REIMAGING SCIENCE &
MATHEMATICS EDUCATION: THE NEED
FOR A SHARPENED DISCOURSE
Manitoba Education Research Education, March 2012
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Mortensen plays John
Hadler
Passionate, liberal
literature German
professor in the
Thirties - Berlin
Abrupt change in the
political-social climate
of Germany
Challenged to change
‘the curriculum of his
soul”
Proust: As long as men (sic) are free to ask what they
must, free to say what they think, free to think what they
will, freedom can never be lost and science can never
regress (1917).
Self-Consideration Time!
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Think of a ‘typical science or mathematics lesson’, that is,
a lesson that typifies your teaching
Visualize the lesson.
What are you teaching? What is the content or ‘what’
of the lesson? What are the students learning?
‘How’ are you teaching? What are your assumptions
about how learning occurs?
‘Why’ are you teaching? What is the implied learning
focus? What is emphasized? What is of lasting value?
And, ultimately, what is assessed?
What is taught?
What is the focus of the
How is it taught?
What is the teaching?
important
How are you teaching?
learning?
And,
whatwould
wouldbe
be assessed?
What
assessed?
Orientations to Curriculum
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Curriculum of ‘our soul’
Motivations or guiding beliefs about our role as teachers of science
and mathematics
What teachers see as the purpose of science and mathematics
education
This purpose we enact professionally is, typically, embedded within
who we are personally
What we believe is important is evidenced in the emphasis of our
teaching
The priorities, content, conversations, assessment
Both the explicit and implicit curriculum
Elliot Eisner – A Sharpened Discourse
Five Orientations to Curriculum
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Development of cognitive processes – development of
intellectual capacity and processes of inquiry
Academic rationalism – knowledge and skill acquisition
specific for further academic study
Personal Relevance – intrinsic interest and curiosity in
the world around. Building upon student’s past
experiences for their future benefit.
Social Relevance – serving through action the social
outcomes of importance to society and humanity as a
whole – both reproduction and reconstruction
Curriculum as a technology - achieving standardized
curriculum outcomes
Cognitive
Processes
Academic
Rational
Curriculum
Outcomes
Social
ReproductionReconstruction
Personal
Relevance
Manitoba Science Curriculum
Science education will:
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encourage students at all grades to develop a critical sense of wonder and
curiosity about scientific and technological endeavors
enable students to use science and technology to acquire new knowledge
and solve problems, so that they may improve the quality of their own lives
and the lives of others
prepare students to critically address science-related societal, economic,
ethical, and environmental issues
provide students with a proficiency in science that creates opportunities for
them to pursue progressively higher levels of study, prepares them for
science-related occupations, and engages them in science-related hobbies
appropriate to their interests and abilities
develop in students of varying aptitudes and interests a knowledge of the
wide variety of careers related to science, technology, and the environment
Manitoba Science Curriculum
Science Education will:
 encourage students at all grades to develop a critical sense of wonder and
curiosity about scientific and technological endeavors (cognitive processes personal relevance)
 enable students to use science and technology to acquire new knowledge and
solve problems, so that they may improve the quality of their own lives and the
lives of others (cognitive processes – social relevance – social reconstructionist)
 prepare students to critically address science-related societal, economic,
ethical, and environmental issues (cognitive processes -social relevance-social
reconstructionist)
 provide students with a proficiency in science that creates opportunities for
them to pursue progressively higher levels of study, prepares them for sciencerelated occupations, and engages them in science-related hobbies appropriate
to their interests and abilities (academic rationalism – personal relevance)
 develop in students of varying aptitudes and interests a knowledge of the wide
variety of careers related to science, technology, and the environment
(academic rationalism – personal relevance)
Grade 10 Science Cluster 2
S2-2-01 Relate an element’s position on the periodic table to
its combining capacity (valence). Include: alkali metals, alkaline
earths, chalcogens, halogens, noble gases
 S2-2-02 Explain, using the periodic table, how and why
elements combine in specific ratios to form
compounds. Include: ionic bonds, covalent bonds.
 S2-2-03 Write formulas and names of binary ionic
 compounds. Include: IUPAC guidelines and rationale for their
use.
 S2-2-04 Write formulas and names for covalent compounds
using prefixes. Include: mono, di, tri, tetra
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Grade 10 Science Cluster 3
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S2-3-07 Investigate and describe qualitatively Newton’s Third Law.
Examples: balloon car, rockets, head-on collision.
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S2-3-08 Define momentum and impulse and qualitatively relate
impulse to change in momentum for everyday situations.
Include: car collisions, bumpers, restraints, air bags.
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S2-3-09 Investigate the conservation of energy in a motor vehicle
collision.
Include: kinetic energy, potential energy, sound
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S2-3-10 Investigate conditions that illustrate the effects of friction on
motion.
Include: weather conditions, vehicles
Place-Based Education
Messages in MB
Education
Culturally Responsive
Teaching
Problem-Based
Learning
Language-Based
Education
Units of Historical
Representation
Tensions in Curriculum
Teaching for SocioPolitical Action
Context-Based
Teaching
Inquiry-Based Teaching
Community-School Links
Outcomes-Based
Assessment
Career Education
Constructivist Pedagogy
Sustainability Education
Science and
Mathematics Education
for the 21st Century
Environmental
Education
Universal Design
Re-Imaging SCience Education
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Google Search: Science Textbooks
Orientations to Curriculum: Voices
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Development of cognitive processes – development of
intellectual capacity and processes of inquiry
Academic rationalism – knowledge and skill acquisition
specific for further academic study
Personal Relevance – intrinsic interest in the world
around and students’ future benefit
Social Relevance – serving through action the social
outcomes of importance to society and humanity as a
whole
Curriculum as a technology in achieving standardized
curriculum outcomes
Critical Incidents: CRYSTAL
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Messages in science and mathematics education
“Emerging Trends in Science Education”
(1) Views from SYs & MYs teacher candidates
(2) Views from northern & MB MYs students
(3) Views from teachers of science
(4) Views from northern elders and parents
Ideal Science Teaching
The focus is on biomagnification. Well not really learning
the concept but more about its cause and effect.
Students would look (using YouTube) at the nesting of
peregrine falcons on the Radisson Hotel. We’d talk
about how the peregrine population was listed as
critically endangered and why this occurred because of
pesticide use. We’d look at how it accumulates and its
consequence on peregrine population. I would focus on
what processes, both social and political, have caused
banning of some pesticides and the positive
consequence of this on raptor populations. I want them
to know this occurred as a consequence of our actions.
We have the ability to cause good and bad.
Elliot Eisner’s Orientations to Curriculum
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Development of cognitive processes – development of
intellectual capacity and processes of inquiry
Academic rationalism – knowledge and skill acquisition
specific for further academic study
Personal Relevance – intrinsic interest in the world
around
Social Relevance – serving through action the social
outcomes of importance to society and humanity as a
whole
Curriculum as a technology in achieving standardized
curriculum outcomes
Practicum Teaching
It was interesting how this lesson played out. The
students were fascinated with the visual account of
the nesting peregrines, especially that the weather
was still quite harsh when they were hatchlings and
they were on these simple ledges. We focused
mainly on how bioaccumulation occurs. I didn’t get
to the political events that caused these changes. It
was made clear to me by my collaborating teacher
that such things were not that important and it
wouldn’t be on the test. Students just needed to
understand the process.
Teaching
I haven’t been teaching Grade 10, but in Grade 8 &
9. I can’t say that that my [initial] views of what I
would like it to be like have come close to being a
reality. There are some times those conversations
are around issues like that, but it’s not planned.
Mainly we’re working through what is expected.
There’s much to cover and you know that your
students are moving on next year to [high school].
Am I happy about it? No. Am I into changing it? No.
But - I am aware that it’s not the way I want it or
would like it.
Our SYs Teacher Candidates
(2007-2010)
Orientation
Start of Teacher
Education
After First
Practicum
Teachers (Year 1
& 2)
Cognitive Processes
11
6
6
Academic
Rationalism
6
29
17
Personal Relevance
34
14
7
Social Relevance
38
6
7
Curriculum as
Technology
3
21
26
Total
82
80
41
Our MYs Teacher Candidates
(2008-2011)
Orientation
Start of Teacher
Education
After Practicum
Teachers (Year 1
& 2)
Cognitive Processes
6
8
6
Academic
Rationalism
84
38
16
Personal Relevance
42
27
17
Social Relevance
7
11
14
Curriculum as
Technology
36
21
21
Total
124
82
31
Students in Grade 10:
Why Study Chemistry?
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1440 students asked why they chose to study
chemistry in Grade 11
65 classrooms,16 schools, 44 teachers
27 students mentioned personal interest
1367 chose chemistry because:
 Required
in future program of study
 Expected because it was an academic subject
 Keeping options open
Northern Students-MB School Division
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Grade 5-8 students
3 schools in Nunavut, 2 schools in rural MB
72 northern students, 102 rural MB students
When was the last time you felt successful in
science?
2 northern students made mention of ‘grades’external sources of success
95 rural students made mention of external sources
of success – marks, grades and awards
Life Stories of Chemistry Teachers
25
Despite 5 years of professional development focused on
teaching for learning, qualitative data show ...
Teachers still feel that they have a long way to go to achieve a
truly learner focused classroom practice that is more constructivist
and humanistic in nature…..
Constraint – content acquisition and time
It is like for many years we have watched this thing you call ‘education’ occur in
our town. I know there is much that can occur in the school that is good, but it
does not make a person wise. In our culture there is nothing more important
than the learning that makes a person wise. The main thing the southern
culture wants from school is ‘head knowledge’. That is what it has always
emphasized. I do not know why. It intrigues me. Your focus is mainly on the
gaining of a kind of knowledge that seems to have little value in understanding
the world and to make us wise people. I see it has some value, but maybe this
value is only to make someone seem better than another. I think that schools
can become focused on this. I think this is why many of us in the past
questioned the very purpose of schools.
I notice now, we are being asked our stories more these days, just like you are
asking now. People from the south seek our understanding, not just about the
natural world but how we can make the future better, even in the schools. It is
like this book knowledge has not been the only important thing because it does
not have answers for the things that are really important.
I remember days at school where I felt all I was doing was numbers, letters and words, things
I was not that used to. If it wasn’t from a textbook, it was from a worksheet. And one sheet
was followed by another and one page was followed by another. I recall days where it
seemed like me, alone, with just words and numbers and I was supposed to be able to
something with all of these words and numbers. I know that this was the time I did not feel
like I was any good at schooling. I say schooling, because I know now that not being very
good at schooling was what made me think I was no good at school. I understand that now,
but I did not understand that then. I understand now, that success was all about how well I
could use the numbers and words. Do this with them, that with them. That was the schooling
part that I was no good at. I shouldn’t say no good at it because I could do some of it, but not
as fluently as some of the others in the class. We supposedly had good teachers, but I don’t
think so. One teacher was very nice but the focus was all about us working alone with
numbers and letters and how well we did with these was used to find out if we were good
students. .I know about this time I decided I wasn’t a good learner. I fell behind and at the
same time I was deciding I wasn’t a good learner, the teachers were coming to the same
judgment about me. I figured out when I was in my early 20s that I was very smart, but I just
hadn’t been good at one part of schooling. Once I got that in my head, it wasn’t that difficult to
understand that I could have been better at school if schooling asked more of me than to just
work with letters and numbers. I used that as a motivation to learn those things that, I believe,
are still what determines if young children will be successful at school. As a teacher, it is not
easy to shift away from that emphasis. It is important, but it can’t be the only measure of
success.
Who’s Behind the Wheel?
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What are the dominating voices?
Aikenhead – the ‘false crisis’ in science (and mathematics)
education – ‘academically’ driven – not necessarily by
academics
Fensham – change the ‘drivers’
Science (and mathematics) education respected, but not enjoyed
Largely, a focus on the training of a select few instead of an
education for all –
Emerging trends towards social and personal relevance, but
‘academic’ science and mathematics have negated such influence
‘Trend’ is ‘conscious awareness’ of the need for a different driver
– can we continue to be driven by this voice?
Considerations
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Canada and Manitoba
Arguably, most accessible public education in the
world
Arguably, the most qualified teachers in the world
Arguably, the best supported education in the world
Message that dominates and likely to dominate ‘our
curriculum’, even moreso, is academic
It’s result is the marginalization of many for the sake
of a few
Critical time in MB education – be obtuse!