Thanks for the thoughtful blog entries and questions. One blogger wondered when planning a lesson if you start with the standard and then develop the lesson or if you start with the activity and then find the standards. Does it matter where you start when you develop a science lesson? Let's begin to consider this question by visiting the Private Universe research lab website and exploring how they would answer the question, "Where do you start when planning a science lesson?"
Visit the website listed below, explore the resources, and complete the five question moon survey (click on Visit the Lab). Which questions were hard? easy? On the site is a tab to compare your ideas to "What Others Said" including elementary, middle, and high school students, teachers, and the public. Choose a group and report on your findings. What strategy does the Private Universe recommend for beginning the planning of a science lesson? Why? Is this consistent with the teaching recommendations found in the NSES? How did you decide?
http://www.learner.org/teacherslab/pup/index.html
37 comments:
The moon survey for me was relatively easy. However, it was a good reminder that I need to spend more time thinking about and processing the question to come to the correct response rather than just answering the question because I think I know the answer. I should have gotten every question correct (and in fact, realized and understood where my mistakes were quickly after seeing the correct response) from all the astronomy we did in Science 225. The first two weren't necessarily hard, I just didn't think about them in great detail and got them wrong. I would say that overall the 5 questions were relatively easy, but that is based on having such an intense course (sci 225) focused on those types of principles. I'm not sure as an elementary student I would have been able to answer those correctly.
I looked at the responses from Elementary Students and I was a little surprised that the majority of elementary student chose the correct answer for every question. There were definitely kids that didn't pick the right answer, but it was interesting that the majority of the students were correct. I wonder if the elementary student responses were broken into grade levels or even grade bands if those result were remain true.
To start the planning of a science lesson they recommend that teachers are aware of common misconceptions that students might have about the subject they wish to teach. It is important to be aware of those so that the lesson activities can be focused on correcting those misconceptions. They also recommend that teachers are aware of all the concepts that require a complete understanding of prior to discussing the new topic. This recommendation fits with the National Science standard of the history and nature of science. As the standard states, it is important to know how scientific ideas have developed and where they have come from to understand where those concepts are currently at. So, as the site suggests, a teacher needs to be aware of the foundational concepts of their lesson idea so that the students can gain a full understanding of the new concept.
The survey of the moon was fairly easy for me. Although I got a couple of answers wrong, I believe that if I had not taken the astronomy class so long ago I would have been able to answer all the questions correctly. The questions I got wrong were possibly because I chose the answer that first came to mind, and did not think through the problem accordingly.
After comparing my answers to elementary teachers I am surprised on the many different answers that were chosen. To me it looks as if many of the concepts may not be taught or that the teachers have many misconceptions about the topic. The majority on most of the questions were answered correctly, but when looking at the numbers to the wrong selections, it was surprising.
To beging teaching science lessons I think one of the best recommendations they state is to be aware of the misconceptions that students have about the topic. It is also important to plan activities accordingly in order to address the misconceptions and teach the subject.
They also address the importance of the teacher's knowledge to the subject. This is consistent with the teaching recommendations found in the NSES because it states that a teacher needs to be aware of the information they are teaching and have a correct understanding of the topic. If teachers have the correct understanding then their students have the greatest potential to gain the correct understanding as well.
I found the questions all to be fairly easy, but this is only because I present space science to classrooms and the presentation addresses some of these concepts. (Before I started presenting I would not have found it as easy!) I found the tilt question to be the trickiest, only because we are taught that the tilt does indeed have something to do with the warmer temperatures, but it is more so because it helps cause the longer days. I could see how that question could be misinterpreted.
I also looked at the elementary teacher responses, and like Kylie said I was a little surprised at how many teachers got the some of the questions wrong. Questions such as the order of some of the objects in our solar system, and it wasn’t just one teacher either – 40 teachers actually thought that the clouds were further out than our sun and moon?! I really hope it is because they simply did not read the question-not because they thought that was truly the answer, though if there are teachers out there such as that maybe it will make finding a job easier! The last two question results were pretty much as I expected, especially the last one, we use a very similar question in our space presentation ( K-12 classrooms across Montana) and 90% of the teachers and students get the distance from the moon to our Earth wrong.
After looking at the website and reading some of their suggested activities it seems, not surprisingly, they focus on the students discovering the questions/
answers themselves. As Sarah mentioned one of the first things teachers should do is address common student misconceptions. The website states by knowing students’ misconceptions a teacher can tailor, to their classroom, the class schedule on which topics they want/need to address first. By doing so a teacher is creating long/short term goals for her classroom, one of the main teaching suggestions under “Teachers of science plan an inquiry-based science program for their students” from the NSES.
A couple of the activities were excellent at allowing the students to discover for themselves if their ideas about certain topics were correct. Activities such as the students manipulating models/spheres to support/not support their claims on the phases of the moon, or an activity such as keeping a moon phase journal. All the activities suggested offered a very hands- on student centered learning style, which supports the teaching standard that states: “Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning.” Both of these opening activities allow the teacher to guide the learning without simply telling the students the answer.
I am going to stop my post now, so that other students will have something to write about without just repeating what I have written! Sorry everyone-I try to keep it short and sweet…it just doesn’t happen.
The second survey question was hard because it seemed C and D were very similar. C stated The Northern Hemisphere is closer to the Sun in June and D said The Sun is higher in the sky and provides more hours. Maybe I read through it too quickly thinking to myself, “I just took Science 225, I know everything now!” I guess I was wrong. The question still seems a bit vague to me.
Wow! Pluto is closer than the stars? I’m really glad I’m taking this survey. I’m learning a lot about things I never thought about. Tough question, that number 3.
I didn’t like the last survey question because I think that is an almost impossible to image or define in a persons mind. Distance as great as that between the Earth and the Moon is measurable but incredibly hard to put into perspective.
Honestly, I don’t think any of these questions were particularly easy. My reasoning that yes, I have taken Science 225 (all my fellow education buddies know how difficult that class was) I feel that they were tough questions. They were, however great because many of the questions asked were based around common misconceptions.
I looked at a couple different groups concerning “What Others Said” and I have to say that was very interesting. The college students were a bit disappointing to me. The majority got two of the questions wrong. The elementary students were awesome! Sarah mentioned that she was really surprised that the majority of the students chose the correct answer. I agree with that, college students got more answers wrong. I wonder if that is because many misconceptions are being discovered and discussed now at the younger age, where as when I was elementary school we didn’t covered the subject of the moon or space science in depth. I’m really surprised at how many misconceptions there seems to be though and as I sit here and reflect on my elementary science experiences, most of them came straight from a science book, not much was hands on. As a visual learner that can be quite challenging.
Private Universe suggests “being aware of possible misconceptions” in the specific content being taught and in general. This can be accomplished by asking students questions before a lesson is taught. The website also mentions the importance of having the lessons correct the misconceptions that the students have. This is important because we as teachers need be able to transform those thoughts into what is correct by showing them and creating understanding of why their own (students) ideas were incorrect. As Kylie and Julia stated this does contend with NSES recommendations because both state the importance of grasping what students know, or think they know and don’t know in order to teach what needs to be taught to students to convey correct information.
I thought the moon survey was pretty easy, but I noticed each question had common misconceptions about the moon. The last question could be a little difficult for kids because the scale is hard to judge. I compared my answers with those of elementary students. I noticed that many of the students answered correctly but a few of the questions (like the last one) the amount of students who chose each response was more uniform.
The Private Universe gave 2 strategies for planning a science lesson. The first is to be aware of the common misconceptions your students may hold about the subject. They recommend doing a survey or asking open-ended questions. It is important to know these misconceptions so you can guide the students in the correct direction. The second is to be aware of the concepts that need to be taught for a complete understanding of the subject. You must make sure that you have access to different methods of teaching the subject so your students will develop a complete understanding.
The site listed the NSES Standards that were met through their activities. I feel that their recommendations for activities meet these standards because they promote inquiry and give the teachers an idea for guided instruction. Also, they recommend that the teachers know what activities are appropriate for their students, which is another NSES Standard.
I am willing to admit that the survey was not that easy for me. I think I got three wrong. The last time I studied astronomy was probably in middle school. I compared my answers with those of the Elementary students and it seemed that I shared some of their misconceptions.
The Private Universe recommends beginning a lesson by having students articulate and examine their personal theories. They can then make predictions based on their theories that can be proved right or wrong through research and experimentation. This is the best practice for retaining information, rather than just providing the answers right away. This approach is consistent with the NSES standards which say students should use inquiry, reflection, interpretation of research, modeling and guided practice. I decided this because the website specifically refers to this standard as well as the "knowledge of science" standard B. Also, it is clear that they both support inquiry based learning.
I pretty much dominated the moon quiz. I suppose this was because I find this area of science very interesting and Ive taken a fantastic Astronomy class at the University of Nevada. I do have to agree with Raenelle about the temperature in New York question though, it is poorly written.
I viewed the responses of Elementary students and was surprised to find that there were more correct answers than I had anticipated. I imagine that a majority of the kids who take this moon quiz have been studying this type of material recently. I also peeked at another groups responses was disgusted to find that 16 college professors thought that the cycles of the moon are caused by clouds getting in the way of our view! I hope that these numbers actually represent kids pretending to be professors and choosing ridiculous answers.Moving right along here...
The website suggests that lesson plans should clear up some of the common misconceptions that students are likely to have; knowing these common misconceptions is going to be a good strategy to use when writing a lesson. This will enable you to possibly clear up any misconceptions that you, the teacher, may have and be sure that you are well educated on the subject. This is consistent with the NSES teaching recommendations because, as Kylie stated earlier in the blog, if teachers have the correct understanding of the topic then the students will have the greatest potential to understand it as well.
Before taking the moon survey I was a little nervous I would perform poorly. However, once the questions began, I realized I remembered more from SCI225 than I was giving myself credit for! The questions were relatively easy and just required recalling some info from my memory bank. I was surprised how many people actually chose some of the responses they did (ex. thinking June is hotter than Dec. because we're closer to the sun. Or- the shape of earth's orbit around the sun). This reinforced why taking a course as rigorous as SCI 225 really matters, especially for a pre-service educator! They website recommended "researching" what your students already know as well as their misconceptions about a subject. Combining this information with what concepts you must teach in order to gain complete understanding is helpful in creating science lessons. The activity on photosynthesis we did today in class is a great example of knowing a subject's details before teaching it. Requiring us to organize photosynthesis information and then present it showed me how important it is I know the history as well as concepts about such subjects. These findings do follow the National Science standards for the history and nature of science. The first step in teaching a lesson should be the teacher is comfortable with and understands the concept thoroughly. With this approach, your science lessons will be more effective creating an easier grasp on the concept.
I found the moon survey to be pretty easy. I remember spending a lot of time in science 225 on studying the moon including its cycle and distance from Earth. I thought all of the questions are very important for children to have an understanding of but the last question seems quite unfair. I easily can see how people can misinterpret the images. It is extremely hard to judge the distance between the moon and earth from those pictures.
I compared my answers with elementary students and was pleasantly surprised. The correct answer was selected by the majority of children and makes me realize how important the work we did in Science 225 is to elementary students. All of the questions were stated to make children think before they answered because many of the answers seemed correct.
The private universe recommends that teachers know children’s common misconceptions. If a teacher is aware of the misconceptions they first can touch on the aspects that need to be cleared up and then begin teaching new material. Also, teachers should have strong knowledge on the material they are teaching and how to teach it. Concepts can be taught in a variety of ways and teachers need to decide which ways are best fit for their students.
The site is a great source and matches up with their recommendations for teachers to help students meet their potential and lists the standards met as well.
I have to admit that the moon quiz was fairly hard for me. I have not thought about these topics in a couple of years. I am not a space person either. The questions with the diagrams or pictures were the easiest for me to answer. The question that had us put the objects in order was hard. I don't think that way. I looked at elementary student responses to the quiz. It was interesting to find that most of them went for the first picture in the diagram questions. They did fairly well but still had some misconceptions about the moon and the sun related to the earth. Private Universe recommends that you let students articulate and examine their own theories, make predictions based on their theories, test their predictions through observation and experimentation, reexamine their beliefs with the results to their test answers, participate in activities that help make abstract ideas more concrete in their minds, work in cooperative groups, learn from the teacher who is a facilitator not just a stand and deliver person, reflect on their experiences, and finally engage in assessment strategies that promote concept development not rote memorization. Private Universe recommends these steps because students are more likely to learn science concepts if they move through the steps. I think that the steps fit with the NSES standards because it is important for students to gain the foundational knowledge of the concept and the steps help concrete the knowledge for them.
Well, right now, I am feeling like a big dummy! I don’t know if I was over thinking questions or never really grasped the concepts, but I got a couple (oh say 3) wrong. Many of my classmates are praising SCI225 for their grasp of these facts, but I cannot do the same. I did very well in that class and still found this quiz a bit unnerving. Hmmm…The first question about the Earth’s orbit around the sun completely baffled me. I felt almost positive that it was an elliptical path, but apparently that is incorrect. The highest number of elementary students got that one right, but what is funny, is that the highest number of elementary school teachers chose the same incorrect answer as I did. This is odd because who is teaching the elementary children the right answer when their own teacher doesn’t even know it? The same thing happened with question #2 on the “why is NY hotter in June than December” question. The good news is that elementary students are getting that one correct (although the gap is closer on this one) and the bad news is that elementary teachers are getting it wrong. I don’t know where I am coming up with these facts, but I am right along with the incorrect elementary teacher group. And what is funnier, is that we are all getting it wrong by picking the same answer (nearly). The other question that was iffy for me was the distance between the earth and the moon. I answered the question in terms of “in the scheme of things the moon is closer than say… Neptune”, but that was also not right. I would have appreciated some sort of scale on that question. I agree with Raenelle in terms of perspective on this question. That said, it looks like the only questions I got right were #3 and #4. Those two seemed easy. I think I may need to go back and study up on some science facts!
The Private Universe page said to start out with the survey so that the teacher could have a better idea what misconceptions her students have, and then focus on those. It is easier to correct a misconception if you know what it is. Even if students don’t take the survey, the teacher should ask open-ended questions to understand where her students are in terms of grasping the concepts. On the other side, the teacher needs to know and understand the concepts of the topic (unlike me, apparently) so that the teacher is not teaching incorrect points during her lessons. The page also suggests 3 different activities to use to enforce the concepts of the moon and to help clear up misconceptions that students (or future elementary teachers) may have.
I was one of those lucky souls that didn’t take Sci225. I took standard astronomy and faired just fine on this quiz. I definitely thought twice about my answers due to the obvious misconception trap. I looked at elementary students and teachers. I was surprised by how much the students knew! Students have grasped these larger concepts. I was surprised that a majority of the teachers got the New York question wrong. I think that this is partially due to the poorly written question as Sarah mentioned.
Sarah explained the suggested strategy to begin a lesson plan quite well. I think the bottom line is that as teachers we must know our material. There is no shame in having to look things up or double check, but we must teach our students the correct information. The suggested strategies work to get teachers and students to look away from common misconceptions and really dive in to the true information.
I think that this is consistent with the teaching recommendations found in the NSES. I think that both are helping students develop their own ideas about science. Remember…. Live long and prosper!
I have to say that the moon survey was borderline for me. I felt confidence because I just took Astro a year ago.. but i still got 2 questions wrong.
I decided to look at the elementary students, probably because thats who I am going to school to teach, and I found that they did well on this assessment. I actually wondered the same thing as Sarah... "I wonder if the elementary student responses were broken into grade levels or even grade bands if those result were remain true."
The private universe was discussing how you need to be aware of "common misconceptions". I believe this is extremely important, because if you can catch these common mistakes early, the students will gather a better understanding of the topic.Any kind of activity to provide hands on learning is also very important. We all know that each child is a different kind of leaner, and by providing manipulative's the student may be able to grasp more quickly.
PU also makes sure you allow children the availability to make their own predictions and judgments.However- they key was to catch their errors early on to make a better learning environment.
did anyone else see how poorly the college profs did?
This site had a lot to offer and did go along with the standards.
After completing the moon survey, I felt a little betrayed by my SCI225 content (or at least by my lab TA) Everything that we learned in SCI 225 was actually not quite the correct answer. I remember learning that the Earth's tilt (resulting in one hemisphere being closer to the sun during the day) was the cause of the seasons. That question was tricky because while the cause of the seasonal temperatures is the positioning of the sun and its height, aren't those things caused by the tilt? In any case, I was glad to see that the majority of students agreed with my incorrect explanation. Even though we are supposed to focus on one group, I chose to look at the college students, elementary teachers, and elementary students. I really found it interesting that the teachers had the most incorrect answers, while the elementary students had by far the highest percentage correct. That tells me that somewhere in our education, our teachers unkowingly misled us in this area, and either the current elementary students haven't gotten to that point yet, or their teachers began to learn and teach the correct information. But I still wonder where this disconnect occured.
The Private Universe website focused a lot on class discussions. The idea is that just giving students the answer isn't going to change their ideas, but discussing them and then carrying out experiments and investigations is the best way for students to learn. This is very consistent with the NSES standards in the area of the history and nature of science. The science standards "recommend the use of history in school science programs to clarify different aspects of scientific inquiry." Discussions that help kids to understand where the concepts came from also help them to understand the concepts themselves. For students to get the best understanding of the content, they must be involved in the inquiry process, including discussions and hands-on experimentation.
It seems that most of my classmates agree that the season/temperature question was ambiguous. Also, going back to my comment about the point where the elementary student correct knowledge became the college student and teacher incorrect knowledge, I like Sarah's question regarding whether or not the results would be the same had the students been broken down into grade bands. Overall, it seems that those who took astronomy or have experience in the field fared better (congratulations!)than those of us who only took the 225/226 classes. I think it would be worthy to discuss as a class the differences between those courses as far as what we were taught and the information we were given. I am curious to see where the differences are and if we were in fact taught a little bit different information.
I am also one of the students who was able to retain much of the information learned in SCI 225 (thanks Dr. Halfpap), therefore I thought the quiz was pretty easy. The only question that I was unsure about was the same question that most college students answered correctly: Put the following objects in the correct order, starting with the object closest to the Earth and ending with the object that is farthest away.
When comparing my answers to fellow college students’ answers I am very surprised at some of the low percentages of correct answers: Question 1: 42% correct, Question 2: 40% correct, Question 3: 67% correct (ironically I struggled with this one), Question 4: 67% correct, Question 5: 37% correct. While a majority of college students answered questions 3 and 4 correctly, I expected much higher percentages on the the other questions
As already noted on this board, the site recommends eliciting science ideas from students using surveying or journal-keeping. These strategies allow the teacher to become aware of any scientific misconceptions that may be out there. Essentially, by preassessing what the students already know/don’t know, the teacher is able to make instructional decisions, such as which topics need to be addressed in depth to eliminate these misconceptions. I think this strategy complies with the NSES teaching recommendations because both recommend some form of preassessment to determine the direction of classroom instruction.
I agree with the Private Universe website in that surveying is one of the great ways to spark inquiry and ideas in students. Before I took the five-question survey on basic astronomy, I thought it would be a piece of cake. But I ended up getting most of the questions wrong! I don’t know about some of their answers, though. I recently did some research for a dance project on the four seasons and everywhere I searched, the seasons “were caused by the tilt of the earth’s axis.” This site said that was wrong, and that we had “seasons” because of where the sun was in the sky. Ummm…isn’t that due to the position of the earth’s tilt? The site never explained why, in the summer in the Northern Hemisphere, that the sun was higher in the sky, and lower in the sky in the winter. Also, the question about which order clouds, the sun, the moon, Pluto, etc. are in wasn’t fair. Yes, Pluto is closer than “the stars,” BUT, is not our sun a star…a ball of gaseous hydrogen and helium that is closer to Earth than Pluto? I guess the question explicitly separated the Sun and the stars, though.
Comparing survey answers between elementary students and college students, more elementary students answered all of the questions correctly than the college students. Maybe this is due to our (college students) “private theories,” ideas we’ve learned awhile ago, or images or pictures we remember that lead us to deduce certain answers. On a side note: what samples of teachers, college students, elementary students, etc are taking this survey? What types of schools are they from? What are their demographics? The samples participating in this survey are just as important as what answers these different groups average.
As Ryan, Kylie, and Sarah stated in their blogs, the website recommends that teachers become aware of the common misconceptions that they or their students might have regarding certain scientific ideas. This is important so that teachers can plan lesson activities to help correct those misconceptions and direct students in more accurate ways of learning and understanding. This is consistent with the NSES because teachers should have a foundational understanding of the topic they will teach, as well as some background knowledge of how these topics have evolved over the years, in order to correctly address and teach science concepts.
The questions from the moon survey seemed fairly easy when I was reading/answering them, but after I took the survey- I realized that I didn't know as much about the moon as I thought I did! I only got two out of the five questions right! After looking at the misconceptions to the questions and how others answered the questions, it made me feel a little better that I wasn't the only one that chose the wrong answers! Question #1 was a little tricky for me-I didn't realize that the Earth's orbit around the sun is nearly a perfect circle!One of the questions that I got right & thought was a bit easier than the others was question #5-which asked about the different phases of the moon. I chose to compare my resposes to the responses of the "College" group. I found that the majority of the group had the same misconceptions about the questions as I did.
The strategies that the Private Universe recommend for beginning the planning of a science lesson is to identify and become aware of student misconceptions, be aware of all the concepts required for having a complete understanding of the topic, & choose activities that help correct student misconceptions and develop the scientific concepts fully enough to replace the misconceptions. This will allow students to apply scientific understanding, illustrate a specific concept, and separate fact from misconception. This is consistent with the teaching recommendations found in the NSES because they are both interested in knowing the development and understanding of scientific ideas so that students are knowledgeable about current concepts.
I felt the moon survey was somewhat easy. I thought the questions with diagrams were easier, but thats probably just because I enjoy pictures! However, like jen mentioned, I found the last question a bit confusing with the scale. Without any numbers or distance listed it was difficult to tell just what kind of distance they were trying to portray. After comparing my answers with my fellow college students I felt a little better about the "common misconceptions" that I had made.
The private universe recommends that you give students surveys to find out what their prior accustations are. This way you know what you need to focus on and what the students already have a grasp of. This is a smart thing to do, but I think that students responses (especially the younger ones) are going to be vary. So more likely than not you will be going over all of the topics so not to leave anyone with those common misconceptions. It's good for the studnets not only to answer these questions without any teacher support so you know exaclty what kind of guideance they will need during their explorations. The standards also stress the importance of inquiry and students seeking out their own conclusions as to whether or not they were correct and why. They also state that teachers need to know what the heck they are talking about. Like I found out taking this quiz, I had some of the same misconceptions that the elementary students did. I suppose its pretty straight forward that we should PROBABLY know what were talking about before we start trying to enlighten our students!
I was actually really proud of myself, I got all the questions right (yes, i did guess on 2 of them). Pretty huge deal. ;) It did take me back to SCI225 and how much I struggled in that class and even really didn't like it. I was quite please that I got something out of it. Most questions, if really thought about, are almost common sense or knowledge.
I couldn't help but laugh, just as Julia did, that so many teachers thought that the clouds were further out than the sun and the moon?! Wow, is this our hiring competition?! That is pretty scary.
Having said that, teachers are expected to know such a wide variety of knowledge. It is important that we understand the concepts as well and give them the correct information.
NSES Standards were listed through out the activities and were met. The activity was a great way to focus on inquiry based learning and an easy way to give instruction. As always, we need to make sure that the content and lessons are fully appropriate for the grade level.
The Private Universe suggested to take the survey first so we as teachers could see what common misconceptions are. I think this is a great way for teachers to focus on how to introduce the topic and to find the most beneficial way to teach it.
Wow, I went in to this quiz confident I was going to do well because of everyone else saying it was relatively easy. Well, I guess my brain failed me. I thought that I had a pretty good grasp on most of the astronomy stuff from SCI 225 but I missed three questions on this quiz. After reading the descriptions at the end of each question though it helped to refresh my memory of the correct answers. The second question was kind of tricky as other people have said because I knew that the change in season was because of the tilt of the Earth, but I forget that it is because of the angle that the Sun is pointing at the Earth. I also thought the last question was poor because I didn't really understand what I was comparing the distance to. I didn't realize that the Earth and moon were drawn to scale and that was what I was supposed to be comparing.
I looked at the results for elementary students, college students, and elementary school teachers. It appears that the elementary students score better on most of the questions than college students and elementary school teachers. Apparantley someone is doing a good job at teaching these kids, but not the people taking these tests ;).
The website gave 2 strategies for doing a science lesson plan. These are to be aware of the misconceptions that students have of the subject and to be aware of what needs to be taught so the students have a complete understanding of the subject. This needs to be done so that the students can gain a complete and correct knowledge of the subject. It is also very important that the teacher is knowledgeable in the subject which is consistent with the recommendations of the NSES. Having the teacher be knowledgeable in the field they are teaching is important because if a student asks a higher thinking question, the teacher should be able to answer it. If they do answer it then it raises the chances that the students knowledge on the subject will increase.
Like many others, prior to taking the survey I was feeling fairly confident, since I just finished SCI 225. I didn’t do so well however, I missed the first two, and the last one. Like Sage, I was pretty positive #1 was a sun-centered elliptical path, but we all know now… that’s incorrect. I thought #2 was tough as well. I thought it was warmer in the summer because the Northern Hemisphere was tilted towards the sun. The correct answer however was because the sun is higher, therefore there’s more daylight. Like many others, I chose the answer quickly without reading all of them carefully, because I thought I was right. I thought #3 was fairly easy, although I might have gotten tricked if I hadn’t just recently learned how far away the stars really are.
I chose to compare how well the elementary students did, and was quite surprised and impressed to see that the majority of students got the right answer on all five questions. We really need to know our stuff to teach these kids! Like someone else mentioned, I was wondering if it’s due to the way we learned everything out of a book as young students. The technology we have readily available today helps clarify concepts so well for visual learners.
Like many others mentioned, the site recommended we clear common misconceptions prior to beginning our lesson. A “K-W-L chart” is a great way to begin the lesson, and to do a brief survey to see where they’re at. The site also recommended student centered, hands-on learning. Like Julia said, this ties in perfectly with the standard “Teachers of science guide and facilitate student learning.”
Most of the questions on the five moon survey were pretty easy, but only because we learned most of the information in depth in Science 225. I did miss the question about the distance between the earth and the moon, but I thought that question was not very clear. I looked at the elementary students results, and like most people that viewed them, I was very surprised that the majority of elementary students got the questions right. The questions seemed much too difficult for young students. I mean I didn’t have a good understanding of these concepts until college.
The Private Universe says that teachers need to have an idea of what misconceptions students have before planning a lesson. This was teachers will be able to focus on these misconceptions and correct them. Also, the teacher needs to know the concepts of the topic so the students are getting accurate information.
These strategies are consistent with NSES. The sight also recommends that teachers know fundamental concepts of the lessons they teach so their students will have the opportunity to gain accurate understanding on concepts.
Visit the website listed below, explore the resources, and complete the five question moon survey (click on Visit the Lab). Which questions were hard? easy? On the site is a tab to compare your ideas to "What Others Said" including elementary, middle, and high school students, teachers, and the public. Choose a group and report on your findings. What strategy does the Private Universe recommend for beginning the planning of a science lesson? Why? Is this consistent with the teaching recommendations found in the NSES? How did you decide?
The moon survey for me was surprisingly easy. Initially, when I found out that we were going to take a quiz over stuff we learned in science 225 I got frightning flashback. However, even though I did so poorly in that class, each question came easy for me. The hardest question for me was question #5 because it was a measurement type question.
After comparing my questions with other elementary teachers I was shocked to see that some of the educators need to refresh their astrology facts. It seems that some of this information is confusing to the teachers and is not getting properly taught in their classroom.
The best way to begin a science lesson is to bring up ideas that the child is interested in and correctly answering any misconceptions that the child has about that topic. This website notes that if a teacher can clear up any misconceptions new information can be taught.
I really enjoyed this website because it showed the differences between students and teachers.
The questions were not that difficult, but I definitely need to brush up on my astronomy! There were a few questions that I probably should have thought about first, instead of answering right away. When I saw the questions I got wrong, and what the answers were, I basically had a "Duh!" moment.
On the What Others Said Tab I selected the elementary students tab. I was curious to see what students (I will someday be teaching) had to say. Each question had a large number of students who answered correctly. That made me realize that I should never underestimate how smart young students truly are. It made me think about the importance of knowing answers to questions like these because, as a teacher, I will be asked them.
The one strategy the Private Universe suggests starting with is to be conscious of the misconceptions students may have about the questions. It's important to plan activities exposing the misconceptions and then explaining them. That way students are able to have a better understanding of what their learning. I also read that you should let students try and find the answer for themselves, instead of giving it to them. I completely agree with that because it allows students to comprehend the information, instead of just absorbing it and not retaining the information. The most obvious, is that the teacher know the material they are teaching.
This is consistent with the NSES standards. I decided this because it is listed that teachers know their material. The website also listed the standards covered throughout each lesson, which is helpful for teachers. That way they know what standards are being covered and which are not.
The five question moon survey was fairly easy for me. Having just taken science 225 last semester I had a lot of information about the moon still imbeded in my brain. I took the survey twice, the first time I just ran through the questions without really concentrating on the subject it was pertaining to. The second time I payed much more attention to each question in detail and did much better. However, I don't know if an elementary student could answer all of these questions if they did not recieve intense information on these ideas. After comparing my answers to those of elementary students, my thoughts changed dramatically. Most elementary students chose the right answer, and I beleive they did this because they had studied all the different concepts of the moon. It would be very interesting to me to see at which grade level these concepts of the moon are taught and how much time is spent on teaching them and in how much detail.
Like most of the other blog entries, I believe that to start a science lesson you first need to realize the common misconceptions students might have about a particular subject. Doing this can save a teacher a great amount of time put into her particular lesson. One of the most important things is to make sure the teacher has a great deal of knowledge on the lesson she would like to teach. If a teacher doesn't understand common misconceptions or even the basic concepts of the lesson her students are going to be misled. This will lead to the students having even more misconceptions. A teacher need to be an expert on whatever he/she teaches. This fits the NSES because it states that teachers need to know what they are teaching to their students and have a good understanding of the material. Plus doing this will make you a stronger teacher and your students stonger learners.
The quiz overall was pretty basic astronomy. Due to the fact that I was one of those students that took Science 225, most of the questions were relatively easy (though I did have to think twice when answering a couple of them). I did think that the last question was a little confusing, and I see why many people had a hard time with this question. The scale was a little difficult to gage, and even if one knows that the moon is very far away when there is no real scale it is easy to get confused. I looked at the answers of elementary teachers, and I also looked at elementary students. I was happy to see how many elementary students got the answers correct. It looks like there are some pretty smart kids out there. I was a little surprised to see how many of the elementary teachers answered incorrectly. I was shocked to see how many teachers got the question about the earths orbit around the sun wrong. I was also a little surprised to see how many teachers answered the question about New York wrong as well. How are the students answering more correctly, than the teachers? That can’t be good.
As far as what the site recommends for beginning a science lesson it offers two important things a teacher should consider first. It says that first teachers should be aware of any possible misconceptions students have about a topic. Second it says that teachers need to be aware of the concepts required, and have a complete understanding of the topic before teaching it. The site also recommends using surveys or open-ended discussion question to figure out any misconceptions, and get an idea of what you need to focus your lesson on. Then after doing that you can create activities to help correct the student misconceptions. I also agree with Erin when she says that teachers need to make sure they know and understand all of the material before attempting to teach it.
I think this site seemed to be in align with the NSES standards. I feel the activities and recommendations met the standards due to the fact that they encourage open ended- questions, and are helping students use inquiry to form their ideas and beliefs about science.
I thought the moon survey was a little tricky, I think I missed three questions. Although I am happy to say I did get the last one right and a lot of people seemed to have trouble with that one. I think if I took my time and really thought about the answers I could have gotten more right, but I just thought I knew the right one and went with my gut which proved to be wrong in most cases.
I looked at the answers of elementary students and was surprised to see that so many answered correctly, which made me feel a little stupid. The website suggests that you find out what misconceptions your students have and then choose an activity that could best help them understand the concept. They state that you shouldn’t just give students the answers but rather find activities that would allow them to apply their ideas and actually learn something that will be comprehensible.
So I guess according to the site you would first begin a lesson by finding out what misconceptions your students have and then selecting activities around that. I like this idea, it seems very reasonable to me. I think it is imperative to know what your kids know and don’t know and for you to teach accordingly.
This goes along with the NSES because they think science should be inquiry based, which is what the activities on the website were. NSES also thinks that teachers should be aware of what their students know as well as what topics to teach.
I didn’t find the quiz particularly hard, but could see why some people may encounter some problems when answering some of the questions. Most of the questions seemed pretty easy, but maybe I just got luck, I don’t know. I took a look at how the general public did, and found that they did pretty well on most of the questions. Question 2 --why is it hotter in New York in June than December – was the only question that a majority of quiz takers answered wrong. 1,557 thought the northern hemisphere is closer to the sun in June, but the correct answer had to do with the sun being higher in the sky – 1,215 chose the right answer, so there wasn’t that big of a disparity. I can see why some people would point to hemisphere, because many of them are probably thinking about the Earth rotating around the sun. Overall, the general public did better than I would have guessed, especially after seeing some the answers Jay Leno gets, in that skit he does on his show. Or that show Street Smarts. After seeing those, wrong answers –especially anything having to do with science -- would never surprise me.
The site recommends identifying which astronomy concepts your students understand, and those they do not. Once you know these two factors, you can choose a lesson which allows them to use their ideas ‘in situations that can be experienced and tested.’ They recommend not just giving students the answers, because it rarely ‘changes student ideas.’ It sounds like the best learning in this area comes through experience.
As the site points out, their recommendations meet Professional Development Standard B, and the Knowledge of Science Teaching Standard B. The professional development standard states that science teachers need to use ‘inquiry, reflection, interpretation of research…’ By doing more than just giving students the answers to the question, teachers can use the opportunity to open up an inquiry, and challenge the student to find the answers through testing, research, etc. The Knowledge of Science Teaching standard talks about knowing what your students are likely to know and understand, which the website directly addresses. Wu-Tang.
I answered the first question wrong, and I found it interesting that the quiz explained that often those who are educated select the wrong answer. I clearly remembered from Astronomy that orbits are elliptical, but my mistake was in thinking they were super elliptical as the diagram suggested. Woops. I suppose illustrations often exaggerate the elliptical in books to get the point across. I guess I got the point a little too well, and I felt foolish after reading the correct answer. After checking out “what others said”, I felt a little better about that question. The majority of middle school teachers answered the same way I did. Many misconceptions were evident, even among teachers.
After looking at the activities suggested by Private Universe, and after having discussions in class about lessons, I’ve come to understand that the first step in teaching is finding a lesson plan that is age appropriate and student based. After finding a lesson plan you feel students will benefit from, you ultimately justify that lesson by taking a look at the standards and making sure it fits. Private Universe suggests finding activities that tackle possible misconceptions, and then creating dialogue with students to determine what their understanding of the topic is. Do your students hold those same misconceptions? Clarifying those misconceptions should be a goal. And second, the P.U. says you should be award of all concepts that are required for understanding of the concept. This is in alignment with what the NSES standards suggest—for example, NSES explains teachers should “select science content and adapt and design curricula to meet the interests, knowledge, understanding, abilities, and experiences of students”. I think you limit yourself by searching for, developing and implementing lesson plans with only specific standards in mind. There’s a lot of great material out there that may be overlooked if you search with a specific standard in mind.
None of the questions in the moon survey were particularly difficult, but I thought the last question about the moon’s distance from earth was represented in an abstract way. Then when I read the answer, I remembered that the moon is about 30 Earths away from our planet. I looked at the “college students” tab. The majority of college students got the answers correct, however, in a close second were answers that are common misconceptions. I think that people get ideas in their head about how certain things function and it is easier to continue with the misconception than to change ideas.
The Private Universe site recommends starting a lesson with the common misconceptions that students have. They recommend using the moon quiz (as a handout in class) and using it as a pre-assessment of student’s knowledge. This is a great way to target what an educator needs to cover. If we catch student’s misconceptions early, we have a better chance of helping them to develop these ideas.
NSES says, “They use assessments of students and of their own teaching to plan and conduct their teaching.” So developing curriculum around misconceptions also fits in with NSES. Both The Private Universe and NSES explain the importance of teacher knowledge and knowing that as educators, we are passing on correct information and are able to adequately answer student questions and help them answer their own questions through inquiry.
This is a great way to develop and teach lessons. It is essential to gather pre-assessment data to focus lesson and to follow-up with some form of post-assessment, whether that be in-class discussion, journal writing, etc.
Erin Barr
So, from taking this survey I have come to the conclusion that I am not smarter than a 5th grader. DANG IT!!! HAHA like Sarah, Kylie, and other said; I probably could have done a better job on the survey if I would have actually thoroughly thought through the answers rather than just thinking I knew it. But hey... I got number 3 right! :)
When I compared my answers I compared them to elementary students and most of these students seemed to get all of the questions right which led me to believe that I am not smarter than a 5th grader.
As Kylie, Ryan, and pretty close to everyone else states; to begin teaching a science lesson it is always good to get a clear understanding on what some common misconceptions are on the subject. Once you understand this, you can clear those up and move on. This is consistent with the NSES standards.
I must be one of the few students who didn't take Science 225, however I did take Astronomy but it was quite some time ago and found the quiz a little tough. Questions 1 and 5 were the hardest. I chose answer “C”, college students chose my answer as the second most popular answer, the correct answering be “A”. Question 5 was somewhat confusing because you have assumed there is a sizing scale. For example on the scale of the solar system, answer “C” seemed to be the correct choice. Answer “A” seemed more like the distance from the earth to the sun. I feel that the question was misleading because there was no reference to size or distance. The answer I chose was the second most popular choice for college students, “A” being the correct answer. Questions 2, 3, and 4 were the easiest of the five questions. To start a lesson one of the most important points Private Universe states is to be aware of the misconceptions that your students may have. What do your students think? What are their ideas, and how do they come up with them? It is important to know their misconceptions so they can be addressed within the lesson and/or activity.
Teaching to misconceptions fits with the NSES standard which states that, "Teachers of science need to anticipate typical misunderstandings and to judge the appropriateness of concepts for the developmental level of their students."
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