What's in your toolbox of Knowledge?

So I was reading a paper titled "Those who understand: Knowledge Growth in Teaching" by Lee S. Shulman (http://www.jstor.org/stable/1175860). It was very interesting as it covers the origin of teaching and the curriculum from Aristotle through to medieval universities, as well as the standard of  teaching and testing. What grabbed me was the 3 forms of knowledge suggested that all good teachers need: Content, Curricular and Pedagogical Content knowledge.

Content knowledge refers to the understanding of the subject by the teacher, like the main concepts and theories around a specific topic. Regurgitation of facts is apparently not enough (Duh! yet we've all had at least one of those teachers). Teachers with a good content knowledge, also have a grasp on the syntax, "the rules" of the subject. They need to be able to explain why and how certain facts are as well as how that fact may change depending on the field e.g. the various definitions for "species"........(Google it!)

Curricular knowledge is the information that surround the topic of interest, how to teach the topic and what materials and programs there are to assist you (lesson plans). It also relies on the ability to relate the topic to other topics that will be taught at a later stage as well as other courses.

Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) is how to bring the content knowledge across to the student - like diagrams, examples and demonstrations. The teaching approach and different form of assessment falls within PCK as well. It also includes the teacher understanding what about the subject makes it difficult for the learner to understane, and alternatively what is easy about the subject. This has a lot to do with pre- and misconceptions that the student brings along with the them about the topic.

By combining these 3 factors, the student recieves the best from you as the teacher and vice versa.

Initially I was confused by the whole concept of PCK, but it really is just thinking out of the box and finding different ways to bring across the same information so that your students understand it. The paper "A genetics game" by Haws and Bauer (http://www.jstor.org/stable/pdfplus/4451171.pdf?acceptTC=true) brings this idea across. The game itself covers topics like mutation, dominance/recessive traits and mixing and lets the learners create their own critters with different triats. By actually letting the learners play with the concept of gentic exchange and gene variability, it allows them to get a better grasp and understanding of the topic. The game also allows for discussion at the end and familirises the students with the terminiology.

I think its important for teachers to be aware of these 3 types of knowledge. If learners are struggling with a topic, it could be solved by bettering your (the teacher) understanding of the topic, trying to link the topic with another subject to assist in understanding or to find a new approach to dealing with it.

"Those who can do, those who understand, teach" - Shulman

Dr. Seuss and Biology? Really??!

Source: www.cinecon.com

So we all know about " The Cat in the Hat" and "Horton hears a who" & "How the Grinch stole Christmas"  (thanks Hollywood) but Dr. Seuss has written many more like "Green Eggs and Ham" & "One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish". Our task this week was to read "The Lorax" and find out how to link it to biology and use it as a teaching aid. .....Sorry what? .....How?

So a summary: curtain opens on a boy walking down to the Once-ler to find out about the Lorax. Long ago, the Once-ler discovers a rich fertile land with Truffula trees. He sees their fluffy tops and decides to make a thneed (a knitted top which he says everyone will want). When he chops down his first tree a Lorax appears and discourages him from the business as the Lorax "speaks for the trees". Unfortunately for the Lorax, the Thneed business succeeds and the Once-lers' aunts and uncles arrives to help expand the factory. He even mechanises to make harvesting the Truffula trees easier.

Source: http://www.joannemeszoly.com/2009_04_01_archive.html

The Lorax constantly arrives with warnings, and as the environment becomes more and more degraded, the Lorax sends the animals away: the Brown Bar-ba-loots (lack of food), Swomee Swans (air pollution) and Humming Fish (water pollution). Eventually due to growing demand and the company expanding, the last Truffula tree is cut down. The company closes, the Once-lers' aunts and uncles leave, and so does the Lorax, leaving the Once-ler alone in the degraded in the environment. 

The Lorax leaves behind a rubble of rocks with the words "unless" on them. The Once-ler tells the boy (who's listening) that unless he does something about the environment, it won't change. The Once-ler then hands him the last Truffula seed to take care of and possibly restart the forest.

Obviously done with much more finesse and a Dr. Seuss rhyming scheme + pretty pictures.

What was exciting was that this is a piece of work with an origin in Literature that I could successfully apply to Biology.

 I decided that I would use this to introduce the topic of environmental degradation and sustainability, and tie in the real life events that occurred on the Easter Island, where islanders shot themselves in the foot by over-harvesting trees and eventually they couldn't fish for food and then resorted to cannibalism (true story), leaving behind huge stone monoliths.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/20422.php?from=154907

I had 2 approaches for dealing with this topic.

APPROACH 1: Read the Lorax first, then tell the students a basic intro to Easter Island and ask them for suggestions to what they think happened on the island using what they just read in the Lorax. From this delve into the causes of the Easter Island Population crash, explaining sustainable development.

APPROACH 2: Ask the students to give the mistakes made in the story that led to the environments' destruction. I would over-simplify the mistakes and make it seem ridiculously simple and that these mistake couldn't actually happen. Then blind side them with the fact that this has already happen and is happening - DUM DUM DUM!!! 

What I like is that this story is that its message is so simple, and you decide how much detail you want to delve into, that it can be used as a tool from grade 7 up to university. It just shows that virtually anything can be used as a teaching aid, we just have to open our mind a little wider.

"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple" - Dr. Seuss 

First Post

So this blog is basically feed back on the course I am currently doing at the University of the Western Cape. Its called Biology in Education and its taught by Dr Lorna Holtman. It deals with various teaching theories and methodologies and how to link it to biology, the course looks at how to get your students involved and how to appeal to them to learn.

As my timetable is often shifty, I will update posts by class rather than by date, as there is no guarantee I will have the time to update after each class.

Losta Love

:D