The Earth Sciences and Student Ideas Preparing Teachers to Teach Earth Science Carleton College May 11-12, 2007 Dr. Francis Eberle, MMSA Executive Director feberle@mmsa.org

Session Goals Learn about assessment for the purpose of encouraging student thinking and informing instruction Deconstruct an assessment probe Examine students’ ideas and examine instructional strategies and coherence of science Learn about companion resources During this afternoon’s session we will: Learn what a formative assessment probe is and how it can be used to “uncover student thinking” Deconstruct a probe - “take apart” the probe examining the concept or concepts a probe addresses and consider when and how (in what context) student would most likely learn about the ideas in the probe Examine student work - brought a variety Resources - examine probe book / other resources avail to you Opportunity to help build our bank of tasks

Framing Questions 1) How can educators use national standards and cognitive research to balance assessment of learning with assessment for learning? 2) What types and formats can help make students’ thinking in earth sciences visible? 3) How can the development and use of assessments that probe student thinking in the earth sciences impact curricular, and instructional decisions about student learning?

Students conception of various ideas To debrief or ??

One Key Finding from How People Learn “Students come to the classroom with preconceptions about how the world works. If their initial understanding is not engaged, they may fail to grasp the new concepts and information that are taught, or they may learn them for purposes of a test but revert to their preconceptions outside the classroom” How People Learn, Bransford, Brown & Cockling. pp 14-15 Much more brain research available -

Teaching and Learning Process Identifying students’ “misconceptions” Provide a context for students to confront their misconceptions and share thinking Help students reconstruct their knowledge using appropriate strategies Develop a coherence among ideas in science

“Misconceptions” Alternative Frameworks Naïve Ideas Alternative Conceptions Misunderstandings Facets of Understanding

Formative Assessment Probes A probe is a purposefully designed question that reveals more than just an answer. A probe elicits a response that helps teachers identify students’ ideas about phenomena or a concept. Probes are used to examine student thinking. What is a formative assessment probe - Question designed in such a way that it reveals more that simply an answer - 2 tiered response Set up a scenario - students have an “entry point” - select an answer / check off items in a list, etc. 2) Asked to explain “rule” or “reason” for what they wrote - reveals thinking Webster - 1996 Definitions for a probe – Usually a small object that is inserted into something so as to test conditions at a given point. A device used to penetrate to send back information, a devise for specific information for diagnostic purposes. Task: Usually assigned piece of work to be finished within a certain time; something hard or unpleasant that has to be done.

Example: Is it a Rock? (Version 1) Hand out probe - click to next slide

Example: Is it a Rock (version 2)

Examine the Probe (Deconstruct) Individually review the probe (s) What do you think is the purpose of this probe? Identify concept(s) addressed Pass out books after this Take the probe - select an answer and write a response 2) Ask participants to identify the major concept or concepts addressed and any related concepts 3) Share at tables - share some with whole group 4) Ask group when and how (in what context) students would encounter the ideas in this task in their curriculum? DECONSTRUCTION QUESTIONS What ideas from the standards are related to the task? How do students think about or encounter these ideas at different grade spans? What difficulty might these students have understanding these ideas? What instructional opportunities would help students learn this idea?

Rock Definition 1. Rocks are aggregates of minerals. Science Desk Reference. New York Public Library. (1995) 2. A large mass of stone forming a hill. Cliff promontory, b. mineral matter of various composition. Consolidated or unconsolidated, assembled in masses or considerable quantities in nature, as by the action of heat of water. Random House College Dictionary,1985

Rock Definition (cont.) Rocks are made of different kinds of minerals, or broken pieces of crystals, or broken pieces of rocks. Some rocks are made of the shells of once-living animals, or of compressed pieces of plants. Rocks are divided into three basic types, igneous, sedimentary and metamorphic, depending upon how they were formed. USGS web site

Examine Grades 2-12 Student Responses Scan through the student written responses How do the responses match the definitions? If you were the teacher, how would you use this data to inform your instruction? Hand out blue summary responses - Explain that this is a smaller set of responses to use - class of 24 Responses are fairly evenly distributed between a-b-c choices Next layer - reveals student thinking Follow prompt on screen Share out with full group a few comments - Are there additional ideas that are important to consider that may have been overlooked ? ADVANCE SLIDE

Summarize your Ideas What surprised you? What was interesting to you?

Deconstructing a Probe Related National Standards Related Research Curricular and Instructional Considerations: K-5, 6-8, 9-12 Administering the probe Suggestions for Instruction and Assessment

Related research Freyberg found that the word rock is used in many different ways in our common language. Contributing to confusion over what is a rock - particularly size rather that characterized by what they are made of. (Driver, et al. 1994) Students have difficulty with the idea of racks being a range of sizes. They use the words boulder, gravel, sand and clay in ways related to where they are found rather than seeing them as rocks of different sizes. (Happs 1985) Students have difficulty making the distinction between natural things and those created or altered by humans. i.e. brick is a rock as it comes for natural materials, or polished marble is not a rock because humans made it smooth. (Happs 1982)

Coding Student Responses Accurate Idea Partially Accurate Idea Commonly Held Idea Idiosyncratic Idea Use - “Now that You Mention it” strategy when partners switch to new partners to reflect/share what they’ve learned

Deconstructing a Probe Related National Standards Related Research Curricular and Instructional Considerations: K-5, 6-8, 9-12 Administering the probe Suggestions for Instruction and Assessment

Other Earth Science Probes

Mountain Top Fossil Sophia: The fossil flowed out of a volcano that rose up form the ocean floor Rosa: A mountain formed in an area that was once covered by an ocean Mr. Esposito: A bird picked the organism ands dropped the shell as it flew over the mountain Mrs. Esposito: Water, ice or wind eventually carried the fossil to the top of the mountain

Building Coherence Learning Progression Learning Paths Conceptual Sequences Common Threads

Possible Progression K-2: Chunks of rocks come in many sizes and shapes (boulder => sand). Things can be described by physical characteristics – size, shape, color 3-5: Rock is composed of different combinations of minerals. New materials can be formed by combining two or more materials and properties can be different. Assembled parts weigh the same as the sum of the parts. 6-8: Elements make of materials. Atoms and molecules. Formation of different types of rocks and features – sedimentary to other general types 9-12 Formation of physical geology, rock cycle, weathering, beginning of chemical geology - atomic structure of minerals

Probing Students’ Ideas in Science Reveals: How ready individual students are for instruction. Ideas students have before instruction. How students’ ideas may differ from one grade level to the next. Whether students retain the accepted scientific ideas years after instruction or revert back to prior knowledge Whether student grasp the big ideas and see the connections in science.

Possible New Earth Science Probes ?? Plate Tectonics Stratigraphy Fossils Weather Oceans Soil

Tools and Resources

Framing Reflection Questions 1) How can educators use national standards and cognitive research to balance assessment of learning with assessment for learning? 2) What types and formats can help make students’ thinking in earth sciences visible? 3) How can the development and use of assessments that probe student thinking in the earth sciences impact curricular, and instructional decisions about student learning?

Collaborators & Contact information at MMSA: Francis Eberle, Executive Director feberle@mmsa.org Lynn Farrin, Science Specialist lfarrin@mmsa.org Page Keeley, Senior Program Director pkeeley@mmsa.org Joyce Tugel, Science Specialist Jtugel@mmsa.org