How to Focus our Teaching on
What Students Need to Know
Presented by
Vanessa Westbrook, NSTA District XIII Director
Phyllis Kirkpatrick, Senior Science Program Coordinator
At NSTA’s 56th National Conference on Science
Education, Boston, MA
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Using Criteria: Goals
• Participants will review what knowledge and
skills are necessary in order to consistently
and accurately identify evidence of what
students know and can do.
• Participants will understand how to use
criteria to examine student work samples for
evidence of learning.
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Using Criteria: Learning Expectations
Session participants will learn . . .
• The importance of developing and using
measurable criteria in lesson planning.
• Key components to consider when creating
criteria.
• A structured process for analyzing student
work against criteria.
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Thinking About Criteria
• What is the significance of “Determining the
Criteria” in lesson planning?
• What is the relationship between the
common criteria and student understanding
of concepts and skills?
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Criteria Should:
• Reflect the expectations of the state and local standards.
• Be influenced by prior and future expectations of
standards.
• Align to select portions of the standards to reflect
“manageable” learning goals.
• Start with standards, then be shaped/contextualized for
the lesson.
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K-4 NSES Life Science Content Standard C
Organisms and environments
All organisms cause changes in the environments in which they live.
Some of these changes are detrimental to the organism or other
organisms, whereas others are beneficial.
Criteria
Not Criteria
• Accurately communicate
observations about
characteristics of organisms
that help species survive in
their specific environent.
•
Observe organisms that live
in an environment.
• Accurately explain how a
given adaptation allows the
species to survive and
reproduce.
•
Explain why species
survive.
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5-8 NSES Life Science Content Standard C
Populations and ecosystems
A population consists of all individuals of a species that occur together at
a given place and time. All of the populations and the physical factors with
which they interact at a given place and time compose an ecosystem.
Criteria
Not Criteria
• Describe the resources in a
given environment that
supports organisms.
•
Describe features of
environments.
• Predict (any prediction or
based on data?) types of
organisms that would be
found in a given
environment.
•
Name organisms that live in
an environment.
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9-12 NSES Life Science Content Standard C
The Cell
Cells can differentiate, and complex, multicellular organisms are formed
as highly organized arrangements of differentiated cells. The progeny of
these multicellular organisms develop from a single cell, which forms an
embryo in which cells multiply and differentiate to form the many
specialized cells, tissues, and organs that comprise the final organism.
This differentiation is regulated through the expression of different genes.
Criteria
Not Criteria
• Compare how organ systems
interact with each other in a
variety of living organisms.
•
Observe the functions of
each organ system
• Describe how the interaction
of organ systems affect the
entire organism.
•
Learn the interactions
among organ systems.
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The Criteria in the Lesson
Coupled Pendulum
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Subject:
Force and Motion
Grade Level:
5-8
Lesson:
Coupled Pendulum
Study the Standard
Grade : K-4
Content Standard B
Position and Motion of Objec t s
An object's motion can be
described by tracing and
measuring its position over
time.
The position and motion of
objects can be changed by
pushing or pulling. The size of
the change is related to the
strength of the push or pull.
Grade: 5-8
Content Standard B
Motions and For c e s
The motion of an object can
be described by its position,
direction of motion, and
speed. That motion can be
measured and represented on a
graph.
Grade: 9-12
Content Standard B
Motions and For c e s
Objects change their motion
only when a net force is
applied. Laws of motion are
used to calculate precisely the
effects of forces on the motion
of objects. The magnitude of
the change in motion can be
calculated using the
relationship F=ma, which is
independent of the nature of
the force. Whenever one
object exerts force on another,
a force equal in magnitude and
opposite in direction is exerted
on the first object.
Changes
The relationship of force and motion
are now identified by the Laws of
Motion. The formula for calculating
force is addressed.
Changes
The initiate concept of push and pull
is shifted to the direction and speed
of the object's motion.
The concept of speed has been added
to the middle level standard.
Students are expected to graphic
represent measurement taken during
observations of objects in motion.
Important findings that affect my instruction and assessmen t :
Students are moving from identifying and describing to demonstrating, so the lesson has to
provide students with first hand experiences of objects staying at rest or moving at the same speed
and same direction until an unbalanced force acts on it.
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Criteria
Student Work
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Reflecting on Using Criteria
• How has your understanding of criteria and their
purpose changed your thinking about lesson
planning?
• In what ways does measuring student work against
common criteria move us closer to understanding
what students know?
• The most important thing that I learned today is ...
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Contact Information
Vanessa Westbrook, vwestbrook@mail.utexas.edu
James Collins, jwcollins@mail.utexas.edu
Phyllis Kirkpatrick, pkirkpat@mail.utexas.edu
Barbara Taylor, barbara_taylor@mail.utexas.edu
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