Episode 76 – Not Another Lab Report
Fred Ende
Our guest this week is Fred Ende. As a middle-school science teacher, Fred quickly became frustrated with cookie-cutter, partial inquiry and simple scientific method lab reports that rarely engaged students in the content. Deciding to change this mode, Fred created open-ended lab experiences where students investigated their own questions, became interested in sharing their work, and ultimately improved their scientific writing. Fred talks to Lab Out Loud about his experience in making scientific writing more relevant and student-centered.
Links:
- Download the article (provided courtesy of NSTA): “Not Another Lab Report“, by Fred Ende in NSTA’s Science Scope)
- Fred’s Blog
- Follow Fred on Twitter
- SCIENCE 21
- Follow SCIENCE 21 on Twitter
- “A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas” (from the National Academies Press)
To listen to this episode, download the mp3 directly, find us on iTunes, or use the player below.
I really liked your interview. I teach middle school physical science and I was very intrigued about the full inquiry approach and would love do more of it. What is the minimum time frame to accomplish a unit of this type? What type of direct teaching do you do before hand and how much is put on the students? I would love to use this to do an introduction to chemistry unit that teaches about atomic structure and compounds. In the podcast it seemed like chemistry projects were the most troublesome but I think it could be possible. Finally, what is the structure that you have the students use for the writing aspect of the project? In the podcast you commented that the kids said they loved writing in science so you must be doing something right.
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