1. A Fifth Grade Science Talk: Condensation
Monica Hartman

2. Science Teaching Standards
The planning of inquiry-based science programs
The actions taken to guide and facilitate student learning
The assessments made of teaching and student learning
The development of environments that enable students to learn science
The creation of communities of science learners
The planning and development of the school science program

3. Professional Development
Action research is a model of professional development recommended by research and national reform documents

4. Science Talks
The kinds of talk and thinking children engage in when studying science naturally parallel what both practicing scientists and historians report (Gallas, 1995)
Science is socially constructed through the process of confrontation and negotiation (Latour & Woolgar, 1986)

5. Benefits of Science Talks
Discourse makes thinking visible (Collins, Brown & Holun, 1991)
It encourages deep processing (Chinn & Brewer, 1993)
Competing theories can be contrasted to scientific theory

6. Benefits of a Collaborative Learning Environment
Creates multiple zones of proximal development
Disagreements are likely but beneficial because conceptual change is more likely to occur in environments that encourage questioning, evaluating, criticizing
Cognitive load is spread among the members enabling a higher level of achievement

7. Exploring Ideas
Exploring ideas can only be to the good, even if it takes time. Wrong ideas, moreover, can only be productive. Any wrong idea that is corrected provides far more depth than if one never had a wrong idea to begin with.
(Duckworth, 1996, p.71)

8. Michigan Curriculum Framework
Constructing New Scientific Knowledge
Generate reasonable questions about the world based on observation
Develop solutions to problems through reasoning, observation, and investigation
Strand I/Content Standard 1/Elementary/Benchmarks 1,2

9. Michigan Curriculum Framework
Reflecting on Scientific Knowledge
Develop an awareness of the need for evidence in making decisions scientifically
Strand II/Content Standard 1/Elementary/Benchmark 1

10. Michigan Curriculum Framework
Using Scientific Knowledge
Describe common physical changes in matter: size, shape, melting, freezing (K-2); dissolving, evaporating (3-5)
Describe common physical changes in matter: evaporation, condensation, thermal expansion, contraction
Describe how water exists on earth in three states, liquid, solid, gas

11. Research Questions
How does students’ knowledge of condensation develop during a science talk?
How can I better facilitate a science talk to help students develop a deeper understanding of the concept of condensation?

12. Questions for Discussion
What are students’ ideas about condensation?
Do their ideas change during the science talk? If so, how?
What prerequisite knowledge or skills do students need to understand the phenomena of condensation?
What other things might this teacher do to better facilitate students’ understanding?