INTRODUCTION TO THE ISCI COURSES
Welcome to the ISCI instructor community! Our team has learned a lot through the process of developing and teaching these courses, and this handbook is designed to help share some of what we have learned for those that are new to teaching the ISCI courses. You are welcome to modify the sample tests, powerpoints, activities, and syllabi you find here for your own use.
The learning outcomes of the course have been established and are discussed below: please use these outcomes to design your course and your assessments. For the sake of standardization of the course, and to ensure our students are getting similar education experiences, the instructors of a given course will need to DO THE SAME LABS and USE THE SAME GRADING STRUCTURE in a given semester. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Jennifer Frisch, or 770.423.6161.
PURPOSE OF THE ISCI COURSES
In the Spring of 2006, the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia put forth a mandate that all elementary education pre-service teachers in the system would have to take two (2) science content-based courses; one on life and earth science content (ISCI 2001) and another on physical science content (ISCI 2002). Prior to this mandate, ECE majors only had to take one course, SCI 2201. As science educators, we saw this as a positive change- trying to squeeze all of the K-5 science standards into one semester was daunting, to say the least.
Kennesaw State University was one of the first Universities in the system to implement the change: we began offering the new courses in the Fall of 2007. Since that time, we have written learning outcomes for both courses and adjusted the labs according to feedback from instructors and students. At this point, the courses are reasonably well-developed, and we have not had to make any major changes to the structure in some time. We welcome feedback on what is working and not working in the course so that we can continue to improve the curriculum and our teaching!
The course is NOT meant to be a watered-down version of an introductory science class. The idea is to help the students learn the important concepts, not necessarily every definition, and to help them understand them well enough that they can teach them well. We often try to draw attention to our teaching methods as we do this, but THIS IS NOT A METHODS COURSE.
The two ISCI courses are interconnected, although they need not be taken in any particular order. Since the courses were developed in concert, they have some similar learning goals and outcomes. These goals and outcomes are listed below.
ISCI OVERALL LEARNING GOALS:
We seek to:
· Provide learning experiences that accurately portray the nature of scientific inquiry.
· Promote both the sense of wonder and the capacity to interpret phenomena on the basis of empirical evidence.
· Facilitate dialogue for development of science content knowledge for teaching science in grades K-5.
· Offer initial experiences in the design of meaningful science experiences to be used in work as K-5 teachers.
ISCI TEACHER DEVELOPMENT OUTCOMES (FROM NSES, p59, PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT Standard A):
The course will:
· Involve [pre-service] teachers in actively investigating phenomena that can be studied scientifically, interpreting results, and making sense of findings consistent with currently accepted scientific understanding.
· Build on [pre-service] teachers’ current science understanding, ability, and attitudes.
· Incorporate ongoing reflection on the process and outcomes of understanding science through inquiry.
· Increase self-efficacy towards teaching science in grades K-5, and promote the sense of wonder in teachers and students.
ISCI NATURE OF SCIENCE OUTCOMES:
Students will:
· Have the computation and estimation skills necessary for analyzing data and following scientific explanations.
· Use tools and instruments for collecting and analyzing data using safe lab procedures.
· Use the ideas of system, model, change, and scale.
· Communicate scientific ideas and activities.
· Describe the character of scientific knowledge and how it is achieved.
· Understand and demonstrate the important features of science inquiry.
Naturally, the two courses address different science content standards. The learning outcomes for science content for the two courses are outlined below.
ISCI 2001 LIFE AND EARTH SCIENCE LEARNING OUTCOMES:
Students will be able to:
· Understand and demonstrate the scientific method.
· Investigate the characteristics of life and the basic needs of living organisms.
· Diagram, identify, and determine the functions of the parts of various cells, including prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Distinguish between plant and animal cells, and compare and contrast multicellular and single-celled organisms. Discuss beneficial and harmful microorganisms.
· Demonstrate the flow of energy in an ecosystem. Illustrate and explain the roles of organisms in an ecosystem, including producers, consumers, and decomposers. Discuss abiotic and biotic interactions in an ecosystem.
· Describe the cell cycle in eukaryotic cells. Discuss what a gene is and the role genes play in transfer of traits from parent to offspring.
· Classify organisms and compare characteristics of the major groups of organisms.
· Discuss natural selection and the factors that affect survival or extinction of organisms.
· Explain how fossils are formed, and discuss why they are considered evidence of organisms that lived long ago.
· Describe the habitats of organisms with an emphasis on different habitats within GA, and discuss what happens if a habitat changes.
· Describe the hydrologic cycle and relate its importance on Earth.
· Students will observe, measure, and analyze weather data to identify patterns.
· Identify surface features of Earth caused by constructive and destructive forces.
· Explain the role of the relative positions of the earth, moon, and sun in determining the sequence of the phases of the moon.
· Describe the physical attributes of rocks and soils.
ISCI 2001-- RELEVANT CHAPTERS COVERED IN TEXTBOOK: (Hewitt, Lyons, Suchocki & Yeh, 2007)
1 (science process)
15 (the cell)
16 (genetics)
17 (natural selection & evolution)
18 (classification & diversity)
21 (ecosystems)
22 (plate tectonics)
23 (rocks and minerals)
24 (surface features of the Earth)
25 (weather)
26 (fossils ONLY)
27 (Moon phases and seasons ONLY)
ISCI 2002 PHYSICAL SCIENCE LEARNING OUTCOMES
· Investigate different types of motion, including changes in speed and direction
· Apply Newton’s laws of motion
· Observe gravity’s effect on motion and develop a working understanding of free fall
· Describe sources of energy, how energy is used, and relate potential and kinetic energy’s relationships to real-life situations
· Describe simple machines, and explain their relationship to work
· Investigate how heat is produced, effects of heating and cooling, insulation, and heat transfer
· Apply understanding of the nature of waves to electricity, magnetism, sound, and light
· Investigate electricity, including static, circuits, insulators and conductors
· Demonstrate the effects of magnets
· Describe the relationship between electricity and magnetism
· Investigate and explain the nature of light, including shadows, sources, mirrors, lenses, prisms
· Demonstrate how sound is produced through vibrations, and compare and contrast pitch and volume
· Identify the structure and parts of an atom; define isotopes
· Use the periodic table to identify trends in chemical and physical properties of elements
· Compare, contrast, and give examples of physical and chemical properties of matter
· Investigate physical and chemical changes; verify conservation of mass
· Explain the reasons behind color, size, brightness, patterns of stars, and scientific evidence for each
· Describe the life cycles of different types of stars
· Describe how planets are formed and compare and contrast planets in our solar system
ISCI 2002-- RELEVANT CHAPTERS COVERED IN TEXTBOOK: (Hewitt, Lyons, Suchocki & Yeh, 2007)
1 (process of science)
2 (motion)
3 (Newton’s laws)
4 (Energy)
6 (Heat)
7 (Electricity & Magnetism)
8 (sound and light)
9 (the atom)
11 (physical/ chemical properties of matter)
12 (chemical changes)
27 (solar system but NOT earth, moon, sun (see ISCI 2001))
28 (stars)
ISCI GRADING STRUCTURE:
The grading structure for the ISCI courses is consistent within the same course, though it sometimes varies slightly between the two different courses. Instructors teaching the same course in the same semester must use the same grading structure.
Generally, the grade structure is as follows:
Teaching projects (e.g., microteach, field trip, lab facilitation) 15%
Lecture (in-class assignments, homework, quizzes, etc.) 15%
Lab (lab assignments, quizzes, lab reports, etc.) 25%
Exam #1 15%
Exam #2 15%
Exam #3 15%
We give three exams in the course, and then offer an optional cumulative final exam, which takes the place of the lowest exam grade. If students miss one of the three exams, they must take the final.
ASSESSMENT OF ISCI
I recommend using backwards design for this course- it seems to work fairly well considering how much content has to be stuffed into each semester. The idea behind backwards design is to keep your endpoint in mind—in the case, the endpoint is the learning outcomes, because they have been written based on the K-5 Georgia Performance Standards. So, while planning lessons, keep the learning outcomes in mind. While writing assessments, take out the learning outcomes and make sure you can map each of your test items to one (or more) of the learning outcomes. In fact, it doesn’t hurt to explicitly do this for at least one test over the course of the semester—this will give you evidence that your students are achieving the desired outcomes, or it will inform you that they are not, so you can adjust your teaching accordingly.
It never hurts to go a little deeper on certain concepts, particularly those that you are enthusiastic about teaching! Just remember, though, the semester can go by pretty quickly. As long as you are able to spend some time on each of the concepts included in the learning outcomes, you should be in good shape.
As you can see from the grading structure, we use both formative assessments and summative assessments. It’s a good idea to give as much feedback as you can on the formative assessments; generally, ISCI students are receptive to feedback since they are working towards teaching degrees themselves. You will find that a good portion of the population considers themselves “not good at science tests” so it is helpful to give them an idea of how you test, though some combination of quizzes, practice tests, or study guides.
I strongly recommend that you use different types of test questions to assess your students (see sample test folder). It is often difficult to write good multiple-choice questions, and I have found that short answer questions and short “problems” often give me a better idea of how much students understand. If you are teaching a lot of students/courses at the same time that you’re teaching ISCI and need the time that is saved using multiple-choice questions, just try to be sure that those questions assess different levels of understanding—in other words, not just definitions. Come and talk to me if you are not sure how to do this!
THE ISCI STUDENT POPULATION
All of the students who take this course are ECE majors (or ECE interest). They are studying to become elementary teachers. As a general rule, they like to know the “right” answers to things, and some of them can get very frustrated when we insist that they figure out the answers themselves, or when we don’t reveal the “right” answer (as you sometimes cannot in science). Try to take this frustration as a teachable moment—you can help them understand that if you are a scientist, no one comes into your lab and tells you whether you have the “right” answer. All you can do is look at your evidence and try to figure it out for yourself. This means you end up being wrong sometimes (in fact: often! But I don’t always tell them this). But do try to make sure that they understand that teaching science is not about making students memorize facts—it is about gathering and analyzing data, and making conclusions. We’ve tried to emphasize this in the labs as much as we could, for the time allowed.
Many of the students in this population are science- and math-phobic. They come into the course feeling that they don’t like or understand science and never will. As a result, you will find that you need to be a cheerleader, both for them and for science. Show your enthusiasm for the subject, and they will respond positively.
Like many other majors, the students in the ISCI course tend to be fairly grade-centered. In addition, they often do not know how to study for a science content test, and go into exams thinking they can get by on common sense. During the first portion of the course, I try to work in tips about how to study for science, and I do this again after the first exam has been passed back. After the first exam, you may find that a number of students are very upset about their grades. We try to convince them that the important thing is not the grade they get, but rather the extent to which they understand the concepts. Many of us try to back this up by allowing them to do test corrections in order to get some points back on the test (I give them about 30% of the points they missed IF they correct the questions well). You do not have to do this, but the students find it helpful, and it helps to assuage their grade anxiety. If you have any students that are particularly upset, I find it helpful to invite them to come to my office hours once a week or so, so that we can go through what we’ve covered that week.
These students will react positively if you relate what you teach to real life, and to how they will need to teach. They are appreciative when you stop and talk about how to teach things, and how to find and address the misconceptions their students may have. They are very enthusiastic once you engage their interest, and if you give them a chance to show what they can do, you will find that most of them are really great teachers—and they will be great science teachers!
I have found that the “minds of our own” and “private universe” videos are extremely helpful when you are talking about science concepts that are tricky (they address electricity, light, photosynthesis, and sun/moon/earth relationships.
All of these videos are available for free online at:
http://www.learner.org/resources/series29.html?pop=yes&pid=86