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Next to Nothing

Science Scope—March/April 2024 (Volume 47, Issue 2)

By Bob Riddle

Scope on the Skies March 2024
Scope on the Skies March 2024
Scope on the Skies March 2024
 

From Sun to Shade: Exploring Environmental Changes During the Total Solar Eclipse

Science Scope—March/April 2024 (Volume 47, Issue 2)

By Jill Nugent

Excitement is building in anticipation of the total solar eclipse taking place this April 2024. During the total solar eclipse, the moon will pass between the Earth and the Sun, blocking the Sun and casting a shadow on Earth. As the sky darkens, the Sun’s corona becomes visible, appearing as a halo of light.
Excitement is building in anticipation of the total solar eclipse taking place this April 2024. During the total solar eclipse, the moon will pass between the Earth and the Sun, blocking the Sun and casting a shadow on Earth. As the sky darkens, the Sun’s corona becomes visible, appearing as a halo of light.
Excitement is building in anticipation of the total solar eclipse taking place this April 2024. During the total solar eclipse, the moon will pass between the Earth and the Sun, blocking the Sun and casting a shadow on Earth. As the sky darkens, the Sun’s corona becomes visible, appearing as a halo of light.
 

3D Assessment

Science Scope—March/April 2024 (Volume 47, Issue 2)

By Patricia McGinnis

We are now a decade past the release of the NGSS —an event that has shaped the way we teach science. The NGSS, with its three-dimensional approach encompassing disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), science and engineering practices (SEPs), and cross-cutting concepts (CCCs), requires a shift in both pedagogy and assessment. Moving away from the traditional assessment fare of multiple-choice questions that focus on recall is not easy. The National Research Council (2014) recommends that teachers utilize a combination of constructed response, selected response (multiple choice), and projects to assess three-dimensional learning.
We are now a decade past the release of the NGSS —an event that has shaped the way we teach science. The NGSS, with its three-dimensional approach encompassing disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), science and engineering practices (SEPs), and cross-cutting concepts (CCCs), requires a shift in both pedagogy and assessment. Moving away from the traditional assessment fare of multiple-choice questions that focus on recall is not easy.
We are now a decade past the release of the NGSS —an event that has shaped the way we teach science. The NGSS, with its three-dimensional approach encompassing disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), science and engineering practices (SEPs), and cross-cutting concepts (CCCs), requires a shift in both pedagogy and assessment. Moving away from the traditional assessment fare of multiple-choice questions that focus on recall is not easy.
 

Eliciting initial ideas, building understandings, and coming to consensus: Using different teacher moves to support three distinct discussion types

Science Scope—March/April 2024 (Volume 47, Issue 2)

By Kevin Cherbow, Benjamin Lowell, Kris Grymonpre, Katherine McNeill, Renee Affolter

Whole group discussions are a key aspect of the NGSS because these activities are where students collectively make sense of natural phenomena. However, curriculum can present all discussions as possessing the same instructional purpose and roles for teachers and students. This can send the wrong message to teachers as to how to effectively engage their students and help develop their science ideas. To address this challenge, we present a framework for the three types of discussions that occur regularly in NGSS-aligned science classrooms. The three types of discussions are: initial ideas, building understandings, and consensus discussions. This framework highlights the different but complementary instructional purposes of these discussions and clarifies how teachers and students can effectively engage in each type. We believe this Discussion Types Framework can help teachers to better understand, plan for, and teach the different types of discussions that are integral to an NGSS-aligned science classroom. When teachers can think about the main goal of their discussion, they can use different back-pocket questions and facilitation moves that will help them to elicit student thinking, position students’ ideas relative to each other, and develop the entire class’s understanding.
Whole group discussions are a key aspect of the NGSS because these activities are where students collectively make sense of natural phenomena. However, curriculum can present all discussions as possessing the same instructional purpose and roles for teachers and students. This can send the wrong message to teachers as to how to effectively engage their students and help develop their science ideas. To address this challenge, we present a framework for the three types of discussions that occur regularly in NGSS-aligned science classrooms.
Whole group discussions are a key aspect of the NGSS because these activities are where students collectively make sense of natural phenomena. However, curriculum can present all discussions as possessing the same instructional purpose and roles for teachers and students. This can send the wrong message to teachers as to how to effectively engage their students and help develop their science ideas. To address this challenge, we present a framework for the three types of discussions that occur regularly in NGSS-aligned science classrooms.
 

From Windy Day Stories to Wind Farms of the Future: Leveraging student resources to make sense of science phenomena with Data Puzzles

Science Scope—March/April 2024 (Volume 47, Issue 2)

By Jonathan Griffith, Melissa Braaten, Ann Dubick, Anne Gold

This article introduces the Data Puzzles instructional framework as a means to engage middle school students in the exploration of wind energy and its potential for future wind farm locations across the United States. By eliciting and leveraging student resources through an opening scenario that prompts personal experiences with wind, teachers can effectively connect students to abstract science phenomena and facilitate sense-making. The Data Puzzles framework combines authentic scientific datasets with the Ambitious Science Teaching pedagogical practices to support students in constructing knowledge and addressing contemporary phenomena.
This article introduces the Data Puzzles instructional framework as a means to engage middle school students in the exploration of wind energy and its potential for future wind farm locations across the United States. By eliciting and leveraging student resources through an opening scenario that prompts personal experiences with wind, teachers can effectively connect students to abstract science phenomena and facilitate sense-making.
This article introduces the Data Puzzles instructional framework as a means to engage middle school students in the exploration of wind energy and its potential for future wind farm locations across the United States. By eliciting and leveraging student resources through an opening scenario that prompts personal experiences with wind, teachers can effectively connect students to abstract science phenomena and facilitate sense-making.
 

Making Formative Use of Student Experience Data to Promote Equity in a Cycle of Collaborative Teacher Inquiry

Science Scope—March/April 2024 (Volume 47, Issue 2)

By William Penuel, Ali Raza, Yamileth Salinas Del Val, Rosa Salinas-Estevez, Emily Williamson, Jennifer Smith, Quincy Gill

This article describes a cycle of teacher collaborative inquiry called the Student Experience Improvement Cycle (SEIC). The SEIC is a novel form of assessment: it focuses on supporting teachers in using evidence of the quality of student experience formatively to make the classroom more equitable. The SEIC begins by setting a goal for improvement in one of three aspects of student experience: coherence, relevance, and contribution. Then, teachers review, adapt, and test research-based strategies for improving the quality of student experience overall and for students from systemically marginalized groups and communities. The article presents examples of improvement goals teachers set and the strategies they tried as part of one inquiry cycle. It also provides examples of survey items used to elicit student experience.
This article describes a cycle of teacher collaborative inquiry called the Student Experience Improvement Cycle (SEIC). The SEIC is a novel form of assessment: it focuses on supporting teachers in using evidence of the quality of student experience formatively to make the classroom more equitable. The SEIC begins by setting a goal for improvement in one of three aspects of student experience: coherence, relevance, and contribution.
This article describes a cycle of teacher collaborative inquiry called the Student Experience Improvement Cycle (SEIC). The SEIC is a novel form of assessment: it focuses on supporting teachers in using evidence of the quality of student experience formatively to make the classroom more equitable. The SEIC begins by setting a goal for improvement in one of three aspects of student experience: coherence, relevance, and contribution.
 

The Standard Answer: Considerations for Implementing Standards-based Grading in an NGSS-aligned Science Classroom

Science Scope—March/April 2024 (Volume 47, Issue 2)

By Jesse Wilcox, Matt Townsley

Standards-based grading (SBG) is an alternative approach to grading that uses standards, such as the NGSS, to communicate what students have learned. While SBG has increased in popularity in the last decade, questions still remain in regard to what constitutes SBG and how to effectively implement it in science classrooms. However, questions remain in regard to how to best use SBG alongside the NGSS. This article seeks to illustrate three commonly agreed-upon core ideas for SBG and provide examples for middle school science teachers in how they might implement SBG using the NGSS.
Standards-based grading (SBG) is an alternative approach to grading that uses standards, such as the NGSS, to communicate what students have learned. While SBG has increased in popularity in the last decade, questions still remain in regard to what constitutes SBG and how to effectively implement it in science classrooms. However, questions remain in regard to how to best use SBG alongside the NGSS. This article seeks to illustrate three commonly agreed-upon core ideas for SBG and provide examples for middle school science teachers in how they might implement SBG using the NGSS.
Standards-based grading (SBG) is an alternative approach to grading that uses standards, such as the NGSS, to communicate what students have learned. While SBG has increased in popularity in the last decade, questions still remain in regard to what constitutes SBG and how to effectively implement it in science classrooms. However, questions remain in regard to how to best use SBG alongside the NGSS. This article seeks to illustrate three commonly agreed-upon core ideas for SBG and provide examples for middle school science teachers in how they might implement SBG using the NGSS.
 

Designing Performance-Based Assessments that Engage!

Science Scope—March/April 2024 (Volume 47, Issue 2)

By Katie Coppens

Rather than feel stressful for students, an assessment should feel like a celebration of learning. Performance-based assessments allow students to demonstrate their understanding of one or more standards by accomplishing tasks that are engaging and flexible in how students approach them. In addition to seeing students’ scientific knowledge, teachers get a better sense of students’ interests and strengths that they bring to each open-ended assignment. Three examples of performance-based assessments are provided as well as an explanation of the challenges and successes that come with this assessment approach.
Rather than feel stressful for students, an assessment should feel like a celebration of learning. Performance-based assessments allow students to demonstrate their understanding of one or more standards by accomplishing tasks that are engaging and flexible in how students approach them. In addition to seeing students’ scientific knowledge, teachers get a better sense of students’ interests and strengths that they bring to each open-ended assignment.
Rather than feel stressful for students, an assessment should feel like a celebration of learning. Performance-based assessments allow students to demonstrate their understanding of one or more standards by accomplishing tasks that are engaging and flexible in how students approach them. In addition to seeing students’ scientific knowledge, teachers get a better sense of students’ interests and strengths that they bring to each open-ended assignment.
 

Socioscientific Modeling: Helping Students See Systems and Understand Messy Issues

Science Scope—March/April 2024 (Volume 47, Issue 2)

By Eric Kirk, Troy Sadler, Zhen Xu, Jamie Elsner, Li Ke, Laura Zangori, Rebecca Lesnefsky

In this article we present a strategy to help students unpack complex, socioscientific issues. We outline a 90-minute learning experience where students are asked to explore the complicated cause and effect relationships that shaped the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. This approach challenges students to represent the ways scientific content like viral transmission can shape social issues like economic hardship and mental health. Students engage in the scientific practice of modeling and address two crosscutting concepts: cause and effect, and systems and system models. Although this example uses COVID-19 as an anchoring phenomenon, this lesson can be adapted easily to target other content, making it a versatile tool for teachers trying to help students make sense of complex issues and understand how science impacts their daily lives.
In this article we present a strategy to help students unpack complex, socioscientific issues. We outline a 90-minute learning experience where students are asked to explore the complicated cause and effect relationships that shaped the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. This approach challenges students to represent the ways scientific content like viral transmission can shape social issues like economic hardship and mental health. Students engage in the scientific practice of modeling and address two crosscutting concepts: cause and effect, and systems and system models.
In this article we present a strategy to help students unpack complex, socioscientific issues. We outline a 90-minute learning experience where students are asked to explore the complicated cause and effect relationships that shaped the course of the COVID-19 pandemic. This approach challenges students to represent the ways scientific content like viral transmission can shape social issues like economic hardship and mental health. Students engage in the scientific practice of modeling and address two crosscutting concepts: cause and effect, and systems and system models.
 

Introducing Engineering Aims and Values through Rover Wheel Design

Science Scope—March/April 2024 (Volume 47, Issue 2)

By Jerrid Kruse, Isaiah Kent-Schneider, Dan Chibnall, Sarah Voss, Emma Marie, Bridgid Miller, Jayme Scheck

Engineering activities often emphasize the practices of engineers, but pay less attention to aspects of the nature of engineering. One important aspect of the nature of engineering is an understanding of the aims and values that underlie engineers’ decision-making. This activity helps students develop an understanding of the role of aims and values in engineering through an activity wherein students design and test a wheel for a Mars rover. In addition to providing opportunities to discuss the role of aims and values in engineering, the activity also targets MS-ETS1-1: Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
Engineering activities often emphasize the practices of engineers, but pay less attention to aspects of the nature of engineering. One important aspect of the nature of engineering is an understanding of the aims and values that underlie engineers’ decision-making. This activity helps students develop an understanding of the role of aims and values in engineering through an activity wherein students design and test a wheel for a Mars rover.
Engineering activities often emphasize the practices of engineers, but pay less attention to aspects of the nature of engineering. One important aspect of the nature of engineering is an understanding of the aims and values that underlie engineers’ decision-making. This activity helps students develop an understanding of the role of aims and values in engineering through an activity wherein students design and test a wheel for a Mars rover.
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