Designs for Learning

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Chapter 9

• Designs for Learning

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How to Read This Chapter

• This chapter has been organized to help you
  become a creative designer of science teaching
  plans by drawing upon your knowledge of science
  and adolescent learners. You will develop a
  sequence of lessons as a mini-unit. You will
  also develop a course syllabus, giving you an
  opportunity to think about instruction at the
  level of an entire course of study.
• It is advisable that you work through this
  chapter from beginning to end. When you finish
  the chapter, you will have created the following
  products
• A rationale for a science unit with general
  goals.
• A list of objectives (we'll call them intended
  outcomes) for a science unit grouped according to
  type of student learning.
• A concept map showing the relationships among the
  central ideas in your unit.
• An assessment plan describing measures to assess
  the major objectives of the unit to provide
  feedback to the students, and feedback for you on
  the effectiveness of your teaching.
• An instructional plan (a set of lesson plans)
  describing the unit, including what learning
  objectives are intended, and the strategies you
  will employ to help student achieve the unit's
  objectives.

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Invitations to Inquiry

• What is pedagogical content knowledge? How is it
  different than content knowledge?
• What processes can be used to design an
  instructional plan?
• How should a teacher proceed to develop
  instruction?
• What are intended learning outcomes? How do
  cognitions, affects, cognitive skills and
  psychomotor skills differ?
• How can cognitive maps be utilized in the
  planning and development of teaching materials?
• What are the elements of the following types of
  lessons direct/interactive, cooperative
  learning, constructivist and inquiry/laboratory?
• What are the elements of a course of study?

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Chapter 9 Map
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Pedagogical Content Knowledge(PCK)

• PCK is a teachers knowledge of how to help
  students understand specific subject matter.
• Key questions include
• What shall I do with my students to help them
  understand this science concept?
• What materials are available to help me?
• What are my students likely to already know and
  what will be difficult for them to learn?
• How shall I best evaluate what my students have
  learned?

How would this help you teach about water on Mars?
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Inquiry Activity 9.1 Science PCK

• Visit one of the standards sites below
• National Science Education Standards - Contents
• Benchmarks On-Line
• Select a science content area and at least one
  concept to teach.
• Use Table 9.2 as a guide.
• Identify one or more activities that will help
  students understand the chosen concept
• Exploratorium
• Access Excellence
• Discovery Education

These are fast plants. What are are they? How
could fast plants help you teach concepts in
biology?
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The Art of Designing Instruction

• Just as an artist uses physical and intellectual
  tools to make a painting, this chapter presents
  you with tools to artistically design teaching
  plans and associated materials.
• A cyclic process is outlined in this chapter to
  help to develop ideas for a science mini-unit.
• To help you with the process, follow this link to
  a mini-unit developed by Jaime Delaney, a former
  graduate student at Georgia State University, and
  now a teacher in Colorado. Refer to it while you
  develop your own. Youll find lesson plans, a
  rationale, a concept map, and examples of
  outcomes, and evaluations.

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Mini-Unit Design Process
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Inquiry Activity 9.2 A Window into as High
School Science Teachers Approach to Lesson
Planning

• Log-on to Teaching HS Science and select either
• Chemical Reactions
• Investigating Crickets
• Exploring Mars
• The Physics of Optics
• View the video and record your responses to the 4
  procedural questions (2).
• Summarize your thoughts, then follow Minds-on
  Strategies for this inquiry.

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Design Step 1 Brainstorming

• This should be a fast, free-flowing listing of
  terms, words, and phrases for the topic of your
  mini-unit. Work with a few peers to generate
  ideas.
• You might want to look at the Standards and/or
  Benchmarks to spark your brainstorming.

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Design Step 2 Name Your Mini-unit

• This is way to give your unit focus-naming it
  helps.
• Some ideas from your peers include
• Whats Up with the Weather?
• The Well Cell
• Sensational Sediments
• We are Family Study of Periodicity
• What if you had a volcano in your backyard?

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Design Step 3 Identify Focus Questions

• Focus questions should help you define the heart
  of your unit or course. Two or three well
  designed questions will help your students draw
  upon prior knowledge and keep sight of the big
  idea.
• Focus questions should center around the
  enduring understandings that promote science
  literacy.

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Design Step 4 Identify Intended Learning
Outcomes

• Use your initial list of ideas to create a list
  of intended learning outcomes. Outcomes are
  statements of what you want students to know or
  be able to do.
• They are skills, concepts, and values you intend
  the students will learn.
• Write these as precise statement starting with a
  verb, that indicates what learners should be able
  to do to demonstrate their knowledge.

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Design Step 5 Categorize Outcomes

• In this step, you will sort your outcomes into
  skill and nonskill categories.
• Here is an example of intended outcomes from an
  environmental unit categorized into nonskill and
  skill groups.

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Design Step 6 Develop a Concept Map of the Unit

• Use the ideas developed by Novak and Gowin to
  develop a map of your mini-unit. You will
  probably revise this as you further develop the
  unit. The map is a tool for your planning and
  your students learning. Share it with them.

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Design Step 7 Write a Rationale

• At this stage youve worked with your unit enough
  so that you can write a rationale. How might this
  learning
• affect the students future?
• contributes to societal issues?
• reflects the spirit and character of the
  scientific enterprise?
• See the samples in the text. Here is part of one
  rationale.
• The abilities, interests, needs, and talents of
  your students must also inform the rationale and
  emerging plans.

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Design Step 8 Categorize Outcomes-Cognitions,
Affects and Skills

• This step you will actually delay until after you
  have listed potential activities (step 9), and
  written lesson plans (step 10). You can then
  pull your outcomes from your lesson plans, and
  categorize them into four groups
• Cognitions
• Affects
• Cognitive skills
• Psychomotor skills
• You should, however, review the nature of these
  categories of outcomes before you go to the next
  two steps.
• Use the map on the next slide, and text material
  to write out one outcome for each category
  related to your mini-unit.

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Map of Learning Outcomes
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Design Step 9 Develop an Assessment Plan

• Assessment in your mini-unit should include
• Daily Formative Assessments of various types
  (observing, listening, informal quiz, written
  quiz, lab work, project, etc.)
• One end of unit Summative Assessment (performance
  task, project, or traditional test)
• Start with your initial ideas about assessment,
  then look ahead to Chapter 10 for more
  assessments ideas.

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Design Step 10 List Potential Activities

• Now that you have a framework for your mini-unit,
  you can do some exploring of science activities
  (use online and print resources), and then
  brainstorm with peers a list of potential
  activities. For web resources, check the section
  On the Web in The Art of Teaching Science text,
  or at the Art of Teaching Science online site.

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Potential Activities

• Youll find a collection of Planning Activities
  on the Companion Website. Take a look at them
  for examples of activities for you unit, and for
  further ideas on lesson plans

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Design Step 11 Develop Lesson Plans

• The mini-unit should contain between four and six
  lesson plans. You will find three types of
  templates for developing your plans. I recommend
  the first one, the Constructivist template, as
  there are many examples in the Art of Teaching
  Science, and Jaime Delaneys site, shown here,
  used the same template in the development of her
  lesson plans.
• Sketch out your plans using the template of your
  choice, and then meet with at least one peer to
  explain the plans, and solicit feedback.
  Finalize your plans. Now you can pull all of the
  outcomes from your plans, and organize your
  learning outcomes.

Link to Jaime Delaneys Mini-unit to see examples
of lesson plans, and other elements of the
mini-unit.
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Design Step 12 Implementation Revision

• Teach your mini-unit to a group of middle or high
  school students.
• If you cant do this, present one lesson to a
  group of peers.
• In either case, video tape one lesson.

• Reflect on your mini-unit by using the feedback
  you obtained from students, and peers. A complete
  list of reflection questions is located in the
  text. One example is
• To what extent did students attain the learning
  outcomes (objectives) of the unit?
• What revisions would you make in the unit?

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Inquiry 9.3 Designing a The Course Syllabus

• In this activity you will identify and describe
  the major elements of a course of study for a
  subject and content area of middle or high school
  science. Your product will be a course syllabus.