After some input from instructors and students, I am planning on continuing to work with the concept of relevance in the biology classroom as the basis for my project. Although it may be difficult to implement this to the extent that I would like, the topic interests me and I hope to use relevant material in my classroom someday, so this research could prove to be a valuable tool for me.
I feel right now that the most realistic methodology for looking into my research question is to survey teachers regarding the extent to which they use relevant topics in their teaching, and their opinions about how that impacts student understanding. Depending on time restraints and the advice I receive from my advisers, I also think there would be value in surveying students regarding similar issues. Quantitatively, I feel as though I could relate the data from my survey to EOC scores. At this point, I am not sure how simply that could be done, but I think it would be interesting to see how the EOC scores of students with teachers who integrate relevant topics and use project-based learning compare to students in a more traditional lecture/memorization-based environment.
After visiting Atkins today, I found myself more excited about my research and about teaching, since integrating relevant issues into the biology classroom was being discussed there in a very positive way. I was also pleased to see from our blogs that several other students in our program want to integrate current events and real-life situations to their various content areas!
4 comments:
I have found (in my teaching and observing other teachers) that it makes students really excited when they can connect what they learn in class with something on TV. When we talked about Genetics and Diseases, I got lots of students telling me about things they saw on the news. It was nice to be able to have that discussion and for the students to think critically about what they saw on TV. They got so excited about it!
Erin, I think this is a great topic. You will have to work more on data sources and the exact nature of the question. A teacher survey and/or interviews might get you the most comprehensive picture of how this is being implemented in schools. Kids tend to forget... And observations wouldn't be able to be extensive enough to be sure you see everything.
Or you might be more interested in the student perspective. That is another possible angle....
Erin, during the 1990's, there was a big STS (science-technology-society) push by some in science education. The basic idea was to connect science to technology and society (i.e. making science relevant). This idea, with a twist, is experiencing a resurgence by some called SSI (socioscientific issues). Teaching science concepts through socially relevant issues.
Aikenhead and Yager have written about STS. Zeidler and Sadler seem to be leading the SSI conversation.
-John
Erin, so I was thinking about the timing of your study. Would you want to conduct the study on student taking science classes next fall or use EOC data from a previous semester? If you wanted to the fall of 08 you could use the Forsyth county mandatory midterm that is a standardized test made by the county. It is taken by every student in biology and is supposed to be a "benchmark" for student achievement on the EOC.
As far as your subject goes I really like it. I always tried to bring in relevant topics to my classroom. I loved for students to discuss current day ethical situations in small groups and explain them to the class. This is certainly a key to helping students learn, making the information sensible and relative.
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