Japanese Science Activity Structures

Japanese Science Activity Structures

Activity	Goal	Examples
1. Connect lesson to student interest and prior knowledge Teacher starts lesson with questions or activity designed to intrigue students an build on their ideas. __________________ Whole-class discussion Student handout	To catalyze or build students' interest in the topic of study. To help students think of concrete daily-life examples of the scientific topic. To bring out students' prior knowledge, assumptions, or misconceptions about a scientific phenomenon or principle.	Teacher starts lesson by asking, "Do you think all matter has weight?" and solicits students' ideas. Teacher asks students what seasonal changes they have noticed in the environment and writes students' responses on the blackboard. Teacher wonders out loud what killifishes eat in water and asks students what they think.
2. Elicit student ideas or opinions Teacher asks students to express their ideas or opinions about a scientific phenomenon or principle. __________________ Whole-class discussion Student handout	To help students review what they have learned in previous lessons. To help students clarify their thinking or express it in a concrete way, through writing or drawing.	Teacher asks students to visualize and draw the change in the air in a closed jar when a candle extinguishes. Teacher facilitates whole-class discussion about changes in body function (e.g., temperature, pulse rate, breathing, facial color, etc.) with exercise. Students discuss what to observe.
3. Plan investigations Students, assisted by teacher, generate hypotheses or predictions about the topic of study and define methods for investigation. __________________ Whole-class discussion Student handout Small-group discussion	To help students define a problem to investigate. To help students pose a problem in a systematic manner. To help students identify factors affecting a scientific phenomenon. To evaluate students' understanding and their insight into a scientific phenomenon.	Teacher asks students a series of questions to help them notice possible relationships among factors affecting levers. Teacher asks students to think about how the air in a jar might have been different before and after a candle was extinguished. Teacher reviews the findings of earlier experiments with electromagnets and asks students to generate hypotheses about why a wire attracts metal chips when electricity runs through it.
4. Conduct investigation Students conduct experiments or observations to test the hypotheses or predictions just built. The method of investigation may have been designed by the whole class, small group, or individual. __________________ Hands-on experiment in small group Student worksheet	To help students think about the procedures to test their hypothesis or predictions. To give students direct experience with designing and conducting scientific experiments. To help students acquire specific skills to conduct experiments safely and successfully.	Students find the balance point in various classroom materials (e.g., an eraser, a pen) and materials supplied for the lesson (e.g., eggs, paper dragonflies). Students conduct an experiment to find out if wire "becomes a magnet or just acts like a magnet" when electricity runs through it. Students use clay to balance a 5-kg bucket of sand, and to investigate the connections among factors affecting the levers.
5. Exchange information from investigations Students share their findings within their small groups or report them to the whole class. __________________ Small-group recording on the blackboard Small-group reporting to teacher and teacher records Small-group discussion	To help students learn about others' viewpoints, ideas, and findings. To help students relate or contrast their ideas to the ideas of others.	Each student writes on the blackboard his or her body temperature before and after physical exercise. Representatives of each small group write group findings on the blackboard so that the whole class can see what other groups did and what they learned about electromagnets.
6. Systematically analyze or organize information Teachers systematically summarize or organize the information shared by students. __________________ Teacher organizes blackboard information Teacher creates handout Teacher creates summary in handout	To help students see patterns, similarities, or differences in findings. To help students organize and analyze the findings so that they can use them effectively to draw conclusions.	Teacher makes a table showing all groups' findings on the amount of oxygen before and after a candle is burned in a closed jar. Teacher organizes recorded body temperature information to indicate increased/remained same/decreased after physical exercise and reviews how body temperature changed. Teacher asks students to connect similar findings of experiments on dissolution and write down the rationale for connecting them.
7. Reflect and revisit hypotheses or predictions Teachers encourage students to reflect on their current ideas and experimental findings in light of their earlier hypotheses or predictions. Teachers may encourage students to repeat the experiment in order to check on their prior hypotheses or findings. __________________ • Whole-class discussion • Handout	To help students gain insights into their own thinking and problem solving. To help students draw conclusions from the findings of their experiment and connect these to their earlier hypotheses.	Teacher asks students to rethink and redraw their visualization of the change in the air when a candle is burned in a closed jar. Teacher suggests students repeat the experiment of burning the candle if needed to help their visualization.
8. Connect to next lesson(s). Identify unanswered questions Teachers ask students to think about or write down what they want to investigate in the next lesson(s). __________________ Whole-class discussion Student worksheet Small-group discussion	To connect the present lesson to the next lesson(s) in a cohesive way. To sustain students' interest in the topic of study. To carry over students' involvement as problem-solvers from the present lesson to future lessons.	Teacher asks students to think about what else they want to investigate related to the topic of burning of matter. Teacher asks students to generate a set of questions or topics related to electromagnets that they want to investigate in the next lesson(s).