Experimentation Protocol

12-13 December 2008

Sofia

3rd Meeting

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

EUCLIDES – Enhancing the Use of Cooperative Learning to Increase Development of Science studies134246-LLP-1-2007-1-IT-COMENIUS-CMP

PBL Quick Facts What is PBL? PBL is not a new model of instruction. Plato and Socrates required

that their students think, retrieve information for themselves, search for new ideas and debate them in a scholarly environment.

Where did PBL come from? PBL was officially adopted as a pedagogical approach in 1968 at McMaster University, a Canadian medical school, because students were unable to apply their basic scientific knowledge to clinical situations.

How Does it Work? Students in small groups investigate and analyze problems/scenarios. Using an organizer process of; 1) identifying the FACTS in the problem/scenario; 2) generating their IDEAS about the scenario/problem and identifying just "what is the problem?"; 3) finally identifying the things they have to LEARN about - in order to test their hypotheses (ideas).

Why is this an effective science approach? The use of this three step inquiry-organizer helps students become familiar with a scientist’s reasoning process, to fill the gaps in their own knowledge base, and to use their newly acquired knowledge to refine or discard their ideas thus generating a whole new set of LEARNING NEEDS.

PBL Quick Facts Some of the benefits of pbl

• student centred (understanding the needs of the student learner)

• integrative (skills and content)

• problem-based (eg real world real time problems)• self-directed (eg pursue own learning enquiry and often

manage complex timetabling)

• collaborative(often for staff and students)

• reflective

• creative… encourages making connections and thinking ‘outside the box’

PBL Quick Facts Some skills developed through pbl

• INTELLECTUAL Generic-critical reasoning, creative thinking, problem-working

• INTELLECTUAL Subject knowledge and understanding- eg interdisciplinarity

• PRACTICAL/APPLIED Generic- formulating hypotheses, designing investigative strategies, information gathering, information handling, evaluating information

• COMMUNICATION -presenting (oral/written/graphic)

• INTERPERSONAL-teamwork

• SELF AND CAREER MANAGEMENT - timemanagement, group management…

PBL Quick Facts Some skills developed through pbl

PBL Quick Facts The PBL process

PBL Quick Facts Interdisciplinarity

"... the problems of the world do not come in simple disciplinary containers. There are interconnections between ecology and economics, for example, and between them and politics. In the end, all knowledge is connected.........”

– Barnett, R. 1990. The Idea of Higher Education. The Society for Research into Higher Education/Open University Press. p176

PBL in EUCLIDES: Working phases

SETTINGSETTING

SCENARIOSCENARIO

RESEARCHRESEARCH PATHPATH

PRODUCT CONSTRUCTIONPRODUCT CONSTRUCTION

PRESENTATION OF THE FINAL PRODUCTPRESENTATION OF THE FINAL PRODUCT

EVALUATION EVALUATION

1st PHASESETTING – creating the cooperation working environment

(2 hours) – cooperation work in school

- definition of the roles of the teacher and students - group organisation (criteria)- system of rules: construction and sharing (e.g. definition of roles, secretary, facilitator, technician, person in charge of data collecting, other)- construction of a work ethic for the group work (and of the group participants)- establishing the typology of products presentation (communication of results)- single out the assessment instruments (e.g. credits…)- sharing the criteria and tools for the documentation

1st PHASESETTING – creating the cooperation working environment

How do I safeguard the integrity of the process? The integrity of the process depends to a great extent on the groups themselves. Groups are kept small, approximately 4/5 students and a facilitator.

At the beginning of the process, group norms are set by the students in the group. Norms include but are not limited to: Respect for everyone’s ideas – no idea is "stupid"; not interrupting someone else while they are speaking; in other words "what should be OK in this process and what should not be OK – the rules of the game".

Students must establish ground rules and help create a comfortable climate for collaborative learning. The most important task is to establish a non-judgmental climate in which students recognize and articulate what they know and what they do not know.

1st PHASE

SETTING – creating the cooperation working environment

Some key words

Work togetherRespect each otherRespect the rulesBe responsible for your workShare informationListen and explainUse low/quite voiceCompliment each otherDisagreeing in a constructive way

1st phase product

THE PRODUCT:

A DOCUMENT SHOWING

- AGREED DECISIONS

- CONTRACT

2nd Phase

SCENARIO:PRESENTATION of a incentive situation/scenario and Problem

outlining(6 hours - 4 group and 2 collective)

Creating PBL Scenarios Ideas for PBL scenarios can come from almost anywhere; literature,

television programming, news programs or newspapers articles

By use of graphics, animation, audio or video, the learner can experience an information-rich representation that can alert the learner to important physical and social contexts that are relevant to the task (Hoffman &

Ritchie). This leads to greater cognitive fidelity between the real world and the learning task.

2nd PhaseSCENARIO:Introduce an "ill-structured" problem/scenario to students.

They should not have enough prior knowledge to solve the problem. This simply means they will have to gather necessary information or learn new concepts, principles, or skills as they engage in the problem-solving process.

They learn to investigate the same way as scientists.Problem based learning is the best way for students to learn how to

conduct real life science investigations. They apply many strategies such as: asking questions, designing experiments, and developing a hypothesis

When using the scientific method in combination with problem based learning, students develop a better understanding of experimental investigations.

The best types of investigations for this strategy are science mysteries. Students use critical thinking skills as they design and conduct an investigation to solve a mystery.

Scenario ExampleThe numbers of frogs in the school’s pond are decreasing suddenly. The students are asked to investigate what is happening to the frogs.

Some say bats are eating the frogs. Others say someone is dumping chemicals into the water. Still others say snakes are eating the frogs. Another strong rumor is the water is becoming polluted.

Students now need to find out what is already known about the frogs to begin their investigation.

2nd phase

The principal idea behind problem-based learning(pbl)…..is that the starting point for learning should be a problem, a

query or a puzzle that the learner wishes to solve.

‘Scenario’ for pbl can be given as text/story/critical incident, Cartoons/pictures, Photographs, Audio tapes, Video clips, newspaper article, email etc.etc….anything that ‘triggers’ the learning process! •

2nd PhasePRESENTATION of a incentive situation/scenario and Problem

outlining(6 hours - 4 group and 2 collective)

Each group will: - set a series of questions connected with incentives (free

discussion)- choose the topic to work on according to the questions- define the problem- analyse the problem- review and organise competences with regard to aspects

already analysed and Explore the issues. What do I already know and believe about this topic and how can I share that with my team-mates?

- outline what is not yet known in order to formulate a hypothetical solution to the problem

- set hypothesis and objectives of the research work

2nd PhaseList what is known. Student groups list what they know about the scenario.

This information is kept under the heading: "What do we know?" This may include data from the situation as well as information based on prior knowledge.

Develop a problem statement. A problem statement should come from the students' analysis of what they know. The problem statement will probably have to be refined as new information is discovered and brought to bear on the situation. Typical problem statements may be based on discrepant events, incongruities, anomalies, or stated needs of a client.

List what is needed. Presented with a problem, students will need to find information to fill in missing gaps. A second list is prepared under the heading: "What do we need to know?" These questions will guide searches that may take place on-line, in the library, and in other out-of-class searches.

List possible actions, recommendations, solutions, or hypotheses. Under the heading: "What should we do?" students list actions to be taken (e.g., questioning an expert), and formulate and test tentative hypotheses.

2nd Phase

Teachers as facilitators

• Questioning (what have you learnt in the past about that…? ie building on prior experience)• Remaining silent at times• Guiding (have you thought of…?)• Challenging (how does that work..?)• Playing Devil’s Advocate ( an alternative scenario might be…?)• Stimulate discussion –if they get stuck ( do you know from other work of any examples….? what might the pitfalls be….? have you thought abouttime/cost/social/political/ethical factors etc etc)• Monitor group process and respond effectively to undermining behaviours ( I thought that you agreed that…?)• Keep track of progress

2nd Phase

What makes a good scenario?

• Close to reality• Appropriate to the student contexts• Aligned to learning outcomes and assessment (appropriate to the level of study)• Appropriate level of complexity/openness• Challenging & sustaining (Engaging, Active and Motivating to all learningstyles)• Beyond knowledge and recall

2nd Phase Product

PRODUCT: EACH GROUP WILL INFORM THE OTHERS IN THE COURSE OF A MEETING ABOUT THE WORK DONE AND ASSESS IT WITH COLLEAGUES AND TEACHERS.

Third phase

REALIZATION OF THE RESEARCH ITINERARY/PATH (6 hours group work in school + online activity + 2 hours of

collective work) Guided observation

- Resources outlining (e.g. bibliography and sitography)

- Data and information analysis

- Group re-elaboration of data and information

- First hand hypothesis formulation

Often this involves failures as students discover that what they discovered is not enough to solve the problem.  It involves a lot of talking – stating ideas, defending propositions, and criticizing

What do we know?

What do we need to know?

What should we do?

.. .. ..

3rd phase Product

PRODUCTS:

- EACH GROUP WILL INFORM THE OTHER ONE IN THE COURSE OF A MEETING ABOUT THE WORK DONE AND ASSESS IT WITH COLLEAGUES AND TEACHERS

- PREPARATION OF THE FRST DRAFT OF THE FINAL PRESENTATION (the presentation can be also a video to be forecast in EUCLIDES Web TV)

4th phase

1) ASSESSMENT OF THE SOLUTION TO THE INITIAL PROBLEM

(1 hour)

Each group will assess the validity of the work carried out. If positive, they move on to step n. 5, otherwise the cycle will be repeated from step n. 3.

Last steps

1) CREATING THE PRODUCT FOR THE PRESENTATION

(the timetable is determined by the type of product)

Planning and realisation of the product

2) PRESENTATION OF FINAL PRODUCT

3) GROUP SELF-ASSESSMENT

EVALUATION: some indicators

Ability to group work and participation to social climateRespect of time and role within the groupKnowledge of scientific languageAbility to establish links between conceptsAbility to build a theory from observationAbility to single out and analyse a problem

TruthseekingOpenmindednessInquisitivenessSystematicityCognitive MaturityAnalyticity

EVALUATION: some indicators

3 ? Accurately interprets evidence, statements, graphics, questions etc. ? Identifies relevant arguments (reasons and claims) pro and con. ? Offers analyses and evaluations of obvious alternative points of view. ? Draws warranted, non-fallacious conclusions. ? J ustifies some results or procedures, explains reasons. ? Fair-mindedly follows where evidence and reasons lead.

Level Consistently does all or almost all of the following: 4 ? Accurately interprets evidence, statements, graphics, questions etc.

? Identifies the salient arguments (reasons and claims) pro and con. ? Thoughtfully analyzes and evaluates major alternative points of view. ? Draws warranted, judicious, non-fallacious conclusions. ? J ustifies key results and procedures, explains assumptions and reasons. ? Fair-mindedly follows where evidence and reasons lead.

2 ? Misinterprets evidence, statements, graphics, questions etc. ? Fails to identify strong, relevant counter-arguments. ? Ignores or superficially evaluates obvious alternative points of view. ? Draws unwarranted or fallacious conclusions. ? J ustifies few results or procedures, seldom explains reasons. ? Regardless of the evidence or reasons, maintains or defends views based on self-interest or preconceptions.

1 ? Offers biased interpretations of evidence, statements, graphics, questions, information, or the points of view of others. ? Fails to identify or hastily dismiss strong, relevant counter-arguments. ? Ignores or superficially evaluates obvious alternative points of view. ? Argues using fallacious or irrelevant reasons. ? Does not justify results or procedures, nor explain reasons. ? Regardless of the evidence or reasons, maintains or defends views based on self-interest or preconceptions. ? Exhibits close-mindedness or hostility to reason.

Thanks for your kind attentionNow let’s work!

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

EUCLIDES – Enhancing the Use of Cooperative Learning to Increase Development of Science studies134246-LLL-1-2007-IT-COMENIUS-CMP