NARST 2023
You won’t want to miss the sessions provided by BSCS Science Learning at this year’s NARST Annual International Conference in Chicago, April 18-21, 2023! Details listed below, or click here for more information (enter in search bar: “BSCS Science Learning”).
Students’ Use of Crosscutting Concepts to Develop Questions from an Anchoring Phenomenon
Presenters
Daniel C. Voss, Northwestern University
Brian J. Reiser, Northwestern University
Joe Kremer, Denver Public Schools
Jamie Deutch Noll, BSCS Science Learning
Dawn Novak, Northwestern University
Michael Novak, Northwestern University
Nicole E. Vick, Northwestern University
Abstract
Recent reforms promote three-dimensional science instruction and learning by encouraging students to engage in science and engineering practices using lenses of crosscutting concepts to build understanding of disciplinary core ideas. Crosscutting concepts are the least-studied of these dimensions, but are intended to be leveraged by students from the very beginning of instruction as they are most likely used across different content areas outside of the science classroom. We focus on students’ use of crosscutting concepts as they develop questions after experiencing an anchoring phenomenon in a storylines-based unit. We show that students’ questions are not only relevant to the unit of instruction, but incorporate components of crosscutting concepts in ways that are unprompted by the materials. Our work operationalizes the crosscutting concepts for application to student questions and provides initial findings that students may intuitively use crosscutting concepts in unexpected ways as they develop questions to examine anchoring phenomena.
Strand
Strand 1: Science Learning: Development of student understanding
Session Details
Evaluating Information and Transforming Learning in Science Classrooms
Date, Time, and Location
Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 9:20-10:50 a.m., Salon C7-8 (LL)
An analysis of supports in OpenSciEd curriculum materials focused on use of the Crosscutting Concepts
Presenters
Megan McLean, Washington State University
Sarah J. Fick, Washington State University
Abraham Lo, BSCS Science Learning
Abstract
The Framework for K-12 Science (NRC, 2012) shifted teaching from being about science towards students making sense of their world using disciplinary core ideas (DCIs), science and engineering practices (SEPs), and crosscutting concepts (CCCs; the three dimensions). An important part of this work was that the CCCs needed to be made explicit to provide more equitable access to these tools. To learn to use the CCCs, students need support to understand how (Practical), and when and why (Epistemic) to use the CCCs. This study uses OpenSciEd curriculum materials as an example curriculum in which the CCCs have been intentionally included to describe how they are included and for whom that inclusion is explicit. The analysis uses three a priori coding schemes to understand how the CCCs are made explicit. Our findings show explicit references to the CCCs in every lesson, and almost all CCCs were referenced. The supports were mostly practical, and most epistemic supports were explicit only to the teacher. That said, we recognize that few if any other curriculum materials are designing to include epistemic support for the CCCs as part of the learning process, but we also push for more.
Strand
Strand 4: Science Teaching — Middle and High School (Grades 5-12): Characteristics and Strategies
Session Details
NGSS Implementation: Three-Dimensional Learning and Crosscutting Concepts
Date, Time, and Location
Thursday, April 20, 2023, 12:10-1:40 p.m., Blvd A (L2)
Designing Storyline Units for Phenomenon Adaptation
Presenters
Emily M. Harris, BSCS Science Learning
Lindsey Mohan, BSCS Science Learning
Candice Guy-Gaytán, BSCS Science Learning
Katahdin Cook Whitt, Main Mathematics and Science Alliance
Lisa O. Kenyon, Main Mathematics and Science Alliance
Darryl Reano, Arizona State University
Cindy Soule, Portland Public Schools
Abstract
Phenomena in storyline units are often designed for high interest of broad audiences, yet are not necessarily customized so students investigate phenomena relevant to their own lives, cultural worlds, and communities. To explore opportunities for teachers to adapt units so locally or culturally relevant phenomena drive instruction, we draw on a model-based storyline approach and layer on emergent place-based approaches to explore: how can designers create storyline units that invite phenomenon adaptation by teachers? We present a nascent design framework for an elementary science unit designed for phenomenon adaptation in which teachers could add or replace phenomena in a designed unit. We identified one key modification to a storyline design process to design for phenomenon adaptation: categorizing candidate anchor phenomena prior to selection. We also made three additional modifications to the architecture of the unit design including: using a suite of anchoring phenomenon cases instead of one anchor, designing some investigative phenomena to be adapted, but not all, and integrating supports for related phenomena integrated throughout the unit. Findings from our design work offer insights for how to build upon and modify storyline design processes and products to create units that invite phenomenon adaptation by teachers.
Strand
Strand 3: Science Teaching — Primary School (Grades preK-6): Characteristics and Strategies
Session Details
Designing, Supporting, and Enacting Elementary Science Units for Teacher Phenomenon Adaptation
Date, Time, and Location
Friday, April 21, 2023, 8-9:30 a.m., Blvd A (L2)
Enacting curricula that are coherent from the student perspective: Exploring the teacher-storyline relationship
Presenters
Kevin Cherbow, BSCS Science Learning
Katherine L. McNeill, Boston College
Benjamin R. Lowell, Boston College
Abstract
Realizing science education reform will require substantive changes to science curricula to focus on ‘coherence from the student perspective’ in design and enactment. This form of coherence arises when students see their science work as addressing their questions and problems. Storylines offer one approach to support coherence for students because these materials are designed for students to be partners in developing and managing knowledge-building across each unit. While significant attention has rightfully been placed on developing the storyline approach and materials, insufficient attention has been given to understanding teachers’ actual use of these storylines to design coherent instruction. We address this gap by providing an initial model of this instructional design work called the Teacher-Storyline relationship. Broadly, this relationship entails the activity in which the teacher interacts with and uses storyline materials to design instruction with the goal to be coherent for students. This relationship concerns the teacher, the storyline materials, the participatory interactions between the two, and the resulting planned and enacted storyline that is an outgrowth of this relationship. In this article, we explain each component and then discuss the implications of this relationship for the design and use of storyline units.
Strand
Strand 10: Curriculum and Assessment
Session Details
Evidence based Instructional strategies to improve student learning
Date, Time, and Location
Friday, April 21, 2023, 9:45-11:15 a.m., Salon A1 (LL)
Co-Designing for Relevance in NGSS-Aligned Performance Assessments
Presenters
Jennifer Richards, Northwestern University
Kevin Cherbow, BSCS Science Learning
Miray Tekkumru-Kisa, Florida State University
J. Elizabeth Richey, University of Pittsburgh
Abstract
In the NGSS era, science assessments need to enable students to demonstrate three-dimensional competencies as they seek to address relevant phenomena or problems. This qualitative study focuses on senses of relevance that entered into assessment co-design conversations among middle school science teachers and science education researchers. We asked: In what ways was relevance considered and designed for during assessment co-design? Drawing on video and artifacts from nine co-design sessions, we identified and characterized episodes of pedagogical reasoning (Horn, 2005) in which relevance was a consideration. The majority of episodes focused on personal or local connections for students, consistent with prior work (e.g., Hancock et al., 2019). However, the ways in which teachers designed for student choice in service of this provide a promising strategy that foregrounds student agency and could be adapted across contexts. Some episodes also involved negotiations among forms of relevance, which are critical for science education that not only connects to students’ lives and communities but supports them in participating as global citizens. In sum, this study provides a needed examination of how relevance may be considered in the design of NGSS-aligned assessments and supported through co-design.
Strand
Strand 10: Curriculum and Assessment
Session Details
Unpacking “Relevance” as a Design Aim for Instructional Materials: In What Ways? For Whom?
Date, Time, and Location
Friday, April 21, 2023, 12:45-2:15 p.m., Salon A4 (LL)
