Conceptual Understanding

This is about students understanding the key ideas which are in a topic. Teachers should uncover information to help every student understand a concept by taking time to prompt their thinking and make sure that they don’t misinterpret anything. This helps them grasp the fundamental ideas in every activity (Konicek pg94). The emphasis of teachers should not be on teaching a lot of facts but to focus on the core knowledge that students need to acquire more information to understand their natural world. Teachers should be given more sovereignty to help students study every topic in depth and not just being determined to cover the whole curriculum. Teachers must consider even ideas that surpass disciplinary boundaries for they are helpful in theory, explanation and in observation. The element of inquiry that shows how science is practiced in the real world to build understanding should be encouraged. Teachers should not ignore questions from any students since clarity about understanding intended comes from each student’s reaction of concepts.

Chapter 7

Use of Instructional Models

            A model is a framework of how instructions should be presented to facilitate interaction between teachers and students by bringing the materials as close as possible. Children ideas though naïve matter a lot and teachers should come up with models that don’t overlook the importance of students’ prior knowledge. Students should also be engaged in the activity to expose prior misconceptions. Encouraging student’s exploration helps teachers identify current misconception and facilitate conceptual change. Explanation demonstrates students’ conceptual understanding thus the teacher directly introduces a concept. Teachers should challenge students and extend their conceptual understanding and skills through new experiences.