Part 3: Additional Discussion Leading Strategies

(1 or more additional lessons to follow Parts 1 and 2)
 

F. Learn Other Modes of discussion such as Model Competition, Consolidation, and Application

This section contains syllabus ideas for teacher educators with longer time allotted. Teachers can engage with activities in Parts I and II and also work with the following.

Model Competition Mode

Have teachers read the Model Competition page.

Included on this page is a video of a Discussion On The Structure Of The Throat (opens in new tab) that took place during a middle school Life sciences lesson. The first section of this video illustrates the Model Competition Mode. This lesson began with a question given to small groups asking them to use a shared white board to generate an initial model of the throat: "How is your throat structured so that you can send food to your stomach? And so that you can send air to your lungs?" This activity generated several different initial models. The focus here is on the ensuing whole class discussion. There is a downloadable transcript of the discussion that includes pictures of the student models. It is best initially to view the video while focusing on the pictures of the models. Then have viewers try to identify the strategies being used, either by watching the video again while tooking at the transcript or by using the transcript alone. The transcript has two blank columns for filling in strategies recognized by the viewers, who can work individually, in small groups, or as a class. Viewers can refer to the lists of strategies in the Key for Model Evaluation and Modification Strategies and Key for Model Generation Strategies. Also ask the teachers to see if they can tell where model competition ends and model evolution (evaluation and modification) begins. Here the Competition Mode happens before the Model Evolution Mode, but the reverse can also occur.  

Teachers can also view a Diagram of the Whole Class Discussion on Throat Structure. This shows four levels of scaffolding strategies operating in parallel. This could also be used as a 'key' to highlights of the strategies used by the teacher.

Consolidation and Application Mode

Have teachers read the Consolidation and Application page to learn about ways to bring closure to a unit or lesson. Included there are examples of asking students to apply what they have learned.

Optional: Readers can gain a more theoretical perspective, set within the background of research on science education, in the article Large Scale Scientific Modeling Practices. This paper discusses the top two levels of our strategies: Classroom Modeling Modes and Modeling Phases. The full set of strategies in this article are organized slightly differently than is shown on the Full Theory page of this site, but the major ideas are the same.

Big picture perspective: Teachers who want the big picture can view and discuss Figures 1 and 4 on the Full Theory page, and/or the Diagram of the Whole Class Discussion on Throat Structure.

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Supplemental Activities on the Nature of Explanatory Models and Model Evolution using History of Science

These activities could be done at the beginning of Part 2 or later.

1. Working in groups of three, teachers can be asked to brainstorm about famous “explanatory models” or theories that have evolved (or completely tanked!) over time. What caused them to change? (Suggested models: the solar system, the spread of disease, inheritance, continental drift, atomic structure, spontaneous generation, the ether, life on Mars, global warming, extinction of the dinosaurs, cold fusion, etc.)
2. Ask each group to share 1 or 2 of the models they discussed and what they knew about the factors that caused the models to change over time.
3. The videoclip Ptolemaic Planetary Model  can be shown as an example of how the explanatory model for the apparent retrograde motion of Saturn has evolved through history.
4. Show the website on the history of models of the Solar System by Rafael Guzman. The Solar System Assignment page can be assigned to accompany the site as homework. Ask teachers to attempt to understand the diagram “Model Development in Theories of the Solar System” on the bottom of the assignment page. 
5. In pairs, in the next class, ask teachers to share their impressions of the Solar System Assignment, focusing on the Model Evolution Diagram. 
6. Have a group discussion. How is the “Model Development in Theories of the Solar System” on the assignment page similar to the Diagram of the Whole Class Discussion on Throat Structure (discussed above under Model Competition).  How is it different?  

Alternatively, teachers can compare the solar system diagram to the excerpt from the paper on A Modeling Discussion For A Batteries And Bulbs Circuit that includes diagrams of student-teacher interactions, if they have read that paper during Part 2.

Microteaching

Course on Model-Based Discussion Leading for Pre-Service Science Teachers - with Microteaching by Grant Williams is a description of a preservice course from 2016 that devoted a majority of the course time to modeling.  Although most instructors will not have this much time, we provide this here as another possibility, partly because of its description of an interesting microteaching component with peer evaluations of modeling strategies.  

References

Other papers that could be useful for background information, or for readings in a course, are available on our Articles page.

Downloads

Course on Model-Based Discussion Leading for Pre-Service Science Teachers - with Microteaching.docx
Diagram of the Whole Class Discussion on Throat Structure.pdf
Key for Model Evaluation and Modification Strategies.pdf 
Key for Model Generation Strategies.pdf
Modeling Discussion For A Batteries And Bulbs Circuit.pdf 
Throat Structure Video Transcript.docx

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