Topic: The Learning
Cycle 4
(
Aug 2006
). Quick
Fix: Learning Cycle: What is the Biological Definition of Life?.
The American Biology Teacher,
68, no. 6,
330-332.
This paper is included in a section of the American Biology Teacher entitled” Quick Fix". It certainly is that. At just over one full page of text and several accompanying figures, a table to suggest a specific inquiry (Are Viruses Alive?), is very concise. The topic is a good one for an introductory Biology class, and gets the students to truly evaluating just exactly what they will be studying when Biology is defined as “the study of life”. This exercise is designed and formatted in the 5E Learning Cycle methodology, and there are specific questions and activities associated with each. The Explore [phase includes a demonstration table in which a variety of objects categorized by “Characteristics” (of living things) and author includes a materials list which establishes 8 ‘Characteristics”’ and then gives a pretty decent list of objects which would be appropriate to illustrate each. There are some rather clever suggestions, such as: using Silly Putty on comics under the ‘Reproduction’ category, and a gumball machine listed in the ‘Movement’ character (although, I have a problem with “movement” as a basic criterion to begin with). After the ‘explore’ phase there are several in depth questions proposed for the “Explain” phase, which is then followed by a “Elaborate Phase” in which two teams are established to take a pro-con approach to addressing the “Are Viruses Living or Non-living?” exercise. This includes an extended internet search to prepare a 250-500 paper in support of their assigned position. This culminates in a full class debate on the issue followed by polling the students for their perspectives afterward. The author states in the conclusions that she has not ‘formally’ evaluated the effectiveness of the approach, but that “…anecdotal assessment using test scores and student response has been positive”.
I like this lesson plan. It is very compact, but covered a considerable amount of effort which I believe would go a long way to helping students grapple with the complexity of the issue without overwhelming them. I initially thought that on the surface this would be too simple an exercise for anything higher than middle school, but upon reflection, I think it could be easily adjusted to be quite effective for older students, even to the point of being good enough for a basic Introductory Biology course at the college level. There are some very good suggestions for ways to proceed that leave the development of difficultly up to the imagination of the instructor.