Examining the New Standards

     My biggest gripe so far with the Next Generation Science Standards is that I really don't see how they plan to test the students. Here are some of the ways the Standards begin:

"Critically read scientific literature and produce scientific writing..."
"Design and conduct an investigation to..."
"Use a model to support the explanation of..."

Are the new Standardized tests going to be essay questions only? What does that mean for those that can't write well (SPED, ELL, etc)? Are there laboratory practicals involved? How feasible is that? I don't see the point of the language used in the Standards if our goal is for students to understand a concept. Shouldn't they all begin "Students will understand that.....?"

     Don't get me wrong. I actually like the Standards in practice for the most part and can see myself using them. However, I fail to see the link between them and a useful, national Standardized test.  

Next Gen Science Standards

The second draft of the Next Generation Science Standards are out and open for feedback for the next few weeks. If these Standards are formally adopted, it will completely change the way we teach Science. Some of the integrated aspects of these Standards worry me a bit and I'm not sure how they will be able to test these Standards adequately.

Cautiously optimistic.

Prayers for Newtown

Another school shooting. What can you do?

1. Examine your school's Disaster Preparedness Plan (parents and teachers).

2. Hug your family a little tighter and Thank God for their continued safety.

Remember, you can't legislate crazy people away.

Please take time out of your day to pray for the town of Newtown, CT.

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Parents!

This specifically for the parents. It is nearing the end of the calendar year. Please, please, PLEASE contact your children's teacher if you have been putting it of. No matter how young or old they are, it is always a good idea to chat withe their teacher about them. Don't expect the teacher to contact you all the time.

On top of it just being a good precaution, the school year is nearly half over. Now would be a good time to ensure your kids doing well and not on the verge of flunking. Christmas Break is a great time to catch up on any reading or math skills they are behind on.

Remember, it is you that is ultimately responsible for your childs' education.

Apps for Common Core?

"There's an app for that." There's an app for everything, so why should education be different? I've come across some decent apps for the Common Core Standards. Oh yeah, they are free.

Common Core by MasteryConnect for Android.

Common Core by MasteryConnect for iPod, etc.


Feel free to try them out and you can have copies of the Common Core Standards wherever you go.

Integrated Science

I teach a course called Integrated Science. It is a college prep level course in CA that is tested during the CST’s in the Spring. While it doesn’t satisfy the A-G requirement for a Lab science (it should), it is a great course to teach high school freshmen. 

Our department had noticed about 4 years ago that a lot of freshmen coming into high school lacked an acceptable science background. Some of it had to do with a large migrant population, some of it was language issues and some had to do with the quality of their Elementary school education. We began looking for a course that would fill in this gap in their science education.

Integrated Science I (there are 4 different courses recognized by CA) requires you to teach 1 quarter of Biology, 1 quarter of Chemistry, 1 quarter of Physics and 1 quarter of Earth Science. It is a challenge to be sure, but I absolutely love it. After spending a few years developing the curriculum for our site, it has shown itself to be an incredible investment.

The way we structured it was that all freshmen not taking Honors or GATE level science must be enrolled in Integrated Science. We have “integrated” the scientific method, Lab Reports, outdoor education and many other concepts into this course. We have seen a marked improvement in the upper level science courses such as Chemistry and Biology since we expose the students to many of their introductory concepts so early. For example, instead of “introducing” the Periodic Table during their Chemistry course, they “review” the Periodic Table. Much, much faster.

The course is working out very well for us and I encourage you to investigate further if would like your students understanding of science to increase. Just how the Next Generation Science Standards will affect is not known, but it has been absolutely worth it for my school.

Problems With Standards in High School Biology

            The current CA Biology/Life Science Standards have some very large “gaps.” While I have always been a big proponent of having Standards, the gaps have been a big problem for me. Perhaps no bigger gap exists than the lack of proper Standards that deal with plant anatomy and physiology.

            I have a degree in a plant-related subject and have studied plants a great deal in my prior career and I am an avid gardener. I admit to being very biased on this subject. They are an absolutely vital part of our existence. Still, the only Standards we’ve had in CA that specifically covers plants deals with photosynthesis. [OK, you can make the leap that genetics can cover plants, but it is not specific to them.] So when the Next Generation Science Standards Framework came out, I was excited to see how such an important concept would be handled.

            Sadly, my excitement was short-lived. Though it reads like stereo instructions, I cannot find much material covering plant science during the high school years. There are some minor plant concepts covered in the lower grades (some already exist, too) but nothing too deep or meaningful. 

            This year, my department chair and I have been discussing how we can get more plant material into our curriculum. Many of the students in our small community will spend the rest of their lives working in agriculture. Our plan is to integrate plant anatomy and physiology into our Post-STAR test curriculum. It should make for a good research project and an insightful Lab Report activity (as required by the new Common Core English Standards). 

            By the way, you may be under the impression that Agriculture classes would be picking up the slack as far as plant education goes. Nope. Many high schools don’t even have an Agriculture department. Those that do tend to focus on animal husbandry, etc. 

                                   

Linking Tragedy to Learning

The devastation of Hurricane Sandy is widespread across the east coast. But what does that mean to students on the west coast, most of which have never experienced a hurricane? Many just think of it as a really bad rain storm.

As much as we don't want to scare our students, it is very important that they understand what has taken place, how people and cities have been impacted. It is also important for them to understand how the weather is predictable. They were talking about Sandy and its impact at least a week before it happened.

For the lower grades, I suggest spending some time helping them to understand how the weather can be predicted. There are some great websites to help out. The United States Search and Rescue Task Force has a great website about weather that makes it easy to understand. EdHeads has a wonderful website about predicting weather as an activity.

For high schoolers, you may want to go a step further. Especially on the west coast, we have earthquakes, which can cause even greater devastation and we have no ability to predict them. You don't want to scare the kids, but it is important that they understand the risks. One of my favorite earthquake websites is the Earthquake Tracker  from the United States Geological Survey. It tracks and catalogs all earthquakes around the world in real time. Or you can zoom in to your specific area.

Don't miss out on a great learning opportunity! The media is talking more about this event right now than the election in a few days.

You could even throw some information into your lesson about being prepared for disasters.