9043 Views (as of 05/2023)
  1. Rachel Connolly
  2. https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelbconnolly/
  3. Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. WGBH Educational Foundation
  1. Jake Foster
  2. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  3. WGBH Educational Foundation
  1. Martin Storksdieck
  2. http://stem.oregonstate.edu/people/martin-storksdieck
  3. Director and Professor
  4. Presenter’s NSFRESOURCECENTERS
  5. Oregon State University

Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms

NNX16AD71A

2018 (see original presentation & discussion)

Grades K-6, Grades 6-8, Grades 9-12

The vision of students learning disciplinary core ideas in the context of science practices, as outlined in the NRC’s A Framework for K–12 Science Education (2012), marks a significant shift in science education. Digital media tools and resources are increasingly integral to engaging in scientific practices.

WGBH, in collaboration with NASA, is working with teachers across the country to design and evaluate media-based educational Earth and space science materials for K-12 classrooms. Resource are designed to engage diverse learners in core ideas and practices.

In this video, Anny, one of our teacher advisors, shares her classroom experience using these resources in an elementary classroom to engage her students (including English learners) in making observations and discussion of evidence.

 

 

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Discussion from the 2018 STEM for All Video Showcase (18 posts)
  • Icon for: Mary Claire Collins

    Mary Claire Collins

    K-12 Teacher
    May 13, 2018 | 03:26 p.m.

    Loved seeing Anny use this Peep and Chirp science learning video with her students!

    My kindergartners also love Peep and Chirp as well as all of the other resources in "Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms". They really enhance my teaching and my student's understanding.

    i encourage all teachers to check out these powerful resources at PBS Learning Media.

     
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    Discussion is closed. Upvoting is no longer available

    Mark Rosin
  • Icon for: Rachel Connolly

    Rachel Connolly

    Lead Presenter
    Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
    May 13, 2018 | 11:01 p.m.

    Thank you, Mary, for taking the time to share your experience with these resources. 

  • Icon for: Rachel Connolly

    Rachel Connolly

    Lead Presenter
    Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
    May 13, 2018 | 10:54 p.m.

    Welcome! Over the course of this week we look forward to discussing how digital media can be designed to engage K-12 students in scientific practices around phenomena. This presentation represents work from the second year of a 5-year project, Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms. While our NSF Videohall presentation from last year focused on prototyping and formative evaluation findings, this year we will share some design features of our digital resources, along with evaluation findings from classroom testing with educators from across the country. 

    This video takes you into Anny's elementary science class, where she implements a lesson plan to engage her students in making observations and arguing from evidence. Our team is using videos like this one to begin to explore instructional impacts and student engagement with various types of media and digital tools.

    We look forward to the conversation,

    Rachel Connolly, Martin Storksdieck, and Jake Foster

     

  • Icon for: Martin Storksdieck

    Martin Storksdieck

    Co-Presenter
    Director and Professor
    May 14, 2018 | 08:39 a.m.

    Welcome!  If you have particular experience with digital media in your classroom or out-of-school learning setting, please feel free to share here as well. We'd love to hear about things that worked well, but also things that did not go so well [that is the researcher in me speaking...].

  • Icon for: Mark Rosin

    Mark Rosin

    Higher Ed Faculty
    May 14, 2018 | 08:40 a.m.

    This was great!

    Would you mind explaining a little about what it is specifically that the digital component adds to these activities, please?

    Thank you!
    Mark

  • Icon for: Rachel Connolly

    Rachel Connolly

    Lead Presenter
    Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
    May 14, 2018 | 10:47 a.m.

    Mark, thanks for the question. In this particular video, the digital components (the video and interactive) are designed so that students can experience specific weather factors, providing accurate and engaging visual and verbal evidence through the media elements. We recognize that a teacher might need to model how to observe and describe these weather factors, which is what the PEEP characters provide (in a fun and engaging way). Or that their location or context might not enable them to go outside or experience a wide range of weather, which is where digital media can bring phenomena into their classrooms in on-demand—and usable—formats. Broadly, we are targeting our resource development to provide access to phenomena that are not easily/ever available to students in the classroom except through a digital tool or media element.

    We recognize that student practices, and the digital components, are different as you look across K-12. We have another video that takes you into Tommy's environmental science classroom to see how he uses a video of atmospheric CO2 data to engage his high school students in making arguments based on evidence—providing a nice bookend to Anny's video. Please let me know if you have further questions or comments, thank you
    Rachel

     
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    Mark Rosin
  • Icon for: Sally Crissman

    Sally Crissman

    Facilitator
    Senior Science Educator
    May 14, 2018 | 04:30 p.m.

    Wind's a great topic for the age, looking for evidence of something you can't see. What makes us think the air is moving anyway? It's interesting these kids are working from a static image to argue from evidence! I'm thinking of ways to look for signs (evidence) of wind in the Peep story and record them for the class .

    I'll bet they noticed wind outside a little differently after such a lesson. 

    I agree with Ammy when she says she can tell when her students are engaged. The Peep characters are, well, characters! and because the graphics are simple, we focus on a quirky mouth or question without distraction. good choice. 

    Sally

     
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    Rachel Connolly
  • Icon for: Martin Storksdieck

    Martin Storksdieck

    Co-Presenter
    Director and Professor
    May 14, 2018 | 05:19 p.m.

    They have an outstanding team at WGBH for turning existing digital media assets into classroom activities!

  • Icon for: Rachel Connolly

    Rachel Connolly

    Lead Presenter
    Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
    May 14, 2018 | 05:49 p.m.

    Sally, thanks for posting. I wanted to share that there are 4 different videos, with each animated PEEP short modeling observations and descriptions for a common weather condition, including rain, snow, wind, and a sunny day. The static image that you see in the video was from the student handout, that facilitated the students in communicating their evidence as clues. 

  • Icon for: Jonathan Margolin

    Jonathan Margolin

    Facilitator
    Principal Researcher
    May 14, 2018 | 10:06 p.m.

    I think it is safe to say that Anny (the teacher in the video) was rather skilled at using the digital resources to draw out arguments from evidence. Is this typical--or do you see a range of teacher skill in fostering this sort of argumentation? Can the skill be taught?

  • Icon for: Jake Foster

    Jake Foster

    Co-Presenter
    May 15, 2018 | 09:03 a.m.

    We do see a range of teacher skill in fostering the use of evidence and development of scientific arguments. Establishing a classroom culture that models how to do this and sets an expectation for students to support and justify their thinking certainly helps, and seeing Anny do that in this instance is a reflection of her broader approach. This is certainly a skill that can be taught, and one that I find elementary teachers in particular are open to given the similarity of the science practice with counterpart practices in ELA and mathematics.

  • Icon for: Martin Storksdieck

    Martin Storksdieck

    Co-Presenter
    Director and Professor
    May 15, 2018 | 09:02 a.m.

    This is certainly a positive example, and the degree to which teachers will be able todo this will clearly vary. And yes, like all professional skills this one can be taught. That is, we can teach teachers to use argumentation in the classroom, and students can learn it through reflective practice (note the difference in wording). We do not have a good learning progression yet for the 8 science and engineering practices in A Framework for K-12 Science Education, though; at least as far as I know.

  • Icon for: Margo Murphy

    Margo Murphy

    Facilitator
    May 16, 2018 | 04:42 a.m.

    I think video is a great way to provide phenomena for students to learn from.  There were a variety of resources that I saw being used beyond just the video..  Are there suggested supports or strategies for teacher that don't have an interactive white board or access to color copying, etc. that would help draw out the students in visualizing their thinking as effectively as Anny?  Also, wondering if the only way to access these resources are through the WGBH site or is there a plan for broader dissemination?

  • Icon for: Martin Storksdieck

    Martin Storksdieck

    Co-Presenter
    Director and Professor
    May 16, 2018 | 12:21 p.m.

    Since Rachel is in an all-day meeting today, let me try an initial answer that Rachel might add to. At this time we assume that teachers come to project via the PBS Learning Media platform, and a lot of the interactive aspect of using digital media for STEM learning also assumes that students have access to digital devices, whether individually or in groups. However, there is opportunity for teachers to use and adjust material in whatever way fis other conditions. The beauty of the PBS Learning Media platform is that it now reaches about half the teachers in the US. It is a powerful way to reach them. That said, the team also uses WGBH marketing efforts to get the word out, and there is annul presence at NSTA and other conferences, and we will disseminate in the science education research community as well.

     
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    Margo Murphy
  • Icon for: Rachel Connolly

    Rachel Connolly

    Lead Presenter
    Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
    May 16, 2018 | 05:29 p.m.

    Margo, although Martin already replied (and did a great job), let me add a few comments from the perspective of WGBH's resource design and dissemination. We do not assume interactive white boards in the design of our student-facing experiences (the Interactive Lessons), however we are finding through our evaluation efforts that K-2 teachers tend to use these resources in a group modality, as you see Anny doing in the video. While digital media is core to our resources, we offer printable support materials (handouts, background essays, etc.) and lesson plans, as well as downloadable videos, for teachers who have lower bandwidth in their classroom/school settings. Finally, as Martin mentioned, one of the strengths of our dissemination through the PBS LearningMedia platform is that it has such a large reach—with 1.5 million registered users and reaching 67% of public schools in the US (and 81% of Title 1 schools with >1000 students) and a commitment to free and accessible content.

  • Icon for: Joni Falk

    Joni Falk

    Co-Director of CSR at TERC
    May 16, 2018 | 09:00 a.m.

    I liked this video and in particularly how the teacher looked to see when the students are engaged (or not) and that she felt that  digital media helped to increase their interest. I also liked the message “to explain how you know....” Getting young students to articulate their reasoning at a young age is really important. But - here is my reservation -  I wondered how this experience would compare with taking the students out on a very windy day and working in groups to come up with evidence that it is windy. They may have spoken about how their hair moved, how they saw goosebumps on their arm, or how their paper got swept away. I ask this, because I worry about kids spending more and more time in front of very engaging screens and not interacting with nature. Are these lessons sometimes combined with real-world experiences? 

     

  • Icon for: Martin Storksdieck

    Martin Storksdieck

    Co-Presenter
    Director and Professor
    May 16, 2018 | 12:39 p.m.

    That is an excellent question, Joni!  Your point is well taken: have the kids experience a phenomenon as much "in person" and in the physical world as possible. I think we, and the entire team of BUAC, couldn't agree more. So the short answer is yes: where possible, we can add those experiences.

    I think this is also why the teacher used the real-life experiences of the kids to connect to the media aspect. But if teachers have time, and if there is opportunity, going outside and learning in and through the environment is best. Much of what the BUAC activities will be addressing are phenomena that cannot be experienced first-hand, though. We just had a team discussion about a lesson that focuses on Earth's tilt, and here we use the experience of seasons to then link to various data sources about day-length in New York and Melbourne, and we are moving the kids through a sequence of discoveries (using / analyzing data) to help develop a model, confirm the model and use it as a means to understand tilt through the phenomenon of seasons, and vice versa, seasons through tilt.  We are in development of this lesson, but it is an example where we can approach phenomena that cannot be experienced first-hand (the orbit of Earth around the Sun, in all its intricacies, and how it influences our experience on Earth). And this particular lesson starts with the student experience.

  • Icon for: Rachel Connolly

    Rachel Connolly

    Lead Presenter
    Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
    May 17, 2018 | 03:46 p.m.

    Joni, thanks for asking your question, as it is one that we asked ourselves early in our development process. In short, we hope that all teachers will take their students outside to experience their local weather and make authentic observations. This media/experience can scaffold those observations. First, by breaking down the four different factors of weather into discreet videos that focus on each of them through the experiences of these engaging characters, it helps answer the question, "When I observe the weather, what am I actually looking for?" 
    Second, there are many locations and contexts that do not have access to some of these phenomena (like snow), and so our collection of media resources, that includes the lesson you see here, provides a range of weather experiences that the teacher can bring into the classroom on-demand. 

    To circle back, we do hope that these are not seen as experiences to replace going outside and observing the weather, but that it supplements the curriculum and enables students to engage with the phenomena in varied, and fun, ways that enable scientific practices.

  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.