The current drought conditions in the United States are correlated with inadequate infrastructure, a drop in the levels of the Great Lakes, desertification, and migration. Taken individually, none of these problems may seem alarming. However, in combination, freshwater shortages are a crisis in many areas of the United States. In order to develop student awareness about the importance of water as a resource, this column is the first of a two-part series on the topic of water harvesting.
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Assessing student-led, open-ended scientific inquiry holds a unique problem for classroom teachers because of the diverse skills and content that emerge from student work. This article provides tangible strategies for teachers to assess divergent student-generated inquiry in a manner that is manageable for teachers, informative for students, and that demonstrates measurable academic growth. By developing a culture of assessment as information, planning lessons that allow open-ended communication, and establishing tangible criteria for scientific thinking, teachers can be well informed about student growth.
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Analyzing student presentations from three perspectives—expert, peer, and self—provides extended feedback and opportunities to learn. All three of these are helpful and serve different purposes. The expert (teacher) feedback shows how the teacher views student work and often assigns a grade. Peer analysis provides students doing the analysis an opportunity to determine what makes the most difference in clarity of science, interest in examples, or quality of work; while providing students receiving the feedback with different perspectives to consider. Self-assessment encourages critical-thinking analysis and improvement (NRC 1996).
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In order to fully understand student learning, we science teachers need to know the ideas that students bring into the classroom. Plus, good assessment calls for ongoing evaluation of students’ progress and difficulties with learning on an everyday basis. Cartoons are one tool that has been used successfully as a means of assessing student learning in science (Perales-Palacios and Vilchez-Gonzalez 2005). The alternative assessment strategies presented here uses cartoons to help science teachers assess students’ ideas, old and new, and difficulties they experience as they learn force and motion concepts.
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An effective teacher never leaves a key part of a lesson without checking to make sure there is an appropriate level of mastery before moving on to the next lesson segment. Teachers must monitor and assess student learning and then adjust their instruction to fit student needs, empowering themselves to do whatever it takes and for however long it takes to get students on board with what is being taught. The articles in this issue of Science Scope will be helpful to you as you monitor and assess student learning in your classes.
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This formative-assessment program is based on two key ideas about assessment. First, thoughtful educators use assessment results to revise their instructional approaches so that assessment is no longer a product, but a part of an ongoing process that supports learning and informs instruction (Barton and Jordan 2001). Second, standards-based portfolios benefit both students and teachers by documenting students’ learning and evaluating their progress in achieving mastery of the standards and goals of the class. The portfolios also help teachers monitor their own effectiveness in teaching students the skills needed to fully understand the content (Belgrad, Burke, and Fogarty 2002).
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If you are looking to break away from the rut of lab, lecture, film, and notes, cartoon-initiated discussion is for you. You will see student interest and engagement climb due to the novel approach, the empowerment of sharing, and the secure environment that leads to success for students. As an instructor, you will gain valuable insight into the depth of your students’ understanding of science concepts.
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The author created a reflective “minds-on” activity that would challenge students to accept responsibility for their own learning and performance (NRC 1996). The end result is a simple and useful activity called the science-test reflection. The science-test reflections provoke students to ask questions of themselves, require them to provide detailed descriptions of the events surrounding tests, and enable them to construct possible explanations for their performance.
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Teacher study groups are a valuable method of examining the validity of classroom assessments and determining how well the assessments align with student learning goals. The implementation of teacher study groups is based on a model from the Schools Around the World Academy for Teaching Excellence (Council for Basic Education 2000). The teacher study groups are composed of four to six teachers. Often a teacher solicits group members by sending out flyers to the faculty to find interested volunteers.
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Teachers and students are subjected to myriad indoor and outdoor air pollutants such as arsenic, asbestos, benzene, formaldehyde, isocyanates, lead, and a host of others from materials used in classrooms, laboratories, lunchrooms, gymnasiums, and on athletic fields. Even the clay used in art class may contain asbestos fibers (Connecticut Department of Education 2007). But how can you tell if there is a problem in your science laboratory or building at large? Discover the answer in this month’s column.
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This month, Mercury will start becoming visible over the western horizon shortly after sunset. If you have students observe Mercury, they should do so at approximately the same time for each observation. During the first half of the month, Mercury will appear higher above the horizon and set a bit later each day. Students can also note that Mercury appears brighter following superior conjunction than when it is close to inferior conjunction. Despite its greater distance following superior conjunction, Mercury will be in nearly a full phase and will reflect more sunlight and appear brighter than when it is closer to us, but as a thin crescent.
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Despite recommendations from the National Science Education Standards and best practices for teaching science through inquiry-based methods, many teachers continue with traditional teaching methods citing management issues as the central obstacle. The strategies provided here will help to alleviate barriers related to the use of time in the classroom, learning-environment constraints, student focus and motivation, and safety.
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Constructing model hot air balloons is an activity that captures the imaginations of students, enabling teachers to present required content to minds that are open to receive it. Additionally, there are few activities that lend themselves to integrating so much content across subject areas. In this article, the authors describe how they have successfully used hot air balloons to teach metric measurement, proportions, trigonometric functions, density, convection, data collection and analysis, principles of engineering, and many other concepts and skills.
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We know that writing is a huge part of science. It is the way scientists communicate ideas, results, conclusions, and opinions to other scientists. Thus, the author uses writing in a number of ways to have students demonstrate knowledge and as an assessment tool. Here the author explains how to use persuasive writing, role playing, and imaginative writing in the science classroom.
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WebQuests are online activities that require students to read, analyze, and synthesize information found on the web. To facilitate instruction and student inquiry, the WebQuest, Cell City, can be used to teach students the names and functions of all the major cell organelles. The activity addresses several of the National Science Education Standards and it’s a great interdisciplinary approach to teaching that combines creative writing, art, spelling, language arts, and mathematics. Cell City is also easy to implement, and students are quick to adapt to this new learning style.
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