NSTA Short Course: Using Learning
Progressions to Improve Science Teaching
and Learning
Thursday, March 29, 2012
Hannah Sevian, University of Massachusetts, Boston,
James Hamos, National Science Foundation, Charles W.
Anderson, Michigan State University, Jennifer Doherty,
Michigan State University
Outline of Activities
1.
Presentation: Overview of learning progression research
a)
b)
c)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Defining learning progressions
Learning progression research cycle
Introduction to environmental literacy project
Group work: Working with examples from Environmental Literacy
project
Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework
Break
Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion
of Matter (SAMM) project
Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional
development
a)
b)
c)
Carbon TIME project
SAMM project
Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science
Outline of Activities
1.
Presentation: Overview of learning progression research
a) Defining learning progressions
b)
c)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Learning progression research cycle
Introduction to environmental literacy project
Group work: Working with examples from Environmental Literacy
project
Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework
Break
Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion
of Matter (SAMM) project
Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional
development
a)
b)
c)
Carbon TIME project
SAMM project
Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science
Learning Progressions
“Learning progressions are descriptions of
the successively more sophisticated ways
of thinking about a topic that can follow
one another as students learn about and
investigate a topic over a broad span of
time.” (NRC, Taking Science to School,
2007)
Learning Progressions Include:
• A learning progression framework,
describing levels of achievement for
students learning
• Assessment tools that reveal students’
reasoning: written assessments and
clinical interviews
• Teaching tools and strategies that help
students make transitions from one level
to the next
Why aren’t these just new labels
for standards, assessments, and
curricula?
What’s the difference?
Learning Progressions vs. Current
Standards: Nature of Learning
• Traditional standards: Accumulation of
knowledge
– Standards at all levels are scientifically correct
facts and skills
– Students make progress by learning more facts
and more complicated skills
• Learning progressions: Succession in
“conceptual ecologies” (like learning a
second language)
– Interconnected and mutually supporting ideas
and practices at all levels, embedded in
discourses
– Non-canonical ideas and practices can be both
useful and important developmental steps
Learning Progressions vs. Current
Standards: Empirical vs. Normative
• Traditional standards: Normative goals
– Statements about what students SHOULD learn
– Based on part on experience of standards writers,
conceptual change research (what’s reasonable)
• Learning progressions: Focus on more
rigorous empirical validation
– Descriptions of knowledge and practice based on
actual student performances
– Iterative research and development cycle
Outline of Activities
1.
Presentation: Overview of learning progression research
a)
Defining learning progressions
b) Learning progression research cycle
c)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Introduction to environmental literacy project
Group work: Working with examples from Environmental Literacy
project
Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework
Break
Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion
of Matter (SAMM) project
Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional
development
a)
b)
c)
Carbon TIME project
SAMM project
Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science
c. Research Methods: Iterative
Research Process
Model of Cognition: Learning
Progression Frameworks
 Learning progressions are descriptions of
increasingly sophisticated ways of thinking
about a subject
 Knowledge, practice, discourse
 Anchored at the lower end by what we know
about how younger students reason
 Anchored at upper end by what experts in the
field believe students should understand when
they graduate
 Intermediate levels of achievement describing
pathways and strategies for student progress
through levels
Numbers of Tests and Interviews
Data Source
School Level
2010-11‡
2009-10
Tests
Interviews
Pretests
Posttests
Interviews
Middle School
Carbon: 898*
Water: 204
Biodiversity: 698
Carbon: 41*
Water: 24
Biodiversity: 58
Carbon: 229
Water: 217
Biodiversity: 587
Carbon:35
Water: 223
Biodiversity: 401
Carbon: 4
Water: 5
Biodiversity: 0
High School
Carbon: 488*
Water: 16
Biodiversity: 672
Carbon: 41*
Water: 14
Biodiversity: 47
Carbon: 299
Water: 144
Biodiversity: 325
Carbon: 126
Water: 146
Biodiversity: 286
Carbon: 5
Water: 5
Biodiversity: 3
Carbon: 51
Water: 80
Biodiversity: 50
Carbon: 32
Water: 32
Biodiversity: 32
Teachers
Carbon: 38
Water: 47
Biodiversity: 38
See page 4 of Research Tab
Interpretation: Coding Test and
Interview Data
• Exploratory coding: Developing initial ideas about
student knowledge, practice, discourse and
learning progression frameworks (2009-10)
• Developmental coding: Establishing rubrics and
initial reliability
– Learning progression framework
– Written Exemplar Worksheets (coding rubrics)
– Developmental coding workbook (sample student
responses; coding by multiple coders and
reconciliation)
• Full coding
– Initial training using developmental coding materials
– Coding by main coders and reliability coders
– Reconciling differences
Interpretation: Validation Analyses
• Basic reliability analyses of various progress
variables, including overall reliability of
measures, item-total correlation, inter-rater
reliability, and individual item fit
• Validity of item scores with respect to
progress variables (i.e. are IRT-based
difficulties of item score levels consistent with
theoretical expectations)
• Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analyses
• Comparison of test and interview coding
Outline of Activities
1.
Presentation: Overview of learning progression research
a)
b)
Defining learning progressions
Learning progression research cycle
c) Introduction to environmental literacy project
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Group work: Working with examples from Environmental Literacy
project
Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework
Break
Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion
of Matter (SAMM) project
Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional
development
a)
b)
c)
Carbon TIME project
SAMM project
Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science
Three Dimensions of NRC
Framework
Frameworks Vision:
Learning objectives are three-dimensional
1.Practices
–
–
Major practices employed by scientists as they investigate and build
models and theories about the world
Key set of engineering practices that engineers use as they design and
build systems
2.Crosscutting concepts
–
Application across all domains of science
3.Disciplinary core ideas
–
–
–
–
Ideas that have broad importance across multiple sciences or
engineering, or a key organizing principle of a single discipline
Provide a key tool for understanding or investigating more complex
ideas and solving problems
Relate to interests and life experiences of students or connect to
societal or personal concerns requiring scientific/technical knowledge
Teachable and learnable over multiple grades at increasing levels of
depth and sophistication
Integration of the dimensions
in practice
Not separate treatment of “content” and
“inquiry” (no more Chapter 1: Scientific Method)
Less of:
More of:
• Focus on eradicating
misconceptions
• Inquiry as an activity
• Science as just a body of
knowledge
• Only older children able to
learn science
• Focus on ambitious learning
goals for select students
• Build on prior knowledge
• Practices that embody inquiry
as how one does and learns
science
• Science is content learned
through practices
• Young children are quite
capable and interested
• Focus on ambitious learning
goals for all students
Slide borrowed from http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/mspnet_academy_nrc_framework
Environmental Science Literacy as
Our Shared Goal
• CORE GOAL OF SCIENCE EDUCATION:
– Give people the ability to use scientific knowledge to
understand the consequences of our policies and
practices
– Make a place for scientific knowledge and arguments
from scientific evidence in political discourse and
personal decision making.
• NOTE that this is a different goal from getting
people to accept the authority of science or to
support particular policies or practices.
Practices of Environmentally Literate
Citizens
Discourses: Communities of practice, identities, values, funds of
knowledge
Explaining and Predicting
(Accounts)
What is happening in this
situation?
What are the likely
consequences of different
courses of action?
Investigating (Inquiry)
What is the problem?
Who do I trust?
What’s the evidence?
Deciding
What will I do?
Strands of Environmental Science Literacy
• Carbon. Carbon-transforming processes in socioecological systems at multiple scales, including cellular
and organismal metabolism, ecosystem energetics and
carbon cycling, carbon sequestration, and combustion of
fossil fuels.
• Water. The role of water and substances carried by
water in earth, living, and engineered systems, including
the atmosphere, surface water and ice, ground water,
human water systems, and water in living systems.
• Biodiversity. The diversity of living systems, including
variability among individuals in population, evolutionary
changes in populations, diversity in natural ecosystems
and in human systems that produce food, fiber, and
wood.
Outline of Activities
1.
Presentation: Overview of learning progression research
a)
b)
c)
Defining learning progressions
Learning progression research cycle
Introduction to environmental literacy project
2. Group work: Working with examples from
Environmental Literacy project
3.
4.
5.
6.
Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework
Break
Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion
of Matter (SAMM) project
Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional
development
a)
b)
c)
Carbon TIME project
SAMM project
Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science
The Keeling Curve as an Example
What Does it Mean to “Understand” the
Keeling Curve?
• Scientific accounts: Students should be
able to explain the mechanisms and
predict the effects of atmospheric change
– Yearly cycle
– Long-term trend
• Citizenship decisions: Students should be
able to use their understanding of how the
atmosphere is changing in order to act as
informed citizens
Keeling Curve Question
Keeling Curve Question: The graph given below
shows changes in concentration of carbon dioxide
in the atmosphere over a 47-year span at Mauna
Loa observatory at Hawaii, and the annual
variation of this concentration.
a. Why do you think this graph shows atmospheric
carbon dioxide levels decreasing in the summer
and fall every year and increasing in the winter
and spring?
b. Why do you think this graph shows atmospheric
carbon dioxide levels increasing from 1960 to
2000?
BUT….
• Middle school students can’t answer the
Keeling curve question. What is the
alternative?
• Solution: ask about carbon transforming
processes that all students are familiar with:
–
–
–
–
–
Plant growth
Animal growth
Animal movement
Decay
Combustion
FATLOSS Question
When a person exercises and loses weight, what happens to the fat in
the person’s body? Fat is mostly made of molecules such as stearic
acid: C18H36O2. Decide and circle whether each of the
following statements is true (T) or false (F) about what happens to the
atoms
in a man’s fat when he loses weight.
T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are incorporated into carbon
dioxide in the air.
T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are converted into energy that
he uses when he exercises.
T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are burned up and disappear.
T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are converted into heat.
T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are incorporated into water
vapor in the atmosphere.
Is air needed for the man to lose weight? If so, what role do gases from
the air play in the man’s losing fat?
FATLOSS Correct Answers
When a person exercises and loses weight, what happens to the fat in
the person’s body? Fat is mostly made of molecules such as stearic
acid: C18H36O2. Decide and circle whether each of the following
statements is true (T) or false (F) about what happens to the atoms
in a man’s fat when he loses weight.
T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are incorporated into carbon
dioxide in the air.
T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are converted into energy that
he uses when he exercises.
T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are burned up and disappear.
T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are converted into heat.
T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are incorporated into water
vapor in the atmosphere.
Is air needed for the man to lose weight? If so, what role do gases from
the air play in the man’s losing fat? Oxygen combines with organic
molecules (including fat) in cellular respiration.
OAKTREE Question
OAKTREE (Plants): A mature oak tree can have a mass of 500 kg, or more,
even after all the water in the tree is removed. Yet it start from an acorn that
weighs only a few grams. Where did this huge increase in mass come from?
Which of the following statements is true? Circle the letter of the correct
answer.
a. ALL of the mass came from matter that was originally outside the tree, OR
b. SOME of mass came from matter that the tree made as it grew.
Circle the best choice to complete each of the statements about possible
sources of mass from outside the tree.
How much of the dry mass came from the AIR? All or most, some, none
How much of the dry mass came from SUNLIGHT? All or most, some, none
How much of the dry mass came from WATER? All or most, some, none
How much of the dry mass came from SOIL NUTRIENTS? All or most, some,
none
Explain your choices. How does the oak tree gain mass as it grows?
OAKTREE Correct Answers
OAKTREE (Plants): A mature oak tree can have a mass of 500 kg, or more,
even after all the water in the tree is removed. Yet it start from an acorn that
weighs only a few grams. Where did this huge increase in mass come from?
Which of the following statements is true? Circle the letter of the correct
answer.
a. ALL of the mass came from matter that was originally outside the tree,
b. SOME of mass came from matter that the tree made as it grew.
Circle the best choice to complete each of the statements about possible
sources of mass from outside the tree.
How much of the dry mass came from the AIR? All or most, some, none
How much of the dry mass came from SUNLIGHT? All or most, some, none
How much of the dry mass came from WATER? All or most, some, none
How much of the dry mass came from SOIL NUTRIENTS? All or most, some,
none
Explain your choices. How does the oak tree gain mass as it grows? C and O
atoms in the organic molecules of the oak tree came from CO2 through
photosynthesis. H atoms came from water through photosynthesis. N, P, and
other mineral atoms came from soil minerals.
The Role of Scale and Principles in
Scientific Accounts
• Connecting scales:
– Macroscopic scale: plant growth, growth and
functioning of consumers and decomposers,
combustion as key carbon transforming processes
– Atomic-molecular scale: photosynthesis, cellular
respiration, combustion, digestion and biosynthesis
– Large scale: carbon reservoirs and fluxes in earth
systems, affected by human populations and
technologies
• Key principles
– Conservation of matter: Carbon atoms gotta go
somewhere
– Conservation of energy
– Degradation of energy (matter cycles, energy flows)
To do in groups
• Work in pairs on the two questions
• Sort responses into 3-5 groups
• Write descriptions of the groups: What do the
responses in a group have in common? How
are they different from other groups?
• Key question for lower groups: What ARE
they saying (not just what is wrong with their
responses)
• If you have time, compare your groups and
descriptions with other pairs at your table
Outline of Activities
1.
Presentation: Overview of learning progression research
a)
b)
c)
Defining learning progressions
Learning progression research cycle
Introduction to environmental literacy project
2.
Group work: Working with examples from Environmental Literacy project
3.
Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression
framework
4.
5.
Break
Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion of
Matter (SAMM) project
Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional development
6.
a)
b)
c)
Carbon TIME project
SAMM project
Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science
What Progresses?
• Discourse: “a socially accepted
association among ways of using
language, of thinking, and of acting that
can be used to identify oneself as a
member of a socially meaningful group”
(Gee, 1991, p. 3)
• Practices: inquiry, accounts, citizenship
• Knowledge of processes in human and
environmental systems
Contrasts between Force-dynamic and
Scientific Discourse (Pinker, Talmy)
• Force-dynamic discourse: Actors (e.g., animals,
plants, machines) make things happen with the
help of enablers that satisfy their “needs.”
– This is everyone’s “first language” that we have to
master in order to speak grammatical English (or
French, Spanish, Chinese, etc.)
• Scientific discourse: Systems are composed of
enduring entities (e.g., matter, energy) which
change according to laws or principles (e.g.,
conservation laws)
– This is a “second language” that is powerful for
analyzing the material world
• We often have the illusion of communication
because speakers of these languages use the
same words with different meanings (e.g., energy,
carbon, nutrient, etc.)
Learning Progression Levels of
Achievement
Level 4: Correct qualitative tracing of matter
and energy through processes at multiple
scales.
Level 3: Attempts to trace matter and energy,
but with errors (e.g., matter-energy confusion,
failure to fully account for mass of gases).
Level 2: Elaborated force-dynamic accounts
(e.g., different functions for different organs)
Level 1: Simple force-dynamic accounts.
A Learning Progression Story:
Food Chain on a BEST Plot
Black Medick
Rabbit
Coyote
Death and
decomposition
Level 1 Account of the Food Chain
• This is a story with heroes (e.g., the bunny as
Bambi’s friend Thumper) and villains (the
marauding coyote)
• This is emotionally different from other food
chain stories (e.g., cricket and garter snake,
mouse and owl)
• The plant is there for the rabbit to eat, but it
has a purpose in life, too—to grow
• Death of the coyote is what he deserves
• Explanations focus on why the plants and
animals act as they do, not how
Level 2 Account of the Food Chain
• Recognizing material constraints on what actors can do:
Rabbits NEED food (compared to Level 1 focus on actions:
Rabbits need to eat)
• Moving toward microscopic scale: Rabbit, coyote, and medick
all have internal parts
– Starting to account for how plants and animals accomplish their
purposes, not just why
– Internal organs with special functions (but not yet transformation
of matter
• Large-scale connections: the circle of life
– Food chain as cause-effect sequence (not flow of matter or
energy)
– Plants help animals by providing food and oxygen
– Decay of plants and animals enriches soil
Learners’ Accounts “Matter and
Energy Cycles”
Sunlight
People
Nutrients
Carbon
Dioxide
& animals
Decay
People
& animals
• This is really about actors and their actions.
• People are the main actors, then animals, then plants
• Everything else is there to meet the needs of actors
Level 3 Account of the Food Chain
• Microscopic scale: Rabbit, coyote, medick and decomposers
all are systems (not just actors) made of living cells
– Internal systems move food and oxygen to cells and waste away
from cells
– Photosynthesis and cellular respiration as important cellular
processes (functions still not entirely clear)
– Food as source of matter and energy for growth and life
functions (distinctions between matter and energy still not very
clear)
– Molecules present in food and in cells, but connections between
living systems and chemical change still fuzzy
• Large-scale connections: matter and energy cycles
– Food chain as flow of matter or energy (matter and energy both
recycle)
– Still separate nutrient and O2-CO2 cycles
– Animals, decomposers, combustion all require food/fuel and O2
and produce CO2
Level 3: Nutrient and O2-CO2
Cycles
Level 4 Account of the Food Chain
• Microscopic scale: Rabbit, coyote, medick and
decomposers all are systems that chemically
transform matter and energy
– Food and tissues of organisms are made of organic matter
(biomass) including carbohydrates, fats, proteins, nucleic
acids
– Organelles in cells make organic matter from inorganic
matter (photosynthesis), make other organic substances
from glucose and minerals (biosynthesis, digestion), and
oxidize organic matter (cellular respiration
– Energy is stored in C-C and C-H bonds of organic
molecules
• Large-scale connections: the circle of life
– Matter cycles, with the most important matter cycle being
the carbon cycle: CO2 and H2O to biomass and O2
– Energy flows: sunlight to chemical energy to motion and
heat
Upper Anchor: Scientific Account
Carbon Cycling and Energy Flow
Complete Level 4 Framework: Carbon “Loop
Diagram”
Human Socioeconomical Systems
Atmosphere
CO2
CO2
LE
Driving
Vehicles
Burning
fossil fuels
Organic Carbon Oxidation
(Combustion)
Using
Electric
appliances
Heat
Ecosystem
Plant Growth
OrgC
Animal Growth
Organic Carbon OrgC
Generation
(Photosynthesis)
CE
CE
OrgC
CE
CO2
Organic Carbon
Transformation
(Biosynthesis,
digestion)
OrgC
CE
Body Movement; Dead Organism Body Decay
Organic Carbon Oxidation (Cellular Respiration)
Heat
CE: Chemical Energy; LE: Light Energy; OrgC: Organic Carbon-containing
Molecules
Macroscopic Scale: Grouping and Explaining
Carbon-transforming Processes
Black: Linking processes that students at all levels
can tell us about
Red: Lower anchor accounts based on informal
discourse
Green: Upper anchor accounts based on scientific
models
Final Questions about Sorting
• How did your groups compare to the
sorting based on the learning progression
framework and rubrics?
• How did your descriptions of groups
compare with the learning progression
level descriptions?
• What questions do you have?
Outline of Activities
1.
Presentation: Overview of learning progression research
a)
b)
c)
2.
3.
Defining learning progressions
Learning progression research cycle
Introduction to environmental literacy project
Group work: Working with examples from Environmental Literacy
project
Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework
4. Break
5.
6.
Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion
of Matter (SAMM) project
Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional
development
a)
b)
c)
Carbon TIME project
SAMM project
Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science
Outline of Activities
1.
Presentation: Overview of learning progression research
a)
b)
c)
2.
3.
4.
Defining learning progressions
Learning progression research cycle
Introduction to environmental literacy project
Group work: Working with examples from Environmental Literacy
project
Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework
Break
5. Group work: Working with examples from the
Structure and Motion of Matter (SAMM) project
6.
Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional
development
a)
b)
c)
Carbon TIME project
SAMM project
Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science
Questions about Environmental
Literacy and SAMM LP’s
• What do you see that the two learning
progressions have in common?
• How are they different from standards,
scope and sequence documents, and
assessments that you are familiar with?
General Structure of LP
Frameworks
• Levels of achievement/mental models:
broad levels in movement from lower
anchor to upper anchor
• Progress variables: more detailed analysis
of student performances that allows
coding and comparison
• Interview tasks and test items: specific
things for students to do
Outline of Activities
1.
Presentation: Overview of learning progression research
a)
b)
c)
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Defining learning progressions
Learning progression research cycle
Introduction to environmental literacy project
Group work: Working with examples from Environmental Literacy
project
Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework
Break
Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion
of Matter (SAMM) project
Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional
development
a)
b)
c)
Carbon TIME project
SAMM project
Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science
Teaching Experiments: Inquiry and
Application Activity Sequences
Teaching Experiments
• Available on Environmental Literacy Website:
– Carbon: plant growth and cellular respiration
– Biodiversity: macroinvertebrates and other organisms in stream
bed leaf packs
– Water: water budget for school grounds
• In development: Carbon TIME (Transformations in Matter and
Energy): Six units to be available through National
Geographic Website in 2014
–
–
–
–
–
–
Systems and Scale
Plants
Animals
Decomposers
Ecosystems
Human energy systems
Development Products
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Learning progression framework: Based on current carbon
framework.
Tools for Reasoning to enact fundamental principles: Based
on current tools for reasoning.
Teaching strategies for responsive teaching: General
instructional model for all units.
Formative and summative assessment tools: Interactive
formative assessments for each unit developed with NREL
and BEAR.
Teaching materials and activities: six units at Middle and
High School levels: Systems and Scale, Plants, Animals,
Decomposers, Ecological Carbon Cycling, Human Energy
Systems. Available online through NGS website.
Professional development materials. General and unitspecific, face-to-face and facilitated online versions.
Powers of 10 Chart
Matter and Energy Process Tool
scales
Large
scale
Macroscopi
c
Microscopi
c
Atomic
molecula
r
Analyzin
g
Ethanol
burning
Matter
Material identity and transformation
Energy
Energy forms and transformation
Matter Movement
All filters
Driving question
What’s the hidden chemical change
when alcohol burns?
Movement of ethanol burning at macroscopic
world
scales
Large
scale
Macroscopi
c
Microscopi
c
Atomic
molecula
r
Analyzin
g
Matter
Material identity and transformation
Energy
Energy forms and transformation
Matter Movement
All filters
Back to
Transformation of ethanol burning at
macroscopic world
Heat
energy
Large
scale
(in the air)
Light and heat energy
scales
Chemical energy
Ethano
(from wick (liquid)
l
to flame (vapor))
wate
r
(From flame to
air)
Macroscopi
c
Microscopi
c
Atomic
molecula
r
Analyzin
g
oxyge
(From air to flame
n
)
carbon
dioxide
Ethanol
burning
Matter
Material identity and transformation
Energy
Energy forms and transformation
(From flame to air
)
Matter Movement
All filters
Back to
The bottom of flame at atomic-molecular
world
Ethanol
mixed with
air
Ethan
ol
vapor
What happened between the bottom and the top of the
flame?
Bottle of the
flame
Top of the flame
Transformation of ethanol burning at atomic-molecular
world
Large
scale
scales
Macroscopi
c
Heat energy
Chemical energy
(stored in bonds)
(Move to the air )
Light and heat energy
C2H5OH
H2O
Microscopi
c
CO2
O2
Atomic
molecula
r
Analyzin
g
Matter
Material identity
Matter transformation
Energy
Energy forms and transformation
All filters
Next
slide
Back to
Upper Anchor: Scientific Account
Carbon Cycling and Energy Flow
Learners’ Accounts “Matter and
Energy Cycles”
Sunlight
People
Nutrients
Carbon
Dioxide
& animals
Decay
People
& animals
• This is really about actors and their actions.
• People are the main actors, then animals, then plants
• Everything else is there to meet the needs of actors
It Takes Time….
• One course makes a difference in student
reasoning, but not enough.
– Scientific reasoning is complex, involving systems
and principles at multiple scales
– Different aspects of scientific reasoning are
interdependent: It’s hard to trace matter if you
can’t trace energy, or to reason at a global scale
if you can’t reason at an atomic molecular scale
– Students can make progress in one course, but
need a consistent approach in multiple courses to
master the “second language” of scientific
discourse
Thanks to Funders
This research is supported in part by grants from the National
Science Foundation: Learning Progression on CarbonTransforming Processes in Socio-Ecological Systems (NSF
0815993), and Targeted Partnership: Culturally relevant ecology,
learning progressions and environmental literacy (NSF0832173), CCE: A Learning Progression-based System for
Promoting Understanding of Carbon-transforming Processes
(DRL 1020187), and Tools for Reasoning about Water in Socioecological Systems (DRL-1020176). Additional support comes
from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. Any
opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations
expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation
or the United States Department of Energy
Thanks to Contributors to this
Research
• Hui Jin, Jing Chen, Li Zhan, Josephine Zesaguli, Hsin-Yuan
Chen, Brook Wilke, Hamin Baek, Kennedy Onyancha,
Jonathon Schramm, Courtney Schenk, Jennifer Doherty, and
Dante Cisterna at Michigan State University
• John Moore, Shawna McMahon, Andrew Warnock, Jim
Graham, Kirstin Holfelder, Colorado State University
• Alan Berkowitz, Eric Keeling, Cornelia Harris, Cary Institute of
Ecosystem Studies
• Ali Whitmer, Georgetown University
• Dijanna Figueroa, Scott Simon, University of California, Santa
Barbara
• Laurel Hartley at the University of Colorado, Denver
• Kristin Gunckel at the University of Arizona
• Beth Covitt at the University of Montana
• Mark Wilson, Karen Draney, Jinnie Choi, and Yong-Sang Lee
at the University of California, Berkeley.
Website
• http://edr1.educ.msu.edu/EnvironmentalLit
/publicsite/html/tm_cc.html
• Go to the Teaching Materials section for
materials used in this short course
Extra Slides
Climate Change and CarbonTransforming Processes
• Understanding carbon cycling requires students
to trace matter and energy through socioecological systems at multiple scales in space
and time.
• Global climate change is driven by imbalances
in the carbon cycle, between processes that
generate organic carbon—photosynthesis—and
processes that oxidize organic carbon—
combustion and cellular respiration.
• Key idea: Those carbon atoms gotta be
SOMEWHERE, and we are moving more and
more of them into the atmosphere.
An Example Question
A potato is left outside and gradually decays. One of the
main substances in the potato is the starch amylose:
(C6H10O5)n. What happens to the atoms in amylose
molecules as the potato decays? Choose True (T) or
False (F) for each option.
T F Some of the atoms are converted into nitrogen and
phosphorous: soil nutrients.
T F Some of the atoms are consumed and used up by
decomposers.
T F Some of the atoms are incorporated into carbon
dioxide.
T F Some of the atoms are converted into energy by
decomposers.
T F Some of the atoms are incorporated into water.
Results: College Level, Posttest, Mostly
Science Majors, Multiple Institutions
• Majority of students answered “true” to all
5 questions, percentages ranging from
55% (converted to soil N & P) to 94%
(consumed and used up, converted into
energy)
• Question: What were they thinking? Why
did these responses make sense to them?
2. How can we use learning
progression research to
formulate goals for student
learning, develop teaching
materials, and guide professional
development?
EatBreathe Question
• Humans must eat and breathe in order to
live and grow. Are eating and breathing
related to each other? (Circle one)
YES NO
• If you circled “Yes” explain how eating and
breathing are related. If you circled “No”
then explain why they are not related. Give
as many details as you can.
What Levels Are These
Responses?
Sonya: Yes. They are related because eating allows metabolic
processes to work inside the body and breathing allows
processes that need oxygen and food to function properly.
Sara: They are related because the energy made from the cells
respiration can then be used to break down 'food" such as
sugars. You can find other ways to breakdown food, but
without the help of ATP from cellular respiration the rate
would drastically decrease.
Sasha: Yes. They are both essential to life but other than that
they perform different functions in the body and are very
different processes.
Sheila: Yes. When you eat the food gets broken down and put
into your bloodstream and brought to cells that need energy.
The oxygen you breathe in breaks down the high energy
bonds in the food.
What Levels Are These
Responses?
Sonya: Yes. They are related because eating allows metabolic
processes to work inside the body and breathing allows
processes that need oxygen and food to function properly.
Level 2.
Sara: They are related because the energy made from the cells
respiration can then be used to break down 'food" such as
sugars. You can find other ways to breakdown food, but
without the help of ATP from cellular respiration the rate
would drastically decrease. Level 3.
Sasha: Yes. They are both essential to life but other than that
they perform different functions in the body and are very
different processes. Level 1.
Sheila: Yes. When you eat the food gets broken down and put
into your bloodstream and brought to cells that need energy.
The oxygen you breathe in breaks down the high energy
bonds in the food. Level 4.
4. Conclusion: What’s at
stake?
Interviews with Students about
Environmental Issues
How do students make decisions about scientific
facts relevant to environmental issues?
•USUALLY use personal and family knowledge
•USUALLY use ideas from media and popular
culture
•OFTEN make judgments about bias and self
interest in people and organizations taking positions
on the issue
•RARELY make use of knowledge they learned in
school
•RARELY make explicit judgments about the
scientific quality of evidence or arguments (though
our questions on this weren’t great)
•GENERAL PATTERN: Students rely on sources
that “speak their language.”
(Covitt, Tan, Tsurusaki, & Anderson, in revision)
What’s at Stake? Changes in Public
Opinion
What causes climate change?
Human Activity
April, 2008
January, 2010
47%
34%
Natural
Geological
Causes
34%
47%
• Note the volatility of public opinion
• Many people are like our students, deciding
who to trust without being able to judge
scientific quality of arguments from evidence
Source: Newsweek, March 1, 2010
Possible Consequences
• Political discourse and personal decisions
dominated by different subcultures each
constructing their own “reality”—the Prius
drivers, the SUV drivers, etc.
• BUT the Earth’s atmosphere, water systems,
and biological communities do not know
about political discourse
• In 50 years we will know for sure who is right
and who is wrong
• Our children and grandchildren will live with
the consequences
Values in the Science Curriculum
• The value of scientific knowledge and arguments from
evidence should have an explicit role in the curriculum
– Scientific knowledge should play an essential role in
environmental decisions. In particular, it can help us
anticipate the effects of our individual and collective
actions.
– We should use scientific standards (authority of evidence,
rigor in method, collective validation) to judge knowledge
claims.
• We should NOT teach what to do about climate
change or other environmental issues in the required
science curriculum
• If people truly understand the effects of their actions,
then they are much more likely to make responsible
decisions.
What’s at Stake?
• Give people the ability to choose between
scientific and force-dynamic discourse; don’t
leave them without a choice
• Translation is NOT enough
• People need to see how the science of
climate change is NOT a political issue like
health care
• How can we make a place for scientific
knowledge and arguments from evidence in
political discourse and personal decision
making?
Different Ideas about Inquiry
• Inquiry as discovery
• Inquiry as hands on
• Inquiry as engaging in particular practices
(measurement, data analysis, modelbuilding, etc.)
• Inquiry as developing arguments from
evidence
Possible Arguments from Evidence
• Complete inquiry unit: Students’
experiences and data analyses are
primary source of new knowledge
• Limited inquiry unit: Arguments from
evidence:
– Raise questions about students’ models
– Engage students in inquiry practices
– Help to make the case that evidence is the
ultimate authority in science
Strands and Themes