What if you could challenge your 11th graders to figure out the best response to a partial meltdown at a nuclear reactor in fictional Gammatown, USA? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can!br> Radioactivity outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. As are the other volumes in the series, this book is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms.
What if you could challenge your 11th graders to figure out the best response to a partial meltdown at a nuclear reactor in fictional Gammatown, USA? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can!br> Radioactivity outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. As are the other volumes in the series, this book is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms.
Ed News: How Can We Get More Highly Effective Teachers to Serve as Mentors?
This
week in education news, state school board committee approved new science
standards for Utah public school students; states are beginning to integrate CTE
and STEM-related courses into high school graduation requirements; despite evidence suggesting that high-quality instructional materials
increase student new science
curriculum; researchers argue that policymakers
should be willing to invest roughly 15 times more to encourage effective
teachers to become mentors; and Harvard economist says we’re losing Einsteins
every day.
A State School Board committee approved new science standards for Utah public school students in grades K through five and nine through 12, but not before some pushback on the teaching of evolution and climate change. Except for some slight tweaks, the proposed standards were approved by the Standards and Assessment Committee and will be considered for adoption at an upcoming State School Board meeting. Read the article featured in the Deseret News.
States
are beginning to integrate career and technical education (CTE) and
STEM-related courses into high school graduation requirements, and some are
also revising diploma pathways to link coursework to postsecondary goals, but
the updates fall short of ensuring credits earned make students eligible for
admission to colleges and universities, according to a new paper from the
Center for American Progress (CAP). Read
the article featured in Education
DIVE.
States and districts have been
slow to implement high-quality instructional materials and the training to use them,
despite evidence of the positive impact on learning outcomes. Read
the article featured in District Administration.
After intense public scrutiny, the Seattle School Board approved the district’s recommended science curricula for the city’s elementary- and middle-school students. The vendor, Amplify Science, came under suspicion over the past month because of the way it was introduced to the district: through a waiver process that included donated or discounted materials from the company, and not a formal districtwide vetting process. Read the article featured in the Seattle Times.
Be it for school or just running errands, thousands of children and their parents wait for the bus every day. A pilot program in Pennsylvania is trying to squeeze a little more science, technology, engineering, and math learning into those waits. Read the article featured in Education Week.
Relatively few highly effective teachers take on roles as mentors to student-teachers, researchers say. One solution? Pay them more—a lot more. Read the article featured in Education Week.
It’s striking to think about what our world would be missing if it weren’t for Albert Einstein: lasers, GPS, barcodes, to say nothing of our understanding of black holes, time/space, and the relationship between energy and matter. But what if a little boy named Albie E. never became the man known to history as Professor Albert Einstein? Read the article featured in Forbes.
Stay tuned for next week’s top education news stories.
The Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs (CLPA) team strives to keep NSTA members, teachers, science education leaders, and the general public informed about NSTA programs, products, and services and key science education issues and legislation. In the association’s role as the national voice for science education, its CLPA team actively promotes NSTA’s positions on science education issues and communicates key NSTA messages to essential audiences.
The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.
This
week in education news, state school board committee approved new science
standards for Utah public school students; states are beginning to integrate CTE
and STEM-related courses into high school graduation requirements; despite evidence suggesting that high-quality instructional materials
increase student new science
curriculum; researchers argue that policymakers
should be willing to invest roughly 15 times more to encourage
Get a KLEW(S)! Collaboration is Key for Translating Contemporary Research into Teaching, Learning Science
I first encountered the KLEWS teaching strategy in an article in Science and Children (NSTA 2015), “KLEWS to Explanation-Building in Science.” I shared the article and modeled the strategy with teachers who wanted to support their K–5 students in the science practice of constructing explanations. I really liked the KLEWS chart. About a month ago, I had the opportunity to collaborate with other educators (read as: I needed help) while developing a first-grade lesson about sound. I discovered how KLEWS charts honor students’ ideas about phenomena, support students in developing explanations and models, and help teachers and students connect today with yesterday, and decide where to go next (coherence). Now I L-O-V-E the K-L-E-W-S chart!
The KLEWS chart is a revamped version of the KWL chart (What do we know? What do we wonder? What did we learn?) for science. Columns were added for evidence and science ideas and words (Hershberger and Zembal-Saul 2015).
I reached out to my friend Beth Pesnell for help. Beth is a former elementary school teacher and K–8 math and science curriculum specialist (she is currently pursuing a Ph.D.). She assured me first-grade students could draw a model. “Give them a blank piece of paper!” she said excitedly.
Beth also knew I wanted to give students the opportunity to revise models at different points in the multi-day lesson and asked if I had considered using a KLEWS chart. She listened to my ideas about the lesson and together we made the following plan (details are limited due to space constraints).
Kate and Beth’s Plan
Post the KLEWS chart in the room.
Read The Listening Walk to the class. (This book does not steal students’ “ahas” about how we hear or how sounds are made.) The book ends by asking, “How many different sounds can you hear right now? Close your book and count them!”
Ask students, “What do you think we know about how we hear?” Record their responses under K.
Introduce the phenomenon (Evelyn Glennie playing drums with Oscar the Grouch); ask students to share their thinking with a partner.
Ask students to draw (individually) a model to explain how Evelyn Glennie hears with her feet.
Tell students to put their models away (or collect them) (don’t ask them to share yet).
Give students the opportunity to explore sound at different stations around the room.
Say to students “You probably have some new ideas about sound and how we hear. What would you like to change or add to your model?” Give students time to revise their models.
Ask students to join their predetermined groups and share what they changed or added to their model, and explain why.
Ask students to share with the class what they heard other students say they added to their model and why. Record their responses in the L column. (I was intentional about where each response was recorded – keeping them next to/in line with related “things we think we know” in the K column.)
Each time a response is recorded in the L column, ask students for evidence to support the learning. Record the evidence under E, keeping it next to/in line with to the L response it supports.
In the S column, record the big science ideas students may have verbalized or described in their learning statements. Concepts are recorded in the S column throughout the lesson, when students connect the ideas with their learnings (L column).
As new “wonderings” are expressed, record them in the W column. (Again, I was intentional where I recorded their questions in this column.)
This learning experience and model will help inform the engineering design found in 1-PS4-4.
Wow! I was excited to teach the lesson, but also a bit nervous because I hadn’t used the KLEWS chart like this before. I was unfamiliar with the intentionality of where ideas are recorded in the columns, the fluidity between columns, and the navigation back and forth between the chart and student models as the lesson progressed. I wondered if I could find a video to help me visualize how to use the KLEWS chart (spoiler alert: I did).
I found a Teaching Channel blog post titled KLEWS: Supporting Claims, Evidence and Reasoning. The blog instructs educators on how to begin using the KLEWS chart in their classrooms by inviting us to watch third-grade teacher Maria Katsanos and her students using the KLEWS chart for the first time in the classroom. In a series of videos, we see Katsanos use the KLEWS chart to plan her lesson, support student sense-making, and reflect on how it required her to change the way she thought about teaching science. (Thanks to Katsanos for bravely trying something new with an audience for the benefit of other educators and their students.)
As I watched Katsanos and her students, I made notes on my lesson: What should I listen for in students’ conversations? What questions could I ask to get students thinking about their evidence? Which anticipated student “learnings” might lead to concepts/words to record in the S column? I suddenly realized I was collaborating with Maria Katsanos like I had with my friend, Beth Pesnell.
Now I was really excited to teach this lesson.
Before teaching this lesson in the classroom, I planned to use it as an immersion experience for elementary teachers who were new to three-dimensional teaching and learning in service to phenomena. On the morning of the workshop, a teacher expressed concern that she didn’t teach science every day and didn’t know how to help students connect their sense-making from one class period to the next. It was a great question! And when the answer occurred to me, I smiled. Let’s just say I helped her and her colleagues get a KLEWS.
Do you want to collaborate on a KLEWS lesson? Whether you have questions that need answering or expertise to share, join the conversation by commenting below.
Resources:
More about Evelyn Glennie (children’s book)
Millman, I. 1998 Moses goes to a concert. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
More About KLEWS Charts
Zembal-Saul, C., K. L. McNeill, and K. Hershberger. 2013. What’s your evidence? Engaging K–5 students in constructing explanations in science. Pearson.
Hershberger, K , and C. Zembal-Saul. 2015. Methods and strategies: KLEWS to explanation-building in science. Science and Children 52 (6): 66–71.
Kate Soriano has more than 20 years of experience teaching K–12 students science in both formal and informal educational settings. Currently, she is supporting teachers in their transition toward the Next Generation Science Standards. Soriano is an NSTA NGSS Professional Learning Facilitator and Instructional Coach. She also serves on the EQuIP Peer Review Panel for Science. She holds a BS in geology and geophysics from Boston College, an MS in geology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison, and an MA in education from Humboldt State University.
Note: This article is featured in the May issue of Next Gen Navigator, a monthly e-newsletter from NSTA delivering information, insights, resources, and professional learning opportunities for science educators by science educators on the Next Generation Science Standards and three-dimensional instruction. Click here to sign up to receive the Navigator every month.
I first encountered the KLEWS teaching strategy in an article in Science and Children (NSTA 2015), “KLEWS to Explanation-Building in Science.” I shared the article and modeled the strategy with teachers who wanted to support their K–5 students in the science practice of constructing explanations. I really liked the KLEWS chart. About a month ago, I had the opportunity to collaborate with other educators (read as: I needed help) while developing a first-grade lesson about sound.
Ed News: How U.S. STEM Practices Compare Internationally
This
week in education news, new research finds that the level of level of teacher
experience is positively associated with levels of student achievement,
particularly for black and Latino students; City
of Chicago asking school board to approve $135 million in contracts to four
vendors with experience creating curriculum; teachers are presented with
new strategies and not given the time and support to unlearn their old
practices; study finds integrating the arts into
science lessons helps the lowest-performing students retain more content; high
school and college STEM students build electric cars for kids with disabilities;
experts recommend when children
engage with immersive media in their near and distant future, their experiences
should be positive, productive and safe; and educators looking to engage
students more deeply in STEM subjects may want to consider including humor and
outside-the-box projects.
The OECD recently issued its new book-length report, “Measuring Innovation in Education 2019.” The authors offer some fascinating peeks at how the OECD nations compare when it comes to K-12 policy and practice. Today, I’ll flag five big questions that they help to answer in the case of STEM. (Note: All of the following results were calculated using TIMSS data.) Read the article featured in Education Week.
A new report released by the Learning Policy Institute, “California’s Positive Outliers: Districts Beating the Odds,” indicates students of color — and, indeed, all students — perform better when served by teachers with better qualifications. Further, the research for the report found the proportion of teachers holding substandard credentials is negatively associated with student achievement, and that these teachers are disproportionately assigned to schools in California with higher populations of students of color and low-income students. Read more in the article featured in Education DIVE.
The city is asking the school board to approve $135 million in contracts to four vendors with experience creating curriculum. Through what the district is calling the “Curriculum Equity Initiative,” the companies will work with local officials and educators over two years to create materials that are challenging and sensitive to the varied needs of Chicago students. Read the article featured in Chalkbeat.
From its many prestigious universities down to its public education system, the Keystone State offers students of all ages the opportunity to learn and thrive. But as public school staff work to expand their students’ minds, school administrators are finding the need to expand their school buildings to accommodate growing populations. Read the article featured on Nasa.gov.
“Unlearning” says that in order for people to transform their practice, they must confront and move beyond their previously held beliefs, assumptions, and values. In other words, it’s a shift in identity. Experts say the method is ripe for teacher professional development: Too often, teachers are presented with new strategies and not given the time and support to unlearn their old practices. Read the article featured in Education Week.
Integrating the arts into science lessons helps the lowest-performing students retain more content, and doesn’t require much funding to do. Read the article featured in District Administration.
A group of high school and college students from Connecticut have come together to build something extraordinary: Fully-functioning electric carts for families who may not be able to afford adaptive wheelchairs. STEM students from New Britain High School and technology education students from Central Connecticut State University built the carts from scratch together. Read the article featured on CBSNews.com
At every step in the college-going process, students from low-income families face a bumpier road than their wealthier peers. That was one finding in the 2019 Condition of Education—the National Center on Education Statistics’ massive compendium of annual education indicators, from enrollment to staffing to achievement—which was released Tuesday morning. Read the article featured in Education Week.
While the long-term effects on development remain unclear, experts recommend limiting time and ensuring that immersive media experiences are “positive, productive and safe.” Read the brief featured in Education DIVE.
Meeting student demand for “participation in fun, science-related projects and competitions” may not be as difficult as it sounds. Read the article featured in Education DIVE.
Stay
tuned for next week’s top education news stories.
The Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs (CLPA) team strives to keep NSTA members, teachers, science education leaders, and the general public informed about NSTA programs, products, and services and key science education issues and legislation. In the association’s role as the national voice for science education, its CLPA team actively promotes NSTA’s positions on science education issues and communicates key NSTA messages to essential audiences.
The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and
innovation in science teaching and learning for all.
This
week in education news, new research finds that the level of level of teacher
experience is positively associated with levels of student achievement,
particularly for black and Latino students; City
of Chicago asking school board to approve $135 million in contracts to four
vendors with experience creating curriculum; teachers are presented with
new strategies and not given the time and support to unlearn their old
practices; study finds integrating the arts into
science lessons helps the lowest-performing students retain more content; high
school and college STEM students build elect
Finding STEM Success in the Post-Secondary Classroom
The 8th Annual STEM Forum & Expo, hosted by NSTA,
this July in San Francisco offers a post-secondary track to help educators
create STEM-rich learning environments for students. STEM plays a vital role in
post-secondary education, whether it’s in the introductory classroom where students
are learning about the value of STEM or upper-level classes where students are
preparing for STEM-related careers.
The sessions in the post-secondary track at the STEM Forum & Expo will help educators incorporate the value of STEM in their classrooms. For all of the sessions in the track, and to tailor the conference program for your own needs, browse the sessions online and search by date, conference strand, grade level, and more.
Here
are a few of the post-secondary sessions offered:
Thursday, July 25, 9:30–10:30 a.m., Rm. 3022, Moscone
Center West
Preparing Students for Actual Science
Join for a discussion of how students are trained to be
scientists emphasizing intuition and non-specialized knowledge rather than
using the scientific method to make discoveries.
Speaker: Ed Fenimore, Emeritus Fellow
Friday, July 26, 9:30–10:30 a.m., Rm. 3022, Moscone
Center West
Activism in the Science Classroom: Where to Draw the Line?
As instructors, we want to reflect on how to balance
activism and adversarial attitudes among students and faculty in the science
classroom. How do we present the science and address student claims supported
by examples in the media?
Speakers: Annissa Furr, Professor, Kaplan University; Tyra
Hall-Pogar, Professor, Purdue Global University
Friday, July 26, 1:30–2:30 p.m., Rm. 3022, Moscone Center
West
Nontraditional Students: New Prospects for Qualified STEM Educators at
Rider University
The speakers will share the unique experiences of two
undergraduate scholars and their nontraditional paths to careers in STEM
education.
Speakers: Laura Ramirez, Undergraduate Student, Rider University; Kimberly Konczyk, Student, Rider University
Educators from all grade levels will gain valuable STEM
teaching strategies and resources at the
8th Annual STEM Forum & Expo, hosted by NSTA. This unique, focused event brings together
(informal and formal) educators and representatives from exhibiting companies
who are interested in, and who have tools and resources to share that will
ensure successful implementation of STEM education into our schools and
communities. It is intended to provide resources for educators and
organizations seeking to learn more about STEM education, associated outreach
programs, partnerships, schools, and curricula.
The 8th Annual STEM Forum & Expo, hosted by NSTA,
this July in San Francisco offers a post-secondary track to help educators
create STEM-rich learning environments for students.
I am working on a lesson plan for the life cycle of a plant for kindergarten. Do you have any activity ideas? — K., Oregon
If you’re teaching about life cycles of flowering plants you should incorporate all the life stages.
Start by growing plants from seeds—particularly large, easily available seeds like peas or beans. I’m sure you’re aware of the zip-top plastic bag and wet paper towel activity. (Soak the peas or beans overnight.) Students will see where plants come from and you can discuss the different parts of an adult plant. Have students identify the same structures in the plants and trees they see on a nature walk.
Flowering plants create the next generation via their flowers. You can purchase inexpensive, fresh flowers and dissect the different parts. (Ask students about potential allergies.) Make sure to cut open the ovary, a harder, thicker section just below the petals. This contains tiny unfertilized ovules— waiting for pollen to develop into seeds. Use magnifiers to examine the ovules and look closely at the other structures on the flowers.
Buy fresh pea pods, bean pods, and fruit. Open them to see the seeds. Where do the fruit and pods come from? Flowers! Photos of fruit trees in bloom or a nature walk during the blooming season will connect the two. You can have great discussions about the fruit we eat! Consider incorporating a talk about pollinators, particularly bees.
A search of The Learning Center will provide you with ideas, lessons and articles on this subject.
If you were to walk into our classroom years ago, you would see students from all walks of life, and with a range of ability levels. All of the students were blended together to learn science and were eager to be engaged. We were teaching units that were not sequenced, and our focus was on memorization and expecting student to regurgitate information to perform well on a state assessment. The pressure to ensure the entire curriculum was covered and high test scores maintained meant that student understanding became secondary.
The NGSS have brought a breath of fresh air into our classroom. We now look at every student differently and expect all of them to learn many science and engineering skills that can help them meet their personal post-secondary goals, regardless of whether they go into the sciences.
Since the NGSS were released in 2013, we started working in our PLCs and planning how we can integrate the science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and disciplinary core ideas. We wanted to explore how the notion of phenomena and “figuring out” fit it into what we were already doing. We attended more training and met with peers, and we thought we finally understood, even experiencing our own “aha” moments. But it wasn’t until we experienced a phenomenon as student learners in a training session that we understood how the three dimensions support one other.
It occurred when a peer spoke about the phenomenon of a young man who had died from drinking too much water and wondered if it was possible for water to cause death. She had us use a model to illustrate how the kidneys functioned and experience the same models completed in her class. By connecting the science idea to the kidneys’ function we were able to look through the lens of the crosscutting concept to explain the science more deeply. This “aha” moment began a chain of events where we both began to learn how we could transform our classroom to one in which all students feel invested in and connected to their science education.
Today we are enthusiastically learning and applying what we have learned about the NGSS. We first tried our hands at using some of our old resources to see if they fit with the new way of starting with phenomena, then going into a storyline, but it didn’t feel right. We were using the practices and crosscutting concepts and teaching the DCIs, yet it felt disjointed. We realized we needed a model of what this looked like in the classroom, so a friend pointed us to www.nextgenstorylines.org, which is a fantastic resource. We found our new love!
Our first storyline centered on a young girl named Addie, and it was through her storyline that we were able to see what a genuine phenomenon looked like to the students. We realized rather quickly that our units lacked coherence and didn’t effectively integrate the dimensions. They were often choppy and students didn’t see how each piece of the dimensions could support their learning. We learned in an actual NGSS storyline the students are learning about the phenomena and the lessons they are taught are intentionally selected in the sequence to support students building the science ideas to grasp the phenomena.
Tackling a storyline was challenging at first, but now we are on our third cycle of Addie’s storyline, and we have added two other storylines under our belt. Our motivation is more than just using ready-made units; it was our students who made it clear what we were doing mattered. When we first introduced the phenomena of either Addie or the children with Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD), our students immediately started asking questions. They were truly interested and began to build their understanding. Their focus started to be about collecting evidence to support their ideas.
Our students had a voice in their learning, and we made every piece of information an intricate part of the puzzle. Together we worked to ensure we could all see the big picture. One of our favorite things has been for us to see where our kids first started in their thinking, and then looking at their completed models. We marvel at how much they have learned through authentic experiences.
We are especially moved by the inclusivity of these units. When we are intentional about weaving the three dimensions together and connecting to a phenomenon we make room for every student in the classroom to be empowered and to take risks while learning about science. We don’t teach at our students in our classes now, teaching is more of a partnership with them. Our students have a voice, and we move together collaboratively to figure out the science we need to explain the phenomena we have all experienced. To be honest, this is precisely what we have always imagined teaching and learning should feel like. We engaged our students through the use of modeling throughout the storyline to allow student to explain their learning combined with many other practices intertwined. We would love to hear from you! Have you used storylines in your classroom? What practices or crosscutting are you using to support your students? We want to celebrate with you, please share with us here!
Student Initial Model
Student End of Storyline Model
Michelle Schuster is a high school biology teacher in Florence, Kentucky. This is her 20th year teaching at Boone County High School where she is also an alumni. Schuster holds a bachelor’s degree in biology and a master’s degree in curriculum and instruction. She is a member of the Boone County Science Teacher Leader Committee where she serves as an ambassador for her school aiding in the implementation of the Next Generation Science Standards within the district. She works as an Online Advisor for the National Science Teacher Association in the NSTA Learning Center; where she contributes to discussions in online forums with educators across the county. Schuster has been team teaching biology with Jessica Holman for four years. Schuster pours her drive and passion for science into every lesson her students experience.
Jessica Holman is a special education teacher at Boone County High School. She has worked in education for 10 years in both North Carolina and Kentucky. Holman holds a bachelor’s degree from Winston Salem State University in special education and a master’s degree in teacher leadership with a certification in instructional technology. She is active in her role as a science teacher leader in her school district; she collaborates with peers and works to integrate instruction into her blended learning classroom. Holman has worked with educators across the state of Kentucky to communicate educational strategies that support the learning and growing of fellow educators. She is motivated by the opportunity for equitable education through the implementation of the NGSS and works hard to ensure every student feels accepted and encouraged to learn science.
Note: This article is featured in the May issue of Next Gen Navigator, a monthly e-newsletter from NSTA delivering information, insights, resources, and professional learning opportunities for science educators by science educators on the Next Generation Science Standards and three-dimensional instruction. Click here to sign up to receive the Navigator every month.
If you were to walk into our classroom years ago, you would see students from all walks of life, and with a range of ability levels. All of the students were blended together to learn science and were eager to be engaged. We were teaching units that were not sequenced, and our focus was on memorization and expecting student to regurgitate information to perform well on a state assessment. The pressure to ensure the entire curriculum was covered and high test scores maintained meant that student understanding became secondary.
As several reports have shown, it is critical for teachers to understand instructional strategies that are consistent with the NGSS vision, as well as to have the skills to implement them in their classrooms. I had the privilege of working with two early-career eighth-grade teachers at South Warren Middle School in Bowling Green, Kentucky, as part of an NSTA coaching pilot program. A lesson I learned from this opportunity was that there are many paths toward realizing the vision of the NGSS in the classroom, but, as the ancient Latin adage says, experientia docet (“experience teaches”).
Find Your Starting Place
Both teachers were receptive to trying different instructional strategies but found that understanding these strategies and designing instruction was one thing, while implementing them was something totally different. We were focused on working toward the performance expectation, MS-LS3-1. (Develop and use a model to describe why structural changes to genes (mutations) located on chromosomes may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism.)
To clarify our understanding of the disciplinary core idea, we consulted the Framework, Evidence Statements, and chapter 8 of the NSTA Press book, Disciplinary Core Ideas: Reshaping Teaching. In making sense of the standard, questions arose, such as How do we help students figure this out? Shouldn’t they know about the different types of mutations first? Isn’t this too abstract for middle school students?
As a fan of the Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) materials, I knew they included a lab that addressed the standard, which I shared and offered to team-teach. Since each teacher was at a different point in their district’s learning sequence for this standard, Kaylee Okenye agreed to try Lab 15, Mutations in Genes: How Do Different Types of Mutations in Genes Affect the Function of an Organism? (Enderle, 2015, pp. 248–262), with her students. Lab 15 uses a free simulation from the Concord Consortium (available at http://concord.org/stem-resources/mutations) that allows students to test DNA base substitutions, deletions, and insertions and gauge the impact by observing changes in the amino acid sequence and the protein’s structure.
Find Your Collaborator/Sounding Board/Comfort Zone
Okenye has a strong background in biology and would be at ease fielding questions from the students about the content as they arose. I could provide the support for helping students use the appropriate practices and crosscutting concepts, at the element level, as they worked to figure out the effects of gene mutations on protein structure. Having used the ADI materials many times, I could also suggest scaffolds based on Okenye’s knowledge of her students. Table 1 provides a summary of the experiences we designed.
Table 1. Summary of Lesson and Scaffolds Used
Day
What Students Did
Scaffolds Used
1
Read and annotate background information
Design investigation and set up data table
Sign off on investigation proposal
Begin data collection
Exit Slip (using one of the Checkout Questions pg. 261)
The group proposal served as an important formative assessment for us. Groups could not begin to carry out their investigation until we signed off on their proposal. This allowed us to uncover student thinking using probing questions about content, practices, and crosscutting concepts.
Although students knew textbook definitions for independent and dependent variables and controls, they struggled to identify them for this investigation or to use them to design a method for recording their data. Because every group had difficulty with this, we called everyone together and provided a way to think about organizing data, which also helps to sort independent from dependent variables. Table 2 is an example of one group’s data table after this support.
Table 2:
With screen shots of the protein resulting from different mutations:
Examination of the exit slips revealed that the majority of students’ mental models held the common misconceptions that all mutations are harmful and that deletion of a base was responsible for the most harmful changes. Their responses reinforced the need to provide scaffolding for using evidence to support a claim and that core ideas are needed to tie the evidence to their claim (reasoning). This is something the argumentation session would target.
Students’ questions spoke volumes about not only their comfort level with this shift in instruction but also their growing understanding. Questions ranged from, Is this what you want on the data table? and How many times do we need to run the simulation? to Why doesn’t the protein structure change each time there is a mutation? and What causes a mutation to happen?
Okenye had several concerns. She said she felt that the first day was a “train wreck” and observed “Students were lost at first. They weren’t making connections, didn’t know how to design an experiment, and didn’t know how to set up a data table.” In hindsight, she thought we should have “provided more scaffolding” because it was the first time students had planned and carried out an investigation.
She noted that “in the past, students had to memorize the steps to the scientific method and learn vocabulary, but they didn’t get any practice in designing an experiment. Test prep has required cramming content and left no time for experimentation.” To further add to the confusion, “groups had varied data sets. One group would say that an insertion was more harmful than a deletion, because it changed the protein length. Another group would say that their data didn’t show that.”
From my perspective, the team-teaching and use of quality instructional material was very successful. Okenye was implementing a three-dimensional lesson at the element level. We were working on classroom discourse, and students were being challenged cognitively.
It is often uncomfortable to embrace the productive struggle that is necessary for learning. Sometimes, it is a fine line between struggle and frustration. But I wouldn’t describe day one as a “train wreck.” I would describe it as a classic example of productive struggle. When we were debriefing, Okenye stated that, “If students were asked to plan another experiment and to design a data table, they would be able to do it.”
Through argumentation, students had a wealth of evidence to support a claim that “…structural changes to genes (mutations) located on chromosomes may affect proteins and may result in harmful, beneficial, or neutral effects to the structure and function of the organism,” because of the varied data sets each group had. To make sense of this rich data, they needed to understand and apply the underlying core ideas. Of course, this is very different from conducting a cookie-cutter, verification lab in which success is determined by reaching the pre-drawn conclusion.
Take-Home Message
When I think about what professional learning experiences are required to help teachers implement the NGSS, the Beatles’ song, “The Long and Winding Road” often plays in my head. There are many paths for teachers to take, but experiencing instructional strategies that are consistent with the NGSS with your students may straighten some of those curves. Experientia docet.
Please share your experiences and/or comments about your journey implementing NGSS. Feedback and suggestions are greatly appreciated, too!
References
Duncan, R., J. Krajcik, and A. Ravit eds. 2016. Disciplinary Core Ideas: Reshaping Teaching and Learning. Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association.
Enderle, P. (2015). Argument-driven inquiry in life science: Lab investigations for grades 6-8. Arlington, VA: National Science Teachers Association.
National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine. 2015. Science teachers’ learning: Enhancing opportunities, creating supportive contexts. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press. Also available online at https://doi.org/10.17226/21836.
National Research Council. 2012. A Framework for K–12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Also available online at https://doi.org/10.17226/13165.
National Research Council. 2015. Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards. Washington, DC: National Academies Press. Also available online at https://doi.org/10.17226/18802.
NGSS Lead States. 2013. Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States (insert specific section title(s) being used if not referring to entirety of the NGSS). Retrieved from http://www.nextgenscience.org/.
Diane Johnson is a Master Teacher for the MSUTeach program at Morehead State University and a Regional Teacher Partner for PIMSER (Partnership Institute for Math and Science Education Reform) at Eastern Kentucky University. Johnson taught high school science for 25 years and served as an instructional supervisor for five years in Lewis County, Kentucky. Additionally, she is a member of Achieve, Inc’s Peer Review Panel and one of NSTA’s Professional Learning Facilitators. Johnson holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in biology, and a second master’s in supervision, and is ABD in science education. Follow me at @MDHJohnson and jdiane72@gmail.com
Note: This article is featured in the May issue of Next Gen Navigator, a monthly e-newsletter from NSTA delivering information, insights, resources, and professional learning opportunities for science educators by science educators on the Next Generation Science Standards and three-dimensional instruction. Click here to sign up to receive the Navigator every month.
As several reports have shown, it is critical for teachers to understand instructional strategies that are consistent with the NGSS vision, as well as to have the skills to implement them in their classrooms. I had the privilege of working with two early-career eighth-grade teachers at South Warren Middle School in Bowling Green, Kentucky, as part of an NSTA coaching pilot program.
My kindergarten students believe that small objects are always light and big objects are always heavier. How can I address this misconception? —L., Wyoming
Excellent question! This is a major misconception many adults have about density: the characteristic relationship between the mass and volume of materials.
I think the best way to tackle this is to have a hands-on activity. Buy or make identical-sized blocks, cylinders, or balls of different materials: plastic, wood, soap, iron, aluminum, styrofoam, plasticine, and so on. Although we are saying size, we are actually referring to volume.
Using the same series of materials, make shapes in larger sizes. The more sizes you can get the better.
Have students hold the same-sized cube of iron and aluminum in their hands. They should observe a difference albeit subjective. Use a double-pan balance or make a simple teeter-totter device to compare masses of objects objectively. Have them rank the different blocks from heaviest to lightest.
Can they balance a small, “heavy” object with a few “lighter” objects? At some point, the students should realize that many “light” things (or a single larger “light” item) can have the same weight (mass) as a smaller “heavy” object.
Now blow up a balloon! How does that compare to any of your other materials? It’s bigger, but I bet it’s lighter than almost everything else.
Hopefully this will lead to a better understanding of the density of different materials.
My kindergarten students believe that small objects are always light and big objects are always heavier. How can I address this misconception? —L., Wyoming
Excellent question! This is a major misconception many adults have about density: the characteristic relationship between the mass and volume of materials.
What if you could challenge your 11th graders to figure out the best response to a partial meltdown at a nuclear reactor in fictional Gammatown, USA? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can!
Radioactivity outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. As are the other volumes in the series, this book is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms.
What if you could challenge your 11th graders to figure out the best response to a partial meltdown at a nuclear reactor in fictional Gammatown, USA? With this volume in the STEM Road Map Curriculum Series, you can!
Radioactivity outlines a journey that will steer your students toward authentic problem solving while grounding them in integrated STEM disciplines. As are the other volumes in the series, this book is designed to meet the growing need to infuse real-world learning into K–12 classrooms.
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I am working on a lesson plan for the life cycle of a plant for kindergarten. Do you have any activity ideas?
Diane Johnson is a Master Teacher for the MSUTeach program at Morehead State University and a Regional Teacher Partner for PIMSER (Partnership Institute for Math and Science Education Reform) at Eastern Kentucky University. Johnson taught high school science for 25 years and served as an instructional supervisor for five years in Lewis County, Kentucky. Additionally, she is a member of Achieve, Inc’s Peer Review Panel and one of NSTA’s Professional Learning Facilitators. Johnson holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in biology, and a second master’s in supervision, and is ABD in science education. Follow me at @MDHJohnson and 
My kindergarten students believe that small objects are always light and big objects are always heavier. How can I address this misconception?