Michele Spitulnik

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The WISE Rock-Cycle Project Goals and
Assessments

• Michele Spitulnik Yael Kali
• Center for Innovative Learning Technologies
• Jim Slotta and Marcia Linn
• The Web-based Inquiry Science Environment
• University of California, Berkeley

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Web-based Learning Environments

• Scaffold students to use Web effectively
• Add inquiry to the science curriculum
• Support students as they work collaboratively
• Design technology that helps guide inquiry
• Inquiry maps to give procedural guidance
• Cognitive guidance on demand
• Embedded assessments
• Reflection notes
• Online discussions
• modeling, data visualizations
• Support teachers as they adopt new inquiry and
  technology practices

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Web-based Inquiry Science Environment (WISE)
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Students investigate conditions for growing
plants in space
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Learning Environment Goals

• Make Science Accessible
• Use appropriate models, representations, content
• Choose topics, activities that students find
  meaningful
• Make Thinking Visible
• represent student and scientific ideas
• Use simulations, visualizations (e.g.,
  Sensemaker)
• Help Students Learn from Each Other
• Design social activities (e.g., debate) and
  social supports
• Peer review, collaborative search, online
  discussions
• Foster Lifelong Learning
• Help students become good science learners
• Critique, design, and argument activities

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WISE Components
Helping Teachers Assess Student Work
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WISE Components
The Sensemaker Argument Editor
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WISE Components
Online Discussions
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WISE Components
- Data Visualization, Drawing, Causal Mapping
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WISE Components
- Interactive Educational Media
Gene Flow Model Simulates flow of genes from
engineered crops to neighboring
plants Curricular use embeds model into
particular GMF contexts
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WISE Teachers and Students 42 months, 5/99 -
10/02
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WISE Partnerships

• School District Partnerships
• Enable district-wide inquiry and technology
  program
• Possibilities for professional development
  research
• Disciplinary Partnerships
• NOAA, NASA, Nat. Geographic, Monterey Bay Aq.
• Jointly develop curriculum projects
• Enable Mission of all partners
• Research Partnerships
• Educational or Cognitive researchers can use WISE

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WISE Research Partnership

• Provide a Pedagogical Framework
• Scaffolds curriculum design, review/revision
• Situates research innovations in a project
  context
• Provide a Technology Platform
• Web-based authoring, review of curriculum
• Web-based delivery to global audience
• Database of student assessments, project work
• Embedded Research -
• Enable Research questions are addressed through
  experimental design

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The Rock-Cycle Partnership

• A WISE project adapted from a text-based
  curriculum developed at the Weizmann Institute of
  Science in Israel (Kali Orion, in review)
• Designed for middle school students with focus on
  the processes that transform materials within the
  crust of the earth.

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Scientific Background

• The rock-cycle is a system including the crust
  of the earth, which is characterized by a cyclic
  and dynamic nature. The rocks exposed on the
  surface of the earth are only a small sample in
  time and space of constant material
  transformation within the crust, driven by
  geological processes (e.g. weathering,
  sedimentation, burial, metamorphism, melting,
  crystallization of molten rocks, uplift and
  erosion)

The Rock-Cycle project currently focuses on only
one cycle - the formation and exposure of
magmatic rocks.
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Learning Goals

• To engage students in the critical thinking
  processes associated with scientific inquiry
• Students will engage in asking questions,
  building models, collecting data and collating
  evidence.
• To support a systems-thinking approach
• Help promote students understanding of dynamic,
  cyclic nature of the system (Kali, Orion,
  Eylon, 2000).
• To promote environmental literacy among students
• students begin to understand their local
  environment and make informed decisions.

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Making Science Accessible

• Goal Engage students in a local context or
  environment as basis for learning content and
  processes (Orion, 1998).
• Feature Introduction and final project connects
  local environment to content within the project

The Introduction
The Final Project
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Making Science Accessible

• Goal Engage students in both hands-on and
  online observations (Orion Hofstein, 1994).
• Feature The environment provides structure and
  prompts for students to make real world hands-on
  observations

Students look at both online and real world rock
samples.
An Embedded Note
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Making Student Thinking Visible

• Goal Engage students in inquiry model
  building (Spitulnik, 1998)
• Features Students build models of geological
  phenomena. For example, students use Salol to
  model crystal formation. Students also build
  relationship models to explain processes.

A student relationship model
Modeling Crystal Formation
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Making Student Thinking Visible

• Goal Engage students in building connections
  between models and the phenomena they represent
  (Grosslight, Unger, Jay, 1991 Kali Orion, in
  review).
• Feature Textual and visual cues prompt students
  to explain relationships between experimental
  procedures and models and the geological
  processes they represent

Students build models of melting, rising and
cooling wax (magma) and relate the features of
their models to geological features.
An Embedded Note
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Promote Lifelong learning

• Goal Engage students in metacognitive reflection
  of the scientific processes they are guided
  through (Palinscar, 1984)
• Feature Prompts provide metacognitive
  scaffolding

Early in the project students reflect about models
Later in the project students revise hypotheses
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Facilitating Peer Learning

• Goal Engage students in discussions that support
  debate and justification of ideas. (Linn Hsi,
  2000)
• Feature Student online discussion

Students debate the classification of obsidian in
an online discussion.
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Making Student Thinking Visible

• Goal Engage students in building connections
  between concepts and different parts of the
  project
• Features Where are we going? steps make
  explicit connections between ideas. Model
  building activities also require creating
  connections between ideas

An Embedded Note
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Scoring Rock-Cycle Assessments

• A Knowledge Integration Framework
• Scoring Rubric is on a 4 point scale
• Score 4 a high knowledge integration score and
  indicates students hold a high degree of
  understanding and demonstrate many relationships
  between ideas.
• Score 3 a good understanding of the
  relationships involved
• Score 2 a moderate understanding
• Score 1 an area that needs further development
  
• Score 0 indicates a lack of response.

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Scoring Rock-Cycle Assessments

• A Post Test Question An example
• How does granite rock form and why do we find it
  on top of a mountain like Half Dome at Yosemite
  National Park?
• Combining a knowledge integration and systems
  approach. Scoring proceeds with a 4 point scale
  and is determined by how many pieces of the
  system (starting material, place, process,
  product) students include.
• Score 4 Granite starts as magma underground
  (starting material), cools slowly (process)
  underground (place) and forms rock with big
  crystals (product). The movement of earths
  plates (process) causes mountains to form and
  pushes rock, formed underground, to become
  exposed.
• Score 3 Three pieces of the system.
• Score 2 Two pieces of the system.
• Score 1 One piece of the system.
• Score 0 No response

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Scoring Rock-Cycle Assessments

• A Student Model An example
• Students create a relationship model to relate
  the Beaker Experiment to the phenomenon it
  represents

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Scoring Rock-Cycle Assessments

• A Student Model An example
• Scoring is based on two elements Representation
  of the physical model or beaker experiment and
  Links between the physical model and the real
  world phenomena
• Score 4 Physical model is represented before
  and after heating an links are apparent between
  physical model and phenomena (with words
  including plutonic, volcanic, magma, outer crust,
  vents)
• Score 3 Physical Model is represented before
  and after and a couple links are apparent (2 or 3
  links)
• Score 2 Physical Model is represented either
  before or after and some links are apparent
• Score 1 Physical Model is represented but no
  links are apparent
• Score 0 Students did not build a model.
• The previous example was scored a four.

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Conclusions

• The Rock-Cycle Projects represents
• An attempt to tie goals to assessments
• An attempt to integrate assessments into the
  online learning environment
• An attempt at scoring for knowledge integration
• Contact Info
• E-mail slotta_at_socrates.berkeley.edu
• Web http//wise.berkeley.edu