Conclusions

Conclusions & Future implications/inquiry

Connected Learning & Community Connections
Conclusions

The experiences gardening and studying mycelium allowed for a valuable integration of content with hands-on work and strengthened students' science practice skills.
Rely on establishing and maintaining relationships with community organizations.
Allow for sociocultural learning as students collaborate with each other and learn from other members of their communities (Vygotsky, as cited in Bransford, et al., 1999).

Future

I want to make field trips more structured and intentionally create more connections between trips and the content we are studying in class.
I have a strong desire to incorporate inquiry into field trips.
I want to Seek and foster more community connections that more difficult-to-please students are interested in pursuing.
I would also like to require students in my classes to seek out and make individual connections with science professionals, including professors, industrial workers, research scientists, health professionals, engineers, etc. with whom students identify in some way.

Problem & Project-Based Learning:

Conclusions

Integrate critical thinking, problem-solving, and understanding of content.
Promote collaborative learning.
Often encourage students to intersect learning with their own interests or intelligences.
Provide motivation for students to conduct interdisciplinary research in order to solve complex problems (like the Nigerian Problem & Savery, 2006.)
Allow more freedom for the teacher to help individual students and for students to interact with the material.

Future

I would like to make more observations of students throughout the process of solving problems. For example, how much time do students spend in independent vs. group work? Or, how much time are students on task?
I learned that I need to create specific rubrics in order to make students aware of the full expectations and to grade projects with more ease.

Modeling

Conclusions

Modeling and visualizations are especially valuable when paired with linguistic information (Vavra, et al. 2011).
Creating models pairs project-based learning and modeling and is an effective way for many students to learn content (see biology student survey).

Future

I would like to see if there are any differences in recall ability of content between students who included written descriptions of their models and those who did not by examining formative and summative assessments of these students.

Hands-On Learning:

Conclusions

The activities that promote the most engagement include observations of living things, especially animals (zebrafish and microscopy labs).
"Hands-on activities" must include "minds-on" applications of the content to meet learning objectives (Glynn & Muth, 1993).

Future

I want to scaffold for student-led inquiry in my future classroom in order for students to gain proficiency with implementing science practice skills.

Closing thoughts

After seven months of experience student teaching, observing students, and learning about theories of teaching and learning, I am more equipped to introduce my students to applied learning opportunities. I have a better understanding of the importance of clear learning objectives, which allow me to plan for a lesson or unit that integrates “hand-on” and “minds-on” activities, fostering both understanding and contextualization of the science content (Glynn & Muth, 1994). I am also more aware of the evidence supporting hands-on and applied learning techniques and understand the basic framework for implementing various hands-on teaching methods, such as problem, project and inquiry-based learning as well as connected learning opportunities.

I look forward to learning more about the theories of connected learning, problem-, project-, and inquiry-based learning and experimenting with different lessons within these methods as I develop my own dynamic and critical pedagogy. I will use the methods explored throughout my inquiry to promote scientific literacy and give students the opportunity to encounter and experiment with scientific concepts as they make connections and solve problems in and outside of the classroom.