outline of activities

Hannah Sevian, University of Massachusetts, Boston, James Hamos, National Science Foundation, Charles W. Anderson, Michigan State University, Jennifer Doherty,

Michigan State University

NSTA Short Course: Using Learning Progressions to Improve Science Teaching

and Learning

Thursday, March 29, 2012

Outline of Activities

1. Presentation: Overview of learning progression researcha) Defining learning progressionsb) Learning progression research cyclec) Introduction to environmental literacy project

2. Group work: Working with examples from Environmental Literacy project

3. Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework4. Break5. Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion

of Matter (SAMM) project6. Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional

developmenta) Carbon TIME projectb) SAMM projectc) Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science


1. Presentation: Overview of learning progression research

a) Defining learning progressionsb) Learning progression research cyclec) Introduction to environmental literacy project





Learning Progressions

“Learning progressions are descriptions of the successively more sophisticated ways of thinking about a topic that can follow one another as students learn about and investigate a topic over a broad span of time.” (NRC, Taking Science to School, 2007)

Learning Progressions Include:

• A learning progression framework, describing levels of achievement for students learning

• Assessment tools that reveal students’ reasoning: written assessments and clinical interviews

• Teaching tools and strategies that help students make transitions from one level to the next

Why aren’t these just new labels for standards, assessments, and

curricula?What’s the difference?

Learning Progressions vs. Current Standards: Nature of Learning

• Traditional standards: Accumulation of knowledge– Standards at all levels are scientifically correct

facts and skills– Students make progress by learning more facts

and more complicated skills • Learning progressions: Succession in

“conceptual ecologies” (like learning a second language)– Interconnected and mutually supporting ideas

and practices at all levels, embedded in discourses

– Non-canonical ideas and practices can be both useful and important developmental steps

Learning Progressions vs. Current Standards: Empirical vs. Normative

• Traditional standards: Normative goals– Statements about what students SHOULD learn– Based on part on experience of standards

writers, conceptual change research (what’s reasonable)

• Learning progressions: Focus on more rigorous empirical validation– Descriptions of knowledge and practice based on

actual student performances– Iterative research and development cycle


1. Presentation: Overview of learning progression researcha) Defining learning progressions

b) Learning progression research cyclec) Introduction to environmental literacy project





c. Research Methods: Iterative Research Process

Model of Cognition: Learning Model of Cognition: Learning Progression FrameworksProgression Frameworks

Learning progressions are descriptions of increasingly sophisticated ways of thinking about a subject Knowledge, practice, discourse

Anchored at the lower end by what we know about how younger students reason

Anchored at upper end by what experts in the field believe students should understand when they graduate

Intermediate levels of achievement describing pathways and strategies for student progress through levels

Numbers of Tests and Interviews

Data Source 2009-10 2010-11‡

School Level Tests Interviews Pretests Posttests Interviews

Middle School Carbon: 898*Water: 204

Biodiversity: 698

Carbon: 41*Water: 24

Biodiversity: 58

Carbon: 229Water: 217

Biodiversity: 587

Carbon:35 Water: 223

Biodiversity: 401

Carbon: 4Water: 5

Biodiversity: 0

High School Carbon: 488*Water: 16

Biodiversity: 672

Carbon: 41*Water: 14

Biodiversity: 47


Biodiversity: 325


Biodiversity: 286

Carbon: 5Water: 5

Biodiversity: 3

Teachers Carbon: 38Water: 47

Biodiversity: 38

Carbon: 51Water: 80

Biodiversity: 50

Carbon: 32Water: 32

Biodiversity: 32

See page 4 of Research Tab

Interpretation: Coding Test and Interview Data

• Exploratory coding: Developing initial ideas about student knowledge, practice, discourse and learning progression frameworks (2009-10)

• Developmental coding: Establishing rubrics and initial reliability– Learning progression framework– Written Exemplar Worksheets (coding rubrics)– Developmental coding workbook (sample student

responses; coding by multiple coders and reconciliation)

• Full coding– Initial training using developmental coding materials– Coding by main coders and reliability coders – Reconciling differences

Interpretation: Validation Analyses

• Basic reliability analyses of various progress variables, including overall reliability of measures, item-total correlation, inter-rater reliability, and individual item fit

• Validity of item scores with respect to progress variables (i.e. are IRT-based difficulties of item score levels consistent with theoretical expectations)

• Differential Item Functioning (DIF) analyses• Comparison of test and interview coding


1. Presentation: Overview of learning progression researcha) Defining learning progressionsb) Learning progression research cycle

c) Introduction to environmental literacy project2. Group work: Working with examples from Environmental Literacy

project3. Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework4. Break5. Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion



Three Dimensions of NRC Framework

Frameworks Vision: Learning objectives are three-dimensional1.Practices

– Major practices employed by scientists as they investigate and build models and theories about the world

– Key set of engineering practices that engineers use as they design and build systems

2.Crosscutting concepts– Application across all domains of science

3.Disciplinary core ideas– Ideas that have broad importance across multiple sciences or

engineering, or a key organizing principle of a single discipline– Provide a key tool for understanding or investigating more complex

ideas and solving problems– Relate to interests and life experiences of students or connect to

societal or personal concerns requiring scientific/technical knowledge– Teachable and learnable over multiple grades at increasing levels of

depth and sophistication

Less of:• Focus on eradicating

misconceptions• Inquiry as an activity• Science as just a body of

knowledge• Only older children able to

learn science• Focus on ambitious learning

goals for select students

More of:• Build on prior knowledge• Practices that embody inquiry

as how one does and learns science

• Science is content learned through practices

• Young children are quite capable and interested

• Focus on ambitious learning goals for all students

Integration of the dimensions in practice

Not separate treatment of “content” and “inquiry” (no more Chapter 1: Scientific Method)

Slide borrowed from http://hub.mspnet.org/index.cfm/mspnet_academy_nrc_framework

Environmental Science Literacy as Our Shared Goal

• CORE GOAL OF SCIENCE EDUCATION:– Give people the ability to use scientific knowledge to

understand the consequences of our policies and practices

– Make a place for scientific knowledge and arguments from scientific evidence in political discourse and personal decision making.

• NOTE that this is a different goal from getting people to accept the authority of science or to support particular policies or practices.

Practices of Environmentally Literate Citizens

Discourses: Communities of practice, identities, values, funds of knowledge

Discourses: Communities of practice, identities, values, funds of knowledge

Explaining and Predicting (Accounts)

What is happening in this situation?

What are the likely consequences of different

courses of action?

Explaining and Predicting (Accounts)

What is happening in this situation?

What are the likely consequences of different

courses of action?

Investigating (Inquiry)What is the problem?

Who do I trust? What’s the evidence?

Investigating (Inquiry)What is the problem?

Who do I trust? What’s the evidence?

Deciding

What will I do?

Deciding

What will I do?

Strands of Environmental Science Literacy

• Carbon. Carbon-transforming processes in socio-ecological systems at multiple scales, including cellular and organismal metabolism, ecosystem energetics and carbon cycling, carbon sequestration, and combustion of fossil fuels.

• Water. The role of water and substances carried by water in earth, living, and engineered systems, including the atmosphere, surface water and ice, ground water, human water systems, and water in living systems.

• Biodiversity. The diversity of living systems, including variability among individuals in population, evolutionary changes in populations, diversity in natural ecosystems and in human systems that produce food, fiber, and wood.

The Keeling Curve as an Example

What Does it Mean to “Understand” the Keeling Curve?

• Scientific accounts: Students should be able to explain the mechanisms and predict the effects of atmospheric change– Yearly cycle– Long-term trend

• Citizenship decisions: Students should be able to use their understanding of how the atmosphere is changing in order to act as informed citizens

Keeling Curve Question

Keeling Curve Question: The graph given below shows changes in concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere over a 47-year span at Mauna Loa observatory at Hawaii, and the annual variation of this concentration.

a. Why do you think this graph shows atmospheric carbon dioxide levels decreasing in the summer and fall every year and increasing in the winter and spring?

b. Why do you think this graph shows atmospheric carbon dioxide levels increasing from 1960 to 2000?

BUT….

• Middle school students can’t answer the Keeling curve question. What is the alternative?

• Solution: ask about carbon transforming processes that all students are familiar with:– Plant growth– Animal growth– Animal movement– Decay– Combustion

FATLOSS Question

When a person exercises and loses weight, what happens to the fat in the person’s body? Fat is mostly made of molecules such as stearic acid: C18H36O2. Decide and circle whether each of the

following statements is true (T) or false (F) about what happens to the atoms

in a man’s fat when he loses weight.T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are incorporated into carbon

dioxide in the air.T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are converted into energy that

he uses when he exercises.T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are burned up and disappear.T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are converted into heat.T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are incorporated into water

vapor in the atmosphere.Is air needed for the man to lose weight? If so, what role do gases from

the air play in the man’s losing fat?

FATLOSS Correct Answers

When a person exercises and loses weight, what happens to the fat in the person’s body? Fat is mostly made of molecules such as stearic acid: C18H36O2. Decide and circle whether each of the following statements is true (T) or false (F) about what happens to the atoms in a man’s fat when he loses weight.

T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are incorporated into carbon dioxide in the air.

T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are converted into energy that he uses when he exercises.

T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are burned up and disappear.T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are converted into heat.T F Some of the atoms in the man’s fat are incorporated into water

vapor in the atmosphere.Is air needed for the man to lose weight? If so, what role do gases from

the air play in the man’s losing fat? Oxygen combines with organic molecules (including fat) in cellular respiration.

OAKTREE Question

OAKTREE (Plants): A mature oak tree can have a mass of 500 kg, or more, even after all the water in the tree is removed. Yet it start from an acorn that weighs only a few grams. Where did this huge increase in mass come from?

Which of the following statements is true? Circle the letter of the correct answer.

a. ALL of the mass came from matter that was originally outside the tree, ORb. SOME of mass came from matter that the tree made as it grew.

Circle the best choice to complete each of the statements about possible sources of mass from outside the tree.

How much of the dry mass came from the AIR? All or most, some, noneHow much of the dry mass came from SUNLIGHT? All or most, some, noneHow much of the dry mass came from WATER? All or most, some, noneHow much of the dry mass came from SOIL NUTRIENTS? All or most, some,

none

Explain your choices. How does the oak tree gain mass as it grows?

OAKTREE Correct AnswersOAKTREE (Plants): A mature oak tree can have a mass of 500 kg, or more,

even after all the water in the tree is removed. Yet it start from an acorn that weighs only a few grams. Where did this huge increase in mass come from?

Which of the following statements is true? Circle the letter of the correct answer.

a. ALL of the mass came from matter that was originally outside the tree, b. SOME of mass came from matter that the tree made as it grew.

Circle the best choice to complete each of the statements about possible sources of mass from outside the tree.

How much of the dry mass came from the AIR? All or most, some, noneHow much of the dry mass came from SUNLIGHT? All or most, some, noneHow much of the dry mass came from WATER? All or most, some, noneHow much of the dry mass came from SOIL NUTRIENTS? All or most, some,

none

Explain your choices. How does the oak tree gain mass as it grows? C and O atoms in the organic molecules of the oak tree came from CO2 through photosynthesis. H atoms came from water through photosynthesis. N, P, and other mineral atoms came from soil minerals.

The Role of Scale and Principles in Scientific Accounts

• Connecting scales:– Macroscopic scale: plant growth, growth and

functioning of consumers and decomposers, combustion as key carbon transforming processes

– Atomic-molecular scale: photosynthesis, cellular respiration, combustion, digestion and biosynthesis

– Large scale: carbon reservoirs and fluxes in earth systems, affected by human populations and technologies

• Key principles– Conservation of matter: Carbon atoms gotta go

somewhere– Conservation of energy– Degradation of energy (matter cycles, energy flows)

To do in groups

• Work in pairs on the two questions• Sort responses into 3-5 groups• Write descriptions of the groups: What do the

responses in a group have in common? How are they different from other groups?

• Key question for lower groups: What ARE they saying (not just what is wrong with their responses)

• If you have time, compare your groups and descriptions with other pairs at your table



2. Group work: Working with examples from Environmental Literacy project3. Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression

framework4. Break5. Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion of

Matter (SAMM) project6. Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional development

a) Carbon TIME projectb) SAMM projectc) Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science

What Progresses?

• Discourse: “a socially accepted association among ways of using language, of thinking, and of acting that can be used to identify oneself as a member of a socially meaningful group” (Gee, 1991, p. 3)

• Practices: inquiry, accounts, citizenship • Knowledge of processes in human and

environmental systems

Contrasts between Force-dynamic and Scientific Discourse (Pinker, Talmy)

• Force-dynamic discourse: Actors (e.g., animals, plants, machines) make things happen with the help of enablers that satisfy their “needs.”– This is everyone’s “first language” that we have to

master in order to speak grammatical English (or French, Spanish, Chinese, etc.)

• Scientific discourse: Systems are composed of enduring entities (e.g., matter, energy) which change according to laws or principles (e.g., conservation laws)– This is a “second language” that is powerful for

analyzing the material world• We often have the illusion of communication

because speakers of these languages use the same words with different meanings (e.g., energy, carbon, nutrient, etc.)

Learning Progression Levels of Achievement

Level 4: Correct qualitative tracing of matter and energy through processes at multiple scales.

Level 3: Attempts to trace matter and energy, but with errors (e.g., matter-energy confusion, failure to fully account for mass of gases).

Level 2: Elaborated force-dynamic accounts (e.g., different functions for different organs)

Level 1: Simple force-dynamic accounts.

A Learning Progression Story: Food Chain on a BEST Plot

Black Medick

Rabbit

Coyote

Death anddecomposition

Level 1 Account of the Food Chain

• This is a story with heroes (e.g., the bunny as Bambi’s friend Thumper) and villains (the marauding coyote)

• This is emotionally different from other food chain stories (e.g., cricket and garter snake, mouse and owl)

• The plant is there for the rabbit to eat, but it has a purpose in life, too—to grow

• Death of the coyote is what he deserves• Explanations focus on why the plants and

animals act as they do, not how


• Recognizing material constraints on what actors can do: Rabbits NEED food (compared to Level 1 focus on actions: Rabbits need to eat)

• Moving toward microscopic scale: Rabbit, coyote, and medick all have internal parts– Starting to account for how plants and animals accomplish their

purposes, not just why– Internal organs with special functions (but not yet transformation

of matter• Large-scale connections: the circle of life

– Food chain as cause-effect sequence (not flow of matter or energy)

– Plants help animals by providing food and oxygen– Decay of plants and animals enriches soil

Learners’ Accounts “Matter and Energy Cycles”

People & animals

Nutrients

Decay

Sunlight

CarbonDioxide

People & animals

• This is really about actors and their actions. • People are the main actors, then animals, then plants• Everything else is there to meet the needs of actors


• Microscopic scale: Rabbit, coyote, medick and decomposers all are systems (not just actors) made of living cells– Internal systems move food and oxygen to cells and waste away

from cells– Photosynthesis and cellular respiration as important cellular

processes (functions still not entirely clear)– Food as source of matter and energy for growth and life

functions (distinctions between matter and energy still not very clear)

– Molecules present in food and in cells, but connections between living systems and chemical change still fuzzy

• Large-scale connections: matter and energy cycles– Food chain as flow of matter or energy (matter and energy both

recycle)– Still separate nutrient and O2-CO2 cycles– Animals, decomposers, combustion all require food/fuel and O2

and produce CO2

Level 3: Nutrient and O2-CO2 Cycles


• Microscopic scale: Rabbit, coyote, medick and decomposers all are systems that chemically transform matter and energy– Food and tissues of organisms are made of organic matter

(biomass) including carbohydrates, fats, proteins, nucleic acids

– Organelles in cells make organic matter from inorganic matter (photosynthesis), make other organic substances from glucose and minerals (biosynthesis, digestion), and oxidize organic matter (cellular respiration

– Energy is stored in C-C and C-H bonds of organic molecules

• Large-scale connections: the circle of life– Matter cycles, with the most important matter cycle being

the carbon cycle: CO2 and H2O to biomass and O2

– Energy flows: sunlight to chemical energy to motion and heat

Upper Anchor: Scientific Account Carbon Cycling and Energy Flow

Complete Level 4 Framework: Carbon “Loop Diagram”

Using Electric

appliances

Driving Vehicles

Burning fossil fuels

Body Movement; Dead Organism Body Decay

Plant Growth Animal GrowthOrganic Carbon O

xidation(Com

bustion)

Organic Carbon Oxidation (Cellular Respiration)

Organic Carbon Generation

(Photosynthesis)

Organic Carbon Transformation (Biosynthesis,

digestion)

Human Socio-economical Systems

Ecosystem

Atmosphere

CO2

LE

Heat Heat

CO2

CO2

CE: Chemical Energy; LE: Light Energy; OrgC: Organic Carbon-containing Molecules

OrgC

CE

CE

OrgC

CEOrgC CEOrgC

Macroscopic Scale: Grouping and Explaining Carbon-transforming Processes

Black: Linking processes that students at all levels can tell us aboutRed: Lower anchor accounts based on informal discourseGreen: Upper anchor accounts based on scientific models

Final Questions about Sorting

• How did your groups compare to the sorting based on the learning progression framework and rubrics?

• How did your descriptions of groups compare with the learning progression level descriptions?

• What questions do you have?




3. Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework

4. Break5. Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion






3. Presentation: Carbon cycling learning progression framework4. Break

5. Group work: Working with examples from the Structure and Motion of Matter (SAMM) project

6. Presentations: Applications to instruction and professional development

a) Carbon TIME projectb) SAMM projectc) Collaborative Coaching and Learning in Science

Questions about Environmental Literacy and SAMM LP’s

• What do you see that the two learning progressions have in common?

• How are they different from standards, scope and sequence documents, and assessments that you are familiar with?

General Structure of LP Frameworks

• Levels of achievement/mental models: broad levels in movement from lower anchor to upper anchor

• Progress variables: more detailed analysis of student performances that allows coding and comparison

• Interview tasks and test items: specific things for students to do

Teaching Experiments: Inquiry and Application Activity Sequences

Teaching Experiments

• Available on Environmental Literacy Website:– Carbon: plant growth and cellular respiration– Biodiversity: macroinvertebrates and other organisms in stream

bed leaf packs– Water: water budget for school grounds

• In development: Carbon TIME (Transformations in Matter and Energy): Six units to be available through National Geographic Website in 2014– Systems and Scale– Plants– Animals– Decomposers– Ecosystems– Human energy systems

Development Products

1. Learning progression framework: Based on current carbon framework.

2. Tools for Reasoning to enact fundamental principles: Based on current tools for reasoning.

3. Teaching strategies for responsive teaching: General instructional model for all units.

4. Formative and summative assessment tools: Interactive formative assessments for each unit developed with NREL and BEAR.

5. Teaching materials and activities: six units at Middle and High School levels: Systems and Scale, Plants, Animals, Decomposers, Ecological Carbon Cycling, Human Energy Systems. Available online through NGS website.

6. Professional development materials. General and unit-specific, face-to-face and facilitated online versions.

Powers of 10 Chart

Ethanol burning

Material identity and transformationMatter

Energy

Energy forms and transformation

Matter MovementAll filtersAnalyzin

g

Atomic molecula

r

Microscopic

Macroscopic

Large scale

scal

esMatter and Energy Process Tool

What’s the hidden chemical change when alcohol burns?

Driving question

Movement of ethanol burning at macroscopic world

scal

es


Energy



gBack to blank

Atomic molecula

r

Macroscopic

Large scale

Microscopic

Ethanol burning

water

carbon dioxide

Ethanol

oxygen (From flame to air

)

(From flame to air)

(From air to flame )

(from wick (liquid) to flame (vapor))

Heat energy

(in the air)

scal

esTransformation of ethanol burning at macroscopic world

Light and heat energy

Chemical energy

Back to blank


Energy



g

Atomic molecula

r

Macroscopic

Large scale

Microscopic

The bottom of flame at atomic-molecular world

Ethanol vapor

Ethanol mixed with air

What happened between the bottom and the top of the flame?

Bottle of the flame

Top of the flame

H2O

CO2

Heat energy (Move to the air )

O2

C2H5OH

scal

esTransformation of ethanol burning at atomic-molecular world

Chemical energy(stored in bonds)

Light and heat energy

Back to blank

Material identityMatter

Energy


Matter transformationAll filtersAnalyzin

g

Atomic molecula

r

Macroscopic

Large scale

Next slide

Microscopic

Upper Anchor: Scientific Account Carbon Cycling and Energy Flow

Learners’ Accounts “Matter and Energy Cycles”

People & animals

Nutrients

Decay

Sunlight

CarbonDioxide

People & animals

• This is really about actors and their actions. • People are the main actors, then animals, then plants• Everything else is there to meet the needs of actors

It Takes Time….

• One course makes a difference in student reasoning, but not enough. – Scientific reasoning is complex, involving

systems and principles at multiple scales– Different aspects of scientific reasoning are

interdependent: It’s hard to trace matter if you can’t trace energy, or to reason at a global scale if you can’t reason at an atomic molecular scale

– Students can make progress in one course, but need a consistent approach in multiple courses to master the “second language” of scientific discourse

Thanks to Funders

This research is supported in part by grants from the National Science Foundation: Learning Progression on Carbon-Transforming Processes in Socio-Ecological Systems (NSF 0815993), and Targeted Partnership: Culturally relevant ecology, learning progressions and environmental literacy (NSF-0832173), CCE: A Learning Progression-based System for Promoting Understanding of Carbon-transforming Processes (DRL 1020187), and Tools for Reasoning about Water in Socio-ecological Systems (DRL-1020176). Additional support comes from the Great Lakes Bioenergy Research Center. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation or the United States Department of Energy

Thanks to Contributors to this Research

• Hui Jin, Jing Chen, Li Zhan, Josephine Zesaguli, Hsin-Yuan Chen, Brook Wilke, Hamin Baek, Kennedy Onyancha, Jonathon Schramm, Courtney Schenk, Jennifer Doherty, and Dante Cisterna at Michigan State University

• John Moore, Shawna McMahon, Andrew Warnock, Jim Graham, Kirstin Holfelder, Colorado State University

• Alan Berkowitz, Eric Keeling, Cornelia Harris, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

• Ali Whitmer, Georgetown University• Dijanna Figueroa, Scott Simon, University of California, Santa

Barbara• Laurel Hartley at the University of Colorado, Denver• Kristin Gunckel at the University of Arizona• Beth Covitt at the University of Montana• Mark Wilson, Karen Draney, Jinnie Choi, and Yong-Sang Lee

at the University of California, Berkeley.

Website

• http://edr1.educ.msu.edu/EnvironmentalLit/publicsite/html/tm_cc.html

• Go to the Teaching Materials section for materials used in this short course

Extra Slides

Climate Change and Carbon-Transforming Processes

• Understanding carbon cycling requires students to trace matter and energy through socio-ecological systems at multiple scales in space and time.

• Global climate change is driven by imbalances in the carbon cycle, between processes that generate organic carbon—photosynthesis—and processes that oxidize organic carbon—combustion and cellular respiration.

• Key idea: Those carbon atoms gotta be SOMEWHERE, and we are moving more and more of them into the atmosphere.

An Example Question

A potato is left outside and gradually decays. One of the main substances in the potato is the starch amylose: (C6H10O5)n. What happens to the atoms in amylose molecules as the potato decays? Choose True (T) or False (F) for each option.

T F Some of the atoms are converted into nitrogen and phosphorous: soil nutrients.

T F Some of the atoms are consumed and used up by decomposers.

T F Some of the atoms are incorporated into carbon dioxide.

T F Some of the atoms are converted into energy by decomposers.

T F Some of the atoms are incorporated into water.

Results: College Level, Posttest, Mostly Science Majors, Multiple Institutions

• Majority of students answered “true” to all 5 questions, percentages ranging from 55% (converted to soil N & P) to 94% (consumed and used up, converted into energy)

• Question: What were they thinking? Why did these responses make sense to them?

2. How can we use learning progression research to

formulate goals for student learning, develop teaching

materials, and guide professional development?

EatBreathe Question

• Humans must eat and breathe in order to live and grow. Are eating and breathing related to each other? (Circle one) YES NO

• If you circled “Yes” explain how eating and breathing are related. If you circled “No” then explain why they are not related. Give as many details as you can.

What Levels Are These Responses?

Sonya: Yes. They are related because eating allows metabolic processes to work inside the body and breathing allows processes that need oxygen and food to function properly.

Sara: They are related because the energy made from the cells respiration can then be used to break down 'food" such as sugars. You can find other ways to breakdown food, but without the help of ATP from cellular respiration the rate would drastically decrease.

Sasha: Yes. They are both essential to life but other than that they perform different functions in the body and are very different processes.

Sheila: Yes. When you eat the food gets broken down and put into your bloodstream and brought to cells that need energy. The oxygen you breathe in breaks down the high energy bonds in the food.

What Levels Are These Responses?

Sonya: Yes. They are related because eating allows metabolic processes to work inside the body and breathing allows processes that need oxygen and food to function properly. Level 2.

Sara: They are related because the energy made from the cells respiration can then be used to break down 'food" such as sugars. You can find other ways to breakdown food, but without the help of ATP from cellular respiration the rate would drastically decrease. Level 3.

Sasha: Yes. They are both essential to life but other than that they perform different functions in the body and are very different processes. Level 1.

Sheila: Yes. When you eat the food gets broken down and put into your bloodstream and brought to cells that need energy. The oxygen you breathe in breaks down the high energy bonds in the food. Level 4.

4. Conclusion: What’s at stake?

Interviews with Students about Environmental Issues

How do students make decisions about scientific facts relevant to environmental issues?•USUALLY use personal and family knowledge•USUALLY use ideas from media and popular culture•OFTEN make judgments about bias and self interest in people and organizations taking positions on the issue•RARELY make use of knowledge they learned in school•RARELY make explicit judgments about the scientific quality of evidence or arguments (though our questions on this weren’t great)•GENERAL PATTERN: Students rely on sources that “speak their language.”(Covitt, Tan, Tsurusaki, & Anderson, in revision)

What’s at Stake? Changes in Public Opinion

Human Activity Natural Geological

Causes

April, 2008 47% 34%

January, 2010 34% 47%

What causes climate change?

• Note the volatility of public opinion • Many people are like our students, deciding who to trust without being able to judge scientific quality of arguments from evidenceSource: Newsweek, March 1, 2010

Possible Consequences

• Political discourse and personal decisions dominated by different subcultures each constructing their own “reality”—the Prius drivers, the SUV drivers, etc.

• BUT the Earth’s atmosphere, water systems, and biological communities do not know about political discourse

• In 50 years we will know for sure who is right and who is wrong

• Our children and grandchildren will live with the consequences

Values in the Science Curriculum

• The value of scientific knowledge and arguments from evidence should have an explicit role in the curriculum– Scientific knowledge should play an essential role in

environmental decisions. In particular, it can help us anticipate the effects of our individual and collective actions.

– We should use scientific standards (authority of evidence, rigor in method, collective validation) to judge knowledge claims.

• We should NOT teach what to do about climate change or other environmental issues in the required science curriculum

• If people truly understand the effects of their actions, then they are much more likely to make responsible decisions.

What’s at Stake?

• Give people the ability to choose between scientific and force-dynamic discourse; don’t leave them without a choice

• Translation is NOT enough• People need to see how the science of

climate change is NOT a political issue like health care

• How can we make a place for scientific knowledge and arguments from evidence in political discourse and personal decision making?

Different Ideas about Inquiry

• Inquiry as discovery

• Inquiry as hands on

• Inquiry as engaging in particular practices (measurement, data analysis, model-building, etc.)

• Inquiry as developing arguments from evidence

Possible Arguments from Evidence

• Complete inquiry unit: Students’ experiences and data analyses are primary source of new knowledge

• Limited inquiry unit: Arguments from evidence:– Raise questions about students’ models– Engage students in inquiry practices– Help to make the case that evidence is the

ultimate authority in science

Strands and Themes

outline of activities

Documents

current standards

normativetraditional

science teaching

students reasoning

national science foundation

levels of achievement

broad span of time

conceptual ecologies