The resources below were developed to introduce you to this program and provide you with an individualized approach to using Exemplars inquiry-based science tasks. Our supplemental material may be used enrich instruction, assessment and professional development. We encourage you to download and share these resources with your colleagues.
Getting Started
1. Planning
A Guide for Exemplars Science Inquiry TasksMore
Below is background information about Exemplars investigations and what is included.
Exemplars tasks are designed for different developmental levels, and they have been grouped by grades K–2, 3–5 and 6–8. Each task is written with one of these developmental levels in mind. Often, for many tasks, adaptations (in materials, data collection procedures and tools, representations used, data analysis, etc.) can be made for students with more or less sophisticated levels of skills and understanding. Student work samples are benchmarked for the identified grade levels and the tasks as written.
Each task includes the following:
- Inquiry Task and Essential Question to be Answered
Describes what science concepts this investigation explores and which science process skills are reinforced during the task. The Essential Question provides the lesson focus or the question students are trying to answer.
- Big Ideas and Unifying Concepts
- Change, Constancy and Measurement
- Cause-Effect
- Models and Explainations
- Systems, Orders and Organization
- Interdependence
- Evolution and Equilibrium
- Form and Function
- Design
- Patterns
- Scale
While no single lesson can address the “big ideas” of science, we have included some unifying concepts toward which particular tasks can help build an understanding in relation to other science lessons. Many teachers will find this a useful way to connect one lesson or unit to others throughout the year. Unifying concepts, identified by the national science standards, include:
- Science Content
- Physical Science Concepts – properties of matter, motion and forces, transfer and transformation of energy
- Life Science Concepts – structure and function, reproduction and heredity, regulation and behavior, population and ecosystems, evolution, diversity and adaptations
- Design Technology – use of tools, invention, design constraints and advantages, impact on human and other resources
- Science in Personal and Societal Perspectives – personal health; populations, resources and environments; natural hazards; risks and benefits; and science, technology and society
- Earth Science – earth systems; earth’s history; solar system; and natural resource management
Science content areas that are addressed and assessed through Exemplars Science Inquiry Tasks are identified under five broad headings:
- Time Required for the Task
Time is estimated and is based upon the teacher’s field test.
- Inquiry-Process Skills
Describes what inquiry-process skills are supported.
- Mathematics Concepts
Identifies mathematics concepts that are addressed.
- Context
Describes what the students have already been doing in science to lay the groundwork for this activity and what prior knowledge and skills they might draw upon to accomplish the task.
- Instructional Stages
- Engagement – Students access prior knowledge and engage with phenomena.
- Exploration – Students explore ideas and phenomena using inquiry to clarify their understanding of concepts.
- Explanation – Students construct explanations of concepts and phenomena.
- Elaboration – Student apply learning to new situations.
- Evaluation – Students assess their understanding of the phenomena.
Identifies which of the 5 Es are addressed in the task:
- What the Task Accomplishes
Describes how this investigation task will teach, reinforce, and assess the skills and knowledge identified in the corresponding science standards.
- How the Student Will Investigate
Describes how students will be engaged during the task. Includes how the teacher might guide exploration, ask questions, and model skills needed for successful completion of the task.
- Interdisciplinary Links and Extensions
Includes suggested topics and activities that can extend the learning from this activity to other content areas.
- Teaching Tips and Guiding Questions
Includes ideas to guide the inquiry process during the lesson(s). While the children engage in exploration, suggested questions are provided to guide their thinking and lead them to the big ideas. Good questions ensure that students build understanding while they manipulate materials and record information. Questions should move from the specific (How is ... different from ...?) to the general (Can you state a “rule” about ...? Do all materials ... in the same way?)
- Concepts to be Assessed
- Observing and explaining reactions of bending and not bending (cause-effect);
- Observing and comparing physical properties of matter (comparing the weight, size, and flexibility of solids);
- Classifying materials according to properties, etc.
Identifies unifying concepts (big ideas) and science concepts to be assessed using the Science Exemplars Rubric criterion: Science Concepts and Related Content. This brief overview calls attention to what conceptual knowledge and scientific terminology students will demonstrate an understanding and use of in their work samples. For example:
- Suggested Materials
Suggests any advanced preparation and materials needed for the inquiry task to be carried out successfully.
- Possible Solutions
Describes possible student solutions – what they should demonstrate; the ways they should organize their data; and possible conclusions they could make.
- Rubric and Anchor Papers
Describes what is required to achieve each level of performance for a particular task and annotated samples of student work for each of the four performance levels: Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner, and Expert. Descriptions attempt to point to the distinctions to look for when using the Science Exemplars Rubric to assess different levels of student learning and understanding.
Literature LinksMore
The science tasks in Scientific Inquiry for the 21st Century are linked to children's literature for grades K–5.
We have broken these down to align with the following science content areas: Physical Science, Earth Science, Life Science, and Design Technology.
Science TalkMore
How can we get our students genuinely excited about science? It’s a question that so many of us are looking for the answer to. So we’ve started something fun to help: Science Talk.
Science Talk uses images and simple questions to ignite your students’ curiosity.
Encouraging students to discuss and engage with scientific concepts does so much more than build a deeper understanding of science; it gives us a way to incorporate many real-life 21st Century skills into the classroom, like working together effectively and respectfully. It also helps teachers build strong and effective classroom routines around listening and speaking during group discussions. Students learn how to take turns and respectfully listen and respond to one another. This in turn builds students’ confidence in their abilities to collaborate and communicate successfully with others. It can also foster a sense of community and belonging that helps nurture social relationships and social communication skills.
There is no right or wrong way to use Science Talk with your students. While some images and questions might seem higher level, younger students may surprise you with their ideas and insights. You can pick and choose the ones you want to use— or use them all!
The photographs cover all areas of science: physical, earth/space, life, and STEM. The idea is just to get kids engaged with and excited about scientific phenomena.
Access a PDF of Science Talk to try in your classroom.
How To Use Science Exemplars?More
Exemplars inquiry-based investigations are a supplemental resource. Our tasks are designed to be integrated into your existing curriculum to enrich instruction and assessment. They may also be used for staff development.
Teachers use Exemplars for both assessment and instruction, depending on the circumstances. The tasks in Exemplars are inquiry-based performance assessments. They can be used to help teach students skills and concepts and to assess students’ understanding of skills and concepts.
- Exemplars include:
- Preassessments – given at the beginning of a unit to assess what students already know
- Formative assessments – given to inform instruction and assess how students are progressing
- Culminating or Summative assessments – given at the end of the unit to assess student understanding
- Exemplars engaging inquiry tasks, rubrics and anchor papers make it an ideal vehicle for professional development.
- Administrators have found Exemplars to be a powerful way of reporting student performance based on national and state standards to their communities.
- Students use Exemplars to learn the practice of science and the process of self-assessment.
- Principals, curriculum coordinators, content area supervisors, and staff developers have found Exemplars to be an effective way of helping teachers begin to understand standards and performance assessment.
Implementing Science Exemplars in the ClassroomMore
When planning units we recommend using the backwards-design process as a means to assist the teacher with ensuring that units of study are aligned with local or national science standards.
When planning units we recommend using the backwards-design process as a means to assist the teacher with ensuring that units of study are aligned with local or national science standards. This process will also help the teacher understand the necessary scaffolding of science concepts and skills.
The process is as follows:
1. Select Standards. These are the standards that you will assess during the course of the unit. It is important to choose a balance of content and skill standards for the unit. It is also important to limit the number of standards you select to three-five total standards for a typical four-week unit of study. Select standards that embrace important ideas and skills for the students at your grade level and for the topic you are teaching. If you have a standards-based curriculum use the objectives listed for your grade level.
2. Build Essential Questions. Essential questions address the big ideas, concepts, skills and themes of the unit. These questions shape the unit; focus and intrigue students on the issues or ideas at hand; are open ended and no one obvious right answer. These questions should be important and relevant to the students and allow for several standards if not all of the standards selected to be addressed. These questions should engage a wide range of knowledge, skills and resources and pose opportunities for culminating tasks or projects where students can demonstrate how they have grappled with the question.
3. Design Culminating Tasks. This final task or project should encompass and help assess each of the standards selected and should enable students to answer or demonstrate understanding of the answer to the essential question. The task should be multi-faceted, allow for multiple points of entry and be performance based. It should allow students to apply their skills and knowledge learned in meaningful and in-depth ways. Exemplars tasks that match your standards can be powerful culminating tasks.
4. Develop Learning and Teaching Activities. These activities and tasks should address the standards selected and guide student learning towards what they need to know and be able to do in order to achieve the standards. Select relevant Exemplars tasks that assist with teaching appropriate content, skills and/or strategies.
There are four major types of learning and teaching activities:
- Introductory Activities are used to preassess students’ prior knowledge and to generate student interest in the unit of study. These activities tend to be interactive, exploratory and stimulating.
- Instructional Activities are used to provide opportunities for students to learn and demonstrate specific skills, knowledge and habits of mind. These are usually sequenced and scaffolded, tied to specific standards and objectives, interesting, engaging, indepth, active and interactive and can also be used for formative assessment during the course of the unit to measure student progress and inform instruction.
- Assessment Activities and the Culminating Activity are used to assess both students’ progress towards attainment of the standards and for summative purposes at the end of the unit. These activities usually involve some type of product or performance by the student.
- All activities selected, both Exemplars tasks and other activities, should be based upon their utility in helping students learn and demonstrate the knowledge and skills identified in the standards selected. Activities should accommodate a range of learning styles and multiple intelligences and be developmentally appropriate. Activities should also have a purposeful and logical progression for both knowledge and skill attainment.
5. Create Student Products and Performances. Consider what criteria you will use to assess student learning both before, during and after the unit. Use the Exemplars Science Rubric to assess relevant knowledge, skills or problem-solving strategies as students work on and complete Exemplars science tasks. Collect and use examples of student work that demonstrates the criteria selected and the different levels of performance. Allow opportunities for students to self-assess using the rubric.
An Example of the Backwards Design ProcessMore
Below is an example of the Backwards Design Process for grades 3-5.
National Science Standards Grades K–4
Develop abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry:
- Ask questions about objects, organisms, events in the environment
- Plan and conduct simple investigations
- Employ simple equipment and tools to gather data and extend the senses
- Use data to construct a reasonable explanation
- Communicate investigations and explanations
Develop an understanding of position and motion of objects:
- The position of an object can be described by locating it relative to another object or the background.
- An object’s motion can be described by tracing and measuring its position over time.
- The position and motion of objects can be changed by a force (push or pull). The size of the change is related to the strength of the push or pull.
Essential Question: How do objects move? What forces affect an object’s motion?
Culminating Task:
"Can You Design a Marble Mover?" (refer to Exemplars Library) In this task students are asked to consider inertia, gravity and friction to design a marble mover that will move a marble a certain distance. In order to do this task students will have had to have numerous opportunities to observe motion and investigate these major forces that affect motion. Students will also have needed to practice the skills of inquiry: questioning, predicting, designing and conducting an investigation, fair testing, collecting and recording data, analysis of that data and drawing conclusions. Students will then present their marble mover to the class. Students will use the Science Exemplars Rubric to self-assess their work.
About This ProgramMore
Science Exemplars is focused on the big ideas of science beginning at the K–2 level and is concerned with content as well as process. The material in this program may be used as a vehicle for improving assessment and instruction.
Science Exemplars is based on guidelines put forth by Benchmarks for Science Literacy (Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) and National Science Education Standards (National Research Council). Alignments to state and national STEM standards may be viewed online at http://www.exemplars.com/resources/alignments.
Science Exemplars is focused on the big ideas of science beginning at the K–2 level and is concerned with content as well as process. The material in this program may be used as a vehicle for improving assessment and instruction.
It improves assessment by providing:
- Inquiry-based assessment tasks
- Rubrics that are aligned to national standards in science
- Anchor papers exemplifying four levels of science performance; Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner and Expert
It improves instruction by:
- Making standards clear to students
- Encouraging students to self-assess
- Giving students the opportunity to work as scientists on interesting investigations and inquiry tasks
- Providing teachers with support by relating each task to the big ideas of science; the context for the problem; interdisciplinary links; and possible solutions
The performance tasks in this program have been reviewed and approved by NSTA Recommends.
2. Instruction
The 5E Instructional Modelmore
The 5E Model is a student centered inquiry-based model of instruction that incorporates a variety of engaging activities that motivate students, builds curiosity, and enhances their conceptual understanding using a scientific approach.
5E Inquiry Learning Cyclemore
The 5Es consist of Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Extension and Evaluation. Download the 5E Inquiry Learning Cycle below.
Science Education and Developmental Stages of Children Ages 5–11more
When planning, teaching or assessing a science unit, it is important for teachers to consider the varying stages of development in children so that appropriate activities and assessments can be chosen. Suggestions on how to do this are included below along with descriptions of the various developmental levels of children.
What is Inquiry Science?more
The tasks in the Exemplars Library are inquiry based.
The Process of Inquirymore
Inquiry science is much more than a lab report; it is a way of thinking, a way of learning and a way of exploring and investigating the world around us. The lab report can be a part of this, but it is not the sole purpose of inquiry.
Guided Inquirymore
Guided inquiry is the core of any science unit.
Student-Directed Inquirymore
Once students have had many guided inquiry experiences, they can begin to design and conduct their own investigations to answer their own questions.
Guiding Students to Design and Conduct Investigationsmore
There are numerous investigations that teach and assess. Here are some sample questions to ask students as they work through their investigations.
3. Assessment
About Student Self-AssessmentMore
It has been our experience, that students at all grade levels can learn to self-assess, using both work samples from other students (peers and/or anchor papers from Exemplars) and their own work.
As teachers begin to use the Exemplars Science Rubric to assess their students’ work, we encourage them to teach their students how to assess their own progress and performance through student rubrics. These rubrics simplify the language of the teacher’s rubric so that students can understand the criteria and become more involved in monitoring their own progress, leading them to become more self-directed learners.
The primary student version of the Science Exemplars Rubric uses “friendly” visual representations to help limited readers understand the criteria for performance. The language in the rubric describes (in a positive way) what is happening, rather than what is not happening. For example, the Novice level states that “I did not use tools YET.” This implies that it can and will happen and gives some credit for early efforts. Primary students can use this rubric when conferencing with the teacher and peers about their work as they progress through a task. It can also be used with parents when students take work home to share.
The intermediate version of the student rubric – in worksheet form is presented in a different format than the teacher’s rubric. It provides the four criteria, a description of expectations for each criterion, and a space where students are asked to provide evidence that they have met each criterion. This rubric also provides the opportunity for students to customize the rubric for each different inquiry task by filling in the specific tools to be used, the vocabulary and terms that are important, etc. Rather than having students simply state that they have met the criteria, this rubric asks them to note where the evidence can be found. Some teachers have students color code each criterion (blue dot for Tools, red dot for Reasoning, etc.) or use a shape (star for Tools, triangle for Reasoning, etc.) and place that code in their lab reports/science journals. Other teachers ask that students write the page or place where the evidence can be found. This process has a double benefit: students spend time documenting their own evidence for meeting standards and teachers save time in looking for it, shifting the responsibility to the student. This rubric is also effective for parent and peer conferencing.
It has been our experience, that students at all grade levels can learn to self-assess, using both work samples from other students (peers and/or anchor papers from Exemplars) and their own work. The key to student self-assessment is clear consistent criteria, written with descriptive rather than evaluative language, which is presented at an appropriate time during the learning process.
Introducing Rubrics to StudentsMore
A rubric is an assessment guide that reflects content standards and performance standards. An assessment rubric tells us what is important, defines what work meets a standard, and allows us to distinguish between different levels of performance.
Students need to understand the rubric that is being used to assess their performance. Teachers often begin this understanding by developing rubrics with students that do not address science. Together, they develop rubrics around classroom management, playground behavior, homework, lunchroom behavior, following criteria with a substitute teacher, etc. Developing rubrics with students to assess the best chocolate chip cookie, sneaker, crayon, etc. is also an informative activity that helps students understand performance levels. After building a number of rubrics with students, a teacher can introduce the Exemplars Science Rubric. Since the students will have an understanding of what an assessment guide is, they will be ready to focus on the scientific criteria and performance levels of the rubric. We have included a sample rubric developed by a teacher which assesses lunchroom behavior in the Classroom Resources section below. It is very important to have your students develop their own rubric first. Sharing, adjusting, or using the rubric on page 13 can be done after your students have experienced the process for themselves.
The Criteria Specific Rubric broken out by Scientific Tools and Technologies, Scientific Procedures and Reasoning Strategies, Scientific Communications/Using Data, and Scientific Concepts and Content (found in the Classroom Resources section below), can be used by individual teachers or teams of teachers assessing student work. In the left-hand column, the teacher records the evidence they see in the student work that justifies placing the work at that particular level. In the right-hand column, the teacher would record the action(s) that can be taken to help the student move to the next performance level.
Guidelines for Using Student Rubrics
- A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words: Introduce rubric criteria and descriptions with examples of student work or demonstrations of what performance might look like. Provide several possible ways to meet the standards if they do exist. Guide students to think through the assessment process, looking for evidence. You may choose to introduce one or two criteria at a time before moving on, or introduce all of them at once.
- Practice Makes Perfect: Provide opportunities for students to use rubrics to conference with peers, teachers and parents about their work and the work of others. Assessment (and self-assessment) will become a positive experience if students begin to feel that they have control over correcting and revising work to meet standards.
- Be Open to Suggestions From Students: The more students understand the criteria, the more they will offer suggestions for other assessments. Guide them to use descriptive rather than evaluative language (avoid words like good, nice, poor) that clearly states what is happening.
- Be Consistent: We suggest that you introduce clear criteria and post them in the room as a reminder throughout the year of what good inquiry-based science involves. Students should have their own copies of student rubrics to refer to, so they can track their progress in each criterion as part of their science portfolios for the year.
What are the Benefits of Peer- and Self-Assessment?More
Students, teachers, and parents all benefit from peer and self-assessment.
Students internalize the criteria for high-quality work. Students who see clear models of work that meet the standards and understand why the work meets the standards will begin to make comparisons between their performance and the Exemplars presented. As science inquiry tasks become more complex and open-ended, it is essential that more than one model be provided to assure that students understand several possible ways to meet the standards.
Students understand the process of getting to the standard. Rubrics should show students where they have been, where they are now, and where they need to be at the end of the task. Describing progressive levels of performance becomes a guide for the journey, rather than a blind walk through an assessment maze.
Teachers involve students in the monitoring process and shift some of the responsibility for documenting and justifying learning to the students. Research has demonstrated that high-performing learners do the following:
- self-monitor
- self-correct
- use feedback from peers to guide their learning process.
Student rubrics, written to identify the essence of the expected learning, can be an excellent vehicle for reflective thinking and peer conferencing.
Parents understand expectations and assessment criteria. When students can articulate to their parents (before, during and at the end of the task), what the standards of performance are, a clear and positive message is received. Parents generally want to support their child’s learning and feel helpless, sometimes, because they are unsure of what open-ended tasks are intended to teach. Student rubrics remove the educational jargon yet still describe meaningful learning. Many teachers find rubrics useful during parent conferences as they review science work
samples.
Students understand that standards are “real”—achievable—and that exceeding the standard is both possible and desirable. Traditionally, many “good students” have done only what has been asked of them. The Exemplars Science Rubric defines high-quality performance at the Practitioner level but also suggest that more learning is possible. Excellence is not quite as subjective as it has been in the past and students are encouraged to begin to define why their work exceeds the standards.
Effective Classroom Assessment Practices and GuidelinesMore
We suggest four broad guidelines to act as a framework for all of your classroom assessment practices, including the use of science portfolios. They are defined by areas on which to place more or less emphasis and incorporate best practices for science instruction.
Effective Classroom Assessment Practices and Guidelines
1. Clearly, define and communicate expectations and standards for assessment.
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2. Use formal and informal assessment strategies/methods to evaluate and ensure the continuous development of every learner and to communicate student progress knowledgeably.
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3. Use assessment strategies to involve learners in self-assessment activities.
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4. Use a variety of assessment methods in order to continually monitor, reflect upon and adapt instructional practices to meet learner needs.
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Click to download a printer-friendly version of the Assessment Practices and Guidelines
Exemplars Science Rubric: Holistic Scoring vs. AnalyticMore
The Exemplars rubric is designed as an analytic rubric that can be used both holistically and analytically.
The Exemplars Science Rubric identifies four criteria for assessing student performance.
Dimensions of the rubric include:
- Scientific Tools and Technologies
- Scientific Procedures and Reasoning Strategies
- Scientific Communication
- Scientific Concepts and Related Science Content
Exemplars science tasks focus on scientific investigation and inquiry. Students are encouraged to develop strategies to test their ideas; to use scientific tools of technology to gather and analyze data; to communicate their understanding by explaining, organizing data and/or drawing conclusions; to use scientific terms and facts appropriately; and to connect scientific terms and facts to the “big ideas” of science – science concepts. The annotated student work samples that we provide with the tasks are scored holistically, that is to say, that we use all four criteria to determine one level of performance: Novice, Apprentice, Practitioner or Expert.
Levels of Performance describe how students might typically demonstrate their understanding of the inquiry task or how they approach the investigation. It is possible for a student to score higher on one criterion than another while working through a complex task. This often causes teachers to question scoring a piece of work holistically.
The greatest advantages to holistic scoring are:
- To be placed at a particular performance level, the student needs to demonstrate a minimum of mastery of all four criteria for that level; and
- There is greater scoring reliability between different teachers using the same rubric to score the same student work.
The greatest disadvantage with holistic scoring is that students are sometimes unclear about how to improve their performance.
Analytic scoring takes each of the four criteria and assesses it as separate from the rest. For example, a student could be at a Novice level in use of tools, but at the Apprentice level for scientific procedures. Both students and teachers can use the descriptions in the analytic rubric, throughout the learning process, to determine how to improve performance in each of the four areas (Scientific Tools and Technologies, Scientific Procedures and Reasoning Strategies, Scientific Communication and Scientific Concepts and Related Science Content).
The advantages to scoring analytically are:
- Teachers can focus instruction and assessment on one (or a few) criterion at a time;
- Feedback to students is specific enough to assist students in improving performance; and
- Patterns of strengths and weaknesses can be seen more easily.
The greatest disadvantage might be that it may take longer to assess each criterion separately if all are addressed in a complex task.
The Exemplars Science Rubric is designed as an analytic rubric that can be used both holistically and analytically. We suggest continuing to use the holistically-scored student work samples in Science Exemplars to inform instructional and assessment practices in your classroom. Because portfolios track progress over time, we suggest using a management tool that allows you to record student progress analytically. (We have included two versions on the following pages.)
Each student would have a page like one of these in his/her science portfolio. As tasks are completed, the date/topic (e.g., “9/14/17 – Insect Homes”) and the performance levels (Novice–Expert) are recorded. A brief conference is held with the student to fill in the “Areas to Work On” section. (Even an Expert can improve, so use this to stress excellence, not perfection.) “Areas to Work On” can include: more practice with a measuring device (Scientific Tools), targeting specific process skills (Scientific Procedures), providing models for better data organization (Scientific Communication), and/or using a science vocabulary guide when writing conclusions (Scientific Concepts). The student’s current performance should drive these indicators.
At the end of the marking period, you, students and parents will have a map for identifying strengths and areas of need. Personal learning goals and meaningful practice can be developed once patterns have been identified. In time, peers should be able to conference in small groups to assist each other.
4. Classroom Resources
5E Inquiry Learning Cycle
Download
Standards-Based Science Rubric
Download
Primary Student Rubric
Download
Intermediate Student Rubric
Download
Criteria-Specific Rubric
Download
Effective Classroom Assessment Practices and Guidelines
Download
Guiding Students to Design and Conduct Investigations
Download
Student Lunchroom Rubric
Download
Science Talk Presentation
Download
5. Remote Learning
Science Investigations for Remote and Hybrid Learningmore
This resource is organized by grade level and designed to support teachers and students working in remote and blended learning environments.
