The Changing Weather: Developing a Conceptual Understanding of Weather Phenomena in Young Children Grades 2-4

The Changing Weather: Developing a Conceptual Understanding of Weather Phenomena in Young Children Grades 2-4 Steve Coxon Assistant professor of gifted education and Director of gifted graduate programs at Maryville University maryville.edu/edgrad stevecoxon.com Kim Chandler, Ph.D. Director of Curriculum The Center for Gifted Education at The College of William and Mary cfge.wm.edu

Today Participants will be engaged in the change macroconcept and employ it in several ways while receiving an overview of the unit and of the wider applicability of macroconcepts.

Project Clarion overview Principal investigators: Joyce VanTassel-Baska, Ed.D. and Bruce Bracken, Ph.D. With a federal Javits grant, eight units for primary science were created, field tested, revised, researched in classrooms, disseminated, revised, and published. The units combine the Wheel of Scientific Investigation, the Frayer Model of Vocabulary, concept mapping, pre- and post-assessment, and the macro- concepts systems and change.

Project Clarion research overview Researched with over 3400 K-3 students in 48 classrooms in 6 Title I schools including urban, exurban, and rural in comparison to 43 classrooms using standard curriculum (e.g., Harcourt Brace) over 3 years.

Gains were found for all student groups, including gifted students The performance-based assessment results showed significant and educationally important gains for Clarion students in: – Macro-concepts – Scientific investigation – Content mastery The Test of Critical Thinking showed significant and educationally important effects for the third grade students in the treatment group. Project Clarion research results

Change is woven into Weather Reporter An early lesson engages students in thinking about change in general Inquiry Weather-related experiments and hands-on activities involve students as meteorologists in observations and data collection Studying changes in weather and in the instruments used to measure weather Pre- and post-assessment opportunities for students to demonstrate growth in their understandings of the change macroconcept

Levels and Definition of Concept Teaching Macro-concepts that both define the discipline and provide connections to other disciplines (e.g., systems, change) ↑ Subject matter concepts are the central ideas of a discipline (e.g., Water cycle, force and motion, adaptations) ↑ Bracken Basic Concepts (Building blocks for understanding relationships in the world)  Javits Project Clarion, Center for Gifted Education, College of William and Mary

BRACKEN BASIC CONCEPTS Colors Comparisons Shapes Direction/Position Social/Self-Awareness Size Texture/Material Quantity Time/Sequence Letter Identification Numbers/Counting

Center for Gifted Education College of William and Mary What is a macroconcept? A concept that has deep meaning in understanding one discipline but also provides pathways to others. Science macroconcepts help illuminate both science content and the scientific process itself. Based on the Taba Model of Concept Development Also called “overarching” and “unifying” concepts

Center for Gifted Education College of William and Mary Common Scientific Macro-Concepts Systems Change Models Constancy Evolution Scale Rutherford, J., & Ahlgren, A. (1989). Science for all Americans. New York, Oxford University Press

MACRO-CONCEPTS Grade Levels Life ScienceEarth SciencePhysical Science K - 1 st Survive and Thrive CHANGE How the Sun Makes Our Day CHANGE Water Works* CHANGE 1 st - 2 nd Budding Botanists SYSTEMS 2 nd The Weather Reporter CHANGE 2 nd – 3 rd What's The Matter?* CHANGE 3 rd Dig It! CHANGE Invitation to Invent SYSTEMS

Center for Gifted Education College of William and Mary Research on concept learning Conceptual knowledge is constructed (Resnick, 1987). Conceptual knowledge is learned in domains (Hirschfeld & Gelman, 1994). Use of conceptual schemas enhances retention (NRC, 2002) Use of concept mapping promotes connected learning (Novak, 1998). Teaching higher level concepts promotes science learning (Rutherford and Ahlgren, 1989).

CHANGE

Change Provide examples: Provide non-examples: On the back, categorize your list. Include every item. What generalizations can you make about change? Center for Gifted Education, The College of William and Mary, 2009

Center for Gifted Education College of William and Mary Change Generalizations and Outcomes Generalizations:Clarion Outcomes: (Students will be able to…) Change is linked to time.Illustrate how change is based on time. Change is everywhere.Understand that change permeates our lives and our universe. Change may be perceived as orderly or random. Categorize types of change, given several examples. Change may happen naturally or be caused by people. Analyze the source of change as natural or man-made.

Center for Gifted Education College of William and Mary Standards Alignment with Concept Development Model Models of Concept Development Social Studies Economic, legal, government, political systems Structure, function, and pattern of societal systems Maps as systems History as the study of change over time Language Arts Change in literary characters (e.g. character, plot, setting) Writing process Language study Grammar as a system Mathematics Pattern recognition and pattern making Number systems Use of the concepts of models and scale to construct mathematical forms Communication and connections Science Living and earth/ space systems Cycles and patterns Interactions within and across systems Change processes in biology, physics, chemistry, and geology

Center for Gifted Education College of William and Mary Macro-concept conclusions: The macro-concepts of systems and change are fundamental to the Project Clarion units. Conceptual understanding provides students with pathways to learning new material (NRC, 2007). Macro-concepts are highly interdisciplinary (NRC, 2007). Systems and change can easily be woven into your other units of study, enhancing student learning.

Center for Gifted Education College of William and Mary Example macro-concept follow-up questions from Weather Reporter: How did the temperature of the dirt and sand change? Why is it important to observe the weather over a 14-day period? How are weather changes related to time? How were your ideas about clouds changed? How does the Sun affect the temperature of black dirt and sand?

Weather-related experiments and hands-on activities Involve students as meteorologists in observations and data collection (weather instruments on the next slide) Investigate how light affects soil and sand differently Create of a weather map Make a cloud in a jar (pg. 90) Present a weather report Create a tornados in bottles

The instruments used to measure weather Use of thermometers Use of a rain gauge Make and use barometers Make and use an anemometer

Pre- and post-assessment Rubric-based – The change concept – Content (using concept mapping) – Scientific process (using the Diet Cola Test)

Steve Coxon Assistant professor of gifted education and Director of gifted graduate programs at Maryville University maryville.edu/edgrad stevecoxon.com

Center for Gifted Education, The College of William and Mary, 2009 Center for Gifted Education (757)