Teaching Science 2.0

Linda Darling-Hammond’s new book, The Flat World and Education: How America’s Commitment to Equity will Determine Our Future, is a candid and brutal critique of U.S. education policy. Darling-Hammond shows how our educational policy and reform efforts at the state and national level are incoherent, misguided and inequitable. She also provides a roadmap for reform that focuses on teacher development, equity, and ‘21^st Century Curriculum.’ This book is a must read for anyone that cares about the future of education in the U.S.

Unfortunately, the book is “Temporarily out of stock” at Amazon.com, so here is a summary:

In a landslide of data, Chapter 1 chronicles how our education system was developed for an industrial age and has remained stagnant as societal demands have changed. The U.S. is falling behind other countries as they make significant investments in education reform, including removing rigid centralized structures and increasing investments in teacher education and development. The reforms undertaken by high-performing countries involve long-term commitments (not a “Race to the Top”). In contrast, reforms in the U.S. are focused on evaluating students on discrete pieces of knowledge and not on addressing significant inequities in our education system. Schools in low-socioeconomic areas (which also serve a large population of minority students) are often underfunded and have the least experienced teachers.

Chapter 2 focuses on “opportunity gap” by chronicling how inequities in resources and teacher quality impact low-socioeconomic schools. One aspect of this is the differing quality of supports for English language learners, which often involves segregating them into ‘ELL ghettos.’ Chapter 2 closes with a glimmer of hope from small school reform efforts, but also cautions how most educational policies are unfriendly to any structures that are different from traditional schools.

Chapter 3 begins with an overview of standardized testing and the resulting negative impact on instructional practices. In most cases, high-stakes standardized testing in the U.S. has lead to teachers rushing through the curriculum instead of focusing on quality teaching and students who can answer test questions, but can not apply their knowledge and skills. In addition, these accountability reforms have lead to policies that punish low-performing students and schools instead of providing the supports they need. The chapter closes with a detailed debunking of the “Texas Miracle.” Texas is often used as a poster child for using standardized testing for improving student performance. However, these improvements disappear quickly when subjected to rigorous analysis. Comparisons are made to how standardized testing has also decreased opportunities for low-income students in Massachusetts.

Chapter 4 focuses on inequitable funding and the relationship between funding and quality. The chapter details legal efforts and challenges related to arguing for equitable funding. Darling-Hammond provides evidence that builds a relationship between funding and equity and describes how investments in quality pre-school experiences and quality pedagogy have demonstrable impacts.

Chapter 5 contrasts policy in three states by showing that investments in improving teacher quality, development of quality standard, and early-learning experiences has improved achievement and narrowed achievement gaps in North Carolina and Connecticut over the past 20 years. However, a focus on reducing property taxes in California has decimated investments in education and has been devastating for its education system. Chapter 6 compares the inconsistent and often incoherent education reform policies in the U.S. to efforts in Finland, North Korea, and Singapore. These three countries made significant long-term efforts in a number of areas over the past thirty years. Although the efforts in each country are unique, they share these comonalities:

• Equitable funding
• Eliminated tracking systems
• Focused learning standards/outcomes on higher order thinking skills
• Developed national teaching policies to develop stronger teacher education programs
• Supported ongoing teacher learning, including providing 15-25 hours per week for collaborative planning and improvement.
• Pursued consistent, long-term efforts.

Chapter 7 focuses on improving teacher preparation and quality by overhauling teacher preparation, fixing teacher recruitment and retention, and creating opportunities to share teacher knowledge and skill to create widespread expertise that can improve schools.

Chapter 8 provides a vision for what quality schools should look like. Our system should move towards smaller schools that keep students and teachers together for multiple years. This will allow for building strong communities of learners. In addition, inquiry and project-based structures should be used to promote intellectually challenging, personalized and relevant instruction that is assessed through performance-based measures. Teachers and administrators should be collaborative learners as they focus on continual improvement.

Chapter 9 provides a policy roadmap in three key areas to create a high-quality and equitable school system. First, coherent and meaningful learning goals must be created. These learning goals should be complemented by appropriate state and local assessment systems that evaluate students’ abilities to solve problems, and explain and defend their ideas. Second, policies must be enacted to equalize funding. Third, policies should be enacted to improve teacher quality. Increases in funding for recruitment and retention of quality teachers in high-need areas and mentoring programs are needed. Additionally, a reconceptualization of teacher education and professional development is needed to ensure that quality teaching is the “norm,” not the exception. Finally, these reforms for improving teacher quality must be done in concert with reforms to school cultures and structures to focus on collaborative learning.

Linda Darling-Hammond ends the book with a quote from Martin Luther King, Jr.

I said to my children, “I’m going to work and do everything that I can do to see that you get a good education. I don’t ever want you to forget that there are millions of God’s Children who will not and cannot get a good education, and I don’t want you feeling that you are better than they are. For you will never be what you ought to be until they are what they ought to be.”

The Flat World and Education provides an exhaustively researched call to action for educators and policymakers. However, what sets this book apart is the focus on a coherent and comprehensive policy vision of how to get to where we need to be.

This is a really well researched and written book.  It is also incredibly depressing.  Here is an interview with the author.

Effective instruction should introduce new science concepts using an “activity before content” approach.  After actively exploring ideas, reading comprehension strategies can be used to help students connect these ideas to scientific concepts. The January 2009 issue of NSTA’s Science Scope magazine has a great article about using reading comprehension strategies to promote science learning.  Wardrip and Tobey describe how to use a variety of strategies to help students understand mechanical weathering of rocks.  Here are brief descriptions of a few of the strategies that they used.

Pre-reading: Before reading, students should identify (activate) their prior knowledge.  The teacher should also use discussion to preview the reading so that students know the purpose of the text and what they are expected to learn from the text.

Annotation: The authors state that reading with questions in mind, especially their own question, gives a sense of purpose for reading.  This can be facilitated in textbook style readings by identifying section headings.  Students change the heading into a question (Using who, what, where, when, why, or how as question starters). Next, students underline details from the text that help them answer the questions.  Ideally, students should then record the question and their answer in their notes. Students can also circle new words (vocabulary) and construct definitions in the margins or their notes.

EXAMPLE
Header: Mechanical weathering produces physical changes in rocks.
Question: How does weathering change rocks?

T-charts / double entry journals: A T-chart is a type of graphic organizer.  In this article, the teachers had students create a T-chart that included the causes of mechanical weathering (ie: ice wedging, pressure release, plant root growth, abrasion), a description of each type of weathering, and a drawing to illustrate each type.

Summaries: After reading, it is important for students to summarize the text in their own words.  If you use the questioning technique described above, students can write a summary paragraph(s) as answers to their questions.  Alternatively, students can write a summary based on teacher supplied questions or write a “minute paper” on the topic.  In addition to helping students synthesize the information from the text, this summary can be used as an assessment of student understanding.

Here are two additional strategies that I like-

Two Words, Two Sentences: This strategy requires that either the teacher or student sections the text into “chunks” of a paragraph or two.  After reading, the student creates a two word title and writes a two sentence summary for each chunk.

3-2-1: This is a flexible strategy that can easily be used with chunks of text.  In general, students identify 3 things they learned, 2 things they found particularly interesting, and 1 question they have after reading the text.  The 3-2-1 strategy can be modified based on the purpose of reading the text.  For example, if students are reading to learn about plant and animal cells, you could ask students to identify 3 similarities between plant and animal cells, 2 differences, and 1 question that they have.

Additional Resources:

• Reading Strategies: Scaffolding Students Interactions with Text
• The Clarifying Routine: Elaborating Vocabulary Instruction

Required testing in Math and Reading has led to a Nationwide decrease in attention to other subjects, including science.  This is especially true at the elementary level.  Starting last year, NCLB required states to begin testing…but the results are not part of “Annual Yearly Progress” determination. A recent article in the Washington Post had this to say about the “new” science tests.

At least six states, including Maryland, released their first science scores this fall. The first science scores from D.C. schools will be released later this year.

Overall results from the new tests “are not very good,” said Francis Q. Eberle, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association in Arlington. “As a matter of fact, they’re pretty dismal. And it really shouldn’t surprise anybody,” he said, because science as a topic “has really gone off the instructional radar.”

In New Hampshire and Rhode Island, according to news reports, three-quarters of students failed the first science exams.

However, since the tests do not “count,” schools are still incentivized to continue focus on math and reading at the expense of science.  In fact, the article states that the only reason that emphasis on science may increase is because schools (and states) might be embarrassed by low test scores.  This comes at a time when nearly everyone realizes that students will need to be scientifically literate in order participate fully in the opportunities that today’s (and tomorrow’s) society provides. Hopefully, educational policy will catch up to reality soon… while we are waiting for that, educators need stand up and provide kids with authentic and meaningful science experiences.

Here are some great resources for good science teaching:

All Grade Levels:

Science Formative Assessment This book is simply a “must have.” It is the best science teaching book that I have bought in many years.  The first few chapters of the book describe the importance of using formative assessment and describe a constructivist-based teaching model that incorporates formative assessment.  The bulk of the book includes 75 excellent formative assessment techniques.

Preschool:

A Head Start on Science This book contains nearly 90 excellent activities grouped into seven categories: the five senses, weather, physical science, critters, water and water mixture, seeds, and nature walks.

Peep and the Big Wide Wold This isn’t a book, but I can’t resist!  This great cartoon is funded by the National Science Foundation and integrates many age appropriate science concepts.  The website provides online games, video clips, and tons of science activities appropriate for young children.  You can’t go wrong building a preschool science curriculum around these videos and activities! (Free)

Elementary:

Readings in Science Methods, K-8 This book (edited by me) is a compilation of nearly 70 excellent  articles from NSTA’s Science and Children and Science Scope magazines. Articles provide practical tips, suggestions, and activities for teaching elementary and middle level science.

Picture Perfect Science & More Picture Perfect Science These two books provide excellent inquiry-based lessons on a variety of elementary science topics.  Each lesson is connected to at least one children’s book.

Everyday Science Mysteries This book contains a series of mystery stories that can be used to introduce science concepts to students.  Each story is accompanied by a teacher section that provides background information and instructional ideas.

Secondary:

Science as Inquiry in the Secondary Setting This book consists of multiple chapters written by experts.  The introductory chapter describes a sophisticated framework for authentic science inquiry in the classroom.  Other chapters describe inquiry in physics, chemistry, and life / environmental science.  This book is a “must read” for all secondary science teachers. It can be downloaded for free.

Technology in the Secondary Science Classroom This book consists of multiple chapters written by experts.  Each chapter provides theory and practical examples of how to use technology to support science learning in the classroom.  The book can be downloaded for free.

Exposing students to high quality non-fiction is critical to fostering a love of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The journal, Science Books & Films, reviews print and non-print materials in science for all age groups.  Additionally, each year they award SB&F prize for Excellence in Science Books.  This prize is given in four categories (Children’s Picture Books, Middle Grades Science Book, Young Adult Science Book, and Hands-On Science Book) that are very useful for K-12 educators.

Last spring, I worked with Tim Gerber (UWL Department of Biology) to expose K-8 preservice teachers to many of these books through a Mock SB&F Prize project.  During this project, preservice teachers read and evaluated each book in a category (either Children’s Picture Book or Middle Grades Science Book).  Small groups of preservice teachers then came to consensus on the book that they felt was the best.  This same model can be used to engage middle school students in reading high-quality “STEM” non-fiction while improving reading comprehension skills..  Modifications to the evaluation rubric could also allow this model to be used with elementary students.  An overview of the Mock SB&F Prize model was published in the September / October 2008 issue of Science Books & Films.

“Discourse in science, mathematics, and technology calls for the ability to communicate ideas and share information with fidelity and clarity and to read and listen with understanding.” This quote taken from Science For All Americans (p. 192), which contains a series of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education recommendations produced by Project 2061 (http://www.project2061.org/publications/sfaa/online/sfaatoc.htm), succinctly identifies the importance of communication in the STEM disciplines. The development of these communication skills should begin early in the elementary years and progress throughout life. To assist students in developing these skills, K-12 teachers should be able to effectively evaluate quality STEM trade books and educational materials. This article describes the development of a Mock Science Books and Films (SB&F) Election project as a mechanism for improving elementary / middle level pre-service teacher’s abilities to evaluate STEM non-fiction.

• Read the entire article
• Get rubrics and details for the Mock SB&F Prize project.
• See previous winners and finalists for the SB&F Prize.

John Medina is a developmental molecular biologist and the director of the Brain Center for Applied Learning Research at Seattle Pacific University.  In his book, John describes twelve “Brain Rules” and how they might be used to help schools and workplaces become better spaces for learning.  “Might” is the operative word here.  Dr. Medina stresses that the research on practical applications of brain research is far from conclusive.  Instead of providing unfounded “best practices,” he discusses ideas, supported by research, that are worth considering and studying.  Here is a preview of three of the twelve Brain Rules.

Brain Rule #1: Exercise – Exercise boosts brain power.  Humans are a species on the move. Only recently did it become the norm to sit for hours on end.  Physical activity is critical during the school day for brain performance.  Medina states, “Cutting off physical exercise -the very activity most likely to promote cognitive performance- to do better on a test score is like trying to gain weight by starving yourself (p. 25).”

Brain Rule #4: Attention – People don’t pay attention to boring things. The brain can not multitask. Emotional arousal and interest focuses attention. The brain is best at processing meaning – the big idea- over detail.  Teacher directed instruction (ie: lectures) should be limited to 10 minutes and focus on one important concept.  It should begin with an emotional hook, followed by the core concept.  The remaining minutes should provide the supporting details.  If you must talk for longer, organize your core concepts into 10 minute chunks and use a hook between 10 minute chunks to regain your audience’s attention.

Brain Rule # 7: Sleep – Sleep well, think well. While we sleep, our brain is not at rest. We know that sleep is important for learning, even if we don’t know why.  This leads to my favorite “idea.” Medina explains that we should promote napping!

The remaining Brain Rules – survival, wiring, short-term memory, long-term memory, stress, sensory integration, vision, gender, and exploration – are equally important and introduce interesting ideas for thinking about the way we educate children.

Medina starts and ends the book in a similar fashion.  At the end of the introduction, he writes, “If you wanted to create an education environment that was directly opposed to what the brain was good at doing, you probably would design something like a classroom (p. 5).”  Near the end of the final chapter, he writes:

If you could step back in time to one of the first real Western-style universities, say, the University of Bologna, and visit its biology labs, you would laugh out loud.  I would join you. By today’s standards, biological science in the 11^th century was a joke…

But if you went down the hall and peered inside Bologna’s standard lecture room, you wouldn’t feel as if you were in a museum. You would feel at home. There is a lectern for the teacher to hold forth, surrounded by chairs where students absorb whatever is being held forth (p 278).

After a story about his son exploring a 20 foot section of sidewalk, Medina closes with his greatest Brain Rule, “…I wish classrooms and businesses were designed with the brain in mind. If we started over, curiosity would be the most vital part of both demolition crew and reconstruction crew (p. 279).” 

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Brain Rules is an enjoyable and important book. It comes with a DVD of supporting multimedia.  The website, www.brainrules.net also provides additional resources.

Teaching for Tomorrow is a short and practical book.  The first chapter frames the problem with an introductory section titled, “How I Discovered I was a Highly Educated Useless Person,” followed by the section, “How I Discovered I was Producing Highly Educated Useless People.”  The introduction then briefly compares skills needed for success in school with those needed for success in the “real-world.”  He closes by stating that it is time to rethink the way we teach.

The premise of the book is that we need to teach for independence.  In the second chapter, McCain describes the following six ways to do this:

1. We must resist the temptation to “tell.”

2. We must stop teaching decontextualized content.

3. We must stop giving students the final product of our thinking.

4. We must make a fundamental shift – problems first, teaching second.

5. We must progressively withdraw from helping students.

6. We must reevaluate evaluation.

The third and final chapter introduces a simple, but powerful, framework for solving problems.  I have used the 4D’s of problem solving in a variety of situations from curriculum design to strategic planning.  I also teach the 4D’s explicitly in many of my classes. McCain describes each “D” and places it in the context of a problem-based lesson.  He also provides example forms to help students organize the problem solving process.

The 4D’s of Problem Solving

Define the problem.

Design a solution.

Do – Put the design into action.

Debrief – How did it work?  Could we modify our solution to get better results?

Teaching for Tomorrow is a quick, but good read!