Improving Student Explanations in Science

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

Objectives

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Task

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:

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

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...

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?

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

A Structure to Scientiﬁc Explanation • Claim • Evidence • Reasoning

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”

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

Improving Student Explanations in Science

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