Article Review

This article firstly questions whether hands-on activities alone may exert an adverse impact on students’ science knowledge acquisition. Some scientists have found that students are likely t... See More

This article firstly questions whether hands-on activities alone may exert an adverse impact on students’ science knowledge acquisition. Some scientists have found that students are likely to feel confused about exploring and discovering science ideas during the process of performing various hands-on activities, which also makes teachers frustrated since they fail to achieve the goal of conveying certain knowledge to children by designing these activities. Based on this, a learning cycle approach has been come up with, the aim of which is to help students better learn science. There are three specific phases of instruction: exploration, concept introduction, and concept application. According to the research, students will benefit after experiencing all these three stages. Meanwhile, with the participation of 5-E model, one popular contemporary learning cycle, including Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate, not only will teachers be able to assess student progress, but also students are more likely to rethink and foster a better understanding on knowledge and concepts. Besides, what cannot be ignored is that it may generate an optimal effect if concepts are introduced after experiences. When it comes to my applications, firstly this article inspires me by letting me know this kind of learning cycle as well as having me master how to operate and give instruction in my future science classes. That is to say, I need to make sure that I guide students to carry out all three phases of the learning cycle in a correct order. Indisputably either the hands-on activities alone or abstract concepts are not enough in elementary school. Both of them are an indispensable part. To be more specific, if the textbook requires children to figure out whether the plant germinates or bloom first, I may take them out of the classroom to observe the growth of one kind of plant before directly introducing the concept to them. After the observation for a period of time, when students read the concept introduction, I believe they will have an experience to produce and make sense of the right idea, as well as better memorize this. Under this circumstance, they will be more likely to use these science ideas to solve new problems in the future. Moreover, I also reckon that it is a good way to engage and motivate elementary children by organizing colorful activities and practices.

Perspectives: Examining the learning cycle.

Perspectives: Examining the learning cycle was mainly written to explain what learning cycle is, why a learning cycle is needed, and what teachers can do to change to learning cycle instruct... See More

Perspectives: Examining the learning cycle was mainly written to explain what learning cycle is, why a learning cycle is needed, and what teachers can do to change to learning cycle instruction. The journal article states that students can understand the science concepts better when they participate in hands-on activities. But in some cases, hands-on was necessary but not sufficient to help students learn science, teachers should structure science lessons to go beyond a hands-on activity. Learning cycle is based on three phases of instruction: exploration, concept introduction, and concept application. And this teaching and learning cycle alternates between hands-on and minds-on activities. This article also states that students need to relate new ideas to their experience and place new ideas into a framework to have a better understanding of science, so the students can benefit when the three phases of the learning cycle are present. The learning cycle can help students to get the greater achievement and a higher score. Also, it can help students make sense of scientific ideas, improve their scientific reasoning and increase their engagement in science class. And according to this article, teachers will be ready to invent learning cycles after they have some experience with how to design lessons where explanations follow explorations. As a future educator, this journal article would be extremely helpful to me for when I teach science to my kids. In my future class, I would like to structure science lessons to go beyond a hands-on activity. And I would design my science class based on three phases of instruction: exploration, concept introduction and concept application. Then the learning cycles can work across the science curriculum and help my students get the greater achievement and a higher score.