The challenges of observing geologically: Third graders' descriptions of rock and mineral properties

Abstract

ABSTRACT:The understandings of properties that children develop in the context of rock and mineral identification point to the challenges of observing in a manner authentic to the discipline of geology. The notebook entries of 34 third graders written during the enactment of a commercial unit on earth materials were investigated for their descriptions of rocks and minerals, and the extent to which these reflect understandings of properties in both generic and discipline-specific senses. While children were successful in observing minute details of rock and mineral samples, there were few opportunities within the curriculum for students to differentiate between geologically relevant and irrelevant properties, and there were no connections drawn between deeper geological concepts and these observations. In addition, the demands placed on young learners to write their observations in the form of descriptions raise issues of supporting students in their learning of authentic scientific writing. There are challenges faced in representing geological observation authentically, and moving children beyond simple description activities into more complex explanations. Suggestions for improvements that attend to issues of the discipline as well as the elementary context are provided.C 2005 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Sci Ed 89: 276 -295, 2005

Enseigner le concept de milieu : exemple de processus d’aide à la prise en compte des conceptions initiales des élèves

“…Le rôle des conceptions initiales dans les apprentissages des élèves, à quelque niveau d'enseignement, a largement été étudié par la communauté didactique, notamment dans les disciplines scientifiques (Astor-Jack, McCallie & Balcerzak, 2007 ;Bezzi, 1999 ;Da-Silva et al, 2007 ;Dodick & Orion, 2003 ;Ford, 2005 ;George & Kaplan, 1998) 1 . Ainsi, la structure même des apprentissages est largement dépendante de l'organisation des savoirs.…”

How Do We Help Students Build Beliefs That Allow Them to Avoid Critical Learning Barriers and Develop A Deep Understanding of Geology?

“…• The Earth's materials: minerals and rocks (Happs, 1982(Happs, , 1985Dove, 1998;Ford, 2005); • The Earth's Structure (Lillo, 1994;Sharp et al 1995;Blake, 2005); • The Earth's processes: mountains, volcanoes, earthquakes, weathering and erosion, and geological time (Bezzi & Happs 1994;Sharp et al 1995;Russell et al 1993) • Geological time (Hume, 1978;Ault, 1982;Trend, 1998). These studies confirm that children develop their own, mostly non-scientific, understanding of earth science concepts before instruction, and describe and interpret these in everyday terms that are familiar to them.…”

“…The questions were selected from previous studies by different researchers (e.g., Bezzi & Happs 1994;Lillo 1994;Ford, 2005) and then adapted to a French context. The questions were phrased in such a way that they could be easily understood by the respondents.…”

“…Some researchers such as Kusnick (2002), Blake (2005), Ford (2005), preferred using numerical scores in their assessment and analysis procedure for statistical purposes. However, making a statistical analysis was not our aim.…”

Pensar e “inscribir” mientras se investiga: un estudio de caso

“…Keys, Hand, Prain y Collins (1999) por ejemplo, observó que los adolescentes no relacionaban sus observaciones con nuevas hipótesis, lo que se podía atribuir al hecho de que las observaciones eran escasas, incompletas y por tanto poco relevantes. Por otro lado, Ford (2005) muestra cómo alumnos de 3r curso anotaban descripciones rigurosamente detalladas de muestras minerales pero hacían muy pocas asociaciones entre sus observaciones y los conceptos relacionados. Las dos investigaciones anteriores ponen de manifiesto los dos características fundamentales para una buena toma de notas en el laboratorio: completas y económicas.…”