Teaching English Language Development
Through Science
by Craig Madison
Introduction
All over the developed world, nations are contending with the challenge of
immigration. Students are appearing in schools with a variety of languages and
cultures outside those of the dominant cultures. As educators, it is our challenge
to bring the dominant language and frame rules to all students so they may live
happy, successful lives full of opportunity within the dominant culture. At my
school, El Verano Elementary in the Sonoma Valley of California, we are
addressing how to assure academic success to our Latino students who arrive at
our doors communicating in Spanish as their primary language.
My intention in writing this short book is to give elementary school teachers a
detailed look at a model for teaching English Language Development (ELD). At
El Verano we call it Science/ELD, and we teach ELD using hands-on, inquirybased science as a vehicle. It is fun for students, and provides multiple
opportunities for talking and writing about concrete, real-world phenomena that
are meaningful to them.
In May of 2011 I won an Amgen Excellence in Science Teaching Award. The
application submittal for this award allowed me to reflect and write extensively
about the revolutionary new Science/ELD program we have been developing at
El Verano over the past four years. As an educator, I believe knowledge is meant
to be shared, and so I present my work here for the use of other educators
interested in this innovative approach to teaching English through science
process skills and real materials.
The teachers at El Verano School have developed these Science/ELD
methodologies with the invaluable guidance of the San Francisco Exploratorium’s
Institute for Inquiry. This organization trained all our teachers in the inquiry
process, and synthesized the first Science/ELD lessons we have presented to
our students. The Institute for Inquiry has also provided all the hands-on science
materials our students use, conducted ongoing lesson study groups with
teachers, and is providing professional development in the Science/ELD
methodologies to other elementary schools in our district.
Growing an indigenous program of this kind is a challenging project to
undertake. It’s success depended on the support of many, including two school
district superintendants, a local philanthropist with a dream to raise the level of
scientific inquiry in the public schools, our school principal, the entire El Verano
teaching staff, and the substantial assistance of the Exploratorium’s Institute for
Inquiry. We were extremely fortunate to have had the will of so many converge to
make the Science/ELD project fly.
This being said, I encourage other schools to consider using science to teach
their mandated minutes of ELD. Not only does the idea put science back into the
curriculum, but we find the introduction of high interest science content makes all
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the difference in motivating and encouraging students to practice English skills
authentically as they communicate what they are learning. One might say that,
while students learn science through the front door, they learn English through
the back door. Emphasizing inquiry as a frame of mind, and as a way to view the
world, allows students to learn and apply high leverage skills to anything they
undertake.
I invite you to take these ideas and make them your own. The template
lessons shown in this work are easily adapted to new lessons teachers may write
themselves. Lessons can also be easily adapted to include more or less open
inquiry or guided practice, depending on teacher preference. Please take these
ideas and evolve the process to the next level. Most of all, enjoy returning to a
place in your day where students can construct their own knowledge from the
rich materials and guidance you provide.
Craig Madison
Glen Ellen, California
August 2011
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Overview and Purpose
The purpose of this book is to share ideas on how to use science to deliver
English Language Development (ELD) for English Language Learners (ELL’s). I
will begin by presenting a typical hands-on, inquiry based science unit, showing
how both science and ELD are addressed in an inquiry on reflected light.
Science Perspective
The primary purpose of this inquiry is to teach students universal scientific
processes that can be applied to all inquiries. These processes will be taught
through teacher modeling and student practice, and will include: proper handling
of science materials, using academic language to present observations,
questions, and hypotheses, taking adequate time to perceive deeper patterns,
developing student questions to investigate, planning investigations with a team,
accepting divergent opinions, engaging in civil debate, reading and applying
expository text, providing evidence for thinking, drawing and labeling illustrations,
and presenting findings to audiences.
Beyond these primary purposes, students will become familiar with key
scientific concepts about light through experimentation. They will learn light: is a
type of energy, can be visible and invisible, travels in a straight path, and is
reflected off many kinds of surfaces. Students participate in hands-on activities
and investigations of their own designs to learn about the mechanics of light first
hand. They also learn the human eye is a light detecting device with specialized
parts.
ELD Perspective
The inquiry process creates a language-rich environment where students
learn and apply new academic vocabulary in context. The inquiry environment
allows students to safely share and borrow ideas to test. Scientific inquiry
processes allow students rigorous and satisfying practice in all ELD strands
including: reading writing, listening, and speaking. This practice occurs
incidentally to the science inquiry as students make and share observations,
evidence, and questions, read on topics, plan self-selected investigations, and
agree on key concepts. Students work in teams to summarize their findings in
order to make oral presentations to other grade-level classes. These
presentations allow students to build confidence as experts in a field they have
studied deeply. Teacher facilitation, which asks students for verbal and written
evidence, provides added language and inquiry process practice.
The 3 Phase Science/ELD Inquiry Process
The following page shows how a typical inquiry lesson is broken into 3 distinct
phases. I found this particular diagram to be most valuable as we developed the
Science/ELD approach. It functions as a daily reminder of the key elements of
every inquiry. It gives an excellent overall picture of the whole inquiry process
and how ELD is integrated throughout each 12 to 16 day inquiry cycle. Because
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it is such a good roadmap of the process, I have always shared this diagram with
my students so they know where we are and where we are going.
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The 3 Phase Science/ELD Process
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Science/ELD Expanded Schedule
The following schedule takes each of the three Science/ELD phases and
breaks them down into more specific activities by day. This will, hopefully, give
the teacher a clear idea of how long an inquiry lasts.
Phase l
The Starter
Day 1
Starter Day 1. Begin by preparing a chart marked: “What We
Think We Know About ___.” Meet as a group and ask
student to share what they think I true. Record these ideas
on the public chart. Introduce Tier l vocabulary words
naming and defining the hands-on materials the students will
be using. Kids are then given materials to explore. The goal
is to get familiar with the materials and “get the wiggles out”.
The teacher roves and uses VTS facilitation questions: What
are you seeing? What do you see that makes you say that?
Show me? What more can you see (or find out)? to elicit
student comments.
Day 2
Starter Day 2. Kids are given some Tier ll vocabulary on
concepts they encountered the day before. Front load some
basic concepts per CELDT level, provide some simple
sentence frames (see page 10) for observations and
questions (i.e. I observed ___. I wonder what would happen
if ___?), as well as a guiding question (3rd grade example:
How can you make a shadow move?). Kids mess around
with materials with the guiding question in mind. Teacher
roves using VTS questioning, as well as clarifying what kids
are saying and seeing… perhaps indirectly nudging toward
central science concepts. You would also ask kids to stop
about every 10 minutes to write an observation of what they
are seeing in their journals. At later stops, ask them for an “I
wonder__?” question. Try to stop and clean up early enough
to spend some time reflecting with students as a whole class
on what they think are important observations. They refer to
their journals for this. Record these on a public “We
Noticed…” chart.
Day 3
Starter day 3. A continuation of Day 2 to let kids mess
around and experiment with the materials to satisfaction. In
our 3rd grade Shadow inquiry, there were too many
additional objects to introduce in just one day, so an extra
day or 2 in the starter is totally appropriate. Reflection and
charting.
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Phase ll
Focused Investigation
Day 4
Introduce academic vocabulary appropriate to the science
lesson and/or science text reading. Introduce language and
grammatical forms, which will be the focus.
Day 5
Do science reading in either the interactive text (what we use
in 3rd) or the hardback text. Reflect on reading.
Day 6
Complete reading. Reflect on reading by using appropriate
Thinking Maps.
Day 7
Generate oral and written sentences using OST map and
focus language frames as a guide.
Day 8
Ask students to work with their teams (groups of 2 to 4) to
agree on one “I wonder ___? “ question they would like to
investigate. Each group writes their question on a sentence
strip. Meet with whole class to discuss which questions are
investigable (ones we can gather the materials to actually
do) and which are not (require an answer from internet or
from a book or which are too dangerous to attempt). Teams
can choose from among the questions proposed, or propose
another if theirs isn’t investigable. All investigable questions
are publicly posted.
If the team has additional questions, they may record these
in their journals for later follow-up experiments. Beginner
groups can be guided through this process whole class as
they do a whole class investigation of one question.
Day 9
Groups are asked to write a plan for their investigation. This
can be done on a teacher-made worksheet or by having kids
fold an 11” x 17” piece of art paper into 6 sections. The
teacher models this activity as a “We Do” and students label
the plan as follows:
Question
Materials
Steps
Setup
Drawing
Evidence
Team
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Teacher models how to fill out the form for their investigable
question. Every team member constructs this plan, checking
in frequently with each other to be sure all are the same. The
illustration is a labeled drawing showing how they will set up
their materials, showing the result they think they’ll see (a
prediction). The Evidence section is for making a statement
about what they need to see to prove the prediction in their
illustration (3rd grade example: “We are looking for a shadow
to appear underwater”).
Note:
 If step section goes long, then plan can continue onto
back of sheet.
 Back of sheet may include two more sections like:
o Results: What really happened
o Observations: What we learned from the
experiment
Day 10
Finish plans and gather materials. Students may be asked to
bring some or teacher can make it happen within reason,
beyond items instantly available at school. Review that
experiments must be done per plan and completed before
moving on to additional questions.
Day 11
Start investigations. Each group does their experiment per
plan. Teacher roves and facilitates with VTS questioning. Be
sure to stop investigations periodically to ask students to
share with partners what they are seeing, and to write these
thoughts in their journals using an appropriate frame. Meet
before end of period to reflect on findings. Reflection time
should focus on the use of explicit language forms
appropriate for communicating these ideas.
Day 12
Sometimes investigations take 2 days as additional
questions arise that kids want to explore for answers.
Phase lll
Shared Communication
Day 13/14
Whole class meets with teacher to design or review a rubric
for what should be included on a poster for presentation of
team investigation results to another class. Rubric includes:
the science concept title (Shadows), investigable question
(Can a shadow appear underwater?), labeled drawing of the
experiment setup showing what they did, a statement of
what was learned from this experiment (We found that you
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can make a shadow appear underwater), a few statements
indicating the top 5 things learned about the science concept
(We learned that shadows appear on the opposite side of an
object from the light source. We know that light travels in a
straight path, We found out that all objects make shadows.
We found that even translucent and transparent objects can
make shadows), the team member names, bold colorful
headings, everyone doing their fair share, and cooperative
teamwork. It works well to have 2 posters per group: one for
the labeled illustration and the team’s final claim and
evidence, and the other poster with the rest of the
information. This allows more kids to be working at the same
time.
Day 15
When posters are complete, each group practices their
presentation in front of the class. A performance rubric can
be designed with the kid about what is needed for a good
presentation: Loud clear voices, no backs to audience, eye
contact with audience, hands out of pockets, no one blocking
posters, taking turns so all have something to say, etc.
After each team’s practice, the class is asked to comment on
what was good about the presentation, and one thing that
might be improved.
Day 16
When practice is complete. Take it on the road to the 3
classes who will hear your presentations. Good idea to have
parent helpers assist with some of your teams, since you
can’t be everywhere at once.
Return to class after presentations to debrief on how it all
went. Display team posters.
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Use of Sentence Frames for Writing
Inquiry Sentence Starters based on ELD level
Note: Sentence starters may have to be adjusted based on the specific inquiry being conducted.
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An Example Inquiry
The following inquiry is typical of all our inquiries. The format of this inquiry
can be easily adapted to writing original inquiries or turning textbook lessons into
deeper investigations. Before presenting the inquiry format, please allow me to
give a brief overview of the inquiry we call by the guiding question it proposes:
How Does Light Move?
A Third Grade Inquiry
Overview and Purpose
Science perspective
Students will learn that light can be both visible and invisible. They learn that
light travels I a straight path and is reflected off certain surfaces. They conduct
simple investigations and participate in hands-on activities to learn more about
the mechanics of light. They also learn about the mechanics of sight and can
identify basic parts of the human eye.
Students will participate in a variety of experiences centered on the scientific
exploration of “How Light Moves”, a third grade California State Standard. To
begin with, students will explore the movement of light when it is reflected off a
single mirror. From there, students will continue to explore the movement of light
by trying to reflect light onto targets using single and multiple mirrors. Students
will conduct experiments to determine how light is reflected off smooth and
wrinkled surfaces. Through this lesson, students will demonstrate knowledge of
how light can be reflected from one surface to another, and that light beams
move in straight-path. Students will also understand that light is a kind of energy,
which moves from place to place as a type of wave, and that light can be
classified as visible and invisible, based on the kind of wave it is. Students will
also understand that the human eye is a light detecting device, and that seeing
light is made possible when light enters the eye.
ELD Perspective
Students will also work as teams to verbally share observations involving
reflected light. They will write observations with evidence and also write “I wonder
what would happen if _____” sentences. These student generated observations
and wonderings will be shared out in class and will become the basis for simple
student investigations. The purpose of this process is to create a language rich
environment within which students will be introduced to new academic
vocabulary in context, will share and borrow ideas to test, and communicate
about these ideas. Students will plan their investigations, incorporating a
sequence map showing the steps required, a list of necessary materials, a
drawing of the experiment’s set-up, and a statement of what evidence will be
sought. Students will read information about light and the human eye to reinforce
and enhance their hands-on experiences. They will use their readings to ask
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further investigable questions which may be tested. Students will work as teams
to summarize their findings in order to make a presentation to another grade
level class, and will include their main topic of investigation along with adequate
details and a labeled illustration. As a facilitator, the teacher will consistently ask
students for evidence to back up their conclusions and drawings, and ask for
verbal and written predictions.
Innovations within the Lesson
The profound innovation of this lesson, and all my Science/ELD lessons, is
that they are all inquiries. I use inquiry all year to teach English Language
learners. The Reflected Light Inquiry is one of 7 inquiries I use during the school
year. Each inquiry lasts about 12 to 16 days. Blending science with English
Language Development is a natural development. As a teacher, I can see a
synergy taking place as students make meaning of natural phenomena, the oral
and written communication of observations and questions, and the clarifying
science text. The result is a student capable of looking more deeply, finding
reason to prove their thinking, and the ability to express thoughts clearly and
convincingly. Students in my science/ELD class develop an emotional
attachment to learning. They understand the pleasure of using their own powers
of observation and judgment to determine something true.
When asked what she considers the most innovative aspect of El Verano’s
3rd grade Science/ELD inquiries, Dr. Paula Hooper, of the Exploratorium’s
Institute for Inquiry, said:
“What makes your (3rd grade) team so unique is your wholehearted embrace of
the inquiry model. Most teachers are comfortable with a modified textbook lesson
which guides students toward an outcome, but you aren’t. I am impressed with
your ability to persevere and move beyond frustration to “outside the box”
solutions. Research indicates the inquiry approach is best for second language
learners because it offers high complexity and open ended questioning. Even
before children can verbalize, they can manipulate objects, and understand
phenomena. When language does burst forth, the child who has been able to
learn through inquiry, will have much more complex thought structures in place.”
Overarching Unit Context and Goals
Another innovative aspect of the Science/ELD inquiries is how they build
upon each other. The Reflected Light Inquiry follows an Inquiry on shadows, and
precedes an inquiry on colored light. When students finish their 3 rd grade year,
they have spent quality time looking at light, and manipulating it, from three
distinct perspectives. The depth of these compounding inquiries is an innovative
approach. The approach focuses on deep understanding rather than a superficial
coverage of the topic. Once again, the teaching of the inquiry process to students
gives them a powerful tool they can use on anything they don’t yet understand. It
is the development of a comfort with this process, which allows students to speak
and write freely about what might be happening. It allows them to engage
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enough to listen closely to others’ ideas and to express themselves with
conviction.
Educational Standards Addressed
Science Standards:
3 PS 2 Light has a source and travels in a direction
3 PS 2b Students know light is reflected from mirrors and other surfaces
3 IE 5 Students meaningful questions, conduct careful investigations, and
students should develop their own questions and perform investigations
3 IE 5a Repeat observations to verify
3 IE 5b Differentiate fact from opinion by using evidence
3 IE 5c Use numerical data to describe and compare
3 IE 5d Predict outcome o simple investigations and compare results to
predictions
3 IE 5e Collect data in an investigation and analyze those data to develop a
logical conclusion
3 PS 2d Students know an object is seen when light traveling from objects
enters the eye
Additional Concepts:
 Underlying some of this lesson is the idea that the eye is a light detector.
 Things that you see are either light emitters (e.g. candle flames, light
bulbs) or light reflectors, which reflect or scatter some of the light that
shines on them (See California Standard 3 PS 2.d.)
 Some of that emitted or reflected light then travels in a straight-line
path to your eye.
 Light travels in straight lines. (Except when bent by huge objects like
galaxies and black holes)
 Light is reflected or bounced when it hits a mirror.
 Light “bounces” off a mirror like a ball bounces off a floor or wall. (In more
sophisticated terms, the angle that light is reflected off the mirror, in
relationship to a horizontal or vertical line, equals the angle of the
incoming light.)
 Rough surfaces reflect light in many straight path directions at once.
 Rough or wrinkled surfaces do not produce good images when reflected
on a screen.
ELD Standards:
Reading:
Listening and Speaking:
Writing:
Key Objectives:
Identify sequence of events, make inferences in
relationship between text and experience
Retell stories and summarize main ideas and details
Write in different genres, write in different content
areas (science writing)
Sequencing, making predictions, asking and
answering questions, justifying opinions, drawing
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conclusions, seeing cause and effect relationships,
noting details and describing
Materials
Flashlights: one per group of 2-3
Plexiglas mirrors: (3x5 and 6x8) one or more per group of 3
Modeling Clay: .5 pounds per group of 2
Roll blue masking tape
Science journal
Room with drapes or blinds
Science text book
Worksheets based on CELDT level
Additional materials for investigations:
Clear plastic containers
Water
Space blanket
Aluminum foil
Green laser
Water mister
Candles and smoke
Black tape to block out mirror
Clear light bulbs
Chart paper
Colored markers
Objectives for Student Learning
My Science/ELD objectives are twofold. First, I want my students to develop
proficiency with academic language in English. Second, I want them to
internalize an inquiry frame of mind. Over time, I expect them to move from
lesser to greater complexity of thinking and language production along the
progressive continuum of Student Work Attributes and Language Skills shown
below.
Student Work Attributes
• Observations:
• Variables:
• Questions:
• Measurements:
• Diagrams:
• Predictions and
Hypotheses:
Number, details, accuracy, connections/references to
other things (un-cued responses/divergent thinking)
Number, quantities, cued and un-cued
Number, kinds/categories of questions
Specific object(s), amount, units
Shows process? Details? Labeling? Measurements?
Evidence
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Language Skills
• Amount of language:
Number of lines
• Syntax:
Word order
• CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency):
Language of learning, including science vocabulary
• Communicative competence/comprehension:
Does the idea come across?
• Linguistic competence: Grammar, punctuation, verb tense, etc.
• Fluency:
Speed and flow of language
Inquiry-based science gives my students a method of approaching the world
and allows them to make sense of whatever they encounter. After December of
each year, we observe students approaching teachers, or peers, with unbidden
hypotheses about phenomena. For example, Connor came to me at recess with
a theory about light. He explained, and wondered, positing that if light was all
around us, and since it reflected off all surfaces, then couldn’t you catch light
energy in your hands where it would bounce around indefinitely.
My role as teacher was not to provide ready-made answers, but to help
Connor come to his own conclusions. I asked how he might test his theory. Could
he find another dark place, like the inside of his clasped hands, to test the idea?
Was there somewhere he could be to observe the bouncing light. He said, ”We
could use the closet!” to which I responded, “Let’s try it and see.” From this point,
the student can design an investigation to observe the phenomenon they wonder
about. It may not always be possible to set up an experiment due to safety issues
or the lack of materials, but this becomes another question: If we can’t do the
experiment ourselves, where could we look for an answer. These kinds of
questions may lead to internet or library research, which can be shared by
students during science talks or presentations to other classes.
Assessment Strategies
The assessments for Science/ELD inquiries is undertaken in both informal
and formal ways to check for student understanding and progress in ELD goals
as well as in key science concepts. Progress is looked at in the language used
and taught through the inquiry. This includes academic vocabulary, sentence
frames used with thinking maps, evidence of simple concrete observations and
more detailed, sophisticated inferences or hypotheses with evidence. Informally,
students are asked to explain their thinking orally and in detail with teacher
guided VTS questioning which includes the following primary directions and
questions:
 Students are encouraged, before they begin observing a phenomenon, to
look closely at what is happening. This aligns with the VTS approach of
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asking students to “Take a minute to look carefully at this image.” In this
case, we ask the students to be keen observers of natural phenomenon.
 Once students have experienced the phenomenon, the teacher asks,
“What do you think is going on here?” or more specifically to this inquiry,
“How do you know the light is reflecting off the mirror?”
 The teacher also exhorts the students to look deeper asking, “What more
can you see?”
Students will also be asked to write observations in a journal or on an
appropriate worksheet, which are reviewed by the teacher. Investigation planning
sheets are also reviewed by the teacher to determine individual student progress.
Students work in teams of 3 to produce posters of their findings, which they
present to students of another grade level. The presentation process affords
ample opportunities to assess student oral language, science process skills, and
science content understanding.
In addition, students will have the opportunity to reflect on the work they have
done during frequent VTS/Science Talks. These talks are held at the end of onehour science periods. They last about fifteen to twenty minutes and are mediated
by the teacher using VTS questioning. The Science Talks are designed to allow
students a chance to share ideas, explanations, observations, questions, and to
express what worked or did not during investigations.
On a formal level, students may take a individual assessment following each
inquiry (see page 9 for an assessment sheet master) or grade level teachers may
agree that specific journal entries during an inquiry may be used as a common
comparable assessment. Students may also take a pre and post Science/ELD
yearly assessment. We have piloted this idea at El Verano and are refining it.
This assessment consists of a hands-on phenomenon observed by students,
who then write as much as possible about the phenomenon for fifteen minutes.
These pre/post assessments are compared to measure individual student
progress over the year. We will use a common coding system to evaluate and
record progress, which recognizes growth in both thinking and language. This
coding system is still in development and is a hybrid combining the VTS coding
system with one developed by Pam Castori of The Inverness Group. These two
coding systems are illustrated at the end of this assessment section on pages 17
and 18. The pre/post year assessments are described in my conclusions on page
50.
An alternate method of assessment has recently been posed by the Institute
for Inquiry. This method involves frequent science notebook writing assignments
which take place in class following Science Talks during inquiries. Teachers in
grade level teams would select specific topics and dates for journal writes during
inquiries. Students can flag these journal pages with a Post-it note of a specific
color and teachers can compare the student’s writing to determine progress.
These journal writings would be done frequently enough to be a formative
assessment, and would also provide pre/post yearly progress for all students.
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Proposed Coding Systems
for Student Science Writing
Review of Pre/Post Writing/Performance Assessment
+
Coding from pre to post
no evident improvement
evidence of improvement in any area (science or language)
strong across-the-board improvement/exemplar
Attributes of work to compare Pre/Post
Science Inquiry Skills
• observations - #, detail, accuracy, connections/references to other things
(uncued responses – divergent)
• variables - #, quantities, cued and uncued
• questions -- #, kinds/categories of questions
• measurements –object(s), amount, units
• diagrams – show process? Details? Labeling? Measurements?
• predictions, hypotheses
Language
• amount of language (# lines)
• syntax – word order
• CALP cognitive Academic Language Proficiency – language of learning –
including science vocabulary
• communicative competence/comprehension (does the idea come across?)
• linguistic competence (grammar, punctuation, etc.)
• fluency
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Name: ________________________
Date: _________________
Topic: ________________________________________________
What is going on here?
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
Note: Writing area continues on back of sheet.
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Inquiry Examples
Science/ELD Lesson: How Does Light Move?
A 3rd Grade Inquiry
Chapter 8/Lesson 1 /Page 347
Concept Background:
Underlying some of this lesson is the idea that the eye is a light detector. Things
that you see are either light emitters (e.g. candle flames, light bulbs) or light
reflectors, which reflect or scatter some of the light that shines on them (See
California Standard 3 PS 2.d.) Some of that emitted or reflected light then travels
in a straight-line path to your eye.
Key Science Ideas:
Light travels in straight lines. (Except when bent by huge
objects like galaxies and black holes?)
Light is reflected when it hits a mirror.
Light “bounces” off a mirror like a ball bounces off a floor
or wall. (In more sophisticated terms, the angle that light
is reflected off the mirror, in relationship to a horizontal
or vertical line, equals the angle of the incoming light.)
California Science Standards
3 PS 2 Light has a source and
travels in a direction
3 PS 2.b. Students know light
is reflected from mirror and
other surfaces (ie. round)
3 IE 5.e. Collect data in an
investigation and analyze
those data to develop a logical
conclusion.
Rough surfaces reflect light in many straight path
directions at once. Rough or wrinkled surfaces do not
These activities support a number
produce good images when reflected on a screen.
of additional Investigation and
Light bounces off round surfaces (like a ball, moon, or planet) Experimentation standards from
in many straight path directions.
this and other grade levels.
Lesson Materials:
One flashlight and one mirror
Tape and/or paper to mark a target and tape mirror to wall
Recording journal or notebook for each student
Explore Activity Sheet for each student (Optional if notebook used)
Suggested group size: 2 or 3
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Lesson Flow Map
Part 1.
Explore
Activity:
Part 2.
Explain
Reading:
Part 3. Explain
Reading:
Part 4.
Extend
Activity:
What happens
How does
when light hits
light move?
a rough (or
Extension
round)
surface?”
What happens when light hits a mirror? In this activity
students explore this question.
How does
How does
Part
1.
Explore
Activity
light
light
travel?
move?
How does light move? (pg. 347)
Give directions for the Student explore activity orally or give students the Explore
Activity Directions handout.
I
Build Background
A Activate Prior Knowledge: Set the context by telling students that they are
going to begin studying how light moves and how it reflects off of things. In
the activity that they are about to do, they will look at light reflecting from a
mirror.
B Teach Tier II Vocabulary
1 reflect, v. – to bounce light off a surface
2 reflection, n. – the “bouncing” of light off of a surface and the image of
the bounced light that appears on a target
3 beam, n. – a ray of light traveling in a straight path
4 light source, n. – object creating the light beams
5 angle, n. - the slant or slope of one surface in relation to another
surface (Would be useful in describing how to hit a target)
II Student Explore Activity:
A Explore reflected light
1 Tell students to hold a mirror in front of one of them. Have the partner
shine a light on the mirror.
2 Ask, “What happens to the flashlight beam?” Use think-pair-share to
have the students answer, or think-write-pair-share and have students
write an answer in their science notebooks. Post the following frame.
a Frame:
When I shine a flashlight in the mirror, the flashlight beam ____________.
3 Tell students to try moving the light or the mirror.
4 Ask. “What happens to the flashlight beam?” Use think-pair-share to have
the students answer, or think-write-pair-share and have students write
21
an answer in their science notebooks. Point out Cause/Effect connection.
(Possible Multi-Flow map)
a Frame: When I moved the mirror, the light beam _______.
b When I moved the light, the light beam ________.
B Hit a spot
1 Tell students to mark a spot on the wall or chalkboard with tape. Ask,
“Can you make light bounce off the mirror and shine on that spot? How?
Do you have to move the mirror, the flashlight or both? ”
2 Tell students to try it with a different spot. Ask if they see any pattern in
how they are moving the light or the mirror, or both. Can they explain
how they are hitting the target? Are there any tricks to doing this they
have discovered?
C Summarize (Pass out the Explore Activity Summary sheet to each student or
have students record in a journal)
1 Ask, “What happened to the beam of light when it hit the mirror? (Frame
to answer: When the beam of light hits the mirror, _____________) We did
this one already above for EXPLORE #2, and think it should be omitted
2 What did you need to change about the light and the mirror to make the
light beam shine on that spot? To make the light shine on that spot, I had
to___________ the __________________. I also had to ___________ the ____________.
[Teacher note: Students should mention moving the flashlight, and moving
or turning (rotating) the mirror.
3 To focus all students on the specific cause and effect connected to moving
the flashlight or the mirror, ask, “What happened when you moved the
flashlight?”
4 Tell students to make a drawing in their science notebooks to show how
the light traveled from the flashlight to the mirror to the spot.
5 After they finish their drawings, have students explain their drawings of
how light travels to their partners using sequencing words you model on
the board: First ______. Then ______. Finally ________. Model how to start the
written explanation to ensure all students understand your expectations.
Prompt students to use the sequencing words in their verbal description,
and then write their descriptions in their notebooks.
6 After students write, have them read their explanation either to a partner,
or to a different pair of students at their table. Encourage students to
make revisions based on ideas they heard other students read.
22
D Angle of reflection
1 Make a drawing like the one below on the board and ask students to copy
this into their notebooks. Tell them they must discover how to complete
the drawings by experimenting. Tell students to tape the mirror to the
wall. One student holds the flashlight and the other holds the target (a
piece of paper). Shine the flashlight on the mirror and move the flashlight
until the light hits the target. Then move the target to another place and
try it again. Ask students to complete their notebook drawings to show
how the light travels from the flashlight to the mirror to the target.
2 Have students describe the drawing in 2-3 sentences under each drawing
in their science notebooks, then read their descriptions aloud to a
partner.
mirror
mirror
Target
Target
Teacher prompt: What is the same about each drawing? Different?
23
Explore Activity Summary (Optional)
(1) What happened to the beam of light when it hit the
mirror?
When the beam of light hit the mirror, it ___________________
____________________________________________________.
(2) What did you need to change about the light and the
mirror to make the light beam shine on that spot?
To make the light shine on a target, we had
to________________ .
(3) What happened when you moved the flashlight?
When we moved the flashlight, the beam of light
______________.
(4) What happened when you turned the mirror?”
When we turned the mirror, the beam of light
_______________.
(5) Make a drawing to show how the light traveled from the
flashlight to the mirror to the spot. Explain your drawing.
24
Part 2. Explain Reading
Recommended reading:
Hardcover Science text page 350 “How does light travel?” This section discusses the
straight-line path of light and reflection.
I
Build Background
A Teach Tier II vocabulary
1 Review previously taught words “reflection and reflect”
2 alike, (teach if students don’t already know as this is a very high-utility
word)- similar to or the same as (something else)
3 forms, n.- kinds, types
4 image, n.- an optical appearance produced by light (Before or after
reading page 351, teach “image.” It will help to also teach the word
family word: “imagine” to build from a word students know. Explain how
when we imagine things by making pictures/images in our minds. Also
“imagination”).
II Read the text per topic
Use the 3-5th grade routine for Enhancing Reading Fluency and
Comprehension.
III Respond Quick Check questions using think-(write)-pair-share.
Here are some frames to use for writing while reading:
A If you don’t have a mirror, you can still see yourself if you
_________________.
B It is/is not possible to see in the dark. I know this because
______________ .
25
Part 3. Explain Reading
Recommended Reading: Science hardcover text page 352 “What happens
when light hits a rough surface?” This discusses reflection from rough
surfaces.
I
Build Background and Introduce Vocabulary
1 rough, adj.- uneven, irregular surface (ant: smooth)
2 clear, adj.- Easy to see, not blurry (ant: unclear, blurry)
3 review meaning of “image” from previous reading
II Read the text
Use the 3-5th grade routine for Enhancing Reading Fluency and
Comprehension.
III Respond to Quick Check questions with think-(write)-pair-share.
Here are some frames/questions:
A To make a building that reflects the sky, an architect could use
______________.
B I know this material will reflect the sky because
_______________________.
C How could an architect design a building that would not reflect the sky?
D A pool of water can act like a mirror because _____________________.
E Water is unlike a mirror because _____________________.
26
Part 4. Extend Activity
Recommended reading: Science hardcover text (Page 355)
This experiment is an elaboration of what the students did in the explore. Give
students some time to explore with multiple reflections before having them follow
the proceedure. Give directions for the Student explore activity orally and/or give
students the Explore Activity Directions handout
I
Plan
A Materials for each pair: Two 1/4 lbs. blocks of clay, two mirrors, one
flashlight, two copies of the “Extend Activity Directions”
II Build Background
A Teach Tier II Vocabulary
1 hypothesis, n – a possible explanation of why something that you
observed happened
B Activate Prior Knowledge
1 Tell students that they read that light travels in a straight line. At one time
this idea was a hypothesis, a idea that scientists had that they thought
would explain what they saw light doing. An hypothesis needs many
experimaental tests before you can conclude that the hypothesis is
supported or not. This means scientists must be able to repeat an
experiment, and get the same results, to prove their hypothesis is true.
In the following experiment you will test the idea of light traveling in
straight lines by observing the path that light travels when you reflect it
several times using more than one mirror.
III Student Extend Activity
A Procedure (Make sure all students have copies of the Extend Activity
Directions)
1 Read aloud the directions for step one on the student page. Then have
partner 1 reread the directions to partner 2. Demonstrate, then have
students follow the directions. Stand two mirrors in a 1/4 pound clay
bars so that the mirrors stand straight up. Then try shining the flashlight
so it reflects from one mirror on to the other mirror. Explore those
reflections.
2 Read directions for step 2, then have partner 2 re-read them to partner 1.
“Now do a more organized experiment. Draw a target on a sheet of white
paper. Hang it on a wall near your desk or table.” Ask students if they
have questions about what they need to do, then model/explain as
needed to ensure all students can get started.
27
For each of the subsequent steps, first read the directions aloud, then have
one partner re-read the directions and the other parter paraphrase “so
you’re saying we need to…..” Check for understanding by calling on some
partners and answering any questions students have. Model/explain when
needed, but not if students can clearly understand what to do by reading the
directions.
Building them towards independence with written directions is the
literacy goal. Provide the scaffolding students need, and pull back when they
are independent.
3
Shine a flashlight into one mirror. Draw or write your observations in
your notebook. (Direct students towards the frames written on their
page. Read them aloud and structure think-pair-share to give students a
chance to practice formulating an answer using the frame. Then have
students write their observations in their notebooks).
4 Move the light or the mirror until the light is reflected by the second
mirror too. Record your observations.
5 Continue to move the light or mirrors until the light is reflected onto your
target.
6 Shine the flashlight from a higher or lower angle. Adjust your mirrors to
make the light beam hit your target. Record your observations.
B Conclusions
1 How did you make the light hit the target? (Notice that this sentence
frame requires a gerund verb (ing) to complete it. Model at least one
correct response to ensure students understand the expected grammar:
“We made the light hit the target by moving the mirrors and flashlight
until we hit the target”).
2 Ask: How did your observations support or not support the idea that light
travels in a straight line? Note: This is a challenging question. You can
best scaffold the answer by providing a paragraph frame such as:
My observations support the idea that light travels in a straight line. First
of all, ___________. In addition, __________________________. I also know light
travels in a straight line because _____________________________________
Or (wrong conclusion by valid answer to the question)
My observations do not support the idea that light travels in a straight
line.
First
of
all,
_________________.
In
addition,
__________________________________. I also think light does not travel in a
straight line because ______________________.
28
Or more simply, have student state: Light travels in a straight line. I
know this because….
Extend Activity Directions
Procedure
(1) Stand two mirrors in 1/4 pound clay bars so that the
mirrors stand straight up. Then try shining the flashlight
so it reflects from one mirror on to the other mirror.
Explore those reflections.
(2) Now do a more organized experiment. Draw a target on a
sheet of white paper. Hang it on a wall near your desk or
table.
(3) Shine a flashlight into one mirror. Draw or write your
observations in your notebook.
When I shine the light into one mirror, the light beam ______
(4) Move the light or the mirror until the light is reflected in
the other mirror. Record your observations.
When I move the light to reflect off two mirrors, ___________
When I move the mirrors, __________
(5) Continue to move the light or mirrors until the light is
reflected off your target.
(6) Shine the flashlight from a higher or lower angle. Record
your observations.
When I shine the flashlight from a higher angle, _________
When I shine the flashlight from a lower angle, __________
Conclusions
(1)
How did you make the light hit the target?
29
I made the light hit the target by (verb + ing) __________.
(2)
How did your observations support or not support the
idea that light travels in a straight line?
Kids will say, “But the light doesn’t stay straight. It goes in a different
direction when it hits the mirror.” So I think we need to clarify the idea of
light traveling from reflecting point to reflecting point in a straight line. Light
travels in a straight path until stopped or reflected by objects.
Reflected Light Lesson Reflections
A review of how it worked with images
Day 1 Starter
 Intro’d the guiding question for the day: What happens when light
hits a mirror?
 MISSING PREASSESSMENT I WANT TO ADD: Do chart of “What
we know about light and reflected light”
 Showed kids the process we would be going through to investigate
this using a poster graphic of 3 phase process (wanted to give
them overview which I had not yet done). Also explained that we
would be sharing whatever we discovered with the 2 nd graders
using our posters. This created some attentiveness.
 Intro’d materials we would be using: flashlights and mirrors with
little explanation of what to do with them
 Established 2 person teams
 Darkened room and asked kids to see what they could find out
about the guiding question. Then I observed them messing about
and took pictures. I also asked them to tell me what they were
seeing. They were very excited and had plenty to do.
Asked kids to write down what they noticed using sentence frames:
I saw___. I noticed ___. I observed ____.
 We used whole hour period for this.
Day 2 Guided Investigation
 All classes met in gym to see a clarifying demonstration comparing
light to balls bouncing off walls. We showed this using flashlights
and mirrors and put tape on floor to show light direction while
eliciting student predictions. We repeated with balls bouncing to
show similarities.
 Back in class, showed kids an overhead of what we did in gym.
 We did academic vocab. lesson on words: light, reflection,
reflected, and visible, using circle maps in kid journals. Used
Tonya format for my use.
30

Read some pertinent info from Interactive science textbook which
explained that light traveled in a straight line.

Wrote 2 questions on board: What happened to light when the
beam hit mirror? AND What effected where the light hit when it
shined off mirror? Asked kids to think about these while they did the
following…
Explained guided experiments with flashlights, requiring 2 trials:
one with fixed mirror/moving light, and one with moving light/fixed
mirror. Both required the use of a paper target.
Walked about asking if kids if they could demonstrate how to make
a reflection show on specific targets, and where the light had to be
in relation to the mirror to make this happen.
Day 3


Day 4


I asked kids to use sentence frames to answer the 2 questions
using frames like:
If I ____, then ____. When we ___, then ___. (Poster of this)
Then I asked them to write a question about reflected light they
want find an answer to using the frame: I wonder what will happen
if _____. OR I wonder why ____.
31



Emphasized that I was interested in what they were curious about.
No correct questions or answers… just what they could find out by
experimenting, and observing evidence.
All groups wrote their questions on sentence strips and we posted,
reviewed aloud, and decided on ones we had tools to investigate
(all were approp. in this case). See Poster.
Groups then wrote their questions in their journals.
32
33
Day 5

We wrote a plan for how to find answers to our questions using a
sequence map (part of our cause/effect ELD unit). I showed a
poster of this. It was difficult for them to do this so I asked them to
put the materials needed as step 1, and then to give me two more
steps about what they planned to do with their materials using:
First, we will ___. AND Then, we will ____.
It was difficult for many to express this in words. They wanted to
just do
it, but this showed the verbal challenges. I asked them to
also draw a
picture below each box of what they planned.

Tomorrow we would return to our materials to find answers.

Everyone instructed to use their plan to get the materials they need
to answer their questions. I also instructed them to bring their
journals with them and to write down what they found out using
frames like: We found out that___. OR We tried to find out ___. We
tried to ___. We thought ___, but/and ___. We tested our idea by
____. I lso asked them to draw a picture to show what they
discovered. I explained that 2nd graders would need to see a picture
to understand. The pictures also needed labels.
Day 6
34

When all have their items we darken room and begin. Once again,
a lot of significant interest and engagement. I asked several kids to
tell me what they had found and if they could show me. I asked
some to prove statements or drawing made that seemed to
represent things that could not happen. When they would show me
things, many seemed to ignore the facts they saw… mainly the
relationship between the entering angle of light versus its exiting
angle off a mirror. The general pattern of this relationship was not
clear to them. This was clear in drawings showing several target
locations attributed to one light source.
Day 7 Shared Communication
 We review our Poster Rubric (it’s important to make this rubric with
kid input so they have buy in on following it) See Poster.


We make our posters in teams of 2.
We share posters as practice for our 2nd grade presentation
35
36
37
Day 8


Finish peer poster sharing
Present our knowledge to 2nd grade classes with posters and the
materials we used.
38
Note: I realize time must be spent at the end of each session doing a reflection
piece where we meet at the rug, close in, and share verbally what we found out
as a whole group. As the teacher/facilitator, I would clarify and reflect a la VTS
what students reveal, not correct misconceptions or bend the statements to the
key points; the goal being to have students discover the key concepts through
experimenting and presenting evidence. The hope is that my nudges toward
understanding, as they work, should lead them to correct concepts.
Rocket Science
A 3rd Grade Science Inquiry
by Craig Madison, Gennifer Caven, and Mike Wallace
Note: This Inquiry is the hands-on part of the Planets and Space science unit.
See pages ___ in the Houghton Mifflin (HM) Interactive Text and pages ____ in
the HM hardback text. See end of lesson for applicable Calif. content standards.
Possible Guiding Questions:
 What makes a water bottle rocket fly the highest(, longest, and best)?
Materials to round up:
 Science journals and pencils for all students for observation and question
recording
 Whistle to signal time to write
 3 water bottle rocket launchers (available through Nerds, Inc. online)
 3 hammers for pounding the launcher spikes into the ground
 3 good quality bike tire pumps (with pressure gauges if possible)
 Long garden hose from a spigot or hose bib.
 Turn off-able hose end
 2 plastic funnels
 2 plastic water pitchers
 1 one liter (or larger plastic soda or water bottle) per each pair of students
 4 oz. of modeling clay for every rocket
 Heavy single ply cardboard for the cutting of triangular fins
 1 roll of 3” wide duct tape for each group of 20 students
 A scale for weighing out +/-5 oz. of clay (not essential and can be
guesstimated)
 Some means of providing water for filling bottles. This can be a 3 gal.
Igloo container along with 3 funnels. You may need to hook up a hose to a
spigot to provide enough water relatively close to the launch site.
 Digital camera for each team to share to record the parts of the
experiment
 Team Logos on rockets for photo organizing (star symbol in photos to
attach these to star group)
 Balloons for modeling equal, opposite reactions
39

Optional:
o Stop watches
o Altimeter device for measuring rocket flight height (5th grade and
up)
o Digital camera to record process
Thinking Maps Used:
Double Bubble for comparing rocket modifications, planets, etc.
Bubble map for describing rocket sounds, appearance, smell, interior
Brace Map for showing rocket parts to whole and for universe > galaxy > solar
system > planet > atmosphere, land, ocean, moons
Tree Map to show the quality of flight (for evaluating) > Better and Worse
categories with details below describing the aspects of “better” and “worse.”
Day 1: Preliminary Demo
The goal for Day 2 is for the students to set up and use the launchers with
minimum assistance from the teacher. So on Day 1, teachers will thoroughly
model how to set up the rocket launchers on the school field (triangular
arrangement), including how to assemble them, hook up the pumps, load on a
rocket, where to stand, how to operate the pump, how to call out,”5,4,3,2,1, blast
off!” to warn of a launch, how to look up every time one hears this warning to
avoid falling objects, and how to cooperatively disassemble and pack up the
whole set-up when finished. There may be time to go back to class, assign teams
of 2, pass out bottles, and have the students write their names on them.
Day 2: Starter l
Essential Vocabulary
air pressure, gauge, psi, variables (the things we can change to make an
experiment work better)
Meet with students to discuss what they know, and questions they have, about
rockets. Teacher records this information on a circle map and posts this. The
map can be added to later (in a different color) as students gain rocket
knowledge. Teams can also design a simple team logo symbol (star, lightning
bolt, sun, comet, rocket, winged heart) on an index card for use on their rocket
for photo and team ID.
Instruct students that the challenge today is to see how much pumping/pressure
will make the rocket go the highest. Everyone must try 30-40psi first. When the
teacher signals with a whistle, we will all try 70-80 psi.
Teams of 2 students each have their rocket bottle and their journals. They need
to decide who will be pumping 1st and who will be pulling the launch rope 1 st. At
40
each launch this alternates. Teacher instructs students that at intervals, a whistle
will signal time to STOP and write an observation and a question.
The rockets will be launched with air only on this day. Students will practice the
all the modeled behaviors from Day 1. They’ll launch as many times as possible,
and record results in their journals.
Suggested Journal Frames:
I observed that ____.
If we ___, then the rocket ____.
I wonder what
would happen if we _____?
The rocket might ___ if we ____. When we ____,
the rocket _____. If we ____, then the rocket might ____.
Meeting afterwards back in class to debrief on what they discovered, and what
amount of pressure worked best is important. This info should be charted and
posted (possible on a new circle map or added to the 1st one).
Day 3: Starter ll
Essential Vocabulary
variables, full, half full, empty, lower than, higher than, better than, worse than,
the same as, lower pressure (30 to 40 psi), higher pressure (>70 psi).
Useful Sentence Frames:
Students can record these frames in their journals for use in recording
observations in the field or during class room writing.
The ______ rockets flew _________ the ______ rockets.
full
lower than
full
half full
higher than
half full
empty
the same as
empty
third full
better than
third full
lower pressure
worse than
lower pressure
higher pressure
higher pressure
This column can be described as the “variables” in the experiment… the things
we can change to make the rockets fly better (the qualities of “better” = higher,
longer, straighter)
Students spend this whole period experimenting with adding water as a variable.
Rockets will be launched full for 20 min, then half full for 20 min. Journal writing
signal procedure will still apply. Students should be asked to compare the empty
bottles from Day 2 to the full and half full bottles from Day 3 in their journals.
This could happen back in the classroom in preparation for a debriefing/reflection
discussion back in the classroom using VTS questioning/paraphrasing following
the hands-on portion. The circle map can be added to at this point if students
have comments or more questions.
41
Day 4: Starter lll
Essential Vocabulary
fins, nose weight, duct tape, half full, third full
Students spent this day doing a guided modification of their rockets. Each rocket
will add 3 fins, and about 4 oz. of clay to the nose. Use duct tape as your
attachment method. It’s waterproof and won’t blow off in flight. Use 3 pieces of
tape per fin, and one longer piece to tape the clay to the rocket nose. Have all
students mark their rockets with a Sharpie to show Half and Third full locations.
Ask students to write several predictions on what amount of water will work best
during a launch of their new rocket designs. They need to try empty, half full,
third full and full again tomorrow.
Suggested Prediction Frames:
I think the rocket will ____ when we _________ .
If the rocket has ____ and ___, then we think it will _____.
Day 5: Starter lV
Students spend this whole period testing the predictions from Day 3 in the field.
The teacher should use a whistle to signal journal recording time. Teachers may
choose whether or not to control when students test the empty, half full, and
completely full variables. One method is to allow 10 minutes to each, and use a
whistle to signal each shift to the next variable. This will assure everyone tries all
variables.
Meet back at class after disassembly to reflect on discoveries, what worked best,
what was a flop. Teams can write an I wonder ___. for something they’d like to
investigate in Phase 2.
42
Day 6 to 10: Focused Investigation
Essential Vocabulary
Readings
Investigable Question
Investigation Plan
Conducting the Experiment with VTS Facilitation
Day 11 to 15: Shared Communication
Poster Design and Presentation
Keynote Design and Presentation
Teacher Background Information
Rockets are a great way to introduce Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion which states:
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. This can be modeled
easily by using students pushing each other. As one pushes against another,
there is an equal opposite force used by the other student to keep from being
moved. YouTube videos of astronauts in space pushing something reveals they
move in the opposite direction too. It can also be shown using a blown up
balloon. Blow it up (or have students blow up one) and release it. The air is
pushing out one way, but the balloon travels in the opposite direction. This is
what happens with our bottle rockets.
Your students will notice, when they retrieve their rockets after a launch, that
there is a fog inside. This is condensed water vapor from the atmosphere. When
the bottles are pressurized, the air actually is warmed by the pressure. When the
pressure is rapidly released at launch, the air cools so fast that the water vapor in
the air condenses into a cloud right in the bottle.
43
Teaching English Language Development
Through Science
Conclusions on the Creativity and Effectiveness of the Program
Science has always appeared to be the perfect way to teach English
Language Development (ELD). Kids love science when they can get to get their
hands on real materials to explore the world. Science provides the excitement
and motivation for talking with each other about what they have seen. They want
to draw and write about what they have found. They can’t resist giving evidence
for their thoughts and they have a thousand questions about what might happen
if …?
Science provides the fertile ground in which to teach English language by
offering real life, engaging phenomena to see, touch, think about, and talk about.
What better way to present language than through a vehicle so full of sensation.
Language bursts forth from the students. And to think we could have missed the
opportunity.
Consider the over 2,100 public schools in the US schools serving high
poverty families which are now in program improvement because of low
standardized test scores. These schools are forced to concentrate all their efforts
on two academic objectives: Reading and math. Draconian strictures mandating
pacing and minutes of discrete instruction fill the entire day with these two
subjects alone. Art, music, drama, physical education, social studies and science
have all been pushed off the plate in favor of basic skills. There is a glaring flaw
in this process.
What policymakers refuse to grasp is that if all the exciting content is removed
from a school’s curriculum, especially one serving an “at risk” group of children,
then you also remove any incentive to learn basic reading and math skills. What
reason does a child have to develop basic tools if they cannot use those tools to
discover substantial knowledge? This is a problem that all good educators
understand, but which thoroughly evades education policymakers.
It became clear to us at El Verano School that we had to make a change by
ourselves before standard operating procedures destroyed the learning
opportunities for our students. Several nascent conversations between
leadership team members and our principal about integrating science with ELD
led to full fledged discussions between our school district’s superintendent and a
local benefactor, who believed in El Verano’s ability to bring science back into the
classroom for kids’ sake.
Meetings were set between representatives of the San Francisco
Exploratorium and school district staff, in which I was fortunate to participate.
During these talks, initial agreements were made to create a partnership between
El Verano School and the Exploratorium, with the purpose of designing a
program integrating ELD with hands-on, inquiry-based science. I was also
fortunate to be chosen as one of three teachers, who would be trained at the
Exploratorium in the inquiry model to pilot the revolutionary new paring of
curricula.
44
After a year of developing the program through a consortia of lead teachers,
Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry scientists and educators, and ELD experts, the
entire school staff was apprised of the methodology and the opportunity to pilot
the new Science/ELD program as a whole school curriculum. El Verano teachers
voted unanimously to take this unique professional development opportunity
necessary to integrate the two curricula.
The staff was trained and the original three lead teachers acted to support the
staff during the first year of implementation. The school worked closely with the
Exploratorium to refine lessons, placing the primary focus on the language
development component and creating a language rich, inquiry based
environment for the students. At the end of the first year, a private evaluation
firm, The Inverness Group, was hired by the project’s benefactor to ascertain the
merit of the program. Was the Science/ELD program really benefiting student
learning of content standards? Were our English Language Learners (ELL’s)
making adequate progress with their English reading, writing, speaking, and
listening skills? We all believed it was working, but had no real proof until The
Inverness Group gathered the data and presented their results. The
determination was that the Science/ELD program was a resounding success
from several perspectives. The following is a summary of the evaluation data.
Increase in Science Teaching days
On average, considering all K-5 classrooms, the amount of time spent
teaching science content doubled.
On Creating Opportunities to Learn
Teaching ELD using Science As a Vehicle


Students developed language during their ELD class time through science
content.
Science was taught using ELD strategies and approaches already familiar
to teachers and students. The science provided an engaging hook.
45

Students were exposed to different modes of instruction during the
lessons: oral, written, visual, and kinesthetic
 Repetitive nature of experimental trials in science compliments repetitive
nature of learning language.
 High interest and engaging science activities stimulated students to use
oral language.
“It’s a wonderful way to differentiate for all our varied learners.”
“When kids are confident, they’ll speak. They aren’t avoiding engagement
because they’re not afraid of getting it wrong.”
“Marrying Visual Thinking Skills and the Exploratorium worked perfectly. I
noticed that the approach we use for discussions in VTS really transfers over to
student discussion around inquiries in science.”
“The program helped the school meet its goals by addressing the 85% of our
students who are English Language Learners and by providing enrichment for
every student. It also allowed us to turn from remediation skills to high interest
content which all children need to develop thinking.” – El Verano Teachers
On Meeting ELL Student Needs
88% of El Verano students are second language learners, who enter El
Verano’s Kindergarten speaking Spanish as their primary language. There was
strong evidence that the new Science/ELD program provided these children with
rich, language embedded content. Evidence for Increased Cognitive Academic
Language Proficiency (CALP) was found at all grade levels. Substantial
improvement was found in:
 vocabulary
 communicative competence (students’ ability to communicate meaning)
 linguistic competence (grammar, sentence structure, syntax, etc.)
 recording their observations
 depicting a process in written language and representations
 formulating and asking questions
 using scientific vocabulary
 making predictions
 measuring
 the quantity of language fluency (written and oral)
Evidence of Improvement in Inquiry and Writing Skills
A pre and post assessment was made at the 3rd grade level, and analyzed for
progress in inquiry and writing skills. The following chart shows the results of this
assessment.
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“I find that their vocabulary, even non-scientific vocabulary has increased. Kids
are using more and more higher-level words in regular speech, rather than in
science only. I have also noticed that the systematic approach they have learned
in these classes, those same skills are transferring to other content areas like
social studies and math.”
“I truly anticipate a growth in CELDT (California English Language Development
Test) scores as oral language is being developed in a high quality way this year!”
– El Verano Teachers
Mr. Madison’s 3rd graders presenting their findings
from an electrical circuit inquiry to a Kindergarten class.
“Kids worked in teams to construct posters of what they learned. Then they
presented this work to students of other grade levels. Their comfort with this kind
of presentation grew, and the import of sharing discoveries to a wider audience
were embedded in the process.”
“You should hear these kids talk!”
“The kids were very motivated by the science, especially the opportunity to have
their hands on materials to do open ended exploration around a guiding
question.” – El Verano Teachers
Whole School Capacities Built
Achieving the results we experienced took more than just one teacher doing
their own thing. The development and use of the Science/ELD program at El
Verano School required the complete commitment of every teacher. Our success
was a group effort made possible by an exceptional group of teachers doing what
was best for all kids in our school. The following whole school capacities existed
at El Verano before the Science/ELD program was initiated. It was these
capacities that allowed the program to happen, but the following capacities were
reinforced and built upon.
 Formation of a whole-school “community of practice” with a common focus
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Cross-grade level awareness, communication, and curricula articulation
Teachers considered, created, and implemented common strategies and
approaches for teaching science and language.
Administrative engagement and support promoted a sense of priority,
value, and importance in the work
Teacher Leadership made the program grow from within
Increased teacher confidence in and enthusiasm for teaching science.
New knowledge about how to design and implement effective
Science/ELD curriculum is discovered and shared by the staff in a
continuing constructive evolution of the program
“It (the Science/ELD Program) helped me to be more organized, collaborate with
team members, to share best strategies, and it helped us gather resources.”
“The whole school was on the same page; it will help the students build on their
knowledge of the process year after year.”
“I was more successful in exposing my students to science concepts and the
inquiry process, and became more confident teaching this subject. It also
brought new energy to my ELD instruction.”
“Integrating science and ELD is a natural and wonderful idea that is satisfying to
both teachers and students.”
Reinforcing Inquiry Beyond the Classroom
Before addressing how inquiry is extended beyond the walls of my classroom,
it is important to consider how inquiry is used across subject areas within the
general education elementary school classroom. The inquiry method requires a
subtle shift of thinking that is effective in reinforcing and extending learning in all
subjects.
I use the inquiry approach for literature, by asking inquiry based VTS
questions about story illustrations and selected text. VTS questioning is also an
excellent way to assist students in building meaning from poetry, and is easily
applied during math lessons. By constantly asking students to describe what is
going on, asking them for the evidence behind their thinking, pushing them to find
more below the surface, and clarifying their thinking through paraphrasing,
students eventually begin to model this same behavior without teacher
facilitation. Teacher facilitation diminishes as students gradually internalize and
apply the inquiry process through practice in all curricular areas.
Beyond the classroom, students take the first hand knowledge they have
discovered through investigations and present it to other student audiences.
Through several study trips, students practice their inquiry skills and develop
comfort in a wide range of venues. Visits to the DeYoung and the Sonoma Valley
Museum of Art allow students to practice making meaning of art images. We visit
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the San Francisco Exploratorium so students can extend their classroom inquiry
experience to a world-class hands-on museum setting. We attend symphonies
and theater performances upon which we reflect, using the VTS/Science Talk
format. Inquiry offers our students a tool for universal understanding no matter
where in the world they are.
Challenges and Adaptations
As with any new invention, many challenges emerged. The collegiality of the
El Verano staff allowed us to talk openly about these issues and make
modifications to continually refine the program. It was clear that the program
would look different, not only at each grade level, but at each CELDT level
grouping within each grade level. Varying degrees of student scaffolding were
required for each level of English Language Learner (ELL). The problem of
removing advanced students from Beginner groups had to be addressed. The
fact that much of the Science/ELD program had been our own indigenous design
allowed us to continually evolve the components to meet both student and
teacher needs. The following are some common issues among educators
differentiating for ELD instruction by per CELDT level.
 Beginner/Early Intermediate groups typically exhibit very limited ability to
make a variety of observations or to pose a variety of “I wonder___?”
questions.
 This seems to arise from the removal of peer modeling by Early
Advanced, Advanced, and English only students in the lower CELDT
groups.
 It also arises from the limited English vocabulary of these students which
tends to make them wish to want to comply with and obey the teacher.
 This compliance and obedience model is antithetical to the inquiry model
which encourages students internalize curiosity and knowledge.
 Students only hear one example of modeling from their one teacher,
rather than a multitude from many students in the leveled group settings
The following ideas show great promise in alleviating issues arising from the
removal of more advanced students from B/EI classrooms.
 Implant students from EA/A/EO classes into Intermediate and
Beginner/Early Intermediate classes to provide interactive student
modeling of how to ask questions, how to go beyond guessing at the
teacher agenda, and how to put fear of being wrong aside in favor of
discovery.
 We have used this method and found that B/EI students do respond. They
begin to internalize and initiate the observed behavior of the more
advanced model students in their social interaction, procedure following,
question posing, and in the making of observations beyond those guided
by the teacher. Once the students begin to see the possibilities, we hope
for further cross-pollination of ideas among Beginners, without the
modeling by implanted students.
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Further challenges were found among teachers with limited experience
teaching science curriculum. These teachers felt unprepared to provide students
with satisfactory answers to their emergent questions. Fortunately, the use of
VTS methods have supported these teachers. VTS methodology places the
teacher in the role of a clarifying facilitator, rather than a dispenser of wisdom.
When asked by a student, “Why does light go in a straight path?” the teacher
does not need to give a definitive answer. Instead, the teacher might say, “Great
question. If we keep experimenting we might find out what it is about light that
makes it behave like that” or “Where might we find an answer to that question?”
In this way the teacher solicits from the student further ideas and sources to
investigate, thus developing student autonomy. This method is, of course, not a
way of avoiding student questions, but of asking the child to engage as a fullfledged partner with the teacher in discovery.
Other challenges call for continued open communication among teachers. In
one instance, a grade level decided to teach ELD without science because they
found it impossible to teach both content areas for student mastery. Through
conversation and clarification, the grade level realized ELD standards were the
primary focus, while the science inquiry process motivated students and created
a language rich environment.
Assessment of Individual Student Progress
An area of the Science/ELD program, which had not been addressed in the
initial design, was the need for an articulated whole school assessment. Having
whole group data did not provide enough information on the individual progress
of our students. This new assessment would have to be different for all grades. It
would have to be given twice a year, as a pre and post, so we could measure
progress in a wide spectrum of language and science process skills. We also
needed to design an assessment ourselves so we could control what it looked
like and so we could easily modify it. I began this work with my 3 rd grade team
last year and the assessment was given whole school this last October. The
following details describe the whole school assessment.
 Craig Madison and the 3rd grade team designed whole school
assessments for ELD and science process
 These assessments are designed to be specifically appropriate to each
grade level, K-5
 The assessments are based on a combination of the Visual Thinking
Strategies (VTS) writing sample and the science inquiry/ELD
assessment designed by The Inverness Group. These assessments
are administered at the beginning and end of each school year.
 The science assessment includes:
o A dramatic natural phenomenon
o The opportunity to talk about, write about, and draw what is
happening and to provide evidence
o The opportunity for teachers to compare the pre and post tests
to measure individual student growth in, for example, verb use,
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writing volume, observations and inferences with or without
evidence, and the ability to extend thinking through the posing
of questions
The whole school Science/ELD assessments we designed, per grade level,
are outlined below:
Science/ELD Pilot Assessment Proposal
K
Sink or Float
Use big toy containers filled with water. Students verbally predict if a
pumpkin will sink or float and verbally share what went on, what they saw
that made them think that, and what they wonder about this phenomenon.
1
Lego Balance Beam
Set up a ruler on a rounded fulcrum (like a section of a poster tube or
paper towel roll cut in half, like a half moon) with five Legos taped to the
underside of a ruler very close to the fulcrum. Challenge students to place
a single Lego at the far other end of the ruler to make it to balance.
Students verbally share what went on, what they saw that made them
think that, and what they wonder about this phenomenon.
2
Bottles and Balloons
Provide water bottle with vinegar and balloon with baking soda. Students
write a prediction and draw a diagram. After experiment, students draw a
labeled illustration and write what went on, what they saw that made them
think that, and what they wonder about the phenomenon.
3
Ice Balloons
Freeze water balloons. Provide salt, flashlights, dark room, and containers
of water to float ice balloons. Students write a prediction before ice is put
in water. After experiment, students draw a labeled illustration and write
what went on, what they saw that made them think that, and what they
wonder about the phenomenon.
4
Variable Density
Put an ice cube into a container of corn oil (like Mazola). Corn oil is
right between the density of ice and water so the ice will float and drops of
water will slowly sink as it melts. Students write a prediction. After
experiment, students draw a labeled illustration and write what went on,
what they saw that made them think that, and what they wonder about the
phenomenon.
5
Condensation
Place pieces of dry ice in one container of water, and one container of
corn oil. The kids observe the two containers side by side. You see the
bubbles of carbon dioxide floating up through both liquids, but the water
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creates a ton of fog while the oil creates little to none because the cold air
condenses the water vapor that exists above the water but not the oil.
Students write a prediction. After experiment, students draw a labeled
illustration and write what went on, what they saw that made them think
that, and what they wonder about the phenomenon.
Refining the Assessments
Meeting with VTS co-founder, Peter Yenawine, helped us further refine the
whole school assessments. We found that our initial assessments were so
guided in what was expected from the students that they would not reveal the full
extent of student progress with language or science. Mr. Yenawine explained
that if we ask a student for a prediction or an observation, or an “I wonder ___?”
question, we are missing the opportunity to see if a child will write predictions,
observations or questions without a teacher prompt to do so. His advice was to
present the phenomena, and simply ask students, “What is going on here?” or
perhaps “What did you see that makes you think that?” and then let the kids
make sense of the phenomena as they have with art images and inquiries all
year.
He reminded us to trust in the students’ ability to learn. He showed us the
wealth of information held in comparing pre and post student writing about a
single science experiment. A simple analysis revealed movement from concrete
statements (I see ice.) to more complex observations and inference with
evidence (I notice the ice is clear on the edge but it is white inside. Maybe it’s
because it is colder inside.) Using the experience of our first attempt and this
clarifying advice, we will be able to simplify the assessments for next year, and
get at an even more authentic look at our students’ progress.
Sharing the Wealth
The success of El Verano’s Science/ELD program will move it from our school
into our district’s four other elementary schools beginning next year. I will
continue my work as a lead teacher over the next three years supporting other
teachers in our district who wish to implement the program we have developed.
We now have a cadre of thirty interested teachers, who will be trained this
summer. Two additional years of training will follow which will involve most of our
school district’s elementary teaching staff. El Verano School will act as a
demonstration school during this exporting of the Science/ELD model, so
teachers from other schools may come to observe and participate in our
classrooms for a first-hand experience.
In conclusion, my classroom work continues to be a laboratory for the
evolving design and implementation of the Science/ELD program. El Verano
teachers are fortunate enough to be on the cutting edge as our program grows
and the validity of its success is measured. The program recently received United
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States Department of Education funding to further evaluate how the program is
working in creating teacher knowledge and student growth.
I have learned profound things from this work. I now realize public schools
cannot wait to be told what to do by governments or experts. As teachers, we
must model for our students how to be inventive, creative individuals who use
power constructively to benefit the many. We must live how we want our students
to be. We must ask ourselves, “What would happen if we designed our own ELD
program and integrated it with science?” and then have the courage to do it. We
have to trust ourselves enough to design assessments that give us the
information we need. We must make our classrooms exciting, vibrant places that
encourage free-thinking, experimentation, discovery and sharing. We must take
all the resources we can gather and recreate them into something useful that
works for the children with whom we are entrusted.
Bibliography:
Ponzio, R., Peterson, K., Castori, P., Galloway, R. (2006). Getting
Creative with Assessment: Making Children's Science Visible. Science
and Children, July 2006.
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Ackowledgements
It took many people to get this amazing airplane off the ground. I would like
to thank some of them here. Thank you to Louann Carlomagno for talking with
me about integrating science and ELD years ago. I so appreciate her insistence
that it could only work if a cohesive system were thoughtfully designed and
implemented. Thanks to Barbara Young and Les Vadasz for running with the
idea and arranging the meeting with the Exploratorium. Thank you to Lynn, Fred,
Marilyn, Barry, Paula, and Patrick at the Institute for Inquiry for training us so well
in the inquiry model, and for listening and helping us evolve this magic blend of
ELD and science. Thanks to Pam Castori for her elegantly designed
assessments, which helped us prove the method works. Thank you to Maite
Iturri, El Verano’s inspiring principal, who has dedicated herself to bringing all
children the best education possible. Her belief in an inquiry model for education
is the future. Thanks to my third grade team, Tim Curley and Gennifer Caven, for
always being excited about trying better ways of doing things, and having the
inventiveness, creativity, and energy to make new pathways. Thanks to my wife
and daughter for being patient with the long hours I spend at school, and for
encouraging me to follow my enthusiasm. Thanks to the Sonoma Education
Foundation for looking at our data and funding the exportation of the model to our
sister schools. And a final thanks to the teachers of El Verano who were willing to
step outside the box and build and continue to refine a program that worked for
their students.
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About the Author
Craig Madison is an architect and public school teacher. After twenty years
working as a design/build professional, the birth of his daughter, Taylor, inspired
Craig to serve the children of his community. He has been teaching 2nd and 3rd
grades at El Verano School in the Sonoma Valley for 15 years. He is a winner of
the 2011 Amgen Award for Science Teaching Excellence. He lives in Glen Ellen,
California with his wife, daughter, and their three cats.
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