Learning and Teaching Aspects of Inquiry-based Chemistry Experiment

1. Learning and Teaching Aspects of Inquiry-based Chemistry Experiment

2. What is chemistry?

3. How to help students learn chemistry?

4. Why chemistry is difficult to learn? • Matter can be represented on the macroscopic, particulate, and symbolic levels. • It is important to provide opportunity for students to link up their understanding through hands-on activities, processing of information and thinking.

5. Practical work – an important component in science learning • Cognitive domain: • Improve pupils’ understanding of science • Promote their conceptual development • Illustrate, verify or affirm “theory work”.

6. Practical work – an important component in science learning • Skills domain: • Develop manipulative skills • Promote higher-level, transferable skills(such as observation, measurement, prediction and inference) • Develop communication skills

7. Practical work – an important component in science learning • Affective domain : • Practical work is motivating and exciting • Generate interest and enthusiasm • Help learners to remember things

8. Two types of practical work Verification Inquiry-based / Investigation Inquiry involves raising questions, posing explanations, testing them for validity, and presenting the evidence to others. (Yager, 2001)

9. What is the present situation? • “Cookbook” dominated  Ownership? • Do students have opportunity to decide on / think about data collection strategies to be used in an experiment? • “Hands-on”“Minds-on”?

10. Science as Inquiry – the NSESs • Design and conduct a scientific investigation • Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather, analyze and interpret data • Apply critical thinking skills to establish relationships between evidence and explanations

11. The NSESs claim that students who are involved with inquiry are the ones who: • better understand basic science concepts • develop an appreciation of "how we know" the science that we think we know • understand the real nature of science • develop the needed skills to become independent inquirers • can use the skills, abilities, and attitudes associated with science and scientists

12. ASE’s Recommendation: • Teaching and learning in science should provide opportunities for learners to: • enquire, predict and hypothesize • explore, observe, investigate and discover • solve problems • discriminate, judge and evaluate • …

13. Learning Objectives Excerpts from UK Scheme of Work for KS3 Unit 9M “Investigating scientific questions” http://www.standards.dfee.gov.uk/pdf/secondaryschemes/sci9m.pdf

14. Pan-Canadian Protocol for Collaboration on School Curriculum • Skills It is expected that students will... • Initiating and planning • Performing and recording • Analysing and interpreting • Communication and teamwork

15. Science as Inquiry –Science education in Hong Kong

16. What is an inquiry-based chemistry experiment? • addressing problems • making hypotheses • designing ALL or PART of the experimental procedures • decide what and how data to record, to analyse and to interpret • drawing conclusions • making evaluation

17. What do students acquire in S1-3? The ability to • observe closely and carefully • classify • measure accurately • handle equipment and apparatus properly and safely • infer from observations and experimental data • predict • propose hypotheses • interpret data • control variables

18. The new chemistry curriculum –Skills and Thinking Processes “performing experiments to ……” expect • more instructions to help students develop practical skills “designing and performing experiments to ……” expect • less instructions but more space to students to carry out inquiry-based learning

19. The new chemistry curriculum –Skills and Thinking Processes Example:

20. The new chemistry curriculum –Skills and Thinking Processes Example:

21. The new chemistry curriculum –Skills and Thinking Processes Example:

22. The new chemistry curriculum –Skills and Thinking Processes Example:

23. The new chemistry curriculum –Skills and Thinking Processes Example:

24. Prepare for implementation • Analyse current situation and reflect critically • Strength Weakness Opportunity Threat (SWOT) • review current practice • understand culture • Share experience • Develop vision and visualize potential benefits

25. Resources for implementation • Resources on inquiry-based chemistry experiments • acquire • modify • develop • Equipment and apparatus • Textbooks • Reference books • MSDS

26. Prepare people for implementation • Team building • panel chairman • teachers • laboratory technician • Work and teach collaboratively to bring the best skills to make learning meaningful • Find creative ways of looking at using existing resources and making better use of them • Develop mission and implementation plan together

27. Implementing tip #1 • Prepare students to • review their concepts and understanding about scientific investigation or inquiry • develop their and practical skills • learn how to develop a plan and write a report • Allow students to use inquiry for learning

28. Implementing tip #2 • Remind students to consider safety issues • Provide adequate safety instruction and feedbacks to students’ plans • Provide personal protection equipment (PPE) and access to fume cupboard etc. for students and remind them to use

29. Prepare for implementation • Be ready for • noise (unavoidable for active learning, healthy phenomenon) • encountering a little messy at start • students are not ready to write their own reports, start with small

30. Evaluation • Work with students, laboratory technicians and fellow teachers to review the implementation • Positive and negative comments are equally useful • Be prepare to make changes and seek ways to improve

31. How many? • What is the number of inquiry-based chemistry experiments needed?

32. Reference Article • Title: A Model for Extending Hands-On Science to Be Inquiry Based. • Author: Huber, Richard A.; Moore, Christopher J. • Source: School Science & Mathematics, Jan 2001, Vol. 101 Issue 1, p32 • Abstract: Presents a model describing one approach for extending hands-on activities into inquiry-based science lessons. Disadvantages of student's engagement in worksheet and textbook-based hands-on activities; Facilitation of students in planning investigation; Implication for the professional development of science teachers.

33. Reference Book • Title: Inquiry-based experiments in chemistry • Author: Valerie Ludwig Lechtanski • Publisher: Washington, D.C. : American Chemical Society ; Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2000.

34. Thank You