Less Emphasis On

More Emphasis On

Treating all students alike and responding to the group as a whole

Understanding and responding to individual student's interests, strengths, experiences, and needs

Rigidly following curriculum

Selecting and adapting curriculum

Focusing on student acquisition of information

Focusing on student understanding and use of scientific knowledge, ideas, and inquiry processes

Presenting scientific knowledge through lecture, text, and demonstration

Guiding students in active and extended scientific inquiry

Asking for recitation of acquired knowledge

Providing opportunities for scientific discussion and debate among students

Testing students for factual information at the end of the unit or chapter

Continuously assessing student understanding

Maintaining responsibility and authority

Sharing responsibility for learning with students

Supporting competition

Supporting a classroom community with cooperation, shared responsibility, and respect

Working alone

Working with other teachers to enhance the science program

Less Emphasis On

More Emphasis On

Assessing what is easily measured

Assessing what is most highly valued

Assessing discrete knowledge

Assessing rich, well-structured knowledge

Assessing scientific knowledge

Assessing scientific understanding and reasoning

Assessing to learn what student do not know

Assessing to learn what student do understand

Assessing only achievement

Assessing achievement and opportunity to learn

End of term assessments by teachers

Students engaged in ongoing assessment of their work and that others

Development of external assessments by measurement experts alone

Teachers involved in the development of external assessments

Less Emphasis On

More Emphasis On

Knowing scientific facts and information

Understanding scientific concepts and developing abilities of inquiry

Studying subject matter disciplines (physical, life, earth sciences) for their own sake

Learning subject matter disciplines in the context of inquiry, technology, science in personal and social perspectives, and history and nature of science

Separating science knowledge and science process

Integrating all aspects of science content

Covering many science topics

Studying a few fundamental science concepts

Implementing inquiry as a set of instructional processes

Implementing inquiry as strategies, abilities, and ideas to be learned

Activities that demonstrate and verify science content

Activities that investigate and analyze science questions

Investigations confined to one class period

Investigations over extended periods of time

Process skills out of context

Process skills in context

Emphasis on individual process skills such as observation or inference

Using multiple process skills-manipulation, cognitive, procedural

Getting an answer

Using evidence and strategies for developing or revising an explanation

Science as exploration and experiment

Science as argument and explanation

Providing answers to questions

Communicating science explanations

Individuals and groups of students analyzing and synthesizing data without defending a conclusions

Groups of students often analyzing and synthesizing data after defending conclusions

Doing few investigations in order to leave time to cover large amounts of content

Doing more investigations in order to develop understanding, ability, values of inquiry and knowledge of science content

Concluding inquiries with the result of the experiment

Applying the results of experiments to scientific arguments and explanations

Management of materials and equipment

Management of ideas and information

Private communication of student ideas and conclusions to teacher

Public communication of student ideas and work to classmates

Less Emphasis On

More Emphasis On

Transmission of teaching knowledge and skills by lectures

Inquiry into teaching and learning

Learning science by lecture and reading

Learning science through investigation and inquiry

Separation of science and teaching knowledge

Integration of science and teaching knowledge

Separation of theory and practice

Integration of theory and practice in school settings

Individual learning

Collegial and collaborative learning

Fragmented, one-shot sessions

Long-term coherent plans

Courses and workshops

A variety of professional development activities

Reliance on external expertise

Mix of internal and external expertise

Staff developers as educators

Staff developers as facilitators, consultants, and planners

Teacher as technician

Teacher as intellectual, reflective practitioner

Teacher as consumer of knowledge about teaching

Teacher as producer of knowledge about teaching

Teacher as follower

Teacher as leader

Teacher as an individual based in a classroom

Teacher as a member of a collegial professional community

Teacher as target of change

Teacher as source and facilitator of change