Using the learning cycle as a model for teaching the learning cycle to preservice elementary teachers

Abstract

The learning cycle has been embraced as a teaching approach that is consistent with the goals of theNational Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996). Science teacher educators may be disappointed to find, however, that preservice teachers may fail to grasp this model, even after extensive instruction (e.g., Settlage, 2000). Our own preservice teachers often express the belief that teaching multiple activities related to a single concept is redundant. In this manner, they fail to grasp the importance of carefully sequencing learning activities to promote conceptual development. In this paper, we describe an approach in which we use the learning cycle as a model for our own instruction to assist preservice elementary teachers in developing “conceptual storylines” through carefully sequenced activities that follow the learning cycle.