Uncovering Student Ideas in Science NSTA Web Seminar

1. Uncovering Student Ideas in ScienceNSTA Web Seminar Francis Eberle & Lynn Farrin Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance

2. Featuring YES NO By Page Keeley, Francis Eberle, and Lynn Farrin

3. Mark the box that describes you

4. Who Are You?

5. In This Session We Will • Review What is and the Purpose of Formative Assessment Probes • Examine Samples of Students’ Ideas • Explore Instructional Implications: How Probes can help Instruction and Programs • Overview of Using Formative Assessment • Try a Probe and Reflect: Assignment

6. Think & Share Discuss using the chat or volunteer to share your ideas about this comic with the group. Please unmute your phone line (*6) if you are asked to respond. “We could be the 1st to land on a quarter moon!”

7. 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

8. Assessment for Learning To make assessment formative, one has to do something with the information gathered and change or modify instruction for all students.

9. The Mitten Problem(Uncovering Student Ideas in Science. page 103) Mrs. Solórzano's class was investigating heat energy. She asked students what they thought would happen to the temperature reading on two thermometers- one thermometer was placed inside a mitten and another thermometer was placed on the table next to a mitten.

10. Poll Question: Which response do you think students will select? - The thermometer inside the mitten will have a lower temperature reading than the thermometer on the table. - The thermometer inside the mitten will have a higher temperature reading than the thermometer on the table. - Both thermometers will have the same temperature.

11. Using Formative Assessment Probes Reprobing Apply modifications (e.g., teaching in new context, engaging in an inquiry, etc. 1. Probe: Students Commit and Share Ideas New Topic 2. Teacher Review 3. Instructional Implications Sort by A, B or by tally, or by patterns of response Analyze Student Ideas

12. The Mitten Problem-Student Responses for Choice A

13. The Mitten Problem-Student Responses for Choice B

14. The Mitten Problem-Student Responses for Choice C

15. The Mitten Problem-Considerations about Students’ Ideas • Prior knowledge (formal, informal learning, intuitive rules) • Particularly difficult or complex ideas – emergent or naïve understanding • Commonly used language

16. Student Responses- Mitten Problem N=16 A B C

17. Poll question: What grade level do you think the Mitten Problem data represents?

18. Some Commonly Held Ideas

20. Probe: Can It Reflect Light? (Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, p 25)

21. Virtually Analyze Student Ideas:Can it Reflect Light? ● ● ● ● ● ● 1. “Things that are shiny and new reflect light.” 2.“My rule on if items reflect light is that every item must reflect light because if an item didn’t reflect light we wouldn’t be able to see the object. So everything reflects light.” 3.”I was pretending I was shinning a light on the object and see if the light would bounce back. The ‘rule’ is reflection.”

22. Strategies Bridging Formative Assessment to Instruction • Student Idea Sampling • Philosophy Chairs • Classroom Circle • Peer/Student Marking • Partial Marking- (e.g. “4 of 6 answers are correct” You find which are not and correct.)

23. Teaching and Learning Process • Identifying students’ “misconceptions” • Review and reflect and make any changes or modifications in instruction • Provide contexts for students to confront their misconceptions and share their thinking • Help students reconstruct their knowledge using appropriate science ideas and instructional strategies

24. Now you have to try a Probe! Thank you,Francis and Lynn