Explorations and Meaning-Making

Introduction

Mountaineers, Rock Climbers, and Science Educators

Around the 1920s, rock climbing separated from mountaineering to become a separate sport. At that time European climbers developed new equipment and techniques, enabling them to ascend mountain faces and to climb rocks, which were considered unassailable up to that time. American climbers went further by expanding and improving on the equipment. They even developed a system of quantification where points were given for the degree of difficulty of an ascent. This system focused primarily on the pitch of the mountain, and it even calculated up to decimals to give a high degree of quantification. Rock climbing became a technical system. Csikszentmihaly (1976) observed that the sole interest of rock climbers at that time was to climb the rock. Rock climbers were known to reach the top and not even glance around at the scenery. The focus was on reaching the top of the rock.

In contrast, mountaineers saw the whole mountain as a single "unit of perception." "The ascent (to them) is a gestalt including the aesthetic, historical, personal and physical sensations" (Csikszentmihaly, 1976, p. 486). This is an example of two contrasting approaches to the same kind of' landscape and of two different groups of people. Interestingly, in the US, Europe, and Japan a large segment of the early rock climbers were young mathematicians and theoretical physicists, while the mountaineers were a more varied lot.

There is a parallel to the current practices in science education. There are science educators who are like the mountaineers. They approach science from a larger perspective where the attention to the aesthetic of' a phenomenon is part of their way of teaching science. Their encounters with different natural phenomena are a matter of discovery and resonance. They are motivated as much by curiosity as by intellectual development.

Others are more like the rock climbers, where there is a narrower conception of science and the teaching Of science. It is a way of mastering nature. Measurement tends to dominate their first encounters and their main focus appears to be solely conceptual understanding. The aesthetics of the phenomena are barely mentioned or noticed. In recent times this attitude has been accentuated by the introduction of computer software and the use of measurement probes. In schools, even at the elementary level, probes are used to make measurements of great accuracy even where simple qualitative comparisons would do.

To some degree these characterizations are a bit of an exaggeration. This metaphor is used to bring into focus some of the values and attitudes that pervade contemporary science education. From my perspective there is a general problem with the way science is taught in the elementary and middle schools. It has been noted that there is a lack of balance in the way science is taught (Pintrick et. al., 1993). There is an overemphasis on the rational and cognitive aspect with a neglect of the affective. One indicator of this problem is a recent report showing that there is a significant decrease in interest in science as elementary students move through the grades. By high school only a small percent of students continue in science (Zacharia and Calabrese-Barton, 2003). Some of this, no doubt, reflects the narrowing of interest of students because of their own specific talents. Some of it could also be attributed to the narrow way in which science is taught.

A part of the problem is the growing emphasis on testing. From my work with teachers I have found that they are very conscientious in attempting to address the state standards. In my exchanges with them they state that they would like to spend more time with each topic but because of the number of standards there is not enough time for extended development of each. Under pressure from their administration to have students perform well on the tests, they narrow their pedagogy to "teaching to the test." There is also the question of high expectations of the teachers. A great deal of research in recent years has generated many recommendations for changes in teaching practice. There is a gap between the expectations arising from these recommendations and where most teachers are in terms of their background. There is also a problem of insufficient funds for in-service programs to learn about these changes (Duit and Treagust, 2003). These expectations can be demoralizing to teachers and can affect the way they teach.

The Need for a Holistic Approach to Science Education

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There is a deeper problem that may also account for the drop in interest in science. Bo Dahlin (2001) describes this overemphasis on objective detachment as a type of cognitivism. He defines it as "letting conceptual, theoretical cognition constitute the central theme of all research or practice dealing with teaching, learning and the development of knowledge. The acquisition of concepts becomes the primary and most important aim of all schooling" (Dahlin, 2001, p. 460), Dahlin's concern is about the neglect of sense experience or aesthetics in educational practice. Dahlin's corrective to this overemphasis is to draw upon the approach advocated by John Dewey and the perspective of phenomenologists such as Merleau-Ponty. He argues for a more fundamental role of experience where there is direct engagement with phenomena and aesthetic richness. He advocates for a kind of experience where the person "lets the thing think in us" (p. 465).

This engagement can be described as a transaction where sensory experiences with educational guidance bring about a conception rather than one imposing a conception on the experience. There is a dialectical interaction between the suhject and the object. Artists and craftspeople often mention this process. Sculptors and craftspeople, in particular, have been known to practice a variant of this approach when they state that the materials "tell them what to do." Edmund Carpenter provides an example of this approach in reporting his observations of an Eskimo carver working with a piece of ivory or bone. The carver does not start off with a preconceived notion of what he will end up with but rather whittles away getting a feeling for the material. In the process of having a dialogue with the material a shape begins to emerge. Eventually, the shape of a seal emerges. Somehow it came from the bone. It was not imposed on it.

This stance toward materials has a parallel in the world of science. Evelyn Fox Keller in her biography of Barbara McClintock, the noted biologist, reports on her research on the genetics of corn. McClintock felt a need to "listen to the material" and that one should "let the experiment tell you what to do." This approach to and the conception of the relationship between a person and a phenomenon can act as a philosophical framework for the way curriculum is designed and the relationship between teacher and student. It can be described as a holistic approach to science education. This approach will be the basis of an alternative paradigm for science education that will be presented in Chapter 4 and is an underlying conception that runs throughout the book.

Truncated Inquiry

It may appear that these more philosophical concerns are far removed from the dayto-day teaching of science. In my work over the years with teachers and in the review of many curriculum programs I see a direct relevance. For instance, there are two common practices in science education that I think are manifestations of an excessive concern about conception. There is a tendency to downgrade the role of sensory experience and the aesthetic properties of a phenomenon. Closely related to this attitude, there is undervaluing of open explorations and a lack of adequate support to help the student transition from forma) experiments to explicit explanations.

Hands-on explorations are perhaps the only time when students have direct contact with natural or physical phenomena. It is one of the few times where there is a chance for multisensory stimulation. Art classes may be the other possible instance but art comes and goes with the fluctuations in school budgets. In my work with students and in many observations of classroom, I have observed that direct engagement with materials can be highly motivating. There is an affective charge when students have control over the materials and can act on, produce effects, and observe interesting objects and organisms. There is another aspect to this interaction that tends to be overlooked. Students resonate with different phenomena and materials in a way that gives rise to meaningful personal connections. There is the possibility of an aesthetic experience.

With the rise of the use of computer and the proliferation of software there is a trend to move away from this type of direct engagement. In fact, there appears to be a strong debate about the relative effectiveness of these two approaches. Recent research reports that with some kinds of activities children were able to learn as well with a virtual approach as with physical materials (Klahr, 2007). The implications of these kinds of studies will further question the importance of direct encounters with phenomena. Why engage in hands-on experience when virtual ones with a computer are not messy and easily replicated? We will surely hear more about this issue in the future about how the computer can replace direct experience with phenomena. Here I am not going against the essential and very productive role it can play. It is more a matter of when and how it enters into the inquiry investigation.

The overall purpose of this book is to present a case for the importance of direct engagement with phenomena and materials. I will argue that this practice is more than a matter of motivating students to become engaged in inquiry. There is added value to this practice because of the personal connections and the aesthetic dimension. Support for this approach can be found in the changing understanding about the relationship between metaphorical thinking and embodied cognition. These theoretical developments and related research suggest that these direct experiences with materials may play an essential role in promoting conceptual change in students.

If teachers are involved in hands-on activities in a science education context there is a tendency to move through the initial exploratory phase of an inquiry investigation quickly or even skip some parts of it, moving directly to measurements. This results in students having an encounter of a few minutes or only one session where they are allowed to explore the materials in a relatively open-ended manner. Even if it is allowed to happen there are moves and talk by the teacher to direct students to that which will be directly related to the concepts that will be taught. Valuing the experience in and of itself is a foreign notion. There is a rush to formal experimentation and explanation without much time for the students to become reacquainted with a phenomenon and develop a deeper intuition about its properties. Some curriculum programs will explicitly include as part of their pedagogical model an exploratory phase but there are still problems with the way this phase is dealt with in these guides and practiced. I will critique some of' these problems in some of the chapters.

The other problem is the way conceptualization is developed. The more sophisticated practitioners of inquiry do insist on evidence gained from the experimentation. What is neglected is the transitional phase between the open explorations and experimentation and the transition from gathering evidence to explicit conceptual development. Not enough recognition is given to transitional modes of representation such as gesture. Not enough time is given to moving students through multiple representations so that they can begin to develop a mental model. Prior to explanations students need to work through a series of external representatioÄs moving through kinetic and gestural enactments, visual media such as sketches or graphs, verbal descriptions, and then the written word. There is a need to provide for these

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transitions so that the pre-analytic modes of thinking, the emerging intuitions can gradually take shape, be externalizbd, and tested. Too often these different modes of representations are given a cursory recognition. This problem will also be addressed throughout the book.

A holistic approach to science• education would continue to challenge students to think critically and work toward adopting more scientific explanations while also promoting personal growth. There would a balance between the academic goal of conceptual change and the goal of providing for meaningful personal connections with the world. This balanced approach could result in less alienation from the natural and man-made world as well as lay a deeper and richer foundation so that students might more readily reconcile their prior knowledge with a more scientific understanding of basic phenomena.

Aesthetics, Play, and Metaphor

There are modes of perception, attitudes, and pre-analytic thinking that can be associated with the approach of "letting the material speak to you." This approach implies that there is a relationship of empathy between the phenomenon, materials, or living thing and the student. There can be identification with these entities. Feelings about these entities can arise in the student because of the specific characteristics of the object or materials. This resonance between the object and person arises from aesthetic predispositions. If this resonance were an essential part of the engagement, then it would make sense for the science educator to look toward the arts for some guidance in what brings about engagement and how these experiences can be communicated by useful explicit representations.

In this book I present a modified paradigm of science education that is related to the stance of the artists in their dialogue with materials as described previously. This is in contrast to the current prevailing paradigm of an engineering approach to education. I propose that the curriculum designer can find some guidance from the practice of some architects, and the teacher can find some inspiration from the conductor of a jazz orchestra. I also draw upon the art of the mime and specific artists like David Hockney and Macel Proust to illustrate ways of characterizing explorations and how educational experience can be structured. In various ways the sense that there can be an aesthetic approach to science education pervades the whole book.

Those who have studied play in the broader social context have observed that there is a close relationship between play and aesthetic engagement. Although play is a politically incorrect term and is considered a problem in förmal schooling, it is an approach to the world that is natural for students. The characteristics of play should be studied for a sense of how to guide students in their explorations and ways to stir their imagination in making sense of experiences with phenomena. One of the chapters specifically addresses this basic mode of activity and it is implied in discussions in other parts of the book.

Aesthetics and play provide the foundation for the ways in which people make sense of their encounters with their environment. These modes of perception and behavior provide a structure for ways to see relationships between disparate situations, objects, and systems. This is related to the ability of humans to conjure up metaphors and analogies. Fundamental to the thinking of scientists and the processes of science is the use of analogies and models. In recent times the role of models and modeling are receiving increasing attention because these modes of thinking are seen as fundamental to bringing about conceptual change in students. The relationship between basic sensory experiences and the development of analogies and modeling will also be addressed.

My sense is that these three aspects of learning are intimately connected which means that if science educators want to give importance to the role of metaphor and modeling they should also be considering how aesthetics and play support the making of metaphors and analogies.

Technology in Addition to Nature

Writers such as Bo Dahlin and others in their advocacy for a more holistic approach to science education generally write about the student's growing alienation from the natural world. I agree with this view but I feel that there is also a need for expanding the scope of what is to be experienced sensorally and aesthetically. There should also be recognition of a need to be at home with the man-made world. In Zen and the Art ofMotorcycle Maintenance, Robert Persig (1974) addresses this issue by weaving into his travelogue on his motorcycle some deep philosophical issues about the contemporary person's alienation from modern technology. Interestingly, he uses the metaphor of traveling the back roads instead of the highway that could be compared to the difference between the mountaineers and the rock climbers. He traveled the back roads instead of the superhighways to get a better sense of the countryside. It was a more personally engaging way of getting a feel for the country he was traveling through.

In this book Persig is writing about contemporary people's alienation from their own technology. Perhaps, it is no accident that he is traveling by motorcycle. The union of a person and his motorcycle is a special one. It is an instance where machine and person become one. In his travelogue he contrasts his approach of bricolage when maintaining and troubleshooting his motorcycle to his adult traveling companion's reliance on others to maintain his motorcycle. At one point Persig relates how he uses a piece of a beer can as a way of solving a problem with his motorcycle, while his companion relies totally on others to maintain his vehicle. The companion appears to have no notion of how his piece of technology functions while Persig has enough of a sense of how it functions that he can quickly solve a minor problem. He has a feel for how this machine functions. I propose that a pedagogical approach should explore both natural phenomena as well as those of human creation. Therefore, I will be using the term 'technological artifact' to stand in for the multiplicity of all of these creations.

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Practical Background

This book represents my attempt to summarize my evolving thinking about cutTiculum design and direct work with students. Over the years I have been involved with several different curriculum efforts, the development and design of interactive exhibits for children's museums and science centers, the writing and publishing of children science books, as well as the productions of several video projects for teacher education. I draw upon all these experiences to give specific examples to illustrate what I consider important pedagogical practices and how they relate to extended inquiry.

I mentioned this background because it represents the practical work I have been doing. Over the years of my involvement in science education, I sometimes worked with the same phenomena and set of activities transforming them to fit different media-trade books, exhibits, and videos. Out of these experiences I came to see that the context and media shapes what kind of learning can occur. In my view context is not just the social and physical environment but must include the specific materials and the phenomena being investigated. I have drawn upon this work with different media to illustrate pedagogical issues and present examples of how inquiry can be guided. Most of the curriculum mentioned is in published form and available from a publisher.

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Terminology

Education is filled with lots of clichés, jargon, and terms that quickly expand to include a wide range of understandings and references diluting the original meaning. I thought it would be helpful here to comment on some educational terms and the way I will be using them.

Guided Inquiry

Inquiry has now been adopted by all kinds of curriculum programs, textbook publishers, and teachers. There is currently a wide range of practices by teachers and a wide range of pedagogies that go by this term. Closely tied to these different pedagogies are ideological differences about what makes inquiry authentic and relevant. The different approaches to inquiry could be represented by a continuum where at one end there is completely open inquiry giving students much leeway and at the other end represented by a highly structured approach. Open inquiry seems to mean that students are very free to choose what they will investigate and how they will carry it out. An alternative to this approach is guided inquiry that also can have multiple meanings. In my use of the term I would as;ociate it with a balance between teacher-directed and student-directed approaches. I would situate the type of examples of investigations given in this book as a type of guided inquiry locating somewhere in the middle of the continuum.

Genetic Curriculum

The proposed pedagogical model given in Chapter 2 is not very different on the surface from the practices already in place with some curriculum programs and teaching. From my perspective I would give higher priority to the role of explorations and give particular attention to the changing type of representations that develop during an investigation. To differentiate the pedagogical approach being proposed from others that are more prevalent, I have decided to designate it as a curriculum that is genetic in its structure. This refers to the psychological movement from concrete experiences that are multisensory, to the initial .representations through gestures, on to visual and verbal representations that eventually can be the basis for the development of mental models. I focus on these changing representations to emphasize the need to be very cognizant of the foundational role of sensory engagement with a phenomenon and the role of aesthetics in learning.

Phenomenon

I associate this term with basic natural objects, systems, and happenings in the natural and physical world. It covers such happenings as air and water movement, objects in motion such as balls on tracks, and soap bubbles.

Holistic Versus Humanistic

There is also the problem of finding an appropriate term to cover the need for a more balanced approach to science education as I have mentioned above. Some writers when advocating this perspective sometimes have used the term "humanistic." In reviewing the history of this term, it becomes problematic because the center of attention is the person. My concern is more with the person's relationship to the natural and man-made world and how these are experienced in a sociocultural environment. The best I can come up with is holistic. This term has associations with some psychological practices and dogmas. In this book I wanted it to have the sense that there was recognition and need for an aesthetic approach for teaching science, while still allowing for movement from the sensory experience and aesthetic representation to the eventual abstract conceptualizations.

Acknowledgments The following were very generous in giving their time to reading various chapters in the book and providing valuable feedback: Karen Worth, Rachel Hellenga, David Crismond, Paul Tatter, Richard Duschel, Susan Henry, Tracy Noble, Pat Campbell, Joyce Gleason.

References

Carpenter, E. (1965). "Art of the Eskimo Carver" in Education Qf Vision, Kepes, G. (ed.). New York: Braziller.

Csikszentmihaly, M. (1976). "The Americanization of Rock Climbing" in Play: Its Role in Development and Evolution, Bruner, J.S., Jolly, A., and Sylva, K. (eds.) (pp. 484—486). New York: Viking Penguin.

Dahlin, B. (2001) The primacy of cognition or of perception? A phenomenological critique of the theoretical bases of science education. Science & Education, 10:453—475.

Duit, R. and Treagust, D.T. (2003). Conceptual change: A powerful framework for improving science teaching and learning. International Journal QfEducation, 25(6): 671—688.

Klahr, D., Triona, L.M., and Williams, C, (2007). Hands-on what? The relative effectiveness of physical versus virtual materials in an engineering design project by middle school children. Journal q/ Researchin Science Teaching, 44(1): 183—203.

Persig, R. (1974). Zen and the Art Q/ Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry into Values. New York, Morrow.

Pintrich, P.R., Marx, R.W., and Boyle, R.A. (1993). Beyond cold conceptual change: The role of motivational beliefs and classroom contextual factors in the process of conceptual change. Review Educational Research, 63: 167—199.

Zacharia, Z. and Calabrese-Barton, A. (2003). Urban middle-school students' attitudes toward a defined science. Science Education, 87: 1—27.