Through our curriculum review cycle last year, science was the content area the review team focused on. While we have adopted core text programs for grades 6-8 with McGraw Hill Inspire, and we were able to purchase new core texts for High School Biology, Chemistry, and AP courses, our Elementary school science programming remained a challenge. In the search for a consistent program, curriculum, or approach, we knew we needed a program that was phenomena based, provided hands-on and engaging learning opportunities, built upon our integrated literacy programming, and was feasible to implement with schedules and budgets. As defined by the Next Generation Science Standards, “phenomena are observable events that occur in the universe and that we can use our science knowledge to explain or predict. The goal of building knowledge in science is to develop general ideas, based on evidence, that can explain and predict phenomena.”
After piloting a few programs and sampling materials, our team kept circling back to a resource that some of the teachers had been using as a supplemental source of content and lessons, Mystery Science.
Mystery Science, as we learned, had much more to offer than just supplemental videos. Mystery Science had developed a Massachusetts specific outline of linked lessons by modules, which made use of the platform as a solution to our consistency needs. Exploring further, the design of the lessons and activities were all based on phenomena study and building student interest and understanding of the world around them. Lessons required students to think about solutions to problems they could relate to, while also introducing the students to language, vocabulary and concepts that expand their scientific understanding of the natural world. While Massachusetts had developed their own science frameworks in 2016, they were based on the National Next Generation Science Standards. In fact, Massachusetts played a leading role in its development. One of the major changes in the design of the Next generation Science Standards was to ensure we can support students to explain phenomena and to design solutions to problems (Next Generation Science Standards).
While our teachers in Kindergarten through grade 5 remain focused on literacy and math instruction, we also know that science, engineering and social studies are critical components of a knowledge building curriculum. Ensuring we build time into the schedule so students can dive deeper into scientific concepts is how we can capture student curiosity and help them to demonstrate their understanding in a variety of ways. The MA sequence provides module based lessons, organized by standards, that address the major domains for each grade. With sequenced lessons, anchor videos and hands-on activities or labs for Life Science, Earth & Space Science, Physical Science, and Engineering/technology, our students can now have a consistent format and scope and sequence of lessons that will build on each other each year.
As an example, our 1st Graders at Sweetsir School in Merrimac have recently been involved in a module focusing on Physical Science. The standards for Grade 1 call for students to be immersed in the study of light and sound to understand waves and their applications. Mystery Science provided our teachers and students with a series of 6 lessons that were spread out over several weeks. Each lesson starts with a question that the students can relate to and builds on the phenomena study that is related.
Lesson 1: How do they make silly sounds in cartoons? Lesson 2, Read-Along: Where do sounds come from?
Lesson 3: What if there were no windows? Lesson 4, Read-Along: Can you see in the dark? Mini-lesson: How is a rainbow made?** Mini-lesson: Why is snow white?**
Lesson 5: How could you send a secret message to someone far away? Lesson 6, Read-Along: How do boats find their way in the fog?
In Ms. Caproni’s first grade class, all of the students connected their learning about light and sound to communication which became the practical understanding for the students.
“This lesson was very engaging and developmentally appropriate for all my students. They loved the scavenger hunt and the paper stained glass art extension activity.” - Jody Caproni, 1st grade teacher
The hands-on learning is great to see and the sense that the teachers feel the learning of such concepts is developmentally appropriate helps everyone feel confident that the science instruction is effective. The students are also connecting the concepts and enjoyment of science to key vocabulary that they can use in their explanations of the phenomena study. This lesson had students learning and using such words and concepts as transparent, translucent and opaque to describe objects. They are now using the vocabulary on a daily basis to describe various objects both inside and outside of the classroom. This is a real world connection.
Mrs. Caproni and her colleagues used the lesson link here for the introduction video, which was less than 2 minutes, and for all of their prep work and additional links they may have needed.
The lessons are not scripted for the teacher, but do provide varying levels of scaffolding to allow the opportunity to connect outside texts, use assessments, and even link the student activities to google classroom. While Mrs. Caproni and her first grade colleagues may not use the Google Classroom link; this has proven quite handy in the older elementary grades, giving students even more opportunities to use the tools embedded in a manner that best suits them.
Mrs. Caproni is certain to provide instruction on the key vocabulary words using instructional techniques from her literacy training. We ended up seeing the students writing with the key concept words and also utilizing them in their own discussions and dialogue. In a turn and talk, two students shared their thoughts about the lesson. Below is their quick exchange:
Annie: Some objects can be transparent or translucent or opaque. It depends on the object.
Quinn: Like this container with my strawberries. It is translucent. You can see what is inside but not through it. Then I know what is in my container.
This is where we see cross curricular connections and some of the better skillful implementation of high quality curriculum. Mrs. Caproni has developed a system in her first grade classroom where she can explicitly teach concepts and vocabulary, while also allowing students to explore scientific concepts and phenomena. The turn and talk routine, supports speaking and listening skills connected to literacy standards as well. While “text” exposure for the students in science may be limited to short components, students are expected to use evidence and vocabulary from the text and the concepts in their speaking and writing to advance their knowledge building, scientific concept understanding, and literacy skills. This is one of the three major shifts that are part of the Common Core State Standards. It helps ensure students are more skilled with comprehension of complex text by grounding reading, writing, and speaking in evidence from both literary and informational reading. When we place expectations on students to use vocabulary or evidence from text, rather than asking students questions they can answer solely from their prior knowledge or experience, we elevate their critical thinking (Achieve the Core - College and Career Ready Shifts in ELA). We can see firsthand how students can answer questions in which the answers require inferences based on careful attention to the new vocabulary, concepts, and text.
The most recent podcast from Amplify addresses some of this as well. The title “How science science strengthens literacy and language development” clearly connects what we are seeing in our classrooms. The episode has Susan Gomez Zwiep, a former middle school science teacher and senior science educator and staff advocate at BSCC Science Learning, breaking down the research that shows the benefits of integrating science and literacy.
3rd Grade - Physical Science paired with Engineering
Science with our first graders is now consistent across the district. This will begin to have a longitudinal impact as the students advance in grades. But our older elementary students are also well immersed in science content. All three classes of the 3rd Grade at Page School just completed a unit of forces and motion while combining engineering lessons with a bridge design and construction lesson. Some lessons are meant to be done in one day and don’t take longer than a typical class period. However, some lessons, like the “What makes bridges so strong?” lesson from the Invisible Forces unit in 3rd grade, lasted multiple days, giving students the time to really apply their learning.
All of these learning opportunities are clearly making an impact on the students and are reflected in their enthusiasm for science.
“Mystery Science helps us learn new things about science in a hands-on way” - Emmy
“The challenges are fun and difficult at the same time”- Ella
“Mystery Science covers topics that we have not learned before”- Gabriel
In the Bridge Challenge activity, the students had already had multiple lessons prior on forces and motion, and had been building knowledge, concept understanding, and vocabulary about forces. They put that to work in the multi-day lesson where they started with a 20-30 minute Exploration activity that combined short videos, labeled images and prompts for discussion. These can be done as a whole class or individually using Google Classroom on their Chromebook devices. After engaging in sufficient background knowledge, the student jumped into the bridge building activity, which not only required their science concept knowledge, but also their engineering practices to be put into action.
Bridge Challenge
The problem:
Using only two sheets of paper, build a strong bridge that will reach across a 6-inch gap.
The bridge must be at least 3 inches wide.
The test:
How many pennies will your bridge hold before it collapses?
With engineering activities connected and integrated with science concepts, Mystery Science also structures the student learning around the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices.
“The practices describe behaviors that scientists engage in as they investigate and build models and theories about the natural world and the key set of engineering practices that engineers use as they design and build models and systems. The NRC uses the term practices instead of a term like "skills" to emphasize that engaging in scientific investigation requires not only skill but also knowledge that is specific to each practice. Part of the NRC’s intent is to better explain and extend what is meant by "inquiry" in science and the range of cognitive, social, and physical practices that it requires. Although engineering design is similar to scientific inquiry, there are significant differences. For example, scientific inquiry involves the formulation of a question that can be answered through investigation, while engineering design involves the formulation of a problem that can be solved through design. Strengthening the engineering aspects of the Next Generation Science Standards will clarify for students the relevance of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (the four STEM fields) to everyday life.” (https://ngss.nsta.org/PracticesFull.aspx)
The Bridge building lesson is an example of this, where students take their gained knowledge of forces and motion and apply it to a problem they need to solve. They took notes of each solution and made adjustments as needed, using their new knowledge to inform what aspects should be changed.
Mystery Science also has many supports built in for the teachers so they can make adjustments as needed, scaffold for access and engagement of students who may require it, and provide background for the teacher. In the Bridge lesson, there is a video provided just for the teacher so they can preview what would be expected. It explicitly recommends not showing it to the students prior to giving them an opportunity to experiment. Following the activity, there is a series of 12 slides that are intended to provide a review of key concepts and vocabulary to make anchor phenomena connections. These are the types of built in tools that a teacher must consider when balancing direct instruction for students and scaffolding the exploration and experimentation. Too much hand holding and front loading, and the students do not learn how to make connections and solve problems through application. Just allowing students to explore without the language, vocabulary, and basis of a concept or background knowledge may initially be fun, but they would unlikely take away the needed learning to apply the concept the next time they encounter it. These are the challenges our teachers face, but do so knowing they have helpful tools to make decisions with.
“Mystery Science lessons start with an anchor phenomenon video which instantly engages my students in the lesson. The lessons are easy to follow, well designed and inspire my students to love science!” - Melissa Fournier, 3rd Grade Teacher
Supporting the Implementation
As with any implementation or new expectation, we try to support our teachers with curriculum connected professional development. In the summer before school began, we provided multiple opportunities for teachers to view webinars and tools from Mystery Science so they could understand the basics and logistics of where materials could be found and how the flow of a lesson played out. We also planned to build up the teachers’ own content knowledge too. This was well received when our High School Biology and Robotics Teacher, Lisa Ward and the Gr. 7-12 Science Department Chair and AP Biology Teacher, Pam Endyke provided a full day of Summer Science PD for Elementary Teachers. This was actually done in partnership with two other local districts which has been a great way to combine efforts for professional development using the expertise in each district.
When we returned in the Fall of 2022, we provided a 2 hour PD to all K-5 teaching staff on the expectations of science instruction based on best practices but also based on what the standards were calling for. This was nothing fancy, but required the teachers to revisit some key parts of the MA Science Curriculum Frameworks, unpack what it meant for planning and instruction, and have lots of dialogue with grade level colleagues. We also connected the best practices to our literacy work where we have supported teachers to use a Tier 2 and 3 vocabulary routine. This showed how students should be speaking and writing within science and using evidence from “text” or scientific content.
We based the initial adult learning on ensuring they understood what was included in a High Quality Science Curriculum and how it is reflected from our curriculum review team. The full Curriculum review for K-12 Science can be found here. This was then connected to the standards we are expecting of students.
Once the staff engaged in dialogue and unpacking of the standards, we then connected it all to the curriculum. Of course, teachers need to know the basics like how to navigate the curriculum platform. Beyond that, we wanted the teachers to know the design of the curriculum and how it connected to all the aspects we reviewed earlier.
As we conclude year one of district wide use, one thing is clear - there is never enough time! We hope that we can become more fluid with the lesson planning and work to get even deeper connections for students. Highlighting the great work that teachers do also helps others to reinforce their own planning and teaching, but also to recognize where some things may be able to be improved.