Can it reflect light? Is it a plant? Is it made of cells? These questions are among more than 100 formative assessment probes developed by Page Keeley and her colleagues to help teachers elicit information about what students think about key science concepts. A capacity crowd at Keeley’s Seattle conference session turned out to learn [...]
Last year, I started giving pretests at the beginning of each unit. The students were upset because they didn’t know many of the answers, even though I explained I didn’t expect them to know everything and the pretest wouldn’t count as a grade. Are there other ways to find out what students know about a [...]
This is the latest issue in a well-designed and informative series on inquiry learning. I would encourage secondary teachers to read these issues of Science and Children, especially if you’re new to the idea of inquiry learning or want to see what younger students are capable of. Many of the ideas can be adapted for [...]
Blogs provide a great way to extend the classroom beyond your 45 minute class period. They can be used in a variety of ways to spark discussion and student research. Chris Ludwig, a high school science teacher in Colorado, wrote this blog post to show how he used blogs this year to fundamentally change the [...]
While reviewing some materials from a workshop, I came across a few online gems this week to add to the SciLinks keyword assessment. Even some of the experienced teachers in the workshop had to stop and think about the differences between analytic and holistic rubrics. We were guided to Jon Mueller’s page on Rubrics for [...]
I’m interested in finding some science assessments to supplement the state tests at the high school level. I’m especially looking for ones that will help me understand students’ thinking. —Lisa, Fort Myers, Florida It would be very difficult to find an existing test that matches your curriculum exactly. Some textbooks have test-generators as an option, [...]
The children whom I see once-a-week in an hour-long afternoon science enrichment class show growth in their exploration of building using ramps and blocks to create pathways for balls. These materials have been available each session for about four months. An hour once a week is not much time to explore a set of materials [...]
I have to echo Mary’s post. Where else can you see robots roaming, penguins flapping, and educators making their own butterfly chrysalis necklaces? Not to mention electric hybrid cars, a sloth, and pi earrings? The exhibit hall is truly fascinating. (I’ve put more pictures from the exhibit hall up on Flikr, just search for NSTA 2011 [...]
“To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.” —Chinese Proverb A team of science educators has developed a new NSTA position statement acknowledging the value of 21st-century skills within the context of science education (available here). The statement advocates for the science education community to support 21st-century skills consistent with best practices across a science [...]
No—we’re not seeing double. The Science Teacher and Science Scope both have the same theme this month—a double dose of information and ideas on the topic of assessment. Whichever issue you get, I hope you look at the other one for additional ideas from our fellow science educators. I love this cover image. It’s exciting [...]
