Day 1:

Heidi A. Schweingruber

Ready, Set, SCIENCE!: Putting Research to Work in K-8 Science Classrooms

Sarah Michaels Andrew W. Shouse

Ready, Set, SCIENCE!Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching

Science in Grades K-8 Available online at http://www.nap.edu

Making the Case: 4 Reasons to Teach Science Well

(pg. 3)1. Science is an Enterprise

(green jobs)2. Provides a foundation for

problem-solving skills in the classroom

3. A democracy demands scientific literacy of its citizens

4. For some, science will become a vocation or avocation

What is “Ready, Set, SCIENCE!”• Taking Science to School

In 2007, the National Research Council of the National Academies of Science released a report from the Board on Science Education (BOSE) Committee on Science Learning, Kindergarten through Eighth Grade

• Ready, Set SCIENCE! – Putting Research to Work in K-8 Science Classrooms - a practitioner’s guide to the concepts and research from Taking Science to School

• Four Implications for Science Education – Learning Progressions in Science – Core Science Concepts– Importance of Science in Elementary Grades– Science Practices

Background of the Study Leading to Taking Science to School

30-Month NRC, Board on Science Education consensus study of the research literature on children’s learning of science

Culminated in 2007 report publication Related National Research Council studies

o How People Learno Adding It Upo Starting Out Right

Sponsors: National Science Foundation, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, Merck Institute for Science Education

Taking Science to School Ready, Set, Science!

Formal research study

Directed toward more academically inclined readers

Reviews research and evidence for findings

Built on the findings of TSS

Directed toward a practitioner audience

Uses case studies to bring provide rich illustrations

Provides in-depth description of instruction including action to implement changes

Major Findings:

• Rethinking Children’s Competence

• Strands of Scientific Proficiency

• Learning Progressions

Rethinking Children’s Competence

1. Children starting school possess a set of skills and knowledge as well as substantial knowledge of the natural world.

2. Children have a wide range of reasoning processes consistent with the underpinnings of scientific thinking.

3. Instruction in K-8 should build on this foundation.

• Students’ knowledge and experience play a critical role in learning science, influencing all four strands of science understanding.

• Language, culture, gender, and socioeconomic status are just some of the factors influencing the knowledge and experience children bring to the classroom.

• Students learn science by actively engaging in the practices of science.

• A range of instructional approaches support the full development of science proficiency.

Rethinking Children’s Competence

Strands of Scientific Proficiency• Strand 1: Know, use, and interpret

scientific explanations of the natural world.

• Strand 2: Generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations.

• Strand 3: Understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge.

• Strand 4: Participate productively in scientific practices and discourse.

Taking Science to School and States’ Standards

How does TSS and RSS relate to State Standards and Core Curricula?

Content Standards Learning Progressions Core Concepts Depth not Breath

Process Skills, Inquiry, and Four Strands of Science Science as Practice Science as Learning

Types of Conceptual Change(pp. 41-44)

1.Elaborating on a preexisting concept

2.Restructuring a network of concepts

3.Achieving new levels of explanation

Seeing Nature in New Ways: Building Conceptual Maps

(Types of Conceptual Change)

1. Remove the contents from the envelope and place on the table so the group can easily read the statements.2. Begin to discuss which statements could be understood

(learned) at the lower elementary level (K-2), upper elementary (3-5), middle level (6-8) and high school level (9-12)

3. Have one person in the group keep notes of the conversations and questions that arise.

4. Once consensus on the grade range placements have been reached, try to arrange them like a map showing how one statement contributes to the understanding of another statement. Use non-permanent markers to draw arrows.

5. Prepare to give feedback.

Learning Progressions Organized around big ideas of disciplinary

importance.

Contain high-level (abstract) ideas that go into building these disciplinary core ideas.

Provide a framework for organizing children’s learning of new facts, inquiry, and explanation.

Necessitate engaging in a wide range of practices that support using and developing that idea.

Recognize that understanding of the core ideas of science also involves understanding their epistemology.

Using Core Concepts to Build Learning Progressions

(pp.63-65)

1.What are things made of, and how can we explain their properties?

2.What changes, and what remains the same, when things are transformed?

3.How do we know?

Hot and Cold Balloons(K-12)

Keeley, P., F. Eberle, and C. Dorsey. 2008 Uncovering Student ideas in Science: Another 25 Formative Assessment Probes. Arlington, VA: NSTA press.

Hot and Cold Balloons

Moira filled a balloon with air. She tightly tied the balloon so no air could get in or out of the balloon. She kept the balloon in a warm room. An hour later she put the balloon in a cold freezer. When she took the balloon out 30 minutes later, it was still tied tightly shut. No air escaped from the balloon; however, the balloon had shrunk. Moira wondered if the mass of the balloon (including the air inside it) also changed.

A.The mass of the warm balloon is less than the mass of the cold balloon.

B.The mass of the warm balloon is greater than the mass of the cold balloon.

C.The mass of the warm balloon is the same as the mass of the cold balloon.

Describe your thinking. Provide an explanation for your answer.

The Mystery Box: Properties of Matter (K-2)

pp. 66 - 71

The Properties of Air(3-5)

pp. 72 - 75

Molecules in Motion& Conservation of Mass

(6-8)

pp.45- 54

Task: Moldy Bread

Betsy placed some bread in a plastic bag. Nothing could get in or get out.

After two weeks, she noticed mold growing on the bread.

Task: Moldy Bread

Task: Moldy Bread

Betsy weighed the bag with the bread before and after the mold started growing. Did the bag, with the moldy bread, weigh the same, more, or less than it did before the mold started growing?

A. The bag weighs the same.

B. The bag weighs more.

C. The bag weighs less.

D. There is not enough information to say anything bout the weight of the bag.

Atoms In Equals Atoms Out: Rusting (9-12)

O

OO

Fe Fe

What is the formula for rust?

Fe2O3

Making Thinking Visible

Talk Move ExampleRe-voicing “So let me see if I’ve got your

thinking right. You’re saying _________?” (with space for student to follow up)

Asking students to restate

someone else’s reasoning “Can you repeat what he just said in your own words?”

Asking students to apply their own reasoning to someone else’s reasoning

“Do you agree or disagree and why?”

Prompting students for further participation

“Would someone like to add on?”

Asking students to explicate their reasoning or “Say more

about that.”

“Why do you think that?” or “What evidence helped you arrive at that answer?”

Using wait time “Take your time…. We’ll wait.”

Appendix B: Assessment Items Based on a Learning Progression for Atomic-

Molecular Theorypg. 176

Grades 3-5 pg.177

Grades 6-8 pg. 178

Appendix A: Questions for Practitionerspg. 171

Discussion

How can this report be used

to support and improve

science instruction in NC?

Ideas for using TSS and RSS for classroom teachers, curriculum committees, and school administrators?

• Taking Science to School– Administrators and University Educators’ -Learning

Communities - book study TSS, “Implications for Conclusions”– State Science Specialists, District Science Specialists book

study on TSS, focusing on the strands, their meaning and implications

– Curriculum Development Group examine curriculum compared to TSS four strands

– Standards Development Group examine learning progressions in state/district curriculum

• Ready, Set, SCIENCE!– Professional Learning Communities (PLC) discussion on RSS,

focusing on Science Class level examples– PLC book study focusing on system level implications– Professional Development Session using chapter questions for

in-depth exploration (e.g., Classroom Discussion, Classroom Norms)

– Lesson Study, compare to excerpts from both books – both theory and practice for reflection on student learning

– PLC examination of grade level core concepts

Research Consensus Study Committee Members

• Richard Duschl (Chair) – Rutgers Graduate School of Education• Charles W. Anderson, Michigan State University• Kevin Crowley – University of Pittsburgh• Tom Corcoran – University of Pennsylvania• Frank Keil – Yale University• David Klahr – Carnegie Mellon University• Daniel Levin – Montgomery Blair High School• Okhee Lee – University of Miami• Kathleen Metz – University of California, Berkeley• Helen Quinn – Stanford Linear Accelerator Center• Brian Reiser – Northwestern University• Deborah Roberts – Montgomery County Public Schools• Leona Schauble – Vanderbilt University• Carol Smith – University of Massachusetts, Boston

Ready, Set, SCIENCE! Putting Research to Work in K-8 Science

Classrooms