Analyzing an Effective
Science Lesson
Presented by
James Collins, senior science program coordinator
Vanessa Westbrook, senior science program coordinator
at NSTA’s 56th National Conference on Science Education, Boston, MA
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Short-Course Agenda
1. A standards-based lesson
2. Instructional strategies
3. A common lesson: The coupled pendulum
• Modeling
• Criteria
• Teacher-directed investigation
• Student-directed investigation
4. Discuss and reflect
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High-Yield Instructional Strategies
From Classroom
Instruction that Works
by
Robert J. Marzano, Debra J.
Pickering, and Jane E. Pollock
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Instructional Strategies That Affect
Student Achievement
Identifying similarities and differences
Summarizing and note taking
Reinforcing effort / providing recognition
Homework and practice
Nonlinguistic representations
Cooperative learning
Setting objectives / providing feedback
Generating and testing hypotheses
Questions, cues, and advance organizers
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Instructional Strategy:
Expert Groups
Read the chapter assigned to the group at your table.
(15 minutes)
With the team at the table, take turns discussing
highlighted points in the chapter.
(15 minutes)
Summarize the chapter and create a poster to
highlight its five main points.
(15 minutes)
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Instructional Strategy:
Expert Groups, continued
Report Out!
Share your learning!
Share the poster highlighting the five main points
of your group’s chapter with the whole group
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Standards-Based Lesson
Science Content Standards
Science as Inquiry
Students at all grade levels and in every domain of science
should have the opportunity to:
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Think and act in ways associated with inquiry
Ask questions
Plan and conduct investigations
Use appropriate tools and techniques to gather data
Think critically and logically about relationships between
evidence and explanations
Construct and analyze explanations, and
Communicate scientific arguments
National Science Education Standards, page 105
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Let’s Investigate
The Pendulum
• What do we know about pendulums?
• Where have we seen pendulums?
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Discuss
Reflect
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Instructional Strategies That Affect
Student Achievement
Identifying similarities and differences
Summarizing and note taking
Reinforcing effort / providing recognition
Homework and practice
Nonlinguistic representations
Cooperative learning
Setting objectives / providing feedback
Generating and testing hypotheses
Questions, cues, and advance organizers
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The Coupled Pendulum
A Student Work Perspective
Have the criteria been met?
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Standards-based Approach
National Science Education Standards strand
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Questions?
James Collins
jwcollins@mail.utexas.edu
Vanessa Westbrook
vwestbrook@mail.utexas.edu
www.utdanacenter.org
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