Designing Science Units

Chapter 9Designs for Learning

Designing Science Units

How to Read This Chapter

• This chapter has been organized to help you become a creative designer of science teaching plans by drawing upon your knowledge of science and adolescent learners. You will develop a sequence of lessons as a “mini-unit”. You will also develop a course syllabus, giving you an opportunity to think about instruction at the level of an entire course of study.

• It is advisable that you work through this chapter from beginning to end. When you finish the chapter, you will have created the following products:

– A rationale for a science unit with general goals.– A list of objectives (we'll call them intended outcomes) for a science unit grouped

according to type of student learning.– A concept map showing the relationships among the central ideas in your unit.– An assessment plan describing measures to assess the major objectives of the unit to

provide feedback to the students, and feedback for you on the effectiveness of your teaching.

– An instructional plan (a set of lesson plans) describing the unit, including what learning objectives are intended, and the strategies you will employ to help student achieve the unit's objectives.

Designing Science Units

Invitations to Inquiry

• What is pedagogical content knowledge? How is it different than content knowledge?

• What processes can be used to design an instructional plan?• How should a teacher proceed to develop instruction?• What are intended learning outcomes? How do cognitions, affects,

cognitive skills and psychomotor skills differ?• How can cognitive maps be utilized in the planning and development

of teaching materials?• What are the elements of the following types of lessons:

direct/interactive, cooperative learning, constructivist and inquiry/laboratory?

• What are the elements of a course of study?

Designing Science Units

Chapter 9 Map

Designing Science Units

Pedagogical Content Knowledge(PCK)

• PCK is a teacher’s knowledge of how to help students understand specific subject matter.

• Key questions include:– What shall I do with my students

to help them understand this science concept?

– What materials are available to help me?

– What are my students likely to already know and what will be difficult for them to learn?

– How shall I best evaluate what my students have learned?

How would this help you teach about water on Mars?

Designing Science Units

Inquiry Activity 9.1: Science PCK

• Visit one of the standards’ sites below:– National Science Education St

andards - Contents– Benchmarks On-Line

• Select a science content area and at least one concept to teach.

• Use Table 9.2 as a guide.• Identify one or more activities

that will help students understand the chosen concept– Exploratorium– Access Excellence– Discovery Education

These are “fast plants.” What are are they? How couldfast plants help you teach concepts in biology?

Designing Science Units

The Art of Designing Instruction

• Just as an artist uses physical and intellectual tools to make a painting, this chapter presents you with tools to artistically design teaching plans and associated materials.

• A cyclic process is outlined in this chapter to help to develop ideas for a science mini-unit.

• To help you with the process, follow this link to a mini-unit developed by Jaime Delaney, a former graduate student at Georgia State University, and now a teacher in Colorado. Refer to it while you develop your own. You’ll find lesson plans, a rationale, a concept map, and examples of outcomes, and evaluations.

Designing Science Units

Mini-Unit Design Process

Designing Science Units

Inquiry Activity 9.2: A Window into as High School Science Teacher’s Approach to Lesson Planning

• Log-on to Teaching HS Science and select either:– Chemical Reactions– Investigating Crickets– Exploring Mars– The Physics of Optics

• View the video and record your responses to the 4 procedural questions (#2).

• Summarize your thoughts, then follow Minds-on Strategies for this inquiry.

Designing Science Units

Design Step 1: Brainstorming

• This should be a fast, free-flowing listing of terms, words, and phrases for the topic of your mini-unit. Work with a few peers to generate ideas.

• You might want to look at the Standards and/or Benchmarks to spark your brainstorming.

Designing Science Units

Design Step 2: Name Your Mini-unit

• This is way to give your unit focus-naming it helps.

• Some ideas from your peers include:– What’s Up with the Weather?– The Well Cell– Sensational Sediments– We are Family: Study of Periodicity– What if you had a volcano in your backyard?

Designing Science Units

Design Step 3: Identify Focus Questions

• Focus questions should help you define the heart of your unit or course. Two or three well designed questions will help your students draw upon prior knowledge and keep sight of the “big idea”.

• Focus questions should center around the “enduring understandings” that promote science literacy.

Designing Science Units

Design Step 4: Identify Intended Learning Outcomes

• Use your initial list of ideas to create a list of intended learning outcomes. Outcomes are statements of what you want students to know or be able to do.

• They are skills, concepts, and values you intend the students will learn.

• Write these as precise statement starting with a verb, that indicates what learners should be able to do to demonstrate their knowledge.

Designing Science Units

Design Step 5: Categorize Outcomes

• In this step, you will sort your outcomes into skill and nonskill categories.

• Here is an example of intended outcomes from an environmental unit categorized into nonskill and skill groups.

Environmental Problems in Our Community

Non-skill Outcomes Skill Outcomes respects the environment energy webs and food chains pollution knows how acids affect river water understands biodegradable

ability to analyze a sample of water can measure the pH of liquids can write equations for chemical processes

Designing Science Units

Design Step 6: Develop a Concept Map of the Unit

• Use the ideas developed by Novak and Gowin to develop a map of your mini-unit. You will probably revise this as you further develop the unit. The map is a tool for your planning and your student’s learning. Share it with them.

contain contain

linking words

combine

combine

generate own food via

contain

Foodchains

Consumers Decomposers

HerbivoresCarnivoresOmnivores

Organic Debris

Inorganic substances

Producers

Photosynthesis

Designing Science Units

Design Step 7: Write a Rationale

• At this stage you’ve worked with your unit enough so that you can write a rationale. How might this learning:– affect the students’ future?– contributes to societal issues?– reflects the spirit and character

of the scientific enterprise?• See the samples in the text.

Here is part of one rationale.• The abilities, interests, needs,

and talents of your students must also inform the rationale and emerging plans.

Science education in this modern world of highinformation availability must be an inquiry basedexercise. Science, itself, must be defined as a verb, anaction, and a method of looking at the world. Andwhen the world, with all of its uniqueness andexceptions to the “rules” is readily available throughthe Internet, simple memorization of facts canbecome useless. Student must use their brainpowerfor finding the threads that connect and related allthings. In this study of volcanoes, the Mt. St. Helen’sexample is used to show the power and themagnitude of a volcano; the devastation of all formsof life that occur following a blast. The lesson intentis to explore how a volcano affects more than justgeology of the area. The example is used to showhow life in a devastated area reforms and rejuvenates.

Designing Science Units

Design Step 8: Categorize Outcomes-Cognitions, Affects and Skills

• This step you will actually delay until after you have listed potential activities (step 9), and written lesson plans (step 10). You can then pull your outcomes from your lesson plans, and categorize them into four groups:

– Cognitions– Affects– Cognitive skills– Psychomotor skills

• You should, however, review the nature of these categories of outcomes before you go to the next two steps.

• Use the map on the next slide, and text material to write out one outcome for each category related to your mini-unit.

Summary of Learning Outcomes

Cognitions Concepts andpropositions

Affects Attitudes andfeelings

Cognitive Skills Cognitive abilitiesPsychomotor Skills Motor and laboratory

abilities

Designing Science Units

Map of Learning OutcomesIntended Learning

Outcomes

Cognition Affects Cognitive Skills

Psychomotor Skills

Concepts and Propositions Students

should grasp the meaning

of...(igneaous rocks)

Feelings, values and attitudes

Students should

learn that knowledge is tentative

Intellectual competencies Students

will be able to predict

the location of moon.

Methodical procedure, technique, dexterity,

orderliness

Students will be able use a compound

microscope.

Designing Science Units

Design Step 9: Develop an Assessment Plan

• Assessment in your mini-unit should include:– Daily Formative Assessments

of various types (observing, listening, informal quiz, written quiz, lab work, project, etc.)

– One end of unit Summative Assessment (performance task, project, or traditional test)

• Start with your initial ideas about assessment, then look ahead to Chapter 10 for more assessments ideas.

Student Feedback Form 1.During the mini-unit how satisfied were

you as a learner? ______very satisfied ______satisfied ______unsatisfied ______very unsatisfied

2.What could your teacher have done to

increase your satisfaction?

3.What were your favorite activities? Why?

4.What were your least favorite

activities? Why

Table 7.9. Student Feedback Form

Designing Science Units

Design Step 10: List Potential Activities

• Now that you have a framework for your mini-unit, you can do some exploring of science activities (use online and print resources), and then brainstorm with peers a list of potential activities. For web resources, check the section On the Web in The Art of Teaching Science text, or at the Art of Teaching Science online site.

Designing Science Units

Potential Activities

• You’ll find a collection of Planning Activities on the Companion Website. Take a look at them for examples of activities for you unit, and for further ideas on lesson plans

Planning Activity 7.1: Earth Science: Shake, Rattle and Roll Planning Activity 7.2: Earth Science: Don’t Take it for Granite Planning Activity 7.3: Life Science: Light on: Responses of Earthworms Planning Activity 7.4: Physical Science: Chemistry in the Bag Planning Activity 7.5: Physical Science: an Eggzact Experiment

Designing Science Units

Design Step 11: Develop Lesson Plans

• The mini-unit should contain between four and six lesson plans. You will find three types of templates for developing your plans. I recommend the first one, the Constructivist template, as there are many examples in the Art of Teaching Science, and Jaime Delaney’s site, shown here, used the same template in the development of her lesson plans.

• Sketch out your plans using the template of your choice, and then meet with at least one peer to explain the plans, and solicit feedback. Finalize your plans. Now you can pull all of the outcomes from your plans, and organize your learning outcomes.

Link to Jaime Delaney’s Mini-unit to see examples of lesson plans, and other elements of the mini-unit.

Designing Science Units

Design Step 12 : Implementation & Revision

• Teach your mini-unit to a group of middle or high school students.

• If you can’t do this, present one lesson to a group of peers.

• In either case, video tape one lesson.

• Reflect on your mini-unit by using the feedback you obtained from students, and peers. A complete list of reflection questions is located in the text. One example is:– To what extent did students

attain the learning outcomes (objectives) of the unit?

• What revisions would you make in the unit?

Designing Science Units

Inquiry 9.3: Designing a The Course Syllabus

In this activity you will identify and describe the major elements of a course of study for a subject and content area of middle or high school science. Your product will be a course syllabus.