from elementary to middle to high.
Teaching MS for the first time, there are some things I’m teaching that I think they surely must know at this point (because HSers did), but they don’t. I makes me appreciate that as a HS teacher the MS teachers were helping students develop this and came ready.
Thanks, and I agree. I’m in a new district and we don’t really do any vertical collaboration. I’ve been participating in a the Washington State Fellows Network this year and we’ve been reading the a book about the DCI. It’s been really interesting to read about how each NGSS standard progresses…
The Modeling Chem mass and change lab, red/blue food coloring in hot/cold water, icy hot lab, and electrolysis of water are really great to introduce these ideas in middle school. I think it’s more important Ss think of the world as made of particles than detailed knowledge of the Periodic Table.
understanding basic chemical formulas/formula units (H2O, CO2, NaCl), and understanding that different chemicals have different macroscopic properties. Familiarizing students with the periodic table as a chart that has info about the properties of different elements fits, but that’s the scope.
Former High School, current Middle School science teacher: The NGSS chemistry standards for middle school do not include the periodic table (at least, not as a way of organizing the elements based on properties). MS chem goals are understating the particle nature of matter (as in phase changes)…
I haven’t experienced this yet, mine are still young, but I’ve thought a lot about this. It seems like a hard balance to know when to talk to the teacher if their practices seem off.
One or the other :) There are pros and cons for each.
This is great! What other books are on your list?
Thanks! This is a great summer project for me.
Also, do you cut your own handles in the boards? If so, how did you do it?
That looks great! I have a co-worker who wants to start using whiteboards and wants stands too. This looks very doable, thanks for the pics!
Does anyone have a design for a whiteboard stand made out of PVC (for 24”x32” boards)? I think I remember someone posting this on the old site. #iteachphysics
St my first school, I co-led a group we called the “3 minute observation club.” Each week we took turns observing in one another’s classrooms for 3 minutes with a specific prompt, and then talked about what we saw and what it made us think about our own teaching at lunch. It was awesome.
I have a platform. It may be small, however, I still feel compelled to use it. youtu.be/RGPF-BzWxCc
#PhET #NSFgrants #physicseducation
Thank you for sharing this!
I had a co-worker share AI responses to the reflection questions for our evaluation process, encouraging others to consider that use of AI. I now put a disclaimer that I didn’t use AI on the writing I do for our evaluation process.
That’s good feedback. I got to participate in updating the Patterns Chemistry curriculum last year. There are a lot of great people making cool improvements each year.
I had such a good experience working at a district where we adopted Patterns for our 9-11 science program, were trained in it together, had a lot of alignment between courses, and used teaching practices to meet the NGSS. I’m trying to advocate for something similar in my new district.
I moved back to WA this year. In my new district, our main track, by design, has 2 years of Physical Science where the second year is a near duplicate of the first. The reasoning I’ve heard is similar to yours, there is concern that the majority of students can’t pass a standard chem class.
I spent my last 3 years teaching in Oregon and can confidently day that most of the state has a high school sequence that makes meeting the NGSS a priority (more than 2/3 of the H.S students are in schools that use the Patterns Curriculum).
It sounds like this may be past, but I think the argument is that it is still our responsibility (and also a worthy goal) for our teaching and learning to meet the NGSS standards.
Many school districts map out the performance expectations over a 3 year sequence. I believe districts have to pass an audit for this. I’ve never taught forensics, but my guess is that it’s more of a cool elective course and might be less about ensuring that the whole of the NGSS are addressed.
Do students take courses that adequately address the NGSS standards? Does your school district map the NGSS performance expectations to the courses students take, to make sure the whole set of standards are being addressed?
I’ve also seen the transformative nature of having a high quality curriculum (Modeling, Patterns) on teachers. Having a great starting point is a game changer. But if it’s overly scripted, it’s really confining. (Sorry if this was long, this is my teaching life right now).
One benefit of this curriculum is that someone with very little background/understanding of science teaching could do about the same job as someone who does. It’s hard to see how disheartening it is. I supposed there could be good scripted curriculum, but this isn’t it.
I am at a new school this year. We have a highly scripted curriculum (Amplify Science). Everyone hates it. There are teachers counting the days until they retire with no hope of change. I am re-writing the lessons to make them more engaging, while still following the curriculum, it’s a huge lift.
Ugghh. Gut punch.
I was not expecting the second sentence. Cool!
Good point!
Have you made any adaptations to make it align better with NGSS? I’m a lifelong modeler and recently started using the Patterns Curriculum. It has a lot of the same strategies as modeling, such as paradigm labs and data discussions, but also taught me a lot about how to address the NGSS.