Teaching Science Through Inquiry in Kindergarten and Grades 1&2 by WELMOET DAMSMA AMSTEL Instituut University of Amsterdam June 2011 A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree MASTER OF MATHEMATICS & SCIENCE EDUCATION ii Abstract This thesis reports on the development and evaluation of a lesson series about mirrors for grades 1&2 and Kindergarten. The main goals of the lesson series were to arouse interest in science in the children, to let the children work inquiry-based and to give the teacher an easy-to-use science module. The lesson series was developed with specific conditions in mind, such as easy usability and no necessity for the teacher to have prior knowledge. Two teachers were involved in the developmental phase, three more teachers tested the materials afterward. Most lessons were observed, some were videotaped. Students and teachers were post-interviewed. Afterwards, experiments were done with the children to establish how much they learned from the lessons. The interviews and lesson analysis show that the lesson series does fulfill the initial conditions (such as being inquiry-based and easy-to-use). The students and teachers were all very enthusiastic about the lessons and students’ interest in science was aroused. The students also remember the lessons very well and could reproduce the results of the lessons months after the lessons took place. What exactly they learned about the science behind mirrors remains unclear. The teachers evaluated the materials in a positive way and expressed their intent to use them again. iii iv Postscript What happened to the mirror lesson materials and to the researcher/developer after the thesis data had been collected? By the end of the 2007/2008 school year the two rounds of piloting and revising of the mirror materials had been completed. Presentation in several workshops for primary teachers met with a positive response. Then the VTB Pro team of the Hogeschool van Amsterdam decided to include mirrors as one session in a 7-session in-service training course which was offered to about 400 teachers between 2008 and 2010. Feedback from teachers and evaluation research of Thomas van Eijck showed that the mirror materials were the most frequently used in the classrooms compared to other modules and materials presented in the course. Magic Mirrors indeed does indeed have a low threshold for teachers and triggers enthusiastic participation of children. The perceived low threshold by teachers and therefore limited preparation can lead to missed opportunities in teaching as Welmoet points out in this thesis. The teacher guide and the worksheets were also translated into English and distributed in the EU POLLEN project. An article was published in Science & Children, the science education journal for primary teachers in the USA with a circulation of 20,000 copies. Mirrors was presented at several international conferences and workshops. A list of publications has been provided below. Meanwhile Welmoet Damsma has been working as a physics instructor and developer at the Hogeschool van Amsterdam. Amongst others she developed and taught the minor in science and technology for elementary education majors. This elective minor will run for the third year in 2011-12 with a stable enrollment. She also pioneered the internship scheme in which elementary education students carried out joint development projects with science and technology students in elementary schools. At present Welmoet is heavily involved in shaping the science and technology program for a new joint university-hogeschool program for elementary teacher education (UPvA). Ed van den Berg, thesis supervisor “Mirror” publications and presentations Damsma, W. (2007, 2009). Spiegeltje, spiegeltje aan de wand (docentenhandleiding voor groep 1&2 en voor groep 3&4). http://www.pollen-europa.nl/ewt/#toc4 Damsma, W. (2009). Mirror, mirror on the wall. Teacher guide and worksheets. http://tinyurl.com/mirrorpollen Damsma, W., Berg, E. van den, Manneveld, G. (2008). Spiegels, een lessenserie voor de eerste vier jaar van de basisschool. NVOX, 33(6), 242-244. Damsma, W., Manneveld, G., Berg, E. van den (2008). Mirrors: Seven lessons for kindergarten or grades 1 & 2. Poster presented at the biennial GIREP Conference, Nicosia, 17 – 22 August, 2008. Damsma, W., Berg, E. van den, Manneveld, G. (2009). The Magic Mirror! Science and Children,47(4), 45-47. Damsma, W., Berg, E. van den (2010). Magic Mirrors for Key Stage 1, ASE Annual Conference, University of Nottingham (workshop, 22 participants) v vi Preface They say beginnings are seldom easy, but I find endings are no peanuts either. This thesis cost a lot of thinking and sorting and ordering and changing the whole thing around yet again. Luckily, people were patient. This project started as a way of really 'doing something'. It is not my wish to only do things in theory. And since I did not know what I would get myself into, I just jumped right in. Well, they also say: "When one teaches, two learn". I would like to thank all people who listened to my stories about the lesson series and gave me good advice. I would especially like to thank my supervisor Ed van den Berg and my sometimes co- researcher and adviser Gerda Manneveld. Of course, a big thank you goes to all the teachers that participated in this project at De Nieuwe Kring: Machtelt van der Meer, Karin Fontijn, Frank Hoefnagels, Maartje Jongen, Ellen van Gullik and Anita Beerthuizen. For all their students: Thank you for being inquisitive and enthusiastic! vii viii Table of contents 1. INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Motivation for this design study ................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 Aims and research questions ...................................................................................................................................... 1 1.3 Structure of the thesis ................................................................................................................................................. 2 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................................................................. 3 2.1 What is primary science? ........................................................................................................................................... 3 2.2 Situation of primary science in the Netherlands ........................................................................................................ 8 2.3 Inquiry-based learning ............................................................................................................................................. 11 2.4 The Reggio Emilia Approach ..................................................................................................................................... 20 2.5 The young child ........................................................................................................................................................ 21 2.6 Differentiation in the classroom ............................................................................................................................... 24 2.7 Light & mirrors ........................................................................................................................................................ 25 2.8 Summary ................................................................................................................................................................... 31 3. DESIGN FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................................................................. 33 3.1 Research questions ................................................................................................................................................... 33 3.2 Method ..................................................................................................................................................................... 34 3.3 Chronological overview of research project ............................................................................................................ 35 3.4 The request of the school .......................................................................................................................................... 36 3.5 Design rules ............................................................................................................................................................. 37 3.6 Process of lesson development ................................................................................................................................. 40 4. OVERVIEW LESSON SERIES ....................................................................................................................................... 41 4.1 Overview .................................................................................................................................................................. 41 4.2 Lesson 1: Explore the mirror ................................................................................................................................... 44 4.3 Lesson 2: Discovering more mirrors ........................................................................................................................ 47 4.4 Lesson 3: The magic mirror ..................................................................................................................................... 50 4.5 Lesson 4: The double mirror ................................................................................................................................... 52 4.6 Lesson 5: Reflection ................................................................................................................................................. 56 4.7 Lesson 6: Symmetry .................................................................................................................................................. 59 4.8 Lesson 7 .................................................................................................................................................................... 61 4.9 Inquiry stages and process skills in mirror series .................................................................................................... 64 5. RESULTS ........................................................................................................................................................................... 67 5.1 Results of cycle 1 ...................................................................................................................................................... 67 ix 5.2 Results of cycle 2 ...................................................................................................................................................... 75 5.3 Post-experimenting with students ............................................................................................................................. 85 6. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION ............................................................................................................................... 93 6.1 Research Question 1: How do the teachers use the lesson materials? .................................................................... 93 6.2 Research question 2: Are the objectives of the lesson series achieved? .................................................................. 95 6.3 The developed lesson materials ................................................................................................................................ 96 AFTERWORD ..................................................................................................................................................................... 101 REFERENCES .................................................................................................................................................................... 103 APPENDICES ...................................................................................................................................................................... 108 A. TEACHER MANUAL KINDERGARTEN ............................................................................................................................. 108 B. TEACHER MANUAL GRADES 1&2 .................................................................................................................................. 108 C. WORKSHEETS ................................................................................................................................................................ 108 D. INTERVIEWS TEACHERS ................................................................................................................................................. 108 E. VIDEOTAPED LESSONS ................................................................................................................................................... 116 F. REPORTS LESSON OBSERVATIONS .................................................................................................................................. 118 x