Biology Education
Student Teacher Seminar #1
Jan 16, 2009
• Eat and greet; share some experiences
• School Report Card Data
• Your Methods
– Lesson planning: objectives, assessments, activities
– Learning about your learning
– Ch 9 Designs for Learning
• Aligning Objectives and Assessments
• General Timeline; Syllabus part VII, Permission Forms
Chapter 9 Designs for Learning
Pedagogical Content Knowledge
(PCK)
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PCK is a teacher’s knowledge of how to
help students understand specific
subject matter.
Key questions include:
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How would this help you teach about water on Mars?
What shall I do with my students to
help them understand this science
concept?
What materials are available to help
me?
What are my students likely to already
know and what will be difficult for
them to learn?
How shall I best evaluate what my
students have learned?
Mini-Unit Design Process
Design Step 1: Brainstorming
• This should be a fast, free-flowing listing
of terms, words, and phrases for the topic
of your mini-unit. Work with a few peers
to generate ideas.
• You might want to look at the Standards
and/or Benchmarks to spark your
brainstorming.
Design Step 2:
Name Your Mini-unit
• This is way to give your unit focus-naming
it helps.
• Some ideas from your peers include:
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What’s Up with the Weather?
The Well Cell
Sensational Sediments
We are Family: Study of Periodicity
What if you had a volcano in your backyard?
Design Step 3:
Identify Focus Questions
• Focus questions should help you define the
heart of your unit or course. Two or three
well designed questions will help your
students draw upon prior knowledge and
keep sight of the “big idea”.
• Focus questions should center around the
“enduring understandings” that promote
science literacy.
Design Step 4:
Identify Intended Learning Outcomes
• Use your initial list of ideas to create a list of intended
learning outcomes. Outcomes are statements of what you
want students to know or be able to do.
• They are skills, concepts, and values you intend the
students will learn.
• Write these as precise statement starting with a verb, that
indicates what learners should be able to do to
demonstrate their knowledge.
Design Step 5:
Categorize Outcomes
• In this step, you will sort
your outcomes into skill
and nonskill categories.
• Here is an example of
intended outcomes from
an environmental unit
categorized into nonskill
and skill groups.
Environmental Problems in Our Community
Non-skill Outcomes
respects the environment
energy webs and food
chains
pollution
knows how acids affect river
water
understands biodegradable
Skill Outcomes
ability to analyze a sample
of water
can measure the pH of
liquids
can write equations for
chemical processes
Design Step 6:
Develop a Concept Map of the Unit
• Use the ideas developed by
Novak and Gowin to develop a
map of your mini-unit. You
will probably revise this as you
further develop the unit.
• The map is a tool for your
planning and your student’s
learning.
Producers
Share it with them.
generate own food
via
Food
chains
contain
contain
Consumers
contain
Decomposers
combine
Photosynthesis
linking words
combine
Herbivores
Carnivores
Omnivores
Inorganic
substances
Organic
Debris
Design Step 7: Write a Rationale
• At this stage you’ve worked
with your unit enough so that
you can write a rationale. How
might this learning:
– affect the students’ future?
– contributes to societal issues?
– reflects the spirit and
character of the scientific
enterprise?
• See the samples in the text.
Here is part of one rationale.
• The abilities, interests, needs,
and talents of your students
must also inform the rationale
and emerging plans.
Science education in this modern world of high
information availability must be an inquiry based
exercise. Science, itself, must be defined as a verb, an
action, and a method of looking at the world. And
when the world, with all of its uniqueness and
exceptions to the “rules” is readily available through
the Internet, simple memorization of facts can
become useless. Student must use their brainpower
for finding the threads that connect and related all
things. In this study of volcanoes, the Mt. St. Helen’s
example is used to show the power and the
magnitude of a volcano; the devastation of all forms
of life that occur following a blast. The lesson intent
is to explore how a volcano affects more than just
geology of the area. The example is used to show
how life in a devastated area reforms and rejuvenates.
Design Step 8: Categorize OutcomesCognitions, Affects and Skills
•
This step you will actually delay until after
you have listed potential activities (step 9),
and written lesson plans (step 10). You can
then pull your outcomes from your lesson
plans, and categorize them into four groups:
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Cognitions
Affects
Cognitive skills
Psychomotor skills
You should, however, review the nature of
these categories of outcomes before you go
to the next two steps.
Use the map on the next slide, and text
material to write out one outcome for each
category related to your mini-unit.
Summary of Learning Outcomes
Cognitions
Affects
Cognitive Skills
Psychomo tor Skills
Concepts and
propositions
Attitudes and
feelings
Cognitive abilities
Motor and laboratory
abilities
Design Step 9:
Develop an Assessment Plan
•
Assessment in your mini-unit
should include:
– Daily Formative Assessments of
various types (observing,
listening, informal quiz, written
quiz, lab work, project, etc.)
– One end of unit Summative
Assessment (performance task,
project, or traditional test)
•
Start with your initial ideas about
assessment, then look ahead to
Chapter 10 for more assessments
ideas.
Student Feedback Form
1.During the mini-unit how satisfied were
you as a learner?
______very satisfied
______satisfied
______unsatisfied
______very unsatisfied
2.What could your teacher have done to
increase your satisfaction?
3.What were your favorite activities?
Why?
4.What were your least favorite
activities? Why
Table 7.9. Student Feedback Form
Design Step 10:
List Potential Activities
•
Now that you have a framework
for your mini-unit, you can do
some exploring of science
activities (use online and print
resources), and then brainstorm
with peers a list of potential
activities. For web resources,
check the section On the Web in
The Art of Teaching Science text,
or at the Art of Teaching Science
online site.
Implementation & Revision
• Teach your mini-unit to a
group of middle or high
school students.
• If you can’t do this,
present one lesson to a
group of peers.
• In either case, video tape
one lesson.
• Reflect on your mini-unit by
using the feedback you
obtained from students, and
peers. A complete list of
reflection questions is located
in the text. One example is:
– To what extent did students
attain the learning outcomes
(objectives) of the unit?
• What revisions would you
make in the unit?
Chapter 10 Assessing Active
Science Learning
•
Assessment is presented from three
contexts: the classroom context,
assessment at the national level and
assessment at the international level. If
you are looking for specific
assessment strategies, then you’ll want
to focus on the first part of the chapter.
If you are interested in national and
international assessments then the
sections on these reports will be of
interest. You will want to come back
to this chapter from time-to-time to
find examples of assessment strategies
that you can integrate into your
teaching plans.
Assessment
at Classroom
Level
A Model
Inquiry
8.1Designing
an Assessment
Plan
Multiple
Methods
Inquiry 8.2:
Designing
Performance
Tasks
Model of Assessment
• Where are you trying to go?
-identify and communicate the
learning and performance goals.
• Where are you now?
-assess, or help the student to
self-assess current levels of
understanding.
• How can you get there?
-help the student with strategies
and skills to reach the goal.
Inquiry Activity 10.1:
Developing an Assessment Plan
• Develop a plan for a mini-unit
of teaching
• Include:
– A diagnostic assessment
– 2-3 formative assessments
– A summative assessment
• What are the strengths of your
plan?
Using materials in the lab (newspapers, toothpaste, modeling
Clay, sand, water, flour, glue) make a model of the pattern of
You see in the rocks shown in the photograph. Write a brief
Story explaining how you think the pattern in the rocks was
Created.
Methods of Assessment
• Diagnostic
• Formative
• Summative
Formative Assessment: What effect would global
warming have on the range of Artic ice shown here?
Diagnostic Assessment
• Assessing students’
prior knowledge
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T-charts
Pictorials
Drawings
Concept Mapping
Probes
How could you use this graph as a diagnostic
assessment method with a group of ninth-graders?
Examples: Diagnostic Methods
What we have heard
about ozone?
What questions we
do we have about
ozone?
It makes us burn up. What causes ozone?
It’s smog and it’s
How can we tell if
harmful to us.
there is ozone in the
Makes the earth heat air?
up.
Is it different in the
Air pollution can
center of a city
cause ozone
compared to the
It’s caused by
suburbs?
chemicals in the air. What effect does it
It can be dangerous have on humans?
to people with
Do cars cause it?
breathing problems. What will happen if
There is good and
the ozone in the air is
bad ozone.
all gone?
The T-Chart: A Pre-Assessment Strategy.
Here students in a small group work
together to make a T-chart by answering the
two questions at the the top of each column.
• Pre-assessment--used to find
out student’s prior knowledge.
Three methods are presented,
including:
– The T-Chart
– Pictorials & Drawings
– Concept Maps
• How would these preassessment strategies help you
in planning lessons and
designing units of study?
Formative Assessment
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Asking questions
Conferencing
Monitoring/observing
Alternative paper and pencil
Web-Based Formative
Assessments
Student Writing
Open-Ended Questions
Content-Specific Tasks
Science Journals
Formative assessment: Is it true that the green color in leaves masks
other pigments? If so, why are some trees in this picture green, and
others showing reds, browns, and yellows?
Examples: Formative
Assessment
Interpersonal Group 1
skill
Active
Listening
Group 2
Staying on
Task
Asking
Questions
Contributing
Ideas
Interpersonal Skill Observation Form
Group 3
Group 4
• Formative methods can involve
direct interaction of the teacher
with students, during class or
nonclass time. Which of these
methods would use, and why?
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Observing Students
Asking Questions
Student Questions
Conferencing
Summative Methods of
Assessment
• Several formal methods are
presented, including:
– Traditional Paper-and-Pencil
Tests
– Traditional Short Answer
– Student Writing
– Open-Ended Questions
– Content-Specific Tasks
– Science Journals
– Written Reports or
Multimedia Presentations
1.Some changes in the earth's surface are
abrupt (such as earthquakes and volcanic
eruptions) while other changes happen
very slowly (such as uplift and wearing
down of mountains).
2.The earth's surface is shaped in part by
the motion of water and wind over very
long times, which act to level mountain
ranges
These are two Earth Science outcomes from the
Benchmarks for Scientific Literacy for middle and
high school students. Create a formal assessment for
each outcome selecting a different formal method for
each from the list to the left. Consult the Art of
Teaching Science for details on each method, pp.
307-308
Inquiry 10.2: Designing Performance
Assessment Tasks and Rubrics
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•
In this inquiry you are going to
design a performance task that
would assess student
understanding of a big idea or
concept. Select big ideas/concepts
from the Standards and the
Benchmarks. Using these
statements, you will be asked to
create a performance task that will
assess learners on the idea.
An example of a performance task
is shown here.
Performance Task:
The Paper Tower Project
In this assessment, the teacher is interested
in finding ou t how well teams can work
together to solve a problem and explain
what they have built and the rationale for
their design. Each team is given a sheet of
paper measuring 8.5 x 11 inches, scissors,
and 50 cm of masking tape. The students
are told that the task is to build the tallest
freestanding tower using one sheet of paper.
They will be given 30 minutes to complete
the task. The masking tape can only b e used
to connect pieces of paper; it cannot be used
to fasten the tower to a desk or other
structure. When the towers are built, each
team must present its tower to the class and
explain the rationale for the structure design.
The other groups of students are given a
rubric (see Table 8.4 in the Art of Teaching
Science), which they will use to assess the
presenting team. The teacher also completes
a rubric.
Paper Tower Assessment Project
Science teacher-education students collaborating on
The paper tower project.
Rubric for paper tower
CATEGORY
4
3
2
1
Plan
Plan is neat with
clear
measurements
and labeling for
all components.
Plan is neat with
clear
measurements
and labeling for
most
components.
Plan provides
clear
measurements
and labeling for
most
components.
Plan does not
show
measurements
clearly or is
otherwise
inadequately
labeled.
Function
Structure
functions
extraordinarily
well, holding up
under atypical
stresses.
Structure
functions well,
holding up under
typical stresses.
Structure
functions pretty
well, but
deteriorates
under typical
stresses.
Fatal flaws in
function with
complete failure
under typical
stresses.
Construction Materials
Appropriate
materials were
selected and
creatively
modified in ways
that made them
even better.
Appropriate
materials were
selected and
there was an
attempt at
creative
modification to
make them even
better.
Appropriate
materials were
selected.
Inappropriate
materials were
selected and
contributed to a
product that
performed
poorly.
Construction - Care
Taken
Great care taken
in construction
process so that
the structure is
neat, attractive
and follows plans
accurately.
Construction was
careful and
accurate for the
most part, but 12 details could
have been
refined for a
more attractive
product.
Construction
accurately
followed the
plans, but 3-4
details could
have been
refined for a
more attractive
product.
Construction
appears careless
or haphazard.
Many details
need refinement
for a strong or
attractive
product.
Rubric Design
• Rubistar
• Use Rubistar to design rubrics
for:
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Building a structure
A lab report
Science fair project
Scientific drawings
Group projects
Essay writing
Research report
Portfolios
• Study the sample portfolio
provided in the Science
Teacher Gazette of this
chapter, and use it as a model
to develop a portfolio based on
your mini-unit, or a chapter
from a middle or high school
science textbook.
Zoology Portfolio
Overview
For the zoology unit you will be required to
develop a portfolio. This portfolio is a collection
of your work that shows what you have learned
during this unit on animal biology. The portfolio
allows you to demonstrate your maturity as an
independent learner who is willing and able to
pursue some personal learning interests. It will
also provide a format in which you will organize
some lab and activity work, which we do during
class time. Your portfolio should be organized
in either a small three-ring binder, or a threeclasp folder with divided sections.
This is the introductory material excerpted from a
complete Zoology portfolio (See Table 8.6 in the Art
of Teaching Science. The portfolio is the major
organizing tool used by the teacher not only to assess
the students, but to describe the syllabus of a unit on
zoology in a biology course. The portfolio is a
creative approach to assessment, and puts greater
responsibility on the part of the students to organize
their work, be involved in small group and individual
work, and make decisions about the activities they
choose.
Assessment at the National
Level
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The National Assessment of
Educational Progress (NAEP) is a
federally mandated organization
that administers assessments to
measure educational progress in
science, and other content areas.
Review the material on NAEP in
the Art of Teaching Science (pp.
311-320).
How can the NAEP contribute to
the improvement of education in
U.S. school districts?
Long-Term Trends in Science
• Find out how the following
have changed over time based
on NAEP results (science):
Trends in Average Scale Scores for the Nation in Science
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Achievement
Age
Race/Ethnicity
Gender
Parental Education Level and
achievement
Type of School
Science Curriculum
Attitudes
International Assessments
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The International Association for the
Evaluation of Educational
Achievement (IEA) has conducted
comparative studies since the 1960s.
Known as the Trends in International
Mathematics and Science Study
(TIMSS), students in more than 40
nations at the fourth, eighth and final
year of high school have been tested.
PISA--Program for International
Student Assessment
ROSE--Relevance of Science
Education