Eliciting Individual Student Thinking

How did you work with your cooperating teacher on this WIT?Did
you plan this eliciting event with your teacher? Was it over your teaching
or over your CTs teaching? Please elaborate.

My CT had planned the lab to supplement the lecture material the

students had received (from my CT). After looking over the lab, I came up
with the questions for the eliciting event, of which my CT previewed and
approved. The questions that were embedded in the lab did not do a very
good job of connecting the activity with the content. My questions were an
attempt to get the students thinking beyond just what happened when you
did this. My CT and I discussed together which students would be good
candidates for this activity.

Planning:Context of Eliciting Student Thinking.What is the subject

matter around which you will elicit student thinking (be clear and
thorough)? What student preconceptions mightbe helpful? What
challenges might students have?

The subject is the cell plasma membrane and its functions in maintaining
homeostasis. A major theme in biology (which we discussed) is structure
determines function. Preceding the lab, students took notes which focused on
the structure of the cell membrane (phospholipid bilayer, protein channels,
cholesterol). The lab was intended to give the students the opportunity to see
how this structure allows the membrane to perform each of its jobs.

Planning: share your plans for Eliciting Student Thinking and

note specifically yourprepared questions around the
content.Clearly show what questions and/or task you would use to elicit
student thinking. Include your initial/get em talking question AND
follow up/be sure to ask questions.

1. (Get em talking) What do you think the purpose of this lab is? Why should
we understand how cell membranes work?
2. (Follow up) Are all cell membranes the same? (Plant vs. animal, nuclear vs.
cell, cell vs. organelle) 3. Do you think the structure of the cell membrane
affects its function? Can you give me an example? 4. Is a bubble a good
model for a cell membrane? Why?

Teaching: Interview three students. What happened during the

eliciting events (give an overview)? How did you follow student
lines of thinking? Upload any evidence you collected representing your
efforts to elicit student thinking (for instance: video, audio, completed
reviewer forms, student work, etc.).

1. What do you think the purpose of this lab is? Why should we understand how
cell membranes work?
To get hands on experience as to what the cell membrane would do, so we
dont just have to read about it. I think it's important to know about it you are
going into biological studies, it's important to know about your body and what
is keeping your cells maintained.

WIT4_PTA.docx
 Eliciting Individual Student Thinking
To understand cell membranes, because they are in every living thing.
To teach us about cell membranes. Yes, because they hold everything inside
the cell and stop them from eating each other.
2. Are all cell membranes the same? (Plant vs. animal, nuclear vs. cell, cell vs.
organelle)
I think they are generally the same. They keep different things out and
different things in so they might be a little bit different.
I dont think so, I'm not sure. (same job?) yes.
They are probably different, they have different jobs. (are they made up the
same?) yes, I dont see why they wouldnt be.
3. Do you think the structure of the cell membrane affects its function? Can you
give me an example?
If you only had one of the layers it would let different things through that it's
not supposed to.
If you just take away one layer, it wouldnt be able to do some things but it
would still be able to do most of it.
(if you only have 1 layer?) It wouldnt be able to keep things in the cell. (if
you flip the layers around and the tails are on the outside?) it would still be
able to do its job, it would just do it differently.
4. Is a bubble a good model for a cell membrane? Why?
Yes. It was fun and I learned a lot
Yes. When we tried to put a paperclip through that didnt have soap on it it
just popped. It showed that things can't get through if its not part of the
membrane.
When we cut the bubbles, when a cell splits it doesnt leave a big gap in the
membrane.

Teaching: Interpreting your students thinking. What specifically

did you learn about your students thinking through this exercise? For one
or more students, describe what you learned about his or her thinking.
Draw directly from your interviews with the student(s).
a. Describe the students understanding of the content.
The students have a good understanding of the structure of the
membrane (phospholipid bilayer with hydrophobic and hydrophilic
sides); however, they do not have a good understanding of how this
correlates to the different functions of the cell membrane. They
seemed to understand how each of the lab activities correlated to the
membrane as well.
b. Include a specific strength and limitation in their understanding. What would
you do next as a teacher based on this information?
Based on this information, I think it is necessary to review the fact that
structure determines function is a core theme in biology. Stressing
the idea that they will see this over and over again throughout the
course and it was not simply something we talked about in chapter one
that they can now forget about. Another area that needs some focus is
where these membranes are found. It seems that with all the focus on
the structure and its functions, the idea of where these membranes are
found was lost. In our instruction we would simply say cell
membrane, but we did emphasize that it includes ALL membranes.

WIT4_PTA.docx
 Eliciting Individual Student Thinking
through these interviews, it is clear that students are only attributing
cell membrane to the outside membrane of a plant or animal cell.

Analyze. Strengths of this HLTP effort include:

This practice allowed me to see the importance of spending the time to

generate quality questions. It is crucial to not only have questions prepared,
but they must be thought provoking. As a teacher, it is hard not to fall into
the practice of teaching. During interview #3, the conversation took us off
script a bit so I did not have the question prepared. I knew what I wanted to
get at; however, I did all the explaining in my question. It is perfectly
acceptable for the conversation to go off script, but I can now see how
beneficial it is to practice this practice. Having never done this before, I dont
think I was prepared for some of the responses that students gave. It was a
good thing to have the prepared questions to go back to, however I think it
would be more beneficial to both the student and teacher if the questions
were linked more fluently with the students thinking. It truly is a skill that
one must develop!

WIT4_PTA.docx