I also like this model for younger students because the project would be based on the idea that there is not only one right answer. So often students are told they are right or wrong and then told why. The real world though is not so black and white and our scientific problems are not easily solved with a "right" answer. In our standardized test prep (blah!) we always tell the students to justify their answer, hoping that the more time spent thinking about a question and how and why it should be answered a certain way, the more likely they will be to answer the question correctly. However, on a multiple choice question, they are going to have a right or a wrong answer. But in the Generating an Argument model, students will always be right if they justify (or at least almost always). Their answer will be judged not by their choice, but on their reasoning and use of the data.
Looking over different data sources online, I realized I had no idea such sites were not only plentiful, but in some cases, so user friendly. I found an incredibly user-friendly site for weather and water data on estuaries throughout the country. I chose a data set on the Chesapeake Bay, which our students study in both science and social studies because of its historical and ecological impact on the area. I can see how making the data more real to the students and making it more relative to their life could make them more motivated to care about the project.
I had the same thought about it being appropriate--or at least adaptable--for kids younger than grade 6. Not that I would expect solid logical arguments from first graders, but it doesn't hurt for them to have some exposure to evidence and reason in forming opinions from early on.
ReplyDeleteI 100% agree with both of you! The earlier the students are exposed or introduced to this, the better!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you wrote this, because I was thinking that is was more suited to middle and up. But you are right and I think your ideas are great. Carrie Clement posted her project on What is a machine, for 4th graders. I thought it was terrific. So, my bad, for not knowing enough about what is going on, or can go on in the younger grades. Kudos to you!
ReplyDeleteIt is so great when we get students solving problems that do not have one correct answer. Students are so trained to "get the answer right" that sometimes that is all they care about! My students constantly ask "is this right?" and I typically reply with something like "what leads you to believe that is it incorrect?" and I tell them that since they asked if it was right or now they must have some doubt in their answer. By then my 7th grade students are confused haha, but they seem to make a decision at that point to keep their original response, or keep working. I don't completely shut them down haha, but it is great when you can get them to make those decisions on their own. It is great that you would do the generate an argument model with 4th graders, I bet they would have a lot of enthusiasm for it! :)
ReplyDeleteI fully agree with you about using this model in elementary school. I think the most critical aspect of science inquiry (and the scientific method) is helping students create evidence-based explanations. It also spills over into critically analyzing science presented in the media.
ReplyDeleteSome folks I know at U of Iowa & Iowa State work specifically with elementary kids at making evidence-based explanations (or arguments) by using the Science Writing Hueristic (they have a couple of books out). My favorite story is of a kindergarten boy that refused to believe that grass was a plant because it didn't have roots. He went home and checked. The next day he came in and said, "I want to change my claim, I have new evidence! Grass has roots, so it is a plant."
I totally agree with you. I teach 5th grade and was almost offended when they mentioned 6th and up. I know my students would be able to do an activity in this model as long as the data was easily accessible and they had the proper background knowledge.
ReplyDelete