Conference Material

NSTA Program on Sustaining Systemic Reform in K-8 Science Education

The National Science Foundation's (NSF) Local Systemic Change (LSC) and Teacher Enhancement programs, school districts participating in Education Development Center's (EDC) Center for Urban Science Education Reform (CUSER), national leaders in science education, and NSF and EDC staff invite you to participate in this special program focused on sustaining K-8 science reform.

• Science Works! Finding the Scientist in Every Child -- Kenneth Jeddeloh, Joseph Alfano, et al. (Minneapolis, MN)
• A View from the Bridge -- Melanie Barron (Cambridge, MA); Jennifer Yure (Pasadena, CA); Gail Paulin (Tuscon, AZ); Linda Gregg (Las Vegas, NV); LaWanna White (Cleveland, OH)
• Native Plant Garden -- Treba Berger, Peggy Yost (Bozeman, MT)

  Description: Learn how to create a native plant garden at your school. This step-by-step process will prepare you to create your own garden.

  Summary of Proposal: Our presentation will consist of the following content and activities. We will also begin by telling about the Keystone Project and how it is working in Montana by sharing our experiences at each institute.

  • presenters will give summary of their project, included will be not only the process used, but also some of the reasons that a garden is beneficial to all students, parents, and teachers
  • participants will identify a problem area on their schoolgrounds
  • participants will brainstorm solutions to the problem
  • participants will create a map of the area, including approximate size
  • participants will make a list of plants, and their sizes, that are native to their area, field guides, relative to all areas of the United State, will be provided for this activity
  • participants will design their own gardens, implementing bird houses, bird feeders, etc, as well as native plants
  • presenters will give an overview of their school-wide plan which will demonstrate how all classrooms in a school can be involved, classroom obligations, as well as a timeline, will be shared

  In conclusion, a slide show will be presented to show a newly completed native plant garden at a school.

• Improving the Effectiveness of Science Content Learning Within the Context of Inquiry Instruction -- Elizabeth Strong, Robert Strong (Wheeling, WV), Ted Spickler (Pittsburgh, PA)
• Characterizing the Process of Extended Investigations -- Bernard Zubrowski (EDC); Peter Dow (Buffalo Museum of Science)
• Changing the Classroom: Inquiring Minds Learn to Know -- David L Brock (Baltimore, MD)
• Using Self-Reflective Science Portfolios in Elementary Grades - Bill Badders, Gary Saunders, et al. (Cleveland, OH)
• Put a Spark into Portfolios! -- Rowenna Ricketts, Emma Williams, et al. (Cleveland, OH)
• Supporting Teachers in Extended Investigations -- Candace Julayn (Arnold Arboretum); Marian Guerra (Worcester, MA)

FRIDAY, MARCH 26

• The Spirit of Partnerships Supporting Systemic Reform -- Sandra Lam, Lynn Rankin, Liesl Chatman (San Francisco, CA)
• Assessing the Outcomes of Hands-On Science -- Linda Walker (Ewing, NJ); Gita Wilder (ETS), et al.

  Brief Description:

  Teachers will demonstrate and show samples of students work generated through assessments of hands-on science units used in grades K-6.

  In three New Jersey school districts, science kits and the professional development allows teachers to make optimal use of these kits are the major mechanisms for science reform. As the use of the kits and the hands-on activities they promote increases in the elementary grades, it has become increasingly apparent that traditional modes of assessment are not aligned with the goals and outcomes of these approaches. Working with a researcher form Educational Testing Service, teachers in the three districts have joined to create assessment tasks and strategies that are consistent with the teachers' instructional goals and practices. This session will highlight some of the ways in which the teachers have measured student progress in relation to kits. By pooling resources among teachers working on the same kits, the hope has been to develop assessments that will (1) offer all of the teachers at specific grade levels new possibilities for assessing learning based on the kits, and (2) ultimately have a utility for measuring outcomes across classrooms and districts.

  In the session, teachers will describe and demonstrate the assessment techniques they have developed and show samples of the student work generated by the techniques. Following a brief orientation to the assessment approaches, attendees will circulate among tables set up around the room, each displaying an assessment activity. Teachers will be available at each of the tables to explain the assessment approaches and to answer questions about their applicability to contexts other than the host classroom and/or kit.

• The Role of the Full Time Teacher Trainer in District Science Reform - Odille Santiago, Marselle Heywood, et al. (NYC District 6)
• Effective Science for English Language Learners -- Robert Greenlee (Santa Cruz, CA)
• A Lead Teacher's Role in Systernic Change -- Jane Hazen, et al. (Stark County, OH)
• Museum Connections -- Judy Fix, Anne Marie Palmeri-Miles (Buffalo Museum of Science)
• FUNdamental Physics with a Phizz (K-5) -- Denise Delboy (Beaumont, TX), et al.
• Science Activities in the Multicultural Classroom -- Leah Garner (Baltimore, MD)
• Real Science, Real World: Learning for a Lifetime -- Sharon Pikul, Mary Jean Syrek (Buffalo, NY)
• A Veteran Teacher Takes a Look at New Teacher Licensing Standards: What Do They Mean to Me? -- Bill Badders (Cleveland, OH)

• Exploring Assessment Through Student Work: Presentation for K-2 Teachers -- Deborah Appleton (Landsdale, PA); Carole Stearns (MERCK Institute for Science Education)
• A is for Apple / I is for Inquiry -- Delores Dahn Anderson, Janet Siule (Buffalo, NY)
• Adding Minds On to Your Hands-On Science -- Vince Valicenti, Ginny Belco, et al. (Pittsburgh, PA)

  Using two separate activities, we will present two different teaching strategies. One is strictly a hands-on lesson involving bubble-ology. The other activity involves using a lesson from an STC module that models an Inquiry-based science lesson.

  In the first activity, participants will use various-shaped wands and a bubble mixture to explore the possibility of trying to produce bubbles of different shapes.

  The second activity involves a lesson from the STC module, "Microworlds." Participants will focus, explore, reflect, and apply the characteristics of lenses.

  Discussions will follow, focusing on the difference between "activity-for-activity-sake" lessons and the Inquiry-based lessons.

• Study Groups: The Key to Sustainable Reform in Science Education -- Bill Badders, Norm Schmidt, et al. (Cleveland, OH)
• Science Reform and You -- Matthew A. Teare (Cleveland, OH)
• Science Seven Ways: Using the Multiple Intelligences to Teach Science -- Phyllis Wilkes, Marvena Suber-Bey, et al. (Cleveland, OH)
• How to Start an Elementary Science Reform Project in Science -- David A. Taylor, Johanna Strange, et al. (Lexington, KY)
• Let Nature Be the Teacher -- Louise M. Palanzi (Worcester, MA); Louise Jordan (Princeton MA)
• Elementary Science Reform in the Worcester Public Schools -- Janet Ginkus Allen, Patrick DeSantis, et aL (Worcester, MA)

• Learning Centers and Science Portfolio Assessment (LCSPA) -- Charles C. Byrd (Cleveland, OH)
• Science Centered on Learning -- Cherie Hunter (Cleveland, OH)