As part of a science methods class, we’ve been assigned to create an observation tool to assess students. I’ve seen many articles and suggestions online for helping students become good observers and tools for administrators to use when observing teachers. But I haven’t seen much on teachers observing students. What can I assess by watching students?
—Kendra, Columbia, South Carolina
I would check with your instructor about the assignment. Did he or she provide any examples, guidelines, or a rubric? Could you model a type of data collection used in your methods class?
Teachers continuously observe students informally, scanning the classroom or watching students as they work. They often look for students who seem confused or engaged in off-task, unsafe, or disruptive behaviors, which is certainly important in a science class. It sounds like your task is to add to this observational “research” in a systematic and purposeful way.
Your question did bring back memories of my methods course when we were given a similar assignment. We were asked to design an assessment that did not require students to use pencil and paper. (This was long before the Internet and digital technology!)  I was puzzled at first, but then I created a protocol for observing students during a lab and assessing their ability to use a microscope. I made a table with a list of students’ names for each section, and across the top I listed several behaviors to look for that would let me know that students could use this tool appropriately (e.g., focus a prepared slide, create a wet mount slide, carry it back to the shelf safely, clean the lenses). I shared the expectations with the students, and as I circulated through room during a lab, I would check off the behaviors as I noted them. It did take a few lessons before all the students had check marks, and I had to specifically ask some students to show me what they could do. My instructor loved it!
As with any assessment, the value is not in just collecting the data but using the data to guide instruction or improve class activities. This data provided more information than a written test on parts of a microscope, and unsafe behaviors could be addressed immediately.

In the following years, I used this protocol for many other student observations. For example, during group work, I noted which students were the leaders/facilitators, the take-over types, the quiet observers who did contribute to the activity, or the ones left out of the process. I used this data to intervene where necessary or create lab teams for the next unit.
You could also study what kind of questions students ask during an activity: procedural (What are we supposed to do now?), confirmational (Are we doing this right?), off-task (May I use the restroom?), clarifying (I’m not sure about…), or extending (We’re wondering about… What would happen if…?) From this I learned to wait a few seconds before responding to students who asked a lot of procedural questions. Often they or their partners answered their own questions.
You can use an observation checklist to identify content skills or lab techniques (such as measuring or graphing) in which students are successful and those in which they may need additional guidance or instruction. Record your observations as you walk around while students are working independently or in groups. Spend a little time with each group to observe their work, ask a few questions, or provide any clarification. Rather than waiting for a written test, you can identify misconceptions or incomplete understandings right away.
I could see this protocol being adapted for a tablet or smart phone in place of my sheet of paper–you could also add photos of the students at work.
 
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/xevivarela/4610711363/sizes/o/in/photostream/
 

From lessons on writing in science class to exploring and debating socioscientific issues to translating NGSS for classroom instruction, take a look at what science teachers are reading in February on NSTA’s website.
Most Popular NSTA Press Books
1. Teaching Science Through Trade Books
2. It’s Debatable! Using Socioscientific Issues to Develop Scientific Literacy K-12
3. Science the “Write” Way
4. The Basics of Data Literacy: Helping Your Students (and You!) Make Sense of Data
5. Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, Volume 4: 25 New Formative Assessment Probes
 
Most Popular NSTA Press e-Books
1. Scientific Argumentation in Biology: 30 Classroom Activities
2. Designing Effective Science Instruction: What Works in Science Classroom
3. Predict, Observe, Explain: Activities Enhancing Scientific Understanding
4. Schoolyard Science: 101 Easy and Inexpensive Activities
5. Translating the NGSS for Classroom Instruction
 
Most Popular NSTA Journal Articles
1. Learning by Sorting (The Science Teacher)
2. Can You Picture That? (The Science Teacher)
3. Teaching Through Trade Books: The Science and Technology of Sound (Science and Children)
4. Career Simulations: Technology Tools That Support STEM Content and Motivation (Science Scope)
5. Do You Hear What I Hear? (Science and Children)
 
Most Popular Science Trade Books for Kids
1. What Makes Different Sounds?: I Wonder Why
2. Bubble Bubble
3. Next Time You See a Sunset
4. Spenser and the Rocks: I Wonder Why
5. Next Time You See a Pill Bug

In this month’s Reaching the Stakeholders section of the Leaders Letter, there is mention of a feature on NPR which raised the point about engagement of students in science in the classroom.  A follow up point about engaging students in science opportunities afterschool and at home was also posited – after all science does not only happen in school.  Science is all around us and part of our everyday life.  One of the featured resources mentioned was the training kit for families and community participants that was developed by the National Center for Quality Afterschool.
Their home page states “[t]he key goal of Engaging Families and Communities is to increase student achievement, aptitude, and interest in science by involving families in the learning process and making the most of community resources.”  Opportunities for students to engage in science through afterschool programs and community opportunities hopefully contribute to developing the love of science as well as the understanding of science in students. Local astronomy clubs, 4H programs, robotics clubs, and others provide these outreach opportunities for students to pursue an interest in a science topic.  There is even a Coalition for Science Afterschool that provides a searchable database which is designed to increase access to high-quality science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education beyond the classroom for youth and families across the nation.
While not every student will be able to participate in or attend the White House Science Fair, they can participate in local science fairs or junior academy of science presentations.  Organized as part of the American Junior Academy of Sciences, states offer opportunities for students to engage in science research.  Many local county or regional groups also have science fairs that go beyond the school day and walls.  As a Pennsylvanian, there are many different science fairs that are held throughout our state, one such being the Delaware Valley Science Fair which is also associated with the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
As a former middle school teacher, I remember spending many many (did I say many) hours afterschool working with our Science Olympiad Team preparing for events such as Road Rally, Get Your Bearing, Bridge Building, and other content focused and design focused events.  In full disclosure the names mentioned above may give away the years of participation as some of the names of these events have changed overtime. Science Olympiad is still going strong, celebrates its thirtieth year this year and offers opportunities for middle and high school competitions. States often have regional competitions and/or a statewide competition that leads to the nationals in the spring of each academic year.
While these are just two organized events that are offered for students to participate in science experiences, there are many other programs, events, and groups throughout the country that offer competitive opportunities or simply exploratory opportunities.  Teachers are often one of the best resources for potential suggestions to parents, community groups, and even individual students about where and how they can become engaged in science opportunities.  So, what recommendation would you add to the list for afterschool engagement opportunities?

A recent blog post “Whole Foods: America’s Temple of Pseudoscience” got me thinking about a topic of deep personal concern. As head of the National Science Teachers Association, one of my overarching goals is to improve science literacy in the United States—providing students with a solid science foundation so that they are better consumers of science and able to make informed decisions in both their personal and social lives. I’ll be speaking on this topic at SXSWedu next week (“Answering the Nation’s Call for Science Literacy”), so this blog post came at a particularly pertinent time.
The author posed the question: “It’s all pseudoscience—so why are some kinds of pseudoscience more equal than others?” We can’t express dismay when we hear that 26% of us think the Sun revolves around the Earth, while being comfortable with the fact that a growing number of us think that astrology is science. I myself see incredibly intelligent people, who would be quick to speak up against climate deniers and anti-evolutionists, accepting the outlandish promises offered by food labels. So, how do we combat a common, perhaps insidious, level of acceptance of pseudoscience in some aspects of daily living?
Science is a discipline, not a convenience store—you can’t pick and choose what you want when you want it and then go back for the staples later. As a science literacy advocate, I believe the best chance we have to promote good science is to build a fundamental understanding from the beginning. Last year scientists and educators came together to define a new path for education—the Next Generation Science Standards. These standards are built around the practices of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics and interlinked to literacy and the arts. As we begin to implement these standards nationwide, teachers will have the tools they need to help students understand that just as we need to understand science to serve as good stewards of planetary health, so too must we understand science to keep our bodies healthy.

I’ve recently switched from a self-contained sixth-grade classroom to a middle school science position where I meet with five different classes each day. I find it challenging to connect with students the way I used to when I had the same students all day.
—Jessie, Seattle, Washington
I remember a time my principal called into my middle-school classroom and asked if a student was in my class during the previous period. Back then, we did not do a formal attendance check, and I panicked because I couldn’t remember. Fortunately, the student had turned in a quiz, so I could reply in the affirmative. But I made a vow to be more aware of the students in class and try to connect with as many students as possible (and do my own attendance check during the bell-ringer).
It’s easy to connect with students who demand our attention: the hand-raisers, the outgoing personalities, those genuinely interested in science, and those using negative behaviors to grab attention. As you’ve experienced, getting to know every student is simpler in a self-contained classroom where the teacher and students are together for most of the day. In a departmentalized classroom, however, trying to connect with 100+ students every day seems like an impossible task. But there are strategies that can help.
Ask each student to put some information about themselves on an index card: name, birthday, nickname, interests/hobbies, school-related activities, out-of-school activities (e.g., community organizations, sports teams), and other conversation-starters. (Use a different color card for each class.) Then for each class each day, the student whose card is on top of the deck would be your focus. This is not a formal student-of-the-day designation or celebration but just a subtle way of ensuring you get to know the student better. During the class period, greet him or her at the door by name, call on him or her for an answer or to share a thought, ask him or her to be the assistant to write on the board, or interact with him or her during seatwork or group work. In a little more than a month, you will have interacted with each student in this focused manner. The cards can also be used to randomly select a student for an answer or a job, ensuring that it’s not just the hand-raisers or those in the front of the classroom that participate
Stand in the hallway to talk to students as they come in with a friendly hello, compliment, or comment. (For some classes, especially if lab equipment is set up, stand just inside the door to keep an eye on things.) Use students’ names in class conversations: “That’s a good idea, Sonya” or “Do you have anything to add, Jack?” A seating chart with the students’ names or nicknames is helpful at the beginning of the year to connect names and faces.
To get to know students in a different setting, attend school functions and events when you can. Some students’ parents may not be able to attend, so a friendly cheer or “Bravo!” from the audience may mean a lot. Consider having lunch with students, talking to them in the lunch line or hallway, or even volunteering for a duty.
Keep in mind that for many students what you might consider a brief or shallow interaction may be one of the few positive interactions they have with an adult all day!
My colleague and I strongly believed that our labs should not be used as homerooms, so we volunteered for morning hall duty instead. We stationed ourselves at the bus door and greeted the students as they came in with a friendly “good morning” and “have a good day.” Even the grumpy students smiled. In fact, when one of us was not on duty, the students were concerned. For many students we were the first adults to interact with them in the morning, and they looked forward to seeing us.
Of course, your connections with students should always be on a professional level. Most of the students already have friends to hang out with. But many of them need caring adults in their lives who take an interest in them and make them feel valued and part of the school and class community.
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/rongyos/2686415336/

You think the 2014 Winter Olympic Games are over? Not by a long shot. Glue your eyes back on NBC for the Paralympic Winter Games March 7–16. There, you’ll watch Iraq war veteran and Paralympian Heath Calhoun take advantage of the same technology as off-road motorcyclists do to reduce the vibrations that result when you move over the snow at high speed. Find out how in Stability & Vibration Damping in Alpine Skiing, one of ten videos developed by NBC Learn and NSF that detail the science and engineering behind the competitions.
The Inquiry Guide of the NSTA-developed lesson plans gives you options for facilitating either a hands-on investigation into a science concept or one that follows an engineering design process. They can be used independently of one another, but you might consider using them in tandem. Evaluate whether you think the science or the engineering design inquiry should come first. Consider that engineers depend on their understanding of science concepts to fuel their problem solving and that scientists depend on engineering design process to create the tools they use in their work—not to mention the tools us “non-scientists” use every day.
Stream the video series from www.NBCLearn.com and www.science360.gov. Link to the downloadable lesson plans in editable Word format below. If you make significant revisions, leave a comment to let us know. Like you, we’re always trying to improve!
Video
Stability & Vibration Damping in Alpine Skiing discusses the methods and importance of damping vibrations in alpine skiing.
Lesson Plans
Stability & Vibration Integration Guide spells out the STEM in the video and gives you mini-activities and ideas for research, teamwork, projects, and interdisciplinary connections.
Stability & Vibration Inquiry Guide models a science inquiry about composites and vibration AND an engineering design inquiry in which students build a model ski and modify it to determine the best way to strengthen it.
Image of sit skier, courtesy of Pablo Perez.
You can use the following form to e-mail us edited versions of the lesson plans: [contact-form 2 “ChemNow]

This is a wonderful themed issue, with all of the articles focusing on helping younger students investigate and understand the science of sound. Unfortunately for secondary students, the science of sound might not get a lot of attention in the curriculum, but as the editor notes, this is a popular and interesting topic for students.  [SciLinks: What Is Sound?]
The authors of The Sound of Science* posed an engineering challenge to their students. Students explored vibrations using tuning forks and string telephones, and then were challenged to design and create stringed instruments using a given set of materials and specified criteria. The Connections for this issue has photographs of several of their designs. [SciLinks: Sound]
What causes sound? This question can puzzle older students, but Becoming Attuned to Sound* (this month’s Early Years article) illustrates how our youngest scientists can explore sound and how it’s produced. The article features homemade musical instruments for children to build and explore. [SciLinks: Sound]
Sounds Like Science* (this months Science Shorts article) includes a 5e lesson on Exploring Human Sounds. The activity incorporates the use of an iPad app that demonstrates what sound waves look like. The Science and Technology of Sound* (this month’s Teaching Through Trade Books article) reviews two books and includes lesson ideas on the topic. Sounds All Around for K-2 is a 5E lesson on how we perceive sounds, the workings of the ear, and how sounds are used to communicate. The 5e lesson Animal Sounds introduces students in grades 3-5 to the science of bioacoustics.  [SciLinks: The Ear, Hearing, Animal Communication]

The authors of From Vibration to Vocalization* developed a 5E lesson that focused on the characteristics of sound, how it is transmitted, and how it can be visualized featuring the vocalizations of frogs.  Close Encounters of the Amphibious Kind* describes a 5E lesson in which primary students used frog calls as the context for studying and investigating sound. If you’ve used KLW graphic organizers with your students, you might be interested in the KLEWS chart described in this article, which updates the chart to include Evidence and Science Principles.  [SciLinks: Amphibians, Properties of Sound]
My students loved to act things out in class. The challenge was in channeling this enthusiasm into learning experiences. I wish that we could see videos of what the students did as part of the lesson using Creative Sound Dramatics.* Rather than writing or drawing what they were learning about sound, students used movement to demonstrate their understanding. The article has suggestions for a student exercises to introduce them to this form of expression.
Teaching about sound through students interests in music can be an enjoyable interdisciplinary experience. Do You Hear What I Hear?* describes how science and music educators developed a 5E lesson in which students learn about sound waves created by musical instruments and develop a model of sound waves. Each part of the lesson is described in detail.  This month’s Science 101 has some background information on What Determines the Quality of Musical Notes? Including graphics, demonstrations, and a discussion of the quality of timbre. Share this with a music teacher! [SciLinks: Sound Quality]
The authors of Pinging: Sound at Work (this month’s Recognizing Excellence article) describe the partnership between a NOAA Teacher at Sea paraticipant and an elementary class to develop a hydrography learning center, focusing on the use of sound as a tool. The article describes the resulting center comprised of a sounding boxes, creating a model of the seafloor, a book center, and a WebQuest. [SciLinks: Sonar, Ocean Floor, Speed of Sound]
*And check out more Connections for this issue (February 2014). Even if the article does not quite fit with your lesson agenda, there are ideas for handouts, background information sheets, data sheets, rubrics, and other resources.

Listen in on a conversation between early childhood educator and researcher Karen Worth and the science teachers hosts of Lab Out Loud, Dale Basler and Brian Bartel, as they delve into the new NSTA Early Childhood Science Education position statement, in Episode 108: Science in Early Childhood Education. This conversation is a mini-course on what children are capable of at ages 3-5 years old, and how to best support their science learning. It is a compelling statement on how intentional science teaching in preschool builds on children’s non-focused exploratory play.
Worth describes the NSTA Early Childhood Science Education position statement as directed to teachers and educators of all kinds who work with young children, and for parents. She explains that science learning “doesn’t all start in kindergarten, it starts much earlier than that.” I appreciate her support for the professionalism of early childhood educators: “Part of the importance of this is to really push the acknowledgement or awareness that the professionals who work with very young children are very serious professionals who also should be treated as members of National Science Teachers Association and as significant players in the education of our kids.”
Here are a few more of Worth’s statements from the conversation, but don’t deny yourself the pleasure of listening to the entire podcast, perhaps more than once, to gain insight on strengthening your science teaching.
“One of the important overall message here is that in many ways we significantly underestimate the capabilities of very young children to reason in a scientific way, to reason scientifically and to develop ideas about the natural world around them that are based in their experiences in that reasoning.”
“This is a time when they are very curious, very open to making sense of the world around them, so it is a fertile opportunity, or rich ground on which to begin the process of turning that natural curiosity and those abilities into the beginnings of more rigorous scientific inquiry and conceptual understanding.”
“You first explore a phenomena in a rather open way. The children need to have that exciting, non-directed exploration of the materials and phenomena. As they become familiar, they then move into what one might call little more focused work.” Worth encourages teachers who feel unprepared to teach science to use materials common in early childhood classrooms, and their knowledge that children need to interact with materials,

but to engage children in a more scientific way. She suggests encouraging children to reason because they can think abstractly and do have ideas, about natural phenomena, using their limited experience in a rational way.
Ask, “What is your evidence—what makes you think that?” Teachers can ask questions and focus children’s attention, not through lectures but through guidance. Worth discusses recording results, documentation, as both an instructional strategy and to help children think more deeply about what they are doing.
“One of the things we want to underscore is not to let a formal position statement in any way imply that children’s play is not important – that there is now something separate from the exploratory play and the constructive play that children do. Play is fundamental, that’s the way children learn. We just want to put materials and adult engagement in there, so that that play can become more purposeful. And in the teachers’ head, intentional in terms of building science understanding.”
See the resources that go beyond the “science activity book format” on the Lab Out Loud website to find out how to provide a series of activities that build conceptual understanding. Share this conversation with your colleagues and the parents of your children! Listening to it and discussing after will make great professional development at a teachers’ meeting or pre-service class.
Lab Out Loud is a podcast, supported by the National Science Teachers Association and hosted by two science teachers, that discusses science news and science education by interviewing leading scientists, researchers, science writers and other important figures in the field. You can listen online at http://laboutloud.com/2014/02/episode-108-science-in-early-childhood-education/#play or download the mp3 directly, or find Lab Out Loud on iTunes.
Co-host Dale Basler was a teacher of science for the Appleton Area School District from 1998 to 2012 where he primarily taught physics and physical science. In the fall of 2012, Dale stepped away from teaching science to take on a new position as Technology Curriculum Integration Specialist for a portion of the Appleton Area School District’s K-8 schools.
Co-host Brian Bartel taught biology and chemistry at Appleton West High School from 1999-2013. In 2013, Brian left the classroom to pursue a new position as Technology Curriculum Integration Specialist for a portion of the Appleton Area School District’s K-8 schools.
Karen Worth was on the committee that wrote the position statement and serves as faculty member and chair of the Elementary Education Department at Wheelock College where she teaches courses in elementary education and science education to pre-service and in-service teachers. For many years she directed National Science Foundation early childhood science grants at Education Development Center, Inc. Her book, Worms Shadows and Whirlpools, is my go-to-guide for understanding and implementing science teaching in early childhood.