This week in education news, California schools preparing to ramp up course offerings and equip teachers to lead computer science courses; teaching students together and having them help one another learn may have more benefit to them and society than separating them by abilities; President announces the recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers; 2/3rds of American employees regret their college degrees; schools across the U.S. are grappling with how to incorporate the study of climate change into the classroom as its proximity and perils grow ever more apparent; and ‘improvement science’ helps school districts succeed at new initiatives.

As California Seeks to Add More Computer Science Courses, Teachers Are Answering the Call

As California pushes to increase access to computer science education for K-12 students, schools across the state this summer are preparing to ramp up course offerings and equip teachers to lead computer science courses. Read the article featured in EdSource.

Does Education Focus Too Much on Individual Achievement?

Educators can learn valuable lessons about the purpose and ultimate impact of education on society as a whole from the experiences of veteran African American teachers, who have historically viewed schools as a “public good to expand citizenship, equity, and collective responsibility” rather than an “engine for individual social mobility,” Kristina Rizga, author of “Mission High: One School, How Experts Tried to Fail It, and the Students and Teachers Who Made It Triumph,” contends in an article for The Atlantic. Read the brief featured in Education DIVE.

President Donald J. Trump Announces Recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers

President Donald J. Trump announced the recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE). The PECASE is the highest honor bestowed by the United States Government to outstanding scientists and engineers who are beginning their independent research careers and who show exceptional promise for leadership in science and technology. Read the press release.

Two-Thirds of American Employees Regret Their College Degrees

A college education is still considered a pathway to higher lifetime earnings and gainful employment for Americans. Nevertheless, two-thirds of employees report having regrets when it comes to their advanced degrees, according to a PayScale survey of 248,000 respondents this past spring recently released. Read the article featured on CBSNews.com.

Teaching Global Warming in a Charged Political Climate

Their training doesn’t cover it, many textbooks don’t touch it, but teachers are taking on climate change anyway. Read the article featured in the Hechinger Report.

What Does ‘Career Readiness’ Look Like in Middle School?

School districts are pushing career exploration into middle and lower grades, convinced the preparation necessary for tomorrow’s jobs needs to begin earlier. Read the article featured in the Hechinger Report.

Taking Teacher Retention in the Summer Months

Administrators can take advantage of the summer months and build a good work environment by showing appreciation for teachers. Simple gestures go a long way towards keeping teachers connected and excited to return in the fall, Tracey Smith, principal of Brookwood Elementary in Georgia, writes for eSchool News. Read the brief featured in Education DIVE.

A Plan for Supporting New Initiatives

An approach to problem-solving called improvement science may give district and school initiatives a better chance at succeeding. Read the article featured in edutopia.

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.

Some plants can be started from seed in the garden in midsummer’s warmest weather and still grow plants that reach maturity before the first killing frost in the fall. With multiple experiences handling and planting seeds children grow their understanding of the function of seeds. “Plants also have different parts (roots, stems, leaves, flowers, fruits) that help them survive, grow, and produce more plants” (NRC, page 144). In the July 2018 Early Years column I wrote about investigating seed sprouting with children to begin learning about plants’ needs for sustaining growth, part of the NGSS Disciplinary Core Idea, LS1.C: Organization for matter and energy flow in organisms.

To learn which seeds to plant outdoors now, ask the families of children attending your program in summer to share their gardening experiences. Other places to find experienced or expert gardeners include the local farmers’ market, the county extension service, Master Gardener program, or a high school National FFA Organization. Consult seed planting calendar guides from local extension services and seed companies and have children help determine which seeds to start in which month in your locality. 

Here are a few examples of such resources: 

Alabama Cooperative Extension System, Alabama Vegetable Garden Planting Chart. https://www.aces.edu/blog/topics/lawn-garden/planting-guide-for-home-gardening-in-alabama/

Farm Advisor UC Cooperative Extension, Vegetable Garden Planting, Planting Guide for San Diego County by Vincent Lazaneo. https://www.mastergardenerssandiego.org/Vegetable%20Planting%20Guide1.pdf

North Carolina State Extension Table 1. Garden planting calendar for vegetables, fruits, and herbs in Central North Carolina. https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/central-north-carolina-planting-calendar-for-annual-vegetables-fruits-and-herbs

Purdue Extension, Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar by Michael N. Dana and B. Rosie Lerner. https://ag.purdue.edu/hla/pubs/HO/HO-186.pdf

Planting seeds in containers indoors makes it easy to view the sprouting process and tiny seedling structures. If seedlings get enough light from the sun, or from “grow lights,” they may be strong enough to transplant into the garden.

Children can help plan if they have time and experiences to understand the needs of plants.

With the average first killing frost in mind, I’m planning to plant bush bean seeds in the soil in mid August, and put in some collard seedlings to overwinter. The beans take from 50-60 days to maturity—enough time for children in a year-round program to plant, tend, harvest, and taste their own produce. Hopefully the collards will host the eggs of Cabbage white butterflies (Pieris rapae), and when they hatch, feed the larvae, providing an observational experience for children next spring. See the April 2007 Early Years column (free for non-members!) for more on the relationship between Pieris rapae and plants of the  Cruciferae (Brassicaceae) family.

How does one model a 5E lesson plan for each topic covered when teaching a split grade level?
— C., Illinois

Split classes can be very challenging, particularly if they have drastically different curricula. However, I believe you can manage better if your lessons use a three-dimensional approach. Instead of content topics, you can structure your 5E (Engage-Explore-Explain-Elaborate-Evaluate) lessons around a cross-cutting theme, a core idea, or a scientific practice common to all science curricula. What would differ in your class is what the students “Explore” about the common theme, idea or practice. I believe the core ideas in each subject area would be the easiest to focus on but it would be powerful to wrap a lesson around a science practice like engaging in arguments based on evidence.

Have the students from both grades share what they learned and ask questions that arose from their explorations. This flows nicely to the “Explanation” and “Elaboration” stages of a 5E lesson. Consider pairing students across the grades and incorporating some peer teaching and evaluation.

You can structure formative and summative evaluations around their understanding of the themes, core ideas, and practices by how they apply the knowledge of the topics from the lesson. You might be able to create tests that ask the same questions but would have slightly different answers depending on the exploration used in each grade level.

Please visit NGSS@NSTA (https://ngss.nsta.org/) for ideas, lessons, and workshops involving 3D learning.

Hope this helps!

Image credit: Kaspar Lunt via Pixabay

Some children feel a kinship with all kinds of living things. They may reach out to touch a bumble bee on a flower or hug a worm too tightly. Touching a bee may be fine if the temperature is so cold it has paused on the flower overnight waiting for morning’s warming sun but I do want children to be aware of the potential hazards of handling small animals.

Promoting caution but not fear while observing small animals supports all children. We can plan opportunities for observation, where children whose affinity for living organisms is still developing can see while maintaining a comfortable distance. Confining small animals in containers for brief periods of observation is one way to provide that distance. Some children eagerly look at books about animals, gaining a familiarity that can make first hand experiences more comfortable.

Observing children, and thinking about what their actions tell us they understand, is the beginning of formative assessment—assessment that informs the direction and progress of teaching. Documenting other ways of knowing children’s thinking, such as, their drawings or conversations during book read-aloud, as well as our observations, guides our next steps in planning lessons. Our collected knowledge and documentation of children’s actions, thinking, and work becomes formative assessment when we “use the information to inform instruction, plan interactions that scaffold learning, and communicate children’s progress to them, their families, and others” (Riley-Ayers in Bohart & Procopio 2018).

Formative assessment systems can be very individual and a strength-based way of documenting and identifying children’s development. Instead of saying, “This child is afraid of bees,” I might say, “This child is cautiously observing bees while maintaining a distance that feels comfortable.” Reviewing the formative assessment documentation supports children’s reflection on their ideas. Hoisington (2016) writes, “Get ALL of the children’s science ideas out on the table, Provide opportunities for children to investigate their ideas, Facilitate children’s reflection on the evidence.” Follow up activities with discussion to find out what children think they know about how animals get the food and other things they need. The NGSS Appendix E: Progressions Within the Next Generation Science Standards describes how children’s beginning understandings become more sophisticated as they grow and learn.

References  

Riley-Ayers, Shannon. 2018. Introduction to Spotlight on Young Children: Observation and Assessment by H. Bohart and R. Procopio. NAEYC.