Teaching Evolution using Piaget

I am teaching about evolution to students who may not understand it, or have been given misinformation about it. Here are some things I could do to help them assimilate/accommodate this new information:

Concrete operational:
Play the "Natural Selection" game in groups. This is a game that helps them see how butterflies are selected for or against based on how they look relative to the environment. We would go through several "generations" where students act as "predators," picking off the first animal they see, then each remaining animal would "reproduce" or get another one of the same color. By the end they would have a better, more accurate idea of how natural selection works, then we would discuss it using evolution terminology.

Formal operational:
Now we would take those ideas relating to natural selection, and look at where we see it happening in real life. I've shown them how it happens with butterflies. Does it happen with other animals? How?  Does it happen with humans? How?  Is it reasonable to expect that it happens in plants and animals but not in humans? This would be a discussion where they would have to come up with answers and be able to explain their reasoning.

My definition of intelligence

My definition of intelligence is more than just what a person knows. It has to do with how they learn and how they are able to apply what they know. A person can learn things, but if they don't know how to use them correctly or be able to even recall them later, they don't really know anything.

My definition of intelligence hasn't really changed after learning about it in class. I do not believe that people are either smart or they're not. Intelligence is something that can be gained, improved on, worked on, etc. Each person's intelligence is defined in a different way based on how they learn things and how they are able to apply what they have learned to new situations.

I can help students develop each aspect of emotional intelligence in these ways:

1. Recognizing one's own emotions--I can help them identify what they are feeling when interacting with them--"So you're feeling frustrated" or something along those lines.

2. Regulating one's own emotions--I can give them suggestions for how to handle their emotion that they are feeling at the time, how to redirect it or express it appropriately.

3. Recognizing other's emotions--I can give them many opportunities to work cooperatively with different types of people. This helps to teach them how to interact with others successfully, and in the case where there is a problem, I can help them identify what is going on, who is feeling what, and give them suggestions as to how to handle it.

4. Handling interpersonal relationships--I teach this best by modeling how I interact with different people and different situations--how I handle it when a student is being belligerent or when two students are fighting, for example.

5. Motivating oneself--I can help them to motivate themselves by breaking big projects and assignments down into smaller, "doable" parts, giving them reasonable deadlines for each part, and helping them evaluate their progress along the way.

Metacognition and Self-Regulation

The adolescent brain is not fully developed when we have them in high school. The frontal lobe, which is where metacognition and self-regulation would take place, isn't fully developed until a person is in their 20s or 30s, so most high school students are not really able to do metacognition or self-regulation on their own. They need our help as teachers.

Some ways I can help my students develop these abilities are by asking them questions throughout their learning process. I can ask them, "How are you doing with this concept?" "What do you know about ______?" "Look at your most recent test questions and write down which ones you missed and why?" These are questions that help them to start doing some reflection on what they know.

If my students were doing a science project, for example,  I could help them plan out when to do each part of the project. We could discuss as a class how we want to divide up the project and when we want each part to be due. We can also discuss what will be expected out of the project. Helping the kids think about these types of things helps them to see how the process works, so that hopefully later on they can do it with less assistance and eventually be able to do it on their own. Throughout the project process, I could use self-assessments with them where they would answer questions like "How do I feel I am doing on this project?" "What parts of the project am I needing help on?" "How well am I doing at keeping up with the schedule?" I could even just ask when a due date is coming up how people are doing on it and if anyone needs help. If they are having trouble, we can discuss specific strategies they can apply to help them accomplish it.

Later on I could give them a similar assignment and have them plan it out in a group or in pairs, and I could give them pointers on what might be helpful as they are doing it. Still later, maybe near the end of the year, I would have them plan out an assignment on their own.