New Vision for Science Education: Inching our Way to National Standards

New Vision for Science Education:Inching our Way to National Standards

Richard DuschlPenn State University

National Research Council (2000) National Research Council (2005)

Learning Environments

Assessment for Improving Professional Development and Learning Pathways

National Research Council 2003

THE NATIONAL ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS (NAEP)

2009

Using

The Opportunity Equation (2009)

• Higher Levels of math and science for all students

• Common standards that are fewer, clearer, and higher, coupled with aligned assessments

• Improved teaching and profession learning, supported by better school and system management

• New designs for schools and systems to deliver math & science learning more effectively

REFORM CONVERSATIONS“Aligning the Planets” – Jay Labov

• NRC – Taking Science to School, Ready Set Science!

• NAEP – 2009 Science Framework• 21st Century Skills – International Assessments• College Board – AP Science Exams• NSTA – Science Anchors• NJ – Science as Practices• Carnegie Corp. NY – The Opportunity Equation• NRC – Core Science Standards

A Call for Learning Progressions and Vertical Pathways

Current K-12 curricula and standards contain too many disconnected topics of equal

priority use declarative “what we know” language -- not

clear what it means to understand the topic Tend to divorce science content from practices Rarely builds ideas cumulatively and in

developmentally informed ways across grades Not sequenced in ways that account for

research on the development of children’s scientific understandings

Duschl et al., 2007 Taking Science to School

4 Strands of Scientific Proficiency Know, use and interpret

scientific explanations of the natural world.

Generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations.

Understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge.

Participate productively in scientific practices and discourse.

2-Core Ideas and Learning Progressions

•Recommendations•Findings from research about children’s learning and development can be used to map learning progressions (LPs) in science. •Core ideas should be central to a discipline of science, accessible to students in kindergarten, and have potential for sustained exploration across K-8.•Teaching Science Practices during investigations•Argumentation and explanation•Model building•Debate and decision making

•Critical Research•Requires an extensive R&D effort before LPs are well established and tested. •Step 1 - Id the most generative and powerful core ideas for students’ science learning•Step 2 - Develop and test LPs •Step 3 Establish empirical basis for LPs:•Focused studies under controlled conditions•Small-scale instructional interventions•Classroom-based studies in a variety of contexts•Longitudinal studies

Evolution/Natural Selection

Structure-Function

Ecology/Interrelationships

Laws of Conservation

Particulate Theory Of Matter

Geologic Processes Constructing explanations

Big ideas in Science

Energy

Force and motion Use of

Evidence

RRS Children’s Knowledge

Core Domains: Simple Mechanics of Solid Bounded ObjectsBehaviors of psychological agentsActions and organization of living thingsMakeup and substance of materials

Young children begin school with Rich knowledge of the natural worldThe ability to reasonUnderstanding of cause & effectFoundations of ModelingThe ability to consider ideas and beliefsAn eagerness to participate in learning

What are Learning Progressions?

Descriptions of successively more sophisticated ways of thinking about key disciplinary concepts and practices within and across multiple grades Structured around big ideas and practices-

powerful and generative Upper anchor- societal expectations of what

students should know; based on analysis of discipline

Lower anchor - what students come in with Describes how learning develops- the intermediate

steps towards expertise Grounded in synthesis of education research and

classroom best practices

Teaching Science Practices 1. Science in Social Interactions

A. Participation in argumentation that leads to refining knowledge claims

B. Coordination of evidence to build and refine theories and models

2. The Specialized Language of Science A. Identify and ask questions B. Describe epistemic status of an idea C. Critique an idea apart from the author or proponent

3. Work with Scientific Representations and Tools A. Use diagrams, figures, visualizations and

mathematical representations to convey complex ideas, patterns, trends and proposed.

Teaching Science as Practice• Curriculum topics focusing on meaningful

problems • Students designing and conducting empirical

investigations, • Instruction that links investigations to a base

level of knowledge, • Frequent opportunities for engagement in

argumentation that leads to building and refining explanations and models,

• Thoughtful interactions with texts. (Chapter 9)

TSTS: Teaching Science as PracticeAll major aspects of inquiry, including posing scientifically fruitful questions, managing the process, making sense of the data, and discussing the results may require guidance.

To advance students’ conceptual understanding, prior knowledge and questions should be evoked and linked to experiences with phenomena, investigations, and data.

Discourse and classroom discussions are key to supporting learning in science.

Theory-Building Viewof Scientific Inquiry

Pattern/ModelExplanation/Theory

Measurement/Observation

Data

EvidenceProblem/Question

Epistemic Discourse & Data Texts

• Data Texts – Selecting/Obtaining Raw Data– Selecting Data for Evidence– Patterns & Models of Evidence– Explanations of Patterns & Models

Data Transformations for Epistemic Dialog– T1 - what data count, are worth using– T2 - what patterns & models to use– T3 - what explanations account for patterns &

models

Promoting Discourse Processes E-E can support “What counts” type

conversations E-E can support inquiry colloquia

What counts as good evidence? What counts as a viable pattern or model? What counts as a plausible explanation?

Assessment for Learning Curriculum Instruction (Learning) Assessment Historically Separate Enterprises

C I A Learning Sciences Integration

CIA

Project SEPIA - Portfolio Assessment Culture - NSFDesigning Lesson Sequences and Learning

Environments that support conversations among learners and, in turn, create opportunities for:

1) Making Students’ Thinking Visible2) Evidence/Explanation Continuum3) Mediation and Formative Assessments in 3 Domains

conceptual “what we need to know”; epistemic “ rules for deciding what counts”; social “communicating and representing ideas, evidence and explanations

Duschl, R.A and Gitomer, D. (1997). Strategies and challenges to changing the focus of assessment and instruction in science classrooms. Educational Assessment, 4(1): 337-73.

Goals/Units VesselsDuschl & Gitomer,

1997

Acids &Bases

Erduran, 2001

Earthquakes& Volcanoes

Smith, 1996

ConceptualFlotation,Buoyancy

Neutralization,Acid/BaseChem.

IgneousRocks, PlateTectonics

EpistemicCausalExplanation

Models,Modeling

ScientificArgument

Social

Report toCity Planner– VesselDesign,Transport

Report toHazmet – Safedisposal ofA&B inSchools

Report toCity Council– LikelihoodE&V, Emerg.Med. Plan

There are ten categories in the IUCN Red List. We will be dealing with the three categories in the “Threatened” range, those that imply the greatest needs for action, which are encircled in red.

An introduction to the Threat Categories

IUCN Criteria CR - CriticallyEndangered

ENEndangered

VUVulnerable

PopulationReduction*

80% reduction80% reductionprojected in 10years or 3generations



Extent ofOccurrence/Area ofOccupancy**

100km2 /10km2

Severely fragmentedor 1 location,continuing decline,extreme fluctuations

5,000km2 /500km2


20,000km2

/2,000km2


< X Population &rate of decline

< 250 populationdecline 25% in 3yrsor 1 generationseverelyfragmented, no subpop. > 50all in one pop

< 2,500 populationdecline 20% in 5yrsor 2generationsseverelyfragmented, no subpop. > 250all in one pop

< 10,000populationdecline 10% in10yrs or 3generationsseverelyfragmented, no subpop. > 1,000all in one pop

< X MatureIndividuals

< 50 matureindividuals

< 250 matureindividuals

Small or restricted< 1000 matureindividuals, oracute restriction,<100km2 , or< 5 locations

Probability ofExtinction

p=50% within 10years or 3generations

p=20% within 20years or 5generations

p=10% within 100years

SEPIA Assessment Conversations

Stage 1 - Receiving Information Stage 2 - Recognizing Information Stage 3 - Using Information

AC1 -Receiving Information Individual or group efforts on specialized

tasks that by design bring about among students a diversity of responses and a range of representations and ideas

Teacher and students make explicit and publicly display students’ efforts, representations of meanings and understandings or performances on tasks.

Storyboards

• Goals• Conceptual –

What & How we Know

• Epistemic – What Counts, Why we Believe

• Social – What to show and challenge

Figure 1. Drawings of the student work that was shown during the whole classdiscussion. The upper panel was the topic of the first assessment conversation and thelower of the second

AC2 - Recognizing Information Teacher examines critically and makes an

appraisal of the diversity of students efforts, meaning and understandings, and performances and selects according to criteria and conceptual, epistemic and social goals.

Teachers and students work toward a synthesis of what comes to count or stand as appropriate efforts, meaning and understandings, and performances employing SEPIA criteria

AC3 - Using Information Applying what has been learning to

previous efforts, meaning and understandings, and performances or to the design of an investigation for advancing efforts, meaning and understandings, and performances in the present domain of inquiry.

3 Part Harmony

Conceptual “what we need to know” Epistemic “rules for deciding what counts” Social “communicating & representing ideas,

evidence and explanations”

Assessments to Capture Performance, Gauge Progress

Embedded - part of daily teaching/activities Formal/informal observations Ss performance

relative to content and epistemic practices. Benchmark - occur periodically w/in module

Tied to specific epistemic/reasoning practice;e.g., causal/historical explanations

Performance - larger events Ss presented with problem that requires both content and epistemic practices Use knowledge in generative way, use evidence to

support explanations,

The Targets of Assessment: The Nature of Proficiency and

Evidence-Centered Design What are the skills and understandings to be

assessed? (Domain Model) What is the evidence that would justify

particular inferences about a student? (Student Model)

How could that evidence be generated? (Task Design)

How would the evidence be evaluated? (Scoring) [Gitomer & Duschl, NSSE, 2007 ]

Developing Learning Performances (IQWST) Joe Krajcik University of Michigan

Content Scientific Learning Practice

PerformanceContent Practice Learning Performance BSL 4D/M3: Atoms and molecules are perpetually in motion. In gases, the atoms or molecules have still more energy and are free of one another except during occasional collisions.

Models are often used to think about processes that happen… too quickly, or on too small a scale to observe directly… (AAAS, 1993, 11B: 1, 6-8)

Students create models of a gas at the molecular level showing how the gas takes the shape of its container.

Create Learning Performances• What are Learning performances?

– Learning performances define, in cognitive terms, what it means for learners to “understand” a particular idea

– Learning performances define how the knowledge is used in reasoning about questions and phenomena

• Why Learning Performances– Know or understand is too vague– Performances require learners to use the ideas.

• Use terms that describe the performance you want students to learn and be able to do.– Identify, Define, Refine, Analyze and Interpret data, Explain,

Build, Model, Design …

K

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