Desired Results
“There is little gain in simply having knowledge and even understanding it for a quiz if that same knowledge does not get put to work on a more worldly occasion: puzzling over a public issue, shopping in a supermarket, deciding for whom to vote...and so on.” -David Perkins, Smart Schools, Better Thinking and Learning for Every Child, 1995
Working with students toward putting their scientific knowledge into action to create change within the community is one of the key idea’s I intend to work towards in my classroom this year. With this in mind, I plan to emphasize three key ideas in my teaching. First, the idea of using science to achieve social justice can drive authentic student inquiry and thus engagement. According to Richard Reeve and Azza Sharkawy in Science Education for Social Justice using the Knowledge-Building Community Model, 2014, such an approach can also encourage and give a sense of value to diverse perspectives, create a more collaborative community of learners, and support positive student engagement within their community.
Additional ideas I plan to emphasize this school year are scientific habits of the mind as well as the idea that we are all connected to each other in both a very profound and delicate manner. From the moment we are born, I believe we are scientists. We are connected to our families, our surroundings, and begin exploring the world using all of our senses. We respond to voice, touch, and energy. We take action upon the world around us based on observations made, curiousity to know and understand, and mainly to fulfill our human needs. Scientific habits of the mind take these natural inclinations and give students several lenses from which to view our world and practice science.
Habits of the mind, or thinking like a scientist, require students to use the knowledge and skills of a scientist. Recognizing that there are ways of thinking about science and carrying out scientific processes that allow scientists to be successful, researchers have developed the following list of several behaviors that can drive scientific thinking and approaches to solving problems using science (Understanding Science. 2016. University of California Museum of Paleontology. 3 January 2016 <http://www.understandingscience.org>).
Scientific Habits of the Mind
While there are many variations of this list, I expect to emphasize questioning, being open-minded and creativity; and as needed, build up the rest of the habits where appropriate. These will be honed as the students study several topics throughout 7th grade science.
Performances of Understanding
According to Blythe and Associates, (1998), in The Teaching for Understanding Guide, performances of understanding sequence from introductory, then guided inquiry and finally, culminating performances. My students will engage in introductory performances of understanding through the exploration of topics they wonder about during the beginning of the year. Together we’ll create a Perplexing Topics bulletin board. This will essentially be community identified topics they choose to study. This idea is a component of the knowledge-building community (KBC) model, used to drive a social justice science education researched by Richard Reeve and Azza Sharkawy, (2014).
Rubrics as well as anecdotal notes will also be used to track my students’ progress in using scientific habits of the mind. Their ability to think like a scientist will be self assessed through their creation of personal portfolios, a method of assessment I have been using for several years. These will serve as formative assessments. Throughout the year as they tackle their perplexing topics, they will be conducting their own inquiries and my role will be that of guide or facilitator as needed and continuing to use rubrics created with the students.
So how exactly might these performances of understanding look? For example, our first two units focus upon scientific methodology and then human body systems. By using inquiry journals to record questions, notes, and research and creating a classroom blog, my students will be able to share and collaborate around a specific life science topic. A possible blog topic might focus upon the use of human subjects in medical research or the rising rates of childhood obesity. Students might choose to conduct interviews, create surveys or conduct an experiment to test their ideas. Again, these will serve as formative assessments of their abilities to think like a scientist and tie science to social justice issues.
Culminating performances of understanding might appear for example, during the study of the human body systems. Depending what ideas and knowledge they uncover during their inquiry, they may find they can make recommendations for improving one’s health. That could be published as a brochure or perhaps they hold a health fair. Throughout the year, students will be involved in creating the rubrics for their summative assessments as well. These will be conducting near the end of each unit. And time will be set aside each week to conference with the students on a rotating basis in order for them to receive feedback.
Plan - Learning Experiences and Instruction
My ultimate goal during the school year of 2016-2017 will be to connect science to social justice issues relevant to my students’ lives. I hope to promote more student driven inquiry and action. Our school was named after Dr. Jorge Prieto who was an immigrant physician and best known for treating Chicago’s Mexican immigrants in the 1950’s when others wouldn’t, and for establishing neighborhood clinics in immigrant communities through his work with Cook County Hospital (Chicago Tribune, 8-23-01). Given that our school was named for a person who saw such great disparity in the deliverance of health care in our city, I hope to facilitate a knowledge building community in which my students will be able to make connections between our content and the needs of their families and their own community.
Context
This year I will be teaching 7th grade life science at Dr. Jorge Prieto Math & Science Academy. Prieto Academy is located in the Belmont-Craigin neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago. 95% of our families are considered low income and 96% are Hispanic. This year I will teach four classes of approximately 28-32 students. The classes will most likely be heterogeneously mixed with a small percentage of English language and diverse learners.
I have a large science lab/classroom which gives the benefit of varied movement. So multiple groupings are possible throughout the class period and the school year. I also have access to 32 iPads and my classroom contains 4 desktop computers. Finally, there is a mobile Promethean board for which to conduct whole class presentations.
Content
The content we dig into during 7th grade life science ranges from studying scientific methodology, systems of the human body, cell biology, genetics, and ecology. I am hoping to dig deeper this year rather than widely. Specifically I want to emphasize scientific habits of the mind as well as using science to make a change within one’s community. Science connects everything around us and so I hope that is an additional idea that students take away from this school year. My students often struggle with constructing explanations or arguments based on their evidence, so I plan to scaffold lessons in this specific area in order to meet standards as required by the Next Generation Science Standards.
Pedagogy
“I have a vested interested in the future, because I plan on living there.” - Neil Gershenfeld
I plan to provide opportunities for my students to develop new ways of observation, critiquing, seeing beyond, and fostering their creativity in order to solve problems with science. I will specifically plan for a student driven inquiry classroom setting. As they uncover both problems and solutions they can address within their community, I will provide for them the necessary mini-lessons which emphasize collective responsibility and collaborative discussions through the use of Crosstalks. As a model I will be presenting my students with examples throughout history of injustices related to science, showing them how to dig into the news, and give them time to read various excerpts from texts. This will give them the launching pad towards wondering and carrying out student inquiry. Lab experiments and problem based learning will also be a routine part of our week.
Technology
Students will be using a variety of technological tools this year. I plan to incorporate student use of technology more than in the past so that students can demonstrate the formation and progress of their knowledge and understanding in a multi-dimensional and creative manner rather than relying solely upon traditional assessments. Many of these tech tools will also aid me in formatively assessing the students as well as providing an engaging entry point for the students themselves.
Quickfire challenges will be incorporated into the classroom in order to keep students alert, creative and in a collaborative mindset. I’ll be setting up a classroom blog around perplexing topics, and facilitating the use of apps like Explain Everything, Educreations, and Powtoons. How might that look? For example, a student wondering about how ants get into one’s home might use Educreations, an iPad app, to share their understanding by creating a pre-recorded talking picture or diagram of the process and stages of their inquiry on ant behavior. In addition, students will have access to the Promethean board for whole class presentations or use the iPads for smaller group presentations. And, finally, rubrics to guide the use of technology and products will be created along with the students in order to set clear expectations.
“There is little gain in simply having knowledge and even understanding it for a quiz if that same knowledge does not get put to work on a more worldly occasion: puzzling over a public issue, shopping in a supermarket, deciding for whom to vote...and so on.” -David Perkins, Smart Schools, Better Thinking and Learning for Every Child, 1995
Working with students toward putting their scientific knowledge into action to create change within the community is one of the key idea’s I intend to work towards in my classroom this year. With this in mind, I plan to emphasize three key ideas in my teaching. First, the idea of using science to achieve social justice can drive authentic student inquiry and thus engagement. According to Richard Reeve and Azza Sharkawy in Science Education for Social Justice using the Knowledge-Building Community Model, 2014, such an approach can also encourage and give a sense of value to diverse perspectives, create a more collaborative community of learners, and support positive student engagement within their community.
Additional ideas I plan to emphasize this school year are scientific habits of the mind as well as the idea that we are all connected to each other in both a very profound and delicate manner. From the moment we are born, I believe we are scientists. We are connected to our families, our surroundings, and begin exploring the world using all of our senses. We respond to voice, touch, and energy. We take action upon the world around us based on observations made, curiousity to know and understand, and mainly to fulfill our human needs. Scientific habits of the mind take these natural inclinations and give students several lenses from which to view our world and practice science.
Habits of the mind, or thinking like a scientist, require students to use the knowledge and skills of a scientist. Recognizing that there are ways of thinking about science and carrying out scientific processes that allow scientists to be successful, researchers have developed the following list of several behaviors that can drive scientific thinking and approaches to solving problems using science (Understanding Science. 2016. University of California Museum of Paleontology. 3 January 2016 <http://www.understandingscience.org>).
Scientific Habits of the Mind
- Question what you observe
- Investigate further
- Be skeptical
- Try to refute your own ideas
- Seek out more evidence
- Be open-minded
- Think creatively
While there are many variations of this list, I expect to emphasize questioning, being open-minded and creativity; and as needed, build up the rest of the habits where appropriate. These will be honed as the students study several topics throughout 7th grade science.
Performances of Understanding
According to Blythe and Associates, (1998), in The Teaching for Understanding Guide, performances of understanding sequence from introductory, then guided inquiry and finally, culminating performances. My students will engage in introductory performances of understanding through the exploration of topics they wonder about during the beginning of the year. Together we’ll create a Perplexing Topics bulletin board. This will essentially be community identified topics they choose to study. This idea is a component of the knowledge-building community (KBC) model, used to drive a social justice science education researched by Richard Reeve and Azza Sharkawy, (2014).
Rubrics as well as anecdotal notes will also be used to track my students’ progress in using scientific habits of the mind. Their ability to think like a scientist will be self assessed through their creation of personal portfolios, a method of assessment I have been using for several years. These will serve as formative assessments. Throughout the year as they tackle their perplexing topics, they will be conducting their own inquiries and my role will be that of guide or facilitator as needed and continuing to use rubrics created with the students.
So how exactly might these performances of understanding look? For example, our first two units focus upon scientific methodology and then human body systems. By using inquiry journals to record questions, notes, and research and creating a classroom blog, my students will be able to share and collaborate around a specific life science topic. A possible blog topic might focus upon the use of human subjects in medical research or the rising rates of childhood obesity. Students might choose to conduct interviews, create surveys or conduct an experiment to test their ideas. Again, these will serve as formative assessments of their abilities to think like a scientist and tie science to social justice issues.
Culminating performances of understanding might appear for example, during the study of the human body systems. Depending what ideas and knowledge they uncover during their inquiry, they may find they can make recommendations for improving one’s health. That could be published as a brochure or perhaps they hold a health fair. Throughout the year, students will be involved in creating the rubrics for their summative assessments as well. These will be conducting near the end of each unit. And time will be set aside each week to conference with the students on a rotating basis in order for them to receive feedback.
Plan - Learning Experiences and Instruction
My ultimate goal during the school year of 2016-2017 will be to connect science to social justice issues relevant to my students’ lives. I hope to promote more student driven inquiry and action. Our school was named after Dr. Jorge Prieto who was an immigrant physician and best known for treating Chicago’s Mexican immigrants in the 1950’s when others wouldn’t, and for establishing neighborhood clinics in immigrant communities through his work with Cook County Hospital (Chicago Tribune, 8-23-01). Given that our school was named for a person who saw such great disparity in the deliverance of health care in our city, I hope to facilitate a knowledge building community in which my students will be able to make connections between our content and the needs of their families and their own community.
Context
This year I will be teaching 7th grade life science at Dr. Jorge Prieto Math & Science Academy. Prieto Academy is located in the Belmont-Craigin neighborhood on the northwest side of Chicago. 95% of our families are considered low income and 96% are Hispanic. This year I will teach four classes of approximately 28-32 students. The classes will most likely be heterogeneously mixed with a small percentage of English language and diverse learners.
I have a large science lab/classroom which gives the benefit of varied movement. So multiple groupings are possible throughout the class period and the school year. I also have access to 32 iPads and my classroom contains 4 desktop computers. Finally, there is a mobile Promethean board for which to conduct whole class presentations.
Content
The content we dig into during 7th grade life science ranges from studying scientific methodology, systems of the human body, cell biology, genetics, and ecology. I am hoping to dig deeper this year rather than widely. Specifically I want to emphasize scientific habits of the mind as well as using science to make a change within one’s community. Science connects everything around us and so I hope that is an additional idea that students take away from this school year. My students often struggle with constructing explanations or arguments based on their evidence, so I plan to scaffold lessons in this specific area in order to meet standards as required by the Next Generation Science Standards.
Pedagogy
“I have a vested interested in the future, because I plan on living there.” - Neil Gershenfeld
I plan to provide opportunities for my students to develop new ways of observation, critiquing, seeing beyond, and fostering their creativity in order to solve problems with science. I will specifically plan for a student driven inquiry classroom setting. As they uncover both problems and solutions they can address within their community, I will provide for them the necessary mini-lessons which emphasize collective responsibility and collaborative discussions through the use of Crosstalks. As a model I will be presenting my students with examples throughout history of injustices related to science, showing them how to dig into the news, and give them time to read various excerpts from texts. This will give them the launching pad towards wondering and carrying out student inquiry. Lab experiments and problem based learning will also be a routine part of our week.
Technology
Students will be using a variety of technological tools this year. I plan to incorporate student use of technology more than in the past so that students can demonstrate the formation and progress of their knowledge and understanding in a multi-dimensional and creative manner rather than relying solely upon traditional assessments. Many of these tech tools will also aid me in formatively assessing the students as well as providing an engaging entry point for the students themselves.
Quickfire challenges will be incorporated into the classroom in order to keep students alert, creative and in a collaborative mindset. I’ll be setting up a classroom blog around perplexing topics, and facilitating the use of apps like Explain Everything, Educreations, and Powtoons. How might that look? For example, a student wondering about how ants get into one’s home might use Educreations, an iPad app, to share their understanding by creating a pre-recorded talking picture or diagram of the process and stages of their inquiry on ant behavior. In addition, students will have access to the Promethean board for whole class presentations or use the iPads for smaller group presentations. And, finally, rubrics to guide the use of technology and products will be created along with the students in order to set clear expectations.