While reviewing some materials from a workshop, I came across a few online gems this week to add to the SciLinks keyword assessment. Even some of the experienced teachers in the workshop had to stop and think about the differences between analytic and holistic rubrics. We were guided to Jon Mueller’s page on Rubrics for a clear and concise discussion, with examples.
Creating analytic rubrics (which include both criteria and descriptions of the levels of performance for each) can be a time-consuming effort (but worth it). The Rubric Maker website looks like a good tool. The full version requires a subscription (for a fee). But there is a free version, the difference being that the finished rubric cannot be saved on the website or shared via the website. It can be downloaded as an Excel or HTML file that maintains the formatting, and the Excel version can be further revised/edited. Once you enter a grade span (Primary, Elementary, Middle, High) and a title, you’re able to choose criteria and descriptors. You can edit most of these to use your own terminology or performance levels.  A nice feature is that it also creates a student “checklist” with a description of each criteria (e.g., I proposed a hypothesis that can be tested by my experiment. I followed safety rules.) This would be really helpful to share with the students. There are other rubric generators on the web, such as Rubistar, which requires a free registration. You can create, save, and print a variety of customized rubrics right from the website.

When I got home from the workshop, I poked around the rest of Dr. Mueller’s site, the Authentic Assessment Toolbox. My reaction was WOW—this is a wonderful tutorial or guide through the process of creating assessments that are based on identified standards/objectives. He writes in a conversational style and includes lots of examples and a glossary of assessment terms. I really enjoyed reading the “Workshops” section which are basically think-alouds as he “converses” with a teacher and guides them through the process.
Exploring these resources could easily be a professional development project on assessment or the development of common rubrics.
Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/mstinas/3188728867/

Towards the end of the school year we often think of resources we can share with families to use over the summer. I like to describe my favorite outdoor areas to explore with young children with tips for what to take to make the experience last longer (snacks and hats) and be safe (know what poison ivy looks like and use sanitizer after playing near, in, a creek). As I tell my preschool parents, don’t discount the science you do every day with your children. Most household chores involve math, literacy and science skills— sorting clothes by color, reading pictures and words to see how much and then measuring the amount of laundry detergent, and watching bubbles form as the water pours in. Once all the chores are finished (lol), turn to the public library and internet for science activities to do with young children.
Reading books aloud, especially those that allow children to predict what might happen next, or what a character is thinking, give children practice in coming up with questions and ownership in voicing them. It gives us adults practice too, in allowing enough “wait time” for children to to formulate their thoughts. Try Fortunately by Remy Charlip or any other work of fiction.
Use your judgment about the age appropriateness of activities because you know your child best. Here are a few sites to gather ideas and directions:
First Hand Learning’s printable mini-journals for observations in nature.
“Go Beyond the Classroom” blog with videos on play-based learning and book suggestions.
Foundation for Family Science, with activities on the website and a book of activities, Family Science, for various ages.
Museums of all kinds often describe activities to try at home on their websites. The Exploratorium, the museum of science, art and human perception has pages and pages of activities to pick from.
Scientific American “Bring Science Home” activities based on the National Science Education Standards for children ages 6 to 12 years old—to be undertaken with the help and guidance of an adult.
The list doesn’t stop here—share your sources with all of us Early Years teachers and families.
Peggy

Reds and pinks, oranges, yellows, greens, blues, purples, browns, even grays and blacks, these represent a spectrum of colors that we take for granted thanks to synthetic dyes, but once weavers and fabric makers took great pains to extract these colors and fix them to textiles. Dyers made the colors from lichen, henna, rose madder and juniper, saffron and pomegranate, woad and indigo, acacia and pinon trees.

But a chance discovery, as you’ll learn from the Chemistry Now video, made these colors cheaper to obtain and more effective. In 1856, 18-year-old William Henry Perkin was given the assignment of developing a synthetic route for the production of quinine, which previously could only be extracted from the bark of a cinchona tree grown in South America. He was working with coal tar, and reacted it with potassium dichromate. The result was a black precipitate.  When cleaning it up, he discovered it left a rich purple color on the cloth he was using, and the rest is history. Or is it chemistry?

We have reached the 13th week of the weekly, online, video series “Chemistry Now,” and chemistry has moved to industry as a source of interesting video and lessons. As we’ve written before, please view the video, try the lessons, and let us know what you think.

 

Photo: Corey Holms

Through the Chemistry Now series, NSTA and NBC Learn have teamed up with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create lessons related to common, physical objects in our world and the changes they undergo every day. The series also looks at the lives and work of scientists on the frontiers of 21st century chemistry.

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Video: An 18-year-old London chemistry student tries to make synthetic quinine for malaria treatment, and instead creates the first synthetic dye. View a video that  tells the story of the 1856 Chance Discovery that transformed the textile industry worldwide. NBC Learn also profiles a 21^st century chemist, Purdue’s Mary Wirth, whose nanomaterials research makes cancer “markers” easier to detect in blood tests.

Middle school lesson: in the Dye Chemistry, students use natural dyes to carry out an investigation to determine which natural products will produce the desired color on eggs or fabric.

High school lesson: the Natural pH Indicators lesson uses household solutions to teach about pH indicators, pH, and properties of acids and bases.

You can use the following form to e-mail us edited versions of the lesson plans:

[contact-form 2 “ChemNow]

Next semester, I’ll be student teaching and I’m currently in the midst of my Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment classes. However, I really don’t have any insight into the life of a student teacher yet. I’m curious what I should do to prepare for my experience as well as any recommendations for making the most out of student teaching. Thanks!
—Andy, Phoenix, AZ
I imagine you’re excited and little apprehensive about student teaching. Each college or university program has different requirements, expectations, and timelines for the experience. Most distribute some sort of publication or handbook to student teachers during an orientation session (these are often available online). Usually one faculty member is in charge of student teaching. You may want to find that person and ask about the program expectations, placement options, logistics, and recommended preparation.

You might be interested in hearing from a current student teacher. Christina Atton from Hammond Indiana, shares some of her “aha” moments working with her cooperating teacher, Mrs. Chevin Stone.

Before I began student teaching at Gavit [a middle school], I was placed in a first grade classroom. Although, one may think these two placements would not relate, my experience at O’Bannon [an elementary school] has helped me to prepare for this experience…I learned…to prepare the best you can, expect the unexpected, and prepare to adjust. During my experience in first grade, I struggled to find an understanding between the philosophy I learned in my classes and the developmental needs of the students. There was not one student who fit the ideal “average student” we read about in class. There were students who were well above the average level of first grade and students who were well below. I never had any trouble creating lesson plans throughout my classroom studies, but when I began planning at O’Bannon I found it extremely difficult. I did not want to fail any of the students, but felt I needed a better understanding of how each student learned best before I could teach most effectively. I do not believe I prepared enough the week I was observed in the elementary the classroom. Therefore, when I arrived at Gavit I decided to take a different approach.

The past two weeks I have been preparing myself differently. First, I went through the seventh-grade science book and studied the concepts the students have been learning all year. I compared the concepts to the standards that still needed to be met. Now I have an idea of where the students’ understanding is and where it needs to be when I finish my experience. Next, I listened and observed. I observed the way Mrs. Stone interacted with the students and how they responded to her. Some words of advice I received from Mrs. Stone [were] to always have my ears open and be aware of what the students are saying amongst their friends. I began to listen to what they were saying without them knowing I was listening. I learned much more about them then I could have with the introduction games. Seventh grade has changed greatly since I was in it and I will need to adapt my thinking. Finally, I began interacting with the students through helping with work and walking around asking them about their extracurricular activities and home lives.

I am preparing myself to meet the needs of each class, which are different. Some classes need more of a direct method, while others enjoy and can handle more cooperative or independent learning. I hope to find the best balance and excite the students about science.

Secretary of Education Arne Duncan shared his views on the direction of Science Education in the Knowledge Economy in the May 2011 issue of NSTA Reports.
Duncan says the administration is “committed to ensuring our country’s science teachers have the resources, expertise, and support needed to make science an educational priority. Yet, I realize we need to make fundamental changes in policy to accelerate student outcomes. Under No Child Left Behind (NCLB), schools have felt compelled to focus on reading and mathematics, limiting teaching of other subjects that are part of a well-rounded education. While reading and mathematics are important foundational skills all students must master, they should be taught in ways that enrich students’ experiences in the sciences—not at the expense of them.”
He also noted, “Under President Obama’s plan, schools will have more flexibility to focus on science because his program focuses on the schools most at risk, rather than micromanaging schools that are doing well.”
I’d like to hear what you, as a science educator, think of the administration’s plan to promote science education!

The last few days of the school year are a challenge—the time in between the final projects/assessments and the last day of school. Students assume that the year is over, and to stay “busy,” they are sometimes inundated with videos or word puzzles. I often used this time for science activities we didn’t get to during the school year or topics that were beyond the curriculum goals. I’ve discovered some resources that could be helpful in keeping students engaged with new ideas and activities.
From Facebook, I learned about NASA Brain Bites.  These are short videos (the ones I looked at were less than two minutes) that relate space travel and exploration to topics of interest. These could be used as writing prompts or discussion-starters. This is another classroom resource from NASA.
On Twitter, I follow Neil deGrasse Tyson, who recently noted that NOVA Science Now has resources on the Teachers’ Domain site—video clips (about 5 minutes), animations, and lesson plans (mostly at the secondary level) with links to other resources.  Other NOVA resources are available on the Nova Teachers page.

Although I don’t live in or near New York City, I still subscribe (free) to the newsletter of the American Museum of Natural History. The April edition has K–8 resources related to the theme of its new exhibit The World’s Largest Dinosaurs. Most of these activities can be used without attending the exhibit (but if I get to NY this summer, it’s on my list of things to do!).

In the April issue of The Science Teacher, the Idea Bank column spotlighted the tool Dipity (short for serendipity?). This tool lets teachers or students create, manage, and share timelines. For the entries, you can add descriptions, pictures, links to videos and other sources. Although a timeline can be made public, only those with account information (setting up an account is free) can edit it. Timeline assignments are nothing new—but what makes this intriguing is its online presence, where students in a class (or several classes) can collaborate and share their work. “History of Science” activities come to mind, but this tool seems tailor-made for interdisciplinary projects. For example, a social studies unit on the industrial revolution cross-referenced with science discoveries and inventions. How about a timeline of the school year, with links to events and activities from your class? A recap of a sports season, complete with photos or video?

Along with notebooks and pencils, students bring some common misconceptions to science class. It’s hard to tell where students learn these misconceptions: from their friends, parents, television, movies, the Internet, or other media. They may not realize that their ideas are incorrect, and simply telling the students that their ideas are wrong won’t help them learn the correct ones. As the editor of this month’s issue notes, “Teaching is easy; by comparison, unteaching is extremely difficult.”
From Misconceptions to Conceptual Change provides insights into how students develop misconceptions and how teachers can help students to change their thinking. I’ve often used thought-provoking articles such as to stimulate discussion at workshops—teachers read the article independently and underline a few sentences they found especially relevant or interesting to discuss with a larger group. With this article, I would have underlined “…the brain files new data by making connections to existing information. If this new information does not fit the learner’s established pattern of thinking, it is refashioned to fit the existing pattern.” So misconceptions can actually become stronger and more resistant to change. Some common misconceptions include “THE scientific method” (implying that all scientists use a single problem-solving strategy) and the idea that hypotheses become theories and theories eventually become laws. The authors include a list of other misconceptions and strategies for overcoming them.
Follow this article with Active Learning Strategies: The Top 10. What struck me about the list is that none of the strategies required special materials or hours of professional development (e.g., using discrepant events to awaken curiosity, using concept maps, writing to learn). Two that I would have underlined here are “demystify diagrams” and “watch your language.” Some diagrams, while trying to explain or summarize information, actually contribute to misconceptions for students. Every year that I taught life science, I had to contend with two big misconceptions: the blood in our veins is blue and plants use minerals from the soil as food. Textbooks often show diagrams of the circulatory system with the veins colored blue, and commercials on television talk about fertilizer as “plant food.”

Fire and Ecological Disturbance looks at a specific misconception: the role of fire in ecological succession. (Perhaps Smokey the Bear inadvertently contributed to the misconceptions that all fires are bad.). This 5E lesson includes teaching suggestions, assessments, and key vocabulary. [SciLinks: Ecosystems, Succession,  Energy Flow, Conservation of Resources, Competition, Niches]
The Reasons for the Seasons is the classic science misconception. From elementary students through adults, people seem to have internalized misinformation. This lesson uses temperature data to challenge what students think they know. And you may want to review the original video, A Private Universe [SciLinks: Reasons for the Seasons]
Even though students can solve word problems, they may not have a complete understanding of the concept. Get in the Game with Team Density addresses common misconceptions about density, using a lesson around the discrepant event of a floating bowling ball (Talk about an attention-grabber: this reminds me of the Late Night with David Letterman recurring sketch “Will it float?”) [SciLinks: Density, Cartesian Divers]
Teachers are sometimes hesitant to try something different for fear that it won’t work. In the New Teacher’s Toolbox column, Piloting New Ideas: The Brown-Bag Friday Seminar, the author shares his experiences with an idea that needed some tweaking. The process of developing and refining the seminars was an example of action research. The author notes several issues: students may need some modeling in how to participate in a seminar, students have to have some ownership in the process, and it took a while to get students comfortable with the sessions. (For more on the Action Research process, see these previous Science Scope and Ms Mentor blogs.)
With Earth Day in April, the Green Room What’s in Your Trash has resources to get students thinking about resource consumption and waste production/disposal [SciLinks: Recycling, Composting]. And don’t forget to look at the Connections for this issue (April 2011). Even if the article does not quite fit with your lesson agenda, this resource has ideas for handouts, background information sheets, data sheets, rubrics, etc.