Reflection on the process of science & geoscience
This activity was selected for the On the Cutting Edge Reviewed Teaching Collection
This activity has received positive reviews in a peer review process involving five review categories. The five categories included in the process are
- Scientific Accuracy
- Alignment of Learning Goals, Activities, and Assessments
- Pedagogic Effectiveness
- Robustness (usability and dependability of all components)
- Completeness of the ActivitySheet web page
For more information about the peer review process itself, please see http://serc.carleton.edu/NAGTWorkshops/review.html.
This page first made public: Oct 10, 2008
Skills and concepts that students must have mastered
How the activity is situated in the course
Content/concepts goals for this activity
an empirical process (even if it's not stated as such) in which communication is essential, derived from scientific theories and include some aspect of science as a human construct in the context of geosciences.
Higher order thinking skills goals for this activity
Other skills goals for this activity
Description of the activity/assignment
Metacognitive components of the activityStudents are asked to reflect on what they know before they begin the activity (activating their prior knowledge). They then re-visit their ideas at the end of the activity to determine how their ideas have changed or not changed as a result of the conversation from the class activity and additional reading.
Metacognitive goals for this activity:There are three primary goals for including metacognition in this activity:
1) Students will gain a greater understanding of the content by taking the time to reflect on their learning before and after the activity.
2) Students will start to appreciate the power of self-reflection in the learning process
3) The instructor will gain valuable feedback from the students in what they learned and areas that still need to be emphasized.
Assessing students' metacognitionApproximately 90% of the participants in past semesters have indicated that their understanding has changed and increased. In assessing their pre vs. post written prompts, participating in this activity increases their understanding of the content. Whether they now appreciate the importance of self-reflection is less known. However, at the end of the semester students are asked to rank self-reflection as important or non-important in their learning process, and it is consistently rated as helpful or extremely helpful.
Determining whether students have met the goals
Another important assessment that comes from this activity is the instructor's ability to determine what students preconceptions are with regard to the Process of Science. This can help them to gauge what interventions and areas of emphasis may need to be made throughout the semester.
Download teaching materials and tips
- Activity Description/Assignment (PowerPoint 1.7MB Sep17 08)
- Student Rubric (Microsoft Word 36kB Sep17 08) to give to students for creating their group paragraph if you choose to evaluate their group paragraph and writing process
Instructor Rubric (Microsoft Word 51kB Jul15 09) for the instructor to use to assign a point value to the paragraph (if you so choose), includes both expert view and varying levels of novice perspective as well as negative values for persistent misconceptions (minimum = -6, maximum = 20).
**Both rubrics are generated based on literature-based definitions (for a good review, see Abd-El-Khalick & Lederman, 2000), some of the misconceptions were constructed based on student responses**
Abd-El Khalick, F., & Lederman, N. G. (2000). Improving Science Teachers' Conceptions of Nature of Science: A Critical Review of the Literature. International Journal of Science Education, 22(7), 665-701.
Bryson, B. (2003). A Short History of Nearly Everything: Random House.Cobern, W. W., & Loving, C. C. (1998). The Card Exchange: Introducing the Philosophy of Science. In W. F. McComas (Ed.), The Nature of Science in Science Education: Rationales and Strategies (pp. 73-82). Netherlands: Kluwer