Three Reasons AL Needs a New Science Course of Study by Sarah Lowman

Thanks to Sarah Lowman, PAEMST Winner, for outlining these 3 important reasons we need to adopt Alabama's Science Course of Study:

1. Alabama’s students need science standards that prepare them for the dynamic nature of scientific content. New discoveries are constantly being made. Instead of memorizing scientific facts, students should become scientifically literate by developing skills to read complex text, investigate, design, model, analyze, and support their findings from evidence. The science course of study, adopted in 2005, lacks rigor, is out of date, and can cause misconceptions due to errors in phrasing. Example: 2005 Biology COS Standard 8 associates Downs-Syndrome with inherited diseases when in fact most of the time, this disorder is caused by an error in meiosis, the process that makes gametes. Most cases of Downs are not inherited.

2. Alabama’s economy needs Alabama’s students to be educated in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math). The science standards, adopted in 2005, make no provision for technology and engineering in all science courses. The proposed science standards promote proficiency in STEM by embedding STEM in all science disciplines. This is crucial because current trends show that the demand for STEM jobs far exceeds the supply of qualified personnel. STEM affects all citizens even if they do not consider themselves to be scientific. Whether our graduates attend medical school, become machine operators, farmers, or culinary specialists, proficiency in the science and engineering practices supported by the proposed Science Course of Study Draft will increase their ability to become contributing members of a scientific and technologically rich society.

3. Alabama’s students need to be immersed in STEM education in all grades, k-12. Children are born investigators and need hands on, experienced based STEM education that causes them to question, discover, design, and innovate. Louis Braille, as a 12 year old, engineered a solution to his disability that allowed him to read. His discovery opened up a whole new world for the blind forever. Science engages learners of all ages and adds excitement to learning. Real world experiences used as a basis for applying math and using language to articulate scientific discovery give meaning to learning. The proposed standards are vertically aligned in grades k-12 so that there is a progression of instructional sequences and inquiry across scientific content that promote a depth of learning that students need in order to be scientifically literate as well as college and career ready upon graduation.

Alabama's new Science Course of Study will open doors to a scientifically literate Alabama that will result in a better state, nation, and world.

Written by Sarah Lowman

Why I like the new Science Course of Study

I like the new Science Course of Study for many reasons, but here are the two most important. First, the new course of study changes the classroom culture from a teacher-centered environment to a student-centered environment. Students will be asking the questions, defining the problems, planning and carrying out the investigations, constructing the explanations, and communicating the information – not the teachers. This is a significant shift for many teachers because it requires students to be active participants rather than passive listeners. With the new standards, students will be able to experience science and not solely learn about it from a textbook, lecture, or worksheet. Additionally, students will learn content with a deeper understanding. For example, a teacher can tell students everything they need to know about gas laws in a class period. However, with the new course of study, students can plan and carry out an investigation with balloons to identify the relationships that exist among the pressure, volume, density, and temperature of a confined gas. The lesson may take longer, but students gain a more thorough understanding of the concept. Our students in Alabama deserve this opportunity to engage, explore, and experience science in every classroom. If you haven't looked at the new course of study, take a look…it's awesome!!! Science Course of Study draft Jennifer Brown

First 2 Days of School- Set the Stage

Many years ago, my colleague Dr. Amy Murphy was trying to find a creative way to get students more active on the first few days of school. It was the day before students reported, but we were having some great conversation regarding the possibilities.  So, we both jumped right in and decided that the first 2 days of school would involve, practically NO teacher-centered activities; no introduction, no going over the syllabus, no passing out textbooks, we scraped all that "traditional" first days of school stuff.  Instead we set up 6 stations around the room.  At each station, students would work in small groups to get all that "administrative, paperwork" stuff done independently.

RESULTS: each year, we are able to walk around the room, facilitating and actually interacting with our students, the minute they walk in the door. Plus, students are actually engaged in these tasks. ALL day, they've been listening to teachers "talk" to them, and probably barely absorbed anything they've heard.  They are are still in summer mode!

PLANNING: we listed all the things that have to get done, such as going over the syllabus, signing lab safety contract, picking up text, exploring teacher website, student information google form, etc.  We then split them up into 6 stations of even time involved.  Each day the groups rotate through 3 stations, so that it will take 2 days.  What you get done on those days, is of course specific for each teacher, so making the list of items is the logically place to start.  

Here is the link to a google folder that has my 6 stations in it.  Adapt as needed!

Framework for Science Presentation

this link is to a google folder

  for resources I used in a presentation on the Framework for K-12 Science Education. I would suggest you start with the Framework Organization document.  It is an outline of the 3 Dimensions of the Framework with brief definitions of each. You can then use this information to decide which chapters of the book you'd need to read in entirety.  I recommend that ALL science teachers read chapters 1 and 2. Many of these resources were borrowed from the College/Career Ready Standards Implementation meetings hosted by the Alabama State Dept of Ed and Alabama Math, Science, and Technology Initiative.  

Marla Hines

How We Implemented Instructional Rounds at Vestavia Hills High

At the end of the 2013-14 school year, my colleague Marla and I were discussing the need to see other teachers in their classrooms.  She had recently read a blog post about something the NTOY was doing at his school and encouraged me to go home and read about it.  When I read the blog, I was intrigued!  I came to her the next day and exclaimed, "We can totally do this!"  She said, "Yes, we can.  Let's go talk to Melissa (AP in charge of scheduling) and ask for the same planning period."  We were determined to establish a system of teacher-led instructional rounds at our school, even if we were the only two observers.

Here was the plan (2014-15):  We would set this up like medical rounds at a hospital.  Small groups of teachers (preferably 3, who shared a common planning period) would choose two teachers to observe once a month during their planning period.  They would observe teacher 1, exit, and debrief or talk about what they observed.  The small group would then observe teacher 2 and do the same.  The small group leader would be in charge of documenting a reflection in our shared google doc (several reflections shared at the end of this post).

During the first week of school, we decided to email the faculty in hopes that a few more would join.  The response was overwhelming!  We couldn't believe how many people wanted join in (it ended up being about 53 faculty members).  We made a list of observers by period, chose group leaders, and tried to make groups of 3 or 4 (we felt that 2 was too small).  Marla was concerned that several groups would want to observe many of the same teachers (especially at first), so she thought we needed to assign each group a specific week of the month to observe.  We didn't want any teachers to be overwhelmed or annoyed by lots of observers all at once!  Here is how we set it up:

Job of the small group leader (person highlighted in red):

1) email the group a week in advance to see which teachers they wanted to observe

2) email teachers to observe and set up a day

3) document on shared Google doc after observations 

Here are some of the reflections noted by participants on our shared Google doc:

Next steps (2015-16):  This year we want to make our Instructional Growth Rounds more intentional.  We have a representative from each department joining us this summer for a Design It Yourself Professional Development Workshop called Instructional Rounds Improvement Team.  Additionally, we provided a "survey" type questionnaire (it was quick and easy) to our faculty's end of the year checkout paperwork asking them to provide us with information on what they do really well in their individual classrooms (small grouping, questioning, student response systems, etc).  We also asked each faculty member to tell us what teaching techniques they would like to improve upon.  Both of these questions were accompanied by a list of ideas for convenience for our colleagues (remember it was the end of the year). Hopefully, we will come up with ways to help teachers grow in specific areas of desired growth - technology, instructional strategies, non-traditional classroom setup, small group discussions, fishbowls (large group, student-led discussion), etc…

2015-16 is gonna be a blast! 

Feel free to email us if you have specific questions:

brownjc@vestavia.k12.al.us

hinesmp@vestavia.k12.al.us

Jennifer Brown

Marla Hines