UNDERSTANDING MODELING,
THE NGSS PRACTICES,
AND DAY & NIGHT
THE MOON
California Science Education Conference 2013
Rich Hedman—Sacramento Area Science Project (CSUS)
Cindy Passmore—UC Davis
LET’S BEGIN BY MAKING SENSE OF SOME DATA
The data is in the form of a vignette; a short
written example of a classroom lesson.
 You will read two vignettes.

VIGNETTE INSTRUCTIONS
Read each vignette.
 While you read, keep in mind these three
questions:

What are the students doing?
 What are the students learning?
 How is science portrayed to students in this vignette?
(i.e. science is …).


Pair-Share. Turn to someone next to you and
discuss your answers. Make sure to discuss both
vignettes.
SHARE OUT YOUR IDEAS


Can someone share the dialogue you had about
the vignettes?
We are going to provide you with labels:
Sense-making frame for instruction
 Information frame for instruction

FRAMES FOR SCIENCE INSTRUCTION
Information frame
Vignette 1
 This lesson is centered
in an information
frame for instruction.
 Students are focused
on knowing
information.
 Science is portrayed
as a body of
established facts.

Sense-making frame
Vignette 2
 This lesson is centered
in a sense-making
frame for instruction.
 Students are focused
on understanding
something.
 Science is portrayed
as a way to make
sense of something.

SO WHAT IS SCIENCE?


From A Framework for K-12 Science Education
(2011):
“Science is not just a body of knowledge that
reflects current understanding of the world; it is
also a set of practices used to establish, extend,
and refine that knowledge. Both elements—
knowledge and practice—are essential.”
Science is both a body of knowledge and set of
practices focused on understanding the natural
world.
SCIENCE AS SENSE-MAKING



Science is fundamentally about making sense of
the natural world.
We often use the language: “figure something
out”.
When you are tying to figure something out, you
are trying to make sense of it. You are engaged
in the process of sense-making.
INFORMATION VERSUS SENSE-MAKING
So both an information frame for instruction and a
sense-making frame for instruction represent an
aspect of science and are important.
 Let’s be clear here:
 We want students to know stuff.
 But we also want students to make sense of stuff.
 The interesting thing is, you need to know some
stuff in order to make sense of other stuff.
 But the converse is not true, because
you can know stuff without making sense of it.


I can memorize and “know” all the words here,
without having any understanding of what this is:

Just as I can memorize and “know” all the words here,
without having any understanding of what this is:
SHIFTING ALONG THE INFORMATION/
SENSE-MAKING CONTINUUM
While both frames for instruction are important,
research and personal experience show us that
most teachers are very good at the information
frame for instruction.
 What most teachers need help with is the sensemaking frame for instruction.


Sense-making is the core of the NGSS
NGSS PROVIDES A MAP FOR SENSE-MAKING
NGSS HAS THREE DIMENSIONS
Disciplinary
Core Ideas
 Crosscutting
Concepts
 Scientific and
Engineering
Practices

(Distribute NGSS
Overview handout)
DISCIPLINARY CORE IDEAS
CROSSCUTTING CONCEPTS
SCIENTIFIC AND ENGINEERING PRACTICES
The practices are highly interconnected.
 The practices are not meant to be learned
separate from the science.

PRACTICES
CORE IDEAS OF SCIENCE
The practices are reduced to
meaningless skills if they are
disarticulated from one another
and divorced from content
3 Dimensions of NGSS:
 Disciplinary Core Ideas
 Crosscutting Concepts
 Scientific and
Engineering Practices
•
Let’s do a Friendly Talk writing prompt (see
handout).
•
Work on your own to answer the question.
•
Share out.
LET’S MAKE SENSE OF THE PRACTICES
Receive detailed handout on NGSS Practices.
 Re-read vignette 2, thinking about the practices.
With a partner, analyze vignette 2:
 What practices occur in vignette 2?
 Circle and label segments of vignette 2 where
specific practices play out.
 Be prepared to share your findings.

DISCUSS PRACTICES IN VIGNETTE 2
NGSS PERFORMANCE EXPECTATION ALIGNED
TO THE VIGNETTES—LETS GET INTO THE
REASONING

MS-ESS1-1. Develop and use a model of the
Earth-sun-moon system to describe the cyclic
patterns of lunar phases, eclipses of the sun and
moon, and seasons. [Clarification Statement:
Examples of models can be physical, graphical, or
conceptual.]
LET’S LOOK AT SOME OF THE STUDENT DIAGRAMS
GENERATED DURING VIGNETTE 2
With your partner:
 Figure out what the
underlying conception of the
student authors might be.
 Do the students in each of
these groups have
fundamentally the same idea
(model) for how phases works
or not? What is your evidence?
 Imagine working with
students to refine a class
version of this diagram. What
are the merits of each? How
might they be combined to
best communicate the
underlying model for
explaining moon phases?
PICTURE—FOR DISCUSSION—DIAGRAM 1
PICTURE—FOR DISCUSSION—DIAGRAM 2
PICTURE—FOR DISCUSSION—DIAGRAM 3
In the information frame one
might imagine simply giving
these diagrams to kids. How
is what happened in vignette
2 different?
http://www.moonphases.info/moon_phases.html
http://www.moonconnection.com/moon_phases.phtml
GOING DEEPER ON THE PRACTICE OF
MODELING…


Models are sets of ideas about how some feature of
the natural world works.
These sets of ideas (i.e. models) can be used to
explain, predict, and make sense of phenomena.
THESE ARE NOT THE KINDS OF
MODELS WE ARE TALKING ABOUT:
These are physical replicas or
representations that may be
useful in communicating about
and reasoning with underlying
models.
MODELING IS . . .



Modeling is using and understanding a set of ideas
that can help us explain a phenomenon.
In the moon vignette, the modeling isn’t holding a
ball representing the moon, and moving it around a
globe.
The modeling is when students are mentally
grappling with a set of ideas which can
explain the moon’s changing appearance in
the sky. [the props are helpful in this
grappling, but it is not the presence of the
props that makes this a case of modeling]
MODELING IS AN ANCHOR PRACTICE
Modeling is a
productive
anchor for the
other practices.
CONNECTING THE PRACTICES
Work with a
partner.
 Complete the task
titled
“Connecting the
Practices”.

MODELS HELP IDENTIFY QUESTIONS AND
PREDICT ANSWERS
1. Asking questions and defining
problems
5. Using mathematics and
computational thinking
2. Developing
and using
models
6. Developing explanations
and designing solutions
3. Planning and carrying out
investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting
data
32
7. Engaging in argument
from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and
communicating
information
MODELS HELP POINT TO EMPIRICAL
INVESTIGATIONS
1. Asking questions and defining
problems
5. Using mathematics and
computational thinking
2. Developing
and using
models
6. Developing explanations
and designing solutions
3. Planning and carrying out
investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting
data
33
7. Engaging in argument
from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and
communicating
information
AND MODELS ARE THE FILTER THROUGH WHICH
DATA ARE INTERPRETED
1. Asking questions and defining
problems
5. Using mathematics and
computational thinking
2. Developing
and using
models
6. Developing explanations
and designing solutions
3. Planning and carrying out
investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting
data
34
7. Engaging in argument
from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and
communicating
information
MODELS ARE REVISED AND APPLIED TO
“ANSWER” OR EXPLAIN, PREDICT, AND SOLVE
1. Asking questions and defining
problems
5. Using mathematics and
computational thinking
2. Developing
and using
models
6. Developing explanations
and designing solutions
3. Planning and carrying out
investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting
data
35
7. Engaging in argument
from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and
communicating
information
WE USE MATHEMATICS TO FORMULATE
SOME MODELS AND MATHEMATICAL
REASONING TO EVALUATE MODELS
1. Asking questions and defining
problems
5. Using mathematics and
computational thinking
2. Developing
and using
models
6. Developing explanations
and designing solutions
3. Planning and carrying out
investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting
data
36
7. Engaging in argument
from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and
communicating
information
ARGUMENTATION IS INVOLVED IN BOTH
DEVELOPING AND EVALUATING MODELS
1. Asking questions and defining
problems
5. Using mathematics and
computational thinking
2. Developing
and using
models
6. Developing explanations
and designing solutions
3. Planning and carrying out
investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting
data
37
7. Engaging in argument
from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and
communicating
information
MODELS HOLD AND ORGANIZE RELEVANT
INFORMATION AND BECOME THE FOCUS OF
COMMUNICATING IDEAS
1. Asking questions and defining
problems
5. Using mathematics and
computational thinking
2. Developing
and using
models
6. Developing explanations
and designing solutions
3. Planning and carrying out
investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting
data
38
7. Engaging in argument
from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and
communicating
information
WOW! MODELS DO A LOT!
1. Asking questions and defining
problems
5. Using mathematics and
computational thinking
2. Developing
and using
models
6. Developing explanations
and designing solutions
3. Planning and carrying out
investigations
4. Analyzing and interpreting
data
39
7. Engaging in argument
from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and
communicating
information
MODELS AND SENSE-MAKING

Models are the tools we use for
making sense of the natural world.
SCIENCE

Models are the tools we use for doing science.
AND NGSS
PROVIDES THE
MAP FOR SENSEMAKING
Questions?
Rich Hedman
hedmanrd@csus.edu
http://saspcsus.pbworks.com