Facilitator's Guide for What's Your Evidence? Engaging K-5 Children in Constructing Explanations in Science

by Zembal-Saul, Carla L.; McNeill, Katherine L.; Hershberger, Kimber

• ISBN13: 9780132120593
• ISBN10: 0132120593
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-02-08
• Publisher: Pearson

Summary

Conduct a Book Study Group! The Book Study Facilitator's Guideprovides ideas on how to conduct a Book Study group or professional development with What's Your Evidence? Engaging K-5 Students in Constructing Explanations in Science(ISBN :0132117266). There are two goals of this guide: (1) to support the development of a collaborative teacher community that shares a common interest and supports each other in their work; and (2) to link the ideas presented in the book to classroom practice in which students construct scientific explanations in both writing and talk. This Book Study guide provides participants with an avenue to collaborate with their colleagues to discuss the ideas in the book, try the scientific explanation framework (i.e., claim, evidence, reasoning, and rebuttal) with their students, and bring student work and video clips back to discuss with their colleagues to reflect on how to continue to improve their practice.

Author Biography

Carla Zembal-Saul is a Professor of science education in the College of Education at Penn State where she holds the Kahn Professorship in STEM Education and currently serves as head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. A former middle school science teacher, she has been involved in school-university partnership work for more than fifteen years, and most of her teaching, scholarship, and service take place in that context. Her research focuses on K-6 teacher learning as they engage in professional development aimed at supporting students in talking and writing evidence-based arguments in science. Examining classroom discourse is a fundamental aspect of Professor Zembal-Saul’s work and she employs video analysis as both a research tool and a pedagogical approach for working with teachers. She has published her research findings in numerous book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals, and she is active in professional organizations, including the National Association for Research in Science Teaching and the National Science Teachers Association. Carla Zembal-Saul earned her doctorate at the University of Michigan.

 

Katherine L. McNeill is an Assistant Professor of science education at Boston College. A former middle school science teacher, she received her doctorate in science education from the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on how to support students with diverse backgrounds in engaging in scientific explanation and argumentation in both talk and writing. Her research has been generously funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and from this work, she has published a book on supporting middle school students, numerous book chapters, and articles in a variety of journals including the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Science Education, The Journal of the Learning Sciences, and the International Journal of Science Education. In 2011, Professor McNeill received the Early Career Research Award from NARST. She has also conducted numerous workshops at the annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and for school districts including the Detroit Public Schools and the Boston Public Schools.

 

Kimber Hershberger is currently a third grade teacher in the State College Area School District (SCASD) in Pennsylvania. She also serves as co-instructor for the science methods course and a mentor teacher for the Penn State – SCASD Professional Development School Partnership. Her involvement in a local professional learning community that focuses on incorporating content storyline and the CER framework in science teaching has been a highlight of her work. She holds degrees from Juniata College (B.S., elementary education) and Penn State University (M.Ed., science education). Kimber Hershberger has co-authored several articles for NSTA journals, including Science and Children and Science Scope. In addition, she has presented numerous times at the annual conference of the National Science Teachers Association, including sessions at the Research Dissemination Conference, about her work on how to scaffold students’ use of claims and evidence through science talks and journals. She loves visiting interesting places like the Galapagos Islands, India, Italy, and Japan and sharing her travel adventures with her students.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 1
Importance of Supporting Students in Scientific Explanations	p. 7
Understanding the Scientific Explanation Framework	p. 11
Introducing the Scientific Explanation Framework to Students	p. 15
Planning for Explanation-Driven Science	p. 18
Scaffolding Scientific Talk and Writing	p. 22
Instructional Sequence and Teaching Strategies	p. 26
Designing Scientific Explanation Assessments	p. 31
Designing and Using Rubrics	p. 34
Supporting Learning over Time	p. 39
Handout Pages	p. 43
Air Bag Investigation	p. 44
Scientific Explanation Framework	p. 45
Student Writing Examples from Air Bag Investigation	p. 46
Variations of the Scientific Explanation Framework	p. 50
Planning for Scientific Explanation	p. 51
Battery and Bulb Lesson Transcript	p. 52
Writing Scaffold for Adaptation Investigation	p. 53
Instructional Sequence for Constructing Scientific Explanations	p. 56
Integrate Instructional Sequence for Constructing Scientific Explanations	p. 57
Designing Assessment Tasks-Force and Motion Example	p. 61
Designing Assessment Tasks	p. 64
Base Scientific Explanation Rubric	p. 67
Specific Scientific Explanation Rubric-How Does the Position of the Light Source Change the Position of the Shadow?	p. 68
Student Examples-How Does the Position of the Light Source Change the Position of the Shadow?	p. 69
Student Examples-What Happens When You Mix Solids?	p. 73
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