OUSD School Transformation Collaborative:
Spring 2017 Cohort
Personalized Science Prototype
Objectives:
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Learn about collaborative science groups.
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Select student collaborative roles that will work best in your classroom.
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Find or create a lab/activity that utilizes group work and roles.
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Introduce group roles to students.
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Use the Science Collaboration Guide and/or Group Lab Report with students.
Suggested Timeline: 1 week
Stage 1:
Facilitate Group Work and Collaboration
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Step 1: Watch one of these 2 videos and think about collaborative work in your science classroom.
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Step 2: Review this overview of group work and think about how you might implement this in your classroom.
Objective 1: Learn about collaborative science groups.
Objective 2: Select student collaborative roles that will work best in your classroom.
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Step 1: Review these real-life science jobs that define the collaborative roles of: Project Manager, Theorist, Experimentalist, Data Collector and Science Reporter. Read their descriptions and students prompts, thinking about your classroom implementation: Science Collaborative Roles.
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Step 2: If these roles will work with little or no modification, skip steps 3 and 4.
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Step 3: Review other collaborative group roles
or
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Step 4: Create your own collaborative group roles.
Objective 3: Find or create a lab/activity that utilizes group work and roles.
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Step 1: Review a sample lab utilizing group roles. (In this lab, student groups will design their own experiment using Bromothymol blue and Elodea plants to identify key components needed for photosynthesis.)
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Note that in this lab, students first start with an individual lab sheet to show their thinking and propose an experiment. The group will select one proposal and conduct the lab, completing the Group Lab Report. (You will read about the Group Lab Report in the next objective.)
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Every lab/activity should have components of individual and group work, but will not necessarily require a separate handout in addition to the Group Lab Report.
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Each activity should take one or two class periods. You will usually do one activity each week. .
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Plan for having homework or independent work available if groups finish early.
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NGSS Resources for Group labs and Activities
(See complete descriptions of resources here.)
Congratulations! You've completed Stage 1. Move on to Stage 2:
Differentiate Instruction with Learning Menus
Objective 4: Introduce group roles to students.
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Step 1: Use this PPT or modify it as needed to give explicit directions and prompts to students.
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Step 2: Roles will be put into practice with the hands on lab or activity you created in objective 3.
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Step 3: Assign roles for the first activity and explicitly assign portions of the group lab report to students based on their role. Note: In Stage 5, you will increase personalization by giving students opportunity to try different roles,partners and tasks with future activities.
Considerations for More Personalized Learning:
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Choice: Allow students to choose their roles and groups.
Objective 5: Use the Science Collaboration Guide and/or Group Lab Report with students.
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Step 1: Review the Science Collaboration Guide and the Group Lab Report.
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Step 2: Make a copy of one or both and modify as needed for use in your classroom.
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Step 3: Have students complete your lab or activity using a Science Collaboration Guide or Group Lab Report.
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Step 4: Circulate, provide support and ask guiding questions as students complete the activity.