My Lab
I practiced a lab that I hope to use in student teaching. Through dissecting an egg students can learn the basics of using scientific equipment, the metric system, completing a lab report, and understanding their expectations in an inquiry based environment.
I had received positive feedback on my clear instructions and scaffolding for understanding student expectations, also my peers liked the step-by-step example of calculating mass and percentages prior to having to calculate their own.
I received constructive feedback on explaining the importance of the lab from the student perspective and allowing for more hands off learning that inquiry truly is.
From this feedback I wanted to ask a few questions for my mentors:
- In your first inquiry lab, is it better to error on the side of caution and structure or would you recommend jumping in the deep end and seeing what happens?
- How do you gauge when students need more scaffolding and structure to achieve their goals?
1. I believe it depends on the lab. I have upper class men jump into labs with an questions to guide them but they structure everything. I find I guide my underclassmen more. This I think will vary class to class as well.
ReplyDelete2. I like doing inquiry once I get to know the students and what their foundation knowledge is. This allows me to determine where to start them in inquiry.
Lisa, you did a great job with your IBI lab and thanks for including a visual and some of the things you learning from your workshop with KP! For your first IBI, you need to find a blend of what will make the activity student-centered, but at the same time allow for teacher support and clarification if needed. This will assist students who are not familiar with IBI, and provide a comfortable first introduction that can evolve into a more student-centered type of instruction over time.
ReplyDeleteHi Lisa -- 1) I tend to be on the cautious side, so I would either start with very easy inquiry based experiences in the beginning or I would provide structure in taking them through the experience. I know that I was initially very surprised at the low level of reading competency and vocabulary that some of my students had when I began teaching. You certainly want to provide for possibilities whereby a student would be placed in danger or unsafe procedures, etc. and you want to keep in mind any special needs that they might have.
ReplyDelete2. I think that it is important to assess and evaluate the student ability to comprehend and implement... Once you can observe student results and their ability to grasp lab process and procedures, you can expand the complexity/level that your students will/can experience with confidence.
I recommend starting off with inquiry right from the start. It lets your students get comfortable with the idea (which they may have never been exposed to before) early, so that you can build more advanced inquiry lessons in sooner. Of course, start simple and build in complexity as you go.
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