One of the most important ideas from this article is that assessment should not only be summative. If students don't understand a concept, formative assessment allows this concept to be retaught. It's also important that there are several different types of assessment (portfolios, interviews, self evaluations, etc). That way, students will be better able to express their knowledge since there are so many different avenues. Some might be better in an interview than taking a test, for example. This reduces the text anxiety factor for many students. The chapter mentioned that when assessment is ongoing throughout the unit, there is less anxiety concentrated in just a few test experiences. I thought it was also interesting to include parents more in the assessment process. Their observations from the home can be very helpful, and this would make parents more receptive to the teacher's assessment methods.
Another thing I agreed with from this chapter was the importance of rubrics. When teachers use rubrics, students understand the expetations and later have a concrete understanding of what they need to work on. The idea of creating a portfolio also seemed very beneficial to me. Explaining how each piece demonstrates their learning is a great way for students to self-assess. However, assessment isn't all about these types of formal assessment. The chapter's section about informal observations was also very helpful. Using strategies like longer wait time and probing questions during discussions can help teachers make a better formative assessment. Longer wait time will give all students the chance to answer questions posed by the teacher, and probing questions stretch students so teachers can see what they really know--their reasonings behind a belief rather than just a one word answer. I also like the idea of giving students time to jot down their answer before calling on anyone. This gives the teacher a record of all the students' ideas in their science journal along with allowing students more time to think.
One thing which I didn't agree with in this chapter was that the writers included True/False questions as an acceptable form of assessment. I never thought it was a good idea for these questions to be included because students have a 50/50 chance if they simply guess. One way this problem could be remedied, however, is if students were required to supply an explanation for their thinking. This would make the grading process less simple, but teachers could actually assess much more deeply. Another issue I had with this chapter was the idea of peer-assessment. I do think this could potentially have merit, but it's very important to develop a trusting, collaborative classroom before implementing it. Otherwise, I think students could give their classmates a poor assessment just because they dislike them. Also, I don't think that the teamwork aspect shouldn't be emphasized a lot in the grading process because it strays away from assessing the student's actual science learning.
My favorite part of the chapter was the emphasis on performance assessment. I think that this is the most relevant form of assessment because students are doing something like they actually would in real life. Personally, I wouldn't like to take a performance assessment because I've been taking paper-and-pencil tests my whole life. But I think this aversion is a problem. I can do great on a standard test, but in real life, how is that going to help me? Assessments should be more relevant. I think the chapter was very accurate to say that students will remember their performance assessments much more. For instance, I still remember creating a covered wagon in 3rd grade and a volcano in 4th grade. These experiences are hands-on, interesting, and involve social collaboration, so students will remember the lessons that go along with them much better.
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Pendulums
Day 1:
Personal Experience: I haven't had a great deal of experience with pendulums, but like most people, I have been on playground swings several times in my life. I've also used yo-yos , swung on monkey bars, and been on amusement park rides like the pirate ship.
Applications to Real Life: One application that pendulums have to real life is a wrecking ball used in demolition. Also, all the personal experience I mentioned relates pendulums back to real life.
My Prediction: I think that if 2 people are on one trapeze and only 1 person is on another one, the one with 2 people will swing faster (and therefore have more swings in 10 seconds) because of the extra weight. I think that the pendulum with 2 washers will fall faster because more force is being put on the pendulum due to the extra weight.
Understanding about the Science: I don't have much understanding of the science behind pendulums. I do know that the length of the pendulum's swing will decrease each time so that the pendulum eventually slows down completely.
Predictions after 1 Washer: I predict that 2 washers will have 10 swings, 3 will have 12, and 4 will have 14. I think this because I believe that the extra weight will make the pendulum go faster. Because it's moving faster, there will be more swings within 10 seconds.
Results: 1 washer--8.18 swings; 2 washers--8 swings; 3--7.93 swings; 4--8.75 swings
This shows that the weight doesn't actually matter because the number of swings was around 8 for all the differently weighted pendulums.
Questions that I still have about pendulums:
-Why doesn't the weight make a difference?
-Does a pendulum ever completely stop?
-Does the angle at which the pendulum starts make a difference?
-Does the length of the pendulum's arm make a difference?
Analysis of questions:
a. My 3rd and 4th questions could be answered using the materials we have in class. We could set up the pendulum at different angles by simply measuring different angles with the piece of paper (11.25, 22.5, 45, and 90). We could use different lengths of string to investigate the 4th question.
b. I think that my first question could potentially be answered through further experimentation Really, this question requires a knowledge of equations and other scientific laws. However, I could experiment to see if objects of different masses but the same size would hit the ground at the same time. This way, I could see how mass affects an object's acceleration, which would relate back to our pendulum activity. This would show me that mass also doesn't matter in this situation, but I still wouldn't understand why. For this experiment, I would need objects that are the same exact size but different masses, such as a ping pong ball and a golf ball. Having a stop watch to time how long each item took to fall separately would make it more objective as well. A slow motion video of the two objects hitting the ground at the same time would be helpful as well because it probably wouldn't work out perfectly in a normal setting.
c. I don't think my first or second questions could be completely answered using the materials we were given because it's more a law of nature for which I need an explanation. I couldn't understand why the two objects reach the ground at the same time by experimenting, and judging whether the pendulum was truly stopped would be difficult. I'm going to do another Internet search to evaluate our explanation that mass doesn't make a difference. I could also find out the answer to my second question through an Internet search. It's important that students understand that the evaluation stage should be about true understanding rather than just knowing that the results of your experiment were correct.
d. My question about why weight doesn't make a difference is most important to me because I don't like to just accept this answer as "just the way it is." This shows just how important it is to still teach students in an inquiry based learning environment. They can't understand everything just because they see it happening in real life. They will see that mass doesn't matter when working with pendulums because that's what happened in the experiment, but they won't understand why unless the teacher explains it directly. Another question which really interests me is whether or not a pendulum ever completely stops. It appears to stop, but we mentioned in class how Galileo saw the chandelier moving in church. Because the earth never stops moving, does the pendulum really never stop moving as well? The third question which I find interesting is whether or not the angle at which the pendulum starts makes a difference. It seems like this would make a difference to me, but in class we measured
Day 2:
Question we chose:
We decided to experiment to see if the length of the pendulum's arm made a difference in the number of swings in 10 seconds.
1.) I didn't find this question particularly interesting, but we chose it because it was one most people in our group had asked. Also, we knew we could test this with the materials given to us in class.
2.) As I mentioned, I didn't find this question extremely interesting because I was pretty sure I knew the answer already. However, I knew that this wasn't a gurantee because I've found out during this semester that I have a lot of misconceptions. It's good to ask questions even if you think you know the answer. Knowing how pendulum arm length affects the number of swings would be helpful for someone trying to decide how long to make a rope swing or something similar. The number of swings is related to the width of the swing, and you wouldn't want the swing to be too long because it could run into another object.
3.) Our refined question is: How does the length of a pendulum's arm affect the number of swings it will complete in 10 seconds?
Data we found:
Quantitative Data:
4 inches
1st Trial: 14
2nd Trial: 14
3rd Trial: 13.5
4th Trial: 14
Average Swings =13.875
5 and 3/4 inches
1st Trial: 11.75
2nd Trial: 11.5
3rd Trial: 11.5
4th Trial: 11.5
Average Swings =11.5625
15 and 1/2 inches
1st Trial: 7.25
2nd Trial: 7.5
3rd Trial: 7.5
4th Trial: 7.5
Average Swings =7.4375
22 and 1/2 inches
1st Trial: 6.25
2nd Trial: 6.25
3rd Trial: 6.25
4th Trial: 6.25
Average Swings = 6.25
Qualitative Data:
The shortest string (4 in.) made the pendulum swing very quickly, and it got progressively slower up until the slowest pendulum (22 and 1/2 in.)
Claims based on the evidence:
The longer the string, the less swings the pendulum will complete in a given amount of time. This claim is based on our evidence because the shortest string had the greatest number of complete swings, and the number of swings got progressively larger as the string got longer.
Evaluation:
We did an Internet search and found that all the other sources we looked at agreed with our findings. I tried to do an Internet search to find out why exactly this is the case, and I couldn't find much of a real explanation. However, after thinking about it a little longer, I realized that the speed of the pendulum is faster if the string is shorter because speed is distance/time, and this pendulum is going a shorter distance due to its shorter string. The time stays the same, so this means that the speed increases as the length of the arm increases, resulting in more complete swings in a given amount of time.
Quiz Question:
The swinging experience would be very uneven because the 2 different strings are not the same length. The longer the string, the longer the period (meaning the longer string is going slower than the shorter string, so the swing couldn't have a smooth swinging motion).
Personal Experience: I haven't had a great deal of experience with pendulums, but like most people, I have been on playground swings several times in my life. I've also used yo-yos , swung on monkey bars, and been on amusement park rides like the pirate ship.
Applications to Real Life: One application that pendulums have to real life is a wrecking ball used in demolition. Also, all the personal experience I mentioned relates pendulums back to real life.
My Prediction: I think that if 2 people are on one trapeze and only 1 person is on another one, the one with 2 people will swing faster (and therefore have more swings in 10 seconds) because of the extra weight. I think that the pendulum with 2 washers will fall faster because more force is being put on the pendulum due to the extra weight.
Understanding about the Science: I don't have much understanding of the science behind pendulums. I do know that the length of the pendulum's swing will decrease each time so that the pendulum eventually slows down completely.
Predictions after 1 Washer: I predict that 2 washers will have 10 swings, 3 will have 12, and 4 will have 14. I think this because I believe that the extra weight will make the pendulum go faster. Because it's moving faster, there will be more swings within 10 seconds.
Results: 1 washer--8.18 swings; 2 washers--8 swings; 3--7.93 swings; 4--8.75 swings
This shows that the weight doesn't actually matter because the number of swings was around 8 for all the differently weighted pendulums.
Questions that I still have about pendulums:
-Why doesn't the weight make a difference?
-Does a pendulum ever completely stop?
-Does the angle at which the pendulum starts make a difference?
-Does the length of the pendulum's arm make a difference?
Analysis of questions:
a. My 3rd and 4th questions could be answered using the materials we have in class. We could set up the pendulum at different angles by simply measuring different angles with the piece of paper (11.25, 22.5, 45, and 90). We could use different lengths of string to investigate the 4th question.
b. I think that my first question could potentially be answered through further experimentation Really, this question requires a knowledge of equations and other scientific laws. However, I could experiment to see if objects of different masses but the same size would hit the ground at the same time. This way, I could see how mass affects an object's acceleration, which would relate back to our pendulum activity. This would show me that mass also doesn't matter in this situation, but I still wouldn't understand why. For this experiment, I would need objects that are the same exact size but different masses, such as a ping pong ball and a golf ball. Having a stop watch to time how long each item took to fall separately would make it more objective as well. A slow motion video of the two objects hitting the ground at the same time would be helpful as well because it probably wouldn't work out perfectly in a normal setting.
c. I don't think my first or second questions could be completely answered using the materials we were given because it's more a law of nature for which I need an explanation. I couldn't understand why the two objects reach the ground at the same time by experimenting, and judging whether the pendulum was truly stopped would be difficult. I'm going to do another Internet search to evaluate our explanation that mass doesn't make a difference. I could also find out the answer to my second question through an Internet search. It's important that students understand that the evaluation stage should be about true understanding rather than just knowing that the results of your experiment were correct.
d. My question about why weight doesn't make a difference is most important to me because I don't like to just accept this answer as "just the way it is." This shows just how important it is to still teach students in an inquiry based learning environment. They can't understand everything just because they see it happening in real life. They will see that mass doesn't matter when working with pendulums because that's what happened in the experiment, but they won't understand why unless the teacher explains it directly. Another question which really interests me is whether or not a pendulum ever completely stops. It appears to stop, but we mentioned in class how Galileo saw the chandelier moving in church. Because the earth never stops moving, does the pendulum really never stop moving as well? The third question which I find interesting is whether or not the angle at which the pendulum starts makes a difference. It seems like this would make a difference to me, but in class we measured
Day 2:
Question we chose:
We decided to experiment to see if the length of the pendulum's arm made a difference in the number of swings in 10 seconds.
1.) I didn't find this question particularly interesting, but we chose it because it was one most people in our group had asked. Also, we knew we could test this with the materials given to us in class.
2.) As I mentioned, I didn't find this question extremely interesting because I was pretty sure I knew the answer already. However, I knew that this wasn't a gurantee because I've found out during this semester that I have a lot of misconceptions. It's good to ask questions even if you think you know the answer. Knowing how pendulum arm length affects the number of swings would be helpful for someone trying to decide how long to make a rope swing or something similar. The number of swings is related to the width of the swing, and you wouldn't want the swing to be too long because it could run into another object.
3.) Our refined question is: How does the length of a pendulum's arm affect the number of swings it will complete in 10 seconds?
Data we found:
Quantitative Data:
4 inches
1st Trial: 14
2nd Trial: 14
3rd Trial: 13.5
4th Trial: 14
Average Swings =13.875
5 and 3/4 inches
1st Trial: 11.75
2nd Trial: 11.5
3rd Trial: 11.5
4th Trial: 11.5
Average Swings =11.5625
15 and 1/2 inches
1st Trial: 7.25
2nd Trial: 7.5
3rd Trial: 7.5
4th Trial: 7.5
Average Swings =7.4375
22 and 1/2 inches
1st Trial: 6.25
2nd Trial: 6.25
3rd Trial: 6.25
4th Trial: 6.25
Average Swings = 6.25
Qualitative Data:
The shortest string (4 in.) made the pendulum swing very quickly, and it got progressively slower up until the slowest pendulum (22 and 1/2 in.)
Claims based on the evidence:
The longer the string, the less swings the pendulum will complete in a given amount of time. This claim is based on our evidence because the shortest string had the greatest number of complete swings, and the number of swings got progressively larger as the string got longer.
Evaluation:
We did an Internet search and found that all the other sources we looked at agreed with our findings. I tried to do an Internet search to find out why exactly this is the case, and I couldn't find much of a real explanation. However, after thinking about it a little longer, I realized that the speed of the pendulum is faster if the string is shorter because speed is distance/time, and this pendulum is going a shorter distance due to its shorter string. The time stays the same, so this means that the speed increases as the length of the arm increases, resulting in more complete swings in a given amount of time.
Quiz Question:
The swinging experience would be very uneven because the 2 different strings are not the same length. The longer the string, the longer the period (meaning the longer string is going slower than the shorter string, so the swing couldn't have a smooth swinging motion).
Tuesday, February 28, 2012
Batteries, Bulbs, and Wires
Standards and Benchmarks:
Content Standard: B-Physical Science: Light, Heat, Electricity, and Magnetism
Learning Goals:
Students will understand that a circuit is a complete loop where electric current can pass (so it can therefore be created with just one wire).
Formative Assessment:
"Kirsten has a battery and a small bulb. She wonders how many strips of wire she will need to connect the battery and the bulb so that the bulb will light. What is the SMALLEST NUMBER of wire strips Kirsten needs to make the bulb light up? Explain your answer."
Most of the students in our class thought the answer was 2 wires, but the real answer is actually 1 wire. Most of us know how to create a simple series circuit by attaching one wire to the positive side of the battery and another wire to the negative side of the battery and attaching both to the lighbulb.
Learning Performance:
The strengths of the learning performance used in the "Exploring Together" worksheet are that the students are making all the circuits and identifying the differences (see the 1st three pictures below). However, this lab is weak in its inquiry because students are told exactly what to do and don't get a chance to explore on their own.
The strength of the learning performance used in the "Exploring Independenly" worksheet is that it provides much more room for exploration. We had to figure out on our own how to create a circuit using just one wire (4th picture). However, this worksheet still does not meet all the requirements of inquiry. How to create this one wire circuit wasn't necessarily meaningful to the students because the question was provided by the teacher.
Simple Circuit (Exploring Together lab)
Series Circuit (Exploring Together Lab)
Parallel Circuit (Exploring Together lab)
Reflection:
I thought that the description of Ms. Travis's classroom in the article was a very good example of inquiry. She did a great job starting the students off with an experiment to build their knowledge base. It was a more basic experiment, but she did not tell them exactly what to do like Ms. Stone did. She did a lot more scaffolding instead of outright telling the students the answer. Ms. Travis's lessons on electricity were closer to the "Exploring Independently" lab we did in class, and Ms. Stone's lessons were like the "Exploring Together" lab. However, neither lab from class was as inquiry-based as Ms. Travis' lessons. She moved more towards the student-centered side of inquiry by letting students ask their own questions about electricity. Each group was carrying out a separate experiment, and they were able to share their findings with the class. I especially liked how she tied environmental problems into the lesson through fluorescent bulbs. This would be a great way to make the communication of results much more meaningful.
I think it would also be beneficial to start this inquiry lesson with the idea of fluorescent bulbs using less energy because kids are often very interested in the environment. This would get students engaged because they could be guided to ask their own question: "how do we know that incandescent light bulbs use more energy?" They could collect their evidence through developing their own experiments with different variables, explain their data through charts and graphs, evaluate it by looking at other sources or hearing from an expert, and then finally communicate it by giving persuasive presentations to parents about why they should use fluorescent bulbs or sending letters to companies. Being able to develop their own experiments would require the students to be very comfortable with inquiry, however. Ms. Travis's method is helpful because it gives the students more structure.
Content Standard: B-Physical Science: Light, Heat, Electricity, and Magnetism
Benchmarks:
Electricity in circuits can produce light, heat, sound, and magnetic effects;
Electrical circuits require a complete loop through which an electrical current can pass.
Learning Goals:
Students will understand that a circuit is a complete loop where electric current can pass (so it can therefore be created with just one wire).
Formative Assessment:
"Kirsten has a battery and a small bulb. She wonders how many strips of wire she will need to connect the battery and the bulb so that the bulb will light. What is the SMALLEST NUMBER of wire strips Kirsten needs to make the bulb light up? Explain your answer."
Most of the students in our class thought the answer was 2 wires, but the real answer is actually 1 wire. Most of us know how to create a simple series circuit by attaching one wire to the positive side of the battery and another wire to the negative side of the battery and attaching both to the lighbulb.
Learning Performance:
The strengths of the learning performance used in the "Exploring Together" worksheet are that the students are making all the circuits and identifying the differences (see the 1st three pictures below). However, this lab is weak in its inquiry because students are told exactly what to do and don't get a chance to explore on their own.
The strength of the learning performance used in the "Exploring Independenly" worksheet is that it provides much more room for exploration. We had to figure out on our own how to create a circuit using just one wire (4th picture). However, this worksheet still does not meet all the requirements of inquiry. How to create this one wire circuit wasn't necessarily meaningful to the students because the question was provided by the teacher.
Simple Circuit (Exploring Together lab)
Series Circuit (Exploring Together Lab)
Parallel Circuit (Exploring Together lab)
Circuit Using One Wire (Exloring Independently lab)
Reflection:
I thought that the description of Ms. Travis's classroom in the article was a very good example of inquiry. She did a great job starting the students off with an experiment to build their knowledge base. It was a more basic experiment, but she did not tell them exactly what to do like Ms. Stone did. She did a lot more scaffolding instead of outright telling the students the answer. Ms. Travis's lessons on electricity were closer to the "Exploring Independently" lab we did in class, and Ms. Stone's lessons were like the "Exploring Together" lab. However, neither lab from class was as inquiry-based as Ms. Travis' lessons. She moved more towards the student-centered side of inquiry by letting students ask their own questions about electricity. Each group was carrying out a separate experiment, and they were able to share their findings with the class. I especially liked how she tied environmental problems into the lesson through fluorescent bulbs. This would be a great way to make the communication of results much more meaningful.
I think it would also be beneficial to start this inquiry lesson with the idea of fluorescent bulbs using less energy because kids are often very interested in the environment. This would get students engaged because they could be guided to ask their own question: "how do we know that incandescent light bulbs use more energy?" They could collect their evidence through developing their own experiments with different variables, explain their data through charts and graphs, evaluate it by looking at other sources or hearing from an expert, and then finally communicate it by giving persuasive presentations to parents about why they should use fluorescent bulbs or sending letters to companies. Being able to develop their own experiments would require the students to be very comfortable with inquiry, however. Ms. Travis's method is helpful because it gives the students more structure.
Cool It!
Inquiry Criteria: Engage
Inquiry Specific Statement from Continuum: Learner engages in question provided by teacher, materials, or other source
Why it Fits: The lab tells students the exact question: "How does the temperature of a hot liquid change with stirring?" The students don't get to pick the topic or the variable.
How Could Improve: I don't think the students would ask this question on their own because "how to make a hot liquid cooler" isn't an extremely intriguing question on its own. Maybe if the teacher gave students some hot chocolate to drink but told them it was much too hot, this would make the experiment more relevant to their own lives. Another interesting avenue could be the McDonald's lawsuit about hot coffee. By discussing these ideas, the teacher would be more able to guide students towards the desired question.
Inquiry Criteria: Evidence
Inquiry Specific Statement from Continuum: Learner directed to collect certain data
Why it Fits: It isn't all the way to the right on the continuum because the students aren't given the data, but the students are told to gather a specific kind of data--the temperature every 3 minutes of the stirred and unstirred water.
How Could Improve: The teacher could have students decide on their own what would be a good variable to test.
Inquiry Criteria: Explain
Inquiry Specific Statement from Continuum: Learner given possible ways to use evidence to formulate explanation
Why it Fits: This isn't all the way to the right on the continuum because the students aren't given the evidence and a description of how to explain it. However, they are given several questions which guide their explanation.
How Could Improve: The teacher could simply tell students to collect data and give an explanation for this data, without including any guiding questions.
Inquiry Criteria: Evaluate
Inquiry Specific Statement from Continuum: Not included
Why it Fits: Evaluating means that students go to other sources to see if their explanations are supported, and this step is not included. The lab ends when students explain their data.
How Could Improve: The students could explain their evidence and then go to other resources (such as books, the internet, pamphlets, or expert scientists) to see if their explanation matches up with other explanations.
Inquiry Critera: Communicate
Inquiry Specific Statement from Continuum: Not included
Why it Fits: The lab doesn't say anything about telling others about the results. There is graphing included, but the instructions say this is for data analysis and don't mention anything about display ing or justifying the evidence.
How Could Improve: As an easy improvement, the students could present their findings to the rest of the class. Another more interesting idea could be to write letters/give a presentation to McDonald's or other businesses with hot beverages in order to persuade them to adopt certain practices to prevent customers from getting burned.
Inquiry Specific Statement from Continuum: Learner engages in question provided by teacher, materials, or other source
Why it Fits: The lab tells students the exact question: "How does the temperature of a hot liquid change with stirring?" The students don't get to pick the topic or the variable.
How Could Improve: I don't think the students would ask this question on their own because "how to make a hot liquid cooler" isn't an extremely intriguing question on its own. Maybe if the teacher gave students some hot chocolate to drink but told them it was much too hot, this would make the experiment more relevant to their own lives. Another interesting avenue could be the McDonald's lawsuit about hot coffee. By discussing these ideas, the teacher would be more able to guide students towards the desired question.
Inquiry Criteria: Evidence
Inquiry Specific Statement from Continuum: Learner directed to collect certain data
Why it Fits: It isn't all the way to the right on the continuum because the students aren't given the data, but the students are told to gather a specific kind of data--the temperature every 3 minutes of the stirred and unstirred water.
How Could Improve: The teacher could have students decide on their own what would be a good variable to test.
Inquiry Criteria: Explain
Inquiry Specific Statement from Continuum: Learner given possible ways to use evidence to formulate explanation
Why it Fits: This isn't all the way to the right on the continuum because the students aren't given the evidence and a description of how to explain it. However, they are given several questions which guide their explanation.
How Could Improve: The teacher could simply tell students to collect data and give an explanation for this data, without including any guiding questions.
Inquiry Criteria: Evaluate
Inquiry Specific Statement from Continuum: Not included
Why it Fits: Evaluating means that students go to other sources to see if their explanations are supported, and this step is not included. The lab ends when students explain their data.
How Could Improve: The students could explain their evidence and then go to other resources (such as books, the internet, pamphlets, or expert scientists) to see if their explanation matches up with other explanations.
Inquiry Critera: Communicate
Inquiry Specific Statement from Continuum: Not included
Why it Fits: The lab doesn't say anything about telling others about the results. There is graphing included, but the instructions say this is for data analysis and don't mention anything about display ing or justifying the evidence.
How Could Improve: As an easy improvement, the students could present their findings to the rest of the class. Another more interesting idea could be to write letters/give a presentation to McDonald's or other businesses with hot beverages in order to persuade them to adopt certain practices to prevent customers from getting burned.
Tuesday, February 21, 2012
Weather
Standards and Benchmarks:
Content Standard: K-4 Earth and Space Science
Content Standard: D-Changes in Earth and Sky
Learning Goals:
Students will understand that the underlying element of higher temperatures is the increase in directness of the sun's rays based on geographic location.
Formative Assessment:
The results of this formative assessment show that most of the students already know that there are several factors associated with high temperatures--they answered that two or more of the weather conditions would be present. The next most popular answer was that it would be sunny, which makes a lot of sense. Most students have a lifetime of personal experience telling them that when it's sunnier, it gets hotter. The next most popular answer was that it would be humid. Some of the students also may have used personal experience to know that humidity can be associated with higher temperatures. The least popular answer was that there would be no wind, but from this, we see that some students have made this general association as well. I think students struggled with this formative assessment because they didn't understand the difference between causation and correlation. The three factors do not cause higher temperatures; they are simply often correlated with higher temperatures. When someone says that it's 90 degrees, one can make assumptions about the weather conditions, but weather is too complex for 100 percent confidence in those assumptions.
Learning Performance:
The question we are trying to answer as a class is "How are high temperatures created?" (The how question is evidence of an engaging activity). I will ask the class again what they think causes high temperatures in case there are other answers besides those offered in the probe. Based on their answers, students will be put into different groups according to what each student thinks (unless groups need to be rearranged based on ability level or the need to even out numbers). Each group will collect data about weather patterns in 5 or 6 different cities (which the class will decide on in order to have a good survey of all areas of the U.S.). These observations will lead us to a fuller picture of America's weather. Each day for about 1 school week, the students will split into their groups and go to the computer lab to visit www.weather.com. Here, they will record their group's variable and temperature in each city. (This is the evidence collection portion of the 5 step inquiry.) The data will be from approximately the same time in each location since everyone will be accessing the computers together. Directly after this, we will also take the temperature and measure the variables for our own area as a class by stepping outside. If some variables can't be physically assessed by the class, we can check those on www.weather.com as well. (If possible, the students could also have a correspondence with students from a different state to see what the data is like where they live). The students will record their data, and the class will create charts so the data can be compared and some ideas can be formed. (Here is where the students will be explaining their evidence). After some tentative conclusions have been developed, it would be really interesting to have a weather man come into the classroom to discuss weather patterns in different parts of the United States. Along with this, students can look to other sources (books, Internet, etc.) to evaluate their explanations. Finally, the students could communicate their knowledge by giving a weather report to the school during the morning announcements. They could explain their learning about how high temperatures are created during this weather report. In order to make sure students achieve the original learning goal, I will scaffold them along the way to see that the differences between location of the cities plays a major role in temperature.
Content Standard: K-4 Earth and Space Science
Content Standard: D-Changes in Earth and Sky
Benchmark: Weather changes from day to day and over the seasons
Learning Goals:
Students will understand that the underlying element of higher temperatures is the increase in directness of the sun's rays based on geographic location.
Formative Assessment:
The results of this formative assessment show that most of the students already know that there are several factors associated with high temperatures--they answered that two or more of the weather conditions would be present. The next most popular answer was that it would be sunny, which makes a lot of sense. Most students have a lifetime of personal experience telling them that when it's sunnier, it gets hotter. The next most popular answer was that it would be humid. Some of the students also may have used personal experience to know that humidity can be associated with higher temperatures. The least popular answer was that there would be no wind, but from this, we see that some students have made this general association as well. I think students struggled with this formative assessment because they didn't understand the difference between causation and correlation. The three factors do not cause higher temperatures; they are simply often correlated with higher temperatures. When someone says that it's 90 degrees, one can make assumptions about the weather conditions, but weather is too complex for 100 percent confidence in those assumptions.
Learning Performance:
The question we are trying to answer as a class is "How are high temperatures created?" (The how question is evidence of an engaging activity). I will ask the class again what they think causes high temperatures in case there are other answers besides those offered in the probe. Based on their answers, students will be put into different groups according to what each student thinks (unless groups need to be rearranged based on ability level or the need to even out numbers). Each group will collect data about weather patterns in 5 or 6 different cities (which the class will decide on in order to have a good survey of all areas of the U.S.). These observations will lead us to a fuller picture of America's weather. Each day for about 1 school week, the students will split into their groups and go to the computer lab to visit www.weather.com. Here, they will record their group's variable and temperature in each city. (This is the evidence collection portion of the 5 step inquiry.) The data will be from approximately the same time in each location since everyone will be accessing the computers together. Directly after this, we will also take the temperature and measure the variables for our own area as a class by stepping outside. If some variables can't be physically assessed by the class, we can check those on www.weather.com as well. (If possible, the students could also have a correspondence with students from a different state to see what the data is like where they live). The students will record their data, and the class will create charts so the data can be compared and some ideas can be formed. (Here is where the students will be explaining their evidence). After some tentative conclusions have been developed, it would be really interesting to have a weather man come into the classroom to discuss weather patterns in different parts of the United States. Along with this, students can look to other sources (books, Internet, etc.) to evaluate their explanations. Finally, the students could communicate their knowledge by giving a weather report to the school during the morning announcements. They could explain their learning about how high temperatures are created during this weather report. In order to make sure students achieve the original learning goal, I will scaffold them along the way to see that the differences between location of the cities plays a major role in temperature.
Tuesday, February 14, 2012
Inquiry in Science Classrooms
I thought this reading was very helpful because it explicitly demonstrated the connection between real science in practice and inquiry in a science classroom. Humans are innately curious, so if students discover they have unanswered questions, they will be more involved in searching for the answers. However, I have to admit that I found myself wondering why the geologist cared so much about some dead trees along a coastline. I feel like it's the same for many students, especially in traditional science classrooms that don't include an inquiry aspect. They wonder, "What is the point behind learning all this information?" I was very happy to see that there was, in fact, a point behind the geologist's work. Similarly, the students saw a solution to their tree problem. Showing students that science has practicality makes it even less removed from their everyday lives. As a teacher, I want my students to experience this connection to real world problems.
Secondly, this text addressed some of the concerns I've been having about constructivism. After reading our other articles, I felt a little lost about exactly how to set up a constructivist classroom. I liked that this reading talked about Mrs. Graham's class because this discussion included specific details of her instruction--making a list of hypotheses, splitting the students up into groups based on their ideas, scaffolding while the students designed experiments, showcasing the findings to the entire group at the end, deciding on the best answer, and "publishing" their work in a letter to the custodian. This organization made sense to me, and it could also help with differentiation based on students' ability levels if I adjusted the groups a little.
Finally, the myths section of this reading answered so many of my questions about inquiry in the science classroom. The distinction between "guided" (teacher-led) and "open" (student-led) inquiry helped me realize that not all inquiry lessons have to be centered on the students' questions. I think it would be best to have instruction on how to ask questions by starting the year out with more structured inquiry lessons. Also, it's important that students have background knowledge before they can ask questions, so every topic does not need to be taught through inquiry. These ideas made an inquiry-based classroom seem more realistic to me.
Secondly, this text addressed some of the concerns I've been having about constructivism. After reading our other articles, I felt a little lost about exactly how to set up a constructivist classroom. I liked that this reading talked about Mrs. Graham's class because this discussion included specific details of her instruction--making a list of hypotheses, splitting the students up into groups based on their ideas, scaffolding while the students designed experiments, showcasing the findings to the entire group at the end, deciding on the best answer, and "publishing" their work in a letter to the custodian. This organization made sense to me, and it could also help with differentiation based on students' ability levels if I adjusted the groups a little.
Finally, the myths section of this reading answered so many of my questions about inquiry in the science classroom. The distinction between "guided" (teacher-led) and "open" (student-led) inquiry helped me realize that not all inquiry lessons have to be centered on the students' questions. I think it would be best to have instruction on how to ask questions by starting the year out with more structured inquiry lessons. Also, it's important that students have background knowledge before they can ask questions, so every topic does not need to be taught through inquiry. These ideas made an inquiry-based classroom seem more realistic to me.
Shifting from Activitymania to Inquiry
This article was useful because it pointed out the difference between isolated activites and true inquiry-based instruction. Using activities is a step in the right direction because it's a departure from the teacher-centered approach and gets the students more involved in their learning. However, the author stresses that it's important to "clearly define conceptual goals and the relationships to students' lives and interests prior to selecting classroom activities" (16). If the activity is relatable and helps answer a question that students have in their day-to-day lives, the learning achieved from that activity will be more relevant and meaningful (and therefore, stronger). Another important aspect of this type of learning is that it places science in the hands of everyone--not just those who are "highly intelligent"--because science is less isolated from everyday life.
Along with being relevant, the activity must also be stimulating for the students. I like the idea of providing an activity which will summon up a lot of questions and spark inquiry. Our class did this when we confronted our misconceptions about the solar system and magnets, and for that reason, people seemed much more invested in the learning process. By choosing activities carefully so they spark interest, teachers can encourage a long term inquiry project. However, I do still have concerns about this method. It seems like it woud be difficult to plan out your days, and you would have to make a lot of last minute changes. Maybe it wouldn't bother me to have a flexible classroom, though, because I'm a last minute type of person.
The article also mentioned that the students should create their own rubrics, and I thought this was a very interesting idea. At first, I was unsure because students don't necessarily know the criteria. However, if they had seen one of my rubrics from a previous project, I feel like this could be helpful. I could also create my own rubric to use along with theirs. In my Social Studies Methods class we discussed the concept of "backward design," which involves creating assessments before deciding on the instructional activities. That way, the instruction is more likely to line up with your learning goals. Therefore, students should create their rubrics before they begin their investigation. I think this would give them a sense of direction and even more ownership of their project.
Along with being relevant, the activity must also be stimulating for the students. I like the idea of providing an activity which will summon up a lot of questions and spark inquiry. Our class did this when we confronted our misconceptions about the solar system and magnets, and for that reason, people seemed much more invested in the learning process. By choosing activities carefully so they spark interest, teachers can encourage a long term inquiry project. However, I do still have concerns about this method. It seems like it woud be difficult to plan out your days, and you would have to make a lot of last minute changes. Maybe it wouldn't bother me to have a flexible classroom, though, because I'm a last minute type of person.
The article also mentioned that the students should create their own rubrics, and I thought this was a very interesting idea. At first, I was unsure because students don't necessarily know the criteria. However, if they had seen one of my rubrics from a previous project, I feel like this could be helpful. I could also create my own rubric to use along with theirs. In my Social Studies Methods class we discussed the concept of "backward design," which involves creating assessments before deciding on the instructional activities. That way, the instruction is more likely to line up with your learning goals. Therefore, students should create their rubrics before they begin their investigation. I think this would give them a sense of direction and even more ownership of their project.
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