Observing growth: Balancing Chemical Equations Brett Tevini

What it Contains?  Types of Assessment  Diagnostic, Formative, and Summative  Learning Profiles  Auditory, Visual, and Kinesthetic  Grouping  Whole class, individual, pairs, groups of 3-4

Challenges For Us!!  Motivate learners based on interest and student personal investment.  Link instruction and learning to things we encounter on a daily basis.  Improve my ability to assess writing  Improve my students writing ability  Move students working memory to permanent memory

Sensory Memory: Represents a student’s ability to attend to the task with a reasonable degree of focus. May be affected by: physical ability, visible acuity, student’s perception of their ability. Working Memory: Decoding skills Word recognition Vocabulary Chunking Root words Punctuation Fluency Metacognition in: Student’s ability and willingness to search for connections from their experiences and memories Permanent Memory: Represents background knowledge, information based personal experiences, opinions, etc. This is where students make connections, think critically, make comparisons, place new information in context, etc. Metacognition out: Student’s ability (expressive language) and willingness to retell / paraphrase indicating comprehension Moving towards Growth

YouTube video  Pre-Reading/Assessment exercise  See where they are and engage the learners  Provide questions that go along with video (Diagnostic Assessment)

Notes (content)  Power-point presentation  Notes with blanks (skeletal notes)  Whole-class instruction  4-box vocabulary (Diagnostic/Formative)  Concept map graphic organizer over each section of notes (Diagnostic/Formative)

4-Box Vocabulary Vocabulary term: Visual Representation: Definition: Use word in sentence:

Concept Map

Assessment - Formative  Exit Cards  What did you learn today?  Muddiest point  Baseball questions  Writing prompts to enter into academic notebook

Example Writing Prompt to enter into Academic Notebook  You see the following chemical formula: C 9 H 18 O 9. What type of molecule is this? Can you ingest this molecule without harming you? What does the body do with this molecule? C 9 H 18 O 9. What type of molecule is this? Can you ingest this molecule without harming you? What does the body do with this molecule?

Baseball Questions  Give them a question using Blooms Taxonomy  Single (Answer)  Answers the question  Double (Text to Text)  Use 2 examples from the text or notes to support my answer  Triple (Text to Self)  Explain how my personal experiences and knowledge connects with the book or notes to support my answer  Homerun (Text to World)  Explain why this question is one that I should be asking myself. How does this question and answer relate to other subjects or concepts?

Blooms Taxonomy

Example Baseball Question and Answers  Question  Identify and Describe the equation that shows the formation of glucose and oxygen, by means of photosynthesis, from carbon dioxide and water (anabolic reaction). Identify the reactants and products. Write a word equation for the reaction. Write the equation using formulas for the reactants and products. Balance the equation one element at a time.  Answer (Single)  Reactants – Carbon dioxide and water  Products – Glucose and Oxygen  Carbon dioxide + water  Glucose and oxygen  CO2 + H2O + Energy  C6H12O6 + O2  6CO2 + 6H2O + Energy  C6H12O6 + 6O2

Example Baseball Questions continued…  Double  I answered the questions based on what the author said in the textbook and what was in the notes from Mr. Tevini. In the video at the beginning of the lesson we saw that the Law of Conservation of Mass showed us that what was on the left side of the equation must equal what is on the right side of the equation. All atoms of each element must be accounted for on both sides of the equation.

Example Baseball Questions continued…  Triple  I remember that the process of photosynthesis is important in the use and harvesting of energy for living organisms. It allows us to do work. Photosynthesis allows plants to make food for themselves that we use indirectly for energy for ourselves. In order for photosynthesis to happen there must be reactants that combine to form products in a anabolic reaction

Example Baseball Questions Continued…  Homerun  I think that it is important to think about the process of photosynthesis in terms of producing food for all living things, but also the fact that it represents the Law of Conservation of Energy. What goes into the photosynthesis equation (reactants) must equal what comes out (products). It must be balanced. Plants are very important to our ecosystem with the production of oxygen and food for all living things. It is important to conserve plants and keep those food webs going.

Video  Single-Replacement Reaction  Aluminum + Copper Chloride  Have them make observations (Cornell Note Taking) – Formative Assessment

Cornell Note Taking  If you've not seen the Cornell Note-taking system, it divides a 8.5" x 11" page into three sections: Cue Column (1), Note taking Column (2) and Summary (3).

Cornell Notetaking What types of questions should I place on the left side?  Questions which are answered in the notes on the right  Questions you still need the answer to--ask a friend or the teacher after class  Questions the teacher might ask on a test  Higher level thinking questions Higher level thinking questions Higher level thinking questions

Cornell Notetaking What else could I place on the left side?  Key terms, vocabulary words, or dates  Diagrams or figures  Reference pages in a text  Steps in a solution process  Notes to myself about actions I need to take

Cornell Notetaking What are some good tips for taking the notes on the right?  Write in your own words (paraphrase)  Write using abbreviations (check a dictionary for these and create your own)  Draw a figure or diagram  Leave space where you think you might need to “fill in” info later  Use bullets, arrows, and indenting to list key ideas  Write legibly

Cornell Notetaking What are some good tips for taking the notes on the right?  Write only what is most important:  listen for repetition, change in pace or volume, numbering, explicit clues  watch for gestures, or clues to organization;  look for material being written down by instructor or shared in a visual manner

Lab – Groups of 2  Single-replacement lab  Aluminum + copper chloride reaction  Lab write up  Pre-Lab questions  Post-Lab questions  Formative Assessment  /8alcucl2lab.docx /8alcucl2lab.docx /8alcucl2lab.docx

Group Activity 3-4 students per group  Balancing Chemical Equations Activity  Pre and Post Lab questions  Extended response questions/Baseball questions  Using manipulative  Following procedures  Formative/Summative Assessment  tml tml tml

Additional Balancing Chemical Equations Practice  ation1.html ation1.html ation1.html  /balance.htm /balance.htm /balance.htm  emBalancer/default.htm emBalancer/default.htm emBalancer/default.htm

Assessment - Formative  Lab questions  Baseball questions  Making observations  Writing prompts to enter into academic notebook  Exit cards

Summative Assessment  Covers notes  Covers Labs and activities  Covers videos seen  Test  Multiple choice, short answer, critical thinking  ties baseball questions back into it

Reflections and New Questions  The greatest challenge for me with this new approach to incorporating more literacy into science is “selling” this to my administrators and peers.  My goal is to present this to others at my school with NEW IDEAS in mind.  My goal is to not tell them what I think we should do or what I am doing, but what can WE do to incorporate more literacy strategies into our content classrooms. Then I can give them some strategies that WE learned this summer.

Research  My project was based on networking that was done amongst my peers along with some books that were read. A lot of my ideas for this project were things that I was already doing in my classroom, but the networking and information attained in this class has allowed me to expand and improve my teaching strategies in the areas of science and literacy.  Resources  Tools for Teaching Content Literacy. By Janet Allen  When Textbooks Fall Short. By Nancy Walker, Thomas Bean, and Benita Dillard.