Overview
Setting the Stage: Overview (Libbie)
A model-based classroom looks and feels different from a traditional classroom. Students spend much of their time in collaborative groups speaking, listening, and thinking. They work together to develop model ideas and write group explanations. Science is a collaborative enterprise but students often have had little experience or instruction in effective communication and collaboration. Accordingly, in addition to the usual introductory activities that establish routines and expectations, preparation for an MBR classroom includes: team building, instituting and practicing norms of interaction, introducing the idea of models and doing some simple modeling activities, and exploring the purpose and practice of science. We want to establish early on a non-threatening environment in which students feel comfortable participating. The importance of setting this groundwork cannot be over-emphasized - you will reap the benefits the entire year! You probably already have favorite lessons that accomplish some or all of these initial goals - by all means, use them! These lessons and activities are provided as just one example of how it can be done. There are powerpoints for each of the activities (the first 3 days are all in the same one) and there are detailed teacher notes for most of the activities, located in their respective folders.
For most people this introductory segment will take 2-3 weeks, but it will be highly individual. We each face different levels of distraction (students entering, students leaving, class leveling etc.) and different administrative demands during these first few weeks. For me, dealing with all those demands and completing the lessons here takes about 3 weeks of 55-minute class periods.
Administrative stuff plus a classroom scavenger hunt.
This is just the starting of an orientation to my classroom including safety, etc.
I do a little spiel about learning and what’s happening in the brain. (“Learning is a Consequence of Thinking”!)
Next, I elicit student ideas about science. What is it and what is it like? I often have students work w. a partner and write ideas on small whiteboards, then share out with class. Hopefully we establish that science is a way of figuring things out, as well as the body of knowledge about the natural worl
Begin “Mystery Tube” activity. We want students to experience the “figuring out” part of science but it is best to begin with a very non-threatening activity that requires no prior science knowledge. I use the Mystery Tubes. (Note: I call them Magic Cylinders because otherwise students can google them and find the diagram: http://undsci.berkeley.edu/lessons/mystery_tubes.html) Give students a few minutes to play around with tubes, then write their own ideas about what’s inside individually.
There are many similar "Black Box" activities you could do. I like this one because it is simple and quick – and doesn’t require any materials other than the tubes. I used to use “penny racers” – small pull-back-and-go toy cars – and they worked fine too but a few got broken every year. Once you make the tubes they are very sturdy.
- Work together with groups to come up with consensus model of Magic Cylinders.
- Before they share their ideas with their groups we introduce the group norms and use Talking Sticks as a way for students to practice them.
- Put their consensus models on white boards
2. Share with class.
3. Discuss the idea of models in science: what is a model, give examples, and establish model criteria.
Do "Mystery in the Checks", an activity designed to give students experience using data to form and test hypotheses in a non-threatening, non-science activity. This activity is HIGHLY engaging and students love it. Teacher notes are in the folder for the activity. Also, an updated version using emails instead of checks is provided.
The “Know Your Seed” activity focuses on the importance of making and recording detailed observations in science, and introduces the difference between observations and inferences.
Prepare for, conduct, and prepare to write up the first formal lab, IN. SS-1, a review of measurement. We go over how to do the prelab, how to make a data table, and how to use the equipment before doing the procedure. After completing the procedure, we review how to graph data before students complete the write-up.
Debrief lab and quiz. I usually have students work on Spider Monkey once they finish the quiz. This classic logic problem at first seems impossible, but is solvable with persistence.
Introduce, do procedure, share and graph results for second formal lab IN. SS-2. This is their first real experiment and requires that they apply what they learned in the previous lab. They must make careful measurements, graph results, and interpret data. The last day they work on graphs and discuss results within their groups before finishing their wr
Debrief lab and quiz. This quiz is a lab practical. Students demonstrate their ability to measure mass, distance, and volume accurately using the tools they used in the previous 2 labs. They also are given a data set and required to graph it, then use the graph to predict an outcome.
Download Resources
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Libbie's Resources for Setting the Stage | 16.58 MB |