Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

Learning how to graph data and write arguments using CER (claim, evidence and reasoning) are skills that I teach at the beginning of the school year. But, how do I assess students on these skills after that initial work? Here, I share the first quiz I give students to assess both their graphing and argument writing skills.

Episode Notes

Here are some key points from the episode:

• the quiz has students produce graphs and write an argument using the same data – which models what we want students to do in labs going forward.

• Part 1 requires students to graph the following monthly temperature data. I ask them to choose the correct type – line or bar graph – to represent the data. I also expect students to label the axes correctly and to maximize the graph space. From a marks perspective, I use a 4 level proficiency scale. There is no opportunity for extending and that’s ok because I just want students to get the basics.

• Part 2 assesses argument writing skills using the CER template. I ask students which one of the cities on this map corresponds to the data they just graphed. For their response, they need to provide a claim – which is a direct answer to the question; evidence – which is summary of parts of the data that support the claim; and reasoning – which would be an explanation of the data and the claim. From a marks perspective, I use a 4 level proficiency scale once again. Like last time, there is no opportunity for extending in this exercise because I just want students to master the basics.

Resources

Handout(s): Ep106 Handouts – First CER and Graphs Test

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Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

Have you ever needed your students to come to class having done a little bit of research ahead of time – perhaps for a debate on genetics or for sharing on a tough topic? Recently, I used something called the HEAR method with my students, and I was surprised that almost all my students had something meaningful to bring to our discussion. And, our discussion was diverse because students drew from a variety of sources.

Episode Notes

Here are a few big ideas from the video:

1. For any given topic, some students know a whole bunch already while others don’t even know the basics yet. Thus, in doing some initial research on a topic, a beginner learner may rely on general videos and websites that provided basic knowledge, while a more proficient or advanced learner may look to podcasts, books, or more specific videos from experts.
2. In the HEAR method, when comes to research for a given topic, I allow students to use any form of credible resource – text, video, podcast, website, etc. This allows students to jump into a topic through any entry point they feel comfortable.
3. But, for resource that students choose, they need to…
   • Highlight something that jumped out at them – that really made them think or stood out;
   • Explain what the quote means – give it some context;
   • Apply what the quote to their own lives;
   •  Respond to what they learned – for example, write a call-to-action.

Resource

Handout(s): Ep105 Handout – HEAR – a framework to help Diverse Learners do Meaningful Research

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Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

What’s the difference between emerging and developing on a proficiency scale? What’s the difference between proficient and extending? If you’re having difficulty figuring this out, here’s how I’ve explained it to my students – using the analogy of parking.

Episode Notes

Here are a few big ideas from the video:

1. On a proficiency scale, emerging learners have an initial understanding of concepts; developing learners have a partial understanding; proficient learners have a complete understanding; and extending learners have a sophisticated understanding.
2. In terms of a parking analogy, An emerging driver is like a student who has just read the manual but has not yet written or passed their test and, thus, can’t get behind the wheel yet. In other words, they know the basic rules of parking – like making sure you park a minimum distance from a stop sign and on both sides of a fire hydrant – but no practical experience beyond that. A developing driver is someone who passed their written exam and is now learning behind the wheel. And, with regard to parking, perhaps they can pull into or back into a parking spot with some adjustments. A proficient driver has got all the skills they need to pass the exam – they can back into a parking spot and parallel park the car at a correct distance away from the curb too. They have a complete understanding of what it means to park a car.
3. An extending driver has a sophisticated understanding of parking and could parallel park under many different contexts – for example,  they would be able to parallel park on both the left side and the right side. And, they could parallel park on a hill with the car facing upwards or downwards – and this would be difficult because the car would roll inadvertently during parking. And, they would be able to parallel park over a speed bump too. And, if they’ve never parallel parked in these contexts before, at least they could figure it out.

Resource

Handout(s): Ep104 Handouts – Proficiency Scales Explained Using a Parking Analogy

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Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

How can we teach CER in a more organic way? When we teach CER, I used to go over what a claim is, what evidence is, and what reasoning is and how that differs from evidence. Then, we’d work through some examples. This works, but I think it can be done better – in a way that is less prescribed and more organic – because if it’s more organic, it comes from them – the students – and if it comes from them, then they’ll remember it more. So, I did this – when I introduced CER this year – and I think it went quite well – especially since students got to do science.

Episode Notes

Here are a couple of big ideas from the video:

1. When getting students to practice using our triple beam balances, I gave them an initial research question to answer: for example, is a flask that is 2X bigger by volume also 2X bigger by mass? Students use the balances to find the mass of the two Erlenmeyer flasks, and then,I tell them to write a conclusion for the research question. The next day, I go around and checked their responses.
2. I show them how I would write a strong conclusion using some sample data. I tell students that all strong conclusions or claims have 3 things: (1) the answer to the question directly (2) a summary of the measurements and data that support my answer, and (3) an explanation.
3. Lastly, I give students another simple question to answer – a question that, again, gets students to practice using our lab equipment. Here’s the question: “is the mass of 100ml of water measured in a small beaker the same as the mass of 100ml of water measured in a large beaker?” And, I get them to write another conclusion and I’ll check it again to see how well they took in the feedback I provided in the first research question.

Resource

Handout(s): Ep103 Handouts – A More Organic Way to Teach CER

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Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

What learning standards do we assess when using Standards-Based Grading? It can’t be every line item on the NGSS – that would take.a lot of time (consider making a proficiency scale for each line item). It would be more efficient to assess standards that represent the broad skills we’re trying to teach. To figure out what those are, we can use Learning Pathways.

Episode Notes

Here are a couple of big ideas from the video:

1. To save time in using standards based grading, don’t assess each topic individually – and, thus, require you to have a different proficiency scale/rubric for each. Instead, set up your marks book to have 3, 4 or 5 big standards, and then assess those standards by using the topics as the source material 
2. As teachers, we all actually teach the same core skills – literacy and numeracy – with our classes (regardless of subject area). To clarify what it means to be a literate and numerate learner, the BC Ministry of Education published Learning Pathways, which is a resource that identifies the aspects of literacy and numeracy that are taught, practiced, and demonstrated in our classes.
3. With regards to science education,  I propose that we adopt the literacy aspects as our standards because science education is focused on science literacy. Numeracy skills are still taught and practiced – but only insofar as they support the literacy standards.
4.  The science and engineering practices found in the NGSS all fit under an aspect of literacy identified in Learning Pathways.

Resources

Handout(s): Ep102 Handouts – What Standards Do I Assess in Standards-Based Grading?

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Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

Those who support using points (as opposed to proficiency scales) to report student learning always seem to argue that using points is a more accurate. However, this isn’t completely true. Unfortunately, points may give a result, but may not offer clear guidance as to what went wrong or right.

Episode Notes

Here are a couple of big ideas from the video:

1. Reporting on student learning is not just reporting what has been achieved – but also, what areas can student work on to improve. 

2. Standards Based Grading tells a more complete story because – on a good rubric – students are told where their performance sits right now and how students can also see what they can do to get to the next level.

Resources

Handout(s): Ep101 Handouts – Where Grading with Points Goes Wrong

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Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

Is it okay to cut out topics out of the curriculum? I think it’s okay not to get to every topic in the curriculum – but, that means what I will cover needs cover all the standards (and also creates deep learning opportunities for students too).

Episode Notes

Here are a couple of big ideas from the video:

1. When it comes to our science curriculum, do we want students to have a deep understanding of something or just passable knowledge? Ideally, we’d like a deep understanding.

2. if you’re using standards-based grading, where students are assessed on how well they perform specific science skills, you’ll use different parts of each topic to teach and assess certain skills. And if you’re able to assess all the skills effectively and comprehensively using a handful of topics, then there’s not a huge need to add more topics and more tests.

3. Going forward, when you start your year, start thinking about the topics and, more importantly, what you want to do in each unit to bring out each standard. One way to do this is to look back at last year’s assessment to see what was done. See handouts for sample

Resources

Handout(s): Ep100 Handouts – Why I Don’t Cover Every Topic in the Science Curriculum

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Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

How do we set up a Standards-Based grade book that reflects the standards but isn’t time consuming to assess and report on? Answer: form categories that combine similar or overlapping standards.

Episode Notes

Here are a couple of big ideas from the video:

1. A Standards-Based Grading marks book has categories that would reflect learning standards (ie. skills). This provides a better picture of what a student can or cannot do – but it can be time consuming to assess and report on each competency regularly throughout the term.

2. Standards that overlap significantly or are similar could be combined to form larger categories in a grade book. For example, we initially combined two skills – (1) evaluating with (2) applying and innovating – under one category in our grade book. Both skills we combined under one category we felt were considered higher order skills that would be easier to develop assessments for together.

3. However, do not combine too many standards together. Categories that are too broade doesn’t give much information as to what students are good at and what they are weak at.

Resources

Handout(s): Ep99 – Making a More Efficient Standards-Based Grade Book

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Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

In the world of assessment, just because teachers assess standards using rubrics and not content using traditional grading methods (ie. points scored on a test) doesn’t make Standards-Based Grading (SBG) any less effective. In fact, SBG is meant to assess things that traditional grading doesn’t typically address – such as science skills like communication, application, and analysis. In fact, a traditional grading system would struggle with assessing skills accurately.

Episode Notes

Here are a couple of big ideas from the video:

1. As imperfect as a rubric in SBG may appear, rubrics do a fairly accurate job at assessing standards – if the rubric is defined well. The key thing, always, is to define our rubrics in a detailed and fair way: “detailed”, so we can distinguish each level clearly, and “fair” in that our expectations at each level matches the grade level.

2. On a rubric (ie. proficiency scale), a proficient is considered a “low A” while an extending is considered a “high A”. Both are A’s.

3. If we tried to score a standard using traditional grading, how many points would we assign? We could assign 4 points – similar to a 4 level rubric – but the problem there is that a student who got proficient would be getting a 75% (3 out of 4) – a low B in our system, which doesn’t quite denotes a “complete understanding” that is associated with Proficient.

4. If we decide to assign more points to assess standards via Traditional Grading – for example, make the question out of 10 marks -then we’d have to distinguish between a 6 and a 7 and a 7 and an 8 and an 8 and etc. This becomes more of a headache.

Resources

Handout(s): Ep98 Handout – How Traditional Grading is Less Accurate Than Standards-Based Grading

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Handouts are available below.

Big Idea

Ever thought of using wordles in the classroom? They’re great for helping students review key terms and vocabulary for a chapter. I’ve used them as a bellringer to review key terms, and kids have enjoyed them a lot. 

Episode Notes

Here are a couple of big ideas on how to I’ve used science wordles in the classroom:

1. Wordles – like word scrambles – are great at getting students to review key terms. But, with wordles, there’s the added layer of difficulty where students need to switch out and rearrange letters in the wordle by following the colored clues.

2. Instead of using colors to give wordle clues, use the following black-and-white clues: for white letters in black boxes, this means the letter is not present in the word; for black letters in white boxes, this means the letter is present in the word and is in the correct position; for black letters in grey boxes, this means the letter is present but is in the wrong position.

3. To help students focus on science related words and not just any random words, my wordles all come with a hint. 

4. Finally, there are 3 variations to my wordle exercise. In variation 1, I give students a wordle and I ask for the Word and the definition. In variation 2, I give the word and have students write the definition AND come up with a wordle of their creation – but no inappropriate words and the words need to be real. In variation 3, I give them the definition and ask students to come up with the word and the wordle – using the rules I mentioned before. See handouts for examples.

Resources

Handout(s): Ep97 – Using Science Wordles as a Bellringer and Vocab Review

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