“Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” [asked Alice]
“That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cat.
“I don’t much care where –” said Alice.
“Then it doesn’t matter which way you go,” said the Cat.
“–so long as I get somewhere,” Alice added as an explanation.
-- Alice in WonderlandGoal
- To help pre-service teachers transition from seeing themselves as students to becoming professional educators and truly life-long learners.
- To deepen our understanding of the any facets of teaching science.
As educators, we need to be learners first. If we are not willing to learn every day, how can we justify expecting our students to do so? As professionals, we should be continually engaging in self-directed learning about our craft. This project provides a structure for pre-service teachers to engage in self-directed learning about teaching science and provides a mechanism to publicly share that learning.
Mechanics and Expectations
This is a full semester project. Please view the timeline on this blog for additional details.
Pre-service teachers will be assigned to a Team Blog. When possible, each team will consist of a mix of elementary and secondary pre-service teachers. Although pre-service teachers are assigned to a team, they are individually responsible for their own research.
Each pre-service teacher will develop a focus question related to teaching science and will conduct research throughout the semester. You are encouraged to collaborate with others that have the same interests. It is absolutely OK to collaborate with pre-service teachers on different teams. However, your contributions (below) must be unique.
Pre-service teachers will chronicle their learning throughout the semester by writing a minimum of 8 blog posts for their Team Blog. Since the audience for these posts are likely NOT conducting the same research, please make sure your posts are self-contained. Although each post is only a fragment of your total research, it should be a complete "story" (multiple paragraphs, but not a book!) of something that you have learned and how you think it applies to the classroom. You should also include a question that you are wondering about or a request for help or ideas as a way to foster interaction with your audience. In addition to the 8 required posts, you are welcome to write additional posts sharing other resources or insights related to teaching science (even if only tangentially related).
Pre-service teachers will interact with other participants by commenting at least 16 times on blog posts created other pre-service teachers. These "official" comments should be substantive (more than just, "I agree"). At least 8 comments should be made on blog posts that ARE NOT made by members of your team. Additionally, no more than 1 "official" comment on any individual blog post and no more than 3 "official" comments on posts written by any single author. You are welcome to make as many comments as you want!
Pre-service teachers will showcase the outcome of their learning in a few ways. First, create a virtual presentation. This presentation should be able to stand by itself (not requiring you to be present). You can do this in multiple ways (ie: a 5 minute video or screencast, a Prezi, etc.). The "in Plain English" video style may be perfect for this.
Pre-service teachers will track their progress using a spreadsheet. This spreadsheet will be turned in at the end of the project and should include the following:
- Your name!
- A list of substantial blog posts (highlighting your research) formatted with the date in the first column and a direct link to the blog post (not just to the team blog) in the second column.
- A list of substantial "official" comments formatted with the date in the first column, the author's name (account name) in the second column, and a direct link to the blog post (not the team blog) in the third column.
- A direct link to the blog post that shows your final presentation and final "product."
Inspiration
This project is inspired by Ben Wildeboer's "We Are Scientists" project with his 9th grade science students and Christian Long's "Alice Project" with his high school English students. Although both of these projects were done with high school students, they are excellent models for self-directed research at nearly any grade level and discipline.
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Image Source: mygothlaundry's Flickr photostream
