Implementing Common Core Standards:

From Theory to Innovation and Back Again

Richard A. DuschlPenn State University

CREATE for STEM InstituteMichigan State University

25 February 2015

OutlineInnovation Uptake in Science and in Science Education

GrapheneNSF – Wellcome Trust US/UK STEM Workforce

Rising Above the Gathering Storm; Tough Choices or Tough Times

NSF Footprint Workshop on Learning ProgressionsScaling

preK-16 STEM Education - Practices FirstNGSS – K-12Challenges for Extending and Scaling

Graphene Graphite

Nanotube Fullerene (Buckyball) Rolled Graphene Wrapped Graphene

GrapheneUses and Potential Applications

Annuals of Innovation: Material Question

by John Calapinto The New Yorker (12/22/14)

“Graphene may be the most remarkable substance ever discovered. But what’s if for?”

Andre Geim, University of Manchester, Konstantin Novoselov, Ph.D. student; create single atom-thick film of carbon (Scotch Tape Technique) 2002

Startling properties of the material (e.g., field effect- response to electric field); ‘mobility’ of up to 250 times that of silicon semi-conductor; Science 2004

Nobel Prize 2010

Worldwide proliferation of patents for grapheme: 3,018 in 2011 to 8,416 in 2013. [1st Korea, 2nd China & 3rd US – Rice University world’s top patent holders]

$60 million British government investment to create National Graphene Institute to make UK competitive on patents.

“The progress of a technology from the moment of discovery to transformative product is slow and meandering; the consensus among scientists is that it take decades, even when things go well.” (p52)

Aluminum discovered in 1820 didn’t find successful application until WWI – airplanes.

MRI developed 30 years after scientists first understood the physical reaction that allowed the machine to work.

Silicon discovered over 100 years before the birth of the semi-conductor industry.

Semiconductors can be turned on/off in an electric field; logic chips. Graphene - a semi-metal – cannot be turned off.

The obstacle is not graphene’s physical properties. The problem is business: “We’ve got a global investment on the order of trillions of dollars in silicon, and we’re not going to walk away from that. Initially grapheme needs to work with silicon – it needs to work in our existing factories and production lines and research capabilities – and then we’ll get some momentum going.” (60)

[T]ells the controversial story of how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists and scientific advisers, with deep connections in politics and industry, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. The same individuals who claim the science of global warming is "not settled" have also denied the truth about studies linking smoking to lung cancer, coal smoke to acid rain, and CFCs to the ozone hole. "Doubt is our product," wrote one tobacco executive. These "experts" supplied it.

Imperatives for STEM Education Economic

Democratic

Cultural

Innovations for STEM Education

NSF – Wellcome Trust US/UK Workshop“The Challenges of K-12 Science & Math

Education: Attracting & Retaining Students & Teachers” (2006)

Roberts Report - SET for Success: The supply of people of STEM skills. (2002) [Commissioned for Budget 2001 as part of Government’s strategy for improving UK’s productivity and innovation performance.]

Rising Above the Gathering Storm (2005) (NRC, COSEPUP – NAS, NAE, IOM) [Overall charge is to address cross-cutting issues in science and technology policy that affect the health of the national research enterprise]

Tough Choices or Tough Times (2007) National Center on Education and the Economy [Leading technological industries and new industries from new technologies depends on a deep vein of creativity and of people with imagination.]

US/UK STEM Workforce cont.

Science Education in Schools: Issues, evidence and proposals. (2006) ESRC Teaching and Learning Research Programme. J. Gilbert, Ed. [Report to set out what we know about improving science education in schools:

research evidence on key factors such as recruitment,

development and retention of teachers,

communication of key scientific ideas,

the use of assessment to help learning, and

the value of science learning outside school]

Transforming America’s Scientific and Technological Infrastructure: Recommendations for Urgent Action (2006) AACU Project Kaleidoscope – Report on Reports II – (20 reports over 3 years [AAC&U’s STEM higher education reform center dedicated to empowering STEM faculty, including those from underrepresented groups, to graduate more students in STEM fields who are competitively trained and liberally educated.]

Relevence Of Science

Education

SVEIN SJØBERGUniversity of

Oslo

Interest in Science

ROSE

I like school science

ROSE

I want to be a scientist

Economic Imperative?

??

Workshop I AgendaI - Supporting & Sustaining Innovation in Schools: Role of Foundations, Government, Industry & Business, and Professional Societies.

II – Attracting & Retaining Teachers in STEM: Initiatives, Challenges and Directions, Teaching Outside Ones’s Area of Specialty, and STEM Enhancement Outside the Curriculum/Classroom

III - Attracting & Retaining Students in STEM: Nature of the Curriculum, Pedagogy, Assessment, and STEM Enhancement Outside the Curriculum/Classroom

IV – Entering the STEM Workforce: Career Advice in Schools, Perspectives from Industry & Business, and Perspectives from Academia

Workshops II & IIIWorkshop II – Leeds, England, National STEM Centre; International Meeting

Workshop III – Washington, DC NSF ‘ROSE” National Survey on Motivation, Interest & Identity Oct 30 – Nov 1, 2008

There is currently no US national baseline on youths’ motivations, interests and identity with respect to STEM initiatives. Understanding how the diverse cultural, linguistic and economic backgrounds of students are related to levels of experience and to degrees of comfort with the norms of scientific practices would be valuable information for both policy makers, parents and school/classroom based educators. Understanding how this information relates to patterns of youth motivation and interests in science study would be invaluable for making pedagogical, clinical and policy decisions.

Policy ReportsCarnegie Corporation of New York (2009) The Opportunity Equation: Transforming Mathematics and Science Education for Citizenship and the Global Economy.

European Commission. (2004). Europe needs More Scientists: Report by the High Level Group on Increasing Human Resources for Science and Technology. Brussels; European Commission. 2007. Science Education Now: A renewed pedagogy for the future of Europe. Brussels.

Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (2008) report Opening up Pathways: Engagement in STEM across the Primary-Secondary school transition. Cantabera, Australia

Two Common ThemesLow Interest & Engagement in

Science

PISA 2006

ROSE 2005

TIMSS 1999

Nuffield Report 2008“In short, the more advanced a country is, the less its young people are interested in the study of science.”

Adapting Curriculum & Pedagogy

Use K-16 curriculum to increase supply

Need for information to better understand conditions and factors for opting-in vs. opting-out of STEM opportunities

NSF Workshop III -Assessing Youths’ Interest in STEM:What do we need to know?

Demand problem is not monolithic, some STEM domain programs of study are over enrolled (e.g., Ph.D. biological sciences).

There are varied solution paths for the supply problem targeted at attracting and retaining students and teachers in STEM disciplines.

The policy agenda in the reports vary:Economic issue – keeping our nations competitive in global markets.

Cultural issue – science is an indelible part of the world.

Pedagogical issue - student experiences and incentives; quality of the teacher workforce.

Cont’Rethinking the sequence, content, context, and relevance of STEM curricula and courses of study.

Enhancing and broadening the teacher workforce in the upper grade and advanced placement courses.

Revisions in the school curriculum.

Where is the most urgent needs for changes in enrollments and in uptake of STEM education; e.g., middle grades (4-8), high school (9-12) and/or further education (13-16)?

Research Agendas“Initiate a line of research (mixed methodologies), as yet undefined, that would explore the role of middle school age students' interest and motivation in science engagement as it occurs in classrooms, in informal science contexts, and in their home lives. To consider as well, the motivational antecedents and the development of motivation over time for purposes of understanding declines or enhancements with engagement in STEM studies and activities.”

Goals:Identify the constructs to study in an initial exploration;

e.g., identity, motivation, attitudes, STEM careers & pathways; engagement

Issues of Measurement

Affective vs. Achievement data; Methods of measurement, Use of evidence

Innovations & ChangeWho are the partners, players?

Going toScale

Disciplinary Tensionsand Mismatches

A Framework to guide changes in K-12 science

Instruction

Curricula

Assessments

Teacher Development

Disciplinary

Core Ideas

Crosscutting

Concepts

Sci

ence

an

d

En

gin

eeri

ng

Pra

ctic

es

Three Dimensional Learning

Conceptual Learning TrumpsAll

Climate Literacy: The Essential Principles of Climate Science (2009) A climate-oriented approach for learners of all ages.

Ocean Literacy: The Essential Principles of Ocean Sciences K-12 (2007) An ocean-oriented approach to teaching science standards.

Earth Science Literacy: The Big Ideas and Supporting Concepts of Earth Science (2009).

Atmospheric Science Literacy: Essential Principles and Fundamental Concepts of Atmospheric Science (2008).

US Geosciences Literacy

Earth Science Literacy

1. Earth sciences use repeatable observation and testable ideas to understand and explain our planet (7)

2. Earth is 4.6 billion years old (7)

3. Earth is a complex system of interacting rock, water, air and life. (8)

4. Earth is continuously changing.(9)

5. Earth is the water planet.(8)

6. Life evolves on a dynamic Earth and continuously modifies Earth (9)

7. Humans depend on Earth resources. (10)

8. Natural hazards pose risks to humans. (8)

9. Humans significantly alter the Earth. (9) (66)

ES Literacy: Big Ideas & (Supporting Concepts) of Earth Science

NSF Footprints Workshop on Learning Progressions

Learning Progressions Footprint Conference Final Report

Co-leaders: Charles W. (Andy) Anderson and Paul Cobb

Steering Committee: Angela Calabrese Barton, Jere Confrey, Bill Penuel, and Leona Schauble

How has science and mathematics learning progressions research developed over the past two decades, what should the priorities be for future learning progressions research, and how can this work be leveraged to inform policy and practice?

How can we create research-based products that exert a positive influence on large-scale policy and classroom practice?

Footprint Focus and IssuesFocus:

State and National StandardsLarge Scale AssessmentsClassroom Practice

Two sets of interrelated issues:

Methodological and conceptual validity - the delineation and validation of learning progressions: the evidentiary basis for developing particular forms of mathematical or scientific discourse and practices.

Validity in use - how learning progressions are actually being used in practice.

Recommendations for LP Research

(a) additional research on learning progressions around topics that have received less attention and yet play critical roles in current standards,

(b) relations among curriculum and instruction, teaching, and learning progressions,

(c) concerns related to equity and diversity; and

(d) relations between learning progressions in mathematics and science.

Recommendations for Policy and Practice

Six Categories

(a) standards,

(b) instruction,

(c) assessment,

(d) teacher professional development,

(e) communication with educational leaders, and

(f) coordinated systems of support.

StandardsParticipants in the conference saw great potential in dialogue between learning progression researchers and developers of standards on national, state, and local scales.

Science standards. The National Research Council has recently released A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas (NRC, 2011). . . . . . The current development process affords a unique opportunity for dialogue between standards developers and learning progression researchers.

Encourage learning progression research based on NRC Framework and Next Generation Science Standards.

Short term: Improve mechanisms for learning progressions researchers to participate in the development of science standards:

Capturing “what the world looks like through a student’s eyes,” especially at lower grade levels Contributing to practices and cross cutting themes; e.g., inquiry and modeling practices, and crosscutting concepts such as matter and energy and systems and system models. Contributing to disciplinary core ideas. Although the coverage is inconsistent, there is learning progressions research in each of the core science disciplines that could be useful to standards developers.

Longer term: Consider mechanisms for revising standards as more research reaches maturity.

Differing timelines for research and standards development. Research findings come out intermittently, while standards development and enactment require clear timelines, and users of standards expect the standards to stay stable for periods of years.Criteria for validity: When can learning progressions research findings be considered sufficiently generalizable with larger and more diverse populations to serve as a basis for changes in standards?Relation between research findings and policy recommendations: Learning progression research commonly has more to say about the order of concepts and practices) than about grade levels for which particular concepts and practices are appropriate. The research often shows that younger children are capable of learning more advanced ideas, but standards must be based on judgments about the capacities of educational systems as well as the capabilities of children.

Longer term: Consider the role of learning progression research in the enactment of standards. Two recommendations for new roles and research approaches:

People in bridging roles. We will need people (perhaps learning progression researchers) who are familiar with standards, learning progression research, classroom practice, and professional development. We need to figure out how to educate those people and support their work.Short-turnaround research. Local implementation of standards will often require kinds of action research that use learning progression findings and methods, but has shorter timelines and specific local application.

AssessmentAssessment of student progress on learning trajectories requires a deep collaboration among researchers with expertise in learning trajectories constructs, measurement, and implementation and related practices.

Three areas of discussion of assessment emerged from the conference:

the development of assessments within learning trajectories research, the measurement models used in developing the assessments, and the potential negative effects assessments may have on using learning trajectories research.

Learning progressions researchers have often devised interesting and creative tasks and tools to elicit student thinking. . . . . the use of formative assessment practices demonstrate how the intermediate understandings of children can be useful in promoting rich discourse and helping students understand why certain approaches gain strength over time. . . . . requires teachers to manage multiple aspects of discourse in the classroom—including the intelligibility and coherence of argumentation for all in the class—in order to support learning (Michaels, O’Connor, & Resnick, 2008). (25)

Learning progressions could help to meet a key challenge in current assessment practices: the need to design methods for examining student progress over extended and varied time periods (weeks, months, years). Learning progressions could be used to assess the intermediate levels of learning to gauge student progress and diagnose student difficulties in summative assessment as well as interim assessments. Furthermore, networked wireless devices could provide opportunities for the study of new forms of assessment using real time data. (27)

Suggestions for Specific StudiesAn interdisciplinary study focusing on a learning progression for measurement

one or two carefully chosen experimental programs on learning progressions that have the potential to cross disciplinary backgrounds by investigating a common topic that is core within each. . . . [and] where we already have some detailed research to initiate the process. (47)

A district-level design experiment. The aim would be to attempt to create coherence among standards (or more specifically, expectations regarding learning performance), curriculum, assessments, and professional development. (47)

A conference on relationships between standards and learning progressions.

Richard Duschl, Seungho Maeng & Asli Sezen (2011): Learning progressions and

teaching sequences: a review and analysis, Studies in Science Education,

47:2, 123-182

Innovations in Education

How Long to Take Root?

Framework’s Practices Trilogy“Understanding how science functions requires a synthesis of

content knowledge, procedural knowledge, and epistemic knowledge.”

Content Knowledge – What we knowCore Ideas, Theories, Principles, Laws, etc.

Procedural Knowledge – How we knowConcepts of Evidence

Methods that scientists use to ensure that their findings are valid and reliable.

Epistemic Knowledge – Why we believe itKnowledge of the various sets of criteria, rules and values held in the sciences and in engineering disciplines for deciding ‘what counts’;

Fair test, a precise and accurate measurement, systematic observations, testable hypotheses, etc.

Framework 3 Dimensions Practices

Asking questions and defining problems

Developing and using models

Planning and carrying out investigations

Analyzing and interpreting data

Using mathematics and computational thinking

Constructing explanations and designing solutions

Engaging in argument from evidence

Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

Crosscutting Concepts

Patterns

Cause & Effect

Scale, Proportion & Quantity

Systems and Systems Models

Energy and Matter in Systems

Form & Function

Stability

Core Ideas

Physical SciencesLife SciencesEarth/Space Sciences

PCOI Components 5 DsDeciding what and how to measure, observe and sample,

Developing or selecting procedures/tools to measure and collect data,

Documenting and systematically recording results and observations,

Devising representations for structuring data and patterns of observations,

Determining if:(1) the data are good (valid and reliable) and can be used as evidence;

(2) additional or new data are needed or

(3) a new investigation design or set of measurements are needed.

Generating Evidence

Generating evidence entails all of the following:

asking questions, deciding what to measure, developing measures, collecting data from the measures, structuring the data, systematically documenting outcomes of the investigations, interpreting and evaluating the data, and using the empirical results to develop and refine arguments, models, and theories.

PCOI Grade Band Progression

 Investigations based on fair tests to support explanations or design solutions (K-2)

Investigations that control variables and provide evidence to support explanations or design solutions (3-5)

Investigations that use multiple variables and provide evidence to support explanations or design solutions (6-8)

Investigations that build, test, and revise conceptual, mathematical, physical and empirical models (9-12)

PCOI Grade 12 GoalsFormulate a question that can be investigated within the scope of the classroom, school laboratory, or field with available resources and, when appropriate, frame a hypothesis (that is, a possible explanation that predicts a particular and stable outcome) based on a model or theory.

Decide what data are to be gathered, what tools are needed to do the gathering, and how measurements will be recorded.

Decide how much data are needed to produce reliable measurements and consider any limitations on the precision of the data.

Plan experimental or field-research procedures, identifying relevant independent and dependent variables and, when appropriate, the need for controls.

Consider possible confounding variables or effects and ensure that the investigation’s design has controlled for them.

Over a grade band (e.g., K-2 3-5, 6-8, 9-12) engagements with the planning and carrying out investigations should increasingly lead students to broaden and deepen the complexity of investigations.

The Framework’s intent is to avoid students only doing investigations that present science knowledge and inquiry in ways that lead students to see scientific knowledge as non-problematic .

Non-problematic in the sense that science is seen as a straight forward path where there is no struggle.

Knowledge Unproblematic-Problematic

Level 1 (Knowledge unproblematic) students view scientific knowledge as a collection of true beliefs about how to do something correctly or as basic facts. Scientific knowledge accumulates piecemeal through telling and observation which is certain and true.

Carey, S. & Smith, C. (1993) On understanding the nature of scientific knowledge. Educational Psychologist, 28, 235-251.

Smith, C., Maclin, D., Houghton, C., & Hennessey, M.G. (2000) Sixth-grade students’ epistemologies of science: The impact of school science experience on epistemological development. Cognition and Instruction, 18(3), 285-316.

Level 2 (Transition) students view science knowledge as a set of tested ideas. Notions of explanation and testing hypotheses appear at this level. Here students’ view science as figuring out how and why things work and absolute knowledge comes about through diligence and effort.

Level 3 (Knowledge problematic) students see scientific knowledge consisting of well-tested theories and models that are used to explain and predict natural events. Theories are seen as guiding inquiry, and evidence from experiments is not only used for/against hypotheses but theories as well. Theories and models are also seen as more or less useful rather than strictly right or wrong and that knowledge of the world is fundamentally elusive and uncertain.

Challenge 1 -Extending & Scaling Research in “language & representation” on Learning

Franca Lingua – A Common LanguageLearning Progressions, Teaching Sequences, Teaching Experiments, Learning Trajectories, Immersion Units, Inquiry Units, Lessons, ActivitiesEvidence – Models – Theories – ExplanationsDiscourse Models/Learning Models – too many to list!Lower to Upper Anchors; Proximate to Ultimate Purposes, Intermediate Levels, Messy Middle, Construct Map Levels, Meta representations, Benchmarks,Modeling, Drawings, Data modeling, Representing, Inscriptions, Visualizations

Challenge 2 -Extending & Scaling the Research in Cognitive & . . . .

Structured Knowledge (CP)Instruction should develop conceptual structures to support inference & reasoning

Prior Knowledge (CP)Learner intuition is a source of cognitive ability that supports & promotes new learning

Metacognition (CP)Reflecting on learning, meaning making & reasoning strategies provide learners a sense of agency.

Procedural Knowledge in Meaningful Contexts (CP)Learning information should be connected with its use

. . . Social PsychologySocial participation and cognition (SP)

Social display of cognitive competence via group dialog helps individuals acquire knowledge and skill.

Holistic Situation for Learning (SP)Competence is best developed through cognitive apprenticeship within larger task contexts.

Make Thinking Overt (SP) Design situations in which the thinking of the learner is made apparent and overt to the teacher and to students.

(Robert Glaser, 1995)

Challenge 3 -Extending & Scaling the Research in Systems of Coherence &

Resonance in Assessment – 4 Domains (LeMahieu & Reilly, 2004)

Large Scale - Policy Decisions – Assessment of Learning

ConceptualShort-term distant, circumscribed

SubstantiveKnowledge, skills based on general societal learning outcomes

TechnicalQuantitative, standardized

LogisticsDelayed

Audience External – policymakers, education leaders, the public

Classroom - Learning Decisions – Assessment for Learning

Conceptual

Long-term involved participatory

Substantive

Knowledge, skills based on local class or course learning

Technical

Narrative, thick, rich

Logistics

Immediate

Audience Internal - students, teachers, parents

Challenge 4 -Extending & Scaling the Research into Instructional Practices

Aligning Curriculum–Instruction–Assessment

Learning Progressions & Teaching Sequences

Formative and Summative Assessment Coherence

Instruction-assisted Development

Adaptive Instruction

Mediation of Learning

Ambitious Practices

Challenge 5 -Extending & Scaling the Research in DATA MODELING INTEGRATES INQUIRY, DATA, CHANCE, INFERENCE (LEHRER, 2010 NARST Symposium)

Challenge 6 -Extending & Scaling the Research on Attainment of

Epistemic Communities of Practice

Drawings

Models

Mechanisms

Stories

Explanation

Criteria

Measurements

Chance

Data Modeling

Statistics

Inference