High School Curriculum Launch
Introducing OpenSciEd's materials and supporting the shift to instruction driven by student sensemaking about phenomena and problems
Session Overview
This four-day professional learning session introduces teachers to the OpenSciEd materials generally, in addition to the corresponding units. As a result of this professional learning, teachers will understand the supports and routines embedded into the OpenSciEd units that align with the shifts called for by the A Framework for K–12 Science Education and the Next Generation Science Standards.
Included in this session are opportunities for teachers to:
- Watch videos of students engaging with the OpenSciEd units
- Hear teachers reflect on shifting their instruction with support from the units
- Engage in the actual lessons of the unit as a student
- Deepen their understanding of three-dimensional instruction and assessment
- Reflect on ways to provide feedback to support continued student sensemaking
Session Agenda
Day 1: What does it mean to use phenomena and questions to support student sensemaking?
Participant Learning Goals:
- Reflect on goals for high school instruction.
- Introduce the key shifts in NGSS and the design of OpenSciEd.
- Explore the anchoring phenomenon routine.
- Consider how engaging students in a common phenomenon and encouraging their connections to other everyday phenomena capitalizes on student experience to support more equitable learning opportunities for all students.
- Reflect on the four steps in the Anchoring Phenomenon Routine across the OpenSciEd units.
Length:
- 1 hour – Introduction: OpenSciEd & the Instructional Model
- 4 hours – Unit Time: Experience the Anchoring Phenomena Routine
- 1 hour – Closing: Discussion and Reflection
Day 2: How do we help students see coherence across the curriculum?
Participant Learning Goals:
- Consider the problem of practice that students often experience science as a series of disconnected activities or activities driven by the teacher rather than grounded in their own questions, curiosities, and ideas about the world around them.
- Analyze vignettes to examine how students build and revise their ideas over time.
- Reflect on how we work with students to motivate the next step in the investigation and unit using questions.
- Share their experiences with the Navigation Routine during unit-specific.
- Reflect on the methods participants have learned to support coherence across and within the curriculum.
Length:
- 1 hour – Introduction: Coherence and the Storyline Approach
- 4 hours – Unit Time: Build the Unit Storyline
- 1 hour – Closing: Discussion and Reflection
Day 3: How can we support students in sensemaking discussions?
Participant Learning Goals:
- Introduce tools and strategies to support students in digging deeper and working with each others’ ideas.
- Analyze classroom video using these tools and strategies to examine students’ discourse as they engage in a whole class discussion.
- Reflect on goals and strategies you would like to try to support productive talk in your own classroom.
- Analyze teacher interview video to observe and discuss establishing classroom norms to support a culture of figuring out.
- Reflect on and discuss context-specific goals and challenges in leading discussions within an OpenSciEd unit.
Length:
- 1 hour – Introduction: Productive Talk Strategies
- 4 hours – Unit Time: Unit Investigations
- 1 hour – Closing: Discussion and Reflection
Day 4: How do we support and assess students’ growth in 3-dimensional learning?
Participant Learning Goals:
- Introduce four characteristics of 3D assessments.
- Analyze a traditional multiple-choice item using the four characteristics of 3D assessments.
- Examine a 3D assessment item, including student work and a rubric.
- Assess student models using a rubric for the phenomenon’s components and interactions between components.
- Reflect on what 3D assessments help us see in terms of student understanding and supporting 3D learning.
Length:
- 1 hour – Introduction: Assessment
- 4 hours – Unit Time: Unit Investigations and Assessments
- 1 hour – Closing: Discussion and Reflection
