Sources of knowledge – ways of knowing things by way of personal experience, intuition, traditions, expert authority, logic, or research. Personal experience, intuition, traditions, and logic are valuable sources of knowledge, but many times cannot show enough evidence to support the theory. These sources of knowledge may not be valid or reliable for various reasons. Expert authorities on subjects are another valuable source of knowledge, but these experts can lead one to believe what they want you to believe, not necessarily the facts. The true source of knowledge is research – where studies involve a methodical process of gathering, interpreting, and reporting information. I feel many educators use the various sources of knowledge other than research to gain understanding. Even in the classroom setting, methodical research can be essential to understanding students and their behaviors and achievements. Information gained can lead to more effective learning. 2. Scientific inquiry – to be able to explain and describe accepted happenings and use this knowledge to predict and influence behavior. This can be used to explain why some teachers appear to be more effective than others. The explanation can lead to knowledge to share with other teachers to become more effective. McMillan, J.H. (2012). Educational research: Fundamentals for the consumer (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson. 3. Empirical study – a study that gathers data that is objective, based on observation,
The scientific method is used during experiments to find a conclusion and or reason as to why an event or something happens.
Inquiry Skills—You will develop questions and plan investigations, evaluate change and continuity over time, develop credible explanations of historical events and developments based on reasoned interpretation of evidence, gather evidence, evaluate and use evidence, develop explanations and make persuasive arguments in support of your conclusions, and communicate your conclusions.
The process skills approach to teaching is defined as the educator helping children develop science skills and processes to confidently undertake their own investigations (Campbell, 2012). These skills are developed through: communicating, science language, asking questions, making sense of phenomena, predicting, modelling, conducting investigations, planning, testing, observing, reasoning, and drawing conclusions of science concepts (Campbell, 2012). When the educator assist children’s learning, it is important to put the emphasis on the nature of science and scientific concepts. Guided discovery approach to teaching requires the educator to ask effective questions that encourage children to explore and extend their investigations throughout science learning (Campbell, 2012). This can be developed through play experiences as children explore their world around them. An interactive approach to teaching children is based on questions that lead explorations and the educators to provide essential resources to guide these explorations (Campbell, 2012). It is the educators’ responsibility to support children’s development, ideas, questions, ways of thinking, and develop scientific thinking. Furthermore, an inquiry approach to teaching relates to children investigating the answers to their own
Student achievement for children is dependent upon the mental processes that are developed and nurtured through educators, culture, and society. Society plays a major role in cognitive human growth and development. It is important for educators to understand that children need opportunities to develop and expand their cognitive abilities. Vygotsky’s theory about mental tools suggest that every child has the ability to develop skills that will enable them to think in complex ways.
Credible sources are beneficial for me as a tertiary learner to enable me not to plagiarise in my assessments and to be able to learn from experts in the field. Reliable sources help me to use the information to learn successfully, raise new knowledge, work around problems and make judgements (Bundy, 2004).
The Scientific Method is the approach that scientists use to investigate some phenomena. It’s a standard technique to find cause and effect of a particular problem.
Having access to relevant resources allows me, as an educator, to frame and scaffold meaningful questions to guide my research within the classroom. As a teacher and student, I am always learning, inquiring, analyzing information and ideas, adapting to behaviors according to information received, looking to improve and adapting to the many demands placed upon me every day (Fields, 2011). As a result, I need to research which means I need to constantly have and demonstrate the ability to frame the meaningful, insightful questions that will inform my learning and teaching practices. If education was not based on inquiry and research the education system would only be based on theory, ideology and prejudice.
The scientific method is a tool that enables a person to seek out new knowledge, or correct and integrate new knowledge. It is composed of eight individual steps: which start out with defining a question, gathering information and resources, form an explanatory hypothesis, test the hypothesis by performing an experiment and collecting data in a reproducible manner, analyze the data, interpret the data and draw conclusions that serve as a starting point for new hypothesis, publish results, and ends with a retest. The steps can be grouped into four different essential elements: operation, observation, model, and utility function.
Inquiry Skills—You will develop questions and plan investigations, evaluate change and continuity over time, develop credible explanations of historical events and developments based on reasoned interpretation of evidence, gather evidence, evaluate and use evidence, develop explanations and make persuasive arguments in support of your conclusions, and communicate your conclusions.
The first two chapters of this book set the background for student development and how theory has evolved over the years. As time passed and college student demographics changed, new ideas and views were developed to understand the ever changing student body. Theorists realized that the college experience was different between demographic groups. Being able to develop student affairs practices and activities that can reach the different student groups is probably the biggest challenge a student affairs professional will tackle. It is said that student development is most achieved by involvement by the students. This means that these activities must be designed to accommodate students from all walks of life.
A source is the place or resource in which knowledge has been obtained. When looking for sources to use in a research paper you need to be able to determine whether or not a source is reliable and credible. It is important to use reliable and credible sources so that the information you use in a document you are writing is accurate and will not affect you in a negative way, by either getting a bad grade in school or just looking unintelligent to a colleague.
Successful college experiences revolve around three major areas: the transition, being successful in classes/schoolwork, and involvement. These three areas have been determined from my work in the Housing and Residential Programs Department for the past three years, as this is my first lass focusing on student development theories. The three areas are must all be present in some way, shape, or form in order for success. The first step is the transition from high school to college. This is inclusive of moving away from home, and entering into an entirely different miniature society. Incoming students need to learn to adapt to their new surroundings, develop relationships, and a find their support system. Adaptation is important, for many
Scientific-based instruction is something that teachers use all the time in their classroom. Teachers are consistently assessing and evaluating students’ performance, creating and amending individual education plans, lesson plans, and reflecting on their practices. As teachers, we should be doing rigorous research and building hypothesis to base further teaching practices on.
As part of the science curriculum, it is mandatory to introduce the concept of enquiry through experiments and investigations. The practical element of science promotes the idea that children need to develop a certain level of scientific enquiry through a wide range of activities suggests, Cross and Bowden (2014). Some examples of scientific enquiry can range from; nature walks in order to observe the numerous mini beasts amongst the school
Science is, by its nature, inquiry based and science knowledge is built through processes in which discoveries of the natural world are made (Abruscato, 2000). It utilizes discovery and scientific thinking process to explore and learn knowledge and skills. Learning by doing is the new efficient method in teaching science. For kindergarten, this method leads to better understanding of science concepts and builds skills that children will use in future life .What a child can do with assistance now, they can later do on their own (Vygotsky, 1978). John Dewey (1916) stated that children must be engaged in an active quest for learning and new ideas. Inquiry is important in educating kindergarteners because it not only keeps them interested in lessons but also helps them retain more information when performing exploration and investigation. Children are naturally motivated to learn and actively seek out information to help their understanding (Piaget, 1950).The success of students who participate in hands- on inquiry activities suggests that if students have first hands experience with science, concepts are easier to understand and apply and students are generally more favorable to science and have better understanding of the nature of science .Within a conceptual framework, inquiry learning and active learner involvement can lead to important outcomes in the classroom. In kindergarten, students who are actively making observations, collecting results and drawing