Co-Building: An Insightful Discussion on Science Practices

 July 11, 2022
6:45 PM

    It was our first official and formal meeting with Sir Sam and our first Plenary Session with section A of SciEd 205 Curriculum Development as well. Our guest speaker was Sir Jerald F. Forteza, an elementary teacher in Makati, City. He graduated from Philippine Normal University (PNU) - MAEd in Biology Secondary Education. He has done a lot in the field of Science Education especially in elementary science education although he graduated with a degree in secondary education. For him, elementary poses a lot of surprises.   

    Our speaker talked about his master's degree thesis study. It was still a relevant study that focuses on the critical thinking skills with the curriculum in Science in secondary (Grade 8) education entitled, " Biology Model Co-Building: Effects on student self-efficacy and critical thinking." A lot of hypotheses were posed in this study and one of which is the effect of building a model in the self-efficacy of a learner.

    Science Practices:  Students cannot fully understand scientific ideas without engaging in the practices of inquiry and discourses by which these ideas are developed and refined. (National Research Council, 2012).  Scientific practices are about engaging in the process of doing science and experiencing it in a more authentic way. (Evagorou, et al., 2015) We see here that engaging our students in the practices of inquiry, of doing science, and experiencing in in a more authentic way is what we call the science practice. It's like the conventional way, we teachers, do in a classroom inquiry set-up, "sure ka?" and contextualization and localization of instruction to make it more relatable to the learners is one science practice that would greatly help boost our learners' learning capability.

   If you are reading this, and you are interested in science practices, there are actually 8 of them. Visit Teaching Scientific Literacy - NGSS Practices where examples on how to implement this impart not just knowledge but also skills. That is our goal. 

    One thing lead to another. Teacher Jerald also emphasized that there are advantages of drawing - engagement, learning strategy, representation, reasoning, and communication. An illustration is attached with cited references: 

    Teacher Jerald's approach in teaching from his conceptual framework started with the biology model co-building and direct instruction on the other hand with the observation and tests on the student self-efficacy in Biology such as the ability to learn, ability to ask questions, ability to perform experiments, ability to achieve good grades, ability to perform in projects, seatworks, and homeworks, and the ability to perform tests in the field of Biology. These will eventually assess the students' critical thinking skills in Biology. We know that a learner has developed critical thinking skills if (1) making inferences, (2) recognizing assumptions, (3) deductions, (4) interpreting information, (5) analyzing arguments, the basic skills for critical thinking.

    I realized that I am biased in listening that in between sciences and language, I am more inclined to focus in discussing science. What I realized more is the bias that I have when it comes to mathematics discussion. As Teacher Jerald talked about his Problem and Instrument used with his Data Analysis, I just hoped that he had thoroughly given the methodology as a whole and in depth. Nevertheless, I see that despite the constrained time we have and he had in sharing to us his thesis study, he was able to share patterns and insightful analysis of this causation and correlation. I was amazed with the validation by the experts and those who made research on science, self-efficacy, and critical thinking skills. Some were from UP NISMED, PNU, DLSU, UP CED and etc. 

    Despite all these efforts, the results show low and almost no improvement in their self-efficacy. There are factors actually - vicarious experiences, enactive mastery, verbal persuasion, and physiological reaction. A number of students expressed their incapacity to create a “good” model due to their unsightly illustrations during the course of the intervention. While some students see working in pairs as an advantage due to the division of tasks and collaboration, some students still encountered conflicts. The modeling process itself could have led to a greater cognitive load instead of making things less complex as it is supposed to due to some factors including limited time. 

    Similarly, students' critical thinking skills seemingly improved but not so much also pose factors that could have affected the development of such. Learning environment, instructor's competence, his approach to teaching could be one. Development of complex thinking skills highly depends on appropriate learning experiences infused by the teacher. (Lynch & Wolcott, 2001; Mahapoonyanonta, 2012; Orozco, 2013.) Development of critical thinking may depend on the delivery of the curriculum where teachers can provide avenues for critical challenges. (Picard and Gini-Newman, 2012)

    In conclusion, students exposed to Biology Model Co-building Approach do not have a significantly higher posttest mean score than those exposed to Direct Instruction. Thus, Biology Model Co-building Approach has no apparent effect on student self-efficacy in Biology. Biology Model Co-building Approach enhances student critical thinking skills in Biology. Specifically, it yields positive effect on Deduction. Student self-efficacy is significantly related to student critical thinking skills in Biology. We could say they are ready when they are ready. Actually here are some of the recommendations Teacher Jerald has presented. Teachers could use modified teaching pedagogy such as Biology Model Co-Building jointly with Direct Instruction. Eliminate student anxieties in drawing by providing longer time for students to construct, discuss, and enhance their models. School administrators have to provide more avenues for professional development such as school-based trainings that foster various teaching approaches including Biology Model Co-building. Curricularists should enhance Science Programs by highlighting the integration of different science practices such as using and constructing models for understanding, explaining, and communicating scientific concepts not only in physical sciences but also in life science. Provide more opportunities for students to create and assess their own models. and most importantly, researchers focus on measuring, recognizing, and improving students’ ability to make models. Provide adequate time intervals between the implementation of the teaching approach.

    Make our learners build and be active in their own learning.