Routledge

Teacher Resources - Chapter 9 - Agenda Strategies

SECTION 1: DESIGNING SCIENCE ACTIVITIES AND UNITS

This chapter has been organized to help students and teachers design a unit of science teaching. The concept of Science PCK (Pedagogical Content Knowledge) is introduced and tied to the development of instructional mateials. A constructivist approach is advocated in the development of science teaching units. Too make the chapter even more practical than it is, I've included a very specific plan to develop teaching materials, and have included sample lessons, and activities that illustrate how to integrate the different theories and models that were presented in Chapter 7 and Chapter 8, respectively.

Case to Consider: Conversation Among a Teacher and Two Students. This case is based on research article that appeared in Cultural Studies of Science Education by Christopher Emdin ("Exploring Contexts of Urban Science Classroom, Part 1: Investigating Corportate and Communal Practices (2007, 2 (2): 319 - 341). Two of his high school students participated in the research by writing some of their views in the journal. It's a powerful article, and will give you students some insights into comparing practices, but from the point of views expressed by high school students.

Nature of Pedagogical Science Content Knowledge

Fundamental to designing science teaching materials is understanding Pedagogical Conent Knowledge (PCK) which is described. It is the principle organizing concept of this chapter. An interesting resource is an online paper by Mark Enfield, Content and Pedagogy: "Intersection in the NSTA Standards for Science Teacher Education."

You will find a table that you can use to present the compoents of PCK, which include:

  • Orientation toward science teaching
  • Knowledge and beliefs abouit science curriculum
  • Knowledge and beliefs abouit students' understanding of specific science concepts
  • Knowledge and beliefs about assessment in science
  • Knowledge and beliefs about instructional strategies for teaching science

PCK is the integration of one's content knowledge and pedagogical knowledge. You might use Inquiry Activity 9.1 to guide your students into this important concept, and if you are working with experienced teachers, they will benefit greatly from the inquiry, as well.

You might show students this image of fast plants, and ask them how they might use them to teach concepts in biology.

Figure 1. Fast Plants

Inquiry 9.1: On the Nature of Science PCK

In this inquiry your students will select a few goals of science teaching from NSES, Benchmarks, or their state science framework, and then explore how best to help students understand these ideas. The chart below shows how students might organize their ideas in this inquiry.

The links they will need for the activity include:

 

Science Concepts from NSES, Benchmarks or State Framework

Suggestions about how to help students understand these ideas

Examples of curriculum materials that relate to the identified science concepts

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Inquiry Activity 9.2. A Window into a High School Teachers Approach to Planning. In this inquiry we've linked the inquiry to the Annenberg Media website of videos of inquiry science teaching. We've identified five different teachers, each approaching inquiry teaching. The purpose of the activity is to use these videos to ask your students to reconstruct how the teacher might have planned the activity. This activity can be used as a way to introduce your students to the planning process by looking at lesson planning in the context of real classrooms.

It will enable you to discuss lesson planning and unit development in the context of science classrooms as presented in the videos.

The Design Process: A Constructivist Approach

The approach that is described in this chapter for designing teaching materials has been used and field tested over a period of ten years. The process outlined in the chapter.

We have typically have students develop a science teaching unit over a period of several weeks, and have used the design process outlined in the chapter as the approach. Instead of making the assignment, and having students work on their own, we recommend that you work with them as a group over time to help them create their projects.

The Design Process is broken into three phases as shown in the chart below. The major portion of the chapter is divided into these three phases. We've blended research and practice to show students how professionals design science teaching materials. We've field tested this process with several hundred pre- and in-service science teachers over the past 20 years.

 

Phase I

Establishing Goals and Objectives

Phase II

Develop an Assessment Plan

Phase III

Plan Activities and Lessons

Designing a Science Miniunit

The figure below shows some of the specific activities that teachers use to develop their mini-unit based on the approach outlined in the text.

Phase I: Establising Goals

Brainstorm Ideas. Students should work in a planning team to begin the process. It's best if you have an introductory session explaining the assignment of developing a miniunit so that students can give some thought to a topic that might develop into a unit. This step should follow at least an overnight opportunity for reflection on a topic. Within their team, members should brainstorm ideas that relate to the topic.

Name your Science Miniunit. After the brainstorming session, have the students work with each other to generate names for the miniunits that they are developing. A list of examples appears in the text.

Identify Focus Questions. Using the list of ideas, have students generate four to six "focus" questions, questions that should help the students define the heart of their unit. Examples are included.

Identify Intended Learning Outcomes. Students might work back and forth between their initial list of ideas and focus question, and the NSES or the Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy. In the process they should make a list of intended learning outcomes---statements of what they intend that their students learn. Use the chart paper to record their outcomes.

Categorize Intended Learning Outcomes. Using the list of outcomes, have the students make a simple binary category system in which they list them as either nonskill or skill outcomes.

Develop a Concept Map. A concept map is a powerful tool. Now that the students have invested time into their unit and have a deeper understanding of the concepts, they should put their ideas into a concept map.

Have them develop the map, and share it with you and their peers for feedback and improvement. Also, the map should be developed as a potential tool that they might use with their students.

Write a Rationale. Writing the rationale is important, and since the students have now been working on the unit for some time, they will be a better position to write a statement that is powerful. They should write their rationale in a language that is directed at the potential students of their miniunit, and it should integrate answers to the questions:

  • How does the unit affect the future of the students as well as their individual needs and interests?
  • How does the miniunit contribute to societal issues and help students deal responsibily with science-related issues?
  • How does the miniunit reflect the spirit and character of scientific inquiry and the nature of the scientific enterprise?

We've included two examples of rationales in the text.

Categorize Outcomes: Cognitions, Affects and Skills. I've used three categories to form a system that I've found very effective with students and teachers. Students should generate outcomes for each of the categories:

  • Cognitions. These include concepts and propositions (the student will know the cell theory). The NSES and Benchmarks are powerful resources to help students state their cognitions.
  • Affects. These include statements of feelings, values and attidudes. Again the NSES and Benchmarks a good resources.
  • Skills. Two categories are included as follows:
    • Cognitive Skills. This should represent the bulk of the outcomes in a teaching unit, and these statements will "look like" the objectives that we have been stating for many years, eg. the student will be able to predict the location of the moon in the daytime sky.
    • Psychomotor Skills. Laboratory skills should also be included in the miniunit. This section outlines the types of psychomotor skills to include.

Phase II: Develop an Assessment Plan. We explore formative and summative assessment (briefly here---in more detail in Chapter 10). We provide specific examples of each type of assessment, and suggest that the students include examples of each type in their mini-unit.

Phase III. Plan Activities and Lessons. We divide this phase into two activities: listing potential activities, develop specific lesson plans. Specific examples are provided for you to use with your students.

  • List Potential Activities. At this stage, potential activities should emerge from the list of intended outcomes. One way to accomplish this, is to use the concept of "instructional foci"---means with which learners will attain the outcomes that were created. We've included examples of instructional foci for students to examine.
  • Develop Specific Lesson Plans. We recommend between four and six lesson plans for a miniunit. You will find three different formats for developing the lesson plans as follows:

Implement the Miniuni. If the miniunit is being developed as part of field experience course, then try and have the students implement it with a group of elementary or secondary students. If this is not possible, then I recommend that each student "teach" one lesson (or a part of a lesson) to group of peers, and use the feedback form to obtain information on the effectiveness of the lesson from peers. If you are teaching a graduate level course, teachers can implement the miniunit with one of their classes, and report back to class on the effectiveness of the plans.

Designing a Science Course of Study

This section introduces the student to 5 elements that might be used to design a course of study. Combined with Inquiry Activity 9.3 (Designing a Course of Study: The Course Syllabus), the section should provide useful information on implementing course plans.

You might take time to go over the 5 elements, using the text material prior to having students complete Inquiry Activity 9.3. The elements include:

  • Rationale/Philosophy
  • Learning outcomes
  • Units of Study
  • Instructional Strategies (foci)
  • Evaluation

To make these elements practical, I've discussed each within the context of a course of study entitled Global Science, published by Kendall Hunt. It's a text based program, thereby reinforcing the notion that most of your students will be designing courses of study based on a text. If you go to the Kendall Hunt webiste, you will be able view more information about the text, Global Science.

Inquiry 9.3: Designing a Course of Study: The Course Syllabus

This activity is powerful in the context of a field experience, such as an internship, or if you are teaching a graduate course for teachers, then the activity might be way for the teachers to reflect on the course syllabi that they have created for their courses. Have students work in small teams (2 or 3) for brainstorming and disucssion purposes. The "data" generated in these small teams will be a strong base for the development of syllabi by individuals.

Follow the procedures as identified on page 289. Try and have on hand potential textbooks that students will use to develop their course syllabi. After the syllabi are created, take a session for students to share their results in small groups, and then use the Minds-On Strategies on p. 289 for a discussion.

SECTION 2: SCIENCE TEACHER GAZETTE

Science Teachers Talk (On the Companion Website)

Teachers disucss this topic: Describe your typical process for designing lessons. Also in this teacher talk session, Virginia Cheek, Ben Boza, Rachel Zgonc, Jerry Pelletier, John Ricciardi, and Ginny Almeder provide tips that give to beginning teachers on lesson planning and preparing lessons. Rachel Zgonc was a first year teacher when she wrote her comments; the other teachers are all veteran educators.

Planning Activities (On the Companion Website)

We've provided five "planning activities" and put them all up on the Companion Webiste. The "applications to science teaching" section of each planning activity is designed to have the students reflect on science teaching. If you do any of these activiies this section will provide a powerful way to extend the students understanding of science education.

  • Planning Activity 1: Shake, Rattle and Quake: Earthquake Waves
  • Planning Activity 2: Don't Take It for Granite: Rock Classification
  • Planning Activity 3: Light On: Responses of Earthworms
  • Planning Activity 4: Chemistry in the Bag
  • Planning Activity 5: An Eggzact Experiment

Problems and Extensions

The P & E's for this chapter include questions on evaluation, objectives, and concept maps. They could be used for classroom activities, or extensions beyond class.

Readings

You will find a selection of science education "activity" books that will be useful to students as they develop their miniunits.

On the Web

The websites choosen bring the students into contact with the major organizations in biology, chemistry, earth science, physics, and the standards.

Other Stuff
  • On the Companion Site
  • Chapter Powerpoint Presentation
  • Science Teachers Talk: Describe your typical process for designing lessons. What tips would you give beginning teachers in planning and preparing lessons?
  • Planning Activities: Earthquakes; Classifying Rocks; Animal Behavior; Chemistry in the Bag; and An Eggzact Experiment