From Cognitive Models of Reasoning to Lesson Plans for Inquiry

During the first year of the project, the team described current classroom practice in 5th-8th grade science classes, three different national and state science standards for this age group, and items included on 5th and 8th grade standardized science achievement tests. This detailed discussion of the alignment, or lack thereof, between current instruction and curriculum, standards, and standardized tests provided the research team with an in-depth understanding of what currently happens in science classrooms. This knowledge then was used to demonstrate to the teachers and administrators the need for a coordinated, consistent, and coherent lesson planning process. 

In Year 1, the team also completed two researcher-teaching experiments within two classrooms where students were taught the Control of Variables Strategy using previous methodology that had been demonstrated to be effective in the laboratory. The classroom version of the instruction also proved successful. 

In Year 2, the team carried out the researcher-teacher experiment over 20 weeks in three separate 6th grade classrooms across three different schools, using novel lesson plans. Overall the experiment was highly successful, but during this year that the team confronted the pragmatic constraints placed on teachers in terms of the amount of topics and information that they are expected to instruct in depth. Time constraints make attaining all of the goals extremely difficult, and so the team, in conjunction with the teachers, made decisions about which topics to address in depth, and which to address more superficially. This information was critically important to the team’s development of a feasible lesson planning method.

In Year 3, the project moved into 7th grade classrooms, and lesson plans revised with the knowledge were implemented in 4 schools. The lesson plans were co-developed with teachers this year and they created a set of prototype lesson planning tools that other teachers can use. Three of the four schools were successful at increasing the participation of students in science fairs, and many of the students did quite well. In the one school where the researcher was still heavily involved improvement in standardized achievement scores was found. 

The final year of the project was spent working with the teachers and transferring the responsibility for the lesson plans from a researcher-led team to a teacher-led team. Building on lesson plans constructed in prior years, the teachers worked together to meet the goal for the year: to continue to use and adapt the methods from previous years to reduce the topics taught and increase the depth to which topics are taught, and to concentrate efforts on engaging students in meaningful projects that they would eventually present at science fairs. These goals were met, and student success at the local and regional science fairs far exceeded expectations.