Addy Reekes
Michael Dunson
Science Curriculum Mapping
Analysis
Addy and I decided to instruct students 12 and 18 from DSA record B. We
based our decision from their scoring on their pre-assessment. The pre-assessment
indicated that both students earned a score of 4 for the section of Latin suffixes;
therefore, we decided that it would be appropriate to help the students reach a
mastery level or a score of 5 in this section. Being that they have already earned a
score of 4, it is our belief that with a little guidance they will be well equipped to
earn a mastery level for this section. Providing this instruction should prepare them
to finishing the final stage of the DSA.
Literacy in Science
When looking at student test results many students miss questions despite
the fact that they know the content. Students tend to get intimidated by scientific
words and completely misinterpret questions. My partner, Michael and I have
decided to show students that if they look at these scientific words with a literacy
lens then they will be able to figure out the contexts of their questions more readily.
Science lends itself to literacy almost naturally, but this connection is many times
overlooked. Literacy can be used to help students understand science in new ways.
Michael and I decided to scaffold our unit on prefixes and suffixes. Affixes have the
same meanings across all subject areas; if students are able to recognize this and see
the connection across content areas, we feel that students will be able to see that
scientific terminology is not as foreign as they believe. Understanding the literacy
related to science will help students master science in a new and exciting way.
Undoubtedly science has one of the most elaborate content related
vocabularies. Most scientific words were created in the English language, so these
words have numerous affixes that are derived from the English language. We
wanted to begin our week with a more general display of this concept so that we
could scaffold upon this idea as the week continues. We wanted to introduce our
unit by discussing how literacy and science are closely related. To show this
connection we would demonstrate on the board using the term Biology. We would
then explain to students that bio means life. Asking students then what are some
more words that have the prefix bio? Hopefully students will be able to think of a
few such as; biodegradable, biography and biophysical. Then we can break these
words down learning their meaning through the word structure. From there we
would then expand on the suffix –ology. Ology means the study of, so biology put all
together means the study of life. We would then ask students to think of as many
ology terms they can and these ideas would lead our class discussion. We would
then be able to see that all these words are related through literacy. Ecology is the
study of habitats (Prefix eco- meaning habitat, suffix ology- meaning study of.)
Oceanography is the study of the ocean. Astrology is the study of star constellations.
(Prefix Astro meaning stars, suffix ology meaning the study of) This concept is
undoubtedly a little elementary but we wanted to ensure that students understand
the process we are going to be scaffolding upon this whole week. Helping students
to develop their literacy lens. For homework students would be required to think of
three words that contain the prefixes: mono, di and tri. This will reiterate the prefix
and suffix work we did in class that day while also getting them to brainstorm
before the next class. We would ask students to hypothesize what they think the
meanings of the prefixes and suffixes are.
The next day we would continue our lesson by having the words mono, bi
and tri written on the board. From there we would ask students to write words that
underneath the three that have one of those prefixes. Students can reflect on their
homework, but the same word cannot be written twice by two students. So students
will have to start working together to create an extensive list of words. We would
then ask the students what do all of these words have in common? Hopefully the
students would be able see that things starting with the prefix mono are relating to
things dealing with the idea of one. Words under the bi column all deal with the idea
of two. From there we could look at our scientific vocabulary and search for words
with these prefixes in our textbook index. From there as a class we would define
each of the words by simply looking at their prefix and suffixes. Students would
work on their own without look at the textbook definitions to define words.
Students would look at the prefixes and suffixes and then as a class we would
compare them back to the definitions. Hopefully students will be able to make the
connection that by relying on literacy they can understand science and scientific
terminology.
The following day we would begin to shift into less direct instruction. This
day would all be focused on the concept of binomial nomenclature. Binomial
nomenclature is the process of classifying and naming organisms based on their
genus and species. Nomenclature means to name and binomial means that there are
two parts to the product. We would then look at how some of these words are
familiar words and science can be understood by looking at the words! This also
scaffolds of their knowledge from the day before referring to bi meaning two. We
could discuss why things like genus and species or scientific measuring are
completed with foreign derivations; because scientists today need to be able to
discuss internationally. We would begin with one example on the board: Caninis
Familiaris. Students would be asked to hypothesize what organism they believe this
to be. After looking at this word with our literacy lens we would be able to dissect
the word and discover Caninis Familiaris is the binomial nomenclature for a
domesticated dog. We would do a few more such as Felis Concolor: which is the
scientific term for a jungle cat. This could then be elaborated on as we explore the
many different jungle cats such as leopard, puma, cougar and mountain lion. We
anticipate that students would ask why they are all classified with the same name
and this could then be related back to their science knowledge. Organisms that are
able to reproduce share the same genus and sometimes species as well; genetics
plays a factor in this jungle cat’s phenotype rather than the organism. We would
then give students a bingo board with different genus and species names on the
board. We would then call out common animals such as Mexican Falcon (Falcus
Mexicanas) Octopus (Octopodidae Carolinus), Then we would discuss together how
we got the answers we did on our bingo board relating to the prefix and suffix
meanings. Students will then be required to start researching some of their
organisms of interest genus and species. Then students would be required to pick
two organisms and their binomial nomenclature to bring to class the following day.
The following day students would begin to work independently applying the
knowledge they have learned related to science and literacy. Students would be
required to make a classification tree. This would be a 3D tree made from a paper
bag. Students would create a rough draft that would be used as a formative
assessment to gage students understanding of science and literacy. Student would
be required to have a genus as their tree trunk. For example I would use Canis as my
genus of choice. From there the many different branches would be many species
within the genus Canis. One branch would have the scientific term Canis Lupus, the
standard term, which would be grey wolf and then a picture of a grey wolf. This
activity would appeals to all different kinds of learners while also incorporating
their organization and classification skills. Students would be required to submit a
rough draft before creating the kinesthetic component. This way we could
formatively assess their knowledge and research abilities. Students would be
required to work on their tree information for homework, but their research would
be mostly completed in class. We wanted to ensure most of the research occurred
during class time because we could help students learn effective researching skills.
We could teach them key words to look up when researching organisms.
The last day students would be allotted about 20 minutes to perfect their tree
classification project before presenting them to the classroom. Their presentation
would be their summative assessment. Students would be graded on their
knowledge of the genus and species, the process of binomial nomenclature, their
tree as well as the presentation of their tree. We both feel that literacy is as
important orally as it is written. Students need to become comfortable with
presenting things and public speaking so they will be graded on their oral
communication skills as well. We wanted to do our summative assessment in this
manner because students would be able to display their newly developed literacy
lens in a more hands on manner. We think that throughout this week students
would be able to better understand science and literacy. We hope students would be
able to make connections across the content areas that would help them in either
subject.