1. 2009-10 State Scoring Guide Professional Development Assessing Scientific Inquiry
Created by:
Steve Holman, West Salem High School
Meagan Sternberg, Happy Valley Middle School
Eric Blackford, Umatilla-Morrow ESD
Leslie Phillips, Oregon Department of Education
Welcome to the State Scoring Guide Professional Development session for Scientific Inquiry. My name is Leslie Phillips and I serve as the science and social sciences assessment specialist for the Oregon Department of Education. Today I am going to update you on the Scientific Inquiry work sample and provide information about an instructional model for classroom planning, and lastly, share information about the scientific inquiry resources we have posted on the ODE website.
At the end of this presentation, there will be time to ask questions. If you DO ask a question, please identify yourself and where you teach or work. To ask a question, submit your question to me via the Chat feature you see on your screen.

2. Goals What has changed or is new for…
Scientific Inquiry as a Local Performance Assessment
Scientific Inquiry Scoring Guides
Instructional Model to elicit a work sample
Resources are available for Scientific Inquiry as a State Work Sample
Other Professional Development Opportunities
The Goals of this session include information about:
*what has changed or is new regarding scientific inquiry requirements, related to:
*Scientific Inquiry as a local Performance assessment,
*Scientific Inquiry Scoring Guides,
*Instructional Model for Scientific Inquiry,
*Available Resources, and
*Professional Development opportunities around Oregon.

3. State Education Law
OAR: adopted June 2008 changed the state law for science to require a local performance assessment:
-In grades 3-8 and High School, students must complete at least one annual Scientific Inquiry local performance assessment via work sample or comparable measures adopted by the district.
Scientific Inquiry not yet included in the Assessment of Essential Skills requirement for HS, but may be included as evidence of critical thinking when phased-in.
Science has been a part of Oregon’s required assessments since 1999, and beginning in 2001, Scientific Inquiry work samples began their phase-in as an annual requirement for Oregon students.
*In June, 2008, the Oregon State Board of Education adopted the Assessment of Essential Skills OAR, which provided for the continued use of work samples under new graduation requirements. For science, scientific inquiry is required to be completed, at least once per year in grades 3-8 and HS.
*Grade 3, is in the second year of this requirement for students to complete at least one work sample per year. The addition of grade three was a change to previous assessment requirements.
*Scientific Inquiry work samples are not yet required as evidence for students earning a diploma, but, when critical thinking is phased-in, inquiry is anticipated to be included.
As a side note, new science content standards were adopted February 2009, yet the current 2001 science content standards are still being assessed at grades 5, 8 and HS during this year. The current state Scientific Inquiry scoring guides for Benchmark 2 (which score grades 4 and 5), Benchmark 3 (which scores grades 6,7,and 8) and HS remain the official work sample scoring tool.

4. State Education Law New- for Grade 3 Go Work Samples at
As previously mentioned, When the new OAR was adopted, Grade 3 was added as a required grade to complete at least one local performance assessment each year. Last year, , districts were allowed to waiver this requirement, to allow teachers to better prepare lessons for this work. For 09-10, grade 3 is required to complete at least one local performance assessment/work sample. There is no waiver.
Last year, ODE began providing professional development for grade 3, this work included: creating a new scoring guide specific to grade 3, the collection and scoring anchor papers for grade 3, and communication to teachers about this new requirement.

5. Here is a look at the official grade 3 scoring guide
Here is a look at the official grade 3 scoring guide. It is important to notice teachers are expected and encouraged to direct student work in the dimension of Forming a Question or Hypothesis, but in the end, scores are assigned but not reported as counting.
In the dimension of Designing an Investigation, teachers may support and guide students regarding safety and ethics.

6. For Collecting and presenting, teachers may support students by providing a data table.
And for Analyzing and Interpreting Results, students are asked to complete this dimension with limited teacher guidance.
Further discussion of each dimension, for all official guides is forthcoming.

7. Instructional Model Students need: EXPERIENCES
What experiences do students need to allow them to conduct a scientific inquiry investigation and produce a scientific inquiry work sample?
For all students, to be able to produce a scorable work sample, “best practice” has led to this instructional model which has been practiced by many Oregon educators either on purpose, with design in mind, or, by the intuitive nature of being a good teacher.
The first element of this model is experiences-- experiences are anything in which students directly participate—these experiences will assist students in doing scientific inquiry.
Students bring experiences with them to the classroom such as: growing a garden at home or taking care of a pet,
As well as from
Previous classroom science experiences may include: doing an experiment with water and evaporation or collecting data about the weather, but if students do not have “experience”, experiences need to be included in lessons to build scientific inquiry skills for an intended work sample.

8. Instructional Planning
Students need: KNOWLEDGE
What do students need to know to conduct a scientific inquiry investigation and produce a scientific inquiry work sample?
-Next is knowledge-
What do students need to know to conduct a certain scientific inquiry investigation? Knowledge includes vocabulary, concepts, and facts.
Knowledge will include science background, historical perspectives or the study of past investigations , students need to know foundational elements about what they are investigating.

9. Instructional Planning
Students need: SKILLS
What skills do students need to have to conduct a scientific inquiry investigation and produce a scientific inquiry work sample?
Lastly, students need skills to be able to conduct an investigation…
-skills are anything students need to know how to do
-skills can be: how to make a data table, write decimals, add, subtract, use a stop watch. If skills that help a student collect or present data are missing, students will not be successful.

10. Scientific Inquiry Work Sample
Instructional Model
Scientific Inquiry Work Sample
Experience
Knowledge
After students have the necessary experiences, knowledge, and skills, they have the tools to complete a scientific inquiry work sample
This model, which has been included in many scientific inquiry summer institutes and trainings around Oregon, was developed by Dr. Dave Hamilton, Portland Public Schools. It provides a view of what is needed to complete a Scientific Inquiry work Sample.
The real challenge is to provide a classroom setting where students can combine their experience, knowledge and skills on a consistent basis to deepen their understanding of scientific facts and processes.
Skills
(Based on Design Space concept by Dr. Dave Hamilton, Science Assessment Specialist, Portland Public Schools)

11. Instructional Model
This year, teachers took this Instructional model a step further. If you extend and stretch out the Venn diagram we just viewed, you can see how a sequence of activities and classroom lessons link, in a slinky type of way, so that students learn and build the necessary experiences (E), knowledge (K), and skills (S) to complete scientific inquiry work samples at various times throughout the school year. Some of these experiences and skills are necessary for any inquiry, yet specific knowledge should feed toward each specific upcoming investigation. The intent is that daily lessons, as aligned to the science content standards, should seamlessly link to the skills, experiences and knowledge needed for investigations.
-some activities may focus on one or more of these components
Each ring in the slinky diagram is one of those classroom opportunities that provides students with the experience, knowledge and skills necessary to create the scientific inquiry work sample.

12. Scientific Inquiry Scoring Guide
Four Dimensions:
Forming a Question or Hypothesis
Designing an Investigation
Collecting and Presenting Data
Analyzing and Interpreting Results
Once a student completes a work sample, we assess it using the official state scoring guide for scientific inquiry. As a side note, the four dimensions of the scientific inquiry scoring guide reflect the key steps in the scientific method.
The scoring guide for High School, Benchmark 3 Benchmark 2, and grade 3, all have four dimensions.
*Forming a question or Hypothesis is where a student asks a question that can be explored through a scientific investigation
*Designing an Investigation is completed by a student designing an investigation to answer a question or test a hypothesis
*Collecting and Presenting Data includes the skills of organizing and transforming data to support analysis and
*Analyzing and Interpreting Results is where a student explains and interprets the results.

13. Scoring Guide Achievement Scale
Before showing you our HS scoring guide, it is important to understand the achievement score levels.
Effective use of the scoring guide begins by understanding what characterizes proficient.
*In science, a 4 Meets the achievement standard, but remember, proficient means: aligns with the score level bullets, and yet, may include minor errors.
A score of 4 does not correlate to grades or points, but correlates to criteria outlined in the scoring guides.

14. The official scoring guides define what skills student need to include in their work sample, and how well. Key words such as appropriate, of sufficient quantity, or only minor errors, help align student work with the Meets score level.

15. For students who are Exceeding the standard, words such as complete, consistent, thorough, and explicitly, help to define how well students need to complete each inquiry element.

16. Important Issues “Preponderance of Evidence” means…
the evidence from the student work most closely aligns with the bullets at a specific level.
Evidence from throughout the work sample can be used to score each dimension.
There are two key rules teachers need to keep in mind while scoring scientific inquiry work Samples, at any grade.
1. Preponderance of Evidence… means that a student work sample has met the criteria for a given score across the three bullets… to the extent that the balance of evidence most closely aligns with once score level more than another.
It doesn’t necessarily mean just counting bullets alone. Some bullets may be more important than others but all should be completed… Professional judgment is critical here.
2. Teachers need to keep in mind that evidence from throughout the work sample can be used to decide the score. The entire paper, speech or presentation should be scanned for evidence to support the score, even if it appears out of logical order. Pictures and drawings have changed scores for students many times, usually to a higher score.

17. Words of Wisdom
Assessment is only truly successful when results are used to improve instruction for individual students Johnson, 1987
After one completes a work sample, teachers will need to reflect on the outcome.
While only one local performance assessment/work sample is required to be submitted each year for grades 3-8 and high school, the use of the Official and student language guides on a regular basis can help both teachers and students identify areas of strengths and weaknesses that need to be addressed to increase student mastery in scientific inquiry.

18. Using the Scoring Guide to Provide Feedback
Research suggests: FEEDBACK is MORE important than earning a grade or points because feedback informs… student performance and teacher instruction (Butler, R and 1988)
Although a local performance assessment or work sample must be completed at least annually … the real goal is to improve learning and instruction.
Research was completed by Butler that supports providing feedback. On a writing assignment, when groups of students were given either grades only, grades with feedback or feedback only, the student group that received ONLY feedback, showed the most improvement in skills over time.
Classroom teachers are aware of this fact. Students thrive when direct- specific- feedback is provided. Just earning points, or a grade, does not really identify HOW well an individual student really performed on a project.

19. Using the Scoring Guide for Formative Assessment
The Scoring Guide is meant to be used as more than a summative assessment tool.
The Scoring Guide can be used to improve scientific inquiry teaching and learning.
The scoring guide needs to providing specific feedback only then will it lead to student improvement in science.
Scoring guide feedback will help students improve their understanding of what goals they need to practice to improve,
AND teachers, as they have always done, use student scores to help define next steps, change of lessons, or moving instruction ahead for the entire group, and/or individual students.

20. Resources Scoring Guides (English, Spanish, Russian, Student Language)
ODE website:
So, to assist you with your personal professional development or with professional development you will provide to others, ODE has worked to provide a central location for work sample information ---specific for each subject. The go/worksamples link will take you to important resources we have available.
As new resources are developed, they will be added to this work sample site.
On this page, you will now find the Scoring guides in English, Spanish, Russian and student language versions which wil be helpful for students who need them.

21. Resources Work Samples/Anchor Papers for
Grade 3, Benchmarks 2, 3, and HS
ODE website:
Work sample anchor papers on our website provide an online opportunity for teachers to view and score student work at various grade levels.

22. This page will show you a paper, and when ready, the scores; and justifications for these scores; as written by Oregon teachers who worked on committees to compile appropriate comments. These comments assist teachers in aligning themselves to the rigor required for each score level.

23. Resources Classroom resources -Scientific Inquiry in the Classroom
-Activities vs. Scientific Inquiry Tasks
Two popular resources on our website help teachers include Scientific Inquiry in lessons and planning.
ODE website:

24. Scientific Inquiry in the Classroom reminds teachers how to include or identify inquiry language and skills in existing lessons. As you know, skills such as learning background science and collecting data have been included in everyday science classes since learning science was included in educational systems.

25. The Most popular request I receive from teachers is a request for a list of TASKS or task ideas. ODE does not assign or prescribe tasks for teachers. It is up to teachers to develop their own tasks, or work with other teachers to develop tasks that best fit district and classroom needs.
Most importantly, this document helps teachers see the progression for taking students from pre-inquiry activities, to questioning, to the skill of forming a claim or a question that will elicit a scorable work sample for students.

26. Resources
Oregon Science Teacher Association 50th Annual Conference on October 9, 2009 in Salem
Scientific Inquiry Professional Developers
(Teachers who are ready and willing to provide further professional development)
I want you to know, there is an upcoming opportunity for scoring practice at the Oregon Science Teacher Association, In-service event, in October.
In addition, a group of 12 qualified professional developers are ready and willing to come to your school to help facilitate a scoring session.

27. If you click on the address of any of these educators, and send them a request, they will do what they can to assist your school or district with workshops on scoring scientific inquiry work samples. Your local ESD partners also have very skilled professional developers who work with teachers as requested and often provide work sample scoring opportunities throughout the year.

28. Our Journey Continues
I want to thank you for attending this session on scientific inquiry. Please do not hesitate to contact our office with further questions.
I will now respond to any questions sent to us regarding the science work sample or science assessments.
For more information, contact Leslie Phillips, Office of Assessment and Evaluation at or For curriculum questions, contact Cheryl Kleckner, Office of Educational Improvement and Innovation at or