Chapter 9
Designs for Learning
Designing Science Units
How to Read This Chapter
•
•
This chapter has been organized to help you become a creative designer of
science teaching plans by drawing upon your knowledge of science and
adolescent learners. You will develop a sequence of lessons as a “mini-unit”.
You will also develop a course syllabus, giving you an opportunity to think
about instruction at the level of an entire course of study.
It is advisable that you work through this chapter from beginning to end. When
you finish the chapter, you will have created the following products:
– A rationale for a science unit with general goals.
– A list of objectives (we'll call them intended outcomes) for a science unit grouped
according to type of student learning.
– A concept map showing the relationships among the central ideas in your unit.
– An assessment plan describing measures to assess the major objectives of the unit to
provide feedback to the students, and feedback for you on the effectiveness of your
teaching.
– An instructional plan (a set of lesson plans) describing the unit, including what
learning objectives are intended, and the strategies you will employ to help student
achieve the unit's objectives.
Designing Science Units
Invitations to Inquiry
• What is pedagogical content knowledge? How is it different than
content knowledge?
• What processes can be used to design an instructional plan?
• How should a teacher proceed to develop instruction?
• What are intended learning outcomes? How do cognitions, affects,
cognitive skills and psychomotor skills differ?
• How can cognitive maps be utilized in the planning and development
of teaching materials?
• What are the elements of the following types of lessons:
direct/interactive, cooperative learning, constructivist and
inquiry/laboratory?
• What are the elements of a course of study?
Designing Science Units
Chapter 9 Map
Designing Science Units
Pedagogical Content Knowledge
(PCK)
•
•
PCK is a teacher’s knowledge of
how to help students understand
specific subject matter.
Key questions include:
– What shall I do with my students
to help them understand this
science concept?
– What materials are available to
help me?
– What are my students likely to
already know and what will be
difficult for them to learn?
– How shall I best evaluate what my
students have learned?
How would this help you teach about water on Mars?
Designing Science Units
Inquiry Activity 9.1: Science PCK
• Visit one of the standards’ sites
below:
– National Science Education
Standards - Contents
– Benchmarks On-Line
• Select a science content area
and at least one concept to
teach.
• Use Table 9.2 as a guide.
• Identify one or more activities
that will help students
understand the chosen concept
– Exploratorium
– Access Excellence
– Discovery Education
These are “fast plants.” What are are they? How could
fast plants help you teach concepts in biology?
Designing Science Units
The Art of Designing Instruction
• Just as an artist uses physical and intellectual tools to make
a painting, this chapter presents you with tools to
artistically design teaching plans and associated materials.
• A cyclic process is outlined in this chapter to help to
develop ideas for a science mini-unit.
• To help you with the process, follow this link to a miniunit developed by Jaime Delaney, a former graduate
student at Georgia State University, and now a teacher in
Colorado. Refer to it while you develop your own. You’ll
find lesson plans, a rationale, a concept map, and examples
of outcomes, and evaluations.
Designing Science Units
Mini-Unit Design Process
Designing Science Units
Inquiry Activity 9.2:
A Window into as High School Science
Teacher’s Approach to Lesson Planning
• Log-on to Teaching HS
Science and select either:
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–
–
–
Chemical Reactions
Investigating Crickets
Exploring Mars
The Physics of Optics
• View the video and record
your responses to the 4
procedural questions (#2).
• Summarize your thoughts,
then follow Minds-on
Strategies for this inquiry.
Designing Science Units
Design Step 1: Brainstorming
• This should be a fast, free-flowing listing of
terms, words, and phrases for the topic of
your mini-unit. Work with a few peers to
generate ideas.
• You might want to look at the Standards
and/or Benchmarks to spark your
brainstorming.
Designing Science Units
Design Step 2:
Name Your Mini-unit
• This is way to give your unit focus-naming
it helps.
• Some ideas from your peers include:
–
–
–
–
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What’s Up with the Weather?
The Well Cell
Sensational Sediments
We are Family: Study of Periodicity
What if you had a volcano in your backyard?
Designing Science Units
Design Step 3:
Identify Focus Questions
• Focus questions should help you define the
heart of your unit or course. Two or three
well designed questions will help your
students draw upon prior knowledge and
keep sight of the “big idea”.
• Focus questions should center around the
“enduring understandings” that promote
science literacy.
Designing Science Units
Design Step 4:
Identify Intended Learning Outcomes
• Use your initial list of ideas to create a list of
intended learning outcomes. Outcomes are
statements of what you want students to know or
be able to do.
• They are skills, concepts, and values you intend
the students will learn.
• Write these as precise statement starting with a
verb, that indicates what learners should be able to
do to demonstrate their knowledge.
Designing Science Units
Design Step 5:
Categorize Outcomes
• In this step, you will
sort your outcomes
into skill and nonskill
categories.
• Here is an example of
intended outcomes
from an environmental
unit categorized into
nonskill and skill
groups.
Environmental Problems in Our Community
Non-skill Outcomes
respects the environment
energy webs and food
chains
pollution
knows how acids affect river
water
understands biodegradable
Designing Science Units
Skill Outcomes
ability to analyze a sample
of water
can measure the pH of
liquids
can write equations for
chemical processes
Design Step 6:
Develop a Concept Map of the Unit
• Use the ideas developed
by Novak and Gowin to
develop a map of your
mini-unit. You will
probably revise this as you
further develop the unit.
The map is a tool for your
planning and your
student’s learning. Share it
with them.
Producers
Food
chains
contain
contain
generate own food
via
Consumers
contain
Decomposers
combine
Photosynthesis
Designing Science Units
linking words
combine
Herbivores
Carnivores
Omnivores
Inorganic
substances
Organic
Debris
Design Step 7: Write a Rationale
• At this stage you’ve worked
with your unit enough so that
you can write a rationale. How
might this learning:
– affect the students’ future?
– contributes to societal issues?
– reflects the spirit and character
of the scientific enterprise?
• See the samples in the text.
Here is part of one rationale.
• The abilities, interests, needs,
and talents of your students
must also inform the rationale
and emerging plans.
Science education in this modern world of high
information availability must be an inquiry based
exercise. Science, itself, must be defined as a verb, an
action, and a method of looking at the world. And
when the world, with all of its uniqueness and
exceptions to the “rules” is readily available through
the Internet, simple memorization of facts can
become useless. Student must use their brainpower
for finding the threads that connect and related all
things. In this study of volcanoes, the Mt. St. Helen’s
example is used to show the power and the
magnitude of a volcano; the devastation of all forms
of life that occur following a blast. The lesson intent
is to explore how a volcano affects more than just
geology of the area. The example is used to show
how life in a devastated area reforms and rejuvenates.
Designing Science Units
Design Step 8: Categorize OutcomesCognitions, Affects and Skills
•
This step you will actually delay until
after you have listed potential activities
(step 9), and written lesson plans (step
10). You can then pull your outcomes
from your lesson plans, and categorize
them into four groups:
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–
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•
•
Cognitions
Affects
Cognitive skills
Psychomotor skills
Summary of Learning Outcomes
Cognitions
Affects
Cognitive Skills
Psychomo tor Skills
You should, however, review the nature
of these categories of outcomes before
you go to the next two steps.
Use the map on the next slide, and text
material to write out one outcome for
each category related to your mini-unit.
Designing Science Units
Concepts and
propositions
Attitudes and
feelings
Cognitive abilities
Motor and laboratory
abilities
Map of Learning Outcomes
Intended
Learning
Outcomes
Cognition
Concepts and
Propositions
Cognitive
Skills
Affects
Students
should grasp
the meaning
of...(igneaous
rocks)
Feelings,
values and
attitudes
Students
should
learn that
knowledge
is tentative
Intellectual
competencies
Designing Science Units
Psychomotor
Skills
Students
will be able
to predict
the location
of moon.
Methodical
procedure,
technique,
dexterity,
orderliness
Students will
be able use a
compound
microscope.
Design Step 9:
Develop an Assessment Plan
• Assessment in your mini-unit
should include:
– Daily Formative Assessments
of various types (observing,
listening, informal quiz,
written quiz, lab work, project,
etc.)
– One end of unit Summative
Assessment (performance
task, project, or traditional test)
• Start with your initial ideas
about assessment, then look
ahead to Chapter 10 for more
assessments ideas.
Student Feedback Form
1.During the mini-unit how satisfied were
you as a learner?
______very satisfied
______satisfied
______unsatisfied
______very unsatisfied
2.What could your teacher have done to
increase your satisfaction?
3.What were your favorite activities?
Why?
4.What were your least favorite
activities? Why
Table 7.9. Student Feedback Form
Designing Science Units
Design Step 10:
List Potential Activities
• Now that you have a framework
for your mini-unit, you can do
some exploring of science
activities (use online and print
resources), and then brainstorm
with peers a list of potential
activities. For web resources,
check the section On the Web in
The Art of Teaching Science
text, or at the Art of Teaching
Science online site.
Designing Science Units
Potential Activities
• You’ll find a
collection of Planning
Activities on the
Companion Website.
Take a look at them
for examples of
activities for you unit,
and for further ideas
on lesson plans
Planning Activity 7.1:
Earth Science: Shake, Rattle and Roll
Planning Activity 7.2:
Earth Science: Don’t Take it for Granite
Planning Activity 7.3:
Life Science: Light on: Responses of
Earthworms
Planning Activity 7.4:
Physical Science: Chemistry in the Bag
Planning Activity 7.5:
Physical Science: an Eggzact Experiment
Designing Science Units
Design Step 11: Develop Lesson Plans
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•
The mini-unit should contain between
four and six lesson plans. You will find
three types of templates for developing
your plans. I recommend the first one,
the Constructivist template, as there are
many examples in the Art of Teaching
Science, and Jaime Delaney’s site,
shown here, used the same template in
the development of her lesson plans.
Sketch out your plans using the
template of your choice, and then meet
with at least one peer to explain the
plans, and solicit feedback. Finalize
your plans. Now you can pull all of the
outcomes from your plans, and organize
your learning outcomes.
Link to Jaime Delaney’s Mini-unit to see examples of lesson
plans, and other elements of the mini-unit.
Designing Science Units
Design Step 12 :
Implementation & Revision
• Teach your mini-unit to a
group of middle or high
school students.
• If you can’t do this,
present one lesson to a
group of peers.
• In either case, video tape
one lesson.
• Reflect on your mini-unit
by using the feedback you
obtained from students,
and peers. A complete list
of reflection questions is
located in the text. One
example is:
– To what extent did students
attain the learning outcomes
(objectives) of the unit?
• What revisions would you
make in the unit?
Designing Science Units
Inquiry 9.3:
Designing a The Course Syllabus
In this activity you will identify and describe the
major elements of a course of study for a subject
and content area of middle or high school science.
Your product will be a course syllabus.
Designing Science Units