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8/27/2008

Rubrics

Scoring objective tests is easy: the answer is either correct or incorrect. But with essay questions, lab techniques, writing assignments, reports, cooperative or group work, presentations, or other projects (including multimedia ones), it gets more complicated. Some students (intuitively or through prior experience) just seem to know how to do things well. Others, however, need some guidance as to what the teacher would consider quality work. And facing a pile of reports or a roomful of projects to evaluate can be a daunting task. Sometimes the evaluation boils down to factors such as length, neatness, and spelling/grammar (and whether it's completed on time). While these criteria are certainly important, it's easy to concentrate on these without an in-depth consideration of the actual content, demonstrated skills, or creativity of a science project or activity.

This is where rubrics can be useful. A rubric is a summary of desired criteria for student work, including descriptions of levels of achievement for each criterion. A rubric can range from a simple checklist (where the levels are "present" and "not present") to more detailed, analytic rubrics, written in the form of a table with levels such as excellent, proficient, basic, or beginning. Sharing the rubric with the students ahead of time shows them the criteria on which their work will be evaluated and eliminates the "guess what the teacher thinks is important" frustration that many of us have felt ourselves as students.

With a rubric, I found that after looking at a few papers or projects, I had internalized the criteria and I could focus more on the quality and individuality of the students' work. I could give feedback that was more focused than just the phrase "good job" or "needs work." Creating rubrics can be a challenging task, but fortunately the Internet can come to the rescue. In the June-July issue of Learning and Leading with Technology, there was a guide to online Rubrics and Rubric Generators (which you can download and read for free). As I read this, I looked at the resources that did not require a subscription or purchase (FREE is an important word in my vocabulary). In examining each of these, I focused on how the resource could be useful in a science class. Here are some of the ones that were mentioned in the article:

Ideas and Rubrics: This resource from the Chicago Public Schools has lots of information on rubrics in general and a 22-page download with ideas for science-related rubrics. I would re-format them into a more student-friendly style, but this is an excellent resource.
Assessment Rubrics: Kathy Schrock's Guide for Educators has been around for a long time, and this is one of many resources on this site. Look under the heading Subject Specific Rubrics for ideas for rubrics on reports, presentations (although there are dozens of other resources here on graphic organizers, report cards, etc.).
Rubistar: This site can be used without the free registration, but the advantage of registering is that you can save and edit your customized rubrics online.
Rubrics for Assessment: This collection of rubrics from a variety of sources is provided by the University of Wisconsin.
Rubric Maker: I found this from the Tech4Learning a link in one of the sites mentioned above. You don't have to sign in to use the generator, and you can save and print your rubrics.

I'm currently working on a rubric project with a group of educators. It's not easy to put the criteria and levels into words, but the discussions we've had about effective classroom practice and student learning have been enlightening and enjoyable.

Posted at 10:55 PM by bzorzi | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

8/20/2008

The Resource-Full Teacher

Some of you may remember the pre-Internet days when if you didn’t subscribe to a mailed publication, you had to trek to a public or university library to catch up on your reading on science topics. I must confess that for me back then, it was difficult to find the time to spend a few hours in the library (plus travel time) to find the publications and to read them right there and then.

But now, it's easy to bring selected resources right to your computer. Many organizations, institutions, and agencies have elecronic resources that they share, free of charge, just for signing up. The subscriptions give you options for the format (newsletters delivered via e-mail, notices that are linked to a website with the information, RSS feeds, and/or podcasts). Check the sites of your favorite museum, university or college science departments, or scientific agencies to see if they offer newsletters or RSS feeds.

Here are some e-mail based newsletters that I subscribe to and that you may want to take a look at:

Edutopia News and Technology in Education are both from the George Lucas Educational Foundation's Edutopia website. This is one of my favorites for seeing teachers and students in action. Click on the E-newsletters or RSS links at the top of the page to get started.
If you're a member, of NSTA, you already get the newsletters. If you’re not, you can still sign up for them. There is also a link for you to check the e-mail address that is on file for you. This is also where you sign up for the NSTA listserves.
I also like SmartBrief from the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development ASCD). It has educational news on a variety of topics from newspapers and professional publications. You don't have to be a member to subscribe to this service!
Get updates from the National Science Foundation via e-mail and/podcsts or RSS feeds. You can select specific topics (e.g., Biology, Geosciences, Education) and you can indicate how often you want the updates (immediately, daily, weekly, monthly – I selected daily so that my inbox is not cluttered up). The link to sign up is right on their home page.
Depending on your interest level, in-depth report, daily summaries, weekly summaries, and category-specific reports are among the options from Scientific American.
Sign up for Breaking News from NASA. There are options for immediate, daily, weekly or weekly updates plus options to get podcasts, images, and other agency newsletters.

How do you handle this information? If you don't want to clog up your school e-mail account or the one you share with others at home, you can set up a yahoo, hotmail, or gmail account (for free) just for these these messages. All of your reading materials will be in one place! However, some schools do not let teachers check e-mails other than the school one, so you may need to check if you can access these other mail sites at school. If you do sign up for a resource, be sure to read the fine print, especially if it is from a commercial entity. On some, you must opt out of receiving other materials or of having your email "shared" with others.

Do I read everything in these newsletters? No, I've leared to be a gourmet rather than a glutton! I scroll down and look at those whose title or summary sounds interesting or relevant. And sometimes I look at articles on topics I know little about, just to sample a new topic to learn more.

Posted at 3:54 PM by bzorzi | Category: Professional Development | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (1)

8/14/2008

Thinking Like a Scientist

As the new school year is getting underway, are you looking for some experiences to get students focused on scientific thinking and research skills? How can we show students what scientists actually "do" and how they communicate?

In one of the NSTA's listservs , the site Natural Inquirer was mentioned and recommended, so I took a look. This is described as a "middle school science education journal" for students and teachers and is published by the USDA Forest Service. The articles are written by scientists who conduct various types of research. These aren't just summaries or digests – the articles describe the methodology and discuss the results, just like an article in a professional science journal. The difference is that these are written in student-friendly language and include resources for the classroom.

In each issue, the articles can be downloaded as PDF files. Many are also available in Spanish. Each article introduces the scientists and has a glossary, graphs, diagrams, charts, and photographs. What I really like, though, were the reflection questions throughout the article to get students to stop and think as they read. Many articles also have a "factivity" that extends the concept to the classroom as a hands-on investigation or a vocabulary review.

Some of the issues have several articles relating to a theme; others are monographs with one article. You can browse the contents of each issue, but I found the search feature helpful. The "Education Resources" link has ideas for lesson plans, downloadable podcasts, and slide shows. And, best of all, the downloads and other resources are FREE.

Some of the topics include the effects of nonnative earthworms on the environment; the relationship between carbon, photosynthesis, and roots of trees; the relationship between nonnative trout and pacific tree frogs; using harmonic radar to track the flight of beetles; the potential impact of rising levels of carbon dioxide on U.S. forests.

If you're an elementary or high school teacher, please take a look at this site, too. Even though the journal is designed for the middle school level (ages 11-14), the articles and activities could be useful at other grade levels: for upper elementary students who are interested in science and who could handle the reading level or for high school students with little experience in science thinking and hands-on science or those who struggle with the advanced reading level in traditional textbooks. Or for teachers who want to learn more for themselves! You could also give a copy of the articles that are in Spanish to the Spanish teachers in your school for their students to read "real" materials.

The articles are multidisciplinary, focusing not just on biology and ecology, but also on related topics in the physical and earth sciences. There is an invitation to "login" (which is necessary to purchase hard copies), but I just browsed through the site and downloaded a few articles without registering. Can you tell that I like this site?

Posted at 3:54 PM by bzorzi | Category: Middle School | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

8/6/2008

Informal Science Education

To a science teacher, an ideal summer day might include a stroll through a zoo or botanical garden, a cool afternoon in a planetarium or aquarium, a hike in a state or national park with a pair of binoculars and a guidebook, or a visit to a museum. On these personal field trips, we don't need to worry about permission slips and bus counts – we can enjoy and learn on our own terms with family and friends.

What happens in these out-of-classroom programs is referred to as "informal education." These experiences allow us to choose and explore topics of personal interest and learn new things. NSTA's position statement on informal science education recognizes the contributions of informal science institutions and organizations in providing opportunities for lifelong learning. Check out the article Formal vs. Informal Education for a comparison of these.

It's enjoyable to visit one of these places with another science teacher. The level of conversation is different than when you visit these places alone or with your families. A day exploring one of these venues and discussing science topics is a great way to increase or integrate content knowledge. For example, at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, my colleague and I spent a lot of time with the exhibits related to plate tectonics. We learned new content information, and the displays gave us some ideas for sharing this with our students. We took lots of notes. Our spouses (who are not science teachers) eventually gave up and wandered off to other exhibits!

Or visit these places through the eyes of a child or teenager. What strategies do the informal educators use to attract our attention and hold our interest in the exhibits? Learning Science Beyond the Classroom in the summer issue of The Science Teacher describes some of these techniques. Could any of these apply to the formal classroom?

As the price of travel increases, don't overlook places closer to home. To find a new place to visit, check out the website of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums or the American Association of Museums.

Many of these informal science venues have excellent websites, too. I can spend hours on the website of the Exploratorium in San Francisco with its comprehensive collection of lessons and demonstrations for the classroom. These institutions may also have virtual tours, too. The National Park Service website has armchair views of the parks – not quite the same as being there, but still a good learning experience.

With all that we can learn both onsite and online, perhaps we need to coin a new phrase: informal professional development. This process keeps us informed and up-to-date, extending our previous content knowledge and inspiring us to learn new things. I'm sure that my childhood visits to the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia had a profound influence on my own interest in science.

Posted at 4:00 PM by tmbigelow | Category: Classroom Integration | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

7/29/2008

Systems

The solar system, the metric system, the circulatory system, the system of checks and balances, transportation systems, broadcasting systems, information systems, the Dewey Decimal system – we see the word "system" every day in a variety of contexts.

The word "system" refers to a group of interrelated objects that form an integrated whole or that work together to achieve a desired result. The concept of systems is an underlying theme or "big idea" in the sciences. And yet often we concentrate exclusively on the components such that students don't see how they are connected or affect and influence each other. For example, students learn about the body systems but may not realize how these systems of cells, tissues, organs, and functions are interrelated.

Some people can intuitively see and understand these relationships; others may need guidance and modeling to do so. This month's Science Scope has several articles with activities that can help students understand this concept.

Systems Concepts Effectively Taught Using Systems Practices uses a cell phone simulation (that should get students' attention!) to help students learn about networks.
Teaching Science Through a Systems Approach has many examples of systems and shows how concept maps can be used to visualize systems.
Focusing on Function: Thinking Below the Surface of Complex Natural Systems describes how a classroom aquarium can be used to illustrate the structures, behaviors, and functions are connected within a system.

So why should we bother with the concept of systems when there's so much else to "cover?" Is it all that important? The National Science Education Standards include systems as one of the Unifying Concepts and Processes in science. In Pennsylvania (the state I'm most familiar with), the first science standard category is "Unifying Themes" and the first standard deals with understanding systems! Check your state's standards in science to see if the concept of systems is mentioned.

The concept lends itself to interdisciplinary studies, too. The article Farm to Table and Beyond describes activities to "help students make sense of the global food system" and integrate their knowledge of biology, geography, economics, and nutrition. And who doesn't like to think about food! This would be an eye-opening discussion for students who do not live close to the sources of their food.

Log into Scilinks and use the code SS070801 for web resources on the topic of systems theory and examples of more activities. If you'd like more background on systems theory, here are some places to start: General Systems Theory, Systems Theory, System Theory, Systems Thinking, and Introduction to Systems Theory.

Here's a pop quiz: Our classrooms and schools are examples of systems, too. Are they "open" systems or "closed" ones?

Posted at 4:02 PM by tmbigelow | Category: Middle School | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

7/22/2008

Summer Reading

I'm getting ready for a two-week camping trip to upstate New York for a family reunion, sightseeing, and hiking/birdwatching. I'm also looking forward to propping up my feet and reading in the fresh air. As I add to my bag of reading materials, I'm referring to the summer issues of all three NSTA journals for ideas.

The Science Teacher article Take a Voyage of Discovery has suggestions for reading that will take us to special places on Earth, take us through time, and help us reflect on our own classrooms. Keep Up With a Good Book in this month's Science Scope has even more suggestions, ranging from physical and evolutionary science to biographies of scientists. And Science and Children's Science Books for Professional Pleasure Reading has lists organized by subjects (biology, earth and space, etc.). I like this list because of the suggested titles are all content-related. Regardless of the grade level you teach, be sure to check out all three articles!

In all three articles, the titles are annotated with a brief description. I downloaded the articles and highlighted the books that look interesting and checked off the ones I've already read. I'll keep the lists in my briefcase all year to refer to. Reading professional and content-related books is an excellent form of professional development. One summer, my district bought several copies of books and gave them to interested teachers. We read the books over the summer, and during the August inservice time, we met and shared what we had read. We fixed up the library to look like a coffee shop, including pastries, and spent a wonderful morning sharing and recommending these professional resources.

Although I have downloaded articles to my laptop (legally of course!) or listened to books on tape on long drives, I'm an old-fashioned dinosaur (or Readasaurus as a student once said). I prefer the real thing when it come to books. I like the feel of the pages and being able to stop and reflect and to page back and forth. My local library is small, but it belongs to a statewide network of libraries so that I can get materials from anywhere! Of course, there's always the online book sellers, the big book stores, and the NSTA bookstore for getting personal copies!

Posted at 4:02 PM by tmbigelow | Category: Professional Development | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

7/14/2008

The Resourceful Teacher

In the ideal world, every school would have whatever materials it takes to provide quality learning experiences. But our world is not ideal and we teachers have learned to be quite ingenious.

Although the activity in the article Discovery Bottles is written for K-2, this could be adapted into a neat idea for the first day of school at other grade levels, including secondary. The author even gives us lists of themes and what to put in the bottles as well as some questions to focus the students' observations. I was at a workshop where the presenter used these bottles as an icebreaker. Can you visualize a room full of adults shaking the bottles and trying to identify the 20 objects she had hidden in the bottles? These were ordinary water bottles filled with birdseed instead of sand. The website Discovery Bottles also has suggestions for themes for these bottles. I could see having older students create these for younger ones, too. The article Materials Repurposed also has suggestions for using ordinary materials in making manipulatives for science activities.

The author of You Can Get What You Want describes strategies for securing donations of materials and talent from the community. In addition to the sources mentioned in the article, I'd suggest the warehouses of government agencies or colleges/universities. Many of them have periodic sales of surplus or gently used equipment. I live close to our state capital, and a few of us department chairs would go on a shopping spree every summer to the warehouse. One time we really lucked out. The state had closed a medical facility, and we were able to get several cases of unused test tubes, graduated cylinders, Petri dishes, and other glassware for a total of a few dollars! We also snagged some gently used file cabinets for $5 each. However, I'd be cautious about accepting donations of used technology (I learned this the hard way). Check with you tech coordinator for any district or school guidelines.

Everybody Loves PRISM has another view of science fairs. This topic was also the theme of the December issue of Science and Children and the associated SciLinks blog.

In the February 18 SciLinks blog entry, I mentioned Project BudBurst. And in this month's issue of S&C, the article Project BudBurst: Analyzing Data has a wonderful idea for integrating this project into classroom activities with the question "How does geography affect plant life cycles?" The article has suggestions for adapting the activity for younger students, but this could be "kicked up a notch" for secondary students, too.

As we can see in these articles every month, one of the best resources we science teachers have is each other!

Posted at 4:02 PM by tmbigelow | Category: Elementary | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

7/7/2008

It's Elemental

It's always amazing to me that there is just about anything you'd want to know (and even things you didn't know you wanted to know) on the Internet. Just a few clicks in your favorite browser and you're off on a flight of serendipitous discovery.

While on such a flight the other day, I came across a site that caught my attention: the Poetic Table of the Elements. I did a double take – yes, it's "poetic" not "periodic." This intrigued me.

The site has a traditional-looking periodic table, and for each element there are poems about it. Some are factual, others are whimsical, and a few could use some editing. But it's really fun to see what people came up with.

I continued poking around and found the Periodic Table Printmaking Project, in which artists created blocks for each of the elements. The descriptions of each element include some of its physical properties, but the interesting part is how and why the artists chose their designs.

But then I started thinking. How many of our students have been assigned the traditional "element report"? In the BI times (Before Internet), the main goal of this activity was to get students to find information about a particular element. This was usually accomplished in the library, using text resources. But today, with a few clicks in a browser (or better yet, a search in SciLinks ) students can get pictures and lots of information about the characteristics and properties of any element. Many websites on the periodic table have summary pages for each element. So finding the information is not the exercise it used to be. Why would we ask students to copy facts about an element when the information is already and readily available?

Perhaps another approach might be to ask students to do something with the information – to look for patterns, to create multimedia materials for younger students, to rename an element based on its properties (my favorite was a student who renamed helium after herself - chelsium - because people jokingly called her an airhead), or to create a picture or write a poem.

By the way, I just had to know what the writers came up with to rhyme with Ytterbium!

Posted at 4:03 PM by tmbigelow | Category: Classroom Integration | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

6/27/2008

Expanding the Classroom Walls

Whether it’s a riverbank, a lakeshore, or along an ocean or bay, the water is a popular vacation place in the summer. But what if your classroom could be extended to study these places during the school year?

Last fall, on one of the NSTA listservs, Charlie Lindgren from Massachusetts described a project his class was starting. They were studying sand and hypothesizing how and why it might differ from one location to another. The problem was - how to get sand to study. The teacher requested members of the listserv to send samples (he even offered to reimburse postage). This spring, he gave us an update on the project, which was based on a presentation he saw an at NSTA conference.

As a result of the online request, his students received samples from up and down the east coast. The results are described on the Atlantic Coast Sand Lab site. If you click on the locations on the map, you will go to an individual page for each location. By clicking on the “Return to Data” link, you will come to a table with all of the results (use the number in the far left column to see the information on that sample). The student handouts that were used in the project are available at the top of the page.

This is not a complicated website with a lot of bells and whistles, but it represents an authentic use of the technology by students and their teacher. In his listserv message, Charlie described some of the successes and shortcomings of the project and the plans for next year. The plan includes increasing the number of sand samples to include the west coast and freshwater riverbanks and lakeshores from the Appalachian region. He is requesting feedback on the project (electronically, of course) and is looking for additional samples. You can email him to provide any suggestions or for directions on submitting samples.

Here are some other resources on sand:

Sand website from Pasadena City College
Sand Lab booklet from the New Jersey Marine Sciences Consortium
Sands of the World from a school in Rhode Island.
In NSTA's Science Objects the earth science objects have several on rocks, including sedimentary rocks.

Posted at 4:04 PM by tmbigelow | Category: Classroom Integration | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (2)

6/16/2008

Science Notebooks

For many teachers, the word "notebook" conjures up an image of a folder or binder in which students attach lab reports, homework, class handouts and notes, tests and quizzes, and/or completed worksheets. The students are given a list of required documents and the required order in which they should appear in the notebook. The notebooks are graded periodically on how complete they are and on whether the documents are in the required order. Teachers would tell the students to "study" from them. At the end of the school year, some students would take them home; others would casually discard them as they cleaned out their desks or lockers.

However, there's a lot of talk about going beyond these simple organizational strategies for archives or document repositories to helping students create a more useful and personalized notebook, one that won't be tossed away at the end of the year. These approaches recognize the importance of helping students become better at recording and analyzing data and at using writing to reflect on and communicate what they are learning.

There are many teacher websites that list the required elements for class notebooks (just Google "science notebook" for some examples). But here are some ideas that you can use to revise your class notebook activity:

Posted at 4:04 PM by tmbigelow | Category: Classroom Integration | Permalink | Email this Post | Comments (0)

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