Msta Explanations Slides

Say What You Mean! Strategies to Help Students Better Communicate Science MSTA 56th Annual Conference Detroit, Michigan Nancy Williams and Stephen Best University of Michigan School of Education

Objectives • Recognize some of the common “communication”

issues we present to students through written tasks and questioning • Discuss what constitutes an explanation, a

“scientific explanation”, a description, and a definition of a scientific term • Examine possible ways in which the tasks we

present students do not align with the understanding we are looking to assess or build • Provide strategies to support student written work

in science

Say What You Mean... “Then you should say what you mean.” (March Hare) “I do; at least - at least I mean what I say -- that’s the same thing, you know” (Alice) “Not the same thing a bit! Why, you might just as well say that, ‘I see what I eat’ is the same as ‘I eat what I see’!” (Mad Hatter) “You might just as well say, that ‘I like what I get’ is the same thing as ‘I get what I like’!” (March Hare)

A Task for You • Your handout packet has a task under

the cover page • Take 2-3 minutes to review the

question and to reply in writing as you would want your students to do for this question • Don’t worry if you aren’t as familiar

with the content - do what you can... • Let’s see what you all came up with...

A Little Experiment • You all had different questions with similar

content, but the “verb” changed. • Do we know the difference between the

following sets of verbs: • Explain • Describe • Define • List

• Classify • Organize • Compare • Contrast

• Do our students understand these

differences?

Descriptions • description |diˈskrip sh ən|

noun 1 a spoken or written representation or account of a person, object, or event : people who had seen him were able to give a description. • Generally use adjectives to present observable

characteristics of the object or phenomena being described. • Provide imagery or other sense-specific

concepts to convey a reasonable representation of the topic

Common Problems With Descriptions • Students use examples of a particular

object or concept, but don’t actually describe its characteristics • Descriptions are too vague to discern

understanding of the concept • Students may use analogies that are not

appropriate to the topic or concept • Description is appropriate, but does not

then apply this to a more challenging task or problem context to present understanding

Definitions • definition |ˌdefəˈni sh ən|

noun 1 a statement of the exact meaning of a word, esp. in a dictionary. • an exact statement or description of the nature, scope, or meaning of something : our definition of what constitutes poetry. • A description that is so accurate as to uniquely

describe that word or concept • A description where the converse statement is true

The Definition “Test” The “Inverse” test: If A then B is true If B then A is also true (not so for descriptions or examples)

If it is an ATOM, then it is A SMALL PARTICLE

Atoms

If it is A SMALL Small Particles PARTICLE, then it is an ATOM

Common Problems with Definitions • Students use examples of a particular

object or concept, but don’t actually define it • Definitions are too vague to pass the

Inverse test (but may show the limits of the student’s actual understanding) • Students might be able to recite a definition

for an object or concept, but do not understand what it means and cannot apply it or restate it in their own language

Explanations • explanation ¦ eksplə nā sh ən¦

noun a statement or account that makes something clear : the birth rate is central to any explanation of population trends. a reason or justification given for an action or belief : Freud tried to make sex the explanation for everything | : my application was rejected without explanation.

Common Problems with Explanations (in Science Class) • Scientific explanations are different than typical

explanations, especially when used to explain a conclusion from investigation • Students don’t recognize the difference

between regular and scientific explanation • Students explain a theory or conclusion by

restating the observation • Students don’t know how to reason through a

conclusion (in written form) • Students don’t understand the concept, but

know how to take a test

A Structure to Scientific Explanation • Claim • Evidence • Reasoning

The REAL Problem with Descriptions, Definitions, and Explanations • We often don’t teach these things, and

assume students know them • We don’t understand them ourselves • We don’t provide structures for kids to

better understand these ideas • We often accept oral versions during

instruction, but then assess student written explanation • “I’m not a Language Arts teacher”

For More Information • Handouts and slides available at:

http://mmstlc.net • Slide shows, commentary, podcast,

and other resources at: http://catalyst.mmstlc.net • Contact information at the MMSTLC

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