Author: Kent

Handouts are available below

Big Idea

How do you start your science storylines so that students are interested? We all use stories to teach science: when we organize the concepts and activities in a specific sequence so that one idea leads logically into another, we’re telling a story. Textbooks offer one type of story – but, best practice is that we come up with our own better storylines – ones based on some of our own interests – because if we’re interested in it, then our students will be interested in it too. Check out this episode to see how we use one type of graph to build interest at the beginning of our science storylines.

Using Engaging Graphs as Phenomena for Science Storylines

NOTE: Our transcript is below. Download handouts at the bottom of our page and follow along! Or, watch the video.

A storyline is simply using a story to organize the scientific concepts a student will learn. In a way, we all tell a story when we teach a unit in science. We organize the concepts and activities in a specific sequence so that one idea leads logically into another. Traditionally, we’ve looked to textbooks for the storyline. But, best practice is that we come up with our own better storylines – ones based on some of our own interests – because if we’re interested in it, then our passions will rub off on the students and they’ll be interested in it. Typically, a storyline starts with a phenomenon and each lesson after that is aimed at addressing and explaining some part of that phenomenon.

One big problem is that many of our colleagues get stuck finding a phenomenon to use for a unit. We think phenomena have to be something in the news, something mysterious or wacky or an odd result or occurrence. These phenomena take time to find and time to fit into what we’re teaching. But, if we’re just getting started using storylines, a simpler and easier phenomenon to start with is that of human history and how it relates to scientific and technological change. And, this is where a graph works so well.

For example, my student teacher is teaching types of energy for the first time and he’s having a difficult time figuring out how concepts fit together. He got this notes package from another teacher that lists one form of energy after another – chemical, hydroelectric, nuclear, solar, wind, etc. And, he’s planning to use this to teach the concepts. Problem is, it’s boring and just feels like a list of facts to know. However, we had a conversation and came up with the idea of teaching different forms of energy generation by tracking how world energy consumption has changed over time. This is what we found online. During our conversation, we also talked about changes in demand over time, the causes for these changes – perhaps due to changes in lifestyle, perhaps due to industry or war. So, I went off and put one of these changes – changes to world population over time – on top of the graph. And here’s what it looks like: in 1804, there was approximately 1 billion people on earth; in 1850, 1.2 billion, and with such a small population increase over 50 years, it’s no wonder there weren’t more energy needs – so traditional biomass is still most popular. However, in the mid 1900s, population growth shot up – 3 billion in 1960, 4 billion in 1974, 5 billion in 1987 etc etc – and, as a result, greater energy needs and greater diversity in how we get that energy. Now, we can start talking about each type of energy production and perhaps talk about why we use it, how it’s helped our energy needs, and why there are new types of energy production. Also, consider what other events you can mark on the graph – the advancement of electricity, cars, planes, television, home conveniences like stoves and refrigerators – all this would tell another interesting story. All this came out of a short 10 minute discussion and now I want to teach this unit with this storyline. I’m going to give myself a pat on the back.

Thanks for reading, and let’s talk science education again soon.

Resources

Handout(s): Ep53 Handout – Starting Interesting Science Storylines Using This Graph

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Handouts are available below

 

Big Idea

 

How do you have students practice developing models? Check out what I had my students complete recently – it’s my Video Game Cladogram Activity, which shows how different items are linked to each other. I use this activity to have students analyze, categorize, and create models from data. And, also to teach cladograms. But, even if you don’t teach evolution or cladograms with your students, you can still do this activity because all those skills I mentioned before – analyzing, categorizing, and creating models from data – are ones that all science students should be practicing.

 

 

Developing Models by Using Video Game Consoles

NOTE: Download Handouts below and follow along! Or, watch the video

 

First, a quick rundown of cladograms. A cladogram shows hypothetical evolutionary relationships between organisms and common ancestors. Consider these 4 animals we want to connect together in a hypothetical evolutionary tree: a shark, a bullfrog, a kangaroo, and humans. Here is a cladogram (refer to handouts below). Now, how do we get here? First, we make a table and come up with characteristics that group and divide animals. For example, for the shark, bullfrog, kangaroo, and human, which organisms have a vertebrae. Well, they all do, so we mark an X for each box. Next, which organisms have two pairs of limbs? Sharks don’t have two pairs of limbs, but the bullfrog, kangaroo, and human do – so we mark X’s for them. Next, which organisms have mammary glands? Not sharks or bullfrogs, but kangaroos and humans do. And so on and so forth – we come up with the characteristics that are important to us. It helps to think of simpler characteristics that a lot of animals share and more sophisticated ones that only a few share.

 

Next, we make a Venn diagram. The largest circle represents the most common characteristic – in this case, having a vertebrae – which all organisms have and are therefore found in this circle. Next, we draw a circle within this bigger circle with the next most common trait – in this case, having 2 pairs of limbs. So the animals in this circle will have a vertebrae and have 2 pairs of limbs – which is all animals except for the shark. And so on and so forth. Finally, we convert this Venn diagram into what looks like a tree with branches. We start with the most common characteristic – for example, vertebrae, which all organisms have. The next most common characteristic, two pairs of limbs, a shark does not have – thus, it branches off from the group. Everything after this point shares the characteristic of having 2 pairs of limbs. Then, the next characteristic and the next.

 

In my Video Game Cladogram Activity, I start by giving students 1 sheet of paper that has pictures of gaming consoles. Sometimes I give 2 or 3 sheets, if I want to make the activity more challenging. Just like the animal cladograms, I have students create a data table with characteristics that group and divide video game consoles – for example, students may look at whether the controllers are hard wired to the console or not, how many buttons are on the controller, if the console has a screen built in like the Gameboy. Then, students draw the venn diagram with circles within circles. And, finally, students cut out the consoles and glue the cut outs onto chart paper to make a cladogram. Students use markers to label and add text to their chart paper. The final result is this – and, no two are ever exactly alike – which means we can see what students are thinking without them striving and trying to copy the “right” answer.

 

Thanks for reading, and let’s talk science education again soon.

 

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Ep52 Handouts – Video Game Consoles (Puzzle Pieces) – Cladograms

 

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Handouts are available below

 

Big Idea

 

Evaluating arguments, claims, and lab results is a science skill that needs to be taught and assessed in the NGSS as well as the BC Science Curriculum. How do you assess it? Today, I share two types of the questions I generate for labs and tests to assess the “evaluate” skill.

 

 

Two Types of Questions to Assess Evaluation

 

Before I get into the questions, I want you to know that I tend to assess evaluation on tests and not assignments because tests are the one task I know where students are working independently. With labs and take-home assignments, students copy off each other or get help from others and, thus, may not be representative of a student’s ability.

 

Now, evaluation differs depending on context; thus, I’m going to go over 2 of the most common ways I assess evaluation depending on 2 different definitions of evaluation according to the curriculum.

 

Definition 1: Evaluation is evaluating claims using scientific knowledge and findings from investigations. On a test, what I do is give students an opinion or idea and I ask them whether they believe the opinion or idea is true or false based on what they’ve learned. For example, on my quiz on KMT, I give this question on juicing lemons – and, yes, juicing lemons is related to KMT. “Lemons can be juiced by cutting a lemon in half and then pressing it against the dome of a citrus juicer. One day, Leo collected 15 mL of lemon juice using a citrus juicer. Leo’s friend, Brian, suggested Leo heat up the lemons before juicing them. Brian said that heating up the lemon before juicing will result in more juice being collected. Do you agree with Brian’s hypothesis?”

 

Now, consider other wild claims you’ve come across and put those on a quiz for students to consider. The issue is not so much whether they’re right or wrong but more of how they’ve come up with their conclusion.

 

Definition 2: Evaluation is identifying possible sources of error and suggesting improvements to our investigation methods. For this, I give students a lab activity to perform for which I know the exact result and they need to draw a conclusion from it. Even better if the lab is something that is counter intuitive to students. For example, in our pendulum lab, I have students measure how long it takes for pendulums of increasing mass to complete 10 swings if they all start from the same height. So, students construct a pendulum with 1 washer and swing it 10 times and then a pendulum with 2 washers and swing it 10 times and so on. Students measure the time and come up with a conclusion. Usually, students believe that mass decreases the time it takes to complete 10 swings – and they will try to manipulate their data to match their belief either by redoing parts that don’t agree. Then, I tell students the real answer – mass does not change the time. Thus, the time for 10 swings is the same regardless of mass swinging. So, for a post lab assignment, students answer one question by themselves: identify 2 possible sources of error in your lab data and explain the impact of those errors.

 

You might not make pendulums in your class, I get it. But consider other measurements you make – like those for density, which is pretty set for metals. You can do the same lab there and have students explain their errors.

 

Thanks for reading, and let’s talk science education again soon.

 

 

Resources

 

Handout(s):  Ep51 Handouts – Testing Students’ Evaluating Ability

 

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Handouts are available below

 

Big Idea

 

What is the One and Done Myth? If you’re using Standards Based Grading (or plan to), you may have encountered it already. It’s a popular misconception, and, today, I dive a little deeper into what it is and how to fight this myth.

 

 

The “One and Done” Myth

 

One and Done is not true because a student is only considered proficient or extending if they can consistently demonstrate that ability. Note: the key word is consistent. For example, let’s say a student’s assessment summary shows this for the skill of questioning and predicting (like writing hypotheses and asking questions), which was assessed in the chemistry unit. Even though the student scored proficient on the first assignment, the rest of the assignments show developing – so the student is developing for this skill. In other words, we are taking the most consistent marking and not the highest mark. Also, it’s also helpful to see the type of assignment the student got proficient in. For example, the student scored developing on a quiz question – which may be more representative of the student’s ability because on a quiz, a student must answer the question without help from others.

 

With regards to a final assessment, a colleague of mine – shout out to Tanya Virani – suggests looking at the proficiencies across units. This addresses the argument that some science areas are more difficult than others – thus, if we look at the same skill assessed in different content areas, we can get a clearer picture of the ability of that student. In this case, the student is Extending in Q&P because they are able to do this consistently across different content areas.

 

Note: there may be other things that go into determining a student’s proficiency – like perhaps an upward trend in the student’s performance, which would make me consider the more recent assessments as opposed to the earlier ones.

 

Thanks for reading, and let’s talk science education again soon.

 

 

Resources

 

Handout(s):  Ep50 – One and Done

 

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Handouts are available below

 

Big Idea

 

I was giving a workshop on Standards Based Grading last week, and one question that came up – which comes up a lot – was whether we’re allowed to fail students when we use standards based assessment because some of my colleagues have heard from their administrators that students aren’t allowed to fail in SBA. But, from my own experience, students have failed while using SBA – and I’ll tell you how in below.

 

 

A Mark of Incomplete or Insufficient

 

Quick refresher: in SBA, students are assessed on a four level proficiency scale starting at emerging, developing, proficient, and extending. The misconception that students can’t fail comes from the misguided idea that all students start at emerging – that they have a basic ability at performing a skill – so long as they attempt to perform a task- regardless of how horribly they may have performed a task. In other words, because a student tried, they are automatically at the lowest level on the scale – “Emerging”.

 

However, not every student necessarily starts at emerging – some don’t make it to emerging at all – and that’s how a student can fail in an SBA system. This happens when a student (1) does not answer questions or avoids performing tasks – which I consider incomplete or (2) they write down answers that don’t really answer the question or perform tasks that are not contributing to their learning. I consider the latter to be insufficient evidence. For example, let’s say that on a test, I asked students to write an argument for which organelle in the cell that they believe is the least important. An incomplete response would be no response. An insufficient response would be if they wrote something that didn’t answer the question, like “cells have organelles” or “plant cells have chloroplasts and animal cells don’t”.

 

Of course, getting incomplete or insufficient evidence on one task doesn’t immediately mean a student fails. It just means they weren’t able to complete that task at that moment at the emerging level. However, if a student consistently shows they cannot consistently perform a skill at the emerging level and, instead, regularly gets incomplete or insufficient evidence, then a student can fail.

 

Thanks for reading, and let’s talk science education again soon.

 

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Ep49 Handout – Revised SBA Proficiency Scale

 

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Handouts are available below

 

Big Idea

 

Are you happy with your unit plans – or, do you go through them and, afterwards, wonder if you really hit everything you’re supposed to? And, did I do it as well as I had hoped? And, was there a better way? To be honest, I fall into the latter. Of course, we’re all taught in our teacher education programs to plan everything at the beginning of the unit, but things don’t always go as planned. Below, I’m sharing a quick organizer I’ve used at the end of a unit to see what outcomes I actually covered so that I can revamp my unit plan for the better next time around. 

 

 

Visualizing Your Unit Plan

 

First, a quick shout out to Kent Rockwell, fellow Burnaby Science Teacher, for sharing this with me: a map of the assignments and tests he has students complete that all connect to a skill we’re supposed to assess students on. In British Columbia, we’re supposed to assess students on 6 competencies (aka skills or practices): questioning and predicting, planning and conducting, process and analyze, evaluating, applying and innovating, and communicating. In the NGSS, these are known as Science and Engineering Practices. According to the Mr. Rockwell’s map, he assesses a Chemistry 12 student’s ability to question and predict through Lab 18A, 18B, and his assignments on Le Chatelier’s Principle, Weak Acid Titration, and Ksp Lab.

 

The advantage of planning this way is that it does 2 things: (1) it makes sure I cover each competency equally – so, I don’t assess one skill five times and another just one time. And (2), this overview frees me from the homework or tests I need to formally mark and include in my marks book. Thus, I don’t have to collect and mark everything. There could be some things we do in class that are just for practice and therefore I give a completion mark. And, those completion marks or homework checks don’t go into their overall mark, just towards their work habits. Ultimately, this saves time – but, of course, before we do that, we first need to know what we’re going to assign to meet each goal.

 

So, I applied this template at the end of my chemistry unit with my grade 9s to see what skills I covered and what skills I left out. And here are the results – as you can see, I had quite a few assessments for this one skill – process and analyze – but I didn’t assign anything to cover this skill – question and predicting. So, 2 things I’ll do: (1) add some more question and predict assessments to my other units and (2) next year, add a couple ways to assess this skill in the chemistry unit.

 

I encourage you to take a few minutes to do the same at the end of your unit plan to help you create a better one next time. One that, hopefully, covers everything you need and saving you time when it comes to marking.

 

Thanks for reading, and let’s talk science again soon.

 

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Ep48 Handout – Unit Plan Visualization (pdf) (docx)

 

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Handouts are available below

 

Big Idea

 

As science teachers, we have students produce graphs all the time – but how do we mark them without spending too much time on it while still maintaining a high standard? In this post, I’m sharing how I use proficiency scales – specifically, a 1-column rubric – to mark graphs more efficiently. 

 

 

Why Use a Proficiency Scale?

 

We all start marking graphs from the same place: we use a checklist and assign or remove points based on what’s included in or missing from the graph.

 

This is great as a starting place. But, more recent science curriculum like the ngss is grounded in proficiency of science skills and not just content, and using numbers – like a scale out of 10 or 20 – is a very inefficient way to communicate proficiency. For example, if a student gets an 8 out of 0 on a graph and another gets 9 out of 10, aren’t they both just as proficient? It’s like a student who gets 75% and another who gets 76% – practically speaking, there’s no difference. So why go through the whole exercise of tallying up individual marks and computing a score out of 10 or 20? Why not just say, “Proficient”? Seems faster to me. Here in British Columbia, we use a proficiency scale of emerging, developing, proficient and extending to assess a student’s proficiency at a skill as opposed to using numbers.

 

 

So, when it comes to marking a graph, I’m starting to use a 1 column rubric. That is, all the items that make a graph proficient will be at proficient level. If a student doesn’t hit these items effectively, then they’re developing or emerging. If they’re able to really dive deep into the graph, they’re extending. But, the key thing we need to stress is that we want all students to get to proficient. Not extending. This is why proficient is all filled in. But, first, I need to decide what proficient looks like. Check the handout for my general criteria.

 

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk science again soon.

 

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Ep47 Handout – One Column Rubric for Marking Graphs

 

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Handouts are available below

 

Big Idea

Are you looking for a super creative project that has students learn about cell organelles? In this episode, I share one with you – one that my colleagues have said, on one hand, that it’s creative and innovative. But, those same colleagues have also said that it’s me going off the deep end – wondering what I was thinking or what I was “on” when I came up with it. I call it the cell soundtrack project, and we can do it using some sounds off the GarageBand app or anywhere else you can get sounds. My grade 8 students are currently having a blast doing it. And, I want to challenge teachers and students out there to go off the deep end with us and create a collection of cell soundtracks together. 

 

The #cellsoundtrack Project

Before introducing the project, I ask students what an audio collage of the school would sound like? What school sounds would be included in this audio track? Some students say the squeaking of shoes on the gym floor, the shuffling of books when class is over, the school bell, students talking loudly in the cafeteria, etc. A soundtrack to the school would have all those sounds playing all at once.

 

Then, I introduce the project by asking what an audio collage of a cell would sound like? What would all the cell organelles sound like if they were a bunch of instruments or sounds playing together? My students need to figure this out and produce a soundtrack. During class time, I lend iPads (from our school library) to my students to have them figure it out in the Garageband app. Note: we’re using the live loops feature in GarageBand for this assignment.

 

For example, the cell membrane functions as the shell that separates the inside of the cell from the outside. To me, a cell membrane could sound like a clave, which is a hollow shell sound. Check the video to see.

Now, I stress to students that what I’m marking them on is their ability to communicate how they connected the function of an organelle to the sound they chose. Thus, they can’t just choose random sounds that sound cool together.

For example, I think the cytoplasm is the setting for the organelles, it’s where organelles reside, it’s like the background of a painting or a movie set or song. Thus, to me, it sounds like a bass guitar playing in the background. As for the nucleus, the nucleus drives the function of the cell. Thus, to me, a nucleus sounds like a good strong drum rhythm that pushes the pulse of a song.

What’s interesting about this project is that not everyone agrees with the sounds. A colleague of mine feels the nucleus should be the lead guitar in front of a band – because lead guitars play the melody of a piece – and that’s a valid justification too.

After students pick loops to organelles, they set the sounds to animation. This animation starts with the cell membrane, then 5 seconds later, the cytoplasm appears, and 5 seconds later, the nucleus appears and another and another until all of them are present.  The animation builds the cell one organelle and sound at a time until all are there, and then starts taking away one organelle and sound at a time in reverse until only 1 remains. You can view the full animation with soundtrack on Youtube.

If you want a copy of the animation, download a copy in the Resources section below. To participate in our cell soundtrack collection, add your soundtrack to the animation and upload the clip to YouTube. Include #cellsoundtrack in your description. I’m looking forward to hearing what other students besides my own come up with.

 

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk science again soon.

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Ep46 Handout – Cell Soundtrack Table, Cell Animation [Video]

 

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Handouts are available below

 

Big Idea

Can students look at a graph and understand what’s going on? I explain to kids that this is an important skill to have because graphs aren’t just the boring ones we see in textbooks with the x and y axis. Graphs have become more visual, more sophisticated, especially when they’re published in newspapers, magazines, and online. But, how much time do we spend teaching students how to analyze a graph when one is put in front of them? 

 

Using “What’s Going on In This Graph?” by NYT

Before I begin, all the graphs I used for my workshop – including some of the discussion questions – is from the NYT activity known as “What’s Going On in This Graph?” – so, a big thanks to the NYT. If you’re looking for well produced graphs on relevant topics to use with your classes, the NYT’s activity is a good place to start. I also added some of my own leading questions to help students get started analyzing graphs – which I write about below.

 

As for graph analysis itself, I give students a handout that tells them the 3 big questions we’re answering when analyzing a graph (note: all 3 questions are from NYT’s WGOITG Activity):

1. What do you notice?
2. What do you wonder?
3. What’s going on in the graph? In other words, what is a catchy headline you can write for the graph?

 

To give them a little bit more structure in graph analysis, I give students a few more things to consider (found on the back of the handout):

1. What type of graph is it?
2. What is being represented on the x and y axis? What are the units?
3. What is the relationship between x and y?

Then, we go over a couple of examples together – both of which I have linked to in the handouts. We go over the questions above and come up with catchy headlines. It all takes about 10-15 minutes.

 

Then, I give them 4 graphs for them to work in groups to analyze and write a catchy headline for. I give them 10 minutes. After, I get 3 groups to share their headlines, going over each graph one at a time. During my workshop, I had teacher supervisors vote for the one headline out of the 3 that they thought was the catchiest. Group members got a Hershey kiss as a prize.

 

Kids enjoyed it – they liked figuring out what the graphs said, writing a catchy headline, and, of course, the candy. And, from a teacher’s perspective, it was a huge win because students were really engaged in looking at the graph and figuring out a relationship or story they can capture in a headline. And the idea of a catchy headline is also a very creative, less formal yet high impact way of having students work through a graph.

 

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk science again soon.

 

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Ep45 Handouts – Graph Analysis using WGOITG by NYT

 

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Handouts are available below

 

Big Idea

Looking for a high impact but low set up activity on sound? Here’s something I’ve done with all my students last year – from Grade 8 to 12 – that had all of them curious (even the ones who are too cool to care about school). I’ve done this as a short 5-10 minute demonstration to an extended station activity. And, it uses singing bowls. These are bowls that make a sound either by striking or rubbing the rims with a mallet. It’s the 2nd way of sound production that I want students to work with.

 

How to Use Singing Bowls in a Science Activity

The sound produced in singing bowls is caused by vibrations created with friction while rubbing the bowl. As you continue to rub the rim of the bowl, the friction keeps producing vibrations – which build and build – creating a standing wave. This standing wave is what we hear as sound. But, getting vibrations to create a standing wave takes a bit of work sometimes – which is why it’s not instantaneous.

 

I have several different sized bowls which came as a set that I purchased off Amazon. They come with different sized mallets too. Some mallets have suede – others don’t. And, yes, larger mallets with suede are used for larger bowls (and smaller mallets with smaller bowls). This does matter – believe me, I tried. Also, for smaller bowls, I’ve found that striking the bowl gently first and then using the mallet around the rim works better than trying to get a sound purely from running the mallet around the rim.

 

Using the different bowl sizes, one relationship I’m having students examine is the one between speed, bowl size, and sound: specifically, how does the bowl size affect the minimum turn speed needed to keep a sound going?

 

I create 7 stations – each station with a corresponding bowl and mallet – and have students run the mallet around the bowl until a sound is produced. Then, while the bowl is ringing, students can find the speed at which they are moving the mallet around by counting revolutions and recording time. I’m doing this with my Grade 8 students who will be doing a unit on sound and waves soon. See handouts for instructions and sample data tables.

 

Thanks for reading, and we’ll talk science again soon.

 

 

Resources

 

Handout(s): Ep44 Handout – Singing Bowls and Speed of Turn

 

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