Getting Started

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.

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

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:

Change, Constancy and Measurement
Cause-Effect
Models and Explainations
Systems, Orders and Organization
Interdependence
Evolution and Equilibrium
Form and Function
Design
Patterns
Scale

Science Content

Science content areas that are addressed and assessed through Exemplars Science Inquiry Tasks are identified under five broad headings:

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

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

Identifies which of the 5 Es are addressed in the task:

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.

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

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:

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.

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 Links for NGSSmore

The science tasks in Scientific Inquiry for the 21st Century are linked to children's literature for grades K–5.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Conceptual Shifts With NGSSmore

The conceptual shifts below outline what is new and different about the NGSS.

Understandings About the Nature of Sciencemore

The following matrices present eight major themes and grade-level understandings about the nature of science. Four themes extend the scientific and engineering practices and four themes extend the crosscutting concepts. Three additional matrixes have been included to reflect the Disciplinary Core Ideas for Engineering, Technology and the Application of Sciences.

Commonalities Among the Practices in Science, Mathematics, and English Language Artsmore

Below is a Venn Diagram that illustrates the commonalities among the Practices in Science, Mathematics and English Language Arts.

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.

The information that follows describes the mental development of children between the ages of 5 and 11. It must be remembered that although children go through these stages in the same order, they do not go through them at the same rates. Some children achieve the later stages at an early age. Some children stay in the early stages for quite a time. All children experience an overlap of stages. Whereas a child may operate in a later stage in one area, he/she may operate in an earlier stage in another area. The stages illustrated conform to current research about children’s thinking (learning).

Science Education and Developmental Stages of Children Grades K–1

Characteristics: Implications and Appropriate Learning Activities
Pre-operations Stage – Period of Representational and Pre-logical Thought Ages 5–7

Reasoning is confined to appearance, or what the child sees happening
Reasoning is not based on adult logic
Learning is still largely perceptual
Lacks the concepts of reversibility and conservation of matter
Discovers that some things can stand for other things—the child's thinking is no longer tied to external actions and is now internalized
This period is dominated by representational activity and a rapid development of spoken language
Willingness to ask questions
Willingness to handle both living and non-living materials
Enjoyment in using all the senses for exploring and discriminating
Willingness to collect material for observation or investigation
Awareness of changes which take place as time passes
Based on concrete experiences and the immediate environment
Involve a variety of integrated

Science Education and Developmental Stages of Children Grades 2–5

Characteristics: Implications and Appropriate Learning Activities
Concrete Operational Stage – Period of Concrete Logical Thought Ages 7–11

May include the characteristics of the younger age group
Learns in concrete terms and obtains concrete information through manipulation of materials and equipment
Can organize, test and express his/her results in words, pictures or number symbols
Is capable of demonstrating logical thinking in relation to physical objects
Is able to mentally hold two or more variables at a time when studying objects
Has acquired the capacity of reversibility which allows him/her to mentally reverse an action that he/she had previously only done physically
Is more sociocentric
Is able to conserve certain properties of objects
Is able to classify and order objects using one variable
Is able to think of physically absent things that are based on vivid images of past experience—the child’s thinking is restricted to concrete things rather than ideas
Uses trial and error to draw conclusions about variables
Desire to find out things for himself/herself
Willingness to participate in group work
Appreciation of the need to participate in group work
Awareness that there are various ways of testing out ideas and making observations
Willingness to wait and to keep records in order to observe changes in things
Enjoys exploring the variety of learning things in the environment
Interested in discussing things
Based on concrete experiences and a variety of hands-on materials
Variety of integrated experiences
May include cooperative groupings
Units of study should have more depth than in K–1
Journals or logs should be used to record information, observations, and to promote critical thinking
Group discussion should be used to promote involvement and critical thinking
Should include more discovery along with teacher lecture

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.

Inquiry is a process. Many of the skills you will read about in this section will be familiar to you from your own school experiences. All of us have had to fill out “lab reports” at one time or another during middle and/or high school. For many of us, science was all about the lab reports and very little to do with the actual process of doing science. 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.

Inquiry is not a linear process. It is cyclical in nature. As students explore, observe, question and investigate, new questions are formed, new observations are made and new investigations are begun. Through this process students’ understanding deepens and misconceptions are uncovered and examined.

One misconception that teachers often have is that inquiry science comes naturally to children. While this is partially true: children are natural inquirers, they still need to be taught the specific skills of inquiry so that they can begin to think and act as scientists do. Yet at the same time we do not want to dampen their natural curiosity and wonder by making science overly “skill based.” We also want to ensure that our students are learning the content outlined in our curriculums. In an inquiry science classroom, we can find a way to balance all these.

Preassessment
The process of inquiry should always begin with finding out what students already know. This preassessment is critical so that teachers can learn what students already know, what questions they have and what misconceptions they may hold. These will then help guide your unit of study. It is not necessary to teach an idea or concept if students already have an understanding of it. The questions that students have will help you plan what investigations are most worthwhile for students to conduct. You may also find that a number of students hold the same misconception, indicating that more time should be spent on those ideas. A more detailed explanation and some suggestions for preassessment are included in another section.

Exploration
Another critical aspect of inquiry is giving students time for exploration. When beginning a unit of study, students need ample time to explore the new materials and the ideas that these materials represent. During this exploration, many observations are made and many questions are posed. You will also find students beginning to conduct investigations as questions form in their minds. Their natural curiosity takes over and they want to find out what, and why and how. This exploration also allows students to become familiar with the materials and what they do. It is difficult to begin a unit with planned investigations if students are unfamiliar with materials and haven’t had the opportunity to “play” with them. This “messing about” with materials can be hard for teachers. It means giving up some control and having a bit of chaos in your classroom. Start small, perhaps by only putting out some of the materials first and then slowly adding to them. Ask students to help you come up with some guidelines for these explorations and discuss safety and respect with them as well.

Observation
Observation is an important inquiry skill. These explorations can give you the opportunity to teach students how to be careful observers, how to use their senses to observe and how to record these observations. Again, balance is the key. Let students explore and observe without any other expectations except sharing informally with others through scientist’s meetings or class/group discussions what they have explored and observed. Then, when appropriate, you can discuss observation and its role in science and why it’s important to observe things carefully and record what was observed so that others can understand.

Scientist Meeting
The idea of a scientist meeting is an important piece of the process. It is an informal or formal gathering of students to share, discuss, debate, demonstrate, analyze and communicate what they are learning and to hear what others are learning. Scientist’s meetings should happen on a regular basis and be an integral part of any science unit whether it’s after an exploration, an observation, an investigation, a project or research. It can also take many shapes. As the teacher you can decide how to structure it depending upon your students, your topic and your teaching style.

Student Questions
From this exploration/observation as well as later investigations comes many questions. This is the heart of inquiry: student questions. Students have so many questions and our teaching should nurture these questions and allow students opportunities to find the answers to their questions. This can often be difficult because as teachers we have time constraints and curriculum to cover. But questioning is a skill that is used throughout our curriculum whether it’s science, math, social studies, writing or reading. Therefore, having students raise questions and honoring those questions is never a waste of learning time. The understanding and meaning that comes from students seeking answers to their own questions is the most powerful form of learning possible. You may find that students raise questions whose answers fit nicely with your curriculum objectives. These questions that students raise can be embedded into the investigations you plan and/or be a part of independent research and investigations that students do on their own.

The questions that students raise can also be used for instruction. As students pose questions, record these somewhere for students to refer back to and to give answers to as they discover them. This is also a time when you can teach students how to raise testable questions. Not all questions that students raise are testable in the classroom. It is important for them to learn the types of questions and questioning words (who, what, where, when, how, why) and how they can answer each type of question.

Question might be classified as:

Classroom (meaning we can test it here in the classroom or at home with the materials we have available),

Laboratory (we could test these if we had the necessary equipment and materials, but maybe we could ask a scientist or even a high school science class to find out the answer for us), and

Research (these questions can usually only be answered by looking it up in a book, an encyclopedia, or on the internet). Most if not all questions can be answered, you may not have time to find all the answers, but you will have given your students methods and tools for finding the answers.

Guided Inquirymore

Guided inquiry is the core of any science unit.

Another integral part of the inquiry process is guided inquiry. This instructional piece is critical to student learning and understanding. Guided inquiry can take many forms. It can be an opportunity to teach new skills, new concepts and new forms of communication. It can be an opportunity for students to practice skills, concepts and communication. And it can be an opportunity to ensure that your curriculum objectives are being taught as well as honoring student questions and giving them time to find the answers. Guided inquiry is the core of any science unit.

The skills of inquiry include:

Observing
Questioning
Predicting/hypothesizing
Planning and conducting investigations
Controlling variables
Data collection, representation, and analysis
Drawing conclusions

All of these are skills that need to be taught. Students also need opportunities to practice these skills through meaningful investigations of questions and concepts and time to share their learning with others. Guided inquiry can be conducted in a variety of ways.

Here are just a few suggestions:

Using questions posed by students, or questions from your curriculum or science program, have the whole class plan together ways to investigate the question. Discuss the components/skills of inquiry that need to be in place for investigation and then have students break into smaller groups to investigate. Come back as a whole group to share results and draw conclusions together.

After exploring materials, have students share questions they have that they would like to investigate (remember to think about developing testable questions). As a whole group assist each group in planning their investigation. Once the smaller groups have investigated they can then share their results and conclusions with the whole class.

As students begin to plan more of their own investigations, give them opportunities to share their plans before beginning, in order to receive feedback from you and/or the class. You can also have students use planning sheets to ensure that they have all the components in place.

Select a skill that students seem to be struggling with, such as controlling variables. Find tasks/investigations that emphasize this skill and use these to teach the skill to students. After investigating, discuss how well the investigation went and how their results reflect their understanding of this skill.

Choose investigations that emphasize specific concepts in your unit. Use these investigations to ensure that students are developing a deep understanding of the ideas. These investigations should also allow students to continue practicing the skills of inquiry.

Drawing conclusions based upon data collected can be practiced not only through science investigations, but through math, reading and social studies. Provide many opportunities for students to collect different types of data and draw conclusions.

Find tasks/investigations that allow you to teach a variety of ways to collect data. Discuss different representations (charts, tables, diagrams, graphs, etc.) with students. Ask students to think about representations that work best for different kinds of data. Practice these as a whole group, modeling different types, and then have students use these in their own investigations. This can also tie in with mathematical representation.

Use samples of students’ work from investigations to look at and discuss as a whole group. This is also an effective way to reinforce not only the skills being practiced but conceptual learning as well.

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.

Student-directed inquiry should be a part of every science unit. A rule of thumb is to give students this opportunity at least once during a unit of study. It usually is at the end of a unit, when students are ready and have a solid grasp of skills and concepts. Student-directed inquiry can be used as a culminating task with students presenting their investigations more formally to the class. The major difference between guided inquiry and student-directed inquiry is that students have the responsibility for all aspects of the investigation.

You may ask yourself, what about lectures and demonstrations? What if I have to use a program that my school purchased that isn’t inquiry based? These are important questions. The key again is balance. You could use the scientist’s meeting time for a “lecture” or to do a demonstration. Wait until students have first explored and investigated the topic and materials for themselves before introducing appropriate vocabulary or more complex ideas. You will find these “teachable moments” when students are ready for them.

Many schools already have wonderful programs in place for their science curriculum. The most important thing to remember is that no program can be truly inquiry based. It will always be missing the student-directed inquiry component. And many programs tend to be more cookbook in style, where students follow prescribed investigations to get certain results. If you are using such a program, there is much you can do to make it more inquiry based. The simplest thing to do is to allow students to make some of the decisions. For example, if an activity has a great question to investigate and all the steps are given for students to follow, give them only the question and have them plan the steps of the investigation for themselves. Think about some of the suggestions for guided inquiry mentioned above. Use these in conjunction with your program.

Above all, remember that inquiry-based science teaches our students to think. It teaches them that their questions and their ideas are important. After all, this is exactly what real scientists do.

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.

Students can also use these questions and examples as a guide to plan, design and carry out a fair test investigation. The teacher and/or peers can also use this guide to review each other’s work and suggest ways to improve.

Testable Questions

Can you answer this question only by experimenting?
(A Testable Question: Does a banana peel decay faster than an apple peel?)
(Not Testable: Why is the sky blue?)

What are you curious about?
What do you want to find out?
What do you already know about this?
What is your testable question?

Hypotheses and Making Predictions

What do you think will happen?

What is your idea?
What do you already know about this that makes you think so?
Can you state your prediction to show what you think will happen or change? (When I do this ___________, I think that __________will be the result.)

Procedures

How will you test this? What materials will you need? What are the variables?

What is your idea for an exploration? Write out each step so someone else could do it from your directions.
What will you need? Try to be specific. Do not forget your tools for measuring.
How will you be sure it is a fair test?
What are the variables that will stay the same? What might change? What will you observe?

Collecting and Organizing Data

What actually happened?

What did you see? Hear? Smell? Can you add details to your observations?
What actually happened?
What did you measure?
What units of measure (minutes, inches, etc.) will you label in your data?
Will your data be in a chart? Graph? How will you label the important headings?
Are there important dates or times included with your data? How often did you record data?
Can you make a drawing or drawings to clearly show and explain your results? What will be labeled?

Drawing Conclusions

What did you find out? What have you learned?

Remember your prediction? Did you get the results you expected?
Can you use examples from your data to support your results?
Can you explain why this happened or extend your thinking about this now?
Did anything go wrong along the way? Did you have to change your experiment along the way?
Did anything surprise you?
Do you have any new ideas or new questions?

A printer-friendly version of these questions may be downloaded under the "Classroom Resources" section below.

Three Dimensional Learningmore

Exemplars science investigations supports the National Research Council's Framework outlined below. This information is noted on each task write up.

The National Research Council's (NRC) Framework describes a vision of what it means to be proficient in science; it rests on a view of science as both a body of knowledge and an evidence-based, model and theory building enterprise that continually extends, refines, and revises knowledge. It presents three dimensions that will be combined to form each standard:

Dimension 1: Science and Engineering Practices

The Practices describe behaviors that scientists engage in as they investigate and build models and theories about the natural world and the key set of engineering practices that engineers use as they design and build models and systems. The NRC uses the term practices instead of a term like “skills” to emphasize that engaging in scientific investigation requires not only skill but also knowledge that is specific to each practice. Part of the NRC’s intent is to better explain and extend what is meant by “inquiry” in science and the range of cognitive, social, and physical practices that it requires.

Although engineering design is similar to scientific inquiry, there are significant differences. For example, scientific inquiry involves the formulation of a question that can be answered through investigation, while engineering design involves the formulation of a problem that can be solved through design. Strengthening the engineering aspects of the Next Generation Science Standards will clarify for students the relevance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (the four STEM fields) to everyday life.

Dimension 2: Crosscutting Concepts

Crosscutting Concepts have application across all domains of science. As such, they are a way of linking the different domains of science. They include: Patterns, similarity, and diversity; Cause and effect; Scale, proportion and quantity; Systems and system models; Energy and matter; Structure and function; Stability and change. The Framework emphasizes that these concepts need to be made explicit for students because they provide an organizational schema for interrelating knowledge from various science fields into a coherent and scientifically-based view of the world.

Dimension 3: Disciplinary Core Ideas

Disciplinary Core Ideas have the power to focus K–12 science curriculum, instruction and assessments on the most important aspects of science. To be considered core, the ideas should meet at least two of the following criteria and ideally all four:

Have broad importance across multiple sciences or engineering disciplines or be a key organizing concept of a single discipline;
Provide a key tool for understanding or investigating more complex ideas and solving problems;
Relate to the interests and life experiences of students or be connected to societal or personal concerns that require scientific or technological knowledge;
Be teachable and learnable over multiple grades at increasing levels of depth and sophistication.

Disciplinary ideas are grouped in four domains: the physical sciences; the life sciences; the earth and space sciences; and engineering, technology, and applications of science.

Source: http://www.nextgenscience.org/three-dimensions

Disciplinary Core Ideasmore

What are the Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCIs)?

Crosscutting Conceptsmore

What are Crosscutting Concepts?

Science and Engineering Practicesmore

What are Science and Engineering Practices?

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.

More of …	Less of …
Focus on quality, excellence, and meaningful content	Focus on perfection and “right”answers
Clear, specific language describing desired learning outcomes, process and products	Vague, evaluative, subjective language (e.g. words like: poor, good or assigning letter grades without consistency)
Clear links to national, state, and district standards for content learning and process skills	Activities are the means and the ends
Activities are selected to help students demonstrate learning/meeting standards	Evaluation criteria developed solely by and known only by the teacher/text developer
Student and parent involvement in the assessment process as part of instruction and learning (e.g., before, during and after assignments)
Defining progressive developmental levels, with benchmarks, from Novice level to a level that exceeds the standard
Open posting of standards, benchmarks and assessment criteria

2. Use formal and informal assessment strategies/methods to evaluate and ensure the continuous development of every learner and to communicate student progress knowledgeably.

More of …	Less of …
Use of variety of modes and artifacts for communicating understanding to teachers, peers, and self	Only verbal/written modes accepted
Collect work samples over time that demonstrate learning and conceptual understanding	Use of a single assessment or a single type of assessment for an entire unit of study, usually at the end
Application of prior learning to new tasks/situations and real-world problems	Use of formulas and procedures out of context
Solving of student-generated problems/researchable questions to demonstrate learning and understanding	Sole use of teacher/text-generated problems to be solved
Products developed through cooperative learning groups with expectations for individual accountability	Individual products and performances as sole means of evaluating learning
On-going assessment of all stages of the inquiry process including, thorough teacher observations and questioning; graphic organizers; peer feedback; student self-assessment of learning logs, etc.	End-of-chapter tests, short answer tests, etc. as sole means for evaluating progress
Use of manipulative and appropriate scientific instruments and technologies to assess student skills and understanding in collecting and analyzing data	Sole use of pencil and paper tests

3. Use assessment strategies to involve learners in self-assessment activities.

More of …	Less of …
Use of variety of modes and artifacts for communicating understanding to teachers, peers, and self	Only verbal/written modes accepted
Collect work samples over time that demonstrate learning and conceptual understanding	Use of a single assessment or a single type of assessment for an entire unit of study, usually at the end
Application of prior learning to new tasks/situations and real-world problems	Use of formulas and procedures out of context
Solving of student-generated problems/researchable questions to demonstrate learning and understanding	Sole use of teacher/text-generated problems to be solved
Products developed through cooperative learning groups with expectations for individual accountability	Individual products and performances as sole means of evaluating learning
On-going assessment of all stages of the inquiry process including, thorough teacher observations and questioning; graphic organizers; peer feedback; student self-assessment of learning logs, etc.	End-of-chapter tests, short answer tests, etc. as sole means for evaluating progress
Use of manipulative and appropriate scientific instruments and technologies to assess student skills and understanding in collecting and analyzing data	Sole use of pencil and paper tests

4. Use a variety of assessment methods in order to continually monitor, reflect upon and adapt instructional practices to meet learner needs.

More of …	Less of …
Student learning/performance results drive instructional decisions	Use of assessments solely for grading, ranking and reporting
Use of on-going assessments to structure flexible groupings and mini lessons for those who need them
Use of embedded assessments as part of the instructional process
Use of conferencing with students to develop standards and identify needs

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

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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

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Student Lunchroom Rubric

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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.

Below are a series of investigations found in Scientific Inquiry for the 21st Century. The matrix below is organized by grade level and designed to support teachers and students working in remote and blended learning environments.

These investigations require very few materials and allow students to use the skills of inquiry at home and/or at school. Additionally, teachers may use them as anchor tasks, pre-assessments, or jump-off activities for discussion about specific science concepts.

Grade Level	Task Name
Kindergarten	Getting Started With Science Portfolios: What Is Science? Using 5 Senses: How Many Ways Can You Describe Popcorn? What Can Motion Be? Will It Sink or Float?
1st Grade	Getting Started With Science Portfolios: What Is Science? Observing Motion: What Are the Different Ways Things Can Move? What Can I Learn From Toys That Move? Will It Roll or Slide?
2nd Grade	Getting Started With Science Portfolios: What Is Science? What Do We Know About Water? Will It Sink or Float? How Can Temperature Be Interpreted?
3rd Grade	Getting Started With Science Portfolios: What Is Science? Investigating Sound Part 1: What Is Sound? Investigating Sound Part 2: How Is Sound Made? Can You Make A Paper Clip Fly?
4th Grade	Getting Started With Science Portfolios: What Is Science? How Much Diversity Is In This Habitat? What Is A Food Chain? Can You Make A Paper Clip Fly?
5th Grade	Getting Started With Science Portfolios: What Is Science? What Causes Your Shadow to Change? Weather Observations Can You Keep Ice From Melting?
6th Grade	Getting Started With Science Portfolios: What Is Science? Safe Scientific Investigation Weather Expressions: Are They True? Can You Create A Family Tree?
7th Grade	Getting Started With Science Portfolios: What Is Science? Safe Scientific Investigation Biodiversity What’s The Difference?
8th Grade	Getting Started With Science Portfolios: What Is Science? Safe Scientific Investigation Egg Drop Invention Which Shoes Are Best?

Scientific Investigations Use a Variety of Methods
K-2	3-5	6-8
Scientists look for patterns and order when making observations about the world.	Science methods are determined by questions. Science investigations use a variety of methods, tools, and techniques	Science investigations use a variety of methods and tools to make measurements and observations. Science investigations are guided by a set of values to ensure accuracy of measurements, observations, and objectivity of findings. Science depends on evaluating proposed explanations. Scientific values function as criteria in distinguishing between science and non-science.

Science Knowledge is Based on Empirical Evidence
K-2	3-5	6-8
Scientists look for patterns and order when making observations about the world.	Science findings are based on recognizing patterns. Science uses tools and technologies to make accurate measurements and observations.	Science knowledge is based upon logical and conceptual connections between evidence and explanations. Science disciplines share common rules of obtaining and evaluating empirical evidence.

Science Knowledge is Open to Revision in Light of New Evidence
K-2	3-5	6-8
Science knowledge can change when new information is found.	Science explanations can change based on new evidence.	Scientific explanations are subject to revision and improvement in light of new evidence. The certainty and durability of science findings varies. Science findings are frequently revised and/or reinterpreted based on new evidence.

Science Models, Laws, Mechanisms, and Theories Explain Natural Phenomena
K-2	3-5	6-8
Science uses drawings, sketches, and models as a way to communicate ideas. Science searches for cause and effect relationships to explain natural events.	Science theories are based on a body of evidence and many tests. Science explanations describe the mechanisms for natural events.	Theories are explanations for observable phenomena. Science theories are based on a body of evidence developed over time. Laws are regularities or mathematical descriptions of natural phenomena. A hypothesis is used by scientists as an idea that may contribute important new knowledge for the evaluation of a scientific theory. The term "theory" as used in science is very different from the common use outside of science.

Science is a Way of Knowing
K-2	3-5	6-8
Science knowledge helps us know about the world	Science is both a body of knowledge and processes that add new knowledge. Science is a way of knowing that is used by many people.	Science is both a body of knowledge and the processes and practices used to add to that body of knowledge. Science knowledge is cumulative and many people, from many generations and nations, have contributed to science knowledge. Science is a way of knowing used by many people, not just scientists.

Getting Started

1. Planning

Nature of Science - Practices

Additional Disciplinary Core Ideas Addressed - Interdependence of science, engineering, and technology

2. Instruction

Testable Questions

Hypotheses and Making Predictions

Procedures

Collecting and Organizing Data

Drawing Conclusions

3. Assessment

4. Classroom Resources

5. Remote Learning

Quick Links

Professional Development

Scientific Knowledge Assumes an Order and Consistency in Natural Systems
K-2	3-5	6-8
Science assumes natural events happen today as they happened in the past. Many events are repeated	Science assumes consistent patterns in natural systems. Basic laws of nature are the same everywhere in the universe.	Science assumes that objects and events in natural systems occur in consistent patterns that are understandable through measurement and observation. Science carefully considers and evaluates anomalies in data and evidence.

Science is a Human Endeavor
K-2	3-5	6-8
People have practiced science for a long time. Men and women of diverse backgrounds are scientists and engineers.	Men and women from all cultures and backgrounds choose careers as scientists and engineers. Most scientists and engineers work in teams. Science affects everyday life. Creativity and imagination are important to science.	Men and women from different social, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds work as scientists and engineers. Scientists and engineers rely on human qualities such as persistence, precision, reasoning, logic, imagination and creativity. Scientists and engineers are guided by habits of mind such as intellectual honesty, tolerance of ambiguity, skepticism, and openness to new ideas. Advances in technology influence the progress of science and science has influenced advances in technology.

Science Addresses Questions About the Natural and Material World
K-2	3-5	6-8
Scientists study the natural and material world.	Science findings are limited to questions that can be answered with empirical evidence.	Scientific knowledge is constrained by human capacity, technology, and materials. Science limits its explanations to systems that lend themselves to observation and empirical evidence. Scientific knowledge can describe the consequences of actions but does not necessarily prescribe the decisions that society takes.

ETS1.A: Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems
K-2	3-5	6-8
A situation that people want to change or create can be approached as a problem to be solved through engineering. Such problems may have many acceptable solutions. Asking questions, making observations, and gathering information are helpful in thinking about problems. Before beginning to design a solution, it is important to clearly understand the problem.	Possible solutions to a problem are limited by available materials and resources (constraints). The success of a designed solution is determined by considering the desired features of a solution (criteria). Different proposals for solutions can be compared on the basis of how well each one meets the specified criteria for success or how well each takes the constraints into account. The more precisely a design task’s criteria and constraints can be defined, the more likely it is that the designed solution will be successful. Specification of constraints includes consideration of scientific principles and other relevant knowledge that is likely to limit possible solutions.	The more precisely a design task’s criteria and constraints can be defined, the more likely it is that the designed solution will be successful. Specification of constraints includes consideration of scientific principles and other relevant knowledge that is likely to limit possible solutions.

ETS1.B: Developing Possible Solutions
K-2	3-5	6-8
Designs can be conveyed through sketches, drawings, or physical models. These representations are useful in communicating ideas for a problem’s solutions to other people.	Research on a problem should be carried out before beginning to design a solution. Testing a solution involves investigating how well it performs under a range of likely conditions. At whatever stage, communicating with peers about proposed solutions is an important part of the design process, and shared ideas can lead to improved designs. Tests are often designed to identify failure points or difficulties, which suggest the elements of the design that need to be improved. Testing a solution involves investigating how well it performs under a range of likely conditions.	A solution needs to be tested, and then modified on the basis of the test results in order to improve it. There are systematic processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they meet criteria and constraints of a problem. A solution needs to be tested, and then modified on the basis of the test results in order to improve it. There are systematic processes for evaluating solutions with respect to how well they meet the criteria and constraints of a problem. Sometimes parts of different solutions can be combined to create a solution that is better than any of its predecessors. Models of all kinds are important for testing solutions.

ETS1.C: Optimizing the Design Solution
K-2	3-5	6-8
Because there is always more than one possible solution to a problem, it is useful to compare and test designs.	Different solutions need to be tested in order to determine which of them best solves the problem, given the criteria and the constraints.	Although one design may not perform the best across all tests, identifying the characteristics of the design that performed the best in each test can provide useful information for the redesign process - that is, some of the characteristics may be incorporated into the new design. The iterative process of testing the most promising solutions and modifying what is proposed on the basis of the test results leads to greater refinement and ultimately to an optimal solution.