College and Career Readiness Initiative

Science Faculty CollaborativeIntroduction to CCRI SFC WorkshopCollege and Career Readiness Initiative

Funding for this project is provided by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board through the College and Career Readiness Initiative Science Faculty Collaborative

Workshop ObjectivesTexas and THECBsImprove the preparation of future K-12 science teachersImprove college science success for entering college FreshmanIncrease the number of students pursuing and completing a STEM degreeIncrease the States economic growth and competitiveness by growing our own STEM professionals

Facultys ObjectivesIncrease retention of undergraduate students pursuing STEM degrees*Recruit undergraduate students to STEM degrees/careers*Increase enrollment Improve attendanceIncrease student engagement and participationEnhance the breadth and depth of student learningA Portrait of Your Students:Science Majors

Motifake.comScience Non-Majors

Elmhurst.eduResearchAcademiaHealthOTHERScience TeachersSTEMTeachersOTHERScientifically Literate SocietyWe are all responsible for the preparation of future science teachers.3

What do high school graduates need to know and/or be able to do in order to be successful in science courses at the college/university level?

Form your teams prior to the brainstorming here.Brainstorm on poster papers for about ten minutes. Put these aside and return to them as part of the introduction to the CCR standards. 4Are we Cultivating Coach Potatoes?1. Brief discussion in teams of the article 2. Individual Test3. Team Test using Immediate Feedback Assessment Technique 4. Appeals?

http://lizfoulisatwork.blogspot.com/2008/11/team-work-pitfalls-and-benefits.html Further Discussion Refer to the following College and Career Readiness Standards:1. Page 15 Item A2. Page 31 Item I

How closely do you think these standards reflect the items you identified as being important to success in college science courses?

How does this article relate to the College and Career Readiness Initiative?

Reflect on the items we brainstormed. Are the students in the article example learning, practicing, or acquiring the content and skills you identified as being important for success in college science?

Clarifying Lecture: This is really an example of extension from the reading to additional/new information6Introduction to the College and Career Readiness Initiative (CCRI) and Standards (CCRS)

EPIC

Organization of the WorkshopModule 1: Introduction to CCRI & CCRS for Science

Module 2: Nature of Science: Scientific Ways of Learning and Thinking

Module 3: Scientific Applications of Mathematics

Module 4: Scientific Applications of Information and Communication Technologies

* NOTE: The modules reflect the first five strands of the science CCRS which are discipline general process strands (pages 14-17). These are followed by discipline specific content strands for biology, chemistry, physics, earth & space science, and environmental science. It is important to recognize the CCRS are standards that should be achieved by the time a student completes high school. The content strands may not align with content for an introductory science course at the college level. The process strands, however, are discipline general. In order for future science teachers to know how to include process skills such as an understanding of the Nature of Science in their teaching, they need it effectively modeled in their undergraduate science experiences. How can we expect K-12 science teachers to foster critical questions or scientific problem solving from their students if they have never seen it modeled themselves?8Module 2 - Nature of Science: Scientific Ways of Learning and ThinkingWhat is the Nature of Science?How Historians, Philosophers, and Science Educators Have Defined Nature of Science:The values and assumptions inherent to science, scientific knowledge, and/or the development of scientific knowledge. CCRS: students learn what it means to think like a scientist. This includesthe way that empirical evidence [observations] is used to draw conclusions [inference], and how such conclusions are then subject to challenge and interpretation. Students come to appreciate that scientific knowledge is both constant and changing [tentative] at any given moment, and that the evolution of scientific knowledge does not mean that previous knowledge was necessarily wrong. Students grasp that scientists think in terms of models and systems to comprehend complex phenomena. (EPIC p. 15)

What Aspects of Nature of Science CanWe Reasonably Expect to Teach?1. Tentativeness2. Creativity3. Observation vs. Inference4. Subjectivity5. Functions and Relationships of Theory and Law6. Socially and Culturally Embedded7. Empirically BasedNature of Science: Black Box as Analogy to Scientific Models

DEMONSTRATION Observation vs. Inference Predicting Scientific Models Scientific Visualization Application Exercise Ask participants to predict if I pour 100 ml of water into the box predict how much will come out. Or, If I pull on this rope, predict what will happen to the other ends of the rope.Demonstrate the Black Box.Ask participants to revise their predictions. What if I pour in another 100 ml of water, how much do you predict will come out?As you demonstrate, discuss the use of models in scienceAsk the participants to sketch what they think is inside the black box

11Black Box Example

12Nature of Science: Scientific Ways of Learning and Thinking

Jean Francis Podevin (Nature.com)NOS: Theory versus LawScientific LawBoyles LawMendels Law of GeneticsLaw of GravityScientific TheoryKinetic Molecular TheoryGene TheoryGravitational TheoryNewtons Second Law of Motion (F=ma)

NO agreed upon Theory of Inertia yet!Another profound, perhaps the most well-known, conclusion of the theory of Special Relativity (Einstein) was that energy and mass are not separate things, but are, in fact, interchangeable. The logical conclusion of Special Relativity was that if mass exhibits the principle of inertia, then inertia must also apply to energy as well. Wikipedia

http://cephasborg.wordpress.com/What is the difference?A scientific law states, identifies, or describes the relationship(s) among observable phenomenon.A scientific law is an expression of a mathematical or descriptive relationship observed in nature.

A scientific theory is a set of inferred explanations for observable phenomena.A scientific theory is an explanation inferred from multiple lines of evidence for some broad aspect of the natural world and is logical, testable, and predictive.

A scientific hypothesis is an inferred explanation of an observation or research finding; while more exploratory in nature than a theory, it is based on existing scientific knowledge.

Theories do NOT change into Laws. The two are different kinds of knowledge. ObservationHypothesisScientific theoryScientific LAW

Theory of plate tectonics and the law of uniformitarianism. 15Law versus Theory: Examples in your discipline?

What are some examples of Law versus Theory that you could highlight for your students in your discipline?

How do you think making the distinction between scientific law and theory could help your students understandings of the Nature of Science and/or of the specific phenomena ?

Is it worth it to teach them the difference?Take Home Points Understanding the Nature of Science is critical for developing key cognitive skills in science.

Understanding the Nature of Science helps our students to become more scientifically literate.

Nature of Science should not be taught as an add-on or separate from content. It is best understood when it is taught through the course content.

It is believed that science teachers that have a good understanding of the Nature of Science are better teachers better able to prepare students for success in college science. Module 3:Scientific Applications of Mathematics

http://www.mathlabonline.org/india/2011/11/01/shadow-board/Use Proportional Reasoning to solve problems - ChemistryIdeal Gas Law

PV = n RT

P = pressure of the gasV = volume of the gasn = amount of the gas (moles)R = constantT = temperature of the gas

http://www.epa.gov/eogapti1/bces/module2/idealgas/idealgas.htm Predict: If you increase the pressure and keep the amount of gas and the temperature of the gas the same, predict what will happen to the volume of the gas. How do you know?Students have a very difficult time with proportional reasoning. 19Use Proportional Reasoning to solve problems: Biology - Osmosis

http://www.goldiesroom.org Predict: Given that water molecules will move across a semi-permeable membrane to the area with the greatest concentration of solute (or the lowest concentration of water) and that sugar molecules cannot cross the membrane, which direction will the water flow in this example? How do you know? At Equilibrium: X1/ml1 = X2/ml2

In this example: 31/100 11/100

Data Collection, Data Analysis, Identifying Patterns Among Data: GeosciencesGo to: http://csc.noaa.gov/hurricanes/# Click the drop down for locationSelect Storm Name/YearEnter Rita 2005Transformation of Information: Plot the air pressure and corresponding wind speed for every 5th point onto a line graphBased on the Patterns in the Data, what is the relationship between air pressure and wind speed at the center of the hurricane?NOAAs Historical Hurricane Tracks

Other examples:Physics Newtons Laws of MotionPhysics wave length X frequency = cEcology Population proportions: Marine biologists capture, tag, and release 137 Florida manatees into a protected region. Several months later, of 90 captured manatees, 6 have tags. Estimate the population of Florida manatees in the protected region.Forestry Determining tree height using shadows

21CCRS and Applications of MathematicsExamine the science standards on the Scientific Applications of Mathematics in the CCRS (page 16).

In what areas and in what ways could you intentionally highlight or model applications of mathematics in your undergraduate courses?CHALLENGE: Think beyond calculations from given equations or balancing equations. How can we also get our students working with data and thinking with mathematics?

Note: Emphasize that this should not be taught as something additional or separate from the course content. In what ways could you highlight elements of the NOS along with content you already teach? In what content areas might it parallel what you are already teaching? 22Take Home Points: The more mathematics completed in high school, the greater the academic success in college science.

Mathematize! Create mathematics around real world problems.

Have students collect and analyze data as part of every science course.

Have students consider outcomes and results that are not already known - a surprise.

Require students to predict prior to data analysis. (A + B)2 A2 + B2Module 4: Scientific Applications of Information and Communication Technologies

http://www.asolutioninc.biz/svcs_infotech.htmlInformation TechnologyIT is student use of technology to collect, organize, and analyze information. IT can be used for:

Measurement Storage and Management Data Manipulation Visualization Modeling

IT includes scientific tools such as microscopes, GPS, spectrometers, plot boxes, and environment sensors as well as computer tools such as on-line data sources, Excel, SPSS, and Geographic Information Systems.

http://www.climate.gov/#dataServices/mapServices_global Communication TechnologyCT can help to facilitate:

Familiarity Mobility Collaboration Community

Information/Communication Technology

How do you currently use Information and/or Communication Technologies in your classroom?Climate Data NOAAhttp://gis.ncdc.noaa.gov/map/ncs/?thm=themeHourly

Drought Data - NOAA

ICC Live Piracy Map

http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map Have your students use on-line data as homework then discuss patterns and analysis in class. Example:Go to: http://www.icc-ccs.org/piracy-reporting-centre/live-piracy-map

You can also search: IMB Live Piracy Map

Look for patterns in the data. Where are the greatest density of attacks occurring? Where are they not?List three observations from this data set.List two inferences from this data set. How is this activity related to science and/or college readiness for science?Do you know of any on-line data sources specific to your discipline?Take Home Points Information/Communication Technology competency is increasingly essential for doing science.

Preparing our students includes teaching the tools of science - information technologies and communication technologies.

Student use of Information Technology complements Scientific Applications of Mathematics. They can be integrated.

Modeling student use of Information/Communication Technologies for pre-service science teachers increases the likelihood that they will do the same in their K-12 science classroom.

Integration and ConnectionsThe College and Career Readiness Initiative is an effort to improve access to higher education and the preparation of students at all academic levels; K-12 teachers, K-12 students, undergraduate students, pre-service teachers, and higher education faculty.

The science standards highlighted in this workshop are process standards critical to the doing and understanding of science.

It is hoped that gains in students abilities to achieve these standards will improve scientific literacy and will increase the number of individuals completing a STEM degree in Texas. Closure: Closing remarks, questions, and/or ideas?Hand Out Article Improved Learning in a Large Enrollment Physics Class Please complete a workshop evaluation. Thank you!