Guided Discovery with Models - Turning Students to Scientists

Overview
Throughout the semester of EDUC 380, one
learning experience stood out, being creating my
signature pedagogy. The task assigned was to
create your own signature pedagogy that would
increase student learning and engagement. This
experience is very valuable to me as it is the first
step in defining who I am as a teacher. It had me jump on the path of discovering how I want to
teach my students. This experience is important for others as it is a way for them to see how I am
teaching and can give me feedback on how to better my signature pedagogy.
Skills and Insights Gained
To start the task in forming my signature pedagogy the first step I took was learning what a
signature pedagogy was with the article of “Signature pedagogies in the professions” by Lee S.
Shulman. The next step was to research various instructional methods s used to increase student
learning. Then, I created my own signature pedagogy of guided discovery with models. Finally, I
tested out my signature pedagogy with a 15 and 30 minute lesson in the classroom. One “a-ha”
moment I had was, during the 15 minute miniature lesson. I noticed that students were enjoying
working with the clay models, having realize my signature pedagogy revolves around teaching
chemistry and student interest. By touching student’s interests with models, I learned that
increasing student learning needs as aspect of fun. I responded to this moment by ensuring I had
an exciting activity in my 30 minute lesson. To deal with people’s different expectations, needs,
and goals I took into consideration that my signature pedagogy can be altered if needed. I also
made sure to consider what students want to do in a lesson, to increase their engagement.
Lessons Learned
This learning experience has stayed with me as creating my signature pedagogy is not just an
assignment to complete, it is an accurate description of who you are as a teacher. It also shows
me who I am as a student. To apply this assignment to my own life I have been using my
signature pedagogy to help me in my schooling, and tutoring others. After this assignment I can
study more effectively as I have learned how I would have liked to be taught chemistry. This
experience shapes how I approach problems in the future, as I learned that for difficult concepts,
one can simplify it to make it understandable.

Importance or Impact Section

The challenge addressed in this experience is how can I teach chemistry effectively to students
when lecturing is overused. This challenge existed as in many schools chemistry is a hard
concept to teach, meaning that the easy route of lecturing students is too often implemented in
the classroom. What I learned from this experience that connects to my larger professional goals
is things can be represented in many ways. In chemistry while a chart of the characteristics of
elements can be filled out, students can also learn this through playing with elements and writing
down their observations. This lets me know that if someone is confused on a topic, there is
always another way to teach them.