An Introduction to Science Curriculum Topic Study

1. An Introduction to Science Curriculum Topic Study Professional Learning Communities in Science Summer Institute Lake Buena Vista, FL August 4, 2009

2. What Do You Know About Curriculum Topic Study Tools? (CTS)

3. 3 Goals for the CTS Intro Session • (Learn about) To develop awareness of Curriculum Topic Study (CTS) as a tool your PLC can use for connecting standards and research on learning to classroom practice. • (Practice) To provide guided practice in using CTS. • (Apply) To consider ways you might apply CTS to your PLC work.

4. What is CTS? A process that incorporates a systematic study of standards and research A set of tools and collective resources for improving curriculum, instruction, assessment, and teacher content knowledge An intellectually rigorous and engaging professional development experience that can be within a variety of contexts and PD strategies

5. Having State and National Standards Is Not Enough… What has been missing is a systematic, scholarly, deliberate process to help educators intellectually engage with standards and research on student learning so they can make effective use of them Keeley, 2005 CTS provides that “missing link”

6. CTS Components • Curricular topics (147 science curricular topics organized in 11 categories) • Collective Resources • Study Procedure Using CTS Study Guide • Web Site www.curriculumtopicstudy.org • Applications

7. CTS Collective Resources- Experts at Your Fingertips 24/7     Indicates the resource is online Indicates parts of the resource are online

8. Select a Curricular Topic

9. Anatomy of a Study Guide Handout

10. Anatomy of a Study Guide Selected readings from a common set of resources on the right Purpose for the reading on the left

11. Anatomy of a Study Guide CTS Section I- Identify Adult Content Knowledge This section helps users identify what all adults (including teachers) should know for science literacy.

12. Science for All Americans • However complex the workings of living organisms, they share with all other natural systems the same physical principles of the conservation and transformation of matter and energy. Over long spans of time, matter and energy are transformed among living things, and between them and the physical environment. In these grand-scale cycles, the total amount of matter and energy remains constant, even though their form and location undergo continual change.

13. Anatomy of a Study Guide Section II- Consider Instructional Implications Identify important considerations for instruction such as context, phenomena, developmentally appropriate learning opportunities.

14. Benchmarks Essay • In the middle grades, the emphasis is on following matter through ecosystems. Students should trace food webs both on land and in the sea. The food webs that students investigate should first be local ones they can study directly. The use of films of food webs in other ecosystems can supplement their direct investigations but should not substitute for them. Most students see food webs and cycles as involving the creation and destruction of matter, rather than the breakdown and reassembly of invisible units. They see various organisms and materials as consisting of different types of matter that are not convertible into one another. Before they have an understanding of atoms, the notion of reusable building blocks common to plants and animals is quite mysterious. So following matter through ecosystems needs to be linked to their study of atoms

15. Anatomy of a Study Guide CTS Section III- Identify Concepts and Specific Ideas This section helps users identify the concepts and key ideas, level of sophistication, and appropriate terminology related to a topic at different grade levels.

16. 6-8 Benchmark • Over a long time, matter is transferred from one organism to another repeatedly and between organisms and their physical environment. As in all material systems, the total amount of matter remains constant, even though its form and location change.

17. Anatomy of a Study Guide CTS Section IV- Examine Research on Student Learning This section identifies related research on learning, common misconceptions and their sources, and difficulties encountered by students.

18. Benchmarks- Ch 15 Research Middle-school students seem to know that some kind of cyclical process takes place in ecosystems (Smith & Anderson, 1986). Some students see only chains of events and pay little attention to the matter involved in processes such as plant growth or animals eating plants. They think the processes involve creating and destroying matter rather than transforming it from one substance to another. Other students recognize one form of recycling through soil minerals but fail to incorporate water, oxygen, and carbon dioxide into matter cycles. Even after specially designed instruction, students cling to their misinterpretations. Instruction that traces matter through the ecosystem as a basic pattern of thinking may help correct these difficulties (Smith & Anderson, 1986).

19. Anatomy of a Study Guide CTS Section V- Examine Coherency and Articulation This section helps users examine the K-12 conceptual growth in understanding and connections between ideas as well as across topics.

20. Grades 9-12- The chemical elements that make up the molecules of living things pass through food webs and are combined and recombined in different ways. Grades 6-8-Over a long time, matter is transferred from one organism to another repeatedly and between organisms and their physical environment. Grades 3-5- Over the whole earth, organisms are growing, dying, decaying, and new organisms are being produced by the old ones. 5E/E3 Grades K-2- Many materials can be recycled and used again, sometimes in different forms

21. Anatomy of a Study Guide CTS Section VI-Clarify State and District Standards Curriculum Frameworks This section helps the user clarify the meaning and intent of their own state standards or curriculum.

22. State Standard • Explain how matter cycles through ecosystems.

23. Anatomy of a Study Guide At the bottom of each study guide is a link to the CTS web site, where PLC’s can access the CTS database to find other readings and media resources to supplement individual CTS guides.

24. www.curriculumtopicstudy.org Video: Essential Science for Teachers- Life Science. Annenberg/CPB Professional Development Videos at www.learner.org Session 8- Material Cycles in Ecosystems Section I- A scientist describes the cycling of matter in a forest ecosystem. A scientist describes photosynthesis and producers and their main source of matter. A visit to a sewage treatment plant looks at the role of decomposers and decomposition. Two scientists describe material cycling, including carbon and nitrogen cycles. Section II- Third graders are shown considering questions about matter during an investigation involving worm tanks. Section IV- Dr. Tina Grotzer talks about research on ideas children have about decomposition, and the importance of looking at cause and effect in building accurate scientific understandings. Children in the Science Studio discuss their ideas about sources of matter for different links in a food chain.

25. CTS: The Swiss Army Knife of Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment Improve adult science literacy(I) Improve knowledge of content teachers teach(I) Examine curricular and instructional considerations(II) Identify common difficulties and misconceptions(IV) Consider developmental readiness(II, IV) Examine K-12 scope and sequence(III and V) Examine connections within and across topics(V) Clarify state standards and district curriculum (VI) Identify important concepts, key ideas, and skills; examine terminology in the standards(III)

26. Parallel Resources in Mathematics CTS Getting to Know the Resources Science Science for All Americans Science Matters Benchmarks for Science Literacy The National Science Standards Making Sense of Secondary Science Atlas of Science Literacy Mathematics Science for All Americans Beyond Numeracy Benchmarks for Science Literacy Principles and Standards for School Mathematics Research Companion Atlas of Science Literacy

28. The CTS Scaffold Scaffold: The structure and supports that a teacher or more knowledgeable helper provides to allow a learner to perform a task he or she cannot yet perform independently. (Vygotsky, 1978; Dixon-Krauss, 1996; Wertsch,1991.)

29. Quick Summary of the CTS Scaffold STEP 1: Scan and select the CTS category.  STEP 2: Scan the list of topics within the category that include the content you are examining.  STEP 3:Select the CTS guide you will use.  STEP 4: Determine which section(s) of the CTS guide will help you find the information you need.  STEP 5: Select the resource(s) you will use, the grade span(s), and the readings.  STEP 6: Examine the reading for information relevant to your topic and task.  STEP 7: Record your findings. If you do not find what you need, go back to Step 2 and repeat with another topic.

30. Practice Our PLC wonders what difficulties or common misconceptions students have about conservation of matter during a change in state? Step 1- Category? Matter Step 2- CTS Topic Guide? Conservation of Matter Step 3- Page Number of CTS Guide? Page163

31. Step 4 Our PLC wonders what difficulties or common misconceptions students have about conservation of matter during a change in state? Section? Section IV Purpose? Examine Research on Student Learning

32. Step 5 Select IVA Benchmarks for Science Literacy

33. Step 6- Read Related Parts Students cannot understand conservation of matter and weight if they do not understand what matter is, or accept weight as an extrinsic property of matter, or distinguish between weight and density. By 5th grade many students can understand qualitatively that matter is conserved in transforming from solid to liquid. They also start to understand that matter is quantitatively conserved in transforming from solid to liquidand qualitatively in transforming from solid or liquid to gas- if the gas is visible. For chemical reactions, especially those that evolve or absorb gas, weight conservation is more difficult for students to grasp. (Section IVA- Benchmarks 4D)

36. PLC PracticeForming “Mock PLC Groups” Remove your K-12 Snapshots handout from Binder Tab 5 Mark 3-5 Snapshots you would like to explore with your “Mock PLC” Stand in front of the sign that matches a snapshot that interests you. If there are more than 5 people at a sign, select a different snapshot

37. Eliciting Your Prior Knowledge Individual Quiet Write: On the Snapshots Recording Sheet, briefly describe how you would respond to the Snapshot scenario, prior to doing CTS. For example: Snapshot D- How do ideas related to the concept of gravity differ between my grade span and the grade span that comes before and after mine?

38. PLC Discussion Discuss the Snapshot question in your PLC based on the collective knowledge within your PLC group. Practice your norms of collaboration!

39. PLC Discussion After Using CTS(Steps 6 and 7) • Obtain a Snapshots folder. • Individually- Read the selected reading for your handout. • Use the recording sheet (question #3) to jot down ideas from the reading that address the Snapshots question. • When your group finishes their reading- discuss the reading. What new knowledge does CTS bring to your PLC to address the issue or question on the snapshot?

40. Practice: • Norms of collaboration • CTS Norm: Speak from the evidence (cite the reading)- not your personal opinion or “stories”

41. Reflection Questions • How can CTS enhance the content and PCK work of your PLC? • How can CTS change the nature of the dialogue within your PLC? • What ideas do you have for using CTS in your PLC?