Elementary Science Countdown to the

TAKSBy

Annette VenegasCreated in cooperation with

Education Science Specialists, Region 20

Is 75% Passing or Not?

• Currently students must get a 31/40 on the assessment to be considered passing.

• The test is post equated so the total items correct could go up or go down depending on the level of difficulty of the exam.

• There is no way to determine this until after the exam is given and analyzed.

• Either way the scale score will remain the same, 2100, and there really is no way for us to calculate the scale score.

Why the resource?• Science will be what keeps most schools

from earning their honor (recognized, exemplary)

• Three administrations of reading.• Three administrations of math.• Only one administration of science.

• Emphasizing the right areas• Asking the right questions

Intent of the Resource

• Review strategies• Review activities • Not initial teach material, just

meant to be an overview of all of the science covered up to this point.

Structure of the Resource

– Warm-up questions• Questions to review and get students to think

about various situations.• Ask as many or as few as you want on a daily

basis.– Information piece

• Condensed write up of the key information to share with students.

– Recommended activities• Cut and paste, graphic organizers, games,

charts, tables, investigation, that do not require a grand set up to review concept or vocabulary.

– Assessment questions• Formatted like the TAKS questions in a cluster

style and taken from stems of previous years.

A consideration…

• 25% of exam involved math• 35% of exam was nature of science

items• 25% of exam was content from previous

grade levels• 35% of exam dealt with plants, animals

or environments• 80% of exam was above the knowledge

and skills level on Bloom’s Taxonomy• 50% of exam had a table, chart, graph,

or graphic

Nature of Science

• Can be the easiest most enjoyable part of science to teach.

• Most teachers are comfortable with the content.

• It is also the section that will carry the greatest number of questions on the exam (13)..

Nature of Science Focus Areas

• Proper laboratory tools to collect data.

• Make measurements using laboratory tools.

• Use the scientific process to problem solve and evaluate scientific situations.

• Evaluate models. • Evaluate promotional materials.

The Scientific Process

• Students need to be able to use the scientific process to conduct proper laboratory investigations– Determining possible problems of investigations– Determining possible hypothesis– Determining needed materials for investigations– Determining logical procedure/steps for

conducting investigations– Effective ways to gather, represent, and

interpret data– Evaluating data to make logical conclusions

Examples

Examples

Charts and Graphs

• Students must be able to determine how to represent data using tables, graphs, and charts, as well as evaluate data from investigations.

Using the data table above, make a graph to represent the information. What problem do you think was being investigated?

What do you think the data says?

Evaluating Models

Evaluating Models

Promotional Materials

Laboratory Equipment and Measurement

Measurement

MeasurementReading a Balance

Life Science

Life Science Units• Interactions within the ecosystem

– Why do organisms interact within the ecosystem and how does it happen?

– What is the important vocabulary involved in the interactions?

• Adaptation– Why do organisms go through adaptation?– What are the reasons for adaptations?– Why is adaptation is so important?

• The complex ecosystem– How is everything connected?– How does environmental change affect

organisms?– How do organisms modify their environments?– What role does the changing earth play in the

lives of organisms?

Areas to emphasize

• Characteristics of ecosystems• Interactions between

organisms• Adaptation in an ecosystem• How the system works as a

whole, including the interaction of living and nonliving parts

Interactions within the Ecosystem

• Beyond the characteristics spend time on what is happening within the ecosystem.

• Organisms are interacting to meet their basic needs and establishing competition and cooperation along the way.

Food Webs/Food Chains

Remember the Terms

• Producer• Consumer• Decomposer• Carnivore• Herbivore• Omnivore• Predator• Prey

Classifying Organisms

In addition to being able to classify organisms as herbivores, carnivores, and omnivores, on the food web, we also want students to be able to identify producers, consumers (primary and secondary) and decomposers, as well as the role they play.

Adaptation

• Another major concept in the life science area is adaptation.– Why do organisms adapt?– How do they adapt?– What are examples of

adaptations among the various ecosystems?

Reasons for Adaptation

• The ability of an organism to adapt to their surrounding determines if they survive and thrive or perish.

Life cycles• Predictable patterns of change• Given life cycle examples of plants or

animals can students determine the predictable pattern of change?

Traits and Behaviors

• Common inherited traits• Common learned

characteristics

Making “Connections”

Physical Science

Physical Properties

• Consider the following as the major guiding concepts:– Physical Properties of matter– Changes in states of matter– Solutions and mixtures– Energy – Force and Motion

Matter

• Build vocabulary and understanding with students to understand the following physical properties:– Mass/weight– Magnetism– Gravity– Volume– Density/Buoyancy– Physical state – Ability to conduct/insulate heat,

sound, or electricity.

Physical Properties

What Students Need to Know and Understand

• Students must understand that any piece of matter has characteristics specific to it. For Example…– Rubber band

• Estimate the mass (weight)• How does gravity affect the object?• Is not very dense so it floats in water

(buoyant).• Can be found in the form of a solid• Is not magnetic• Does not conduct electricity

Other Physical Properties

Solutions and Mixtures

• An emphasis should be placed on how to separate a mixture, not just the properties of each.

Mixtures

– Solids and solids – Liquids and liquids– Liquids and solids

Physical properties will most likely determine how we are able to separate the mixture.

Energy

• Most of us have covered the different energy types, but do not forget the flow of energy.

Critical Concepts

– Energy and its behavior• Sound vibrates• Light reflects/refracts• Electricity and circuits• Heat with conduction/convection• Energy in a food chain• Energy in the water cycle• Sunlight in photosynthesis

Energy Forms and Flow

• Chemical energy• Physical energy• Light energy• Sound energy• Electrical energy• Heat energy• Mechanical energy• Magnetic energy (force)• Solar energy

The Flow of Energy

Force/Motion & Change

• How force causes motion (pushes, pulls) and how it can stop motion (friction, gravity).

• How forces work so that they can make work easier.(simple systems)

Application of the Laws*Students do not need to know these in fifth grade, but it helps if teachers

understand these laws when teaching the concepts

• Newton’s Laws of Motion to predict possible outcomes– 1 Objects in motion, tend to stay in

motion, and objects at rest, tend to stay at rest, unless an unbalanced opposite force acts upon them

– 2 Force is equal to mass times acceleration

– 3 For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

Predicting outcomes

• A large marble comes into contact with a small marble, what would the outcome be?

• A fully blown balloon is released, what is the outcome?

• A large rubber ball and a small one roll down a hill, which of the two will reach the bottom of the hill the fastest?

• A girl hangs on a rope with weights at both ends, what is the result if she lets go of the rope?

Predicting Outcomes

When discussing these pictures, refer to the illustrations as “simple systems” and emphasize the parts working together.

Earth Science

Students should be able to show their understanding of earth’s physical features, how they form, and how they change over time.

Highlights of Earth Science

• The areas critical to the understanding of Earth Science:– Earth’s structures & materials– Earth processes– The past vs. the present– Systems and cycles that help

shape the surface of the earth.– The Solar System– The Sun/Earth/Moon

Earth’s Structure and Materials

• Review the structure of the earth.• Next go into the materials found on

earth and their importance.– What are the different types of soils

and their properties?– Why are rocks and minerals so

important to us on earth?– What is the significance of the gases

found on earth?– What is the significance of water on

earth and role does it play?

Layers of the Earth

Layers of the Earth

• Crust • Mantle• Core

– Students should understand that the Earth has layers and they should know how a model might look.

Earth’s Resources

• Emphasis is on examples of renewable, nonrenewable, and inexhaustible resources.

Earth Processes that Cause Change:Some changes are fast, Some changes are

slow.

• Erosion• Weathering• Deposition• Glaciers• Volcanoes• Earthquakes• Flooding• Landslides/mudslides• Tsunamis

The Process (Is it constructive or destructive) and the Outcome

• What are the landforms and what processes do you think caused their formation.

Plate Tectonics

• You do not have to go into great detail, but students should have a general idea of what happens when plates interact.– Earthquakes– Mountains– Volcanoes– Ridges

Events in the “Past”

• This is an important area to discuss types of resources, their origins, and how we classify them.

• This is also an opportunity for you to cover types of fossils, rocks, tree rings and other ways we can investigate “what happened before”.

Significance of Fossils

Significance of Tree Rings!

Sedimentary Rock Layers

Space Science• Start with the Solar System

Positions of the planets in relation to the SunRelationship between the Earth and Moon, and Earth/Moon and Sun.Characteristics of the Sun

Structure and compositionFunction of the Sun

Energy, growth (plants), water cycle & creation of wind

Physical characteristics of the moon.Earth materials and objects in the sky

• Constellations, meteors, comets, lightningPatterns of change occur in cycles

• Lunar cycle, day/night, and seasons

Planets in Relation to Sun

Students need to know what the order of the planets is in relation to the Sun and what constitutes a good model.

Characteristics of the Sun

• The Sun has black spots on it called Sunspots that are actually cool spots. They are very unstable. They often erupt into Solar Flares. These are caused because of magnetic in-balances and the energy they give off is carried through the solar system by Solar Wind. This solar wind can pass through Earth’s magnetic fields disrupting many systems on Earth.

Energy from the Sun

• The Sun provides Earth with most of its energy that powers various activities on the planet.– Food Webs (flow of energy)– Growth of plants (photosynthesis)– The Water cycle (drives the cycle)– Creation of winds– Weather

• These are all driven by energy from the Sun.

Objects in the Sky

• Planets• The Sun• Comets vs. Meteors• Constellations• The Lunar Cycle• Lightning• Clouds

Lightning

• Lightning as a pattern of change can signify that there is indeed a change coming.

• It’s also a critical part of the nitrogen cycle.

Patterns and Cycles of Change

• Students need to understand that change can occur in cycles.– Daily– Weekly– Seasonal– Lunar

– Water– Carbon/Oxygen– Nitrogen.

Day/Night and SeasonsTilt/Axis/Rotation/Revolution

Lunar Cycle

Questions/Comments

Region 20 Contacts

• Annette Venegas, Science

annette.venegas@esc20.net

(210) 370-5478