Grades 6-12

Jenny Nord - Secondary Science Curriculum Coordinator

Email: jnord5257@columbus.k12.oh.us
Website: https://www.ccsoh.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=2577
Location: 3700 South High Street, Columbus, OH, USA
Phone: 9380) 997-0466
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColumbusCitySchools/

So how can we integrate critical thinking into our classrooms?

Even very young children can, as Stanford neurologist Allison Gopnik reminds us, test hypotheses and tell truth from falsehood. Unfortunately, as children grow older, they confuse critical thinking with personal criticism and find the social cost of challenging assertions to be overwhelming. Adolescents in particular value consensus, and in some schools, the student who seeks the apparently reasonable middle ground may be prized over the one who vigorously defends a point of view with evidence.

Critical thinking involves the kinds of abilities associated with the higher-order skills that Bloom identifies on his taxonomy. Those skills that have to do with reasoning, analyzing, combining thoughts, and creating information.

It is important that we as teachers integrate critical thinking as much as possible into our classrooms. The best and most effective way to do this is by asking questions. By posing questions to students, we get students to think. Posing open-ended questions that require a supported response about any subject is an invitation to think critically.

The engineering practices and the engineering-design process used in STEM particularly support critical thinking. First, the questions of the engineering-design process are ones that ask students to solve a problem or improve on something that may not work very well. The next step in the engineering-design process asks students to imagine and plan. Here come more questions: Will this work? What does this look like? In this part of the design process, the thinking is more abstract but definitely critical. Students are making connections to the wider world. Then, there is the part of the engineering-design process that asks students to create. This is critical thinking at its best. The final step in the engineering-design process is evaluation. Yet, more critical thinking.

Integrating critical thinking in education is not a difficult task. However, getting the students to “think outside the box” is a skill with teaching. By offering students open-ended questions where there are no “yes” or “no” or “right” or “wrong” answers, it will encourage them to think differently from their classmates. This can be accomplished at any level. For instance: While we know that 2+2=4, a teacher could ask elementary students in what other ways can a number plus another number = 4. (3+1, 1+3; 4+0). The point is that even in math, there is more than one way to add numbers to find the same sum. Teachers can go a bit further and ask for 3-digit numbers that equal 4. Even at any grade level in education, an English teacher can ask students, “Why did an author use a bird as a main character instead of a human being?”

Additionally, teachers creating essential questions for each chapter or unit will engage students more effectively than asking closed-ended ones. From elementary school through postsecondary education, students need to be challenged at every level. The essential questions can begin a unit, be discussed, and then reviewed again in the middle and end of the unit. This would be a great opportunity to see if students change their thought process. It’s important to give students as many opportunities to use critical-thinking skills in the classroom so they can be applied outside the classroom.

The inability to think, or critically think, becomes a problem when not related to schoolwork. Think about this: A student graduates from high school, goes on to college, goes to medical school, completes his or her residency, and becomes a brain surgeon. During surgery, everything the student learned academically is not working. What does the doctor do? In the midst of surgery, he or she cannot just give up or research online. During his or her education, the opportunity to find alternate solutions that are not in a book could’ve been relevant at this point. So what is it that we need to do to prevent a medical student from learning A, B, C, D options to provide the best medical care for the patients? At the elementary and secondary school levels, it’s time for students to be given every possible chance to think outside the box when necessary.

(taken partially from: https://www.edweek.org/teaching-learning/opinion-eight-instructional-strategies-for-promoting-critical-thinking/2021/03)

Visible Body:

-Free Lesson Plan: Diffusion and Osmosis: https://tinyurl.com/2p8vrc48

Carolina Biological:

-Electromagnetic Spectrum Infographic: https://tinyurl.com/87ttafma

Ditch that Textbook:

-10 Low-Prep Activities to Kick off 2022: https://ditchthattextbook.com/low-prep-new-year-activities/

-Free ebook: 101 Practical Ways to Ditch That Textbook

-Free ebook: 101 Ways to Ditch That Textbook with G Suite

-Free ebook: 50 FREE Templates for Teachers

-Printable PD: Monthly printable sheets to hang up and share with others (archive HERE)

-Weekly "copy and assign" templates (find an archive of those HERE)

-Creative Chromebook activity ideas (15 min, 30 min, 60 min ideas)

-Top Chromebook features to know (i.e. built-in screen reader!)

-Best Chromebook tips and tricks (you'll love the 3 finger touchpad gestures!)

-Helpful Chromebook resources (like downloadable, printable posters)

-Our top Chromebook posts (i.e. how to use Chromebooks offline)

-"Copy and assign" remote learning templates

-Tools for remote learning

-How to set up your remote learning classroom

-200+ remote learning activities

-Video call best practices, tips, and tricks

-Remote Learning Resource Page

-Interactive digital notebooks (with 20 activities to fill them)

-Easy stop-motion animation to demo understanding in motion

-A fun Yelp review-style template (copy and assign to students)

-Instagram Stories template to transform writing activities

NSTA:

-Freebies: https://tinyurl.com/527e5mev

-Daily Dos

-From the Field: Events and Opportunities: https://www.nsta.org/resources/field-events-and-opportunities-january-25-2022?utm_medium=email&utm_source=rasa_io

OpenSciEd:

-New 8th Grade Unit: Whay are living things different from each other? This unit on genetics starts out with students noticing and wondering about photos of two cattle, one of whom has significantly more muscle than the other. The students then observe photos of other animals with similar differences in musculature: dogs, fish, rabbits, and mice. After developing initial models for the possible causes of these differences in musculature, students explore a collection of photos showing a range of visible differences. Throughout the unit, students use videos, photos, data sets, and readings to investigate what causes an animal to get extra-big muscles. They also investigate plant reproduction, including selective breeding and asexual reproduction (in plants and other organisms) and other examples of traits that are influenced by genetic and environmental factors. Students figure out that environmental and genetic factors together play a role in the differences we see among living things. See where the unit goes from there in the unit storyline.

Download the Unit

TedEd:

-Which Animal Has the Best Eyesight Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjVqIW281Qo

Buckeye Science and Engineering Fair: Open to all Ohio students in grades 9-12 that wish to

compete for a spot to the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Students do NOT need to compete in a District or the State Science Day competition to participate in BSEF. REGISTRATION WILL OPEN FEBRUARY 15, 2022 AND LOSE MARCH 1, 2022. FEE IS $50.00 PER STUDENT PARTICIPANT.

For additional information on the Regeneron ISEF 2022, visit: https://www.societyforscience.org/isef/

Green Teens Roundup:

Calling all West Side teenagers eager to get their hands dirty and work throughout the summer! We're in the final planning stages of our 2022 Green Teens Summer Program, and that means we're opening up registration! This 9-week, action-packed program takes teens into the life of an urban grower. During the program, teens learn various skills like gardening, cooking, working on a team, problem solving and running a market. They will also get a chance to get out in the community and learn from neighbors and friends about food justice and what they can do to advance it. Teens are paid $11/hour for their time throughout the program.

Green Teens Info--Highland Youth Garden

SWCSD: It is Conservation Poster Contest season!! The 2022 Franklin County Conservation Poster Contest opens next Monday, January 31st! This year’s theme is Healthy Soil: Healthy Life. This is a perfect topic for 6th grade classes to reinforce their soil units. It also coordinates well with plant life cycles, school gardens, ecosystems, habitats and human interaction with the ennvironment. See informational flyer below. Additional information about the contest and the link to register on-line are located on the website at: Conservation Poster Contest - Franklin Soil and Water Conservation District (franklinswcd.org).

***Please see flyer below.

Leopold Education Project (for teachers): The Leopold Education Project (LEP) is an innovative, interdisciplinary conservation education curriculum based on the classic writings of Aldo Leopold, a renowned conservationist. The LEP program helps students recognize their ties to the natural world - and their role in the conservation and protection of natural resources. Activities emphasize careful observation, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. Both classroom lessons and outdoor activities are included. The ultimate goal of the LEP is to instill a love, respect, and admiration for the land, leading to environmentally responsible citizenship. Curriculum can easily be adjusted to all grade levels.

Educator Training Workshop, Saturday, March 12, 8:30-3:00

***Please see the flyer below.

NSTA22 Houston Conference:

Visit with old friends, make new ones, and just experience the joy of learning together at #NSTA22 Houston, March 31 – April 2. Check out the sessions for Houston, housing, and travel information, and register today. Enjoy earlybird savings if you register by February 18.

With more than 400 sessions to choose from, there's something for everyone. Topics include:

• Developing scientific literacy in the classroom
• Strategies for creating inclusive science classrooms
• Using science inquiry to facilitate learning for multilingual learners
• Promoting effective assessments in the STEM classroom
• Developing accountability systems for expanding STEM participation

Registration Open

Safety in the science laboratory/classroom is vital.Attached below, you will find a link for general safety guidelines. High school teachers should fill out the weekly lab safety check list and turn into your department chair each time you fill a sheet. These will be turned into the curriculum office at the end of the year along with your science lab room check off sheet and your chemical inventory.

If you do not have a lab safety contract, there is one from Carolina Biological attached below.

28 Scientists to Learn more about: February is Black History Month. Learn more about some of the many African American scientists and engineers who have made important contributions to science history. https://www.sciencebuddies.org/blog/black-history-month-scientists

African American Pioneers of Science: Scientists, engineers, and inventors find the solutions to the world's problems. Learn about the work that these Black scientists and inventors have accomplished that make our lives better. https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/black-inventors-and-pioneers-of-science

16 Black History Month STEM Activities: https://www.idtech.com/blog/black-history-month-stem-activities

How Schools Can Celebrate Black History Month and Why It Matters Article: https://www.signupgenius.com/blog/expert-advice-black-history-month-schools.cfm?utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Participant

Black History Month STEM Resources: https://teachers.egfi-k12.org/black-history-month-stem-resources/

If you have microscopes/3 beam balances that need to be repaired or serviced, please let Jenny Nord know. We will get in touch with our provider. Since we are in a time of Covid, in order to safely get him into your school for the repairs, we need you to designate a room in which he can work that has no access to students and others. Perhaps you have a conference room, large multi-prep room, etc. He should not be in a classroom. Thank you for your assistance in keeping our staff and students safe.

Ed Week:

-6 Strategies for Promoting Diversity and Inclusion at your School: https://tinyurl.com/y6yfam8h

-What's Worked this Year and What Hasn't: https://tinyurl.com/2p8hu83u

-The Teaching Profession in 2021 in Charts: https://tinyurl.com/2p8kynd4

-How to Nurture Life-Long Readers in a Digital Age: https://tinyurl.com/2pcfewd9

-17 Favorite Classroom-Learning Games: https://tinyurl.com/ycknpev8

-Advice for New MS Teachers from 4 Veteran Teachers: https://tinyurl.com/2cj2dv8r

Kessler Science:

-5 Remedies for Sunday Evening Anxiety: https://www.keslerscience.com/5-remedies-for-sunday-evening-anxiety-as-a-science-teacher/?ck_subscriber_id=879971423

Middle School HMH:

-The Ed platform keeps track of data from assigned digital assessments: Unit pretests, lesson quizzes, Unit Tests which come in Forms A and B....the reports are accessible under the reports tab by choosing Assessment Reports tile on the left. There are several different reports available for this data.

-The eBook for students is not designed to be graded as it is a tool to use during instructional time with students completing tasks in the book and then sharing during whole class or small group discussions. To assess writing in science, I would suggest using Evidence Notebooks that can be a spiral notebook that the student provides. The teacher guide gives many suggestions for writing assignments and tasks that can be completed in these notebooks. They would have to be evaluated by the teacher if grades are given. Unit performance tasks and Performance based assessments, included in every unit, would also provide evidence of successful writing in science.

Per your request, HMH has made all the correlations as workable links. If you attended the PD on Tuesday, you learned where they were going to be housed. HMH used our curriculum documents to create the units in the order of our documents and make all the activities as usable links. They could not put this right into their platform, so they had to share them all with me and then I am working on sharing them all with you. I will give all 6-8 teachers access to all the grades per some of your peers' requests. If you are in a K-6 school, I only gave you access to the 6th grade links.

If you open your platform and click on the Discover tab at the top; click on My Stuff; and then click on Shared with Me, you will find the 9 units there. You must DUPLICATE the units you want and they will appear in your My Lesson Bank.

I am asking you to share these with any teachers I may have missed, any spec ed teachers, and any ELL teachers in your school. To share, you go to Discover, click on My Stuff, click on My Lessons, click on the unit you are sharing, click on the share icon, and start entering a name. It should pop up. Then just click on it and click share at the bottom. Thank you for your assistance with this. If you were not at the PD, please ask one of your peer teachers to help you find these resources. Otherwise, please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions. I am hopeful that this will make it so much easier for you to locate and use the new resources.

Savvas Biology and Environmental Science:

Savvas has biology and environmental science set up with both X and Y sections being year-long courses. Because of this, anything you create in your Google Classroom course is being assigned to the X course. We are asking you to make some adjustments to get all your content and grades in your Y course.

Students are viewing both the X and Y courses in their platforms. This will be confusing to them. To help with this, Savvas is going to hide the X course from the students. Once they do this, it will also hide from you. You can always go into your courses and unhide it if you want to view it. Keep in mind that that will also unhide it from your students. You can go in to check on something, unhide it, and then re-hide it to keep it from confusing the students if you choose.

Savvas can only accept one Google Classroom course for any of their courses. Therefore, the X course will contain anything you do for the Y course in Google Classroom as well. To work around this, we need you to go into your Google Classroom course, make a copy, and then rename it. This can then be assigned to your Y course in Savvas.

Savvas and Infinite Campus are two different entities. You must now associate the new Google Classroom course with Infinite Campus. To do this, open the new Google Classroom course, click on the settings gear icon in the upper right corner, scroll down to General, click on Link to Class. You will get a pull-down menu with your classes. Make sure you link this to your Y course.

Savvas AP Biology:

Below is a link for the document from Savvas if your AP biology teachers need help with the semester Y rostering. Be sure they scroll down for all the directions and examples. I have put this in the Implementation Resources folder for Savvas in our CLT folder.

3rd Quarter Newsletter: https://www.smore.com/s9tcm-spruce-run-nature-center

Please take the time to take the Project Adventure Survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1TEVsfdnKIljmITf85_9P4tdnRMMG4fhQnkpDYbKaPhs/edit

Don't forget virtual fieldtrips!

-54 different virtual fields trips and 20 more places to find tons of virtual field trips: https://ditchthattextbook.com/virtual-field-trips/

Don't forget Franklin County Metro Parks:

-Just as it is for many of you, the new year brings opportunities for positive changes, inside and out, and Columbus & Franklin County Metro Parks is excited to announce news and updates we think you want to hear about.

-With the most recent opening of Quarry Trails Metro Park, there's a total of 20 different and incredible parks to engage, explore and enjoy throughout the park district.

-Not to mention the many miles of Greenway Trails to explore on bike, foot or roller blades.

-Whether it's learning about snakes and turtles from a Naturalist at Homestead Metro Park, to hiking among the Hemlock trees at Clear Creek Metro Park or practicing your aim at the Scioto Grove Metro Park archery range, there's SO much to see and do at the largest Metro Parks district in the state of Ohio! It's a good thing we're open 365 days a year. 😊

Remember...if you use any lab or activity that you find online, be sure to follow all safety guidelines. Make sure that it is safe and appropriate according to our safety guidelines before you ever attempt it. Also, be certain that it aligns with your particular standards.

-Valentine's Day STEM Activities for Middle School: https://www.steamsational.com/valentine-stem-activities-for-middle-school/

-HS Valentine's Day Chemistry Activities: https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en/education/students/highschool/chemistryclubs/activities/valentines-activities.html

-Valentine's Day Science Experiments: https://www.fromengineertosahm.com/valentines-day-science-experiments/

-Valentine's Day Science Ideas: https://www.sciencelessonsthatrock.com/blog/valentines-day-science-ideas

Office of Teaching and Learning (614-365-5727) is located at 3700 S. High St.

Leslie Kelly , Executive Director, Teaching and Learning

Brian Morton, Director of Secondary Curriculum

Katy Myers, Secondary Curriculum Supervisor

Heather Allen, K-5 Coordinator, hallen704@columbus.k12.oh.us

Jennifer Nord, 6-12 Science Coordinator, jnord5257@columbus.k12.oh.us

Geri Granger, K-12 Spruce Run Coordinator, ggranger9556@columbus.k12.oh.us