2. Who we are…
Jason Batten
Animo Leadership Charter High School
jason.batten@animo.org
Janee Gerard
Animo Pat Brown Charter High School
Janee.gerard@animo.org
Please e-mail us with any
questions!
3. A few notes before we begin…
We haven’t fully figured this out yet!
Much of this approach comes from a UCLA
TIIP2 Grant, with specific influences from two
strands of professional development:
Reading Apprenticeship, WestEd
Model-Based Reasoning, Dr. Cynthia Passmore
About our students:
Extremely high percent of EL’s
High poverty
Excellent schools: Top two schools in the district!
4. What’s a Socratic Lab?
A socratic labis a “dry lab” characterized by:
A general spirit of inquiry
Progression from effect to cause
Student generation of knowledge
Collaborative investigation
Other names for this approach:
Model-Based Reasoning (MBR)
Any other form of inquiry…
6. Typical HS Periodic Trends
Lesson
Memorization of definitions (AR, EN, and IE)
Surface-level (low-level) understanding
Seems to be a “random” or disconnected topic
7. Reason #1: Cognitively
Engaging
If students created knowledge of periodic trends
themselves, the lesson would:
Be more interesting for students
Require more critical thought from all students
Require higher levels of cognitive effort
Provide better vocabulary & writing support for
EL’s
8. Comparison of PT Assessment
Items
Rank the following
atoms in order of
increasing
electronegativity:
Ne, O, F, Cs, Li
Use the principles of
atomic structure to
accountfor the
following data:
The first ionization
energy of Be is 899.5
kJ/mol, and that of B is
800.5 kJ/mol.
HS-LEVEL
ASSESSMENT
AP-LEVEL
ASSESSMENT
9. Reason #2: More Rigorous
Challenging but accessible for all students
Prepares students for college-level chemistry
“Typical” HS
Approach
AP-Level Approach
Recognition of key
vocabulary words
Use of key vocabulary
words
Memorization of trend Deep understanding of the
underlying reasons for the
trend
Low level Bloom’s (Comp.) High level Bloom’s
(Synthesis)
10. Maybe you’ve experienced this
before…
When reviewing for the
final exam, a student
says:
“What’s ionization energy?”
“The elements on the
bottom right of the PT have
the highest atomic radius
because they are the
heaviest.”
“The element with the
highest electronegativity is
obviously Helium.
11. Reason #3: Connections across
Course
Deeply embed concepts from periodic trends
throughout the course
Connects backwards to (reviews):
Atomic Structure: Which part of the structure of
the atom can explain the trends?
Connects forwards to (frontloads):
Ion formation: Will an atom lose or gain e-?
Chemical Bonding: Why are e- transferred in an
ionic bond but shared in a covalent bond, etc?
