Science Alliance

1. Science Alliance May 8th, 2008 Four Points Sheraton Lexington, KY Welcome! Help yourself to some breakfast and be ready to start at 9:01.

2. Group Norms • Start and end on time • Put cell phones on silent • Be respectful of all comments • Everyone participates • Exercise the rule of “two feet” • Come prepared for each meeting • Keep side conversations to a minimum

3. Roadmap for Today Unit Completion Unit Symposium Strategies for Stage 3

4. Stage 2 and 3 Resources and Considerations • I can use the formative assessment probes to help me plan instruction.

5. The Basketball Task http://viscog.beckman.uiuc.edu/grafs/demos/15.html

6. Misconception Research • Findings from a study just completed by Phillip Sadler of Harvard University (March, 2008) • Study of over 194 classrooms across the US • Why is knowledge of commonly held misconceptions so important? • Students of teachers who don’t know the science content or the science misconceptions showed little gain on a science content test. • Students of teachers who know the science content but not the science misconceptions performed the same on a science content test as students of teachers who did not know the science content. • Students of teachers who know the science content and the science misconceptions significantly outperformed the other groups of students on the science content test. • Sadler’s generalization: “knowledge of misconceptions is as important as content knowledge” for student success.

7. Uncovering Student Ideasin Science Vol. 1 Introduction – defines FA probes, explains the book’s layout, provides suggestions for using the book, and has 3 vignettes depicting classroom use. Vol. 2 Introduction – provides some research base for probes, describes how to embed them in instruction, explains how to use the teacher notes, and provides a vignette for using probe data to inform instruction. Vol. 3 Introduction – describes how to use probes for transformative learning and provides 9 suggestions for using the probes for teacher learning to inform instruction.

8. Uncovering Student Ideasin ScienceVol. 3 • Pre-reading: If you have used a/some probe, how did you use it and the data it provided? If you have not used one, why not? • During reading: • Read pgs 4-12 • Compare additive learning to transformative learning (pgs. 4-5) • Note 2 key things you want to remember from the 9 suggestions beginning on pg. 6. • After reading: list some considerations for using a probe to inform instruction.

9. How do I use the information gathered from probe(s)? Give one – Get one • Generate 2 ideas and record. (You may use your probe books as a resource.) • Move around the room, sharing ideas until you have given and collected 6 additional ideas in 2 minutes.

10. Strategies for Formative Assessment Probe Use

11. “Formative assessment can be used formally or informally, but it is always purposeful.” Page Keeley Science Formative Assessment pg. 11

12. Formative Assessment • Starts with identifying students’ existing conceptions • Uses data to design instruction based on where the learner is and where the learner needs to be • Incorporates continuous assessment Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques (FACTs) throughout instruction to: 1) promote thinking and reflection 2) monitor progress toward developing scientific ideas 3) adjust instruction as needed

13. 10 Reasons to Use FACT’s • Elicit and Identify Preconceptions • Engage and Motivate Students • Activate Thinking and Promote Metacognition • Provide Stimuli for Scientific Discussion • Initiate Scientific Inquiry & Idea Exploration • Formal Concept Development & Transfer • Improve Questioning & Responses • Provide Feedback • Peer and Self-Assessment • Reflection

14. FACT: Commit and Toss Rotting Apple

15. Benefits of Commit & Toss • High Engagement • Individual accountability, but anonymous • Identify with others • Quick • Allows teacher to see the prevalent ideas • Allows teacher to design targeted learning opportunities

16. Human Scatterplot I would see more of my face when I back up        I would see less of my face when I back up     I would see the same amount of my face when I back up       Low confidence High confidence

17. Earth’s Mass In autumn, dead leaves fall off trees. Every day, animals eliminate waste. All plants and animals eventually die. As a result, what happens to the mass of the Earth? • The mass of the Earth steadily decreases. • The mass of the Earth steadily increases. • The mass of the Earth stays about the same.

18. Benefits of Human Scatterplot • Quick and Visual—No paper work • High Engagement • Kinesthetic • Allows students to see others’ responses • Elicits prior knowledge • Can be used to initiate scientific argument among students

19. Misconceptions are not bad! They can be a good thing when teachers PURPOSEFULLY use them to bridge students’ ideas with conceptual understanding of science. Students’ Ideas Conceptual Understanding Use what students know and think to help them get to the other side

20. FACT: Card Sort Respiration

21. Benefits of Card Sorts • Access prior knowledge • Work in small groups • Practice skills of scientific argumentation • Allows students to transfer new knowledge • Allows students to develop generalizations • Teacher can note areas of uncertainty and design instruction accordingly. • Spark whole class discussion

22. Is It Matter? Is It Made of Cells? Is It Made of Molecules? Making Sound Is It Melting? Is It an Animal? Is It a Plant? Is It Living? Does It Have a Life Cycle? Is It a Rock? Is It Food for Plants? Needs of Seeds Is It a Theory? Hypothesis Other Justified Lists

23. Take Home Messages • Probes and FACTs are used before and throughout instruction- how you use a probe or FACT depends on your purpose. • Using a probe or FACT does not always involve writing- listening to students discuss ideas, observing as students test ideas from the probes, having students draw their ideas, are all ways to probe student thinking. • Assessment is not formative unless the information is used to inform teaching or provide feedback to students. • Probes and FACTs also promote thinking as well as provide information about thinking.

24. What do I do for those who get it and those who don’t?

25. DIFFERENTIATION Is a teacher’s response to learners’ needs Guided by general principles of differentiation Flexible Grouping Continual Assessment Respectful tasks Teachers can differentiate through Content Process Product Affect/Environment According to students’ Readiness Interest Learning Profile Through a variety of instructional strategies such as: RAFTS…Graphic Organizers…Scaffolded Reading…Cubing…Tic-Tac-Toe…Learning Contracts…Tiering…Learning/Interest Centers…Independent Studies…Intelligence Preference…Orbitals…Complex Instruction…4MAT…WebQuests…Task Rotations…Slam Dunk Lessons…Leveled Readers…Compacting…ETC.

26. Traditional and Revised Instructional Assessment Model PRETEST TEACH TEACH TEACH POSTTEST ASSIGN GRADES PRETEST ANALYZE DATA DI TEACH MONITOR ADJUST TEACH POST TEST Ainsworth, L. & Viegt, D. (2006) Common Formative Assessments: How to connect standards-based instruction and assessments. Alexandria, VA

27. Yes, But… I teach in a four-wall box of drab proportions, But I choose to make it a place that feels like home. I see too many students to know them as they need to be known, But refuse to let that render them faceless in my mind. I am overcome with the transmission of a canon I can scarcely recall myself, But will not represent learning as a burden to the young. I suffer from a poverty of time, And so will use what I have to best advantage those I teach. I am an echo of the way school has been since forever, But will not agree to perpetuate the echo another generation. I am told I am as good a teacher as the test scores I generate, But will not allow my students to see themselves as data. I work in isolation, And am all the more determined to connect my students with the world. I am small in the chain of power, But I have the power to change young lives. There are many reasons to succumb, And thirty reasons five times a day to succeed. Most decisions about my job are removed from me, Except the ones that matter most. -Carol Tomlinson, 2006

28. Unit Completion

29. Overarching Goals of Unit • Teach the standards • Assess along the way and adjust instruction accordingly • Make the content engaging and relevant • Have students DO Science—Evidence and Explanation

30. Unit Symposium

32. Required Components • Title • Essential Questions • Hook • Culminating Event/Performance Task • Kinds of Assessments • Probes • Highlights from Stage 3

33. Presentation Style • Tri-Fold Brochure (see example) • Power Point • Document Camera • Chart Paper

34. Roadmap for Today Unit Completion Unit Symposium Strategies for Stage 3

35. Wrap Up • Summer session considerations • Summer Session: June 23-25