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Agenda: Oct 25 & Nov 1 Childrens garden follow up (1 hour) Opening activity Field discussion Part 1 Part 2 How to handle the unexpected Finishing up the Pigeon Case Study Strategies Returning to Science Talks & your assignment Beginning a discussion on I-AIM model for teaching and learning Science Experiences Planning for experiences

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Why Teach Science? In groups of four, create a poster explaining how you would respond to the following : You are a teacher in a school that has not made adequate yearly progress (AYP) for the last several years due to poor math and reading scores. The school board is considering a proposal that would require teachers to cut science instructional time to one hour every other week and use the remaining time for additional math and reading instruction in an effort to increase testing scores. Your principal has asked you to prepare a presentation for the board explaining why science instruction is important for elementary school students and should not be compromised. What would you say?

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Childrens Garden What makes the best salad for our school? Lets welcome Dr. Norm! He is here to follow up on our lettuce growth and analysis involving: tasting, measuring, collecting data, reporting data and reflecting on data.

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Getting into the Field Share something positive you saw in the field this week. You might share: interesting technology, materials, or curricula a light bulb moment you witnessed (for yourself, a student, a teacher, or other adults) a pedagogical idea, technique or strategy a classroom management procedure, evidence of classroom tone or norms or a classroom community building strategy a question/something you are wondering about.

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Field Discussion, Continued: Composite Culture Remember, in your upcoming assignment

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Science Talk Assignment (Due Nov 15 or sooner if you are done!) Part 1: Observe your classroom and write up a description of the classroom culture. Part 2: Conduct a science talk with a group of students in your field placement (try to do this week or next) Part 3: Analyze your science talk for students science conceptions and funds of knowledge (More help on this next week, too) Part 4: Prepare a lesson plan for your students based on the science talk. This lesson plan will be your initial draft plan for the big science lesson.

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What is the composite culture of the classroom? All classrooms have their own cultures. What does this mean? They have unspoken rules and norms that determine how people act and relate to one another based on what the teacher does, what the students do, and the subject area. Rules for speaking: Who gets to talk & when do they get to talk? Pace of instruction Language of the classroom How diversity is acknowledged and affirmed What topics get talked about How materials are managed How discipline is enacted Most teachers are not fully aware of the cultures of their own classrooms, particularly if they are similar to the classrooms in which they were once students. Many teachers tend to create classroom cultures that are similar to their home/household cultures.

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What is composite culture? (From Hogan & Corey, and also NSTA) Ideals of Science Practice Pedagogical Ideals Students Experiences and Perspectives Realities of the classroom and scientific Practice Composite Culture of the Classroom What does science look like in my teachers classroom? What routines and norms shape activity in my teachers classroom?

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To try to figure out your CTs classroom culture. Step 1: Figure out the norms & routines in your classroom, and think about how these norms and routines are shaped by: Your teachers pedagogical ideas and by science. (see next slide, slide 10!) Step 2: In field-based teams complete a Culture in your mentor teachers classroom diagram based on the composite culture handout. (see slide 11!) Step 3: Discuss these questions: How similar or different is your mentor teachers classroom culture from the classrooms you remember as students? What is the same? What is different? How do students in your mentor teachers classroom learn to understand and navigate the classroom culture? Do you think there are any students who are more or less advantaged or disadvantaged in negotiating the classroom culture?

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With a partner, try to describe the norms for your CTs classroom across different contexts

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Draw a composite culture diagram for your CTs classroom on your teams white board - rank from least to most complex in your team Ideals of Science Practice Pedagogical Ideals Composit e Culture of the Classroo m Students Experiences and Perspectives Realities of the classroom and scientific Practice What does science look like in my teachers classroom? What routines and norms shape activity in my teachers classroom?

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For your Science Talk assignment (seeing kids thinking in science), for part 1, you need to write up a summary of what you discussed today. Be sure to describe the classroom culture in terms of: Your teachers pedagogical ideals what does he or she do in the classroom? How is this reflected in the norms and routines of the classroom? The ideals of science what is science in your CTs classroom? What does it look like? How is it reflected in the norms and routines of the classroom? What are your students experiences How are student experiences reflected or incorporated in the norms and routines of the classroom?

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Building an empowering classroom practice

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How do you respond when students experiences lead them to ask things you are not prepared for?

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How to Respond to Student Misconceptions and Confusions So if we are not supposed to correct students misconceptions and confusions during our science chats, what SHOULD we say? Phenomenal teachers often create several scripted responses designed to elicit more information from students without imposing a value judgment on what they are saying. Some responses that I have used in the past are: Thats one way to think about it. What other ways can you think of? Say more about that. Oh, thats very interesting! Tell me why you think that. Tell me about a time when you saw that happen. Have you ever talked about that idea with someone else? What did you talk about?

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What happened in the pigeon case?

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18 Jameer Challenging the pigeon study unit Jameer: I wouldnt have studied pigeons in the first place. Researcher: What would you study instead? Jameer: Neighborhoods or something, not pigeons. It doesnt affect, what we are going to do? Change the way pigeons look or something. It really didnt help me with anything. I didnt really like it. Researcher: Did you learn anything? Jameer: I learned the different types of pigeons, I learned what attracts them like if they see one pigeon after that a whole lot of them are going to come, and a lot of them are dying. I see a lot of dead pigeons on the street rats are everywhere, theyre in people houses. Im dead serious. Id choose garbage. It dont even have to be an animal because you see garbage all over the street on Amsterdam like they dont pick up the garbage or something, and then on Broadway its just not there. Researcher: What do you think the point of the study was? Jameer : Trust me I have no clue. It didnt have any point to me. I dont know where you guys got it from. It had no point. Do it at a point like, I would go to other neighborhoods, not just where we are. Lets say to a cleaner neighborhood to see how many are there because pigeons dont really do anything they just eat and thats it. To see where pigeons like to live, in dirty neighborhoods or clean neighborhoods.

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Jameer learned the science, but her views about pigeons did not change. Discussion questions: Does it matter to you if students can show they learned but you get evidence that that learning doesnt really mean much to the students? What would you do if you learned that your assessments of student learning really missed the boat?

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20 C an pigeons be racists ?

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Reactions? What do you think of the students question, Can pigeons be racist? What do you think of the teachers response? What would you do?

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Practicing a science talk analysis Group 1: 1 st graders dropping a book and a piece of paper (transcript 1) Group 2: 1 st graders dropping a book and a piece of paper (transcript 2, scenes 1-3) Group 3: 3 rd graders discussing bubbles (scenes 4&5) Group 4: 2 nd graders discussing magnets (scenes 1-3) Group 5:2 nd graders discussing magnets (scenes 4-7)

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Making sense of science talks Assign roles & read transcript. Use manipulatives if it helps! Use two colors of highlighters (I.e., pink and yellow) Highlight every line where students bring in their funds of knowledge (yellow) Highlight everyline where students explicitly make science claims (pink) You can use both colors on some lines What patterns do you see? How does this help you see connections between students cultural knowledge and experiences and making sense in/of science?

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Reminder FOK categories Family knowledge and experience Community knowledge and experience Popular Culture Peer activities Talents and interest Youth genre categories Sense-making through experimenting Reciprocity Sense of community identity Argumentative stance Banter Exaggerating Playfulness Movement Teasing Intensity Interest in popular culture (acting like their sports, music and film heros)

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Look closely again at the transcript What science conceptions came up in the discussion? Do you think the students understand the content? What is your evidence (point to lines in transcript) What resources do students draw upon to talk about their ideas? (again point to specific lines in transcript)

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Digistory Assignment Feedback As teachers we are always learning and trying to improve our practice. Sometimes it takes a few triesSoyou can resubmit for a higher grade if you are not satisfied. I gave feedback on the activity sequence, but did not grade it. (I included the rubric for how I will grade it in the future it is the grayed out area). Worth 20 points 20 pts = 100% 18 pts = 90% 16 pts = 80% 14pts = 60% Questions? please come see me!

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Things to think about Try not to cover too many objectives in one lesson. Focus on a smaller number and do them well! Try to word a driving question that is interesting and understandable for kids. Its often a good idea to put the driving question on the board so that your students can get the point of the lesson! Make sure the question is age appropriate Try to make the question link the learning goals with the lesson focus (i.e., how can we figure out who can jump the furthest in our class?)

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Continued Prior knowledge (great techniques!) Interviewing a small group of students Researching on-line Talking with your CT Observing Be SPECIFIC about what you think your students know and what might be some common misconceptions. Students experiences & funds of knowledge Try to give specific examples of the experiences your students have that you can draw upon in the lesson, even if informally. These experiences can be: Things you observed Things kids have talked about with you Things your CT told you Things you imagine kids might have experienced given your own experiences, what you know about kids Remember you want to bring in the experiences that kids have OUTSIDE of school, such as the home, the community, with peers, etc. Think about the categories of funds of knowledge we discussed!

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Continued Activity sequence: Detail, detail, detail Example: I will have a 5 minute discussion on what my students know about seasons. Better: I will have a 5 minute discussion on what my students know about seasons. I will start with the question: Who knows what the seasons are? I will listen for ideas like, winter, spring, summer, fall. I will prompt students to tell stories or share experiences with the different seasons. I am hoping to get my students to start thinking about the relationship between weather patterns and seasons.

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Sequencing Lessons to reflect the work of scientists EPE/I-AIM Instructional Approach Tailoring lessons to reflect the resources your students bring to learning Strengths-based approach: Funds of knowledge Youth Genres Learning Goals: GLCEs Planning a lesson Lesson objectives Overview of activities Assessment of learning Planning Instruction

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What is Science? the process of looking for patterns in experiences and then testing and re-testing possible explanations that account for those patterns. These explanations are then applied to help to explain additional experiences. EXPERIENCESPATTERNSEXPLANATIONS Blowing whistles Observing drums Making rice drums Exploring tuning forks (one tuning fork & two tuning forks) Exploring cup phones Things that vibrate make sounds One thing vibrating can make another thing vibrate When a drumstick hits a drum, the drum vibrates. The vibration makes the air between the drum and our eardrum vibrate. The air makes our eardrums vibrate and that vibration sends a message to our brains.

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Experiences Patterns Explanations Dozens of patterns in experience A few explanations Millions of experiences in the material world Inquiry: Learning from Experience Application: Using Knowledge Scientists Science

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Experiences Patterns Explanations A few specific examples Fewer patterns (laws, generalizations, graphs, charts) Extensive explanations, models, theories School Science

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Inquiry and Application Instructional Model

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Experiences In groups, rotate across each of the noiseand vibration stations Station 1: tuning fork Station 2: telephone Station 3: stereo hanger Station 4: drums Station 5: Adams Apple Make as many observations as you canabout noise and vibration. Record them onyour experiences and observation sheets ateach station.

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ExperiencesPatternsExplanations Station 1: tuning fork Station 2: telephone Station 3: stereo hanger Station 4: drums Station 5: Adams Apple

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What is different about these two models? Should school science look so different from scientists science? What do you think school science should look like? A few specific examples Fewer patterns (laws, generalizations, graphs, charts) Extensive explanations, models, theories Traditional School Science Dozens of patterns in experience A few explanations Millions of experiences in the material world Scientists Science

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Experiences Patterns Explanations Dozens of patterns in experience A few explanations Millions of experiences in the material world Inquiry: Learning from Experience Application: Using Knowledge Scientists Science I-AIM Model for Science Teaching

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Inquiry and Application Instructional Model

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Ideally during a science unit you will bring your students through one or more I- AIM cycles. Not all individuals lessons will have all 4 components of the I-AIM model - some lessons may cover only one aspect, some may cover more or even all 4 Lessons should be sequenced to bring students through the complete I-AIM cycle. When you plan a lesson you should think about the strategic function of your lesson: Question Explore & Investigate Explain Apply