Developing Student Writing in Science
Robin Walters
Jane Wilson
Peak Area Leadership in Science Hub
January 15, 2014

Who we are & why we’re here
Who are you?
Logistics
Restrooms
Teacher Hat/Student Hat
Attention Signal

Poll:
Fist to Five (1=horrible, 5=awesome)
How good are your students at writing scientific explanations?

By the end of this session, you'll...
Design an inquiry experiment and collect data about an enzyme.
Write an evidence-based scientific explanation using experimental data and the Explanation Tool.
Evaluate examples of scientific explanations.
Reflect on applications of inquiry and scientific explanations in your classroom.

“Tiny Bubbles” Protocol
Design your own experiment:
What factors affect enzyme activity?

Still in your student “hat”…
On an index card, explain what you learned from your experiment as if you were a student.
Turn to your neighbor and share what you wrote.

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Ask reasonable questions
Generate testable hypotheses
Collect, represent and analyze data
Interpret results
Use evidence to construct and evaluate explanations
Communicate findings

As the teacher, would you be satisfied with what you wrote and what you heard from others?

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Scientific
Explanations
Students can:
Justify claims with evidence
Construct explanations of phenomena based on evidence
Make claims and predictions based on theories and models
Articulate reasons scientific explanations/ theories are refined or replaced
Evaluate alternative scientific explanations

Scientific
Explanations:
3 parts:
 Claim
 Evidence
 Reasoning

Claim

Quantitative data or qualitative observations that support the claim

Reasoning
 shows how the evidence supports the claim
 uses science principles to explain the relevance and importance of the data
 Is the “why”

Explanation example: Basketball
Sally has an awesome shot! She scored 24 points in the game last night. She was 8 for 11 with four 3pointers! She was perfect from the line, making
4out of 4free throws. One reason she ’s so accurate is that she has really good form. She jumps straight up, she extends her arms above her head, and she has really good follow-through. She also has lots of arc on her shot, so if it ’s not perfect it still has a chance to go in because it can bounce around on the rim and fall through. Another thing Sally has going for her is that she ’s always really focused.
The crowd was so loud last night but Sally wasn ’t distracted by it. The player who guarded her was also very rough and trash talked, trying to take
Sally away from her game. Sally was still able to focus on her game and really burned her.

If we take the explanation apart…
Claim:
Sally has an awesome shot!
Evidence:
She scored 24 points in the game last night. She was 8 for 11 with four 3-pointers! She was perfect from the line, making 4 out of 4 free throws.

Reasoning:
One reason she’s so accurate is that she has really good form. She jumps straight up, she extends her arms above her head, and she has really good followthrough. She also has lots of arc on her shot, so if it’s not perfect it still has a chance to go in because it can bounce around on the rim and fall through. Another thing Sally has going for her is that she’s always really focused. The crowd was so loud last night but Sally wasn’t distracted by it. The player who guarded her was also very rough and trash talked, trying to take
Sally away from her game. Sally was still able to focus on her game and really burned her.

Still with your teacher hat
Card sort: on:
Pass the cards out to each member of your group.
Sort the cards into 3 categories:
Claim
Evidence
Reasoning

Were there any cards that you were unsure about?
Don’t you wish there was some kind of tool to help students clarify their thinking and plan their writing?
Of course, you do!!

Explanation Tool

Using the Explanation Tool:
Complete the Explanation
Tool for your experiment
Write your Claim,
Evidence, and Reasoning on a poster to share

Evaluating a
Scientific Explanation
 Claim answers the question
 Evidence is relevant, sufficient, and supports the claim
 Reasoning is sound and includes relevant science principles
 Language is clear and accurate

Sample Scientific Explanations
How does temperature affect the rate of enzyme activity?
Distribute one of the student samples to each member of your team.
Evaluate each sample using the criteria given. If these were examples of work from
your students, what feedback would you provide?

Evaluating a
Scientific Explanation
 Claim answers the question
 Evidence is relevant, sufficient, and supports the claim
 Reasoning is sound and includes relevant science principles
 Language is clear and accurate

As a team…

By the end of this session, you'll...
Design an inquiry experiment and collect data about an enzyme.
Write an evidence-based scientific explanation using experimental data and the Explanation Tool.
Evaluate examples of scientific explanations.
Reflect on applications of inquiry and scientific explanations in your classroom.

• What will you take with you from this session?
• What do you want to know more about?
• What are the implications for your teaching practice?

Robin Walters rwalters@d49.org
Jane Wilson jwilson@d49.org
www.nabt.org
www.bscs.org