Building Fluency with Science & Engineering Practices

1. Building Fluency with Science & Engineering Practices • Jonathan Osborne • School of Education • Stanford University • Feb 24, 2012

2. Main Points • The problem with inquiry • Why emphasize practices? • What practices?

3. The trouble with inquiry? When engaging in inquiry, students describe objects and events, ask questions, construct explanations, test those explanations against current scientific knowledge, and communicate their ideas to others. They identify their assumptions, use critical and logical thinking, and consider alternative explanations. National Academy of Science. (1995). National Science Education Standards. Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press.

4. “...nothing could be more stultifying, and, perhaps more important, nothing is further from the procedure of the scientist than a rigorous tabular progression through the supposed ‘steps’ of the scientific method – General Education in a Free Society, 1945

5. Presidents Science Advisory Committee, ca. 1958

7. In a world where there is an oversupply of information, the ability to make sense of information is now the scarce resource.

9. TIMSS Framework 2011

10. A Model for Scientific Practices?

11. CONSTRUCTION WHERE IS THE CRITIQUE & EVALUATION? Recall of Information Producing an Explanation Higher Order Thinking

12. What are the Practices of Science? • Asking Questions and Defining Problems • Developing and Using Models • Planning and Carrying out Investigations • Analyzing and Interpreting Data • Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking • Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions • Engaging in Argument from Evidence • Obtaining, Evaluating and Communicating Information

13. Questions engage! • Why is the sky blue? • What is the smallest piece of matter? • What is the furthest star?

14. What Question is answered? • Students know evaporation and melting are changes that occur when the objects are heated. (Grade 3) • Students know evidence of plate tectonics is derived from the fit of the continents; the location of earthquakes, volcanoes, and mid-ocean ridges; and the distribution of fossils, rock types, and ancient climatic zones. (Grade 6) • Students know that when one object exerts a force on a second object, the second object always exerts a force of equal magnitude and in the opposite direction (Newton's third law). (grade 9-12) • Students know atoms combine to form molecules by sharing electrons to form covalent or metallic bonds or by exchanging electrons to form ionic bonds.

15. How does the speed at which sugar dissolves depend on temperature? 3. Planning and Carrying Out Investigations

16. 3. Analyzing and Interpreting Data

17. 4. Analyzing and Interpreting Data (a) One pupil had the most breaths and she also had the highest pulse rate. (b) All the people with a high breath rate had a high pulse rate. (c) The higher your breathing rate, the greater the pulse rate. (d) On the whole, those people with a higher breath rate had a higher pulse rate.

18. 1. Who is the tallest 2. Who is the smallest 3. What is the average? 4. Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking

20. The Challenge? • Traditionally teachers of science have not paid much attention to texts. • Do teachers operate with the vaccination model of literacy and mathematical competency?

21. There are no air inside There is no glue on the card There are lots of air outside. Some of the air is hitting the card A force is needed to support the water 6. Constructing Explanations: The upside down tumbler

22. Model

23. 1. The Earth spins once a day 2. Rocks can be squeezed. 3. Gravity pulls all matter towards towards the center of the Earth 4. A squashed sphere is called an oblate spheroid 5. If something is spinning a force is needed towards the center to keep it going round in a circle. 5. Constructing Explanations: The Shape of the Earth.

24. 6. Constructing Explanations Why do objects fall at the same rate in the absence of air? • Twice the mass takes twice as long to speed up • If the mass is double, the pull of gravity will double • Gravity pulls on all objects • Think of two objects, one twice as massive as the other • Force is double but so is the mass

25. 2. Developing and Using Models

26. Water Model of an Electric Circuit

27. Bicycle Model of An Electric Circuit

28. Bohr Model of the Atom

29. Construction [Recall and Explanation] Critique [Juxtaposition & Evaluation The Significance of Argument? v

30. Bohr Model of the Atom

31. Something in the Air? Maria, Ted and Alexis are wondering where the water on the outside of the glass of water with ice comes from. Maria: The water came through holes in the glass. Ted: The water came over the top of the glass. Alexis: The water came from the air. 11

32. Literacy Science Mathematical Competency Teaching and Learning

34. Requirements • Grade 6-8 • Distinguish among facts, reasoned judgment based on research findings, and speculation in a text. • Grade 9-10 • Analyze the author’s purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure or discussing an experiment in a text defining the question the author seeks to address.

35. Views of Reading Simple View of Reading • Decoding Words on paper • Knowing the Vocabulary • Complex View of Reading • Perspective Taking • Complex Reasoning • Academic Language • Background Knowledge Not Learning to Read BUT Reading to Learn

36. Literacy Development Disciplinary Literacy Intermediate Literacy Basic Literacy

37. Tiers of Words • Tier 1: The 5-7000 most frequent words in English • plant, grow, green, water, chair • Tier 2: Words that are encountered in academic discourse but are not specific to any discipline. • compare, therefore, arguably, illustrate • Tier 3: Words that have a specific meaning within the discipline • igneous, photosynthesis, energy

38. What is this picture telling us? • What does the heading suggest the text will be about? • What is the author trying to tell us in the first paragraph? • How does the second paragraph add to the first? • Why does the author compare a cloud to a mirror? • What does the author mean when he talks about the ‘wavelength of light’? • Could you draw a picture to explain why the sunsets are red?

39. Changing the Audience • a. For a friend who missed the lesson in school • b. For their mother to explain what they did in school today • c. As a poem • d. As an article for a school magazine • e. As a set of instructions for somebody else to do the experiment • h. As a letter to a pen-pal • j. As a report in the New York Times • k. As an entry in your diary • l. For a younger pupil to explain why science is fascinating • n. As an article for a popular magazine • p. As a time traveller from the 16th Century • q. As a piece for a student textbook • r. As part of a a science fiction story. • s. As a text message • t. As a tweet.

40. Summary & Conclusions • Approximations of Practice • Akin to Learning an Instrument - provides a grasp of practice • Helps to build a deeper understanding of science itself