Overview
Setting the Stage: Overview (Jenn)
When you walk into a model based reasoning (MBR) classroom it looks and feels different. Student work cover the walls, and the student’s themselves are actively participating in their own learning. They may be collaborating in groups or with a partner, collecting and analyzing data, or individually writing an explanation to answer a driving question. Whatever activity they are involved in, they appear purposeful in their actions because they know what to do, because the first few weeks of school were invested in setting the stage; preparing students for all the challenging work of the school year. Model Based Reasoning is not school as usual and quite often students do not know what a scientific model is, how to talk to each other in an academic setting, or collaborate in a meaningful, efficient way. In order for students to comfortably work with each other they must first feel safe and trust one another.
My students are on an 8 period modified block / intervention schedule, and thus have significantly less hours for each of their subjects compared to a traditional 6 period schedule. I thought that an easy place to save time was at the beginning of the year and skipped over this introductory, team building, conversation skill making work. I was wrong. I survived the year, but was frustrated with my students for not talking with each other and for letting the “smart,” vocal student do all the group work, while the rest just followed. When I finally made the investment, and dedicated the first few weeks of school to team building, the art of conversation, and making sense of scientific models, my students and I had an exciting and fulfilling year. We all approach the first few weeks of school differently and we know what works best for our students. The lessons provided are an example of one way to help get started with an MBR classroom.
Day 1
I greet student at the door and ask them to seat themselves alphabetically by last names. Asking questions is an important aspect of science and this activity encourages the asking of questions, listening to each other and working together to accomplish a group task. It is also very entertaining to watch.
(The Power Point Presentation in the resource section is used for several lessons)
1. Administrative tasks
2. What is Science and a Bromothymol Blue (Btb) Demo with a discussion on observations verses inferences, and asking what makes the Bromothymol Blue change from blue to yellow.
Day 2
- Testing our initial ideas about what makes the BTB change from blue to yellow.
- Classroom Scavenger Hunt
- Science Autobiography
- Set up interest partner handout
5. Lab safety contract
6. Meet and greet in the lab (get to know your lab partners’ names and one thing you all have in common)
7. Students prepare for a conversation about hypotheses by completing an assessment probe: What is a Hypothesis?
Days 3-4
Discussion on Assessment probe: What is a Hypothesis? As well as what are scientific theories and what does it mean to “do” science.
Practice the art of conversation by asking your neighbor what was the last movie they saw. Demonstrate pausing, paraphrasing and probing (asking further questions) with students to help them practice conversing. (see power point)
Black Box Activity
Students play with bucket, make observations, use the talking sticks protocol to share ideas.
Collect more data, identify patterns, and ask the driving question, what is in the bucket?
Students begin work on their models (white boards) then transfer to posters
Gallery Walk
Relating their bucket experience to how scientists work
Practice at home; reading about models and a question set.
Days 5-6 Cartoon Activity
- Begin with the "art of conversation" where students pair up and use their norms to discusses their favorite cartoon, fairy tale, or anime.
- Students practice observation and piecing together evidence based on facts by working with non-threatening cartoon pictures. (only 6 slides were in each envelope,)
- Students write and compare stories based on their observations of the cartoon pictures.
- Students are then asked to think about why their stories are different and how this is related to science.
5. Biology syllabus scavenger hunt
6. Textbook Bingo
7. Scientific word terms - Students write down the scientific word terms in their notebook.
Days 7-10
Students continue to practice the art of conversation and collaboratively investigate their ability to estimate and measure length, volume, mass, and time. This is "Setting the Stage" for group lab work, how to complete a pre-lab, design data tables and graphs.
1. The Art of Conversation: one conversation / round of talking sticks at the beginning of each lesson to practice conversation/ speaking and listening with fun, non-threatening topics
2. Investigation: How accurate will I be in estimating different kinds of measurements?
How to complete a pre-lab (lab objective, flow chart of procedures, design data tables); Estimating, measuring, the collection of data, and calculating % accuracy; Calculating average % accuracy and collection of class data; Discussion on interpreting data, especially graphs; Use class data to create and interpret a graph of student % accuracy; Answering discussion questions; Writing lab conclusions based on data and write a lab report.
Note: We spent a lot of time on this so that I could help the students every step of the way. If your students are practiced at doing labs and writing lab reports then your time can be drastically reduced.
I have included a power point (Art of Conversation) with slides to help foster student conversation.
Download Resources
| Attachment | Size |
|---|---|
| Jenn's Resources for Setting the Stage | 23.59 MB |