What can a chemistry expert demonstrate or tell you about PV=NRT? What can a biology expert demonstrate or tell you abou

1. What are objectives for lesson plans? It’s defining what you want student to learn • What can a chemistry expert demonstrate or tell you about PV=NRT? • What can a biology expert demonstrate or tell you about Mutations?

2. Knowledge “nuggets” • Knowledge: Comprehending facts • Student can parrot something the teacher said • Could name parts of a plant • Could solve fill-in-the-blank equations for Boyle’s Gas Law. • Knowledge, students only familiar with an idea-- enough to get them by in a cocktail party conversation. • Verbs in lesson objectives that indicate knowledge is required: know that, name, list, label, define, state, identify.

3. Some examples of objectives written at level of knowledge nuggets: • Students will know that exothermic chemical reactions release energy. • Students will know that mutation is one mechanism that allows natural selection to continue. • Students will know that scientific models are subject to change over time.

4. Understanding is the ability to think and act flexibly with what one knows. It is a performance as opposed to rote recall or plugging in answers (Wiggins and McTighe, 1998).

5. One way to demonstrate understanding?: Explanation • sophisticated and justified accounts of events, actions, and ideas • Why is that so? • What explains such events? • How can we prove it? • To what is this connected? • How does this work? • What is implied?

6. Examples of objectives written as explanation • A student can explain why ice, water and steam are all the same chemical substance. • A student explains how the phases of the moon occur. • A student supportshis theory of how pulleys work by constructing a set of them that will reduce his effort to lift 20 pounds by half.

7. Another way to demonstrate understanding?: Interpretation • Interpretations and translations that provide meaning. • What does it (a graph, a theory, a scientific argument) mean? • What does it illustrate or illuminate? • How does it relate to me?

8. Examples • A student can interpret the meaning behind a graph of predator and prey relationships. • A student can understand the arguments of and offer rebuttals to a classmate who believes that light can go around corners.

9. Another way to demonstrate understanding?: Application • The ability to use knowledge effectively in new situations and diverse contexts. • How and where can we use this knowledge, skill, or process? • How should my thinking and action be modified to meet the demands of this particular situation?

10. Examples of objectives written as application • A student can diagnose what is wrong with his classmate’s plant growth experiment and offer suggestions for improvement. • A student can use their knowledge of plate tectonics on earth and predict what might be happening in the interior of other planets. • A student recognizes when a science problem about gears requires the use of proportional reasoning that they learned about in math class.

11. Other types of objectives • You can and should have objectives for: • productive social interaction in the science classroom (listening to group members, sharing equipment with others, respect for others) • safety (knowing what to do in case of a chemical spill, how to use safety equipment) • Values such as stewardship of natural resources, or appreciation of multiple points of view in controversial science issues.

12. What to think about in writing objectives for lesson plans: 1. Focus primarily on intellectual activity that targets understanding • Explain how or why… • Justify statements with evidence… • Make a prediction based on data or a model…. • Support an idea or claim… • Infer based on data… • Illustrate how… • Modify a model or idea… • Synthesize concepts to make summary statement… • Interpret… • Apply an idea or principle… • Analyze outcomes… • Critique an assumption… • Identify assumptions… • Diagnose how something works… • Provide evidence that… • Reorganize… • Create a design for…

13. Continued... 2. Objectives are things the students will understand or do, not what the teacher will do. 3. Some objectives must necessarily target knowledge nuggets (“students will know that...”) and basic skills, but the most important ones target understanding.

14. 4. Don’t list “empty” activities-- those that don’t specify intellectual processes “Discuss” “Examine” “Read” “Talk about” “Consider” “Build” <--- These are not ends in themselves, rather, it is through “discussion” or “examination” that learning objectives of real worth are accomplished.

15. Continued… 5. Typically you will have two to four objectives for most class periods. 6. It is possible to have the same objectives over several class periods. 7. Objectives should not overlap with one another and do not combine two objectives into one statement.

16. Continued... 8. All objectives should be assessable by some means. 9. Objectives, not activity-mania, should drive how you assess and how you teach. Objectives Assessment Learning Activities