Carol Helfenbein

SED 516

12/5/2014 Science Talk: Is Selective Breeding a Positive Thing?

Science Talk Overview

In the science talk I had with my eighth grade, sixth period, students, we revisited
selective breeding in comparison to natural selection. The main open-ended question I posed for
the students was "Now that we have learned about how natural selection works, is selective
breeding a good or bad thing for us humans to do?" I wanted the students to realize that both
natural selection and selective breeding were really the same thing, just that there are different
outside forces imposing on the genetics of animals. In natural selection, the environment is
imposing the changes in the genetics for a specific trait so that the animals can survive and with
selective breeding, humans are imposing the changes in the genetics for a specific trait that they
want.
I wanted the talk to be with the full class so I had everyone stay in their seats. I also
wanted the students to do the majority of the talking and asking questions while I facilitated the
talk, would redirect, and occasionally ask my own questions to get them thinking more. The
initial question was met with some confusion so I asked "After learning about natural selection,
who thinks that selective breeding is a bad thing? Who thinks it is a good thing?" Then I would
ask the individual students why they thought what they did. This digging deeper into why they
think what they do opened up the floor to more of a back and forth amongst the students. One of
the students wanted some clarification and another student who sat nearby answered the question
and clarified what the misunderstanding was. Once this line of thinking ended I posed the
question "Do you think a dog such as the pug or Chihuahua would be able to survive if they got
separated from their owners, particularly in the cold north?" The students all answered "No!"
Then I asked them why they thought that and got various answers where the answers were along
the lines of that they lacked the genes to survive those conditions. At that point I should have
asked "if a cold weather animal were suddenly put in the desert, would it survive," however the
topic went on to different types of dog breeds and their various attributes. The students did get
more animated and would talk back and forth more during this discussion. There definably was
a better sharing of information amongst the students.
Initial Question
Throughout the science talk I constantly encouraged the students to talk together and
share ideas but also had to remind them that we all had to be respectful of other's opinions. I
encouraged the students by asking open ended questions and when they did start talking together
I would not stop them by adding another question until the conversation died down on its own.
The questions I asked included "Explain why you think that way" and "Do you agree with
selective breeding?" Another question I asked at the end was "if you were to get your own pet,
would you get a specific breed or go to the pound?" There is no right answer but I did have them
support their reasoning. Some of the students answered that they would adopt and others wanted
a specific breed that they just loved. Another question I asked that was somewhat open-ended
was "Do you think a pet could survive on its own in the wild?" All the students thought no,
however if a student thought it was possible, they would have had to explain why they thought
so. There was no right or wrong answer to the question, as long as they had their reasoning for
their answer.
Open-ended questions allow for a better chance at dialog. The students are able to better
support their reasoning through what they have learned, what they had already known, and what
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Carol Helfenbein

SED 516

12/5/2014 Science Talk: Is Selective Breeding a Positive Thing?

they personally believe. According to Michaels (2012), this sort of discussion is an elicitation
discussion. Even though I wanted them to connect the similarities between selective breeding
and natural selection, the bulk of the discussion was based on the students' own experience and it
did provide insight into their way of thinking and organizing thoughts. As the students had never
discussed anything like this before, I wanted to start out fairly simple in execution.
The initial question did not present any relevance to the students until I focused the
question on the pets the students have and what sort of characteristics their favorite animals had.
To improve on this question, I could have had the students decide on a question or discussion
topic that they wanted to have or at least would have had more relevance to themselves
personally. Depending on what topic they wanted to discuss, the science talk could have become
a consolidation discussion or an explanation discussion which in turn would have become more
vigorous. The initial question also would have become well thought out on the students' part and
would have caused them to think more in depth about what they wanted to talk about (Michaels,
2012). However, having the students pick the topic of the conversation would have made it more
difficult for me to come up with follow up questions. At that point I might have been able to get
the students to ask each other the follow up questions. This sort of set up could possibly only
really happen when the students are more familiar with this sort of science talk and have
practice.
Question Response
During the science talk I would often probe for deeper understanding by asking the
students to clarify or elaborate on their responses. I would respond to a student response by
asking "Why do you think that?" particularly after the questions that were more opinion based.
A student stated "I do not agree with selective breeding" and I asked "Why do you not agree?"
and the student replied with "The severe interbreeding of animals for a particular trait can cause
a lot of health issues in the pets. It is cruel to let an animal suffer like that." "What sort of
traits?" "The cocker spaniel can have a brain case too small for its brain" "What about the nose
of a pug?" "The dog would not be able to breathe well." This was the sort of response that I
would try and have with the students. At times they would take over the responding with their
own questions to each other, but not often.
When the students stepped in and asked their own response questions, I would step back
and allow them to interact and ask those types of questions. It is important for them to learn how
to ask follow up questions and allows the students to learn how to use evidence to make their
case (Michaels, 2012). Otherwise I would prompt a deeper response by asking the student to
elaborate. Once the student had elaborated I would ask if anyone wanted to add to that or if they
wanted to share their opinion. This would occasionally lead to another round of questioning and
answering. This sort of questioning allowed the students to learn something about each other in
a safe environment as well as allowed a safe place for them to express their opinions. When
another student would laugh at an opinion, I would remind them that this is a place where we are
respectful of each others' ideas.
The response to the questions could be improved by having the students know that they
are expected to ask the response questions to each other and that I would stay less out of the
dialog unless it was needed. Students learn better when they do it themselves and learning how
to ask the right type of response questions is important as it teaches them how to ask those types
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12/5/2014 Science Talk: Is Selective Breeding a Positive Thing?

of questions in other intellectual conversations. They could even use those types of follow up
questions in asking someone they really do not know or trust why they think the way they do
about a particular subject, such as politics. The main point is that they know how to ask the
questions that gets the other person thinking why they believe what they do and not just follow
blindly with what someone else is saying. They can also learn more about the other person and
how they think by knowing how to ask the right type of questions (Michaels, 2012). Once again,
this sort of practice could be developed through time and use so that the students learn what is
expected and how to do it.
Student Ideas
I learned that the majority of my students agree with selective breeding. They think
selective breeding because there are many different types of dogs, for example, that have traits
that allowed them to better perform a job that humans wanted or needed them to perform. The
students were able to give many examples of the types of dogs and the traits they were bred for.
"The poodle was bred to be a hunting dog; its fur could keep it warm." "The Sharpe was bred to
fight as its loose skin can still allow it to turn towards the attacker even though the attacker has a
grip on its skin." The students also included some horses that were bred to race and to be fast as
well.
This sort of sharing of ideas and knowledge allows the students to expand their own
knowledge base. They are learning from another student various facts that they might not have
known before. Learning from a peer can be a more relevant to the student than learning from a
teacher who is more than ten years their senior. It makes it more personal to the students to be
able to share and learn from each other (Michaels, 2012). Students also get a boost in their
personal confidence when they are allowed to share their own ideas and contribute to a
discussion. They become engaged and motivated through the discussion and being able to
respond and give their opinions.
To make this more effective towards the big idea question, I should have kept the
students more to the topic of the original question. However, as the students were very engaged
with sharing their ideas and knowledge, I did not want to stall their momentum and I wanted to
keep them going. It had taken awhile to get the students to talk and share without having to
continuously ask questions. I wanted the students to learn from each other more and how to
scientifically converse than I had wanted them to realize the relevance of the similarities of
selective breeding and natural selection since it was the first time we had a discussion of this
magnitude in the class. For the future, I would have the students stick more to the topic of the
initial question and I would have them decide on what question they wanted to discuss and
answer. Once I got the students to talk to each other and share their ideas, the science talk had
gotten to the point I had wanted it to get to. It was just slightly off topic of the initial question I
wanted them to arrive at.
Relevance
My initial question was not very relevant to the students. I wanted them to tie in their
knowledge of genetics that we had finished learning about a month ago to adaptations, which is
all about the genetics that allows animals to survive. It was relevant in a way that it involved
animals and their traits, but the tying of genetics to adaptation that I was trying to was very
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Carol Helfenbein

SED 516

12/5/2014 Science Talk: Is Selective Breeding a Positive Thing?

boring to the students. It was because few students were interested in the initial question and the
topic it contained that I allowed the students to wander from the main topic and into a more
roundabout way of getting to the point. That involved talking more about what they specifically
thought about selective breeding and why, then to consider how that animal would survive out in
the wild.
I realized that I had started to far up and had to scale back and do more scaffolding to be
able to lead the students to the big idea that the initial question posed. I was not expecting the
students to change their beliefs on whether or not selective breeding is a good thing, but I wanted
the students to use different ideas and connections to support their beliefs. This would help the
students deepen their reasoning and be able to support their ideas with more than one topic
(Michaels, 2012). Instead of just using "it harms the animals" as a reason with an example, the
students can also say that the selected traits help the animal survive with humans or that the
selective traits has forced the animal to always rely on humans instead of being free. It gives the
students a more solid base to support their ideas off of.
I would change the way I made it relevant to the students by starting with having the
students give examples and reasoning for both selective breeding and natural selection then lead
the students more into the initial question and the big idea. I could also have the students decide
on their own topic to discuss on as they can pick things more relevant to themselves than I can.
That way the students would feel more invested in the topic from the start and more interested in
it. To do it that way, I would have the students pick the topic a day or two before so they would
have time to think about it and prepare for the discussion. That way each class can have their
discussion focused to a topic they all connect to instead of one imposed by the teacher as long as
the teacher can keep up with the discussion and keep it going on the right track.
References
Michaels, S., & O'Connor, C. (2012). Talk Science Primer. TERC, Cambridge, MA.