Computer Science in Science PD: Dispositions and Classroom Culture - Discussion

This will teach students that mistakes are okay.

Thank you for your reply. I do agree with your post about it is that “My role will be to facilitate computer modeling as a PROCESS and encourage persistence and a sense of community for problem-solving”. It has been a learning process for me.

Thanks for the feedback. Yes, this is not intuitive for me. I am hoping things will be a bit more scripted in the materials we have to train kids.

In our classroom, it is okay to make mistakes, but it is not okay to not try. So, I think that students will be fine with mistakes and getting un-stuck. I feel the biggest barrier may be our district or school’s network accessibility.

I agree; it is really important to show kids it is okay to be fearless while learning. I find that one obstacle for my students is self-consciousness. Normal at this stage of development, but it can be a barrier to learning.

I like a classroom culture where mistakes are part of the learning, and students have a strong meta-cognition. One of the barriers to this is the idea that there is one right answer, also some students have a fixed mind set and feel that mistakes indicate an inability to be successful.

I agree, failure cannot be a fear for a student to dig into science.

An ideal classroom would be full inquiry with time allotted for students to explore. The science and engineering processes work best when students have time to redesign. This is often hard to allow time for and is one of the biggest barriers. Constantly feeling short on time, I strive to plan a little deeper each time I teach a unit.

I would love to have a classroom where everyone is actively engaged and enjoying the learning through all aspects of learning tools. I have and continue to run into students that want to be “fed” their information and I also have and continue to have students with great apathy to any kind of learning. Having an inquiry type atmosphere can create great opportunities for students, but it also creates great opportunities for these types of students to create havoc and with chemistry, this can be dangerous.

I believe in inquiry based learning for my students. This was a difficult shift in my previous thinking, but I learned to allow my students to struggle through the challenges. They always rise to the occasion. I am looking forward to a new challenge of teaching code in my classroom. My largest concern is how to implement the technology, manage the classroom, and hope that the amount of technology is available to serve some on my large class sizes.

I agree with you that when students feel safe in their environment, they will feel more comfortable asking questions.

I currently play the role of the guide in the classroom . I work hard to ensure that I do not give answers away , but instead force the student to think on there own. SO challenges that I see arising are running out of materials and not having enough time to prepare models for a struggling student.

self-consciousness can be a huge hurdle…i see that as well in students.

I would like to promote a culture in which the students and teacher alike are working to improve themselves and are encouraging each other and rejoicing in each other’s victories. Anticipated barriers? Not all the students will share my rosy visions of encouragement and productivity, for a variety of reasons.

I would like to create a classroom where students feel free to try and do not see me as the holder of all the knowledge. I will be a guide but I want confident independent thinkers.

I would agree that management is a concern. I’m hoping that the face to face portion of the course may provide some ideas.

I have always tried to promote a classroom culture that allows students to reflect and learn from each other. My role as teacher is more to guide students in the right direction, rather than lecture them about what to do or how to do something. I think students learn much more effectively through their own experiences, reflection, and through their peers.

In order for this to work though, ALL students need to be on board and want to be a part of the culture. It is necessary to create those classroom norms and a sense of trusting community so that this type of environment works effectively.

I favor nurturing a fun, engaging classroom where all students feel valued for their contributions and safe in the learning process. Celebrating students’ (and teacher’s) “Ah Ha!” moments is a part of this culture. There are a few challenges to developing this learning climate. One challenge is the student (s) who is in the habit of gaining peer attention by acting out and being disruptive. Another challenge is the student (s) who are used to learning by rote memory and become easily frustrated when they are in an interactive learning environment where the expectation is that students will actively engage in the learning and discovery.

I agree that management can be a concern when there are many different activities happening at once.

Management is always a concern. It’s good you are considering that challenge now before embarking in a new direction.