Eliciting Student Ideas

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Eliciting Student ideas with Science Phenomena

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Share out:

Click the "Start" button to access the Padlet board and respond to the prompts!

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Review- Phenomena Driven Inquiry

Elicit Student Ideas

The Why?

Examples

Resources

Questions?

Thank you!

INDEX

Goals for this Session

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Let's Review....

Phenomena Driven Inquiry:

• A three-dimensional learning approach that requires students to use Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Disciplinary Core Ideas in concert to explore, investigate, and explain how and why phenomena occur.

• Phenomena can be simple events that elicit wonderment in learners that lead to authentic engagement

Throughout this process, students will have ideas ACTIVATED that they might never have considered if they were working alone or if the teacher just provided the explanation/information through direct instruction!

The Why?

• Learner-centered
• Problem-solving skills
• Using real-world phenomena for teaching and learning
• Sparks curiosity
• Learners publicly share prior knowledge, personal experiences, etc. to explain the science behind the scenario
• Reveals different methods of reasoning from learners
• Equitable opportunities for all learners
• Deeper understanding of science concepts

Discourse Moves Toolkit

Chat Waterfall:

Eliciting Student Ideas...

• What strategies do you currently use to accomplish this in your classroom?

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BuT First....

• Always begin a topic by finding out what your learners already know.
• Please Do Now question
• Knowledge Check (edio),
• Pre-assessment quiz (done with a game platform)
• Zoom poll(s)
• KWL chart
• Conceptual Interview
• Inventory chart

• Most learners possess a wide range of existing conceptions, experiences, and information that they utilize to make sense of ideas introduced in the classroom.
• Even if learners share partial ideas that is OK!

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Phenomenon Resources

Pick a "Rich" Scenario

• It should be relevant to science ideas that will get learners talking

• This could be part of your anchoring event

• Examples: demonstration, news story, physical object, image, puzzle, video, or possibly an experience in a local community

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Take 5 min to look ahead in your courses & skim through the Phenomena Inquiry resources shared.....is there a topic/concept in which you could infuse this strategy?

I would like 2-3 volunteers to share on their mic please

More info

It might be a challenge at first with participation but the more you infuse this into your practice the more comfortable your learners will become!

How to Introduce the Scenario

Invitations for Science Talk

Express an authentic reason for investigating a set of ideas (leads-in to the discussion) Real-world conncections/significance

Set explicit expectations for ways learners can participate

Examples to begin the conversation

As the demo, video, image, or diagram is displayed ask learners to make observations- what do they notice, wonder, or hear going on

This is NOT the time to probe for explanations. Fosters an equitable environment for sharing observations.

Be patient and give learners time to share!

Do your best to maintain a "poker face" during the elicit observation activity >> be non-evaluative in expression and replies towards learner ideas being shared!

Best practice I would suggest allowing approximately 10-15 min for this type of activity.

Can you spend more time on this- absolutely! You know your learners the best and can adjust accordingly.This could take up to 3 months of practice until your learners gain confidence and become more willing to engage & participate. Live Class might be the best time to try this strategy out since you have more flexibility. Pick one that occurs before a new topic is introduced in the course.

Once learners begin to share ideas you can reference the Discourse Tool Kit for probing, pressing, follow-up, etc. questions to keep the conversation going!

Help Learners Present Their Thinking Publically

Now what?

Your class has shared copius observations, ideas, and reasons-success!What is your next step........

Transitioning to "Under What Conditions Would this Happen?"Shift to discussing hypotheses (not in the strict science way but more informally) Have learners infer what might be happening at the "unobservable" level to cause certain observable events OR how observable conditions might contribute to how this event unfolded. Again- do not expect learners to have elaborate explanations at this point but their inferences can lead to connections between different features of the anchoring event which they feel is important to their initial explanatios.

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• 1. Create small-group models of the scientific phenomenon
• Learners work in pairs/threes to create small-group models of the phenomenon
• They show what might be going on "before, during, & after" the phenomenon happens
• Draw what is and isn't observable
• Should represent an event or process rather than a thing
• Could occur as a "Part 2" warm-up or an extension on LC day
• 2. Create a class list of student hypotheses
• Goal- 4-6 hypotheses
• Circle back to the list at various points in the unit to make changes based on new info/evidence

Adapting Further Instruction

• Final Step!
• After class- reflect on what your learners discussed in terms of partial understandings, alternative conceptions, every day or specific science vocabulary, and ways of arguing about the initial event.
• Take note of everyday experiences that were shared by students connected to the scenario.
• Make plans to address learning gaps
• Use the data to exercise judgment on how to use some of the ideas shared as resources in your upcoming live class or guided instruction.
• Are extra scaffolds needed?
• You might be able to "trim" future lessons if your learners already understand a lot about a specific learning target.
• Do not forget about your async learners!

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One more resource

Examples

Tips!

Natural (Weather) Hazards

grade

8th

Chemical Reactions

grade

7th

Weather and Climate

grade

6th

• Please remember I am happy to help you build this type of activity, be a sounding board for ideas, or a second set of hands in your classroom when you want to implement this just reach out to me or use my Booking link on the next slide to book a time!

Questions??

Resources

Thank you for your time today!

• Open Sci Ed
• CCA STEELS OneNote
• Frontline Link-Act 48
• Make sure you are logged into Frontline before clicking on the link!
• Bookings Link- Book a time to meet with me 1:1!
• Ed Tech Portal Page

Ideas to Listen for.

• Forces can be pushes or pulls by another object, or by magnetism or gravity, which exert constant pulls.
• Some objects may not move because they have balanced forces acting upon them from opposite directions.
• Objects in motion stay in motion unless a force acts on them.

Topic: Forces & Motions

Scenario: skateboarder doing various tricks and jumps Sample starter questions: What are the different pushes and pulls that are acting on this person? What role do you think gravity plays in her jumps?

Tips and Tricks for Success

• Bite-size chunks are key- start small and build!
• Consider launching this in Live Class vs. Guided Instruction- more flexibility and time for learners to work through this and share!
• You do not know until you try! Mindshift from my learners will never do this, the same people will engage.....try it and see...your learners might surprise you!
• Field tested & approved by several MS Science teachers!
• I was blown away by the participation of their learners!

Food for Thought..

Learning does not happen by simply replacing one's own ideas with something you are told by a teacher, something you read about in a textbook or article, or experience in a lab. It is a process of ACTIVELY reconstructing and reorganizing what you know, using multiple resources to compare your current understandings against those of peers and against evidence in the world. Each of our learners has their own unique personal and cultural experiences that they should be given the opportunity to share in discussions and make connections with the content. (Ambitious Science Teaching, M. Windschitl, J.Thomspon, and M. Braaten, 2018)

Example

"So we have just finished a unit on phase changes in matter and how energy plays a role in those changes. We're now going to explore one of these states of matter more deeply- I am talking about gasses." "Gasses make up the air we breathe, they keep airplanes flying, and they influence weather. We need to understand how gasses behave under different conditions to make interesting things happen. Today we are going to talk about a strange even that happened with gasses and a railroad tanker car. I'll tell you more about the story soon." "The goal for us today, as a group, is to share ALL our ideas about what happens in the video I am about to show you. There is no correct answer for this puzzle, it is like authentic science, where a lot of different explanations are possible."

Framing the Lesson

• It helps the learners put the activity into a meaningful context
• Should take only 1-2 minutes
• Crucial step because it orients the students as to why they need to be studying a concept/topic from both a specific and everyday standpoint (relevance)

What is a conceptual interview?

• A simple strategy to assess students' prior knowledge
• Low stakes- more likely to get learners to participate
• Chat Waterfall- show them an image (related to the content) and have them enter in the chat anything they know, recall, or personal experiences they have connected to that image
• Opportunity to gather more background knowledge then from a pre-assessment quiz/game/check

A rich scenario has:

1. Accessibility to learners is balanced with challenge.*Learners know just enough about the task, event, or situation you present to speculate about what they think is happening 2. The power to reveal a WIDE range of ideas and hypotheses.*The task or event and the initial question you pose prompt learners to reveal varied resources (partial understandings, preconceptions, everyday experiences) they are using to think about the science and relate to the target ideas.

Image: Article Handout: Coast Guard video: Unit Storyline: (Provides other resources and an outline of a unit on Natural Hazards)

Phenomenon:

• While learners view the image and/or video clip have them share initial observations (notice/wonder)

• Elicit meaningful science talk with your discourse tool kit!
• Take it a step further- have them complete the model handout (large group, small group, pairs- up to you)

Learners observe a video clip of a bath bomb being added to a bowl of water. Video Link Model handout Storyline (Provides other resources and an outline of a 7th grade unit on Chemical Reactions)

Phenomenon: How can we make something new that was not there before?

• While learners view the video clip have them share initial observations (notice/wonder)
• Elicit meaningful science talk with your discourse tool kit!
• Take it a step further- have them complete the model handout (large group, small group, pairs- up to you)

Can you think of other collaborative tools you could use to collect notices/wonders from your learners?

VS

Padlet Sandbox

Notice/Wonder Activity Option

Padlet Board

Notice/Wonder Activity Option

Async Learners

Provide the link to videos, articles, resources & add images directly into the edio lesson Doing on a live class day? Add a lesson component to include "all the things" If using Padlet for Notice/Wonder activity embed the link into the lesson so they can contribute their ideas and also see what their peers have shared Add components to the lesson so they can upload screenshots of their model/the model template document, or create a video recording of themselves showing/explaining their model.

Possible Prompts:

What do you think is going on to make this happen [this event in this way}? How would you finish this sentence- "It has something to do with...?" *Note- learners will perceive these as more "risky" questions to answer. Encourage them that their responses will help everyone build their understanding of the phenomena. You could also have them go to BO rooms and share in groups of 2-4.

Learners observe 2 video clips showing hail falling in different parts of the US on different days. Video Link Model handout Storyline (Provides other resources and an outline of a 6th grade unit on Weather and Climate)

Phenomenon: What causes this kind of weather/precipitation to occur?

• While learners view the video clips have them share initial observations (notice/wonder)

• Elicit meaningful science talk with your discourse tool kit!
• Take it a step further- have them complete the model handout (large group, small group, pairs- up to you)

• Remember, You ARE listening to how your learners talk about and reason their observations/ideas/prior knowledge, and the resources they use to support their ideas.
• You ARE NOT trying to see if they have the correct responses nor are you guiding their talk towards the correct information/ideas.