An interpretation of the ISTEP 10 Science from an experienced Indiana biology teacher.

 ECA Biology has now been changed into the ISTEP+ 10 Science test.  There will be two parts.  

ISTEP+ Grade 10 Science PART ONE (Late February-Early March)

Part one will be earlier in the year, over “The Nature of Science” standards.  Here are the Indiana Nature of Science Standards to focus on as “Critical Content” (Standards 1, 3, 8, and 9) …

1.) Develop explanations based on reproducible data and observations gathered during laboratory investigations.

3.) Clearly communicate their ideas and results of investigations verbally and in written form using tables, graphs, diagrams, and photographs.

8.) Explain that the body of scientific knowledge is organized into major theories, which are derived from and supported by the results of many experiments and allow us to make testable predictions.

9.) Recognize that new scientific discoveries often lead to a re-evaulation of previously accepted scientific knowledge and of commonly held ideas.

There are 11 total nature of science standards, only 4 are critical.  Nature of Science standards 2, 4-6, 10-11 are “important content” but not critical.  Standard 7 is only “additional content”.  

Other notes on Part One:

1. PART ONE is an “applied skills (open-ended) assessment.
2. Does not use “High school-level Biology content as context in any nature of science items”

ISTEP + Grade 10 Science PART TWO

Part two of the ISTEP+ 10 Science appears to be “Multiple-Choice and Technology-Enhanced item Assessment.”

Here are the “Critical Content” standards from the biology standards.

B.3.2 Describe how most organisms can combine and recombine the elements contained in sugar molecules into a variety of biologically essential compounds by utilizing the energy from cellular respiration.

B.3.4 Describe how matter cycles through an ecosystem by way of food chains and food webs and how organisms convert that matter into a variety of organic molecules to be used in part in their own cellular structures.

B.4.2 Describe how human activities and natural phenomena can change the flow and of matter and energy in an ecosystem and how those changes impact other species.

B.5.1 Describe the relationship between chromosomes and DNA along with their basic structure and function.

B.5.2 Describe how hereditary information passed from parents to offspring is encoded in the regions of DNA molecules called genes.

B.6.1 Describe the process of mitosis and explain that this process ordinarily results in daughter cells with a genetic make-up identical to the parent cells.

B.6.4 Describe and model the process of meiosis and explain the relationship between the genetic make-up of the parent cell and the daughter cells (i.e., gametes).

B.7.1 Distinguish between dominant and recessive alleles and determine the phenotype that would result from the different possible combinations of alleles in an offspring.

B.7.4 Explain the process by which a cell copies its DNA and identify factors that can damage DNA and cause changes in its nucleotide sequence.

B.8.5 Describe how organisms with beneficial traits are more likely to survive, reproduce, and pass on their genetic information due to genetic variations, environmental forces and reproductive pressures.

Sources:

Overall ISTEP 10 Website http://www.doe.in.gov/assessment/istep-grade-10

ISTEP Science 10 Blueprint http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/assessment/grade-10-science-blueprint2015-16final.pdf

ISTEP Science Instructional and Assessment Guidance

http://www.doe.in.gov/sites/default/files/assessment/istep-sciencegrade-10instructional-and-assessment-guidance2015-16final-v2.pdf

Field Trip Tips and Tricks

Outdoor field trips, tips and tricks…

This fall I organized two field trips.  The first was 96 early college sophomores, and the second was ~270 9th grades going to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore. Here are a set of tips to make field trips go more smoothly.  

1. If your trip is a hike, bring a cooler of ice and plastic bags.  I’ve needed the ice the last three field trips. (insect bites, rolled ankles, cactus thrown at the back of a student)  
2. Put a sign on each bus to label the bus.  We took 7 buses and I labeled the buses 1-7 using cardstock on the dashboard to keep kids straight.
3. Call ahead (Obviously?).  But I state it here, because about half of the time, there is another group at the Dunes that didn’t call ahead. Then, they have to deal with our big groups walking through their small group data collection.
4. Give driving directions to every bus driver. We had 7 buses all travel together.  This takes a long time.  
5. Bring apples (or alternative easy/cheap food). Students forget lunches and you have the opportunity to make a difference to hungry students.
6. Plan one trip for the Fall.  There is nothing like a field trip to establish rapport with students.  This rapport pays dividends throughout the rest of the year.  Also, it breaks up the grind between Labor Day and Thanksgiving.
7. Work the bus. Don’t sit in just one spot.  Ask kids about the music they listen to, last field trips, and break up make out sessions.  
8. Provide a folder of necessary information for each teacher going on the trip.
1. The folder can contain…
1. Bus lists for every bus
2. Lists of students who are getting a lunch from the cafeteria
3. Itinerary

9. Put alternative locations on your permission slip.  We once had to turn a group of five buses around because of an unexpected 4 inches of snow.  We couldn’t go somewhere else more local because it wasn’t on the permission slip.  Therefore, we just went right back to school. That sucked.

10. Feel good.  There is a good chance this is the first time some of your students have been where you are taking them.  Getting students out of school is a good thing, this helps them transfer the knowledge they are working on constructing in their brains.

Other Fall highlights to be blogged about later…

1. Field trip to St. Joseph River for data collection.
2. Data collection at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and classroom follow up..
3. Family field trip to Pennsylvania to see Pope Francis.
4. Labs: Enzyme Inquiry, agar cube diffusion, corn seed growth, fly population growth, celery osmosis demonstration, potato homeostasis.

Fun, early biology activity with observations and patterns...

Students go from cup to cup observing the size of water absorbing spheres.  Each cup has a slightly different concentration of salt.  I use little cups numbered 1-10, where one is pure water and 10 is pure salt, while 2-9 represents the continuum of saltiness.

Cups 1 (pure water-left) through 10 (pure salt-right) placed in order.  These cups are placed around the room, so students can observe them in order through stations around the room. 

There are two of each cup, so that there is a back up when students spill one of the cups.  Students easily notice the pattern that the "cells" gain progressively less water as the salt concentration increases.

Here are three of the stations...

Station 2 low salt

Station 8 salty water

Station 10 pure salt

Observing patterns and generating explanations to describe those patterns are at the heart of the Crosscutting Concepts of the NGSS.  This activity has students observe patterns about cell transport by using anything after a google search of "balls that absorb water".  Here is a link to one one source of these beads.

What I like about this...
1.) Students quickly construct an understanding of membranes that includes selective permeability where water goes through a membrane easily while salt may limit the flow of water into a cell.
2.) Students get a concrete experience with cell membranes.
3.) Students move, observe, and find patterns with materials that they associate with cool and fun.
4.) This transitions nicely into potato mass change labs and/or egg diffusion/osmosis experiments.
5.) This provides an example of something that is not living and the opportunity to clarify what it means to be alive.
6.) They start to describe movement of particles into and out of cells using evidence.
7.) This lays the foundation for the cell membrane as homeostasis helper as the "cells" don't explode.

What I don't like about this...
1.) I am not sure that these things are really made of.
2.) Some students have a conception that the salt blocks the pores of the "cells", which I don't think transfers nicely into formal osmosis principles.

Students using their lab notebook to gather data to find patterns.

The next step after this is for students to observe the mass of potatoes in different conditions. After the potatoes change mass one day, they will place the potato into another solution to try to bring that potatoe mass back up (reinforcing homeostasis).  This will come in a future post. 

Want to know student names the second day of school? There's an app for that...

I have about 185 students this school year and back to school night the second week of the year.  I teach many freshmen as well.  Therefore, it is a race for me to learn names and something about my students to get the school year off to a good start.  I use the app InstaEditor to learn students' names and what it is that they like to do.  

I use my iPad to walk around the room and have individual conversations with each student about what it is they like to do.  During this conversation, I am generating an image of them that shows their name followed by whatever it is that they enjoy.

Before doing this with any student, I show them what I am going to do my taking a selfie and typing over the selfie "Mr. Gensic, basketball."  Here is the example...

Other students are working on notecards individually or some other "all about me" sheet quietly during this time, as we are practicing the individual work time procedure (see First Days of School).

Strengths of using this technology...
1.) I can quickly review names by flipping through my iPad photos.
2.) I can guarantee that I've had a one on one conversation with every student in my classroom on the first day of school.
3.) The app actually leaves 2 photos in your photostream, one with the label and one without.  This is perfect for testing your ability to remember names.
4.) Kids see you working at remembering something.  I want them to remember some things throughout the year, therefore they may see me as a model.
5.) Kids think I'm weird right away

Obstacles to overcome...
1.) The ads on the app are annoying, but they allow for more time to talk with each student.
2.) You still need to review the images to remember names
3.) Kids think I'm weird right away
4.) Make sure you have memory available on your device

This is a fun, engaging way for me to start the year.  I don't think I'll ever start a year without it again.

Lake Michigan Trip Final 2 Days

Day 6: July 17, 2015
We left Frankfort this morning and it was slow going, as the fog was dense and the water heavily populated with small sailboats.  We were constantly sounding the fog horn every minute while exiting port.  We have 2 stations to complete today to gather nearshore and offshore data, then we'll be back to Milwaukee on a ten hour boat ride back to Milwaukee.  The boat goes about 12-13 mph.

Much of the data from these two stations was collected and then will be processed by the scientists back in their labs as teachers were focused on getting their final presentations together. I want to get the raw data from a hydrolab dive down from my biology class so that they can plot points and try to explain why there are these patterns.

It is interesting to see how science and scientists direct this boat.  What directs schools?  Adults' interpretations of what is best for kids.

In the evening we did a Bio Blitz dance.  Inspired by park ranger videos here and here.  

Any bioblitz dance can be put to the same music.  I think I'll have students make a cell part dance where they pick 3 cell parts and make 3 moves for each cell part.

Last Day, Day 7: 
We were back in Milwaukee and did de-briefing, watched all groups presentations, and learned about supports for Community Partnership projects. I believe this whole week is primarily funding by the Great Lakes Restoration Funding. Also Sea Grant give $ to universities for educational, research, and funding.

We were also videotaped about how our week went in three words.  This is now on youtube.

I've tried to share as much as I could manage while living life.  This trip was a great opportunity to rekindle my curiosity about the world around me and the lake I love.

Lake Michigan Shipboard Science Workshop Journal Entries Day 3-5

Day 3:  July 14, 2015
This is a day at port at the town of Manitowoc, Wisconsin.  About 1/2 of the teachers did a late night research station for late night sampling.  I didn't.  I slept to catch up.  There was lightning and rain last night and the teachers out there said that it was hard to separate the lake from the sky in the dark.  That would have been cool to experience, but there were also too many hands on deck and lots of standing around watching.  I am glad that I slept. There were more teachers trying to help than help was needed.

Manitowoc is the home of Manitowoc Ice machine company that also makes other objects, like cranes. There is also a Anheser Busch distribution of grain facility. It only employs 5-6 people, as most of the operations are automated.  Many of the silos are used to store grain for at home brewers.

Manitowoc is also the town that is connected with Ludington, MI via the SS Badger Ferry.   It is also home to where a piece of Sputnik IV crashed into 8th street.  They have a festival each year called Sputnikfest.

I forgot to pack enough t-shirts.  Therefore I looked up a Saint Vincent DePaul shop in Manitowoc and found 2 Wisconsin shirts.  One is a red Rose Bowl t-shirt.  The other is a Manitowoc Pirate Orchestra t-shirt.

Stepping off of the ship first thing this morning I overheard a conversation between one of the Lake Guardian's crew say to a local recycling truck driver, "I get off @ about 4 pm and will be looking for a bar.  Not one of those hipster, fluffy bulls*** bars.  One with a pool table,.  Hopefully with some ladies that I can oogle with my eyes."  No comment on my part, just something for me to remember I guess.

Jessica (from the Museum of Science and Industry) talked about the Shedd Aquarium diving and how most are volunteers, all except shark tank divers.  This makes me curious about where the Shedd money goes.

Manitowoc also built many of the submarines (60+) for US efforts in World War II in the 1940's. This is also the permanent home of the USS Cobia. There is a maritime museum we visited, participated in PD at, and listened to speakers.

The first presentation was by an underwater archeologist.  Here were the main points...

• The Edmund Fitzgerald was a Wisconsin Ship with a home port of Milwaukee; named for a Milwaukee banker.  It went down in Canadian waters. 
• There are 727 shipwrecks in Wisconsin waterways and only 154 have been located.  
• Wisconsin boasts more wrecks than any other state. 
• Burger Boat in Manitowoc still makes luxury yachts to this day. 

Why are there so many wrecks in Wisconsin?

• Chicago and Milwaukee are on the path of grain trade.  Lake Michigan has more traffic than Lake Superior. 
• Wisconsin/Michigan trains used to dump there loads into boats to bypass Chicago via a boat across Lake Michigan.  However, once the Interstate Highway system was established, trucks replaced these cargo ships. 

Random Resources presented at the Museum: 

• Huge canvas map of the Great Lakes available from Michigan Tech's Joan Chatty
• boatnerd.com and marinetraffic app allow people to follow boats. 

We completed a scale drawing of a boat underwater. This would be hard to do in real life underwater.  Cool math/scale application. 

The most interesting presentation at the maritime museum involved "Commericial Fishing on the Great Lakes; Past and Present" by Titus Seilheimer. Here were his key points...

• Phosphorus is the fertilizer of the lake, excess P and quagga mussels lead to cladophora mats.
• He showed a "Simplified Food Web of the Northern Atlantic", super complex.  
• When cladophora is removed from the beach it is taken to a dump or composted. 
• Alewife used to be caught and turned into pet food. 
• DNR manages fishery and quotas for commercial takes on the lake. 

After this presentation on the fisheries we did 3 stations outside...

1. First station featured the use of a $8,000 water column analyzer (Hydrolab) shown by Kristin TePas.  I need to sign up for this in a later email. 
2. Second station was sampling at Manitowoc beach with Titus Seilheimer.  We used large kick nets to collect lots of Goby and a couple of shiners. I'd need to get a scientific sampling permit from the DNR to be able to use this type of equipment out in nature. 
3. Remote operating vehicle demonstration that failed; it is a Wisconsin state rental. 

Jessica from Science and Industry shared U-boat stories as we went through the USS Cobia.  

Michelle from Door County Wisconsin described white fish boils. 

The tour of the USS Cobia included the following highlights

• Oldest working radar in the US. 
• Concept of "hot bunking" sharing beds of shift workers
• Intricate toilet flushing steps/valves/knobs
• Cobia's base port was Perth, Australia and sunk 14 Japanese ships in WWII. 
• Made in New York

We had dinner at Capone's where I had a large perch basket.  After dinner, we went for a walk to see Sputnik 4 crash site on 8th St. In addition to Sputnikfest they also have Subfest. Walking through town was Jedd Freel, Mike, Liz, and John Thomas. On this walk, I was taught that when getting a two scoop ice cone, always ask that the server surprise you. Thank you, Jed Freel.

Day 4: July 15, 2015
We left Manitowoc very early this morning so that we could do three stations on our way across the lake to Frankfort, MI.  At the first station it was my job to do the secchi disk reading which helps determine water clarity, chlorophyll levels, and overall turbidity. Since the arrival of zebra and quagga mussels, Lake Michigan secchi disk readings have shown an increase water transparency. In order to do the secchi disk, you drop the disk down and see how deep it goes before you can't see it anymore.  Then you bring it up until you can see it. Finally you drop it again  until you can't see it again.

This first station today was in the nearshore waters off of Manitowoc.  The Ponar grab was very difficult because of the sandy and rocky bottom.  This made other collections here difficult.  We couldn't collect any cores here either.  Therefore, the phosphorus cycling experiments with quagga mussels are on hold.  As a result, we are running an experiment by comparing quagga mussel respiration rates vs. sediment controls using a dissolved oxygen probe.

I spent a huge chunk of this day working in the lab to help Zac Driscoll with the P cycling experiments.   Here are the steps to do this...

1. Extract sample of water from above the sediment core. 
2. Run extracted water through a filter to get rid of particulate phosphorus (filter paper kept sealed in petri dish). 
3. Spike the filtered water with a 4:1 antimony molybdenum + ascorbic acid as a means of fluorescing the phosphates. 
4. The spiked solution is then placed in a spectrophotometer to get absorbance. 
5. Absorbance is converted into concentration using an excell spreadsheet for a standard curve. See quagga mussels, phosphorus, and Lake Michigan slideshow. here is another slideshow specific on Soluble Dissolved phosphorus.  

Dr. Hoellein of the microplastics research group continues to remind us that there is still lots to learn about microplastics and Lake Michigan.  He says, "I don't know." a lot.  This is healthy and good for him.  It means there's work to do.  They are finding some microplastics.  However, staring through a microscope to categorize debris is difficult work to do on a boat.  

In my work out on the fishtail, a found a chunk of coal from the bottom of the Lake and with tons of quagga mussels and cladophora.

In the evening in the galley, the captain of the boat had a snack with a couple of teachers.  He has been a Captain of 45 years, all on the Great Lakes.  He saluted the Edmund Fitzgerald on its last ride.  He has carried iron, stone, coal, salt, limestone and marble. He ran Escanaba to Chicago.  He also ran salt from Cleveland to Montreal and then marble chips down from Montreal to Chicago.

Day 5: 7/16/2015
We woke up in Frankfort, MI. Ate breakfast on the boat and packed a lunch to eat at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore. We had a park ranger guided tour at Glen Haven area owned by DH Day who was a future looking in having a golf course, fruit orchards, and a blacksmith shop. The ranger discussed many things we were already very aware of.  One funny point came when I asked about pirates on Lake Michigan.  He responded how there haven't been pirates, which contradicted another fact from a curriculum project we were exposed to earlier in the week. Pirates have been on the Great Lakes. See this Michigan Radio story.

We then drove to Pierce Stocking trail and hiked to a nice overlook, then drive back to Empire, MI. While in Empire I walked to the visitor's center and then ran down to the beach to go for a swim.  It was refreshingly fantastic.  The public beach in Empire was much improved from what I remember as a kid vacationing with my family.  Maybe because it was summer and we usually visited in the winter to avoid crowds.

After Empire, we bused to Northstar Organic Cherry Orchard south of Empire.  The owners of the farm gave us an overview of their operations.  To them, organic means nothing synthetically derived can be used and then adhere to the rules for organic certification.  They use a clay/aluminum /diatomaceous earth mix that is sprayed to stop some bugs from eating the cherries.  They also use bio-controls that are bugs that eat the larvae of other bugs that pose a threat to the cherries. They can't use straight manure and pay a premium for a compost that has other nutrients mixed in. For cherries in 2015, this year hasn't been good for them.   A late frost destroyed a significant portion of their crop.   Michigan is the top tart cherry producing state (about 90% of the nations tart cherries).  Many of these tart cherries are used as Maraschino cherries which are yellow cherries bleached, then sweetened, and then red dye is added.

We had evening dinner on the boat and then ice cream back in the town of Frankfort.  On the pier at Frankfort, I was able to jump off three times.  Two on the Lake Michigan cold side and one on the harbor side, much warmer. We saw lots of round goby and a couple very large fish come up to feed.
Jed, Mike and I went on a dessert binge in Frankfort, getting ice cream in every ice cream shop.  I got free fudge scraps for asking at Kilwin's.   

Lake Michigan Journal Entries Day 1 and Day 2

Day 1: July 12th
The Captain of the Lake Guardian wishes us "an uneventful, enjoyable cruise." He reminds us of the chain of command.  We learn how to knock on a door in a bedroom because there are always people sleeping on a ship.  The 1st day was filled with rules, regulations, procedures, and practicing those procedures.  No streaming youtube, always sign off of wifi after using it, no gambling.  The chain of command is Captain Dean -- 1st Mate Freese --2nd Mate Paul -- Kristin.
Saw presentations from the three research groups: Quagga mussels and P cycling, microplastics with Tim Hoellein, and video taping the bottom of the lake with GoPro video, with Glenn Warren.

Day 2 July 13th
This is awesome. Waves 2-3 feet, rain, thunderstorms.  Station #1 is on hold due to lightning. Sat and talked with Mike about Toledo water and algae issues.  We left Milwaukee late last night, I woke up a couple of times, especially when the boat's diesel engine was fired up for the first time.  The hum of the engine is constant.  I hope my toothache isn't too bad (just had a root canal last week).  I'll take some pain medication.  There's a big blob of red all over the radar.  For research, I am in the quagga mussel research group with two graduate students (Zac Driscoll and Emily Tyner from Harvey Bootsma's Lab) from the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee.  Station #1 is between South Haven and Saint Joseph, MI.  I can see steam from Palisades Nuclear Power Plant.  Station #2 is further north, out between the Grand Haven and Muskegon.
Zac and Emily are studying phosphorus cycling and the impacts of quagga mussels.  As the weather is pretty filled with lightning out over the middle of the lake, it is pretty cool to think about how few people it is impacting, since very few people are out in the middle of Lake Michigan right now.
I am curious about how many other boats are out here within a 10 mile radius.  (after later visiting the Captain post, there were zero-two boats on his radar at any given point).  I neglected to ask how far his radar reached.

Here are the tasks I helped with today..
1.) Placing pucks at the bottom of coring samples to stop the sediment core from falling through the tube.- For quagga mussel research.
2.) Stablized the coring device as it went overboard and came up from the depths. -For quagga mussel research. See video of multi-corer device in operation here.

Once the core came up from the bottom, I had the opportunity to place pucks in the bottom to prevent the sediment from sliding out of the bottom.

3.) Sampling of surface and bottom waters (2 meters off the bottom) from a rosette.  (4 liters of water from each layer. For microplastic analysis.

4.) Helped with trial run of using an extruder to take slices of a sediment cores for later phosphorus, nitrogen, and carbon testing through a sediment core.
5.) Using a net and funnel with a 60 micrometer screen and 152 micrometer screen I helped read a flow meter and clean the screens to collect samples for microplastic analysis.
6.) Completed ponar grabs to collect sediment samples that for microplastic analysis. See video of this here. I was able to help rinse out all of the equipment after completing the ponar grab.  Using a hose on the back of a boat in the middle of Lake Michigan was pretty fun.

7.) Helped with the benthic sled (benthic means the bottom of the lake) for the group researching coverage of quagga mussels cross the lake.  Here is a video of how the benthic sled works...

8.) I extruded sediment cores to gather data about the top 2-3 inches of sediment that contained mussels. I then cleaned out the coring tubes and returned the bottom sediment back to the lake.  This was very dirty, but very fun. Cross sections of 2-5 mm of the sediment cores were used for later analysis for nutrient flow and dating purposes.  This was done with 4 people working extruder. Thanks to Jessica for running the water pump on the extruder.  This was very meticulous work to get about 30 samples that were 2 mm to 5 mm in depth.

The benthic sled was dragged for a good amount of time from Station 1 to Station 2; A Go-Pro camera was attached to a sled to record bottom imagery for analysis to measure the amount of quagga mussels at the bottom of the Lake.

Since earlier in the day, waves have subsided, the sun is out and it'll be warm this afternoon.  I'll be inside doing lab work in the phosphorus cycling lab.

Steps to find microplastics in the water with Tim Hoellein's research group...
If a water sample from rosette sampler...
1.) Simple filtration.
2.) Add salt to filtrate so that plastics rise to the top.
3.) Use microscope to count.

If a net collection or sediment material...
1.) Use a sieve 3mm - 0.3 mm
2.) Add high % hydrogen peroxide and iron (II) sulfate to digest organic material. Allow time for digestion.
3.) Add salt; plastic in solution should float to the top.

Notes on the initial trials to determine respiration rates and phosphorus cycling in quagga mussels.
1.) Potential phosphorus contamination, as P is present in DNA,and our cell membranes and we all have DNA and cell membranes.--Therefore we need to clean the cores/pucks/glassware more thoroughly with a 5% HCl rinse.
2.) Potential "messy" feeding by quaggas = higher Phoshorus release known as pseudo feces.
3.) Respiration rate issues: Holes in top of core tubes allowing for diffusion of atmospheric oxygen, control temp was not the same as the others, and experiment is not being done at the bottom of the lake.
*we were using a rhenium light dissolved oxygen sensor.

The boat is load, a diesel hum while listening to our curriculum helper, Kirsten Walker did not make it easy after a long day.

Curriculum Ideas

What should humans do because of the quagga mussel invasion?
1.) Entry Event: Benthic sled Go Pro video from Quin Loch., map of quagga distribution over time
2.) Have a couple of article available, food webs.
3.) Claim-Evidence-Reasoning whiteboard session.

What should humans about estrogen secretion by septic fields and waste water treatment plants?
1.) Entry Event: Fish sex change video/ gummy bear demonstration courtesy of Kirsten Walker.
2.) Have a couple of articles available,.
3.) Claim (we should...) -Evidence (data with sources)-Reasoning (explain why) whiteboard session.

Should microplastics be banned nationally? 
1.) Entry Event: NewsHour
2.) Have a couple of articles available,.
3.) Claim (we should...) -Evidence (data with sources)-Reasoning (explain why) whiteboard session.

Research overview for my summer in the Environmental Engineering lab

Over the past three summers, I have been fortunate to be a part of the University of Notre Dame's Research Experience for Teachers (RET).   Each summer I have worked in a lab on energy related topics.  At the end of each summer, there is a poster session where teachers present their research and how they plan on incorporating it into their curriculum.

This summer, I worked in Dr. Amy Hixon's lab which focuses on how actinides interact with the environment, especially how these elements behave at the mineral-water surface.  This is important because uranium and plutonium are actinides that are present in the environment as the result of nuclear fuel deposition and nuclear weapons.

My specific research project was focused on characterizing some of the minerals that these actinides might encounter in the environment.  Specifically, we were trying to find surface areas and reactivities of the aluminum (hydr) oxides minerals of gibbsite (Al(OH)3), bayerite (alpha Al(OH)3), alpha alumina (Al2O3), and gamma alumina (Al2O3).  To accomplish this goal, I trained to use the surface area analyzer and got actionable results from most of the minerals.  However, gibbsite still proves to be difficult to analyze due to impurities and other complications.  Once the surface areas are well understood, the reactive sites of the minerals can be controlled for in more reliable sorption experiments.

For example, when running an experiment comparing gibbsite and bayerite, one CANNOT simply use equal masses of gibbsite and compare that with bayerite.  This is because when studying how plutonium interacts with the surface of the minerals, one needs to control for surface area and not mass.   However, it is simply much harder to measure surface of particles than mass of particles.

Additionally, I developed curriculum centered on the question "What role should nuclear energy play in a state's plan to reduce greenhouse gas emissions?"  It is an inquiry based unit that contains an Socio-Scientific approach for students to connect radioactivity concepts with biology, earth science, and society.  I look forward to its implementation.

Below is an image of the poster that I presented at the RET symposium.

Struggling with students applying concepts meaningfully? Socio-Scientific Inquiry

Problems:

-Students have a hard time transferring science concepts into their everyday lives (and adult lives). 

-Many reasonable people doubt science see National Geographic issue titled "The War on Science"

-Student engagement

One Solution: Socio-Scientific Inquiry (SSI), which is a form of project/problem based learning.

Here's my overview of SSI...(there are hands-on inquiry based lab that are embedded throughout the following steps).  SSI does not throw out high quality lab based instruction.  SSI helps put all those activities into a broader context. 

1.) Engage students with an entry event or video. 
Here is an example of an entry event for a unit "What is the appropriate use of genetic information?" 

2.) Present a driving question. 

Examples include: 

"What role should nuclear power play in a state's reduction of greenhouse gas emissions?"

"What is the appropriate use of genetic information?"

"Should there be an excise tax on meat?"

"Which application of nanotechnology is most worthy of funding?"
"What role should the government play in requiring vaccinations?"

3.) This is where SSI diverges from conventional PBL...  Have an elaborate jigsaw activity where students play different roles within society and generate well evidenced arguments that address the driving question from those positions.

Here is a rubric for developing a presentation, taking notes, and forming a person position statement.
Student must also plan questions to ask other roles after those roles present their position.  Here is a hard scaffold to facilitate students generating questions. 

4.) Student presentations from their assigned roles. See example here of a presentation put together by group of freshman posing as evolutionary biologist against a meat tax. 

5.) Students then formulate their personal positions related to the central question.  They find an audience for that position and address it to that audience.  This insures a high percent of participation of students in creating writing for a real audience.

Complete units available online are at
Meat tax unit materials from the student perspective: tinyurl.com/inmeattax
Genetic laws unit only culminating activity: tinyurl.com/genelaws
Genetic laws unit in entirety: tinyurl.com/genomelaws

Research Experience for Teachers Reflections

I enjoy "Sharpening my Sword" during the summer.  For the last five summers I have been fortunate enough to be able to work with science graduate students at the University of Notre Dame.  These have been National Science Foundation (NSF) funded. Projects I've worked on include...

1.) Groundwater monitoring and protection. (NDeRC)
2.) Zebrafish eye development. (NDeRC)
3.) Biomass to biofuel catalyst research. (ND Energy RET)
4.) Optical trapping of nanoparticles. (ND Energy RET)
5.) Radionuclide interactions with the mineral environment. (ND Energy RET)

Each of these summer research experiences has been (or will be) translated into improving my curriculum and day to day teaching practices.  For other RET opportunities visit here.  

Being a part of these projects has broaden by science knowledge and made me much more confident in teaching a variety of scientific concepts, while gaining in my lab skills and exposure to different instrumentation and means of data collection.  While I find learning the content renewing, I am very interested in the graduate student-advisor relationship and communication.  It is enlightening to me to observe the processes of scientific inquiry in real time.  I wonder if there is such thing as "best practices" when it comes to grad student-faculty advisor interactions.

Here are some of my predictions of best practices of an advisor/grad student relationship...

1.) The advisor has a general awareness of what is going on in the lab. (Communicates with grad student 3-5 times a week).
2.) Having an experienced grad student in the lab (to help remove any small unnecessary obstacles).
3.) Advisor and grad student offices are physically near each other (to facilitate #1).
4.) Graduate students are encouraged to think out loud and describe the confidence they have in their data and experiments.

These would be some of the things I'd look for if I were to do a study on the advisor/grad student relationship.  This enlightens my teaching because I can use these ideas to enhance the scientific culture of my classroom.

I am trying to post to twitter daily with #ndret to give an overview of what I am doing.

Assessment in Project Based Learning

Data supporting these views can be found at my PBL assessment blendspace: Visit my PBL Assessment Blendspace here

Assessment begins with the end in mind…

My Goals for a PBL unit:

1. GOAL 1: Have students apply/learn content knowledge through situations that challenge students to think and create. By placing students in situations where they use content knowledge I can see what they truly understand and don’t understand to help them push the transferability of content knowledge.  At the end of the year, when students answer the question “The most important thing Mr. Gensic taught me was…” I’d like students to state something like “biology is important/relatable/connected to our lives” or “there are multiple defensible perspectives on (biological) issues.”  I think PBL helps reach these goals and I’ve seen evidence of PBL helping with these goals through end of year surveys.
2. GOAL 2: Provide experiential variety for students. I am not PBL “wall to wall” mainly because of wanting to teach ALL of the standards and needing to have students be ready for common assessments. I am not sure if I ever want to be wall to wall PBL.  Students learn from and enjoy PBL, but they also enjoy smaller lessons that might not be well connected to a Driving Question.

My assessment context:

9th grade biology, Penn High School (suburban, urban, rural high school of 3300 students), pretty focused on common assessments and End of Course Assessment (ECA) results, however we have visions that other forms of assessments (rubrics and real world application should be what students are working on).  That being said, we have stressful meetings about ECA results and our upper level science class teachers want our freshmen students prepared for those classes as well, which may or may not be the skills that PBL embraces.  

My Student Learning Objective (SLO), and therefore my teacher evaluation and job, is based on assessments that I must have in common with the other biology teachers.  None of the other biology teachers do the same projects as my students (and I am not sure if I want them to).  Therefore, PBL assessments make up well less than 30% of a student’s grade in my class. However, in my classroom, we don’t really ever go over the common assessments after students take them because I don’t want kids to focus on grades and being point grubbers for poorly worded test questions.  I focus my time on giving feedback in the context of projects, labs, and presentations.

Assessment Large Ideas:

-For me with 9th graders, assessment is about 85% of the time, by the time I get to actually grading with a rubric I pretty much already know what the grade on the rubric will be.  The other 15% of time is more direct instruction where I am launching students into their work or helping students make connections between the activities they’ve been working on.

-During PBL work, my class time is spent circulating between 7-8 groups of students, with longer stops at groups that are struggling more and where I need to be more directive.  However, I stop by each group at least twice each 85 minute block to check in.  I also use my upperclassmen classroom tutor to facilitate these conversations. I’ll have the tutor watch me have a conversation or two with PBL groups, then let that tutor work one side of the room while I work the other side of the room.  If I didn’t have a tutor, I might use a very high achieving student within the class work the role as class facilitator.    

-I believe I do not need to fill out a piece a paper or put a grade in a grade book to assess a student.  I believe powerful assessment comes from listening to a student or groups of students and engaging in conversation and relistening to them until they get on point.  Many times I use phrases like, “I think I understand your point, but I am a little confused here.” Or, “Your first step/slide/detail has these positive attributes and these negative attributes.  What are you going to do differently for your next step/detail/slide.” I do a lot of listening and observing during group work.

-I view rubrics as setting a bottom for students to see what is expected.  I then use in-class feedback to bring up the expectation on a case by case basis to that students are not fixated on the following of a rubric. While rubrics are a necessary component of projects, I believe fixation on following a rubric may undermine creative thinking.

Making sure students learn the standards?

I have daily warm-ups of 5-10 questions that connect the content of the PBL to ECA/common assessment style questions so that students get that practice for the ECA and they get to feel like they are learning vocabulary and content in the midst of the project.  It is weird, but while doing warm-ups I sometimes have students comment toward the end of the year with comments like “Mr. Gensic, you teach us stuff everyday.”  I think students like to become good at vocabulary because it is something more tangible to the historically lower achieving student.  I feel without the warm-ups, some students might wonder if they are learning anything and question if I was teaching them anything.  

I will also interrupt group work time early before the end of class to review major concepts and maybe do another rote vocabulary activity.  Biology is word heavy, and after doing a lot of application level work in the PBL I want to give students the opportunity to touch vocabulary again before leaving my room (albeit at a recall/comprehension level).  

Individual vs. Group:

There are components of my rubric that holds students individually accountable and accountable as an entire group.  In the entire group portion is a smaller portion than the individual portion.  Absences are also a pain.  On the first day of group work, I require students to create and share with all members the files with which they will work.  This avoids, “Sally is not here today, so we lost our work.”  I usually respond, “Text her and have her share it with you.”

My written feedback is almost exclusive to the last couple of products of a project.

21st Century Skill non-content assessment: Collaboration, Critical Thinking, and Creativity....I very rarely deal with these on paper.  At times, I have used the Buck Institute Collaboration Rubric to show entire classes that I know will struggle with collaboration simply to be proactive about heading off potential issues.  Additionally, Buck Institute has lots of well designed rubrics if you are looking for them.

Ways I could probably improve and am looking for ideas about…

-Having students reflect and self-assess.  I struggle with giving/finding classroom time for this.

-Assessing 21st century skills.  I have a hard time justifying a lower course grade to a misanthrope who knows all of the biology.   I would like to make these more of a focus in my classroom.  I might make a poster for this.