Introductory Lessons Research Articles

Modos Semióticos en el Discurso Pedagógico de Historia: Potencial Semiótico Para la Mediación en el Aula Escolar

Learning history involves learning to look to the past in a particular way. In classroom discourse, teachers interact with students bringing them into thinking, representing and communicating social world from three dimensions: time-space, causality and evidentiality (Oteiza, 2009). The multimodal perspective on communication considers the semiotic potential of the various resources that are intertwined in discourse to create meaning in context. This research (Fondecyt 1130684) is carried out from the multimodal approach, systemic functional linguistics and appraisal theory, to explore the semiotic options of three case studies: three teachers of history in the 1st year of Secondary School. The corpus consists of the audiovisual record of three introductory lessons within the same curriculum unit: World War ii. After a multimodal discourse analysis, findings indicate that each teacher chose different combinations of semiotic media and modes to teach the same content. Concerning disciplinary knowledge, the deployment of maps, lists and timelines on the board in interaction with spoken language contribute to the construction of temporal and spatial dimensions, while visual resources, such as photographs and video, contribute to provide evidentiality. On the other hand, oral language learning builds causality in history, promoting student involvement to the proposed interpretation of historical processes. At the same time, the language resource is the support by which the teacher represents himself in the pedagogic discourse as a narrator with varying degrees of subjectivity.

Strategies and Perceptions of Students' Field Note-Taking Skills: Insights From a Geothermal Field Lesson

ABSTRACTField note-taking skills are fundamental in the geosciences but are rarely explicitly taught. In a mixed-method study of an introductory geothermal field lesson, we characterize the content and perceptions of students' note-taking skills to derive the strategies that students use in the field. We collected several data sets: observations of the field lesson, hard-copy notebooks (n = 42), and interview data (n = 16). Our analysis of the notebooks revealed note-taking strategies on two dimensions, consistent with earlier findings in the literature: students' ability to write in their own words (uniqueness; U), and the amount of necessary information recorded (completeness; C). We propose several factors that influenced the students' notes: lecturer differences, previous field experience, and gender. Two different lecturers (1 and 2) taught the lesson on two different days. The note-taking task covered similar content but was not scripted, resulting in lecturer differences. Lecturer 1 included rich peripheral information, and the other reiterated the need “to think for yourself” and “focus on observations” (resulting in higher U scores for lecturer 2's students). We also found that students with “high” previous field experience had higher U scores. Interview data corroborated this finding, indicating that field experience helped students to “know what to look for.” Lastly, female students generally achieved higher C scores than male students. Females used more words (verbosity), and this likely led to higher values achieved. To improve note-taking skills, we suggest breaking down complex field lessons into simple, manageable parts to manage students' cognitive load.

Teaching learning strategies. The role of instructional context and teacher beliefs

Teaching learning strategies is one important aspect of the consistently claimed promotion of self-regulated learning in classrooms. This study investigated the role of instructional context and teacher beliefs for teachers’ promotion of learning strategies. Twenty mathematics teachers were videotaped for five lessons in the ninth grade. Three lessons on the Pythagorean Theorem (introductory unit) and two lessons on word problems (practice unit) represented the two different instructional contexts. An observation instrument was used to code the teachers’ promotion of cognitive strategies (organization, elaboration) and metacognitive strategies (planning, monitoring and evaluation). Teacher beliefs were captured by questionnaire. Results show a tendency to teach cognitive strategies more in introductory lessons compared to practice lessons, while planning strategies are more often taught in practice lessons. Regarding teacher beliefs, traditional beliefs (e.g., a formalist view of mathematics) were negatively related to the promotion of some types of strategies (e.g., elaboration), while progressive beliefs (e.g., emphasis on an individual reference norm) were positively associated with teaching several strategy types (e.g., monitoring and evaluation). Thus, teacher beliefs seem to play a role for strategy teaching, which makes them a possible starting point for enhancing the promotion of self-regulated learning and a potential key factor in teacher training.

Use of Biosensors in Secondary Education Classrooms

Abstract. The multidisciplinary and versatile characteristics of biosensors make them very attractive topics to introduce science and engineering concepts into a secondary education classroom. Some of the techniques used in biosensors are easy to demonstrate and can be intriguing to students. We evaluated which application areas and techniques were most intriguing to students through a survey and then developed a 60 to 90 min introductory lesson plan with hands-on experience. The survey was conducted to determine students’ greatest interests and motivations among four biosensor applications (medical diagnostics, food safety, biosecurity, and environmental monitoring) as well as seven techniques used in biosensors: genetic engineering, nanotechnology, circuit building, microfabrication, 3D printing, smartphone utilization, and computer programming. For the application, the middle school students showed the most interest in food safety, followed by environmental monitoring and medical diagnostics. The high school students showed the most interest in medical diagnostics. For the techniques used in biosensors, the middle school students showed the most interest in 3D printing, followed by circuit building and smartphone utilization, while the high school students showed the most interest in genetic engineering and nanotechnology. To capture the most interest early in the students’ education, we designed a 60 to 90 min lesson plan for middle school students using the application areas of food safety and environmental monitoring, as well as the techniques of 3D printing, circuit building, and smartphone utilization. Simplified sampling protocols were introduced for monitoring E. coli from lettuce, Salmonella from chicken packaging, and influenza A from aerosols. As an example of a biosensor, a commercial glucose assay kit was demonstrated using a simple photometric circuit (including an LED and a photodiode) as an optical transducer. As a second example, a commercial pregnancy test strip was demonstrated using a smartphone camera as an optical transducer. Finally, a plastic attachment to a smartphone, made with a 3D printer, was demonstrated to improve the sensitivity and reproducibility of the same pregnancy test. This lesson was carried out in a classroom, and the results exemplify the potential benefit of using biosensor research in a middle school classroom as well as the possibility of inspiring students toward science and engineering fields of study or careers.

Teaching and Learning of Peace and Security Studies in Universities: Student’s Reflections on Quality and Implications for Curriculum Implementation

Loss of pedagogical momentum (LPM) is used to describe the inability of lecturers to sustain effective teaching throughout a lesson or an entire course, especially in the Peace and Security academic programmes offered in some Kenyan universities. In this study, 152 students from five universities claimed (via questionnaires and interviews) that their lecturers’ teaching was characterised by “strong” introductory lessons that gradually became “weaker” as their lessons developed and were finally concluded. In particular, these students were of the view that their lecturers were well able to introduce lessons and specify learning objectives for every lesson, but were unable to summarise lessons and use a variety of teaching methods. The students’ further appealed for more heuristic-oriented strategies, such as field trips, simulations and practical training to replace an over-exposure to theory, a situation which further suggested that that the teaching methodology in the programme is overburdened by strategies that are based on exposition. However, it appears that LPM is a by-product of the failure of Kenyan universities to allocate the resources and facilities that are needed to permit the effective teaching and learning of Peace and Security Studies. Although this study recommends the allocation of adequate resources, enhancement of practical training and in-house training of lecturers in the appropriate methodology, it remains to be seen whether the current scenario will continue to facilitate the peace and security objectives of Kenya’s Vision 2030 and thus maintain Kenya’s position as East Africa’s intellectual hub as far as Peace and Security Studies are concerned. DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n15p281

Learning needs analysis of collaborative e-classes in semi-formal settings: The REVIT example

<p>Analysis, the first phase of the typical instructional design process, is often downplayed. This paper focuses on the analysis concerning a series of e-courses for collaborative adult education in semi-formal settings by reporting and generalizing results from the REVIT project. REVIT, an EU-funded research project, offered custom e-courses to learners in several remote European areas and received a ‘best practice’ distinction in social inclusion. These e-courses were designed and developed for the purpose of providing training in aspects of the learners’ professional domains related to the utilization of information and communication technologies. The main challenge was to prove that it is possible and economically feasible to provide meaningful training opportunities via distance education, by utilizing existing infrastructure (“revitalizing schools”) and by making use of modern digital technology affordances coupled with suitable distance learning techniques and Web 2.0 tools. ADDIE, the generic instructional systems design model, enhanced with a rapid prototyping phase, was put forth in order to allow stakeholders to interact with a prototypical e-course, which served as an introductory lesson and as a reference point, since its evaluation informed the design choices of all subsequent e-courses. The learning needs approach adopted in REVIT combined learner analysis, context analysis, and needs analysis into a coherent analysis framework in which several methods (observation, estimation, document analysis, survey, and dialogue) were exploited. Putting emphasis on the analysis phase and decoupling the design from the delivery of the e-courses facilitated adaptation and localization. Adaptation and localization issues concerning the adoption of the REVIT distance learning framework, taking into account the socio-cultural and pedagogical context, are discussed. A central result reported is that the analysis phase was crucial for the success of the whole endeavour and that carrying it out properly is not straightforward or easy. The analysis framework presented in this paper could be useful in other similar e-learning situations whose “educational-identity” also involves distance and adult learning in a semi-formal setting.</p>

Cooking with KidsPositively Affects Fourth Graders' Vegetable Preferences and Attitudes and Self-Efficacy for Food and Cooking

Cooking with Kids (CWK), an experiential school-based food education program, has demonstrated modest influence on fruit and vegetable preference, food and cooking attitudes (AT), and self-efficacy (SE) among fourth-grade, mostly low-income Hispanic students in a quasiexperimental study with an inconsistent baseline. Effect was notably strong for boys and those without previous cooking experience. The aim of this project was to assess the effect of CWK with a mostly non-Hispanic white sample that assured no previous CWK exposure. The randomized, controlled assessment of CWK effect on fourth graders was conducted with 257 students in 12 classes in four public schools. CWK included a 1-hour introductory lesson, three 2-hour cooking classes, and three 1-hour fruit and vegetable tasting sessions led by trained food educators during the school day for one semester. Fruit preference, vegetable preference, and cooking AT and SE were assessed with a tested 35-item measure, shown to have test-retest reliability. Univariate analyses considered gender and previous cooking experience. Intervention efficacy was confirmed in this mostly white sample (75%; 79% with previous cooking experience; 54% girls). Increases in vegetable preference, AT, and SE were all significantly greater in CWK students with ηp (2) of 0.03, 0.02, and 0.06, respectively. CWK most strongly improved AT and SE for boys without previous cooking experience. CWK significantly improved fourth-grade students' vegetable preferences, AT, and SE toward food and cooking, which are factors important to healthful eating and obesity prevention. Noncookers, especially boys, benefitted from this intervention.

What Lives Where & Why? Understanding Biodiversity through Geospatial Exploration

Using an interactive map-based PDF, students learn key concepts related to biodiversity while developing data-analysis and critical-thinking skills. The Bird Island lesson provides students with experience in translating geospatial data into bar graphs, then interpreting these graphs to compare biodiversity across ecoregions on a fictional island. When the lesson is extended to include real data for Puerto Rico, students can explore distributions of selected bird species based on environmental attributes, making connections between each species’ adaptations, habitat requirements, and distribution across the island. This introductory lesson provides a jumping-off point for field and Web-based biodiversity investigations.

From Start to Finish: Developing a ReFresh-ing Curriculum for 4th and 5th Grades

Objective:To develop and pilot a nutrition education curriculum for 4th and 5th graders that reinforces concepts from several elementary school content areas and is aligned with Maryland Common Core Standards. Target audience: 4th and 5th grade students, teachers and school community. Theory, Prior Research, Rationale: Theory of Planned Behavior. Description: ReFresh curriculum focuses on encouraging students to consume more fruits, vegetables and whole grains and become more physically active through interactive experiences, food demonstrations and tastings. Each of the 8 monthly units include(s) lessons that link to common 4th and 5th grade curriculum themes, and seasons throughout the year.Units include anoverviewwith teacher tips to link to the Common Core, pre-teaching activities, an introductory lesson with food tasting and associated handouts, materials list, reinforcement lessons, student journal, morning announcements, parent newsletter and optional activities to reinforce the nutrition education messages. Send-home materials are translated into Spanish. Pilot curriculum was developed and adopted in 14 schools throughout the state during the 2011 school year. Evaluation: Standardized evaluation formwas developed and used during telephone interviews providing feedback from instructors. Curriculum revisions included input on application for classroom use by elementary school teachers and incorporation of evaluation comments. Conclusions and Implications: Revised curriculum includes change in graphic design and format for ease of use by FSNE educators and classroom teachers. During 2012-2013 school-year the program has expanded to after-school programs. Program re-evaluation will occur Summer 2013. Funding: Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Education.

How Soon Is Now? Medieval Texts, Amateur Readers, and the Queerness of Time and Opening Up Middle English Manuscripts: Literary and Visual Approaches

How Soon Is Now? Medieval Texts, Amateur Readers, and the Queerness of Time and Opening Up Middle English Manuscripts: Literary and Visual Approaches

Robotics and Design: An Interdisciplinary Crash Course

The authors designed and ran a crash course on emotional robotics involving students from both the Information Engineering School and the Design School of Politecnico di Milano , Milan, Italy. The course consisted of two intensive days of short introductory lessons and lab activity, done in interdisciplinary groups and supported by a well-equipped prototyping and modeling lab. People from very different backgrounds had to work efficiently together, going from problem setting through the demonstration of the physical implementation of an object able to show four different emotional states. Both teacher evaluation and questionnaire-based feedback from the students show that it was successful and useful to set up this type of intensive experience in which students share their abilities to achieve a common goal. Key aspects for the success of the course were the short time the students had to reach a well-defined, yet general, goal, the students' ability to find efficient ways of cooperating and sharing their competences, students' motivation to arrive at a working prototype, and the strong support from teachers and lab personnel.

Playing stakeholders: Experiencing decision making procedures on national and supranational levels

The European Union is a unique “postnational construction” (Habermas 1998) which is much more integrated than other international institutions. Nevertheless, it is not a country with some sort of nation-wide history or culture. In its core, it is a union of different member states serving as a platform for common decisions. Citizens of the EU are both citizens of the national state and of the European Union. Its uniqueness and complexity makes the EU to a didactic and pedagogical challenge (Tafner 2012): Firstly, introductory lessons usually present the topic EU from a legal perspective. But legal topics can be boring or at least confusing for nonexperts. Secondly, these introductions are very cognitive and completely ignoring the affective element although discussions about the EU are very emotional. The simulation game “Building Blocks of Democracy: My Country. Your Country. Our Union.”, which was created by young students in a project cofinanced by the European Union, provides a different approach for introducing the idea of supranationalism, focusing on dealing with different cultures, interests, and identities, thereby promoting competences that are necessary to deal efficiently and effectively with those differences when they occur. In this simulation game students experience how even fictitious cultures they have created on their own have an influence on the decision making process and undergo democratic decision making procedures on different levels. This article delivers an insight into the simulation game and explains performative pedagogy as a way to foster competences individually. After the theoretical part selected results of a research project financed by the State of Styria (Austria) carried out in the school year 2011/12 in 12 different schools at 16 different playing dates with 289 students involved are presented. The results were quite positive and the simulation game is now ready for regular usage in schools.

Guitars, Keyboards, Strobes, and Motors — From Vibrational Motion to Active Research

Physics First is offered to ninth graders at high schools in Aurora, CO. A unique new asset of this school system is an embedded research lab called the “Innovation Hyperlab.” The goal of the lab is to connect secondary school teaching to ongoing university scientific research, supporting the school district's aim to create opportunities to integrate P-20 (preschool to graduate school) learning. This paper is an example of how we create research connections in the context of introductory physics lessons on vibrations and waves. Key to the process is the use of several different types of technical resources, hence the name “hyperlab.” Students learn many practical experimental techniques, reinforcing their knowledge of fundamentals and preparing them to work effectively on open-ended research or engineering projects.

Promoting identity exploration within the school curriculum: A design-based study in a Junior High literature lesson in Israel

This study describes a researcher–educator collaborative intervention that aimed to promote identity exploration among 9th-grade students in a literature lesson. The intervention focused on an introductory lesson about a poem from the curriculum, and involved designing educational activities anticipated to trigger identity exploration, promote a sense of safety, and scaffold exploratory action among students. Analysis of observation of the lesson, students’ products, and post-lesson focus groups suggested that the lesson was successful in eliciting engagement in identity exploration among many, albeit not all, students. The analysis also suggested that exploration-promoting activities contributed to students’ adaptive motivation and engagement in literature and in writing. The findings highlight the complex, dynamic, non-determined, and inherently contextualized nature of identity exploration. The study emphasizes the need for interventions that employ theoretical principles as well as contextual knowledge in the design of educational activities, and the application of continuous design-evaluation cycles, for the successful promotion of identity exploration in educational settings.

Cognitive behavioral treatment for trauma symptoms in American Indian youth: preliminary findings and issues in evidence-based practice and reservation culture

This study reports on the use of Cognitive Behavioral Intervention for Trauma in Schools (CBITS), an evidence-based practice, with 43 students in six schools on three American Indian reservation communities. CBITS was helpful in treating the majority of American Indian children and adolescents who were experiencing symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. Using a limited quasi-experimental design, on a measure of traumatic stress, there was symptom reduction with the passage of time; however, symptoms reduced more substantially with treatment. Local cultural experts, that is, Tribal Elders, were invited to provide traditional cultural activities and teachings in the introductory lesson and at graduation. A 3-year follow-up involving school counselors reported on acceptability and additional impacts of the program. They expressed that treating trauma was a priority for their students, CBITS was perceived as an advantageous approach, and counselors said they would use it in the future. Fur...

Pedagogical content beliefs: global, content domain-related and situation-specific components

Although teachers’ professional knowledge and instructional beliefs are known to have a variety of subcomponents, research on the structure and interrelations of these subcomponents is relatively scarce. This article presents some findings of a preliminary, quantitative empirical study examining the relationships between mathematics teachers’ views concerning specific classroom situations, their content domain-specific pedagogical content beliefs and their more global instruction-related beliefs. The findings suggest that global beliefs—in terms of cognitive constructivist or direct transmission views of teaching and learning, on the one hand, and beliefs about the stability of individual mathematical abilities, on the other—can impact teachers’ content domain-specific beliefs and their views related to videotaped classroom situations from introductory lessons on geometrical proof.

1744.2 John Newbery Publishes <i>A Little Pretty Pocket-Book</i>, and with It Our First Glimpse of the Game of English Baseball

Away Flies Boy1We know, beyond a reasonable doubt, that American baseball derived from an earlier 18th century English that was also called baseball. True, we don't have any smoking-gun proof of this; no diary entry from, say, 1750s, detailing how little Johnny settler brought baseball over here from England and introduced it to his chums on village green. Such a discovery would be lovely to find, and I'm still on hunt for it, but even without it we have a strong case based upon circumstantial evidence alone. The England was called baseball and here it is called same.2 In both countries, a pitcher serves a to a batter, baserunners circle bases, and fielders do what they can to catch and get runners out. In my view, inherent similarities between American baseball and its earlier English namesake negate possibility that our could have somehow sprung up all on its own.Once implanted North America, we pretty much know how things turned out. Baseball eventually evolved from being a rustic folk to becoming fullblown American national pastime. But story of English baseball is another matter. Its history was never carefully recorded, and to this day remains largely elusive. Yet, recent years, researchers including myself have uncovered a modest number of new references that have added to our pool of knowledge about English baseball. These findings have prompted me to reappraise some of my previous assumptions about game.Our earliest evidence for English base-ball dates from 1744, when iconic children's book A Little Pretty Pocket-Book was first issued. Publisher John Newbery devoted a full page of his pioneering juvenile work to game, giving us our first clues of how it looked and how it was played. Newbery's page includes a simple engraving of pastime that depicts three young gents at play, one holding a his hand and another waiting to strike it with his bare hand. The bases, three of them, are shown as posts ground. An accompanying snippet of verse reads as follows:The Ball once struck off,Away flies BoyTo next destin'd Post,And then Home with Joy.3Three other references to English baseball from 1740s and '50s add texture to Newbery's introductory lesson on game. The first of these, Lady Hervey's letter of 1748, describes family of Prince of Wales enjoying pastime. She wrote that they played it in a large room, and that the ladies, as well as gentlemen, join this amusement.4 Another work from Newbery's press, The Card, published early 1755, refers to the younger of a family retiring to play base-ball, an activity that author described as an infant game when compared to either fives (a form of handball) or tennis.5 Also from 1755, an entry diary of 19-year-old William Bray notes he played base ball at a friend's home as part of a mixed party of young men and women.6These four sources give us a glimpse of what English baseball was like mid- 18th century, a time, presumably, not many decades removed from when pastime first came into being.7 Baseball of that era appears to have been more of a social diversion than an athletic sport, and quite clearly an appropriate activity for both sexes. As to what looked like, we don't really know for sure. But it is difficult to deny that those four little lines of verse A Little Pretty Pocket-Book conjure a mental image that is uncannily familiar. Even now, 250 years later, one would be hard pressed to come up with a more charming and economical allusion to baseball, save for fact, of course, that there's no indication of a bat.Following 1755 we enter dark ages of English baseball history. No further references to can be found English writings until late 1780s, and thus we lack any evidence telling us of progress of pastime, who was playing it, or what changes it might have been undergoing during those decades. …

Elder-Led Program Shows That Art Enriches Residents’ Lives

Painting is more than just a pastime for nursing facility residents. Just ask Pearl Downs. The 90-year-old Little Rock, Ark.-based artist and newlywed used art to help her recover from a stroke, and now—through her self-styled notebook entitled “Painting in Acrylic: Introductory Lessons for Seniors” and her teaching techniques—she is helping other seniors overcome depression and isolation and regain their self-esteem and joy of living. In fact, the Arkansas Health Care Foundation has such faith in her methods that they are including Ms. Downs and her teachings as part of a certification program for activities directors. “A lot of residents find that they can produce paintings using Pearl's book and methods, even if they never painted before. They love it and are very proud of what they produce,” said Kerri Marsh, executive director of the Arkansas Health Care Foundation. She added, “We coordinated a calendar and an art auction with the Arkansas Medical Directors Association, and we offered facilities in the state a copy of the book, paints, and brushes if they completed a short commitment form.” At first, few facilities responded, said Ms. Marsh. Activities directors said they doubted that they could make it work. To encourage them, the foundation implemented an afternoon workshop with Ms. Downs as part of a certification-training program for activities people. “Participants spent 4 hours with Pearl and went home with a painting. The program was a huge success, and evaluations were overwhelmingly positive and enthusiastic,” said Ms. Marsh. In fact, all 15 participants requested the book and supplies so they could implement the program at their facilities. Ms. Downs’ notebook is a bound training manual she produced with the help of the foundation. It includes 12 painting projects—featuring subjects such as flowers, sailboats, a lighthouse, landscapes, and animals—with step-by-step instructions on how to complete each painting. “Students get a new interest in life,” said Ms. Downs, who taught the class while a resident at the Good Shepherd Nursing Home in Little Rock. “Creativity is an important natural instinct. Even though the book gives students paintings to copy, it's amazing how creative and unique each completed work is.” Ms. Downs knows personally the difference art can make for an elder with health problems. “I had a stroke and was left with physical problems including impaired speech,” she explained. “Painting helped me recover. It gave me something to look forward to and feel good about.” Now, teaching keeps her active and alert. She noted, “People ask me if it hurts to teach at my age. I tell them that it only hurts not to teach.” Her students agree. Ms. Marsh noted, “We haven't formally surveyed facilities that have used Pearl's program, but those who have painted with Pearl will openly tell you that it has changed their lives.” The class encourages socializing and improves hand-eye coordination, and the paintings themselves give residents pride. Said Ms. Marsh, “They use them as Christmas gifts for their families and friends. This especially means a lot to seniors who have little money.” Additionally, many residents have submitted their works for contests at county fairs, and several have won ribbons. “Art fights loneliness, helplessness, and boredom, three things that haunt many nursing facility residents,” observed Ms. Marsh. “Using Pearl's program, residents get the satisfaction of knowing that they can still do something, make contributions, and be unique and valuable members of their community.” Senior contributing writer Joanne Kaldy is a freelance writer in Hagerstown, Md., and a communications consultant for AMDA and other organizations. See page 13 for information on AMDA's “Art at the Wall” silent auction at the Annual Symposium next March in Charlotte, N.C.

NCSS Notable Trade Book Lesson Plan: Old Turtle and the BrokenTruth

The following lesson plan addresses the NCSS culture standard by using Old Turtle and the Broken Truth as an introductory lesson to the study of different cultures by highlighting the cultural universal of love.

Tails' Inheritance: Challenging Secondary School Students' Ideas About the Inheritance of Acquired Traits

Numerous studies have been conducted in the last two decades on students' conceptions regarding natural selection and adaptation. These studies repeatedly indicate that students of all ages--from middle school to college students--have difficulties understanding the notion of natural selection (summaries can be found in AAAS, 1993). Students', ideas are typically intuitive and consistent with their everyday life experiences. In everyday life, individuals adapt deliberately to changes in their environment by changing their form or behavior. Consequently, students explain a gradual change in populations in terms of deliberate change of individuals rather than inadvertent change in the proportion of individuals carrying advantageous traits in a population. Similarly, students may sometimes see that traits such as smoking or bodybuilding run in some families and intuit incorrectly that these acquired traits are inherited. Students' ideas are presented in Table 1. The purpose of this article is to outline a lesson plan that is designed to challenge one commonly held naive idea, namely, the inheritance of acquired traits. While scientists believe that the experiences an organism has during its lifetime can affect its offspring mainly if the genes in its own sex cells are changed by the experiences, it was repeatedly found that many middle school students believe that experiences and traits acquired during an individual's lifetime can be passed on to its offspring (for example, Brumby, 1984; Clough & Wood-Robinson, 1985). This naive idea may in turn hinder the understanding of the theory of natural selection, leading to beliefs concerning the inheritance of environmentally induced characteristics over several generations. In this activity, students express and defend their ideas, consider alternative positions, get feedback from the teacher and their peers, and eventually reach the sought conclusion. Therefore, the objectives of this activity are not only to address students' prior knowledge about the inheritance of acquired traits but also to provide opportunities for students to practice the way science knowledge is constructed. Driver, Newton, and Osborne (2000) advocated the emphasis of argumentation in the science classroom as it provides students with an authentic image of the reasoning involved in gaining confidence in scientific knowledge: ... if we intend to show the socially constructed nature of scientific knowledge, we must give a much higher priority than is currently the case to discursive practices in general and to argument in particular. Being able to present coherent arguments and evaluate others ... is important if students are to understand the basis of the knowledge claims with which they are confronted. Driver et al., 2000, p. 297 Curricular Context The lesson plan described is part of a short curricular unit consisting of approximately 10-12 class periods. We tried it out with grades eight and nine, as well as with high school students and found this approach to be effective in creating an atmosphere that welcomes and rewards expression of ideas and classroom dispute. Moreover, following instruction, most students satisfactorily explain natural phenomena using the mechanism of natural selection. This curriculum includes the following lessons: Lesson 1. How Do Populations Change Over Time? An introductory lesson designed to elicit students' ideas regarding the evolution of the giraffes' neck. Lesson 2. Are Acquired Traits Inherited? August Weissman's experiment is used to challenge students' naive ideas. Lesson 3. Why Are Some Traits Passed On to the Offspring and Some Are Not? Exploring examples of inherited and non-inherited traits. Lesson 4. Are All Organisms in a Given Population Identical? Exploring variation among plants, animals, and humans. …