Penn State Intercom......February
1, 2001
Innovative approach
leads to better learning
By Alan Janesch
Public
Information
When Michele Daughenbaugh's first-graders study magnetism in their science class at Park Forest Elementary School, they're not just reading about the properties of magnets in an old textbook. They perform experiments, write down what they observe, form hypotheses and draw conclusions -- and they really get it.
"After the classes they tell me how magnets attract and repel, and all about the Earth's magnetic force, and they're not just repeating my own words back to me," said Daughenbaugh, a recent Penn State graduate. Where did Daughenbaugh learn to teach like this -- combining pertinent hands-on activities with ample time for the kids to reflect on and write about their experiences? In Carla Zembal-Saul's class, a course called Science Education 458, Teaching Science in the Elementary Schools.
Daughenbaugh was taking the course as part of the Professional Development School (PDS), a partnership of the College of Education and the State College Area School District, which provides yearlong teaching internships in district elementary schools.
"Carla," said Daughenbaugh, "did a wonderful job showing us how to teach children in this way. We did experiments (with first- and second-grade classes, through the PDS internships), and she helped us determine what kinds of activities the children responded to. It was a great learning experience, both for me and for my (elementary school) students."
One of the crucial elements of Zembal-Saul's innovative approach is the Web-based "teaching portfolios" her students create for the course. In these online journals, the students provide biographical information about themselves, assemble course materials, describe hands-on science activities in the grade-school classrooms (often incorporating graphics, photos and sometimes video), cite pertinent journal articles on teaching and outline their own emerging teaching philosophies. Then, throughout the year, the students use what they learn through their teaching experiences in the elementary schools to refine their philosophies and make them work better in the real world of elementary education.
As the students make claims about teaching and learning, create evidence-based arguments to support their claims and then evaluate their arguments over time, many find their positions shifting.
"Many prospective teachers enter into the program recognizing the importance of hands-on activities in science," said Zembal-Saul. "However, hands-on activities do not necessarily result in meaningful learning. One of the main goals of the course is to help education students consider ways to engage children cognitively and conceptually, too -- with 'minds-on' activities as well as the physical engagement of hands-on activities. Combining the two approaches is more likely to result in meaningful learning."
What many of her students want initially "is a bag of tricks," said Zembal-Saul -- "a set of teachingtools that will result in learning under any circumstances." But through Zembal-Saul's seminar, they realize that good teaching requires hard thinking and tough choices about what works and what doesn't.
Zembal-Saul's work with Web-based portfolios has attracted attention across the University Park campus, in particular in the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences (EMS), the School for Information Science and Technology (IST) Solutions Institute, the Schreyer Honors College, the Schreyer Institute for Innovation in Learning and the Teaching and Learning Consortium.
David DiBiase, director of the e-Education Institute in EMS, said that Zembal-Saul's work is special because it is grounded in educational research, and notes the many potential benefits of students working with Web-based portfolios.
In addition to the
reflective approach it helps students take to their own work, said DiBiase,
"there is the idea of information literacy: They gain by portraying their
work online. There also are benefits to the University as a whole of having
our students express in their own words and deeds how the University adds
value to their studies -- to legislators, to parents, to all the people
who wonder exactly what our faculty do for their students."
Larry Spence, a senior associate at the Schreyer Institute, said that having students prepare portfolios "interrupts the learning and occasions scrutiny. By having to demonstrate what they have learned and document it, students become reflective practitioners. That prepares them for the lifetime of learning demanded by an information-driven society."
From the IST's perspective, said Fred Loomis, "students need to be able to demonstrate that they have mastered the competencies we're teaching in the classroom. We take a problem-based learning approach, with students working on teams and collaborating on group projects." Loomis is director of IST's Solutions Institute, created in 1999 as a source of expertise on key issues in the information age, such as workforce development, learning in the e-classroom, career planning and policymaking.
"As the students are completing their course projects," Loomis continues, "they're also building electronic portfolios that demonstrate to prospective employers exactly what they're capable of performing. By the time they graduate, they can have a complete portfolio -- not just a resume, but a clearly defined set of experiences and competencies they can present to prospective employers."
Daughenbaugh's experiences in Zembal-Saul's seminar lend credence to these comments. Using the Web to document her experiences, rather than a more traditional, linear, paper portfolio, enabled her to concentrate on the concepts of the class and to incorporate graphics much more easily than she could have in a standard scrapbook-style portfolio. "Putting it all together on the Web page and looking at it as a whole, I was able to better reflect on my teaching and see what I could improve on -- what went well, what the different children responded to, and what they got out of it," Daughenbaugh recalls.
"In my earlier field experiences, I would be out at Wal-Mart at 10 o'clock at night, trying to find the right kind of paper for the background (of a traditional portfolio). Or maybe I'd be looking for stickers, or glitter. With the Web-based portfolio, it's so easy to click in a picture or put in a video clip -- you have more of an opportunity to sit down and really think about the words you want to use."