Teaching K-12 Science and Engineering During a Crisis (2020) / Chapter Skim
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5 Managing and Modifying the Scope of Content and Curriculum
5 Managing and Modifying the Scope of Content and Curriculum
Pages 59-86
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From page 59... ...
As a result, educators may feel that they need to find ways to reduce the amount of mate rial they "cover." It might be tempting to choose a set of "priority standards" to address this issue for science and engineering, as was done for mathematics and English language arts, but priorities in science and engineering are framed differ ently. This chapter describes the priorities of science and engineering education and describes ways to optimize instructional time.
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From page 60... ...
. It is challenging to figure out how to save instructional time and still be consistent with the vision of the Framework.
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From page 61... ...
Although there are many ways to maximize instructional time, it might not be feasible for students to reach all of the previously targeted learning goals during a period of ongoing system disruptions. In this situation, the focus needs to shift from trying to "cover" all of the targeted content to staying true to the vision of the Framework and the NGSS with rich three-dimensional learning experiences.
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From page 62... ...
" They were beginning to build the understanding of how much in the world can be explained by the kinetic energy of molecules. When the class moved to remote learning in the spring, the class was in the middle of explaining another set of phenomena -- beginning with trying to figure out what was wrong with a sick dog -- and Gretchen knew it would be in the students' best interest to continue their current storyline, allowing students to continue to work collaboratively through jamboards and class discussions toward answering their own questions.
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From page 63... ...
This tendency supports the use of "bundling," or building toward multiple standards, performance expectations, or unit-level learning goals at one time. Instructional materials can take advantage of natural connections between multiple SEPs, DCIs, and CCCs to help students make sense of phenomena or solve problems.
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From page 64... ...
By bundling these ideas together, students' experiences were both more coherent and shorter than they would have been if all learning goals were addressed independently. Some elementary instructional units and middle school courses already inte grate science disciplines in this way; in contrast, high school courses very rarely integrate more than one discipline.
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From page 65... ...
. TABLE 5-1 Considerations for Units Across the School Year Early in the School Year Later in the School Year Not relying on understanding of related DCIs from Requiring understanding of related DCIs from the the previous grade previous grade Providing common, shared experiences Diagnosing what might be missing from previous instruction To use this kind of approach, it is important to understand how DCIs, SEPs, and CCCs build on students' prior understanding, including within a grade band.
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From page 66... ...
As these connections are not always immediately apparent, it is important to communicate and plan across grade levels so that students' learning over time 3For more information, see Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards. Available https:// www.nap.edu/read/18802/chapter/7#56.
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From page 67... ...
FIGURE 5-1 Educators' mapping of performance expectations. SOURCE: NGSS Appendix K
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From page 68... ...
This is particularly critical if foundational content is moved from this year to a subse quent year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.8 Challenging students to continually progress in their learning over all three dimensions can also help maximize instructional time. If instruction this year shifts to include new ideas that are easy to learn and teach in a remote environment but do not help to build toward learning progressions, students' time will not be used most efficiently.
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From page 69... ...
To build deep understanding of and engagement with these dimensions and be able to use them in new situations, students need to experience them with multiple different DCIs in the context of multiple phenomena or problems. In many state standards, including the NGSS, SEPs and CCCs build throughout each grade band, allowing students the opportunity to explore them in multiple contexts over time.
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From page 70... ...
How can phenomena or solutions to problems be investigated in students' homes or communities? When modifying or reviewing instructional materials for blended, hybrid, or remote environments, the driving phenomena or problems need to be carefully selected.9 Consider choosing as the focus of instruction phenomena or problems that: • make clear connections to students' interests and backgrounds, • require students to build toward grade-appropriate learning goals, and • can be investigated safely in remote environments or with materials that are widely and inexpensively available.
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From page 71... ...
Interesting science phenomena, such as color, are all around children every day. Teachers can help students become curious about these phenomena, helping them realize that they are not already able to explain why their pencil looks red.11 The same is true for focusing instruction on problems to solve: selecting small, everyday problems that are relevant to students and their communities, such as the fence on a hill becoming loose after a heavy rain, can encourage students to find other similar, related phenomena and problems in their own neighborhoods.
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From page 72... ...
Teachers patiently followed children's directions, seizing the opportunity to engage in the science practice of designing a simple and fair test of which objects were seeds and which were not. Over the next few weeks the class observed through daily pictures that baby plants appeared in some of the cups and not in others, as shown in the picture: 72 Teaching K–12 Science and Engineering During a Crisis
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From page 73... ...
When phenomena and problems are used in this way, they can anchor units of instruction and help students learn to handle setbacks and wrong turns along the path to an explanation or solution.12 During this process, supporting students to make close connections to the lives of their families and others in their communities can motivate them to persist in their learning. Box 5-3 describes how a teacher engaged students in figuring out a compelling phenomenon and used a survey assignment to ensure that students could clearly see how what they were doing in class related to the lives of people they know.
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From page 74... ...
The students used a survey to collect the data, which went direct ly to a Google form, and the students usually recorded the information on their phones while talking to their interviewees. Students were very engaged in this assignment and loved seeing the results come in online from their classmates' surveys.
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From page 75... ...
Similarly, the creators of the NGSS Phenomena webpage have begun developing resources for teachers and families to use for remote phenomenon-based investigations.15 Additional support for selecting engaging and authentic phenomena and problems is available from several different organizations: • Next Generation Science Standards: www.nextgenscience.org/phenomena • Qualities of a Good Anchor Phenomenon for a Coherent Sequence of Science Lessons, from the Institute for Science + Math Education: http:// stemteachingtools.org/brief/28 • Using Phenomena in NGSS-Designed Lessons and Units, from the Institute for Science + Math Education: http://stemteachingtools.org/brief/42 • Criteria for Evaluating Phenomena, from NSTA and NGSS: http://static.nsta. org/ngss/docs/Criteria%20for%20Evaluating%20a%20Phenomenon.pdf • Tools for Ambitious Science Teaching -- Anchoring Events: Modeling presenta tions, from the College of Education of the University of Washington: https:// ambitiousscienceteaching.org/presentations-on-anchoring-events-and-modeling/ • Appendix I: Engineering Design in the Next Generation Science Standards: https://www.nap.edu/read/18290/chapter/15 How can students build toward more than one academic discipline at one time in elementary school?
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From page 76... ...
Curriculum developers can harness these experi ences to also teach students mathematics and literacy concepts in a natural and engaging way. Box 5-4 tells the story of an upper-elementary language arts teacher who decided on her own that a great way to teach her students reading and writing 16For more information, see Design, Selection, and Implementation of Instructional Materials for the Next Generation Science Standards: Proceedings of a Workshop.
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From page 77... ...
In her class, she likes to pair novels with informational texts and to align topics with investigation and design work that can motivate students. For example, the class read The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind using close reading strategies to help students understand different ways authors can convey meaning from text features.
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From page 78... ...
Making the kinds of connections described in this story between two or more disciplines not only maximizes instructional time, but also increases coherence for students and allows them to understand the content from each discipline more deeply than if they had to become familiar with a different context for their learning in each discipline.23 Many state science standards make explicit connections to literacy and mathemat ics content standards that could be taught simultaneously, such as reading infor mational texts or organizing data into graphs.24 In addition, many current state science, literacy, and mathematics standards have overlaps in the practices they expect students to learn and use, such as placing an emphasis on student reason ing and arguing from evidence.25 At the secondary level, many state ELA stan dards include an emphasis on "science and technical subjects" that could be used as an area of collaboration. These connections exist not only with mathematics and ELA.
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From page 79... ...
Even when schools are open and fully operational, many students often do not have access to science and engineering instruction at the elementary level -- especially English learners, students with special needs, and students deemed to be academically at risk. These students are often pulled out of science class time to focus on literacy and mathematics because of assumptions that they need to focus on "basics" or that before they can engage in science and engineering they need higher levels of skills in literacy and mathematics.27 With the shifts to hybrid or remote learning, these students are at even higher risk of missing out on the engaging science and engineering experiences and rich context building that can support their literacy and mathematics education.28 For example, one of the best ways for English learners to build their language skills is to have meaningful 26For more information, see Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards.
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From page 80... ...
By providing translation, the student teachers in the story gave the students the supports they needed to feel comfort able sharing their initial ideas and to feel that they were part of the learning 29For more information, see Design, Selection, and Implementation of Instructional Materials for the Next Generation Science Standards: Proceedings of a Workshop. Available: https://www.nap.edu/read/25001/ chapter/4#28.
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From page 81... ...
To help provide this kind of guidance, the Oklahoma State Department of Education included disciplinary integration notes in its Return to Learn Guidance,34 and several Education Service Districts in Washington state worked together to develop resources that support elementarylevel students in building toward standards from multiple disciplines together. For example, the kindergarten resources focus on "tackling trash" and include a virtual field trip and remote learning assignment; they help students build toward learning goals from science, ELA, mathematics, and computer science at the same 30See Self, J
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From page 82... ...
The instructional resources used with students can significantly affect their learning; it is important that these resources be of high quality.36 However, devel oping high-quality instructional materials is a complex, iterative process that involves teams of well-trained curriculum developers working in concert with expert teachers. The teams need to have a deep understanding of the Framework, along with expertise in supporting students with a wide range of needs, such as English learners and students with disabilities.37 Curricular programs resulting from these kinds of development processes may be more effective in support ing student learning than curricula that are developed quickly by just one or two individuals.38 In addition, more than one teacher typically uses the same resource, so it is more efficient and effective for teams of educators or developers to work together to modify instructional materials and then to provide them to individual teachers than to expect each teacher to make all of the modifications on their own.39 For example, supplementary online resources could be provided along with context for how they fit into preexisting units.
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From page 83... ...
The growing collection of ideas and resources is now freely available online.44 Once modifications are made to the instructional materials, either by local teams or by the original curriculum developers, the materials will need to be reviewed to make sure they have not shifted away from the vision of the Framework due to the modifications and that they can be effectively implemented in high- and low-resource areas.45 Like curriculum development, review processes 41See iHub and OpenSciEd develop free and publicly available instructional materials. See https://www.
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From page 84... ...
. Table 5-2 Shifting Curricula During a Crisis Moving From Moving To Maximizing Instructional Time Teaching academic disciplines in isolation Teaching academic disciplines in a coordinated way, taking advantage of overlaps Building toward one or two standards at a time Building toward a bundle of learning goals that all work together to help students explain a phenomenon or solve a problem Including busy work or discrete content that is only useful in Focusing only on deep proficiencies that are broadly applicable one field of work Introducing content several times over the years to make sure Building on prior knowledge to help students grow students understand it Modifying Materials Expecting every teacher to adjust their own curriculum Providing teachers with the modifications necessary Working alone as a district to modify materials Collaborating with educators across the country to modify common materials Ensuring Quality of Materials Driving learning with phenomena or problems that are Driving learning with phenomena or problems that engage and interesting to curriculum developers motivate students and connect to their culture and background Leaving gaps in student understanding due to time shortages Coordinating the scope and sequence of content carefully to ensure student learning builds coherently 46For more information, see Design, Selection, and Implementation of Instructional Materials for the Next Generation Science Standards: Proceedings of a Workshop.
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From page 85... ...
• Review materials to ensure they avoid building toward repetitive learning goals, both this year and in future years. • Coordinate planning conversations across grade levels to ensure students' learning builds coherently over time, in all three dimensions.
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