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Communicate Science Strategies
1. Say What You Mean!
Strategies to Help Students Better
Communicate Science
Michigan Mathematics and Science
Teacher Leadership Collaborative
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
3. Objectives
• Recognize some of the common “communication”
issues we present to students through written
tasks and questioning
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
4. Objectives
• Recognize some of the common “communication”
issues we present to students through written
tasks and questioning
• Discuss what constitutes an explanation, a
“scientific explanation”, a description, and a
definition of a scientific term
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
5. Objectives
• Recognize some of the common “communication”
issues we present to students through written
tasks and questioning
• Discuss what constitutes an explanation, a
“scientific explanation”, a description, and a
definition of a scientific term
• Examine possible ways in which the tasks we
present students do not align with the
understanding we are looking to assess or build
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
6. Objectives
• Recognize some of the common “communication”
issues we present to students through written
tasks and questioning
• Discuss what constitutes an explanation, a
“scientific explanation”, a description, and a
definition of a scientific term
• Examine possible ways in which the tasks we
present students do not align with the
understanding we are looking to assess or build
• Provide strategies to support student written work
in science
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
7. Say What You Mean...
“Not the same thing a bit!
Why, you might just as well
say that, ‘I see what I eat’
is the same as ‘I eat what I
see’!” (Mad Hatter)
“You might just as well say,
that ‘I like what I get’ is the
same thing as ‘I get what I
like’!” (March Hare)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
8. Say What You Mean...
“Then you should say what you
mean.” (March Hare)
“Not the same thing a bit!
Why, you might just as well
say that, ‘I see what I eat’
is the same as ‘I eat what I
see’!” (Mad Hatter)
“You might just as well say,
that ‘I like what I get’ is the
same thing as ‘I get what I
like’!” (March Hare)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
9. Say What You Mean...
“Then you should say what you
mean.” (March Hare)
“I do; at least - at least I mean what I say
“Not the same thing a bit!
Why, you might just as well
say that, ‘I see what I eat’
is the same as ‘I eat what I
see’!” (Mad Hatter)
“You might just as well say,
that ‘I like what I get’ is the
same thing as ‘I get what I
like’!” (March Hare)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
11. Examining Student Work
• Take turns in small groups reviewing the
examples of student written work
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
12. Examining Student Work
• Take turns in small groups reviewing the
examples of student written work
• What understandings were shown about
the science content of the task?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
13. Examining Student Work
• Take turns in small groups reviewing the
examples of student written work
• What understandings were shown about
the science content of the task?
• What MIS-understandings were shown
about the science content?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
14. Examining Student Work
• Take turns in small groups reviewing the
examples of student written work
• What understandings were shown about
the science content of the task?
• What MIS-understandings were shown
about the science content?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
15. Examining Student Work
• Take turns in small groups reviewing the
examples of student written work
• What understandings were shown about
the science content of the task?
• What MIS-understandings were shown
about the science content?
• What MIS-understandings seem to be
related to the “communication verb” in the
task (i.e. “define”, “explain”, “compare”)?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
17. Task 1
Categorize all of the objects listed below into 2 or
more categories based on their properties. You
should explain how you can up with the
categories, and explain for EACH OBJECT why
you placed it in that category:
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
18. Task 1
Categorize all of the objects listed below into 2 or
more categories based on their properties. You
should explain how you can up with the
categories, and explain for EACH OBJECT why
you placed it in that category:
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
19. Task 1
Categorize all of the objects listed below into 2 or
more categories based on their properties. You
should explain how you can up with the
categories, and explain for EACH OBJECT why
you placed it in that category:
Earth, Venus, Saturn, Sun, Moon, Io (one of
Jupiter’s satellites), Uranus, and Sirius (a star)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
21. Task 2
Using the list of objects below, generate at least
two different categories of objects that these
could be divided into. Define each category, and
explain why each of the objects would fit the
categories you just defined:
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
22. Task 2
Using the list of objects below, generate at least
two different categories of objects that these
could be divided into. Define each category, and
explain why each of the objects would fit the
categories you just defined:
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
23. Task 2
Using the list of objects below, generate at least
two different categories of objects that these
could be divided into. Define each category, and
explain why each of the objects would fit the
categories you just defined:
Earth, Venus, Saturn, Sun, Moon, Io (one of
Jupiter’s satellites), Uranus, and Sirius (a star)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
25. Task 3
Below are listed several objects - for each,
describe at least two things about that object
based on what you know about it, and state
what “category” each object might fit into based
on these:
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
26. Task 3
Below are listed several objects - for each,
describe at least two things about that object
based on what you know about it, and state
what “category” each object might fit into based
on these:
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
27. Task 3
Below are listed several objects - for each,
describe at least two things about that object
based on what you know about it, and state
what “category” each object might fit into based
on these:
Earth, Venus, Saturn, Sun, Moon, Io (one of
Jupiter’s satellites), Uranus, and Sirius (a star)
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
28. A Little Experiment
• All had different questions with similar
content, but the “verb” changed.
• Do we know the difference between the
following sets of verbs:
• Explain • Classify
• Describe • Organize
• Define • Compare
• List • Contrast
• Do our students understand these
differences?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
29. Descriptions
• description |diˈskrip sh ən|
noun
1 a spoken or written representation or
account of a person, object, or event : people
who had seen him were able to give a
description.
• Generally use adjectives to present observable
characteristics of the object or phenomena being
described.
• Provide imagery or other sense-specific
concepts to convey a reasonable representation
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
30. Common Problems With
Descriptions
• Students use examples of a particular
object or concept, but don’t actually
describe its characteristics
• Descriptions are too vague to discern
understanding of the concept
• Students may use analogies that are not
appropriate to the topic or concept
• Description is appropriate, but does not
then apply this to a more challenging task
or problem context to present understanding
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
31. Definitions
• definition |ˌdefəˈni sh ən|
noun
1 a statement of the exact meaning of a word,
esp. in a dictionary.
• an exact statement or description of the
nature, scope, or meaning of something : our
definition of what constitutes poetry.
• A description that is so accurate as to uniquely
describe that word or concept
• A description where the converse statement is true
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
32. The Definition “Test”
The “Inverse” test:
If A then B is true
If B then A is also true
(not so for descriptions or examples)
If it is an ATOM, then it
is A SMALL PARTICLE
If it is A SMALL
Small Particles PARTICLE, then it is an
Atoms
ATOM
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
33. Common Problems with
Definitions
• Students use examples of a particular
object or concept, but don’t actually define it
• Definitions are too vague to pass the
Inverse test (but may show the limits of the
student’s actual understanding)
• Students might be able to recite a definition
for an object or concept, but do not
understand what it means and cannot
apply it or restate it in their own language
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
34. Explanations
• explanation
noun
a statement or account that makes something clear :
the birth rate is central to any explanation of population trends.
a reason or justification given for an action or belief :
Freud tried to make sex the explanation for everything | : my
application was rejected without explanation.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
35. Common Problems with
Explanations (in Science Class)
• Scientific explanations are different than typical
explanations, especially when used to explain a
conclusion from investigation
• Students don’t recognize the difference
between regular and scientific explanation
• Students explain a theory or conclusion by
restating the observation
• Students don’t know how to reason through a
conclusion (in written form)
• Students don’t understand the concept, but
know how to take a test
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
36. A Structure to Scientific
Explanation
• Claim
• Evidence
• Reasoning
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
37. The REAL Problem with Descriptions,
Definitions, and Explanations
• We often don’t teach these things, and
assume students know them
• We don’t understand them ourselves
• We don’t provide structures for kids to
better understand these ideas
• We often accept oral versions during
instruction, but then assess student written
explanation
• “I’m not a Language Arts teacher”
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
