Planning for engagement with important science ideas
- To create better learning connections this article makes a few suggestions. There is a focus on having an anchoring event, new material is connected back to a variety of older materials and the ideas expanded based off of the new learning. These things should not be random events/facts, but explanations of concepts that are built off of others that have been established. To help reinforce this material essential questions should be developed based off of the anchoring event. The majority of examples start off with the use of a relevant picture and essential question from which further explanation or inquiry would occur.
Models and Modeling: An Introduction
- Models can be used of many purposes, at their basis they represent systems of phenomenon’s commonly with words, pictures, graphs and/or pictures (simulations and physical replicas as well). They should also include “both observable and unobservable features.” In the classroom their use in engagement and promote understanding. A models building and revision may be stretch across units, but should not be overdone. Based off student input a model should be made with teacher guidance, done collaboratively or by students.
Relationship
- Both readings are for classroom practices to help engage students in their learning. Each one should be revisited throughout a unit and expanded upon (models more so). At the end of the planning article the idea of anchoring events was kind of limited to pictures and the connections from there with essential questions. My current thought is that that set up is great for bell ringers, and possible starting off class discussions. As for the modeling article I enjoyed it, but wished for an example from an older class setting.
Current questions/thoughts in relations to applicability
- Art 1- I love including pictures with question as a bell ringer to start a lesson. But believe I need to work on the strength of my essential questions to be on a deeper level.
- Art 2-In January with my students we created a class model for photosynthesis one week, cellular respiration another and then later combined the two. Repeating the activity next year my current thought after reading this is I would want to give the class more control over the models with students instead proposing ones on student whiteboards first or something… Want to work on students leading the way with guidance.
I'm glad that your takeaway from article 1 is to include visual representations and work on EQs for your bell ringers. This is an area that has definitely strengthened my lessons when I have been able to integrate it well. For example, as my introduction EQ/bell ringer for aquatic ecosystems their bell ringer was "if mermaids were real, how do they survive living in water instead of on land?" This question still allowed me to gauge where my students were on their understandings of the challenges faced by aquatic organisms, but it allowed for them to bring in both imagination and background knowledge. A weaker version of this question would have simply asked the students to list ways that aquatic organisms are suited to live in water, but with just a small change in the questions context I was able to better engage my students.
ReplyDeleteI'd also be interested in hearing how you plan on changing your model on photosynthesis/cellular respiration. I taught this unit recently, and I am now very aware that my use of models during that lesson was inadequate in getting them engaged in the revision process.
The possible engagement with the mermaid question is amazing, I might have to steal that.
ReplyDeleteThis year's model:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1yrqRyJPBU8XbzMR20071f0OYtxPOP_aR/view?usp=sharing
In the future I am thinking that it would be fun to do a whiteboard competition for a model.
-Start by posting things students believe should be apart of the model (I'd start the key things that they must include)
-Then have students include those things or more on their individual whiteboards
-As table partners they would decide on whose is better or what to add to a collaborative one.
- Next as a class maybe in a circle share out models.
-From there possible get a top two and create a class one to put in our notebooks or use one that students voted on.