A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas Science and Engineering Practices 1.Asking Questions and Defining Problems 2.Developing and Using Models 3.Planning and Carrying Out Investigations 4.Analyzing and Interpreting Data 5.Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking 6.Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions 7.Engaging in Argument from Evidence 8.Obtaining, Evaluation, and Communicating Information

High Stakes Testing  “Science standardized testing prevents students from learning material thoroughly and instead encourages test taking skills and memorization.”  Out of sixty-five students I surveyed about their goals in taking regents physics, forty-five responded with goals strictly about grades. Regents Physics Reference Table Page 4

 Balance content and inquiry  Team Learning  Other options for assessment: testing only certain students each year, stealth assessments, portfolios Reconstructing High Stakes Testing

Teacher and Textbook: Dispensers of Knowledge “Please open up to page 46. Read and answer the questions. Quietly!” “How am I supposed to do it if you don’t tell me? Hey Phil (across the room), go build a rocket but I’m not going to tell you how” (Steinberg 61).

Teacher Expectations  There are also noticeable trends between a student’s “first language, ethnicity, and migration status” and their success in school.  Predisposition toward creating less challenging classrooms Classroom management in denser classrooms creates stricter classrooms

Setting a Higher Bar for our Students  Extended authentic investigations  Access to authentic materials  Collaborative work  Learning technologies  Local examples of the phenomena  Interdisciplinary approaches Devonian Seas Program

Teacher Understanding of Inquiry Study by Osisioma and Onyia; 2008

Improving Teacher Understanding of Inquiry  Professional Development  Bridge the gap between the science education research community and the community of teachers  Continuous process  Experience learning science through inquiry

Disconnection to Science  One study found that African American third graders pictured scientists as “A mature, intelligent, hardworking, White male, wearing glasses, formally dressed or in a lab coat, who also teaches as a part of work they do” (Walls pg 15).

Connecting Students to Science  Science that matters  Culturally responsive teaching  Student Discourse  Simulations  Virtual fieldwork It made me feel smart. ‘Cause...I made my own question up, and I never did that before. I felt like a genius when I made my own question. And then I did my own project. I did it by myself, just me and my partner. We were making our own thing. That made me feel like a genius, like a scientist. (Mallucci 1135)

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