The Earth Sciences and Student Ideas

1. The Earth Sciences and Student Ideas Dr. Francis Eberle, MMSA Executive Director feberle@mmsa.org Preparing Teachers to Teach Earth Science Carleton College May 11-12, 2007

2. Session Goals • Learn about assessment for the purpose of encouraging student thinking and informing instruction • Deconstruct an assessment probe • Examine students’ ideas and examine instructional strategies and coherence of science • Learn about companion resources

3. Framing Questions 1) How can educators use national standards and cognitive research to balance assessment of learning with assessment for learning? 2) What types and formats can help make students’ thinking in earth sciences visible? 3) How can the development and use of assessments that probe student thinking in the earth sciences impact curricular, and instructional decisions about student learning?

5. One Key Finding from How People Learn “Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom” How People Learn, Bransford, Brown & Cockling. pp 14-15

6. Teaching and Learning Process • Identifying students’ “misconceptions” • Provide a context for students to confront their misconceptions and share thinking • Help students reconstruct their knowledge using appropriate strategies • Develop a coherence among ideas in science

7. “Misconceptions” • Alternative Frameworks • Naïve Ideas • Alternative Conceptions • Misunderstandings • Facets of Understanding

8. Formative Assessment Probes A probe is a purposefully designed question that reveals more than just an answer. A probe elicits a response that helps teachers identify students’ ideas about phenomena or a concept. Probes are used to examine student thinking.

9. Example: Is it a Rock? (Version 1)

10. Example: Is it a Rock (version 2)

11. Examine the Probe (Deconstruct) • Individually review the probe (s) • What do you think is the purpose of this probe? • Identify concept(s) addressed

14. Rock Definition 1. Rocks are aggregates of minerals. Science Desk Reference. New York Public Library. (1995) 2. A large mass of stone forming a hill. Cliff promontory, b. mineral matter of various composition. Consolidated or unconsolidated, assembled in masses or considerable quantities in nature, as by the action of heat of water. Random House College Dictionary,1985

15. Rock Definition (cont.) • Rocks are made of different kinds of minerals, or broken pieces of crystals, or broken pieces of rocks. Some rocks are made of the shells of once-living animals, or of compressed pieces of plants. Rocks are divided into three basic types, igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic, depending upon how they were formed. USGS web site

16. Examine Grades 2-12 Student Responses • Scan through the student written responses • How do the responses match the definitions? • If you were the teacher, how would you use this data to inform your instruction?

17. Summarize your Ideas • What surprised you? • What was interesting to you?

18. Related research • Freyberg found that the word rock is used in many different ways in our common language. Contributing to confusion over what is a rock - particularly size rather that characterized by what they are made of. (Driver, et al. 1994) • Students have difficulty with the idea of racks being a range of sizes. They use the words boulder, gravel, sand and clay in ways related to where they are found rather than seeing them as rocks of different sizes. (Happs 1985) • Students have difficulty making the distinction between natural things and those created or altered by humans. i.e. brick is a rock as it comes for natural materials, or polished marble is not a rock because humans made it smooth. (Happs 1982)

19. Coding Student Responses • Accurate Idea • Partially Accurate Idea • Commonly Held Idea • Idiosyncratic Idea

20. Related National Standards Related Research Curricular and Instructional Considerations: K-5, 6-8, 9-12 Administering the probe Suggestions for Instruction and Assessment Deconstructing a Probe

21. Other Earth Science Probes

22. Mountain Top Fossil Sophia: The fossil flowed out of a volcano that rose up form the ocean floor Rosa: A mountain formed in an area that was once covered by an ocean Mr. Esposito: A bird picked the organism ands dropped the shell as it flew over the mountain Mrs. Esposito: Water, ice or wind eventually carried the fossil to the top of the mountain

24. Building Coherence • Learning Progression • Learning Paths • Conceptual Sequences • Common Threads

25. Possible Progression • K-2: Chunks of rocks come in many sizes and shapes (boulder => sand). Things can be described by physical characteristics – size, shape, color • 3-5: Rock is composed of different combinations of minerals. New materials can be formed by combining two or more materials and properties can be different. Assembled parts weigh the same as the sum of the parts. • 6-8: Elements make of materials. Atoms and molecules. Formation of different types of rocks and features – sedimentary to other general types • 9-12 Formation of physical geology, rock cycle, weathering, beginning of chemical geology - atomic structure of minerals

26. Probing Students’ Ideas in Science Reveals: • How ready individual students are for instruction. • Ideas students have before instruction. • How students’ ideas may differ from one grade level to the next. • Whether students retain the accepted scientific ideas years after instruction or revert back to prior knowledge • Whether student grasp the big ideas and see the connections in science.

27. Possible New Earth Science Probes ?? • Plate Tectonics • Stratigraphy • Fossils • Weather • Oceans • Soil

28. Tools and Resources

29. Framing Reflection Questions 1) How can educators use national standards and cognitive research to balance assessment of learning with assessment for learning? 2) What types and formats can help make students’ thinking in earth sciences visible? 3) How can the development and use of assessments that probe student thinking in the earth sciences impact curricular, and instructional decisions about student learning?

31. Collaborators & Contact information at MMSA: Francis Eberle, Executive Director feberle@mmsa.org Lynn Farrin, Science Specialist lfarrin@mmsa.org Page Keeley,Senior Program Director pkeeley@mmsa.org Joyce Tugel, Science Specialist Jtugel@mmsa.org