Student Achievement Through Active Science Learning

1
Student Achievement Through Active Science
Learning

• Dr. Michael Klentschy, Superintendent
• El Centro School District
• El Centro, California

2
A Field Trip to El Centro, California
3
Valle Imperial Project in Science
In partnership with
Imperial Valley Science Project
4
Case Study Critical Questions

• What is the context?
• What is the infrastructure?
• What is the evidence?
• What are the implications?

5
Context

• Need
• Our Region
• Our Community
• Our Students

6
Where is El Centro?
El Centro
7
Our Community and Students

• In Imperial County
• Mean income 16,322
• Poorest of all 58 counties
• in California
• 30 unemployment rate
• 22,500 students in 14 Districts

8
In El Centro

• 6,500 K-8 students
• 11 Title I, School-wide Project Schools
• 77 Free/Reduced Lunch
• 61 English Language Learners
• 10 Migrant
• 81 Hispanic, 12 Caucasian,
• 4 African-American, 3 Asian

9
Five Critical Elements for Reform
Valle Imperial Project in Science

• High Quality Curriculum
• Sustained Professional Development
• Materials Support
• Administrative and Community Support
• Assessment and Evaluation

10
High Quality Curriculum

• Developmentally Appropriate
• Researched Based
• Leads to a big idea in Science
• Balanced
• -Physical
• -Earth
• -Life
• 3-4 Units Per Year

11
High Quality Curriculum

• Middle School

12
High Quality Curriculum

• Provides Opportunities to
• Explore
• Investigate
• Inquire
• Question
• Test Hypothesis
• Collect Data
• Analyze Data

13
Sustained Professional Development

• University Level - Preservice
• School District Level-Inservice
• Initial Training
• Advanced Training
• Lesson Study Groups
• Institutes
• Debriefing
• In-classroom Support
• Leadership
• Advanced Degrees

14
Professional Development Design
Set Goals
Plan
Do
Reflect
Loucks-Horsley (1998)
15
Sustained Professional Development
School-Based Professional Development
16
Lesson Study

• Focus on lesson
• Design
• Implementation
• Content
• Culture

17
School District Level In-Service

• Lesson Lab

18
Lessonlab/Lesson Study

• Reflective Teaching Practices

19
School District Level Inservice

• Leadership Training

20
Materials Support

• SMRC
• VIPS Offices
• Training Center
• Materials Center

21
Materials Support

• Training Center
• -University Classes
• -District Inservice

22
Materials Support

• Materials Center
• -Order
• -Manufacture
• -Inventory
• -Refurbish
• -Deliver
• Cost Sharing

23
Materials Support

• Materials Center Staffing
• Director
• 2 Media Technicians
• Administrative Clerk

24
Administrative and Community Support

• Vertical Team
• Administrative Training
• Science Volunteers
• Parent Education
• Periodicals

25
Administrative and Community Support

• Vertical Team
• Superintendents
• Central Office
• Curriculum and Instruction
• Business Services
• Principals
• Science Director
• Business and Industry
• University
• Decisions by Consensus

26
Administrative and Community Support

• Administrator Training
• -Content
• -Pedagogy
• -Classroom Supervision
• -Teacher Evaluation
• -Assessment

27
Administrative and Community Support

• Volunteer Scientists
• Recruitment Strategies

28
Administrative and Community Support

• Volunteer Scientists in El Centro come from
• Cal Tech
• Agriculture
• Veterinarians
• Pharmacists
• El Centro Regional Medical Center
• San Diego State University
• University of California
• Water and Power Company
• El Centro Naval Air Station
• Union Pacific Mining

29
Administrative and Community Support

• Science Volunteers
• Training

30
Administrative and Community Support

• Periodicals

31
Administrative and Community Support

• Parent Education
• Family Science Nights
• School Board Meetings

32
Assessment and Evaluation

• Performance Tasks/Products
• Standardized Tests
• Notebooks

33
Evidence

• SAT 9
• TIMSS Released Science
• Science-Literacy Connections
• Science-Mathematics Connections

34
(No Transcript)
35
Assessment and Evaluation

• Stanford Achievement Test Science Scores
• 1998-99 NPR
• Gr4 Gr6
• Tested 630 638
• Mean NPR 36 40
• Participating 43 49
• n393 n358
• Non-Participating 25 31
• n237 n280

36
Assessment and Evaluation

• Stanford Achievement Test Science Scores
• 1998-99 NPR - Sorted by Years in Program
• Years Gr4 Gr6
• CUM 36 40
• 0 21 27
• n137 n174
• 1 32 32
• n 150 n121
• 2 38 42
• n141 n132
• 3 47 50
• n111 n107
• 4 53 64
• n91 n104

37
Student Achievement
38
Student Achievement
39
Assessment and Evaluation

• TIMSS Released Multiple Choice Science Scores
• 2000-2001 Mean Raw Scores- Sorted by Years in
  Program
• Years Gr7 Gr8 Gr7/8
• CUM 9.4 11.1 10.2
• 0 8.7 10.0 9.5
• n48 n107 n155
• 1 8.9 10.5 9.7
• n 136 n103 n239
• 2 9.0 10.7 9.8
• n168 n112 n280
• 3 10.4 11.1 10.7
• n125 n90 n215
• 4 11.0 13.3 12.7
• n84 n93 n177
• plt.023 plt.001 plt.01

40
Assessment and Evaluation

• TIMSS Released Multiple Choice Science Scores
• 2000-2001 Mean Raw Scores- Sorted by Units
  Completed
• Grade 7 Mean SD
• High (4 units) 10.335 3.998
• Low (3 or less units) 8.892 3.435
• plt.001
• Grade 8
• High (4 units) 12.137 4.319
• Low (3 or less units) 10.558 3.551
• plt.001

41
UC Eligibility Rate for Underrepresented Students
42
For additional information on this research
Amaral, O., Garrison, L. and Klentschy, M.
(Summer 2002). Helping english learners increase
achievement through inquiry-based science
instruction. Bilingual Research Journal, 262,
213-239.
http//brj.asu.edu/content/vol26_no2/pdf/ART2.PDF
43
(No Transcript)
44
Science/Literacy

• Chapter 10
• Focus on
• - Coherence
• - Context
• - Real World Experiences

45
Coherent Instruction

• is teaching that connects. It connects the
  students reading skills to writing. It connects
  reading and writing to content. It links content
  learning to student interests. Coherent teaching
  makes it easy for students to learn because it
  combines the strange-new with the familiar-old.
  When the classroom is coherent, teachers help
  students make connections among reading, writing
  and content.
• (Guthrie, 2000)

46
Evidence from Imperial County, California

• Stanford Achievement Test Reading Scores
• 1998-99 NPR Grade 4 Sorted by Years in Program
• Years LEP EO
• CUM 33
• 0 21 30
• 1 22 39
• 2 39 51
• 3 34 57
• 4 49 64

47
Evidence from Imperial County, California

• Stanford Achievement Test Reading Scores
• 1998-99 NPR Grade 6 Sorted by Years in Program
• Years LEP EO
• CUM 40
• 0 23 38
• 1 28 42
• 2 34 46
• 3 35 56
• 4 51 69

48
Evidence from Fresno, California

• Stanford Achievement Test Reading Scores
• Study found that students who received 4 years of
  exposure to a systemic science program
  (1998-2001) scored significantly higher on the
  SAT 9 Reading subtest compared to students who
  did not receive the science instruction
• Opportunity to learn in the systemic science
  program produced achievement results that closed
  the reading achievement gap between ethnic groups
• In all cases, a positive relationship was found
  between the number of years of participation in
  the systemic science program and SAT 9 Reading
  Score gains

49
Evidence from Dade County, Florida

• Stanford Achievement Test Reading Scores 1996
• Study found that students ( n 2420) in grades 3
  and 5 who received instruction in a systemic
  science program (1996) scored significantly
  higher (10 percentile points in both grade
  levels) on the SAT 9 Reading subtest compared to
  students
• (n 4145) who did not receive the systemic
  science instruction.
• The same students also scored significantly
  higher
• (11 and 14 percentile points) in Mathematics
  Application on the same SAT 9 test.

50
Science - Literacy

• Notebooks

51
Things to Consider About Notebooks

• Best Record of
• Lesson/Unit Implementation
• Student Performance
• Quality of communication
• Conceptual and/or procedural understanding
• Teacher Feedback

Ruiz-Primo, Li and Shavelson, 2002, Looking Into
Student Science Notebooks
What Do Teachers Do With Them? CRESST
Technical Report 562.
52
Additional Things to Consider About Science
Notebooks

• Writing may enhance thinking
• Writing demands the learner to
• organize knowledge
• link evidence to claims
• draw conclusions
• Transfer effect to student achievement
• Opportunity for student voice

Klentschy, M. and Molina-De La Torre, E. (2004).
Students science notebooks and the inquiry
process. In W. Saul (Ed.). Crossing Borders in
Literacy and Science Instruction Perspectives on
Theory and Practice. Newark, DE International
Reading Association Press.
53
What Others Have to Say

• Writing provides a status of our thoughts and
  forces us to grapple with what we know and what
  we dont know.
• Santa and Havens (1991)
• If you cannot in the long run tell someone
  what you have been doing, your doing has been
  worthless.
• Nobel laureate Edwin Schrodinger (1951)

54
What should a science notebook contain?
55
Components and Criteria

• Question/Problem/Purpose
• Prediction
• Planning
• Data/Observations
• Claims and evidence
• What have you learned?
• Next steps/New questions

56

• What have I learned?

57
(No Transcript)
58
Stages of Teacher Development - 1
59
Stages of Teacher Development - 2
60
Stages of Teacher Development - 3
61
Stages of Teacher Development - 4
62
Stages of Teacher Development - 5
63
Getting Started

• Today I (or we) __________________
• (description of activity)
• Today I learned__________________
• I noticed________________________
• I wonder________________________
• Questions I have now______________

For additional writing stems visit
www.vipsscience.com
64
Science Literacy ConnectionsImperial County, CA

• District Writing Proficiency
• Grade 6
• Spring 1999 Results
• Cumulative Pass 64
• n636
• Participating Classes 82
• n357
• Non Participating Classes 41
• n279

65
Science Literacy ConnectionsImperial County,
CA

• District Writing Proficiency
• Grade 6 Spring 1999
• Cumulative Pass 64 n636
• Years Pass n
• 0 23 174
• 1 68 119
• 2 71 132
• 3 90 107
• 4 89 104

66
Implications

• Project design which is data driven
• Project design which develops a local and
  regional K-16 collaborative partnership between
  districts, business, volunteer scientists and the
  university
• Project design resulted in improved student
  achievement in science and other core areas of
  the curriculum

67
This work is supported, in part, by National
Science Foundation Grant ESI-9731274. The
opinions expressed in this work are those of the
authors and not necessarily those of the National
Science Foundation.