Science

Assessment: Concept Style

In the Comprehension Model, students take traditional tests to show their comprehension of the textbook and vocabulary words. In the Concept Model, students often cannot show their knowledge using a traditional test. With my class last year, I realized that many of the standards did not lend themselves to traditional tests because they required studentsContinue reading “Assessment: Concept Style”

Learning: Concept Style

I mentioned in the last post that most Concept Model units begin with an anchor phenomenon. In the Comprehension Model Learning post, I gave tips to put some best practices into a traditional science class. For this post, I would like to walk you through one of the units I taught last year about friction.Continue reading “Learning: Concept Style”

The Concept Model

The Comprehension Model begins with the answer. When students open to a chapter in their textbook titled “Friction,” they know that Friction is likely the answer to any questions posed on the page. They will read to understand friction. In contrast, the Concept Model begins with a question. The Next Generation Science Standards use anContinue reading “The Concept Model”

Assessment: Comprehension Style

In last week’s post, I gave ways to help students learn within a Comprehension Model science classroom. This week, I will give tips for how to assess students’ knowledge of science without penalizing them for a lack of reading comprehension. In a few weeks, I will post about alternative assessments in a science class. ThisContinue reading “Assessment: Comprehension Style”

Learning: Comprehension Style

In the Comprehension Model of teaching science, students learn science by reading the textbook and learning the vocabulary words. If students can be successful in those two areas, they will do well in their science class. Reading a science textbook is not as intuitive as it seems. Informational texts have special features to help themContinue reading “Learning: Comprehension Style”

The Comprehension Model

Imagine this scene. Your students go to their desks and open their textbooks. You introduce the week’s vocabulary words and put students into pairs to begin reading through today’s chapter. You bring the class back together to summarize what they have read and highlight the most important ideas from the reading. What subject are youContinue reading “The Comprehension Model”

Two Models of Teaching Science

I hated science when I was in school. There, I said it. Science always seemed dysfunctional to me as a student because I could not figure out how it was asking me to learn. English asked me to memorize rules and concepts. Math asked me to learn processes and solve problems. Science could not decideContinue reading “Two Models of Teaching Science”