TCH: Group Work that Works

Science Learning Centers

                                              Learning Centers In Science

When educators talk about learning centers (or stations) many think about kindergarten classrooms where students hop around from the play center, to the reading center, to the coloring center, etc. I feel learning centers have a place in the middle school classroom as well. Of course, there will not be a play center or a coloring center, but there would be centers which focus on the specific goals set out in a lesson plan or used as enrichment activities to challenge students.

Learning centers achieve several purposes. First, and most obvious, it adds an element of differentiated instruction which should touch on several of the multiple intelligences. It allows students to work in small social groups consistent to the developmental needs of early adolescents. It allows the teacher to pinpoint holes in individual student learning through formative assessment. A learning center is more engaging and fun for students than teacher-run lectures or worksheet assignments. It allows students to be in charge of their own learning. It allows teachers to be creative in the classroom and try new activities. The list goes on and on.

Centers can be used in many ways depending on the unit of study, time allotment, the frequency of use and the types of stations used. The teacher must ask himself, “Do I want students working on the same stations at the same time, or, do I want them to rotate from station to station? Do the stations have to be completed in a specific order? Do all students complete the same stations or do I individualize the rotation for specific learners? How often do I want students to meet in centers? How do I group students? By need/skill? By learning style? Do I let students select their own groups?”

Here I will outline how I would implement learning centers into my science classroom.

Unit: Human Body Systems

Grade:  7^th

I would have students meet in centers twice a week for three weeks. This will allow plenty of time for me teach the entire lesson. There will be six centers in all with groups divided into 4 or 5 students. At the beginning of the year, I would randomly select students into groups. This way I can see how which students get along, which are advanced, which are in need of remediation. I would do this by drawing numbers, or by playing a game that in the end matches students randomly. As the year progresses, I would make changes if need be. I would not match students by achievement or ability. There are other ways to focus on individual student needs during a unit. I want learning centers to not be about how smart you are, but fun and educational for all. Plus, I find that advanced students will help those who need it most. And those who need the help tend to learn better from their peers than the teacher, at times. I would allot 30-40 minutes each day for center activity.

The Six Centers: 1) Creative Writing; 2) Techno; 3) Benchmark; 4) Words, Words Words; 5) OOH GROSS!; 6) Modeling.

CREATIVE WRITING— I feel writing is very important to student learning. Having them creatively describe a chosen body system will allow them to put their own words to what they are learning. This covers the linguistic intelligence.

INSTRUCTIONS: Using your textbook and other classroom materials, choose one of the human body systems which interest you to research. Write a 1^st person Brag & Whine essay. A Brag & Whine essay is where you are the subject (example: You are writing as the nervous system). Write an essay bragging why you are the most important system in the human body, or whine why people don’t give you the credit you deserve. You must use details and facts to back up what you write in your 1^st person essay. When you are done, share your essay with your group.

TECHNO— Students use the computers to watch a video about the human body. This covers the visual-spatial and linguistic intelligence.

INSTRUCTIONS: Each student needs to log onto a computer. Go to www.ted.com and search for “Jill Bolte Taylor’s Stroke of Insight”. Watch the video and take notes, jotting down key words. Think about the following: What is a stroke? How does a stroke affect the brain and its functions? What are the symptoms of a stroke? What is the difference between the left and right hemispheres of the brain? What is the corpus callosum?  Do you know anyone who has had a stroke? What did you notice about their condition? Search “Stroke” on Google and find facts and figures about the disorder. Jot down any interesting and insightful facts and add them to your paragraph.

Answer these questions and write a paragraph about you learned or found most interesting about the talk. Make sure you use details and facts from your notes.

BENCHMARK – I would recommend that there always be one center devoted to developing state-standardized testing skills, specifically reading comprehension.

INSTRUCTIONS: You have 30 minutes to complete the following reading comprehension questions. Fill in the bubble completely. Choose the item which best answers the question.

WORDS, WORDS, WORDS – This is for vocabulary. Allow students to work together to look up and identifying vocabulary words which will be on the end-of-unit exam.

INSTRUCTIONS: Give a definition to the following vocabulary words. Make sure you identify the purpose of each organ, its function, the organ system to which it belongs and what part of the body the organ can be found.

Brain, Arteries, Veins, Liver, Medulla Oblongata, Lungs, Capillaries, Ventricles, Atrium, Kidneys, Gall Bladder, Spleen, Pituitary Gland, Lymph Nodes, Stomach, Esophagus, Large Intestine, Small Intestine, Testes, Ovaries, etc.

OHH GROSS! – Have the students read a magazine article or book about diseases in one or more of the organ systems

INSTRUCTIONS: Select a short journal or newspaper article for the group to read. Read it together out loud. The group then needs to nominate a recorder to write a summary (two paragraphs at the least) of what you read. What did you learn? Did you find the story interesting? What are some symptoms of the diseases or disorders you read about? What can be done to prevent these diseases? How are they treated?

Find articles on this Website: http://kidshealth.org/teen/diseases_conditions

MODELLING – Students create a model of an organ system of their choice.

              INSTRUCTIONS: Using the materials provided, choose a human organ system and create a 3-D model of it on the poster board. Make sure to label each major organ and write a definition, including its function and purpose, for each.

Doodlebug Lesson Reflection

Lesson Plan Reflection

It’s been about a week after I presented my lesson plan on animal adaptations for a 6^th grade science classroom. The following is a reflection on the strengths and weaknesses I perceive after presenting the lesson as well as things I would do differently to make it more efficient and to enhance student learning and engagement.

LESSON OVERVIEW:

I attempted an inquiry-based lesson allowing students to simulate a predator-prey scenario of “Doodle Bugs” (colored dot paper on colored poster board) Each group of 3 students received three colors of “Doodle Bugs” one of which matched the color of the dot paper. We were testing the animal adaptation of camouflage or coloration (though students were not told this at the outset of the simulation). Then we went through three iterations of predators killing the bugs (taking them off the poster board) and reproduction (adding a colored bug for each surviving one). Students graphed their results after each iteration and discussed our findings.

 WEAKNESSES OF LESSON:

1)      Results of student simulation were inconsistent with purpose of simulation.

In a perfect world, the results of the simulation would have highlighted the advantages of camouflage on survival. The green bugs in the green environment would have thrived, red on red, etc. But the results were fairly inconclusive except for one group. There were two reasons for this. One, students were sitting down at their table. Therefore, they were simply grabbing the bugs which were closest to them. They weren’t focusing on color as much as what was nearest to them. Second, those students who acted as predators saw where the “game warden” was placing the bugs on the board. I concluded that the students could plan out where the bugs were and could grab them easier.

                Improvements

First, I would allow all students be predators that way they would all be engaged in that process. Second, all students would interact with all the Doodlebug environments, instead of staying at their station the entire time. Thirdly, I would have students rotate around the room station to station during each iteration. The purpose of this is to keep students active in the simulation by moving around the room. This adds a bodily-kinesthetic element to the lesson, and it would eliminate the issue of students simply picking the bugs which were closest to them while sitting down.

2)      The use of too many colors clouded the explanation of post-simulation discussion

Part of this problem was that only nine students showed up for class that day. My initial plan was to use several (more than three) colors on five different boards. I used orange, red, blue, yellow, purple, black, white and green. Because all the boards and colors weren’t used, it was difficult to compare colors to others on different boards.

                Improvements

Next time, I will stick with three colors (i.e. red, blue and yellow) and only use those color boards. That way we can compare similar simulations and compare more effectively how, for example, a red bug would survive on a red board compared to a blue or yellow board.

3)      Lesson could have better utilized inquiry to improve student engagement and learning

Although I thought students were well engaged in the simulation, the entire experiment was given to students. And while students were asked questions and came up with questions of their own, the lesson was not entirely inquiry-based.

                Improvements

I would probably allow students to design their own experiment with Doodlebugs. They could be of different shapes, sizes, two-dimensional and three-dimensional, paper or other substances and have them predict the outcome. This would allow the students to take control over what they test and would make the lesson more individualized to their own specifications.

STRENGTHS OF LESSON:

1)      The lesson utilized three or more of the multiple intelligences and succeeded in differentiating instruction.

Students were asked to make graphs and calculate data, students-used their hands and physically interacting with the experiment, students watched a video demonstrating the use of physical and behavioral adaptations and students shared the results of their specific simulation with the rest of the class, students worked together in groups.

2)      The conclusion of the lesson tied everything together well and hit on the BIG IDEA of the lesson.

The video and subsequent discussion helped clear any confusion students had about natural selection and adaptations. They could see the octopuses and squids morph their bodies to camouflage into their surroundings. The video was short and to the point and concluded the lesson nicely.

3)      Students were active in their learning

Instead of filling out worksheets or listening to a lecture, students were active with the simulation. The simulation allowed students to experience and visualize natural selection right in front of them. The simulation was more effective than more passive approaches to learning where the information is given to students. In this case, the students were able to make their own conclusions.

A Case for Scientific Explanations

Argumentation and Writing in the Science Classroom: A Review of Selected Literature

Writing in science classrooms has three main positive purposes: 1) integrating curriculum between language arts and science, 2) motivating students to explore science through creative writing and 3) building arguments through scientific explanations. Writing adds value to assessment as well as student motivation. A teacher can gauge a student’s learning as well as track his/her progress throughout the lesson, unit or school year. Writing helps the student articulate concepts and big ideas in his/her own voice as well as demonstrate reasoning. These are all positive outcomes for teachers and students.

Modern progressive education theory, the values of the new Common Core curriculum and student motivational studies all point to writing in subject areas – other than a strict language arts classroom – as necessary towards the intellectual development of not only early adolescents but of all students. While inquiry-based lessons focusing on hands-on activities and student-centered discussion are positive attributes of a science classroom, scientific argumentation and explanation quantitatively and qualitatively enhance learning and achievement (Nam, et al., 2011).

In the study, “Implementation of the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH) Approach in 8^th Grade Science Classrooms”, the authors studied three Korean middle school classrooms testing the use of discussion and writing focused on building arguments against a controlled setting. Each teacher taught the SWH method and a control class which did not implement argumentation. SWH follows a strict protocol of brainstorming ideas, identifying variables to test, testing the variables, making a claim upon what is learned, identifying evidence supporting the claim, arguing for the claim through reasoning, comparing ideas with others’ and reflecting on the big idea tested by the class.

What the study found is the classrooms using the SWH protocol achieved higher in a summary writing assessment than the control. The tool for testing the summary focused on the students articulating: the big idea, specific science concepts taught during the lesson, the components of the argument and evidence, and how well the summary was written.

“These results indicated that students….who successfully experienced public negotiation opportunities in class were able to self negotiate in their summary writing activity in the way which enables them to elaborate their thinking and understanding from the negotiation in class. Our data analyses suggest that students who were actively engaged in an argument-based inquiry approach were able to develop arguments in their summary writing.” (Nam, et al. 2011).

Thus, by combining hands-on activities, classroom or group discussion and writing to build a scientific argument or explanation utilizing claims, evidence and reasoning, students demonstrated higher levels of achievement than the control group. What was also interesting was the results were true for all but one of the teachers. The study concluded teacher preparation and quality affect student performance. The classroom teacher with students not demonstrating a difference between the achievement also scored low in the teacher assessment categories. That teacher scored lowest in building the “big idea”, “science concepts” and “argumentation.” Engaging students in those areas would help develop a better post-lesson summary. In conclusion, the study found it to be equally important to use argumentation in discussion and writing as well as it is for the educator to effectively implement such a system.

In the book, “Supporting Grade 5-8 Students in Constructing Explanations in Science” (McNeill & Krajcik, 2012), the framework for discussion and writing via argumentation is presented. The book defines scientific explanations in three parts.

The Claim: a conclusion to a question or problem.

Evidence: scientific data that supports the claim.

Reasoning: a justification that links the evidence to the claim (use scientific principles to make that claim.)

McNeill & Krajcik contend the use of scientific explanations produce help students understand science concepts, develop 21^st century skills, use evidence to support claims, reason logically, consider and critique alternative explanations and understand the nature of science (7). The claim is the easiest item for students to include in their writing. It is a broad contention stating what occurred during the experiment. The claim is “a statement that expresses the answer or conclusion to a question or problem” (22). Next, the evidence is the data supporting the claim. Finally, the reasoning, the most difficult for students to comprehend, justifies the links between the evidence and the claim.

“The reasoning explains why the evidence supports the claim, providing a logical connection between the evidence and the claim.” (24).

Implementing science explanations are increasingly recommended by literature and curriculum standards. Successful implementation is equally as important (Nam, et al. 2010). McNeill & Krajcik present a framework for such a process. They outline the difficulties educators should expect along the way, specifically what challenges students will encounter when developing higher-order thinking skills. The book also provides case studies and video evidence demonstrating teachers both presenting the initial discussion as to the foundations of scientific explanations and further advancement of the concept. It provides student examples showing advancement throughout the year.

First, the teacher should discuss the framework of claim, evidence and reasoning using everyday examples. One teacher featured claimed she could be an NFL quarterback. Her evidence was she had watched several games, thrown a football and understands the rules. She reasoned her evidence by saying prominent quarterbacks had also done the same thing. Next, the class should critique the strengths and weaknesses of the evidence and provide feedback through confirmation or rebuttal. Finally, after a class debate, the each student should contribute to a consensus final big idea explaining the phenomena and answering the overarching scientific question.

This book can act as professional development with actual, in-class teaching examples implementing scientific explanations and arguments in the classroom. At the least it encourages teachers and teachers-in-training to use these methods. But most effectively, it synthesizes research, in relation with the above journal article, promoting the process of argumentation (claim, evidence and reasoning) in science classrooms for the cognitive benefit of mid-level students.

Works Cited

Nam, J., Choi, A., & Hand, B. (2011) Implementation of the science writing heuristic (SWH) approach in 8^th grade science classrooms. International Journal of Science and Mathematics Education, 9, 1111-1133.

McNeil, K. L., Krajcik, J. S. (2012). Supporting Grade 5-8 Students in Constructing Explanations in Science. Boston: Pearson.

Natural Selection Science Lesson

LESSON PLAN

1.    Descriptive Data

Grade Level: 6th

Unit Title: Life Science Lesson Title: Identifying Adaptations and Intro to Natural Selection

Unit Concept: Students will observe, explore, analyze, and investigate the systems of living organisms. They will also become proficient in their knowledge of life cycles, natural selection, animal adaptations, reproduction and heredity.

Lesson Topic or Overview: Students will conduct a simulation of a predator-prey scenario. They will record their results and formulate a scientific explanation by making a claim, backing it up with evidence and reasoning.

2.    Standards, Goals, and Objectives

Standards (list local, state, or national standards which will be met upon completion of this lesson):

SIXTH GRADE

LS.3.6.7

Describe the following structural adaptations for survival in the environment:  Coloration, mimicry, odor glands, beaks, feet, wings, fur, ears, spines, teeth, thorns

LS.4.6.3

Conduct simulations demonstrating natural selection

LS.4.6.1

Identify environmental conditions that can affect the survival of individual organisms and entire species

NS.1.6.4

Construct and interpret scientific data using

• data tables/charts

• bar and double bar graphs

• line graphs

• stem and leaf plots

• line graphs

Lesson Goal(s): Students will be able to identify particular genetic traits and adaptations which allow animals to survive in a particular environment. They will also be able to articulate their findings through a scientific explanation making a claim and backing it up with evidence and reasoning.

Lesson Objective(s): Students will be able to identify particular genetic traits and adaptations which allow animals to survive in a particular environment

3.   Connections

Curriculum (identify which interdisciplinary subject areas relate to this lesson): Science, Language Arts,

How does this lesson relate to previous learning and future learning of students?:  Students will be expected to know that each animal has characteristics which distinguish it from other animal species and other animals of the same species. We will take this knowledge further and explain why certain animals thrive in an environment, while similar animals do not.

4.   Procedure

1.    Divide students into groups of 3 or 4. Give each group a colored game board and three bags filled with different colored dots. (One and only one color must match the color of the game board. Students should also have graph paper, pencils and markers or colored pencils.

2.    The students will spread 20 dots of each color on the game board.

3.    Students will each have roles to play, 2 predators, 1 time keeper and 1 recorder

4.    Once everyone is ready, the predators have 20 seconds to pick up as many dots as possible. Have the recorder graph the number of dots remaining of each color.

5.    Then, simulate reproduction by doubling the number of dots remaining on the game board. Graph the totals

6.    Repeat steps 4 & 5 at least two more times.

7.    Once students complete their data table, have them formulate a claim of what happened with at least two pieces of supporting evidence and reasoning

8.    Students share their findings and create a class-wide argument for what was observed and why it happened.

9.    Discuss adaptations with the students. What was special about the dots that thrived on the game board? What adaptation did that “animal” have? Which, if any, colors of dots survived better than others in the second and third generation? What might be the reason that predators did not select these colors as much as they did other colors? What effect did capturing a particular colored dot have on the numbers of that color in the following generation?

10. Show students pictures of various animals and ask them to explore what special adaptations those animals have in order to survive. List the class’ responses.

11. Have students redesign the above experiment using different adaptations of either the dots or of the predators. Have the students formulate a hypothesis as to which “animals” will survive.

12. Repeat steps 4 & 5 three times

13. Repeat steps 7 & 8

     Grouping for the lesson:  ___ whole group __x_ small group      ____ individual

      (_5__ minutes) Set (List specific statements or activities you will use to focus students on the lesson for the day.):

 (_10_ minutes) Making the Content Comprehensible (C² ):

 (_25__ minutes) Guided Activity (GA):

 (__10_ minutes) Independent Activity (IA):

 (__5_ minutes) Closure:

5.    Lesson extension:

Apply to Everyday Life: Antibiotics—

People take antibiotics when they are sick. Antibiotics kill bacteria. But sometimes some bacteria become immune to the antibodies and survive and pass on their genes. Next time you get a cold and the medicine you take does not work, it is because the bacteria are resistant to the drug.

Evolution of Sickle Cell Anemia Video: youtube.com/watch?v=lfN7rOwDyMQ. It highlights sickle cell anemia and malaria as one example of pre-adaptation and evolution.

6.    Modifications for special needs and gifted:

Special Needs: Limit the activity to just the given experiment. They could also just test two sets of colored dots instead of three.

Gifted: Have gifted students write a one-two paragraph essay on, “What does the theory of natural selection mean to you?” They will be expected to provide an example of natural selection, a definition of the concept of natural selection and comment why it is important to understand this concept for the benefit of understanding other ideas in science/biology.

Gifted: Students could write a “Brag/Whine” essay from the point of view of an animal that thrives (Brag) in an environment or wants to live in an environment but can’t (Whine) because of the adaptations needed to survive there.

7.    Materials and Equipment needed:

EACH GROUP has…1 colored game board, 60 dots of paper in 3 different colors and extra dots, colored pencils of similar colors to the dots used, Hand-out with a data table, graph paper.

8.    Assessment of Student Learning:

Formative assessment: Students are expected to identify adaptations of animals and explain why they are important to the survival of the species. The students will be asked to formulate a definition of natural selection. Students will be able to explain why certain animals live in certain habitats and ecosystems.

Websites

Using QR Codes in the Classroom
http://www.livebinders.com/play/play_or_edit/51894

Professional Development and Writing/Reading Resources
http://www.readwritethink.org/

Design Audio File Project
http://www.audioviator.com/en/

Bloom's Taxonomy Ideas

http://coolcatteacher.visibli.com/share/6A9aNq