The focus on science writing specifically will look at how students use data to inform their thinking about the content area focus. So for example, our current focal question in science is "What do plants need to grow?" The list of things FOSS is hoping students learn includes that plants need water, nutrients, soil, air, and light. The data that students have collected on this focal question consist of illustrations of rye grass and alfalfa over time, from seedlings to fully grown plants at the end of their lives. As it is, students struggle to use these data to inform their understanding of what plants need to grow. They don't actually see water, air, light, soil and nutrients doing their things. In fact by the second observation they already "knew" the elements they were supposed to learn in this unit. I want to understand how to help students use their data to answer their focal questions. But more importantly, I want to figure out how to help them go deeper - to use the data to explore the topic and generate new questions that are provoked by their observations and the data.
The focus on an intellectual community builds on this
interest in having students use data to inform their observations, their
discussions, their writing, and their thinking.
I feel like the work that FOSS has been doing, or that I have been doing
through the FOSS curriculum, has focused very much on a superficial process of
investigate, record and summarize. I’m interested
in helping students go deeper. I’m
really not sure what this means, or what the idea of an intellectual community
adds. I need to look at the literature that
is focused on the idea of intellectual
communities and go from there. I know
this is kind of a superfluous part of the research, but it’s what I’m most
interested in personally and will let me focus on the science question and
still be intellectually challenged by having both pieces of the work.
Some ideas for next steps in data collection for the science
focus include:
• Having students look at their rye grass/alfalfa data and
write a story of plant growth over time.
• For the new wheat seed investigation, have students talk
about their observations and video tape them.
(maybe use the mac lab?)
• Use varied types of graphic organizers to represent the
data so that they are accessible in different forms.
• Use more specific sentence frames to bring together their
observations:
At first I notices the alfalfa _____________. But then I saw it __________.
First, next, then, also, finally.
I know this is too many, but to start the focal students I have in mind include:
I know this is too many, but to start the focal students I have in mind include:
Daniel, Pedro, Lailani, Vidal, Carlos
Esther, Glenn, Arayah, , Amari
