Chapter 5 - Science Teacher Talk
How do you decide what content to teach and how much time to devote to each area?
Alexia Bultman
I base the content I teach on the Performance Standards set by the state. Students are tested over four major topics, and so at the beginning of every year I sit down with the semester calendar and plan how many days I have for each major topic.
Angela Gula
The school I work in places a large emphasis on collaborative planning. Decisions regarding the content and time to devote to each area are determined by our three member team, not an individual. We use the state curriculum as our guide in determining what to teach, and determine the length of instruction based on the weight of questions on the CRCT exam. For example, Energy and Its Transformations accounts for 40% of the 8th Grade Science CRCT, therefore we'll spend more time with that unit than any other.
Next year, our county will provide a curriculum map and pacing guide that will eliminate our need to make these decisions as they will be made by a group of teachers over the summer.
April McFarland
As a team, the science department meets and evaluates the sequence of our district- provided web-based curriculum and standards. The curriculum map is analyzed by all science teachers and tweaked as needed for proper flow of content. At this point, a tentative year plan is mapped out including exercises for each unit. The exercises in each unit are chosen according to goals related to "enduring understandings" desired for the learner. Assignments to reinforce these understanding are planned later, at a time closer to the presentation of the unit. The time devoted to each unit correlates with the time allotted according to district and also with the difficulty of the unit (for example, cells are much more intensive for 7th graders than ecology).
Elizabeth Petrie
At the end of an academic year, the chemistry teachers get together and discuss the pros/cons of the order in which we taught the content and the amount of time we spent on each topic. Typically, we sit down with the standards, talk about things that worked and didn't work during the year, and adjust our schedule accordingly. Student feedback is also important in deciding what to teach and how long to spend on each topic. If students struggled with or really liked a topic during the year, then I often times suggest spending more time with that topic the next year.
Henley Sawicki
As a department we have developed a pacing guide that initially establishes how much time I will allocate to each unit. It corresponds to the time line published by Cobb County School District. However, throughout the semester, my students tend to dictate more of my allotted time. If the students are struggling with a concept I will gladly spend another day on a topic, add in an additional lab, or try an activity that will reinforce my point. To the contrary if my students easily pick up a concept I can actually move faster and must again adjust my timeline. Overall, I try to incorporate evolution and classification while I am teaching the other "units" to avoid having the mad dash at the end of the semester to finish "covering" the material.
What are the strengths and weaknesses of the science curriculum you currently follow?
Angela Gula
Since this is the first year I've taught a particular subject (Physical Science) with the new performance-based state curriculum, I find it very difficult to know the depth to which I should teach some of the standards. Some topics within our new state curriculum seem to be so broad.
April McFarland
The science curriculum I currently follow is an awesome resource to have, especially as a beginning teacher. It provides a great deal of activities and detailed instructions of units. However, the order, to me, is confusing. I feel certain standards should be taught in different units, for example, dichotomous key is located in "Interdependence of Living Things" instead of classification.
Elizabeth Petrie
Although I believe the curriculum/standards that I currently follow cover a wide variety of interesting topics in chemistry, I also believe the standards leave a lot of things open to the interpretation of the teacher. This sometimes creates gaps amongst teachers in the same school and even more throughout the county in what is being taught to students that are supposedly all taking the same chemistry class.
Henley Sawicki
I see strengths in the science curriculum in the performance based tasks that we are currently using. I have found that the added "Habits of Mind" standards are overshadowing the content. These standards are very specific and detailed (and 4 of 6 pages of standards), yet the content standards are vague and broad. I appreciate the intent of the Habits of Mind portion of the standards, but I find it hard to understand what content needs to be introduced before the end of course test. I incorporate the technology standards within the content and feel that the standards would be more useful if they were written that way. I desire more directed focus on what content should be taught due to the high stakes End of Course Test.