This book completely validates the Modeling Philosophy in Physics. Its all about student-centered classrooms. The teacher of the student-centered classroom realizes that the most important thing that must be accomplished is that students need to express what they are thinking.
The authors state that students are constantly negotiating with new information. If we want to know what they are learning then we need them to demonstrate their understanding through verbal and written expression. It is in this way that we can create activities that will cause them to confront their misunderstandings in a way that makes their negotiated meanings open to public discourse. One of the most important keys in this process is creating a non-threatening environment.
On its face it seems like creating a non-threatening environment would be an exceedingly easy thing to do. However to do this the teacher cannot be perceived as the expert or the arbitrator of right and wrong. If he/she is then the environment is automatically threatening. However if the teacher is able to successfully deflect all such questions to other members of the class to arrive at consensus then it will be non-threatening. The second key is to provide many grouping opportunities for students to express their negotiated understandings.
So far I highly recommend this book.
Here are some quotes:
"(T)eaching should be driven by your students' learning."--Hand, et. al., pg 1
"Our job as teachers requires us to think more deeply about learning and understand . . . how our students learn."--Hand, et. al. p 200
"(L)earning is an activity that is undertaken by the individual over which we as teachers have no control. . ."--Hand, et. al. p. 32
"If we as teachers have no control over what is going on inside an individual's head, then we have to be able to engage with learners in ways that feature their knowledge at the center of the conversation."--Hand, et. al. p. 29
"The first thing that we teachers need to do is to determine what students know about a topic"--Hand, et. al. p. 30
The teacher cannot be seen as the givers of knowledge. "(During) information sharing sessions it is essential that opportunities be built in for students to make connections between new information and the big ideas of the unit. . . . We as teachers need to plan opportunities for public negotiation between new information and the big ideas."--Hand, et. al. p. 43
"Student-centered learning strategies are not about students guessing what is in the teacher's head, but rather the teacher finding out what is in the students' heads." Questioning strategies are critical for airing this information. "We have to retrain the students to make public their reasoning strategies and how they have constructed their arguments. . . . (W)e need to get out of the way. We talk far too much. . . . (P)ose questions that require students to move beyond recall . . . When students answer the question, two things have to happen: We have to stop making judgments about the answer . . . we are (not) the arbitrator (of knowledge) . . . ask 'Why?'" and there must be group consensus. One way to keep from passing judgement is by pushing this responsibility to the students, "Mary, is John's answer O.K.? Why?" . . . If students agree to an incorrect answer then the teacher must be adept enough to "pose a question that will challenge the answer. . . . Change to their ideas occurs because the students make the change, not because we want or tell them to. . . . Give students time to talk through possible answers with their colleagues. . . . (C)hallenge the students. Do not let them know they have arrived at the answer--test the confidence they have in the answer"--Hand, et. al. p. 48 and p. 55
Students "will resist the fact that you are not going to supply the answer. They will complain that you are not doing your job. However, what does become obvious quickly is that the quiet students tend to find a voice because now they do not have to fear being wrong. The low-achieving students who do not play the memory game well can now become involved because the questions are not about right or wrong but about the bid ideas."--Hand, et. al. p. 49
"Students are engaged in individual negotiation of meaning" all the time, as they are sitting quietly in their seats. "If we as teachers constantly ask questions that have only one acceptable answer, then individual negotiation by students in never challenged." . . . Group work shifts negotiation from private to public. "We want students to put their ideas out there to be challenged by their peers. . . . (S)mall group work is an ideal, nonthreatening way for all students to be involved in working with their own ideas. Remember, individuals control their own learning process and teachers structure the learning environment."--Hand, et. al. p. 51 & 53