Say What You Mean! Strategies to Help Students Better Communicate Science. Presented at MSTA 2009 by Stephen Best

1. Say What You Mean!
Strategies to Help Students Better
Communicate Science
MSTA 56th Annual Conference
Detroit, Michigan
Nancy Williams and Stephen Best
University of Michigan School of Education

2. Objectives

3. Objectives
• Recognize some of the common “communication”
issues we present to students through written
tasks and questioning

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

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

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

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

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

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

10. Task

11. Task
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:

12. Task
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:

13. Task
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

14. A Task for You
• Your handout packet has a task under
the cover page
• Take 2-3 minutes to review the
question and to reply in writing as you
would want your students to do for this
question
• Don’t worry if you aren’t as familiar
with the content - do what you can...
• Let’s see what you all came up with...

15. A Little Experiment
• You 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?

16. 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

17. 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

18. 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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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.

22. 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

23. A Structure to Scientific
Explanation
• Claim
• Evidence
• Reasoning

24. 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”

25. For More Information
• Handouts and slides available at:
http://mmstlc.net
• Slide shows, commentary, podcast,
and other resources at:
http://catalyst.mmstlc.net
• Contact information at the MMSTLC
Site listed above