Tim Allison:  A Virtual Portfolio

'Traditional Instruction:' A Commentary

Metareflection:

The reflection located below was written after a month of constructivist indoctrination.  It reflects the change that was occurring in the way I thought about science instruction.  It clearly states my views on 'traditional instruction' at the time, while I was still trying to sort through some of the differences between the constructivist approaches that were being promoted at the faculty and the behaviourist approaches to which I had become accustomed.  Behaviourist methods of instruction probably benefit so few that their use falls somewhere between elitist and indefensible.  Constructivist methods, as is pointed out in the reflection below, take the focus off of the academic elite and allow all students in the class to have equal opportunity of a positive learning experience.

Science classes, as is pointed out by Millar and Driver (p. 56), should have an "enabling rather than an alienating function."  Allowing children to direct their own learning, based on their curiosity, and within broad parameters set by the teacher, enables students to come to an understanding of scientific principles and processes.  Yager (p. 3), for example, suggests that science teachers "[use] student thinking, experiences, and interests to drive lessons...[use] open-ended questions...[encourage] students to suggest causes for events and situations...[encourage] students to test their own ideas...[and encourage] cooperative learning strategies," among other things, to improve our students' understanding of the science material.  Gallas (p. 14) agrees, with the statement that "the process of scientific discovery is firmly rooted in intuition and imagination."  Finally, Millar and Driver (p. 56) state that "effective science teachers...promote active learning...by devising activities which involve students in such activities as observing...classifying, hypothesizing...inferring, experimenting, problem-solving...negotiating meanings, clarifying purposes, evaluating alternatives, [and] developing logical arguments."    Through such activities, our students may better be able to "comprehend the problem and each of the alternatives from a scientific and social perspective" (Volkmann, p. 105); thus achieving the "coherent scientific perspective" discussed by Gilbert, Osborne and Fensham (p. 630).

In the multicultural, inclusive classroom, these statements are no less true than in the classroom of thirty or forty years ago.  It is an important part of our role as science teachers, to foster an understanding and an enjoyment of science in all of our students.

Original Reflection

Students bring varied cultural understandings, varied language backgrounds, and a wide variety of previous experiences to school.  Students will also range widely in their interests, in their aptitudes for a particular subject, and in their reading and writing abilities.  In addition many students with identified learning difficulties and disabilities are included in regular classrooms, sometimes with the support of specialists and sometimes without.

The growing diversity of classrooms presents both challenges and opportunities for teachers.  Traditional instruction based on textbook readings, lectures, memorization, and formal academic expository writing will simply not serve the needs of all students.  (Alvermann & Phelps, p. 97)

    That classroom demographics have changed a great deal in the past thirty to forty years is a fact that few would argue.  In fact, I believe that this paragraph would have been just as true when I started school twenty years ago.  I was in classes with children of several nationalities, races, and linguistic backgrounds throughout my schooling in Ottawa.  In many ways, however, the range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds in the average urban Canadian school has increased dramatically since then.  Living in a different culture from the one you’re used to and being surrounded by a language you don’t know is a challenging and unique experience (having spent just over 16 months in east Asia, I can understand many of the challenges that people face in this situation).  The thought of attending classes and needing to learn the material, as well as the regular challenges of an unfamiliar environment, is something that I can’t even imagine.  This is an issue to which teachers must be increasingly sensitive, as the “non-western” immigrant population in Canada increases.

    The other aspects mentioned in this passage, are things that teacher have always dealt with – or should always have dealt with.  Contrary to what the last sentence says, I believe that “traditional instruction” will not serve the needs of most students.  Traditional instruction is dreadfully boring, unless one is very keen.  I was able to do well in most of my science and language courses in high school only because I was thoroughly interested in the material.  I found my other classes less interesting and considerably more challenging as a result; they required endless hours of hard work for grades that were merely acceptable to me.  I always felt that I would have been able to do better if the material had been presented in a different way – in a way that was more stimulating and had more relevance to my life.  Work in other classes has reinforced my view that students will learn much better, and much more easily, if they are more involved in its presentation; and if it is presented in a context that they find interesting and relevant to their lives.  Giving students independent, hands-on work not only allows them time to look at these aspects of what they are studying, but gives the teacher time to check up on students who are having difficulty with the material, such as ESL students or those who have learning difficulties.

    This is not to say that “traditional instruction” has no place in the classroom.  Textbooks, lecture, and writing all have their place, but they should be combined with less dull forms of instruction such as class or small group discussion; self-directed projects; or experiential activities, so that students have a way to better understand the material.  Perhaps I’m a bit of an idealist, but if it were done properly and could be done so that the course material could still be covered, this would be a tremendously beneficial way to teach students.  It seems to me that “traditional instruction” focuses on the abilities of the academic elite and treads underfoot those who cannot learn as well by those methods.  In the face of our rapidly changing classes, our teaching styles must become as diverse as our students, so that the needs of all students are served.

 Source cited:
Alvermann, D.E. and Phelps, S.F.  (2002).  Content Reading and literacy:  Succeeding in
    today's diverse classrooms.  Boston:  Allyn & Bacon.