INTRODUCTION TO CURRICULUM TOPIC STUDY CTS

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INTRODUCTION TO CURRICULUM TOPIC STUDY (CTS)
CSSS Annual Meeting March 27, 2007 Millennium
Hotel St Louis, MO Page Keeley, Senior Science
Program Director Maine Mathematics and Science
Alliance www.mmsa.org
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Purpose of This Session

• To learn about an NSF-funded professional
  development resource that systematically uses
  standards and cognitive research to improve
  classroom practice
• To experience a mini- CTS
• To consider how you might use CTS in your work,
  including MSPs
• To share information about CTS field testing
  opportunities

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The CTS Project

• NSF-funded TPC Professional Development Materials
  Project awarded to the Maine Mathematics and
  Science Alliance in partnership with West Ed
• 2 resources guides Science and Mathematics
  Curriculum Topic Study books
• Facilitators Guide to Using Curriculum Topic
  Study (with Susan Mundry)
• Web Site www.curriculumtopicstudy.org
• National Field Testing and Professional
  Development

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What is CTS?

• A methodical study process organized by
  curricular topics (147 in science, 92 in
  mathematics)-that incorporates a systematic study
  of standards and research and links study
  findings to state standards.
• A set of tools and collective resources for
  improving content knowledge, instruction, and
  assessment.
• An intellectually engaging, rigorous
  professional development strategy that can be
  embedded within a variety of PD programs and
  designs.

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What CTS Is Not

• CTS IS NOT
• A remedy for weak content knowledge (CTS is used
  to enhance and support content learning)
• A collection of teaching activities (CTS
  describes considerations teachers must take into
  account when planning or selecting teaching
  activities)
• A description of how tos (CTS helps teachers
  think through effective teaching based on
  knowledge of learning goals and how students
  learn)
• A quick fix (CTS takes time and practice to use
  it effectively)
• The end-all for professional development (CTS
  helps teachers identify the need for additional
  experiences that will help them grow as a
  teacher) You dont know what you dont know

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Why Use CTS?

• Clarify and deepen content and pedagogical
  knowledge of relevant curricular topics and
  student learning goals
• Develop a common language and knowledge base
  about standards and research
• Promote evidence-based discourse based on ideas
  and recommendations developed through national
  consensus by the science education community
• Stand on the Shoulders of Giants- Experts at
  your fingertips 24/7!

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Who Uses CTS?

• Pre-service Teachers
• Beginning Teachers
• Experienced Teachers
• Teacher Leaders, Mentors, and Coaches
• Professional Developers
• Science and Mathematics Specialists and
  Supervisors
• Pre-Service and Graduate Science and Mathematics
  Education Faculty
• Curriculum Developers
• Curriculum, Instruction, and Assessment
  Committees

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CTS Collective Resources- Experts at Your
Fingertips 24/7- Science
?
?
?
?
?Indicates the resource (or parts of it) is online
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Resource Jigsaw 20 min

• Purpose Build background understanding of the
  CTS resources
• At your tables, divide up the CTS resources and
  read the description on pp 24-27 for your
  resource. Briefly describe each book, including
  ways you have used the resource in your own work
  

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And.
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Having State and National Standards Is Not Enough

• What has been missing is a systematic,
  scholarly, deliberate process to help educators
  intellectually engage with standards and research
  on student learning so they can make effective
  use of them.
• CTS provides that Missing Link.
• AND gets the books off the shelf!

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Whirlwind Tour of the Book? mark page with a
sticky note!

• ix-x List of topics (replace with handout)
• Ch 1 Introduction to Curriculum Topic Study
• Ch 2 CTS Study Guide
• ? pp 20-21- Purposes of 6 CTS sections
• ?pp 24-27- Descriptions of CTS resources
• Ch 3 Engaging in CTS
• ? pp 37-39- Guiding Questions for CTS readings
• ? pp 40-44 Stages of the CTS Learning Cycle of
  Inquiry and Reflection
• Ch 4 CTS Contexts- CIA
• ? pp 80-83- Developing CTS Assessment Probes
• Ch 5 p 91-111- Vignettes
• ?Ch 6 p 113-271 CTS Study Guides

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At the Heart of CTS- The CTS Study Guide

• CTS Sections and Outcomes
• Selected Readings from CTS Resources
• Web Site- Supplementary Material
  www.curriculumtopicstudy.org

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CTS Science Categories (147 Topics)

• Diversity of Life (7)
• Ecology (11)
• Biological Structure and Function (11)
• Lifes Continuity and Change (10)
• Matter (16)
• Earth (18)
• Astronomy (10)
• Energy, Force, and Motion (23)
• Inquiry and the Nature of Science and Technology
  (26)
• Implications of Science and Technology (11)
• Unifying Themes (4)

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The CTS Guide- See Anatomy of a Study Guide

• Each guide has 6 CTS sections (Left Column)
• Purposes of the sections
• I Identify Adult Content Knowledge
• II Consider Instructional Implications
• III Identify Concepts and Specific Ideas
• IV Examine Research on Student Learning
• V Examine Coherency and Articulation
• VI Clarify State Standards and District
  Curriculum
• Each section links to CTS sources and pre-vetted
  Readings (Right Column)

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CTS Supplementary Resources

• www.curriculumtopicstudy.org
• Atlas 2 Correlation Guide
• Crosswalks to state standards (Maine, Texas and)
• Science and Mathematics CTS database
• Search by
• Topic
• Category
• Supplement Type - Assessment Task, Journal
  Article, CD-Rom or DVD, Content Tradebook,
  Instructional Resource, Journal Article,
  Professional Book, Video, Web Site

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Title Investigating Students' Ideas about Plate
TectonicsBibliographic Citation Ford, B. and
Taylor, M. (2006). Investigating Students' Ideas
about Plate Tectonics. Science Scope. Vol 30(1).
pp 38-41. Description This article can be used
as a supplement to CTS Section II and IV. The
authors describe the beliefs middle school
students have about plate tectonics and the
implications for instruction. The article
includes a detailed list of related plate
tectonics misconceptions including commonly held
ideas about plates, plate movement and plate
interactions, events and features resulting from
plate interactions, and recycling of plate
material. Strategies for moving students beyond
their misconceptions are also described.
Supplement Type Journal ArticleCategory
EarthCTS Topic(s)      Earthquakes and
Volcanoes     Plate Tectonics     Processes
that Change the Surface of the Earth
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Companion Resources Developed Using CTS and Used
in CTS PD

• Uncovering Students Ideas in Science- 25
  Formative Assessment Probes (Vol 1 2)

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Parallel Resources in Mathematics CTS
Getting to Know the Resources
Science Pages 24-26 Science for All
Americans Science Matters Benchmarks for Science
Literacy The National Science Standards Making
Sense of Secondary Science Atlas of Science
Literacy
Mathematics Pages 27-30 Science for All
Americans Beyond Numeracy Benchmarks for Science
Literacy Principles and Standards for School
Mathematics Research Companion Atlas of Science
Literacy

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CTS The Swiss Army Knife of Curriculum,
Instruction, and Assessment
Improve adult science and mathematical literacy
(I) Improve knowledge of content teachers teach
(I) Examine instructional considerations
(II) Identify alternative conceptions (IV)
Consider developmental implications (II,
IV) Examine scope and sequence (III) See
connections within and across topics (V) Clarify
state standards and district curriculum
(VI)
Identify Big Ideas, Concepts, Specific Ideas,
and Skills (III)
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CTS Versatility

• Full, in-depth topic studies using all sections
  I-VI
• Partial studies focused on a teaching or learning
  question- one or a few sections

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Mini-CTS

• Purpose- To see how teachers can quickly and
  efficiently use the CTS process and resources to
  answer specific questions about teaching and
  learning.
• This is not a full topic study!

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The CTS Scaffold
Scaffold The structure and supports that a
teacher or more knowledgeable helper provides to
allow a learner to perform a task he or she
cannot yet perform independently. (Vygotsky,
1978 Dixon-Krauss, 1996 Wertsch,1991.)
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Learning Problem
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Quick Scaffold PracticeSteps 1-3

• Many of my students think the mass changes
  during a change in state. I wonder how the
  research can help me understand this
  misconception?
• Category?
• Matter
• CTS Topic Guide?
• Conservation of Matter
• Page Number of CTS Guide?
• Page 163

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Step 4 and 5

• Many of my students think the mass changes
  during a change in state. I wonder how the
  research can help me understand this
  misconception?
• Section?
• Section IV
• Outcome?
• Examine Research on Student Learning
• Which resource will I use?
• Benchmarks and/or Driver

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Step 6- Read and Examine Related Parts

• Students cannot understand conservation of
  matter and weight if they do not understand what
  matter is, or accept weight as an extrinsic
  property of matter, or distinguish between weight
  and density. By 5th grade many students can
  understand qualitatively that matter is conserved
  in transforming from solid to liquid. They also
  start to understand that matter is quantitatively
  conserved in transforming from solid to liquid
  and qualitatively in transforming from solid or
  liquid to gas- if the gas is visible. For
  chemical reactions, especially those that evolve
  or absorb gas, weight conservation is more
  difficult for students to grasp. (Section IVA-
  Benchmarks 4D)

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Related Parts

• Students cannot understand conservation of
  matter and weight if they do not understand what
  matter is, or accept weight as an extrinsic
  property of matter, or distinguish between weight
  and density. By 5th grade many students can
  understand qualitatively that matter is conserved
  in transforming from solid to liquid. They also
  start to understand that matter is quantitatively
  conserved in transforming from solid to liquid
  and qualitatively in transforming from solid or
  liquid to gas- if the gas is visible. For
  chemical reactions, especially those that evolve
  or absorb gas, weight conservation is more
  difficult for students to grasp. (Section IVA-
  Benchmarks 4D)

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Guiding Questions to Focus Reading

• Pp 24-27 (see handout)
• Example Are there suggestions as to what might
  contribute to students difficulties or
  misconceptions?

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CTS Snapshots

• Choose a snapshot that interests you.
• Select a packet of readings for that snapshot
  from the labeled folders.
• Practice using the scaffold to answer the
  question in your snapshot. Do not take shortcuts!
• Record notes from your reading that address the
  question (not the entire topic).
• Reflect- How could this process be used in your
  work?

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CTS and Professional Development

• Lesson Study
• Collaborative Inquiry into Examining Student
  Thinking
• Looking at Student Work
• Immersion and Course Content
• Study Groups
• Action Research
• Mentoring and Coaching
• Case Discussions
• Curriculum Implementation
• Demonstration Lessons
• Various Workshop Models

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Benefits to MSP Projects

• Bridge between content and practice
• Professional Toolkit
• Embedded into any PD Design
• Increased focus on relevant content
• Rich, intellectual engagement
• Increase coherency in using standards
• Consistency and coherency across projects

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CSSS CTS Users?

• Has anyone used CTS in their work or know of
  groups who are using CTS (such as in MSP
  projects)?
• Briefly describe how and why CTS is being used in
  your context

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Field Test OpportunitiesCold, Warm, and Hot

• Introduction to CTS (CTS 101)
• CTS Full Topic Workshops
• CTS Applications (Hierarchy of Content Knowledge,
  Instructional design, Designing Assessment
  Probes, designing performance Tasks)
• CTS PD Strategies- CIEST, Analyzing
  Students Ideas (science), Case Discussions
  (mathematics), Looking at Student Work,
  Curriculum Implementation, Action Research,
  Lesson Study, CTS Seminars, Demonstration
  Lessons, Mentoring, Instructional Coaching

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For Additional Information

• Visit the CTS web site at www.curriculumtopicstudy
  .org
• Contact
• Page Keeley, CTS Principal Investigator and
  Project Director pkeeley_at_mmsa.org
• Cheryl Rose, CTS Co-Principal Investigator for
  Mathematics CTS crose_at_mmsa.org
• Susan Mundry, CTS Co-Principal Investigator for
  the CTS Facilitators Guide smundry_at_wested.org
• Joyce Tugel, CTS Facilitator and Field Test
  Coordinator jtugel_at_mmsa.org