STEM Pride GrantModeling AlongJune 2nd, 2015

Day 2, Part IRevisiting the Bigger Picture … and Our Exploration of Argumentation

Turning the Adjacent into … the Adjacent Possible

The Grant ObjectivesObjective 1: Develop pre-service and in-service middle and high school teachers’ understanding and application of STEM practices.

Objective 2: Develop pre-service and in-service middle and high school teachers’ integration of STEM practices into the development of learning experiences.

Objective 3: Develop and implement an undergraduate course for pre-service teachers that will help them understand the needs of the 21st-century STEM workforce and count toward their degree program.

Objective 4: Increase middle and high school students’ understanding and application of STEM practices.

Objective 5: Increase students’ awareness, understanding and interest in STEM careers.

The Grant Activity Flow Chart

“Collaborations with STEM professionals can provide

opportunities [for teachers] to engage authentically with

the science and engineering practices in order to develop

an understanding of how the practices exist outside of the

classroom, as well as opportunities to identify and learn

about relevant phenomena and contemporary science

issues in their content area.” –In PD That Supports

Teacher Learning about the New Vision for Science

Teaching

Intersections of Practices

A Broader Intersection

Communication

• Asking questions / defining problems

• Engaging in argument from evidence

• Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information

The CER Framework: How Does a Candle

Burn?Claim Your claim is the concluding statement that answers your original question; what is your claim about this question?

Evidence The evidence is all of the scientific data that supports your claim; what is the evidence for your claim about this question?

Reasoning The reasoning is the logic that connects your claim to the evidence that supports it; what is the reasoning you used to move from the data to your claim?

Our Competing Explanations

A.The wick is what burns and the wax controls the rate of burning

B.The wax is the fuel; the wick supports the combustion of this fuel

C.The wick is what is burning and the wax controls the amount of oxygen getting to the flame

What Evidence Will Determine the Best

Explanation?Experiment 4: Testing a pool of wax

Experiment 5: Toothpick in pool of wax

Experiment 6: String with and w/o wax

Experiment 7: Testing the trail of smoke

Experiment 8: Metal spatula in flame

Experiment 9: Wire mesh

Experiment 10: Candle in a bubbling beaker

Experiment 11: Candle in a crystallizing dish

Can We Create a Model of a Candle Burning?

Supporting Argumentation Discourse

Arguing from Evidence Progression

Grade Level

Proficiency by Grade Level For Construct an argument supported by scientific evidence

7th

Grade 

Construct, use and/or present a written or oral scientific argument supported by sufficient empirical evidence and limited scientific reasoning. Ask and respond to questions regarding the argument that provide limited scientific elaboration. Cite a minimal amount of relevant evidence to respectfully provide and receive critiques about explanations, procedures, models and questions.

8th

Grade 

Construct, use and/or present a written and oral scientific argument supported by multiple sources of empirical evidence and scientific reasoning. Ask and respond to questions regarding the argument that provide sufficient scientific elaboration and support.Cite sources of relevant empirical evidence to respectfully provide and receive critiques about explanations, procedures, models and questions.

1st

High SchoolScience Course

 

Using data and evidence, construct and respectfully compare and critique competing arguments or design solutions.Integrate currently accepted explanations, new evidence, limitations (e.g., trade-offs), constraints, and at least one relevant factor (e.g. economic, societal, environmental, ethical considerations).

2nd

High SchoolScience Course

 

Using data and evidence construct and respectfully compare and critique diverse, competing arguments or design solutions.Integrate currently accepted explanations, new evidence, limitations (e.g., trade-offs), constraints, and two relevant factors (e.g. economic, societal, environmental, ethical considerations).

Developing and Using Models

Day 2, Part II

One Way to Conceptualize the Relationships

From Christina Schwarz & Cynthia

Passmore

“Models and theories are the purpose

and the outcomes of scientific

practices. They are the tools for

engineering design and problem

solving. As such, modeling guides the

other practices.”

“To model an object is to possess it.”

Pablo Picasso

How Do You Think Models Are Used in Most STEM

Classrooms?A. To show students what some aspect of a physical phenomenon looks like

B. To help students remember or reinforce ideas presented in class

C. To assess students’ ideas

D. To help students develop or reason with ideas

What Does the Research Tell Us?

“Models are basically used for three

reasons: 1) to represent or describe; 2)

to collect data; or 3) to predict. The first

use is typical in schools since models and

representations are usually synonymous.

However, the use of models to collect

data or to predict phenomena is new …”

–NGSS, Appendix A, p. 2

Which of the Following Is a Model?

“Models are tools that embody characteristics of phenomena that theory defines as important.” --Penner et al.

What Is Your Definition of Models?

How can we use that definition to help us better support our students to use models as something more than memory aids?

When Do Use Models in an Instructional

Sequence?A.At the beginning of a sequence when

first having students explore a phenomenon

B.After introducing a phenomenon to help solidify students’ understanding

C. At the end as a way to assess students’ ideas

D.Throughout the sequence as a way to follow changes in students’ thinking

A Modeling Experience

1. Handle the Love Meter with care

2. Initially hold the HB by its neck

3. Place the palm of one hand on the bottom of the HB

4. Place a bag of ice on the top bulb of the HB

5. Construct a written explanation for the effects you have observedDevelop a diagrammatic model of how a

LM works

A Heuristic for Developing Models

Entities What things (both seen and unseen are present inside and outside of the system

Processes What can those things do, including what changes can they go through?

Interactions As those things do what they do, how do they interact with other things in the system and with energy?

Variables If we change some aspect of the system, what will happen to EPI?

Developing Models Progression

Grade Level

Proficiency by Grade Level For Ask questions that lead to investigation

4th

GradeIndependently identifies some limitations of a particular model.

5th

GradeCollaboratively identifies some limitations of multiple models.

6th

GradeIdentifies limitations of a model for a proposed object, tool, or process.

7th

GradeIdentifies and specifically describes limitations of a model for a proposed object, tool, or process.

8th

GradeEvaluate limitations of a model for a proposed object, tool, or process.

1st

High SchoolScience Course

Use models to ask and refine questions that can be investigated, based on sufficient and appropriate empirical evidence. Challenge an argument or the interpretation of data.

A Developing Models Rubric for the 1st HS

CourseCriteria

Not Yet Approaches Expectations

Meets Expectations

Exceeds Expectati

ons 1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4

Ask questions

that lead to investigation

Evaluate limitations of a model for a proposed object, tool, or process.

Evaluate limitations and minimally begins to describe the merits of the model for a proposed object, tool, or process.

Evaluates merits and merits of a model of a proposed tool, process, mechanism or system.

Evaluate limitations and merits of a model of the same proposed tool, process, mechanism or system in order to select or revise a model that best fits the evidence or design criteria.

Some Simulation Sites for Modeling

Day 2, Part IIIUsing Mathematical and Computational Thinking

From the NSTA Webinar on This Practice

“Scientific computing focuses on simulations and modeling to provide both qualitative and quantitative insights into complex systems and phenomena that would be too expensive, dangerous, or even impossible to study by direct experimentation or theoretical methods.” –Mayes quoting the Society of Industrial & Applied Mathematics in the NSTA Webinar on Mathematical & Computational Modeling

Another Quote from the Webinar

It is “both the microscope and telescope

of modern science. It enables scientists

to model molecules in exquisite detail to

learn the secrets of chemical reactions,

to look into the future to forecast the

weather, and to look back to a distant

time at a young universe.” --Lloyd Fosdick

et. al, An introduction to High-performance

scientific computing, 1996.

Day 2, Part IVThe Closure – Orienting

Ourselves to the University Research Experience

STEM Pride Journal Content

Follow the structure of an interactive notebook

Right side What do you see?; What do you do?; What techniques do you learn?; What interactions do you observe?

Left side What insights do you have about how the practices are used?; What connections can you make to the content you teach?; What curriculum ideas are sparked?; How can you prepare your students for the scientist’s visit or for them to visit the scientist’s laboratory?

Left Side – Right Side

For us the input will be a description of the experiences we had and the output will be our interpretation of those experi-ences relative to

project goals and our professional growth

What Should Happen over the Next 6

Weeks?Dig deeper into the science and engineering practices

Spend time in the research lab and use the journal to help keep a record of your experience and ideas it generated

Contribute to the project blog page as you are inclined

Organize your thoughts for the July 24th gathering as we share our experiences and think about how to translate them into strategies and curriculum for our classrooms