I want my students to “take risks” when learning but I am not sure how to start.
Alicia, Mississippi

We must deliver science content differently by modeling for our students that risk-taking is encouraged in the classroom. You can encourage risk-taking through differentiation. Think about three components that I call the “C.I.A. of Differentiation:” Content, Investigation and Assessment. As the teacher, you are the “director” of learning (pun intended). It is your mission to provide a learning environment in which students take an active part in the learning process. This means that you have to make teaching and learning not only engaging for them but for you too. Rethink your role as the teacher. You are not expected to know everything; however, you are expected to establish a safe learning environment where mistakes are permitted if students learn from them. Your content knowledge is important but it can be just as important for you to model the strategies you use when you do not know an answer. As you guide students to the information they need, they pose questions. Allow students to investigate, gathering information that will help them solve problems or validate established theories. Student products or assessments are concrete evidence of the learning that has taken place. Allowing students to demonstrate their knowledge through a choice of blogs, news reports, debates or posters keeps your classroom creative and relevant. Students feel safe to express themselves without judgment when they have choice. Bringing the “C.I.A.” to your classroom is risky but worth it. With this mindset, you develop skilled, science-conscious scholars willing to question ideas and design answers to help make a better place to live.

I teach advanced science courses. Many of my students see school as a competition so they just want the correct answers to study for a good grade. How do I help build student ownership for learning in my science classroom?
–Chelia, Louisiana

Student ownership of learning is a paradigm shift for the teacher as well as the student. We develop this shift by preparing lessons with the end in mind. We must ask ourselves, “What do I want my students to learn from this unit?” As we plan with a conceptual mindset, our instructional strategies and activities must align with this thought process. Instead of fill-in-the-blank notes and worksheets, we plan for students to do more meaningful and creative tasks that will engage them in the content as we facilitate their learning.
Building scientific content knowledge is important and learning appropriate terminology is crucial so graphic organizers—such as the Frayer Model in which students write a word’s definition, restate in their own words, draw a picture, then give an example of its usage—makes the students responsible for comprehension. We must ask our students, “What are you learning?” instead of “What are you doing?” Posting, “What am I learning and how does it apply to me?” in your classroom is a fundamental reminder for both educators and students. As teachers, we must plan opportunities for students to process and apply knowledge, not simply recite or regurgitate information. Yes, science is innately an active subject, but most importantly, science is a way of thinking where we ask questions, gather information to make informed decisions, and apply our knowledge toward the betterment of our society.

I have written a lab about quarks. The problem is there are no Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) about quarks. The only standards that refer to the nucleus is about protons and neutrons. How can I align my lab with standards that don’t exist?

—Gary, Illinois

This is a great question which leads to the purpose of performance expectations (What are students to learn?) for states that have adopted NGSS and other states using their own state science standards. In either case, students will have a comprehensive assessment and it is important that we, as teachers, follow a trifecta of alignment with 1.) performance expectations, 2.) instructional delivery and 3.) assessment. I’m sure you designed a great lab on quarks and I would never negate your hard work and time, but if there is no performance expectation written, then I suggest you hold off on scheduling the lab. You are ultimately charged with preparing your students for successful understanding of the performance expectations. Instructional time is sacred. Whether your students are assessed by an end of course exam, semester final, or other performance task, you want your students ready.

To help keep focused on that goal, try planning backwards: Find out when your culminating assessment is scheduled. Then think about your school calendar. When are your formative and summative assessments? When do your terms end? What days do you know that little instruction will happen due to assemblies or school-wide events? Include these dates on your teaching calendar to help map out the time you have to teach all of the significant performance expectations within your designed units of study. Planning is key!

I’m a first-year high school science teacher seeking desperately the best way to connect with my freshman biology students who are very smart but are not use to being pushed to comprehend a rigorous curriculum. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

—Chelsea, Texas

The 5E model of science instruction is based on the following components: 1.) Engage, 2.) Explore, 3.) Explain, 4.) Elaborate and 5.) Evaluate. As you build upon your pedagogy, I suggest you first emphasize the engage part of the 5 E. This component is a good starting point because it helps students learn to ask questions and not assume every answer will be handed to them. This “microwave generation” wants answers now but if we do not challenge them to ponder the “what ifs” of life, then our students will not develop into young scholars able to innovate and create—making life more effective, efficient, economical, and interesting.

Engaging them with a question or asking them to work in a group to develop a graphic organizer can generate thoughts of what they already know, what they would like to know, and how they know they understand the concept, which also sparks interest and helps students to think in terms of how this applies to “me” and our world. Engagement leads to exploration that facilitates application. Engaged thoughts should lead students to define specific questions they are curious to answer. Gaining knowledge for themselves will develop their own explanation of phenomena that we, as science teachers, can elaborate on. We can clarify misconceptions, fill gaps of information and finally help them evaluate ways to make society better.

Just as numerals marking the number of in-school days are sometimes posted in one long line stretching across walls of the classroom, weather data can be collected and posted throughout the year. Using symbols that both children and scientists recognize, children can document the weather they experience. Collecting weather data over the year or at least several months will be more meaningful than “doing” weather for a week or taking an occasional nature walk.

See the Early Years column, The Wonders of Weather, in the January 2013 issue of Science and Children and the NSTA Connections archived data collection templates for your children to use as they make actual weather observations outdoors, describe and document them, creating data they can reflect on later to look for patterns.

Seeing the weather observation data represented visually makes it easier to notice patterns in changing temperatures, number of cloudy days, and the relationship between clouds and precipitation. Children’s documented evidence will be a topic of discussion and the basis for developing math skills over time. Arguing for a “claim,” or knowledge statement, based on evidence is described in “Methods and Strategies: Claims and Evidence” by Julie Jackson, Annie Durham, Sabrina Dowell, Jessica Sockel, and Irene Boynton in the December 2016 Science and Children.  With wonderful classroom examples they describe how first through fifth grade children learn to make scientific claims based on their evidence. Instead of asking “Why?” to prompt children to further explain their reasoning, they suggest teachers ask “Because…?” because it is less threatening and “It invites the children to tell me more, to elaborate upon ideas, to support claim statements with evidence.” 

Collecting plant growth data is another way to observe weather. With a title that describes the goal of the article, “Never Too Young to be a Citizen Scientist: Kindergarteners learn about plants and seasons through a yearlong project” (October 2019 Science and Children) authors Mary Hatton, Sara Grimbilas, Caroline Kane, and Tara Kenyon describe how their “Tulip Test Garden” meets goals for learning about plants, living things, weather, and seasonal changes.

The project was inspired by Journey North, with an additional goal of “to help scientists learn when spring happens in our town.” During the months-long project children observe tulip bulbs, learn how to plant them, measure plant growth and record it with drawings and tally charts, learn about parts of plants, engage in science talk, raise their own questions, make inferences, explanations, and predictions, notice patterns, and compare data from previous years with their data to discuss the timing of spring. The authors note that over time, “students become more independent, helping to give out rulers, measuring, and sharing data on their own,” an additional reason to engage children in an on-going long term science project. 

Observing and documenting weather and changes to plants (phenology observations) over several months and seasons can begin at anytime during the year. See citizen science projects of many kinds around the world at SciStarter, an online community dedicated to improving the citizen science experience for project managers and participants. Search for projects that you and your students can participate in by using the project finder and specifying your requirements and preferences for age group, topic, and area of the world. Observe and document ants, buds, dogs, clouds, eelgrass, fish…

Other sites to find citizen science projects to participate in include California Academy of Sciences, Friends of the Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge, Iowa Conservation Education Coalition, Mass Audubon, and Nature Groupie among others. Search citizen science projects to find one that fits your students and will support them in using science practices along with opportunities to develop their literacy and math, and other skills.