Friends Forward

Modeling instruction is a powerful, research-backed approach to science education in middle and upper grades. Students in a modeling classroom are challenged to build, test, modify, and reason from models is a way that closely mimics practices within the scientific community. Though not developed with Quaker process in mind, modeling instruction relies on communal discernment, collaboration, consensus building, and reflections on process in ways that closely overlap with models for Quaker decision-making. This workshop will explore this overlap. Attendees will act as students in an abridged version of a classic modeling instruction lesson to get a feel for the approach. Then, we will reflect as a group on the ways Modeling Instruction relies on many of the same themes as Quaker decision-making. The group will also explore how to use Modeling Instruction to teach and/or reinforce norms for Quaker decision-making among students.