As the editor notes, “You can’t just wing it” with middle-level science (or any level for that matter). Effective teachers have a variety of strategies to use, so that if one isn’t working with a group of students, another tool is ready.  The featured articles in this month’s addition describe a variety of strategies and illustrate what they “look like” in a real classroom.
Most of us don’t start a project by saying “I have a hammer and a box of nails. What can I build?” We select a goal and then choose or get the tools we need. That is the focus of Technology Techniques: Using Them the Right Way—merging the learning goals (content) with the appropriate pedagogy and technology. The author shares a link to the TPACK model, which illustrates this focus.
Scientific Inquiry Meets Storytelling and Filmmaking looks at strategies to create video lab reports. The investigation described here deals with Newton’s laws of motion, friction, and force. Students design and test model cars. So far this sounds typical, but the author also has the students video (or photograph) their work. As the culmination, the 6^th graders create a video documenting the entire process. The author shares how he guides students through the entire project. [SciLinks: Newton’s Laws of Motion, Friction, Forces and Motion]

Using Presentation Software to Integrate Formative Assessment into Science Instruction describes a project in which several teachers investigated how to incorporate assessment tasks into presentations. They provide the design model and a list of tasks they used, along with examples of presentation slides. I can see how this project could be adapted for any topic or grade level.
For many students, especially those who are new to a subject or who are learning English, science vocabulary can seem like a different language. I suspect that many of us used the ideas in Parts Cards: Using Morphemes to Teach Science Vocabulary without using the word “morpheme” (the smallest unit of meaning—a word part such as a root word, prefix, or suffix). Many of these have Greek or Latin origins, and I found that my students were fascinated by words. The author illustrates how to help students learn vocabulary with cards that are somewhat similar to Frayer diagrams.
If you’re interested in differentiating the instruction in your classes but concerned about how to manage the process, Creating and Delivering Differentiated Science Content Through Wikis has many suggestions. After a brief review of what differentiation is (and is not), the author provides a step-by-step guide for creating class wikis to share information, deliver content, provide opportunities for collaboration, and share assignments. Using animal adaptations as the focus, the author shares examples, guidelines, learning goals, activities, and final project instructions and rubrics for two levels of learning. [SciLinks: Adaptations of Animals, Natural Selection, Darwin and Natural Selection]
When I had middle-schoolers “teach” others about a topic, I wish I had been as organized as the author of Student Teaching in the Eighth-Grade Science Classroom. Working on the premise that “if students could effectively teach the material, then it would be an indication that they had truly mastered the content,” she provides introductory material, rubrics, and self-assessment templates that could be used for any topic (the sample lesson is on watersheds), as well as a description of how she guided the students through the process of lesson design and assessment. [SciLinks: Watersheds]
It’s hard for middle school students (and their teachers) to sit still for any length of time. The Neuron Game takes advantage of that with a lesson that embeds a movement activity into instruction in the structure and functions of neurons. Worksheets, rubrics, and diagrams of the game are provided. [SciLinks: Neuron]
It’s helpful for a teacher to know what students already know about a topic, in order to choose appropriate goals and instructional strategies. Pretests or reflecting on previous years can be helpful. The authors of Using Interviews to Explore Student Ideas in Science suggest that “interviewing” individual students or groups of students (sounds like a focus group?) can also provide information on students’ knowledge and misconceptions. The authors describe how to get started with this tool.
It’s not a new strategy, but one that is always timely—reading in science. Helping Students Navigate Nonfiction Text: Paving the Way Toward Understanding has suggestions that evolved from a collaboration between a science teacher and a reading specialist.
Even if you teach several sections of the same subject, each section has its own characteristics, so you still nee a variety of approaches.

Guest blog by Andrew Miller
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) call for a conceptual shift in teaching and learning. Yes, content is changing in the upcoming NGSS. In addition to traditional subject matter, science and engineering are now integrated into the standards, where students will learn about the principles of engineering and engage in the engineering design processes. In addition, many concepts are cutting across content. For example, the concept “systems and system models” is used in the exploration of nuclear energies as well as ecosystems. Also, scientific and engineering practices are aligned multiple times with the disciplinary content. The NGSS calls for a deeper understanding and application of content. The focus is on core ideas and practices of science, not just the facts associated with them.
While many teachers are already teaching for application of knowledge as well as engineering and core concepts, these key features will cause a deliberate shift in instruction requiring all teachers to reflect on their practice.  Project Based Learning (PBL) is a learning model that not only aligns to these key features, but also strongly supports NGSS-based teaching and learning.
First of all, let’s clarify the difference between projects and PBL. Instead of a curricular add-on at the end, the project is the context for the learning. Students are given an authentic task and a student-friendly driving question to investigate over the course of the project. Within this project, the teacher scaffolds the learning for students and arms students with skills through traditional labs, lectures, and other instructional activities. Instead of teaching all content and skills before the project, the teacher teaches through the project, which is engaging and relevant to students. Using a “need to know” list generated by students, and revisited through the project, the teacher gives lessons and instructional activities to meet the needs of students. Students learn 21^st century skills such as critical thinking, collaboration, and communication. The project has an audience outside the four walls of the classroom, and students create a variety of products for this authentic audience. These are just some of the essential elements of a PBL project.

Just as the draft NGSS calls for deeper understanding and application of knowledge, PBL demands the same. When teachers design PBL projects, they pick power standards to focus on, standards that usually take significant time to teach and focus on depth, not breadth. The NGSS are being designed to be those type of standards and thus easily used when designing a PBL project. In fact, a teacher designing a PBL project might target one of the crosscutting concepts, as that concept permeates the entire year of content.  PBL calls for in-depth inquiry into the content. Students investigate a rigorous driving question, and do so by unpacking it into many subject questions. In addition, they must apply this knowledge as they construct products that answer the driving questions and complete the project. The product reflects a deep understanding of content, as students have reflected and revised throughout the learning process. It’s not just one encounter with the content per se, but multiple encounters.
As we notice the new engineering focus of NGSS, we might consider design challenges, a key component of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. However, design challenges are not necessarily PBL by default. One can take a design challenge, add some PBL essential elements to it, and make it into a PBL project. A common design challenge is to build an effective bridge, either physically with toothpicks, or digitally using a tool like SketchUp. However, there are some components that need to be added to it to make it truly a PBL project. Right now, the bridge is a great activity. In fact, it can be a great activity within the PBL to scaffold material. To make it PBL, students could make recommendations for retrofitting a local bridge and present this information to city officials and engineers.  Yes, the product might be a bridge design, and yes, students may engage in a toothpick contest along the way. The difference is the work goes outside the four walls of the classroom, and actually is an authentic situation, where students are engaged in real-world work. As the design process and other components of engineering are leveraged in the NGSS, PBL projects can be designed to teach and assess these standards.
The NGSS will need to be met with pedagogical models that can leverage the required depth of understanding, and PBL can meet that challenge. PBL provides the strength of inquiry, rigor, and relevance that can capitalize on the key components of the NGSS.
 
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Andrew Miller currently serves on the National Faculty for the Buck Institute for Education and ASCD. He travels internationally, working with educators in his many areas of expertise. Andrew is an avid blogger for a variety of organizations including Edutopia and the education section of the Huffington Post. Follow him on Twitter @betamiller.

If you’re concerned or apprehensive about the NGSS, this month’s Commentary Preparing for the New Standards should be on your to-read list. The author, a high school physics teacher, describes his experiences in including engineering in his classes and basing student learning on the practices, crosscutting concepts, and core ideas as described in the Framework for K-12 Science Education, on which the standards are based. His advice: read the Framework, start small, and participate in conversations (and NSTA has many ways to participate, including webinars and tweet chats #ngsschat). The featured articles this month focus on scientific and engineering practices.
Learning to drive is a rite of passage for many teenagers, who are most at-risk for traffic fatalities. A Science That Saves Lives* describes a project in “crash science” – investigating car crashes through hands-on designs and simulations. The authors embed an egg-carrying paper car design activity within an investigation of car crashes. Perhaps this could complement the driver safety course? On a similar topic, your students could also look at Curbing Texting While Driving*, a simulation of how distractions can have an impact on awareness. [SciLinks: Momentum, Forces and Motion, Potential and Kinetic Energy]
When can a cell phone camera become a science tool for measurement and documentation? Keeping a (Digital) Eye on Nature’s Clock shows how photography can be incorporated into a longitudinal study in phenology. The authors include a 5e lesson and a link to software for analyzing photographic data of changes in plants over time. The software is Image J, which is an easy—and free—download. I’m sure students would be able to figure it out!). The article also includes samples of real data, suggestions for camera calibrations, and links to citizen-science networks.  [SciLinks: Plant Growth, Plant Photosynthetic Pigments]

Many science investigations are constrained by the 45- or 90-minute time period. As the authors of The Hydraulic Jump note, however, science research is more complex and time-consuming and describe their experiences in helping students conduct independent research. I must admit I was unfamiliar with the term in the title as related to turbulent water (the authors provide a definition/description of the phenomenon), but by the end of the article, it’s clear how this seemingly simple event relates to a host of variables (and a list is provided) and lends itself to investigations. If your students are going to be involved in a research project, The Devil’s in the Deadlines has suggestions for planning and documenting a long-term project, including a sample deadline checklist.
What are the similarities and differences between science inquiry and engineering design? The author of Design Practices and Misconceptions* takes the eight practices and compares them in terms of science and engineering. He also addresses each with suggestions for those who are not as familiar with engineering design.
*Don’t forget to look at the Connections for this issue (January 2013), which includes links to the resources mentioned in the articles. These Connections also have ideas you could adapt for handouts, background information sheets, data sheets, rubrics, etc.