questions. Models play with the concept of
wrongness, and the questioning of accepted facts, and as of now
students are taught to only be correct and that the information provided
is absolute. The students also need to be coached in explaining their
models and their thought process. Once they arrive at a conclusion they
hesitate to go back and map out the path they took to get there. They
need to be taught to be critical of facts they are presented and to use
those facts to challenge their ideas and support their ideas. They must
then incorporate those facts into the explanation of their models.

Date 12/10/07
Course Week 14- Lesson Critique III

Personal Reflection- Self esteem

I feel like the weight the school system is structured around being
correct leads students to equate being incorrect with failure. The time it
take to explore inquiry may lead students to be frustrated with not
finding an answer and to keep coming up with questions. They hesitate
to hypothesize because of the fear that they are wrong. When the fear of
being judged immediately is taken away, I can see where the students
can show their true potential because the emphasis of grades is put
aside and the wrong answers are the ones that challenge you to find the
right answers. The students, as shown in the film, are able to engage in
the material and hypothesize abstract ideas when given the opportunity.
I feel that the atmosphere of the school should emphasize this instead of
simply stressing right and wrong.
Teaching Life Science

Date 1/28/08
Course Week 1- Introduction
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Personal Reflection- What I am Expecting From This Course

Design lessons and adapt lessons to the students. Let's go. I am ready to
learn this technique. I'm tired of being worried about how this time
consuming inquiry process will fit in a real curriculum. I want to see it
in action. I also feel apprehensive because in one semester (and a
summer) we will be responsible for doing this in a real classroom and it
will affect real students. My friend in the GSE has been doing this for
half a year already and I'm beginning to feel left behind. I want to be
prepared. I am pretty close-minded when it comes to my own designs,
and I am going to try my hardest to accept and accommodate critiques
to my lessons. I feel like to take risks in this part of the lesson will
either be very rewarding and eye-opening, but also has the potential to
be very frustrating and may not result in a workable lesson. I don’t
want to play it safe here; I’d like to take my risks and make my
mistakes here where it is not going to affect students, but I don’t know
if I can handle an excess of work from one class. I’m glad that the
professor likes group work, because I may need some peer support and
guidance!

Date 2/4/08
Course Week 2- Clinical Interviews

Personal Reflection- Encountering New Material

I am so confused about what happened this week in class. I feel like our
group didn't grasp the concept or the assignment. We are confused
about how to make a script of questions that last 30 minutes if you have
to adapt the follow-up questions based on what the student says. It is
very hard to find any questions that are not leading. I am not sure how
you can 'break the ice' about cells without making broad assumptions
about what the students understand. I was never subject to this kind of
data gathering as a student. I wish I was because then maybe my own
education would have been more productive, and also then I'd have a
reference to use now. I am thinking about asking the teacher I observe
if I could take some time and question a few of their students about the
next subject to be taught. This would help me hone my skills as well as
give the teacher a little information that they may be able to incorporate
into their lesson.
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Date 2/11/08
Course Week 3- Design Frameworks

Personal Reflection- My first observation and class reflections.

Wednesday was my first observation in high school biology at

Piscataway High School. The school is amazing and the kids have SO
many options that I never had. I was thoroughly overwhelmed. The
teachers I was introduced to were very nice, and very different. There is
a woman, an older man, and a younger man. The men were both
teaching the same lessons, so watching them was rather redundant. I
couldn’t remember how to get to the lady’s classroom, so I did not get
to see her in action this time; I will find it next time. The men were nice
and willing to share their views of teaching with me and my fellow
observers. The younger teacher (I don’t know if I should include name,
so I will not for now) showed me a book that he thought very highly of,
and I was allowed to read it during a repetitive class. The excerpt of
interest was talking about the “crest of the wave” concept in teaching,
and it was very enlightening. It was fun to read and provided colorful
examples to demonstrate different points. The paper can be found in the
book Impact Teaching by Richard Allen. I especially liked that the
teaching styles were applicable to the classroom; I was able to witness
the teacher practicing them throughout the day. I saw a few borrowed
techniques from the inquiry we are learning but the majority of his
lessons followed the Impact Teaching book. I would be interested in
finding this book at the library and reading more.

Date 2/18/08
Course Week 4- Project Contest and Backbone

Personal Reflection- Classroom Culture

Classroom culture is very important to learning and classroom
management. With a good rich culture in the classroom, students can
feel less pressured to learn and instead feel encouraged to do so. It
seems to me that some teachers have the skill to manage a classroom
 Allan, Cara 14

and create a culture and foster relationships naturally, while other

teachers seem to struggle with classroom management and boisterous
students. The latter always seem to have the less interesting classes and
I believe that is because there is such a focus on control that the
students’ creativity is suppressed. With out the creative spark, the lesson
seems dull and there is no need-to-know cultivated. I have experienced
this and also observed it in my visits to Piscataway. There seems to be a
balance between the student and teacher in terms of responsibility and
control that comes with practice. But when the balance is right, the
students have responsibility over their work and yet are not smothered
in control by the teacher. This seems to have the best results as far as
student enjoyment in learning.

Date 2/25/08
Course Week 5- Assessment

Personal Reflection- Teacher Education

From the few classes I have observed I have noticed that being in tune
to your students creates the most productive atmosphere. There is one
teacher that we observe, and she is very accomplished in the field of
biology and even has research experience, but she just lectures and puts
on movies during class (so far). Her credentials allow her to teach the
Honors class, however it seems like the academic track next door are
learning the same things more quickly with a teacher who makes her
power point interactive and accompanies her lecture with questions and
class participation. The most successful teacher by far in my eyes is
another gentleman who changes his routine throughout the lesson to
engage student attention. He always comes to us to explain his
reasoning for making certain teaching style changes and gives us
resources where he learned these little tricks. It seems that he is more
interested in engaging the students than the other teachers we’ve seen. I
don’t know how his experience in the field of biology compares to the
other teachers, but I know if I went to that school I would want to be in
his class
 Allan, Cara 15

Reflection Prompt-Why do we need to know what students know before

we teach them?

Obviously the reason we need to know what students know before we

teach them any given subject has been the topic of our class for quite a
while now. We need to find any prevalent and/or destructive inaccurate
preconceptions in order to address them before creating a schema of the
topic. Also, if all the students have a firm grasp on the basics of the
topic it would be a waste of time to go over it again and instead the
teacher can find a new and exciting avenue of the topic to explore.
Finally, we need to identify parts of the students understanding that we
can use to build their knowledge into a more complete understanding. It
is easier to expand and tweak knowledge that is already accepted and
proven to the student than to insert that knowledge there.

Date 3/03/08
Course Week 6- Finalized Project Backbone

Personal Reflection: The Backbone

This backbone is a very frustrating experience. I can not seem to be
satisfied with the results. Whenever we write something, I feel like it is
not tied to our objectives. Then when we adjust it, I feel like it does not
flow with the rest of the unit. Also, I feel like we write too much and it
is tedious and wordy, but without the extra detail I feel like it is too
vague. But I’m not sure if the detail should be moved to the individual
lessons or if it does in fact belong in the unit backbone. I hope that with
the critiques we will be able to see what other groups interperate the
instructions as in addition to getting some feedback from someone who
has not stared at this forever like we have.

Date 3/10/08
Course Week 7- Backbone again

Personal Reflection: Thinking back on the work involved.

I am glad that we are all splitting up the subjects and doing units to
 Allan, Cara 16

compile at the end of the year. I really hope that one or more of these
units will be applicable to student teaching next year, because this
whole ordeal is very time and work intensive, and without the support
of a group and a teacher I don’t believe a person could get as much help
and useful input to keep their unit cohesive and on task. I can see why a
tool such as our technology IQWST would be so tempting to teachers,
especially without a support system in place. With a unit written out
and open for small personalize changes, and with materials ready to be
photocopied and distributed, a teacher can really take it easy. I wish we
had access to a computerized lesson like the Finches software, where
the data was all compiled and pre-structured to guide the student toward
self discovery of whatever topic is at hand. After writing this unit,
teaching it should be a breeze.

Date 3/24/08
Course Week 8- Unit Critique

Reflection Prompt: What is the model based inquiry approach to science

teaching? (200 words)

The model based inquiry approach to science teaching is a method of

engaging students to a concept and prompt them to discover the
solution themselves by assimilating data and engaging in scientific
methods. To successfully compose a science based inquiry unit, the
teacher must discover and address the preconceived notions of the class
regarding a specific topic. This information should be an important
cornerstone for the building and refining of new data. While
discovering and incorporating facts into a concept of any given topic,
the inquiry method relies heavily on teaching and reinforcing scientific
methods when approaching a topic and creating a hypothesis. Students
must engage in modeling, data analysis, scientific argumentation,
hypothesis creation and testing and justification of ideas using
evidence. The inquiry method is student centered and the teacher must
observe the progress the students make and adjust the subsequent
information she/he provides according to the ideas the students are
struggling with. For instance, if students are misunderstanding a
concept, the instructor must provide the opportunity for students to
collect data contrary to their beliefs and let them struggle to make sense
of it and adjust their personal schema and model accordingly. Inquiry
 Allan, Cara 17

also has many opportunities for assessing a student’s progress. Instead

of only a cumulative test at the end of a lesson, students engaged in
inquiry may be assessed by discussion, modeling, explanations,
quizzes, tests, or any combination of these.

Reflection Prompt: What do you think about it and what will convince
you that it works (250 words)

I believe that inquiry is a very novel idea and is successful in its

attempt to engage students and teach them to question and organize
their own information in the classroom and out of it. However I believe
it is one method out of a host of other teaching techniques and that due
to the time it takes to accomplish an inquiry lesson, it must be used
sparingly in the classroom in order for the class to cover enough
material to be prepared for the standardized test and to cover the
required materials according to the New Jersey and the national
standards for each grade. I am glad that we spent a semester learning
inquiry because I feel a lot of it can be useful to organize lessons and
create fair forms of assessment. However I wish we would learn other
methods of teaching, and become familiar with organizing and
recording a standard teaching lesson, especially since inquiry is not
proven to be that much more successful at educating children. Also, it is
way more complicated that traditional teaching and I believe that I
personally would like to incorporate it into my teaching AFTER I have
some experience organizing lessons and materials the traditional way to
ensure I cover all the material required for the year.

I believe hearing from teachers (in the grades that I will be responsible
for) that I observe that inquiry is successful and widely embraced
would help to convince me that it works. So far I am observing four
teachers in Piscataway High School and none of them have supported
inquiry. When asked, they vehemently spoke against it due to the time it
takes and the organization it entails. They have given my and the others
with me materials that have helped them in their teaching, and
demonstrated the effectiveness in the classroom, but as far as inquiry
goes, they all seem to agree that it works better on paper than in the
classroom, and that you have to be efficient with your time.
 Allan, Cara 18

Date 3/31/08
Course Week 9- Interlude: Technology Fair (AERA)

Date 4/07/08
Course Week 10- Lesson Plans (NARST)

Date 4/14/08
Course Week 11- Finalize Unit
What is scientific argumentation? How can it be facilitated in class?

Date 4/28/08
Course Week 12- Final Presentations Part 1

Date 5/5/08
Course Week 13- Teaching Experiment

Date 5/12/08
Course Week 14-Final Project Presentations II