Literature circle

I have not implemented this strategy yet, but I thought of an instance where I can use it.  After students have taken the 8th grade science CMAS test, we can unwind a little and take some time using more inquiry learning.  Students will be investigating the physics behind water bottle rockets, designing, then building their rockets.

I am planning on giving students various sources to investigate elements of good rocket design.  I will let them discuss the text in their table groups. Perhaps this will lead to additional questions that they may have.  Each student will synthesize information to build knowledge and plan their designs in their lab notebooks.

Afer rockets are launched, they will observe various rockets performance and make adjustments to make a second rockets in an attempt to increase the rocket's distance.

After the investigation, students will create poster board and present their findings at the engineering fair.  We'll see how it goes.

January post (Sorry so late)

My inquiry group has no clever name, but we are learning about blended learning.  Blended learning is a mode of learning that incorporates a mixture of online learning with classic old school bricks and mortar learning.  Our group has various levels of experience with technology and incorporating it into our lessons.  We decided as a group to simplify our mission and propose our queston as "What is blended learning and how can we use it to help our students learn."

An artifact that I would have brought in is an example of what I call a webquest.  I give an assignment online that directs you to a website and a digital worksheet.  I rarely use technology for open inquiry as I prefer to direct students to certain websites that are reputable and align with middle school science standards.  I like to call this guided inquiry.  Students can form their own understandings at their own pace.  I have save a ton of trees this year, but having students turn in assignments online through google forms.  Here is a recent example of a webquest assigned for a 7th grade genetics unit.

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/molecules/dnathings/

I think students benefit from these assignments.  There are so many great interactive website that really help students understand content in an engaging way.

What puzzles me somewhat is I understand their has been some research done that indicates students possible commit their understandings when pencil meets paper rather than virtual writing.

I want to explore other ways to have students complete digital assignments, but at the same time use a little old school two-column notes and gage its effectiveness.

See Think Wonder

See-Think-Wonder

Often when I start a unit I provide students an opportunity to use a guided inquiry lesson, like looking at a complex model.  Of course, the lesson is always driven by backwards planning and keeping in mind the grade level expectations that students are expected to meet.  The See-Think-Wonder thinking routine lends itself nicely to that. Students were put into random groups of three, given the weather map below and given a key to decipher the symbols so they are not completely lost. They were then asked to write what they see on the map, what they think is happening, and what they wonder about.

This lesson was surprisingly engaging, even for 8th graders.  All students were on task and enjoyed that chance to collaborate and even struggle together. Groups took turns to share out, and as I should have figured, many of the observations were pretty superficial due to a lack of background. Perhaps they were starting to "peel the fruit."  The lesson , however, did serve nicely as a pretest and it also started to build a foundation of understanding just by becoming familiar with they symbols alone.

I plan on giving this same lesson again towards the end of the unit after they have more background knowledge and better understand the complex interactions that make weather. I will challenge them with some more higher level thinking around making predictions for future based on current conditions. 

CSI - Adopt and Element

This is my second attempt at this Making Thinking Visible lesson.  It is my attempt at making something abstract, like a type of atom, and to not only make it more concrete, but to create a connection to the students life.

Students are assigned an element to research, then think of a a color and an image that relates to their element. For the symbol, they need to identify its symbol on the periodic table, as well to identify its atomic number and weight.

to follow up on this lesson, students do a gallery walk to look at other elements, and hopefully deepen their understand of the many uses and importance of many of the elements.

The more I reflect on this lesson, the more that I am pleased how it lays the foundation for the units essential questions, " Why do atoms may stick together to form well-defined molecules and into groups that compose all substances.

Zooming In

This is a Making Thinking Visible strategy that I like to use to start a unit.  To start our 7th grade genetics and heredity unit, each student built a DNA molecule.  This molecule is the foundation to the unit, as well as other following units in life science: Evolution and the Human Body.  Students research the basics of the molecule structure as they build, but then are encouraged to randomly place down the nucleotide pairs as the rungs (adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine.)  It's the randomness of these rungs is what ultimately account for everyone's DNA to be identical and give us our unique traits. This is the foundation of the unit and can be framed as our essential question, "How is an organism’s variation reflects heredity due to the nature of genetics?" Students hang their DNA molecule above their desk to show its unique properties as as a visual as we refer to it frequently for the remainder of the year.

Evidence of Understanding - Punnett Squares

A large part of the Understanding by Design process, is placing importance on understanding vs. knowledge.

When students truly understand a concept, they can transfer their thinking to a new scenario. Recently during our 7th grade heredity unit, students have been studying patterns of heredity and were given new scenarios to show their understanding of using Punnett Squares to determine the probability of offspring expressing certain traits passed down from parents to offspring.  Although not a formal "Making Thinking Visible" routine, I let students use dry erase markers on the windows as a way to graffiti their school academically.  Students work in heterogeneous groups to solve the problems. Engagement and collaboration is high and it provided a great way for me to informally assess a groups understanding.

Headlines

As with most units in science, I try to have students make connections to their own lives. These often make excellent essential questions that aligned nicely with the Understanding by Design process.  During our current unit in 8th grade science on wave energy, students were learning about wave characteristics, such as frequency and amplitude, but I think we lost sight of why wave energy is important to us.  Enter the headline routine from Making Thinking Visible, which is great at allowing students to determine importance.  I assigned students a random partner to collaborate with and to answer the prompt, "How do waves benefit humans?"  Additionally, I have them write a brief paragraph to give supporting details to clarify their headline. The example below was exactly what I was hoping for.

They nicely explained that visible light waves from the sun allow photosynthesis to occur produce oxygen for us to breathe, as well as to be able to see.

Letter to the Editor

Connect - During our evolution I tried a lesson that is not included in the book, but still makes thinking quite visible. Students need to demonstrated that they can support a claim that the theory of evolution is supported with evidence. Their task was to refute an erroneous article claiming that evolution could not have happened.

Extend - This was also a good way to connect to the Common Core Science Standards where students need to communicate their claims with supporting evidence in a written format.

Challenge - I found that many students felt that a written letter is a very informal way of writing.  Many students did not complete requirements of explaining with the forms of evidence meant. Instead they just mentioned the forms of evidence.  Another challenge was grading all 53 of these letters!

Color - symbol - Image

Connect - I attempted this thinking strategy with eighth graders during our chemistry unit. We had previously learned about the structure of an atom and were ready to study the elements in the periodic table.  I like to use a lesson called "adopt an element" to have students make connection to an element and a use in their everyday life.  I modified this lessons to include "color, symbol, and image."

Extend- For the symbol part, I asked students to use the standard symbol that they would find on the periodic table, which includes the abbreviation, atomic number, and atomic mass.  For color, I asked students to come up with a color that is reflective of that symbol. I encourage students to challenge their thinking and not be so literal. For example, most elements are metals, and was hoping that they would not simply use gray or silver for their color.  Then I asked students to draw an image reflective of their element. To take their thinking a step further, I asked students to come up with a slogan about their element.

Challenge - I was overall a little disappointed with the results of this lesson.  I was expecting students to stretch their thinking and turn in some amazing stuff.  Most students chose to be literal with their color choices- grey and silver for metals, "clear" color for gases. The images produced were more literal than I was hoping - like a drawing of a chunk of metal, rather than its applications.  There were some students, however, that produced some surprising results.  One example, shown above, was exactly what I was looking for. His element is radon, a clear toxic gas.  He chose the color red to symbolize danger and drew an image of person with lung cancer. His slogan was spot on too, and it actually rhymed: Radon is a radioactive gas in the fresh air. But be aware in can also cause lung cancer, so be aware. I will use this as an exemplar for future years.

The Explanation Game

I used the Explanation Game during this lab.  The explanation game involves naming it, explaining it, giving reasons, and to generated alternatives.

Students have been studying the Law of Conservation of Matter and investigated a rusting reaction to reinforce the concept. Students put wet steel wool in a beaker and covered with a balloon to make a closed system.  Students found then mass of the beaker.

After the steel wool rusted, they also found the mass - which they found to be the same after reaction.  Students were asked to NAME the process - and identified it as observing the Law of Conservation of mass.  Students were then asked to EXPLAIN the Law of conservation of Matter using a word bank (after, mass, oxygen, rust, steel wool.)

During the reaction the balloon got sucked into the beaker.  Students were asked to GIVE REASONS why the balloon was sucked in, but need to look at the chemical equation:  4Fe  + 3O2  --> 2Fe2O3.  Students corrected said that oxygen was taken out of the air in the beaker and added to the rust, thereby creating a vacuum.

Students were then asked to GENERATE ALTERNATIVES.  I asked students to infer what would happen to the mass if there was a hole in the balloon.  As a class we discussed the difference between an open and closed system. Students correctly inferred that a hole would allow oxygen to enter the system from outside the beaker thus making the mass higher than before.

Connect - This lesson connected to what I already know because I understand the importance to looking at the big picture, which often is a process that I hope students make a connection to.

Extend - This lesson offered a good variation from what I typically asked students to do during an investigation that is not conducive to follow the scientific method.

Challenge - I contemplated using this investigation to kick off the unit before students already had a good understanding of the Law of Conservation of Matter from reading about it.  I am curious if this lab would have more impact if I followed more of an inquiry model.

Zooming In

Zooming In

To launch my photosynthesis unit I gave students an illustration of a chloroplast with different molecule entering and exiting the organelle. I have students work in groups to solve the puzzle without me giving any answers.  



CONNECT - I have used this strategy in the past because I know that collaboration is a good way to active a groups's combined schema.  Most students are engaged, too, by the challenge of trying to solve a puzzle together. I know, too, that a class discussion is an important step in the process. I also know the importance of informally assessing each student's level of understanding by having students do a quick write in their notebooks

EXTEND -  Over the years that I have used this lesson I have extending my thinking from have students do this alone from working collaboratively.  I have also made the lesson more engaging about making a group competition to see who can solve the puzzle first.  I have also incorporated the individual writing piece into a n informal assessment rather than ending with the class discussion.

CHALLENGE - A challenge that I am often confronted with is some students know right away what is going on. It often spoils for other students in the group. I like to give this to students before I even give a pretest because I don't want them to infer that it is photosynthesis from the pretest alone. I suppose that I could mention before we do this lesson that if they already know, that I could have them complete it on their own at a separate table.

Headline

With my first artifact I used the HEADLINES lesson.  Students were to assume the roles of newspaper reporters who went back in time and had to report a newly discovered process of photosynthesis.  I assumed the role of an editor and gave my reporters 10 minutes to generate a headline. Students could work alone or with a partner to determine importance and look at the big picture.

This CONNECTED to what I already know because I place importance for students to see the big picture and understand why what we are learning in class makes a connection to their everyday lives.

I was able to EXTEND my thinking by using this as an engaging formative assessment to see if students are getting the big picture. The feedback informed me places that I needed to clarify any misconceptions.

A CHALLENGE for me is how to differentiate for students to complete the task.  Some students finish in just a few minutes, some students took way too long making it look nice rather communicating information.  Some groups wrote paragraphs rather than a headline.