Initial Publication Date: September 5, 2024

The University of Montana-Missoula: Using the TIDeS module in Geo 224: Physics and Geoscience

Natalie Bursztyn, The University of Montana-Missoula

Why I Revised My Course

About the Course

Physics and Geoscience

Level: This is a 5 credit semester-long course that meets the physical science general education requirements. Students taking this course are education majors pursuing the Teacher Education Program, most with elementary education as their area of emphasis. This class, in conjunction with the 5 credit Chemical and Life Science course, fulfills the natural science requirements for the degree program. Most students taking these courses do not have aspirations of teaching science and/or have fears of having to teach science in their classroom.
Size: 40 students
Format: Integrated lecture & lab, two 3-hour sessions per week (next delivery structure will be three 2-hour sessions per week)

Show Course Description

This 5-credit course introduces students to the basic principles of the physical sciences, including fundamental topics in physics, astronomy, and Earth sciences. A major focus of the course is on building confidence in science, inspiring scientific curiosity, and preparing students to incorporate current science education standards into future K-8 classrooms (and/or beyond!). Specific topics include the practice of science and the physics of motion, force, and energy in general and as applied to main components of the Earth system: plate tectonics, the atmosphere, and the ocean. This course has lectures interspersed with activities and labs within the scheduled course block. Students can expect to complete at least one of these activities every class day. By the end of the course, students should be able to:
1. Describe the motion of an object in terms of position, speed, velocity, and acceleration
2. Apply the scientific method to ask questions and conduct basic scientific experiments
3. Explain and provide conceptual examples to illustrate Newton's Laws of Motion
4. Differentiate between kinematic and potential energy, and discuss methods of energy transfer
5. Describe the interior structure of the Earth and the physical processes that shape its surface
6. Appreciate the impact of science on society and discover ways to inspire the next generation of scientists!

Fall 2023 Geo 224 syllabus (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 45kB Mar5 24)

I strongly believe in teaching the practice of science over the listing of facts. The mission of Teaching with Investigation and Design in Science gave me an opportunity to really dig into curriculum development that was flexible with ever more frequent disaster headlines and use those to motivate my students to learn more about the planet they live on. Emphasizing making and interpreting observations, testing hypotheses, and learning through failure creates a safe space for students to build confidence in their scientific abilities, including asking questions and planning investigations that they can use to satisfy their curiosity.

A student stated in their anonymous end-of-semester course evaluations:

This semester, I was more frustrated than I ever have been within a science class. While this may seem surprising, I was also the most successful I have ever been in any science class. I truly understand the revision process and have finally accepted the fact that it is perfectly okay to fail. And fail. And fail. Which I did, many times. I will never forget the feeling, and emotional roller coaster of finally getting my hand-crank-generator lightbulb to light up, or when I made a huge realization about the layers of the atmosphere. There were many times that I was indeed, "mind-blown" and I absolutely mean it. Before taking this class, I was unaware how much error can occur within scientific activities and how diligent and proactive one must be to effectively perform a successful science experiment lacking in error. When Ms. Bursztyn called me a "scientist", I honestly did not believe it. I thought of myself, simply, as a student who has gained some scientific knowledge over the course of a few months. But now, after assessing my progress and learning throughout this course, I honestly think she was so right.

I wanted to express my appreciation for the impactful semester in your course. Your effective teaching, personable approach, and commitment to prioritizing my success and growth are worth acknowledging. Your course and the material within were effective, impactful, and engaging, making it enjoyable. You effortlessly created a welcoming and positive environment setting an example and practicing what you preach. Your class time management skills, course structure, teaching philosophy, variety of teaching methods, and contagious, positive, energy, and attitude all played a big role in ensuring an impactful and effective learning experience. The useful resources, tools, and materials you provided and used have equipped me for my future as an elementary educator. Throughout the course, you led by example by showing vulnerability and prioritizing my success. This course left me feeling excited and well-prepared, which is a 180^o from the beginning of the semester.

My Experience Teaching with TIDeS Materials

The two biggest changes to my course pre-to-post TIDeS materials are 1) the approach to units used to teach the course and 2) the scaffolding of concepts within the units that apply to student learning of big-picture real-world events. For this approach, we used cross-cutting concepts to unify topics into bigger units (for example: the properties of density and temperature that result in the layered structure of the Earth, ocean, and atmosphere, and that drive the processes (e.g. tectonics, upwelling, weather systems) operating within these parts of the Earth system. This approach facilitated integrating the "physics basics" of the states and properties of matter, how they are measured, and their mathematical relationships with the structure, function, and patterns of Earth's systems. This approach lead to the second difference: students used the same basic physics ideas in various and increasingly more challenging applications, which allowed us to use repetition and practice to reinforce concepts while continuing to build a knowledge base on the atmosphere, climate, ocean, and Earth's interior. The combination of the scaffolding and physics concepts practice across topics increased student confidence in mathematical concepts and the practice of science while also facilitating critical thinking about the interconnectedness of Earth's systems. Students were curious about how changes in ocean structure and function influence climate, and how density of materials influences the type of plate boundary that results when they interact. Students were also able to make decisions about how to investigate their questions and build models to test their hypotheses, further contributing to both their confidence and their understanding. One thing that wasn't changed but was emphasized more consistently was the importance of failure in the scientific process. Students in my class were set up to experience learning through failure and revision, rewarded for thought process on how and/or why to revise, rather than "correctness". The biggest rewards for adopting this approach are having students leave the course successfully (as assessed by having achieved learning objectives), with increased appreciation (sometimes even enjoyment) of science and confidence in their ability to do and teach science, and reach out unsolicited with gratitude for the course.

A Unit-by-Unit Breakdown of How I Taught this Module

Unit Breakdown

In my course, I taught every part of every unit, including extensions. With my 5-credit class, which is equivalent to a full-semester 3-credit lecture plus 2 weekly labs, this allowed me to include the entire curriculum. I used a form of ungrading where weekly reflections were collected and earned a full point for submission, regardless of correctness, and feedback was provided for encouragement and making corrections to key concepts. Labs and lesson plans were assessed using the rubrics developed with the TIDeS curriculum. Throughout the delivery of the course I maintained my enthusiasm for just how much fun science is while also trying to model my own insecurities and vulnerabilities as a scientist. The latter I often brought up while discussing our "Scientist Spotlights" (1 in Unit 1, 3 in each of the other Units).

Unit 1

Taught over 1 week with students working in different groups each class session and for each activity to get to know each other. The bubble lab took place outdoors, taking advantage of the end of summer nice weather. On the first day of class, I really emphasized the purpose of the class as learning together with a growth mindset and students each set two goals for themselves.
In my course, meeting 2x/week for 3 hours as an integrated lecture/lab class, I taught the bubble lab on one day and the measuring stick lab on the other day.

Unit 2

Taught over 5 weeks with regular rotation of students into different groups for each lab activity. The unit culminated with a jigsaw synthesis activity in groups, with mini-presentations in class, and an individual lesson plan as the "midterm" equivalent assessment for the unit.
I tried to keep a structure of 1 lab per class meeting, occasionally having a class meeting where we did two lab-type activities in one day. The jigsaw activity was considered a "lab-type" activity in this structure. Jigsaws were done in groups with chart paper that students posted around the room and gallery-walked through after briefly presenting to the class.
The end-unit lesson plan was given a full class period to work on with lots of guidance. I encouraged students to use peer-review and collaboration throughout the process, reminding them that this project is a way for them to demonstrate to me their proficiency in the topics covered.

Unit 3

Taught over 5 weeks with regular rotation of students into different groups for each lab activity. The unit culminated with a jigsaw synthesis activity in groups, with mini-presentations in class, and an individual lesson plan as the "midterm" equivalent assessment for the unit.
I tried to keep a structure of 1 lab per class meeting, occasionally having a class meeting where we did two lab-type activities in one day. The jigsaw activity was considered a "lab-type" activity in this structure. Jigsaws were done in groups with chart paper that students posted around the room and gallery-walked through after briefly presenting to the class.
The end-unit lesson plan was given half a class period to work on with substantial guidance. As before, I encouraged students to use peer-review and collaboration throughout the process and reminded them that this project is a way for them to demonstrate to me their proficiency in the topics covered. Class time was also dedicated to students presenting their lesson plans (briefly) to their peers. Presentations were to be as if the students were pitching their lesson plan to their peers: telling them why they should use them in their classes. Students who elected to present earned extra credit for their effort.

Unit 4

Taught over 4 weeks with regular rotation of students into different groups for each lab activity. The unit culminated with a jigsaw synthesis activity in groups, with mini-presentations in class, and an individual lesson plan as the "midterm" equivalent assessment for the unit.
I tried to keep a structure of 1 lab per class meeting, occasionally having a class meeting where we did two lab-type activities in one day. The jigsaw activity was considered a "lab-type" activity in this structure. Jigsaws were done in groups with chart paper that students posted around the room and gallery-walked through after briefly presenting to the class.
The end-unit lesson plan was only given a half class period to work on, again with some guidance. As always, I encouraged students to use peer-review and collaboration throughout the process, reminding them that this project is a way for them to demonstrate to me their proficiency in the topics covered.
The final "lab" activity in this unit was students writing their own "Scientist Spotlight" about themselves, reflecting on their growth-mindset goals they set on the first day of class.
I also set aside class time for a review Q&A for the final exam, which was cumulative, but open-note.

Assessments

Weekly reflections: These really helped me to measure student learning and tailor each week to address concepts that were misunderstood or add in content that students wanted more of. My ungrading approach in these reflections also worked really well for the students who took advantage of it. B marking these as "complete or incomplete" students had a "safety net" of knowing they just had to do it to earn points for completion. They also had to take responsibility for their own learning by requesting feedback if they wanted it. The students who asked for feedback all semester? They ALL got As.There were always some students who put in minimal effort on their reflections, demonstrating minimum understanding of materials. There were also always students who I actively watched grow in self-confidence and content comprehension through their reflections and response to feedback.

Lesson plans: Using these as "midterm replacements" was good in that the students had the incentive to do a good job on them for their own portfolio as well as for their "exam" grade. Several students commented that they really liked those assignments because they felt purposeful. I gave feedback on every lesson plan, but it was evident that maybe half the students actually heeded that feedback.Consequently, the lesson plans were valuable assessment tools to check for specific content knowledge as well as responsiveness to feedback. Students who corrected future lesson plans based on prior feedback demonstrated learning through a growth mindset.

Final exam: I had my students write their own final exam. I gave them a series of categories and set up a Google doc for everyone to contribute questions to. I told them I would hold veto power over questions, but any I didn't veto were fair game for the final exam. The entire set of student-generated questions also became their study guide. Even with the student-generated exam questions, performance on the final exam was an almost identical reflection of the performance of the students on other activities throughout the semester, which was really telling and has encouraged me to consider using this approach in other classes.

Outcomes

My major goals in using the TIDeS materials for my class were: 1) to engage my students with the practice of science, including an emphasis on learning through failure and revision 2) model learning with a growth mindset (this is very strongly connected to the first goal), and 3) emphasize scientists who my students could see themselves as (who are often excluded from the spotlight). I describe how each of these visions played out in my class below.

The focus on the value of failure and revision in the scientific process was a challenge at first to get students to buy into, but as they experienced it through our activities in practice, I quickly saw shifts in mindset that included "wrong hypotheses are just as valid a place to start as right ones" and "failure is an opportunity to revise and learn". As students progressed in the course, I began thinking that this focus was the greatest success. Students stopped worrying about having the "right" answer and really leaned into discussing what they would change and why the next time around. Some were even disappointed that we didn't have more time to continue testing revisions. I also saw students gaining confidence in their ability to teach young people science once they realized they didn't need to "have the right answer". If teaching science includes getting things "wrong" and failing, they can totally do that and know that it is "right". My favorite win from this focus though was when students tested a hypothesis to learn they had predicted the outcome incorrectly, but walked away from the experiment knowing what the correct outcome was and exactly why it worked that way.
A huge number of students brought up the concepts of failure and growth mindset as giving them the confidence to participate without fear of consequence for the first time in their science-learning experience. The following are three student quotes as examples:
- "The growth mindset is one of the most valuable lessons I learned while in this class. I have heard about the growth mindset many times, but this is the first time I have felt like it is fully integrated within a class. I thought that this was a valuable lesson for me to learn both as a person and as a teacher. In my future classroom, I can use language like 'you don't know it yet'. The power of the word, 'yet', is enormous. It shows that there is still time for improvement, and that improvement is going to be possible."
- "When building, creating, as well as calculating, I experienced outcomes that did not make sense and that I had to go back and redo as well as reevaluate, which allowed me to grow from my own mistakes and having a growth mindset. I believe that NGSS helped to facilitate teaching science with a growth mindset because you were focused on the skills that you were practicing verse trying to get a specific answer."
- "Emphasizing the value of effort and hard work in achieving success through trial and error is a strategy I learned from this course that encourages a growth mindset."
Many students resonated with the "Scientist Spotlights" (10 different scientists with very different lived experiences and identities introduced within the course). Some students revealed in their weekly reflections how they related to one scientist or another in very personal ways – ways they did not feel comfortable sharing during the class discussion, but clearly had thought about. One of my most recent students shared in their final reflection that their comfort with science and self-confidence in being able to do science grew as they found personal connection with 3 of the Scientists featured in our class: first, seeing herself as a queer person reflected in Jazmin Scarlett, then again with Marie Tharp and not being acknowledged due to gender, then again with Sang-Mook Lee, as her mother is a wheelchair user.

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