5162 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
  1. Martin Storksdieck
  2. https://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

2019 (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, Paula, a middle school science teacher, engages her seventh-grade students (about 60% English learners) in a modeling activity using a visualization of Global Precipitation as an anchoring phenomenon. 

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Discussion from the 2019 STEM for All Video Showcase (21 posts)
  • Icon for: Rachel Connolly

    Rachel Connolly

    Lead Presenter
    Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
    May 13, 2019 | 09:20 a.m.

    Welcome! 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 third year of a 5-year collaboration with NASA, Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms. The video takes you into Paula's middle school classroom to see how she integrates the Global Precipitation resource (see link below) into her curriculum and supports her students in making observations and inferences about weather patterns with it.

    We would love to hear from:

    • teachers who are using, or want to use, digital resources to actively engage their students in science practices. What works for you? What do you need to support you in curricular integration and instruction with these types of resources?
    • producers of supplementary media resources who are designing instructional materials. How are you making resources flexible and adaptable for diverse learners? How are you supporting teachers in curricular integration?
    • researchers at the intersection of science education and instructional technology who are exploring the impact of digital media tools and assets on teaching and learning. Can digital media bring new phenomena to the classroom in ways that can (finally) become more active and engaging to students? How do we connect the cosmic to the everyday lives of all students in authentic ways?

    We look forward to the conversation,

    Rachel Connolly and Martin Storksdieck

    Notes and links:

    1. Paula uses the Global Precipitation resource in this video, from our middle school Weather & Climate collection. It is one of over 200 resources in our Bringing the Universe to America's Classroom collection on PBS LearningMedia at www.pbslearningmedia.org/universe (external link).
    2. Our NSF Videohall presentation from two years ago focused on prototyping and formative evaluation findings, and last year we shared some design features in an elementary classroom implementation.
     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Kristen Reed

    Kristen Reed

    Facilitator
    Senior Project Director
    May 13, 2019 | 08:31 p.m.

    Paula's classroom looks amazing! What exciting engagement from the students. I was wondering how you collaborated with Paula and other teachers to develop the lessons that integrate these digital resources. In what ways were teachers involved in creating the lesson plans? 

    Are you able to measure the impact of these instructional materials on students' learning? Or on teachers' instructional practice? Thanks! Kristen

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Martin Storksdieck

    Martin Storksdieck

    Co-Presenter
    Director and Professor
    May 14, 2019 | 03:15 p.m.

    We started the process with a national survey of almost 3,500 educators about their media use in the classroom. During the frist two years we selected 50 teacher advisors from around the country in each year to provide feedback on ideas and concepts, and to test materials in their classrooms. We got a lot of productive feedback, including how the BUAC materials support teaching more generally. Testing at this level continues, and we are now in the middle of a field study during which a group of 300 or so teachers and testing BUAC under relatively regular conditions. During the field study we will learn a lot about how and what teachers choose to use in their classrooms, including how they adapt material to fit their needs. Now we are preparing is a quasi-experimental study that will focus on student learning and continue the impact o teacher instructional practices. We are very excited about it. It will likely start in the fall.

  • Icon for: Rachel Connolly

    Rachel Connolly

    Lead Presenter
    Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
    May 14, 2019 | 03:25 p.m.

    Kristen,

    Thanks for your comment! The lesson that you see was Paula's. She selected the resource she wanted to use, and she used our support materials to help her integrate it into her curriculum. She wanted to use it as an anchoring phenomenon for the weather unit that she was starting. What was important for me when watching this video was realizing that this was the first time these students had engaged with a digital model such as this one, and that it was early in their engagement when they were just beginning to make observations and look for patterns (on the path to later making predictions). 

    As for measuring impact, our initial evaluation focus was on usability for instruction and teacher practice. Moving forward, we hope to move into measuring student learning impacts through the quasi-experimental study that Martin mentions above.

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Kelsey Edwards

    Kelsey Edwards

    Researcher
    May 14, 2019 | 01:19 p.m.

    "Leave space for your students to surprise you." 
    "Doing something different and trusting them- it definitely pays off, even though it can be scary."
    Those quotes by Paula absolutely hit the nail on the head about the risks and the rewards of this kind of work in the classroom! The teachers we work with express similar thoughts.

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Martin Storksdieck

    Martin Storksdieck

    Co-Presenter
    Director and Professor
    May 14, 2019 | 03:18 p.m.

    I agree, these are great quotes. There is something so exciting seeing kids (and adults) grapple with ideas in ways that excite them. It's about the ideas, and its about how we "grapple"...

  • Icon for: Rachel Connolly

    Rachel Connolly

    Lead Presenter
    Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
    May 14, 2019 | 03:30 p.m.

    Kelsey, you found our favorites too! There is a different classroom video that I love where one student says, "Someone was able to do this?!" (talking about gathering data)

    It is in this high school video at 4:18

    this is my favorite student reaction yet that we have captured in a classroom video.

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Rachel Garrett

    Rachel Garrett

    Facilitator
    Senior Researcher
    May 14, 2019 | 06:24 p.m.

    What an fun classroom to peek into. I also was thinking about all the opportunities the lesson was providing for academic vocabulary, discussion and writing in this class with such a high percentage of EL students.

    I wonder if you could clarify just a bit whether you primarily see the use of digital media as a mechanism for increasing student engagement, or for providing new opportunities for learning content? If it's about engagement, I'm curious how you would test the use of digital media for promoting engagement compared to other forms of science instruction (for example, conducting a lab exercise maybe?) Or, if digital media provide new learning opportunities, I'm curious what forms of student learning you would expect to improve? I think that basically I would love to learn more about your QED study coming up! 

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Rachel Connolly

    Rachel Connolly

    Lead Presenter
    Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
    May 15, 2019 | 10:05 a.m.

    Hi Rachel! Thanks for the question, its a good one. We see the digital media as providing new opportunities for more active engagement in science practices around content that has traditionally had to be more explanatory, as opposed to exploratory. This means that students can now observe/analyze/interact with data (etc.) around a phenomena that previously was just something that we had to "tell them" (like global ocean currents). So the short answer to your question is it provides new learning opportunities that are more active engagement with science practices. As for the QED, please feel free to connect with me so we can keep you in the loop as it develops!

    R

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Rachel Garrett

    Rachel Garrett

    Facilitator
    Senior Researcher
    May 15, 2019 | 03:57 p.m.

    Thanks Rachel! That all makes good sense.  

    I will follow up about the QED - I will be very excited to learn about your findings.

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Cynthia Callard

    Cynthia Callard

    Facilitator
    Executive Director/Professor
    May 14, 2019 | 11:14 p.m.

    Thank you for sharing your project video!  It seems like a really interesting project and can contribute to the understanding of how digital media can be incorporated in science education.  I was wondering how you support teachers to design learning experiences and use of digital media that is connected to larger unit goals/understandings?  Does the use of digital media seem to be more "drop in," or is it part of a larger unit design?  How do you support the thoughtful integration?  Thanks!

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Martin Storksdieck

    Martin Storksdieck

    Co-Presenter
    Director and Professor
    May 16, 2019 | 08:54 a.m.

    Rachel will be the better person to answer the question, but here is my take: BUAC provides digital media resources and accompanying pedagogical support that teachers can integrate into existing curricula (so there are any) or use to create their own. Think of them as "replacement units" of various length, from a short module that may fit into a class to spanning multiple classes.

  • Icon for: Jake Foster

    Jake Foster

    Founder
    May 16, 2019 | 10:16 a.m.

    Cynthia, you ask a great question here. Having helped Rachel and the team to develop some of these resources, I wrestled with this too. In my view, the ultimate goal is to provide high quality examples of how to use digital media well in science instruction -- to engage students in phenomena and with science practices. While there are some lessons that incorporate digital media to show how the media contributes to science learning goals, the majority of the resources in the "universe" collection are just the media with pedagogical tips and suggestions, as Martin describes, so that teachers are sparked to identify how the media can be integrated into their own curriculum and instruction. Because these resources are available nationally, there is a wide variety of curricular contexts that the media could "drop into", and the guidance attempts to help educators see the potential application of the media whatever their context.

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Cynthia Callard

    Cynthia Callard

    Facilitator
    Executive Director/Professor
    May 17, 2019 | 09:05 a.m.

    Thank you both for your responses.  I greatly appreciate your ultimate goal to "engage students in phenomena and with science practices" using digital media resources by supporting teachers in developing rich, engaging experiences.  I will definitely explore your resources for a Noyce project that we have, working with K-12 math and science teachers.  We have been supporting them to design units using "Understanding by Design" (Wiggins and McTighe), and it sounds like they could then explore your resources to incorporate digital media for students' exploration.  I will see when I look at your resources, but I am curious what examples you are providing/planning to provide in terms of grade levels, units, and connections to the Next Gen Standards.  Thanks!

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Rachel Connolly

    Rachel Connolly

    Lead Presenter
    Director, STEM Education, WGBH & PBS LearningMedia
    May 17, 2019 | 02:34 p.m.

    Cynthia, thank you for your post and engagement with our presentation. Please let me know if we can support your your unit design efforts. Particularly, we have upcoming PD webinars in early June around curriculum integration for targeted grade bands (K-2, 35, 68, and 9-12) that are free and will be recorded for on-demand viewing. Our current offerings address the following NGSS topical areas: For K-2; Waves and Light, Space, Earth Systems, and Weather. For Grades 3-5; Space, Earth Systems, and Weather & Climate. For Middle School; Space, Story of Earth, and Weather & Climate. For high school; Space and Weather & Climate.

    In development are resources that target Moon Phases and the History of Earth, followed by Waves and E/M for upper grades. Please get in touch if you have specific resource needs or topics that are not listed here.

    Best,

    Rachel

     

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Nicki Barksdale

    K-12 Teacher
    May 15, 2019 | 01:05 p.m.

    I am one of the 50 educators who was fortunate to be chosen to participate in the "Bringing the Universe to America's Classrooms" project. I teach fourth grade math, science, and social studies in Alabama. One of our science units is Water and Landforms. My fourth graders analyze and compare satellite maps of the world to look for patterns of real-world occurrences of earthquakes and volcanoes. They are then able to identify the cause and effect relationship between earthquakes and volcanoes. This program and available resources have deepened my students' knowledge of the world around them.

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Ellen Thompson

    May 16, 2019 | 12:37 p.m.

    Nicki,

    Thank you for sharing your experiences with Bringing the Universe to America's Classroom and how you also incorporate one of your Alabama Math, Science, and Technology resources, Water & Landforms. I look forward to learning more about all of the resources!

    Ellen Thompson

    AMSTI - UAH Science Specialist

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Cynthia Callard

    Cynthia Callard

    Facilitator
    Executive Director/Professor
    May 17, 2019 | 09:06 a.m.

    Thank you for sharing this example, Nicki!  It is helpful to hear another example of the impact of this project!

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Rachel Garrett

    Rachel Garrett

    Facilitator
    Senior Researcher
    May 15, 2019 | 04:09 p.m.

    Nicki, thanks so much for sharing your story about using this program with your students. It sounds like you were able to conduct impressively sophisticated investigations with 4th graders!

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Denise Brown

    K-12 Teacher
    May 20, 2019 | 12:37 p.m.

    I have used this fabulous program in my first grade class.  It teaches, supplements and challenges students!  Try it, you'll like it!

     
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    Martin Storksdieck
  • Icon for: Martin Storksdieck

    Martin Storksdieck

    Co-Presenter
    Director and Professor
    May 20, 2019 | 05:49 p.m.

    Thank you, Denise, for letting us know!

  • Further posting is closed as the event has ended.