Planning
Here we show the first of our core sets of practices. These are planning practices for designing a unit of instruction. Important ideas in science are about the relationships between a natural phenomenon and a causal explanation that helps us understand why something in the world unfolds the way it does (phenomena are events or processes— things that happen). Studying events or process rather than “things” or abstract ideas intrigues students. This video shows how teachers sort through their curriculum as well as the standards, in order to select which ideas to focus on during a unit. They then select a phenomenon to anchor their units of instruction and develop a rich causal explanation for that event or process. Finally, they use this explanation to sequence a set of learning experiences for students. See our Pathways page for exploring more resources on this set of practices.
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Elementary / Eliciting / Planning / Pressing / Supporting / Video / Professional Learning / Teacher Educator / Teacher K-12 /
Scientific modeling and argumentation in early elementary classrooms.
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This high school unit was developed by Lauren Petersen who teaches in the Lake Washington School District in Washington State.… -
Students learn how people make/detect sounds and the matter-energy story to explain how a singer shattered a glass. They identify…
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Elementary / High School / Middle School / Eliciting / Planning / Tool / Professional Learning / Teacher Educator / Teacher K-12 /
A model scaffold can support students in sharing and revising their thinking about a phenomenon in the world. Students represent… -
Elementary / High School / Middle School / Eliciting / Planning / Pressing / Supporting / Tool / Professional Learning / Teacher Educator / Teacher K-12 /This resource includes tools for accessing students’ funds of knowledge, critical equity questions to consider when doing so and a… -
Elementary / High School / Middle School / Eliciting / Planning / Tool / Professional Learning / Teacher Educator / Teacher K-12 /Centering justice in classrooms means evaluating the ways in which your curriculum centers justice and joy. This tool provides frameworks,… -
The Studio Model is a form of job-embedded professional learning that takes place in teaching and learning spaces like schools. -
Students learn about non-contact forces (gravity, magnetism) to explain the different ways a magnetic ring toy works. They use knowledge… -
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Use science theater to help students understand how dye molecules in chromatography. -
This video shows K-2 students working on and with their own evolving models of puzzling phenomena. -
Sima Faik, Sarah E. Goode STEM Academy; Alec Shrode, Chicago Academy High School; In collaboration with Michael Tompkins and Evelyn… -
Science Coach Suzanne Sullivan describes how and why she launched an AST book club through social media -
Phenomenon- and modeling-based unit in a third-grade classroom. -
Elementary / High School / Middle School / Planning / Pressing / Video / Professional Learning / Teacher Educator / Teacher K-12 /How science investigations can expand beyond standard classroom activities -
This professional learning resource shares the story of the Seattle Public Schools science specialists and how they organized professional learning…
Ambitious Teaching—An overview
In this video we illustrate what Ambitious Teaching looks like in classrooms ranging from high school to kindergarten. The practices were developed through collaborations between teachers and researchers, and they are continually evolving as we learn more about how they work with young learners. There are several themes that you’ll see in all examples, such as a focus on puzzling and complex phenomena, opportunities to make sense through talk, making thinking visible, attending to who is participating, using various forms of scaffolding and tools, and much more.
This site is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Award #1907471 and #1315995
This site is primarily funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) through Award #1907471 and #1315995
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