The Next Generation Science Standards hold promise for cultivating the diverse assets that students bring to science learning. One key asset in linguistically diverse science classrooms is translanguaging, or the use of one’s full communicative repertoire that transcends boundaries between named languages (e.g., Spanish and English) and modalities (e.g., linguistic and nonlinguistic). For teachers to harness this asset, they will need to hone their skills at formative assessment, specifically, how they listen and respond to students’ thinking communicated in ways that go beyond what has been traditionally privileged in science classrooms (e.g., written English). We refer to this as formative assessment from a translanguaging perspective. In this article, we illustrate how one fifth-grade teacher engaged in formative assessment from a translanguaging perspective in her dual language science classroom during a 3-day lesson focused on planning and carrying out an investigation of plant growth. Specifically, we illustrate how this teacher used multiple types of formative assessment that cultivated her students’ translanguaging and enabled her to stay closely attuned to students’ thinking as it developed. We close with recommendations for teachers interested in enhancing their formative assessment in linguistically diverse science classrooms.

Teachers are often required to display or explicitly state learning objectives prior to beginning a lesson. In particular, many elementary classrooms are required to post or state “I CAN…” statements related to their standards. Unfortunately, this practice can ‘give away’ what students should be figuring out, decrease students’ ‘need to know’ or motivation for learning about the phenomenon, and/or narrow what students notice or connect during the lesson. Here, we provide three strategies that may assist teachers in meeting their schools’ requirements while preserving students’ sense of wonder and ability to engage in sensemaking: 1) Delay sharing the learning objective until after the lesson and use it to metacognitively check understanding; 2) Frame learning objectives in terms of the Crosscutting Concept or/or Science and Engineering Practice; and 3) Create a question map to think more deeply about the core ideas embedded in the standard(s). We encourage teachers to consider how to present the learning objective as a vital part of the lesson planning process and recommend that they try these strategies individually or in combination to find what works best for their classroom.

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Smart Telescope technology and its suggested use for the Science classroom.

The Framework and NGSS emphasize using lines of evidence to construct explanations and develop arguments that demonstrate understanding about scientific phenomena. For this vision to be actualized in science classrooms, students must engage in investigations where they reason about their established lines of evidence as they construct explanations of phenomena. Reasoning about the evidence they have gathered enables students to construct and then defend explanations through argumentation. However, there is a blurriness for many teachers around these contemporary science practices. The purpose of this article is to clarify these practices by (a) identifying characteristics of explanations and arguments, (b) delineating how to engage students in science practices that develop lines of evidence they can use to make sense of phenomena, and (c) offering guidance on how to scaffold explanations and arguments around a local phenomenon. In this article I use the example of Niagara Falls, which is a local phenomenon for my middle school science students. Contemporary standards require a shift in classroom culture, instructional practices, and students’ understanding of what it means to learn science. This article helps middle school science teachers make this shift.

Studying moths is an excellent way to include students in science practices by introducing them to a ubiquitous but under-appreciated animal group that can be found in their local places, including urban, suburban, agricultural, forested, and other habitats. In this paper, we share a simple, low-cost method that can allow individual students or groups to collect moth specimens and begin to ask and answer questions about moth diversity and abundance in their local community.

Research on science teaching and learning supports instructional sequences that are driven by phenomenon, provide student-agency, and are made relevant to students. The use of locally-based, phenomenon-driven instruction that creates opportunities for students to engage in coherent investigations can provide opportunities to realize a vision of science for all students. The purpose of this article is to share a local, phenomenon-based instructional sequence that supported all students in connecting to their place, drawing from their experiences, and pursuing their curiosities in order to make sense of an intriguing event while learning about science ideas. By using local examples, our students were able to quickly connect to the material and focus on the concepts rather than trying to make sense of the landscape. They were able to use the local phenomenon as an anchor for understanding these abstract physical science concepts in meaningful ways.

Project-based and student-driven learning continue to be at the forefront of school reform efforts. Technology is a significant bridge and tool used empower and leverage student projects. Geospatial technologies continue to be underutilised in the middle grades. There are many cutting edge, free geospatial tools available through the ESRI School Bundle. This article is aimed at bridging the gap in the practitioner literature about how free geospatial technologies can be used in the project-based, science classroom. Numerous example products and recommendations are made to encourage teachers to consider these technologies. This manuscript also explains one example of a geospatial project educators could recreate in a science classroom.

Our program seeks to introduce middle school students to a range of STEM topics and careers. We planned and enacted a five-lesson unit themed around the contributions of trees/green spaces to ecological and community health. Humans thrive in ecologically healthy communities; however, not all communities have access to healthy ecosystems. Students were introduced to basic ecology tools and concepts, investigated urban parks to make ecological and sociological observations, and analyzed and interpreted the data for shared patterns of interest. The centerpieces of this unit were field work in parks where we followed a question-driven, observational study with scientific investigations into the effect of tree canopy on surface temperature, followed by independent student research to create final products allowing students to blend creativity, technology, and their newly-acquired ecological understanding towards making a lasting impact.