I've been happily teaching high school science for over 13 years. This website serves as a way for me to reflect on my practice, give back to the science educators' community, help other science teachers who may need a place to start, and build a strong community of science learners and educators.
A few years ago, I wanted to find an easy way for students to practice writing conclusions and supporting them with evidence and reasoning – also known as CER – without having to do a complicated lab or a case study. At the time, I was planning to have students learn about lab equipment, when I thought about combining the two: learn about lab equipment and practice CER.
So, I had students take out and look at some lab equipment and answer the following question:
“What is this piece of lab equipment used for? Explain using the CER – or claim, evidence, reasoning- format.”
To answer this question, students need to observe an object’s form and relate it to its function.
For example, consider the graduated cylinder. What is it used for? It’s got these very detailed markings on the side. It’s got a groove at the top and a wide base at the bottom.
Now, let’s answer the question through a CER statement.
Claim: A graduated cylinder is used for measuring out and pouring liquids.
Evidence: Graduated cylinders have a grooved spout, detailed markings on the side, and a wide base.
Reasoning: the detailed markings and wide base make it easy to pour in and measure liquids accurately while the grooved spout makes it easy to pour out or transfer those liquids into other containers.
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I had my students submit a playlist of 5 songs that they connect with. I asked students to think of songs that would set them apart from other students – such that when we looked at the songs, we definitely knew it was them. The idea was to see if students could predict who could be good friends or just acquaintances based on song choice- sort of like how FB can predict possible connections based on interests. After I collected them, I typed them out onto anonymous cards and handed them out to students. Of course, once they got them, they wanted to find and share who they were on this grid but I told them to keep it a secret for now.
Their job was to sort the students on a scale from one extreme to another based on musical taste.
The idea was that students who were right beside each other were close friends while the further away from each other meant that they were only acquaintances or perhaps people they wouldn’t talk to in class. I gave them 15 minutes to cut out, organize, discuss, sort, and listen to tunes. After, I had a few groups share their lists on the board and we looked. We found that there were of course similarities, which showed that there were students with similar musical tastes. But, does that mean students who are matched close together are good friends?
In the end, I showed them a list that matched the student to the playlists and people got to see who they felt should be their closest friend due to musical taste. And, I asked, does musical taste predict close friendships? Explain using the CER format.
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This year, as part of a getting to know you exercise and to practice CER, I told students about Youtube, Spotify, and TikTok’s algorithms and how they are able to accurately predict other songs or videos I would like to watch based on what I’ve previously viewed and my personality and interests.
I told my students to pretend they were the algorithm and to try to predict the songs I like to listen to. I showed them 3 playlists I created and to told them to predict the playlist that is actually a playlist I listen to heavily (the other two are not songs I listen to regularly).
We listened to clips of each song before they started and we even played a short game of 20 questions. Then, I gave them 5 minutes to come up with a conclusion as to which playlist was mine. I told them to explain their choice using the CER or Claim Evidence Reasoning format and to use their observations of me as their evidence.
To view my students’ responses, please watch the episode. To view my playlists, you can download my handout below which also has a summary of my instructions.
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For assessment, I want to assess students in a way that requires them to apply their conceptual knowledge into their answers. I don’t want students to just regurgitate knowledge or take numbers and plug into formulas. I want students to find connections and applications between classroom science and the real world and to think like a scientist in areas outside the science classroom.
Instructions
Basically, I ask an open ended, science question at the beginning of the term and then the same question at the end of the term to see how much more detail and skill has been acquired over the term.
One question I gave my Grade 12 Physics students was this: What career to you want in the future? How is physics applicable to your future career? Provide 2 specific examples (and explain your examples) of how physics is present in your future career.
From my student responses, the thing I like most about this question is how it showed me how a lot of students can’t form or aren’t actively forming connections between what they’re learning in science class and the real world. Perhaps, as a science teacher, I need to make an even more focused effort on making this apparent. And, perhaps my students need to actively look for connections too. It needs to be top of mind for them.
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In today’s back pocket science lesson, I try to determine which parts of the body are more sensitive than others. It’s what I’m calling the Simple Nerve test, and you’ll need a ruler, a paper clip and a pencil and paper to record the data.
First, take a paper clip and unwind it into a ‘U’. Use a ruler to help you adjust the width between the tips of the ‘U’ so that they are 2 cm apart.
Next, find a part of your body to test – like the forearm – and have a partner help you test. Have your partner poke your forearm with the paper clip with either one or two tips while you guess how many tips – 1 or 2 – you were poked with. And, make sure you record whether the guess was right or not too. Do 10 pokes, and then switch roles.
Then, adjust the width of the “U” to 1cm and repeat.
Then, repeat the lab but with a different part of the body.
Compare which parts of the body had more accurate guesses. The areas where the guess percentages are higher are more sensitive than others.
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For this Back Pocket Science Lesson, I show my students a can of duster, I tell them that I wonder if it’s all a scam, and I ask: what test could I perform to determine if the gas in this can is different than, let’s say, the breath coming out of my lungs.
Some say “taste it!” or “inhale it” to which I respond, “we don’t taste or inhale any substances purposefully in science class” followed up by, “I know what you’re looking for – you’re looking for different properties compared to regular air – but is there any property I can test that doesn’t require tasting or breathing?”
One simple test is to measure the density of the air from my lungs and compare it to the density of the gas from a can of electronics duster. Density is basically the amount of stuff or mass that is packed into a volume of space. Every material has its own density.
First, fill up the one balloon with duster. Then, blow up the 2nd balloon to approximately the same size. Here’s a pro tip: it’s better to blow up the balloon after filling the first balloon with duster because it’s easier to adjust the volume. We want the balloons to have the same volume because then we can more easily compare any differences in density. If there is no density difference, then both balloons will feel and behave the same way and, therefore, we can reasonably conclude that both balloons would contain the same gas if this was the case.
There’s a few things you can do to compare balloon densities. The simplest way is to hold one in each hand and you’ll definitely feel a difference in mass. One balloon definitely has more mass, and therefore, is more dense. For a more precise observation, you could weigh the balloons separately. Finally, you can drop them side by side and compare their fall. Balloons with different densities will hit the ground at different times.
As you will see from the video, the balloons will hit the ground at different times. Therefore, the balloons have different densities and, therefore, different gases. So, I guess duster isn’t just regular air that’s been bottled after all.
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Welcome to Science Teacher Summer School, Episode 11.
I’m Kent Lui, and something you may not know about me is that I’m a middle child. And, I’m the worst kind of middle child – where I have an older brother and younger sister. The oldest sibling will always be the first (and, in my family, he’s a boy which is a big deal) and the youngest will always be the baby but, in my family, is also the only girl. So, the middle, who’s not the oldest or the baby, who isn’t the first girl or boy – has nothing special. So, he gets neglected. Perhaps, that explains a lot about me. Now, let’s get to work.
This is the last episode of Science Teacher Summer School. I’ve enjoyed making this series of videos. I’m working on a new series of videos right now and my focus is still on better science education. Please subscribe to my youtube channel and email list at realsciencechallenge.com to stay posted on when new episodes will be published.
A couple of weeks ago, I posted this discussion question, “What’s missing from science education” in a Facebook community chat for parents. I wanted to know the parents’ perspective of the science classroom and how I should refocus my practice this year- assuming their concerns, of course, were legitimate or logical. The question received 126 responses. So, what did parents say, and what does this mean for us as science teachers? We look at some of the most popular responses and ask what it could mean for us.
The most common theme coming from parent responses is that parents wanted their kids to learn to think like a scientist. For example,
One parent wrote, “What scientific research actually involves and that it is not equally valid to the “research” you do by googling something while you’re on the toilet.”
Another wrote, “How to find credible information…and developing and honing their critical thinking and reading skills to spot inaccurate or misleading information might well save their lives.”
And another wrote, “Switch focus from learning specific facts and information to learning how to think like a scientist.”
Finally, one of my favourite responses wrote, “On the whole as a society, we are scientifically illiterate, anti-education, and consider science a political tool of the left and acts against God. Like when Bill Nye was booed fiercely when saying “the moon reflects the sun’s light.”
This response is surprising because I think most teachers have the goal of teaching students to think like a scientist or being scientifically literate. That’s why we do lab reports and scientific method, science fair, inquiry projects, etc. Yet, parents still feel it needs to be taught. But, why? I have a few theories:
My first theory is that some teachers don’t teach scientific thinking. But, this is not simply because teachers don’t want to. For example, in the lower grades, the focus for most teachers is still reading, writing, and arithmetic. Thus, science is merely a means to help with reading and, therefore, science skill isn’t really a focus. Also, teachers in elementary school may not have a science background and may feel as though they have the science skills to teach science skills. Thus, scientific thinking may not be practiced or taught. Therefore, the one option is for teachers to get some more pro-d in scientific thinking. Another option is to bring parents who have a science background come in to share their skills for some lessons. But, what about high school science teachers – many of whom have a science background?
As a high school science teacher myself, I think we do teach scientific thinking – but many of us may not do it very effectively right now. Time is the typical reason or excuse we use – like, “there’s not enough time for me to go through all the foundational content and do scientific literacy or science fair” or “there isn’t enough time for me to prep another unit or lab activity”. But, there are teachers who are able to do both – teach science literacy and content – well. And, I think, it’s because they’ve learned how to do content and scientific thinking together. Yes, if we treat both goals – teaching foundational content and teaching scientific thinking – as separate goals – then, yes, we’ll do a terrible job of it and probably run out of time. But, weaving content and scientific thinking more frequently and consciously will save time and allow scientific thinking to be taught. I’m not saying it’s easy to do – but, that’s what needs to happen to have both goals met..
Lastly, we may do a great job of integrating content and scientific thinking together. We do a great job of teaching scientific thinking. But, parents still don’t see it. Then what? I think it’s because parents only see a snapshot of what is going on in the class. We give parents report cards and mid-term reports. We may even call home once in a while. But, they really don’t know what’s going on in class. So, we need to include them in the classroom. For example, we can include parental involvement in some of the tasks we ask students to do. I remember in Grade 7, my science teacher wanted us to track how efficient our family car was. So, everyday, we were told to write down the odometer reading on the car. And, every evening, when my dad got home from work, I asked to borrow the car keys so I could take down the odometer reading. There wasn’t a lot of parental involvement, but the project definitely started more than one conversation between my dad and I about science class.
That’s all the time we have for this episode. Please leave questions in the comments section below. As mentioned before, this is the last of science teacher summer school 2021. However, I’ll be starting a new Science Ed series soon and I’m pretty excited about it. More details are to come.. Subscribe and stay tuned!
Thanks for watching. And, remember to science everywhere everyday.
Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!
Handouts are available at the bottom of this post.
Video Transcript
Hi Science Teachers,
Welcome to Science Teacher Summer School, Episode 11.
I’m Kent Lui, and something you may not know about me is I have a sweet tooth and just recently, I had half a box of cereal for dinner. I’m not talking about some healthy, high fibre, organic cereal. I had 3 bowls of honey comb – the high fructose, simulated flavored children’s cereal – with whole milk. Although it was tasty, it will not be repeated for some time. Now, let’s get to work.
I’ve been teaching for roughly 17 years and I’m still constantly learning more and reflecting on my craft. I love talking with older colleagues because they give me insights I may not have thought of before. I love talking with fresh teachers too because they help light a fire in my belly again. Recently, I spoke with a colleague who has been teaching for 9 years, and our conversation made me think about how I used to teach as a younger teacher and how I teach now. In this episode, I open up the vault and share what I used to do with students on the first day of school as a younger teacher and what I do now as a seasoned one. So, what have my first days been like?
When I first started teaching, chicken soup books – you know, the ones filled with inspirational quotes for daily struggles – were really popular. At the time, I wanted to offer something similar to my students. So, I created a handout called Mr. Lui’s Chicken Soup. It was filled with quotes on a range of student questions like why do I have to learn this or what do I do if I’m feeling lazy or why should I try my best. I would give this handout to every student to read on the first day, and then have students share their favourite and provide a reason why. Some of my favourite quotes from the list include
“Do. Or do not. There is no try.” by Yoda
“If a man is called to be a street sweeper, he should sweep streets even as a Michaelangelo painted, or Beethoven composed music or Shakespeare wrote poetry. He should sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will pause to say, ‘Here lived a great street sweeper who did his job well.” by Martin Luther King Jr.
“People who work sitting down get paid more than people who work standing up.” by American Poet Ogden Nash.
Check out realsciencechallenge.com/summerschool11 to download a copy of Mr. Lui’s Chicken Soup.
Another year, I wanted to do something related to mindfulness and sensory deprivation chambers – you know, those water tanks in which people float in darkness for half an hour or more – came to mind. I wanted to bring that same experience to my first day with the kids. So, before class started, I had students wait outside my door while I shut off all the lights, set up LED tea light candles around the room, and placed paper grocery bags on each desk. I had students come in without talking, sit down at a desk, and place the paper bag over their heads. I would have them sit there quietly for a few minutes, take some deep breaths, and observe and be comfortable with the silence. Then I would ask them a few questions to answer silently in their heads – such as, what is something you are really good at? What are some of the goals you have for science this year? Imagine you accomplished your goals – what would it look like and how would you feel? Some students felt the experience was pretty cool while others thought it was weird. But, it was definitely memorable, and I explain to students afterwards that I want them to be in the right mindset for science this year – which is why we started with this activity.
For the last few years, I started the year by introducing CER and doing an activity where I show students personal artifacts I have stored in my classroom and then I have them write a CER statement about my personality. Go back to Science Teacher Summer School Episode 2 for a few more details. They need to analyze the artifacts I show them and come up with a conclusion about me. It’s a good way for students to learn about me and practice CER at the same time.
This upcoming school year I’m thinking about doing Chicken Soup again. This whole process of reflecting on what I did when I first started teaching made me want to recapture the spirit of the work I did back then and blend it with my outlook today. Maybe I’ll call it Chicken Soup 2.0.
That’s all the time we have for this episode. Please leave questions in the comments section below. Our next episode is our last episode of this series, and I want to end off by talking about what parents think about Science education. You don’t want to miss it.
Thanks for watching. And, remember to science everywhere everyday.
Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!
Handouts are available for download at the end of this page.
Video Transcript
Hi Science Teachers,
Welcome to Science Teacher Summer School, Episode 10.
I’m Kent Lui, and something you may not know about me is that one time, when I was younger, I wanted to trim some extra pounds off my gut. So, I gave up drinking pop and instead, decided to drink fruit juices. Needless to say, I didn’t lose any weight because fruit juices are high in sugar too. I think I may have actually gained some pounds doing it. Now, let’s get to work.
Today’s topic is about setting up your science rubrics – and specifically, the four column rubric. Rubrics are not new to science education; however, they have become more popular since science curricula have shifted towards more skills based and standards based assessment. Here in BC, we use a four column rubric to assess skills according to these four levels of ability in ascending order: Emerging (being the lowest), Developing, Proficient, and Extending being the top. The problem is defining the different levels of ability. When it comes to setting up rubrics, how can we efficiently define ability levels – especially between the top two – or proficient vs extending – levels?
First, don’t worry about having your rubric match exactly what your colleagues have. We’re all science teachers – we all studied science and know what good science looks like. And, chances are, our colleagues are looking for pretty much the same thing from their students as we are from ours. We just happen to word or classify it slightly differently than them. So, don’t worry about getting it “right”. I firmly believe we’re all pretty close to each other – and close is good enough.
However, I will be providing a sample rubric later if you want to see my categorizing in action.
When I start developing my rubrics, I define what “proficient” is. Proficient” is what a student needs to say or demonstrate in order to get an A. For a written test question, the “correct answer” is “proficient”. In a lab, “proficient” could mean, for example, creating a neat data table and taking down the measurements with correct units and significant digits. And, according to BC standards, for me, doing everything correctly is 2nd to the top of my rubric. So, what constitutes “extending” or the top column?
To me, extending means a student makes connections from other areas to this particular context. For example, for a written test question where I ask students to explain a phenomenon or provide an argument, I look for students to bring in examples from areas outside of the one being tested directly.
Finally, I hammer out the criteria for emerging and developing. Typically, it depends on how much stuff I asked for is missing. If most of what I’m looking for is missing, then it’s emerging. If one or two things are missing, then it’s developing.
For example, consider this rubric I have used to mark CER Statements.
First, a proficient CER statement starts with a definitive conclusion or argument, references data from the sources provided, and provides a logical explanation that is grounded in scientific knowledge for the phenomenon. An Extended CER statement would have everything under the Proficient column as well as a related, outside example. A developing CER statement would have a definitive conclusion but might not cite data or provide a logical explanation. An emerging CER statement would perhaps just have a definitive conclusion and nothing else.
Let’s see this rubric be used in a test question on evolution I gave my students this past year. I gave them this diagram on horse evolution; and, I asked them this question: is horse evolution an example of gradualism or punctuated equilibrium? Write an argument using the CER format.
A proficient statement would start with a definitive claim that horse evolution was an example of punctuated equilibrium. For evidence, they would say that the table provided shows hundreds of thousands if not millions of years between significant changes to the physical characteristics of the horse and they would provide specific details. For reasoning, they would say that these long stretches of no change was likely due to the environment remaining relatively unchanged for long periods of time – and, therefore, physical characteristics would remain unchanged. An extending statement may include everything just mentioned but may also compare horse evolution to other cases of punctuated equilibrium.
That’s all the time we have for this episode. Please leave questions in the comments section below. Join me next time, when I’ll be sharing how I start my first day of school. I’ll be sharing stuff that I used to do when I first started my career – and stuff I do now. You don’t want to miss it.
Thanks for watching. And, remember to science everywhere everyday.
Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!
Welcome to Science Teacher Summer School, Episode 9
I’m Kent Lui, and something you may not know about me is that I joined a meetup group called the Vancouver Tallperson’s club back when I was young and single. I just met the minimum height at the time of 6 feet 2 inches – which would have made me, the first time in my life, the shortest person in the room. Now, let’s get to work.
Here’s an age old question: What do we teach? Your initial answer may be “I teach science.” Or, “I teach Chemistry 11” or whatever your timetable is during the year. Here’s a quick shout out to Mark McNeilly, retired math teacher, who told me, “Kent, we teach kids.”
Because everything is now on the internet, it’s not so much science content that is the focus of our teaching these days. The focus is on teaching skills – like processing and analyzing data, communicating findings, evaluating bias, and planning and conducting experiments.
But science teachers love the content. And I get it. I love the content too. I love balancing chemical equations and writing chemical symbols for chemical names. I love drawing free body diagrams and the stages of mitosis. I enjoy decoding the mysteries of the Doppler effect and red shift. But, we are supposed to teach skills in areas of science that can be content heavy.
So, how can skills be taught efficiently in areas of science that are fact heavy – like lab safety?
We need to consider what content is essential to teach and what we want students to be able to do with that content. For example, we all teach a small unit on lab safety. But, how do we teach it to highlight science skills? Typically, we talk about lab safety in class, maybe give a short assignment or demo, and then a short quiz where students regurgitate some safety facts. However, is that how we want students to view lab safety – simply a list of rules and something to check off a list? When I teach lab safety, I take a few minutes to summarize the most important points. Then, I have students do a lab where they brew coffee. It’s a simple lab where they use lab equipment to brew coffee. But, the point is that they gain experience doing a lab safely. At the end, I ask them what they felt were the most important safety rules pertaining to the lab. For their lab safety quiz, I give them a table with industry data that shows what injuries are most common in the workplace. And, I ask 1 question: Analyze the injury data and state what you think is the most important safety rule in the workplace? Students are expected to construct their argument using CER.
So, in teaching lab safety, I have students not only practice lab safety skills but also skills like argumentation and analysis. What I’ve found is that content heavy areas of science are really good areas at getting students to practice skills like argumentation, evaluating models and analogies, and forming connections between ideas. For example, for my science 10 quiz on evolution, I give students an illustrated timeline of horse evolution and I ask one question: is horse evolution an example of punctuated equilibrium or gradualism? Please analyze the timeline and write an argument using CER.
To get started teaching science skills through our curricular content, consider the following questions:
What are the essential pieces of content and skill you want students to know?
How can I evaluate this effectively and, if possible, creatively? The creative part is important because it allows for us to think of fun ways for students to practice and demonstrate these skills. And,
How will I know when a student gets it? This question helps me determine what an A would look like in my class.
That’s all the time we have for this episode. Please leave questions in the comments section below. Join me next time, when I’ll be sharing how I come up with the 4-point scales on my rubrics. You don’t want to miss it.
Thanks for watching. And, remember to science everywhere everyday.
Our resources are free. We aren’t collecting emails for our resources. However, it would help us out if you liked us on our Facebook page and subscribed to our Youtube Channel. Thanks!