Using Science Notebooks to Examine Student Thinking Mark Emmet & Peggy Harris Willcuts

1. Using Science Notebooks to Examine Student Thinking Mark Emmet&Peggy Harris Willcuts

2. Goals • Deepen understanding of the nature and purpose of science notebook entry types • Examine entry types for their connection to research on How People Learn: • Evidence of prior knowledge • Evidence of factual/conceptual knowledge • Evidence of understanding their own learning process • Begin to discuss instructional implications based on analysis of student work • Link to larger work of the science notebooks website

3. Flow Chart Characteristics of Entry Types Student Proficiency with Entry Types Student Conceptual Proficiency Instructional Implications

4. Who is Here? • Teachers • Primary • Intermediate • Middle School • High School • Others • Administrators • Higher Ed • Informal Science • Pre-Service • Other

5. Experience with Looking at Student Notebooks Who has: • …tried a few entry types with students? • …been using science notebooks for months? • …examined student entries on your own? • …examined student notebooks with colleagues?

6. Initial Ideas What might we learn by looking at student work in science notebooks? • Stop and jot • Turn and talk (table level)

7. Responses from Others: We might learn: …whether students are proficient in using a number of entry types; …how different entry types allow students to express their understanding; … whether students are expressing misconceptions or gaps in their understanding; …what interventions may be necessary to address these issues.

8. Flow Chart Characteristics of Entry Types Student Proficiency with Entry Types Student Conceptual Proficiency Instructional Implications

9. Science Notebook Entry Types and Their Characteristics • Grab a handout and a highlighter. Working with an elbow partner… • In the left column, highlight key characteristics of each Entry type. • In the right column, enter those key words in the blank spaces. • Discuss any discrepancies you encountered…

10. Whole Group Share

11. Reviewing Entry Types What characteristics help you to distinguish among these three entry types? • Drawings • Tables, Charts, and Graphs • Graphic Organizers Share Group Think

12. EntryType Sample Tables,Charts, and Graphs Definition: Formats for recording and organizingdata, results, and observations. Purpose: Students use table and charts to organize information in a form that is easily read and understood. Recording data in these forms facilitates record keeping. Students use graphs to compare and analyze data, display patterns and trends, and synthesize information to communicate results.

13. Reviewing Entry Types (cont). What characteristics help you to distinguish between these two entry types? • Reflective and Analytical Entries • Writing Frames Share Group Think

14. Reviewing the “Mini” Science Notebook Use post-it notes to identify the types of entries present in the Mini Science Notebook. Check with your table group to see if you agree on the… • Entry Types • Key characteristics present in each entry

18. Key Points • Helping students to use the SNB conventions allows them the opportunity to communicate their message and/or understanding • The “edges between” the entry types can be fuzzy at times. That’s OK!

19. Flow Chart Characteristics of Entry Types Student Proficiency with Entry Types Student Conceptual Proficiency Instructional Implications

20. Analyzing Student Samples - Part I • Using the cover of the packet of student samples… • Record Entry Type on Data Sheet • Mark Grade Level • Discuss and list characteristics

21. Student Work Samples Packet A Scientific Illustrations Grade 8

22. Assignment Specifications • SCIENTIFIC ILLUSTRATION • All parts of the investigation drawn in detail • Show the entire system and all of its parts • Parts labeled • Label all parts used and call them by their scientific name • Accurate indication of the complete circuit • Blub, wires, electrodes, electrolyte • REFLECTIONS • Energy flow (transfer/transformation) • Types of energy found in the system • Indicators of a chemical reaction

29. Analyzing Student Samples - Part II Examine the packet of student samples. • Which characteristics of the entry type does each student sample demonstrate? • Which characteristics of the entry type are missing from each student sample? Record your findings using the Analyzing Student Entries – Students’ Use of Science Notebooks Conventions data sheet.

30. Analyzing Your Student Samples Select about sixrandom student notebooks. Choose one common entry. • Which characteristics of the entry type does each student sample demonstrate? • Which characteristics of the entry type are missing from each student sample? Record your findings using the Analyzing Student Entries – Students’ Use of Science Notebooks Conventions data sheet.

31. What patterns are evident to you?

32. Examining the Range of Entry Types Choose one student notebook randomly. • Use post-it notes to create an inventory of the number and frequency of all entry types represented in a single month • Tally your findings on the “Entry Type Document”

33. Examining the Range of Entry Types • What does your inventory reveal or suggest to you? Why? • Are you seeing a wide variety of entry types represented in your tally? • If not, what instructional implications might this have for your practice?

34. Characteristics of Entry Types Flow Chart Student Proficiency with Entry Types Student Conceptual Proficiency ● yes ● no Instructions for Conventions Instructional Implications

35. Flow Chart Characteristics of Entry Types Student Proficiency with Entry Types Student Conceptual Proficiency Instructional Implications

36. How People Learn, 1999 “If education is to help students make sense of their surroundings and ready them for the challenges of the technology-driven, internationally competitive world, then it must be based on what we know about learning from science.”

37. How People Learn - Key Finding I Students come to classrooms 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.

38. How People Learn – Key Finding II • To develop competence in an area of inquiry, students must: • have a deep foundation of factual knowledge; • understand facts and ideas in the context of a conceptual framework; • organize knowledge in ways that facilitate retrieval and application.

39. How People Learn - Key Finding III A “metacognitive” approach to instruction can help students learn to take control of their own learning goals and monitor their progress in achieving them.

40. A Question to Chew On: Are all entry types equally effective in supporting all three principles of How People Learn?

41. How People Learn Analysis • Select 3 different Entry Types from 3 different notebooks where all (or nearly all) the characteristics of those entry types are demonstrated • Using “Analyzing Entry Types vis-à-vis HPL– PHASE II Science Notebooks,” complete pp. 1 and 2.

42. How People Learn Analysis • As you work through the “Analyzing Entry Types” document, discuss with your elbow partner what you are seeing and recording.

43. How People Learn Analysis • When you’ve completed recording your findings, discuss with your elbow partner what you gained from looking at the three entries in terms of: • Questions/concerns • Surprises • Insights

44. Flow Chart Characteristics of Entry Types Student Proficiency with Entry Types Student Conceptual Proficiency Instructional Implications

45. Considering Instructional Implications Let’s consider the implications the following scenarios may have for your instruction…

46. Instructional Decision Scenario #1 What would the instructional implications be if you found … • that a few individual students did not have an accepted scientific understanding of the concept you were targeting?

47. Instructional Decision Scenario #2 What would the instructional implications be if you found … • that a large number of students show particular misconceptions of a ‘gate keeper’ lesson?

48. Instructional Decision Scenario #3 What would the instructional implications be if you found … - Medium to high frequency of student responses without fully developed conceptual understanding, but you knew that several subsequent lessons in your unit addressed these issues?

49. From Novice to Expert Expert Novice C o m p e t e n c y Designing Professional Development for Teachers of Science and Mathematics, Susan Loucks-Horsley, et.al., Corwin Press, Inc., Thousand Oaks, CA 1998, 0-8039-6661-X (cloth), 0-8039-6662-8 (paper)

50. Reflection What did we learn by looking at student work from science notebooks today? How might you consider involving your colleagues in this science notebook analysis?