On Friday there were several events that made me stop and think more deeply about the various learning goals of Energy Tracking Representations. In my experience, teachers often have one idea of what they want students to get from their lessons, but students may have a different idea of what the important "take-aways" are. This can cause tension between the two parties if students feel like they aren't being "given" what they need for success. While it is important for an instructor to have a clear idea of what their learning goals are, being able to communicate their goals to the class can help avoid these kinds of conflicts.
In the morning, there was some confusion about what the UE2 participants were supposed to do with the scenario that they had chosen to analyze from their curriculum. Eleanor made the helpful comment that their goal was to try to "understand deeply" the topic they'd chosen. She said that of course, teaching involves more than understanding deeply, but that this should be everyone's "goal number 1". I think she meant that this is what you need to do first before thinking about activities, assessments, etc. and I agree! In the afternoon in UE1, I saw several teachers try to begin lesson planning before they understood their scenario thoroughly and this strategy didn't get them anywhere.
In addition to helping teachers understand their energy-related content more deeply, it seems to me that another learning goal (for teachers & students) of the Energy Project is to 1) create accurate* and consistent representations of what they currently know about the energy processes in different scenarios and then 2) refine their models when new pieces of information are added. This goal - using a representation to both talk about and develop one's conceptual understanding - can be difficult for learners to attend to if they think they should be seeking the "right answer", the "truth", or "the way things really are" (which is what most learners are in the habit of doing). But how can an instructor communicate this objective to their class? Of course, stating the learning goals explicitly throughout the course is a good idea, but most students will not take you seriously unless your assessments align with your goals.
In the Energy Project workshops, assessments come in the form of presentations that the teachers make to each other and the feedback that they get from the instructors and other participants. I think it would be interesting to look at video segments that show instructors giving feedback on Energy Theater or Energy Tracking diagrams. Do they emphasize the importance of being consistent with big ideas about energy (conservation, distinction from matter, etc.) or do they spend more time discussing the forms of energy that are present, and "what really happens" to the energy at each point, etc.? The latter is not in itself a bad thing and there is certainly ample interest on the part of the teachers to get "answers" (see Amy's post). However, I think the teachers are very perceptive in picking up what the instructors choose to emphasize. If "answers" get more attention than the representation or the development of a good model, then that is what they will think is the learning goal of the workshop.
*I mean accurate in the sense of mental model that match external representations, not necessarily mental models that match "reality". We are interested in getting students to align what they know to what they show.
Your post made me think about how assessment shapes what happens in the classroom. In traditional classrooms, there is a tension between genuine inquiry (Learning because we want to know) and testing (learning so we'll be prepared for the test). In the Energy Project workshops, I think there is still a tension, but a different kind: Learning because we want to know and Learning so that we'll be able to teach.
ReplyDeleteEither way, I agree that instructors send strong signals about what's really important by their assessment (or relative lack of evaluative assessment, as is the case in these workshops).