The Earth Sciences and
Student Ideas
Preparing Teachers to Teach
Earth Science
Carleton College
May 11-12, 2007
Dr. Francis Eberle,
MMSA Executive Director
feberle@mmsa.org
Session Goals

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Learn about assessment for the
purpose of encouraging student
thinking and informing instruction
Deconstruct an assessment probe
Examine students’ ideas and examine
instructional strategies and coherence
of science
Learn about companion resources
Framing Questions
1) How can educators use national standards
and cognitive research to balance
assessment of learning with assessment for
learning?
2) What types and formats can help make
students’ thinking in earth sciences visible?
3) How can the development and use of
assessments that probe student thinking in
the earth sciences impact curricular, and
instructional decisions about student
learning?
One Key Finding from
How People Learn
“Students come to the classroom with
preconceptions about how the world works. If
their initial understanding is not engaged,
they may fail to grasp the new concepts and
information that are taught, or they may learn
them for purposes of a test but revert to their
preconceptions outside the classroom”
How People Learn, Bransford, Brown & Cockling. pp 14-15
Teaching and Learning
Process
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Identifying students’ “misconceptions”
Provide a context for students to
confront their misconceptions and share
thinking
Help students reconstruct their
knowledge using appropriate strategies
Develop a coherence among ideas in
science
“Misconceptions”
Alternative Frameworks
 Naïve Ideas
 Alternative Conceptions
 Misunderstandings
 Facets of Understanding

Formative Assessment Probes
A probe is a purposefully designed
question that reveals more than
just an answer. A probe elicits a
response that helps teachers
identify students’ ideas about
phenomena or a concept. Probes
are used to examine student
thinking.
Example: Is it a Rock?
(Version 1)
Example: Is it a Rock
(version 2)
Examine the Probe
(Deconstruct)
• Individually review the probe (s)
• What do you think is the purpose of this
probe?
• Identify concept(s) addressed
Is It A Rock? Version 1
250
Total Selected
200
12
17
15
16
24
24
12
17
15
16
25
14
17
25
25
150
55
49
50
47
100
71
75
65
50
25
24
8
9
22
55
# of Students per Grade
10
12
23
72
69
66
33
18
26
18
11
31
30
21
Large
Stone
Piece of
Gravel
27
Jagged
Boulder
Small
Stone
Pebble
0
26 Grade 9
60 Grade 8
20
31
17 Grade 10
35
25
31
15 Grade 12
Piece of Smooth
Sand Boulder
23
8
7
21
15
11
10
16
Dust
from
tw o
stones
rubbed
together
78 Grade 6
26 Grade 5
37 Grade 1
Rock Definition
1. Rocks are aggregates of minerals.
Science Desk Reference. New York Public Library. (1995)
2. A large mass of stone forming a hill.
Cliff promontory, b. mineral matter of
various composition. Consolidated or
unconsolidated, assembled in masses or
considerable quantities in nature, as by
the action of heat of water.
Random House College Dictionary,1985
Rock Definition (cont.)

Rocks are made of different kinds of
minerals, or broken pieces of crystals,
or broken pieces of rocks. Some rocks
are made of the shells of once-living
animals, or of compressed pieces of
plants. Rocks are divided into three
basic types, igneous, sedimentary
and metamorphic, depending upon
how they were formed.
USGS web site
Examine Grades 2-12 Student
Responses



Scan through the student written
responses
How do the responses match the
definitions?
If you were the teacher, how would
you use this data to inform your
instruction?
Summarize your Ideas

What surprised you?

What was interesting to you?
Related research
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

Freyberg found that the word rock is used in many
different ways in our common language. Contributing to
confusion over what is a rock - particularly size rather that
characterized by what they are made of. (Driver, et al. 1994)
Students have difficulty with the idea of racks being a
range of sizes. They use the words boulder, gravel, sand
and clay in ways related to where they are found rather
than seeing them as rocks of different sizes. (Happs 1985)
Students have difficulty making the distinction between
natural things and those created or altered by humans.
i.e. brick is a rock as it comes for natural materials, or
polished marble is not a rock because humans made it
smooth. (Happs 1982)
Coding Student Responses
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

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Accurate Idea
Partially Accurate Idea
Commonly Held Idea
Idiosyncratic Idea
Deconstructing a Probe
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Related National Standards
Related Research
Curricular and Instructional
Considerations: K-5, 6-8, 9-12
Administering the probe
Suggestions for Instruction and
Assessment
Other Earth Science Probes
Mountain Top Fossil
Sophia: The fossil flowed out of a volcano
that rose up form the ocean floor
Rosa: A mountain formed in an area that
was once covered by an ocean
Mr. Esposito: A bird picked the organism
ands dropped the shell as it flew over the
mountain
Mrs. Esposito: Water, ice or wind
eventually carried the fossil to the top
of the mountain
Mountain Top Fossil
Sofia
90
4
Rosa
80
Total Selected
70
60
Mr. Esposito
50
50
Mrs. Esposito
40
30
8
3
20
10
0
2
8
1
8
4
10
26
8
9
7
8
6
8
Grade 1
Grade 6
Grade 8
Grade 9
17
21
85
26
11
21
6
1
Grade 10 Grade 11 Grade 12
17
Num ber of students per grade
3
19
Building Coherence

Learning Progression

Learning Paths

Conceptual Sequences

Common Threads
Possible Progression
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K-2: Chunks of rocks come in many sizes and shapes
(boulder => sand). Things can be described by physical
characteristics – size, shape, color
3-5: Rock is composed of different combinations of
minerals. New materials can be formed by combining two
or more materials and properties can be different.
Assembled parts weigh the same as the sum of the parts.
6-8: Elements make of materials. Atoms and molecules.
Formation of different types of rocks and features –
sedimentary to other general types
9-12 Formation of physical geology, rock cycle,
weathering, beginning of chemical geology - atomic
structure of minerals
Probing Students’ Ideas in
Science Reveals:
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How ready individual students are for
instruction.
Ideas students have before instruction.
How students’ ideas may differ from one grade
level to the next.
Whether students retain the accepted scientific
ideas years after instruction or revert back to
prior knowledge
Whether student grasp the big ideas and
see the connections in science.
Possible New Earth Science
Probes ??
Plate Tectonics
 Stratigraphy
 Fossils
 Weather
 Oceans
 Soil

Tools and Resources
Framing Reflection Questions
1) How can educators use national standards
and cognitive research to balance
assessment of learning with assessment for
learning?
2) What types and formats can help make
students’ thinking in earth sciences visible?
3) How can the development and use of
assessments that probe student thinking in
the earth sciences impact curricular, and
instructional decisions about student
learning?
Collaborators & Contact information at
MMSA:
Francis Eberle, Executive Director
feberle@mmsa.org
Lynn Farrin, Science Specialist
lfarrin@mmsa.org
Page Keeley, Senior Program Director
pkeeley@mmsa.org
Joyce Tugel, Science Specialist
Jtugel@mmsa.org