What's Your Evidence?: Engaging K-5 Children in Constructing Explanations in Science, 1st edition
Published by Pearson (February 14, 2012) © 2013
- Carla L. Zembal-Saul
- Katherine L. McNeill
- Kimber Hershberger
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Throughout the book, practical discussions, explanations, and descriptions help teachers:
- get a clear understanding of the rationale for the importance of focusing on scientific explanation in grades K-5, including a discussion of alignment with national standards and reform documents
- see how the scientific explanation framework works and how it can be used to support all students (including ELLs and students with special needs) in science writing and talk
- learn to design instruction that provides opportunities and appropriate supports to engage all students in scientific explanations
- discover how to use student assessment and provide support for both students and teachers over time
A number of illustrative aids help teachers implement effective science teaching in their K-5 classrooms, for example:
- Vignettes and scenarios show what the essential ideas look like in practice.
- Student writing samples illustrate both strong examples and common student difficulties with scientific explanations.
- Video clips from actual elementary classrooms demonstrate scientific explanations at different levels of complexity and across different science topics.
- Strategies to support all students in constructing scientific explanations in both talk and writing help with students with a wide range of backgrounds and experiences, including English Language Learners and students with special needs.
- Check points synthesise key points and give teachers a road map of the essential ideas in the book.
- Study group questions at the end of each chapter can be used individually or in groups to help reflect on and apply the key ideas.
Chapter 1: Importance of Engaging K-5 Students in Scientific Explanation
     Introduction to engaging K-5 students in scientific explanation
     Why teach children to construct scientific explanations?
     Scientific explanations in the classroom
     Connecting science and literacy through scientific explanation
     Benefits of engaging students in scientific explanations
             Understanding science concepts
             Participating in scientific practices
             Using evidence to communicate convincingly
             Learning about the nature of science
     Benefits of scientific explanation for teachers
     What to expect in elementary grades
     Check Point
     Study Group Questions
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Chapter 2: Framework for Explanation-Driven Science    Framework for explanation-driven science
            Claim
            Evidence
            Reasoning
            Rebuttal
    Video Example – Introducing the instructional framework
    Examples of scientific explanations
            Life science example
            Earth science example
            Physical science example
    Increasing the complexity of the framework over time
            Variation #1: Claim and evidence
            Variation #2: Using multiple pieces evidence
            Variation #3: Providing reasoning
            Variation #4: Including a rebuttal
    Check Point
    Study Group Questions
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Chapter 3: Planning for Explanation-Driven Science
    Coherent Science content storyline
    Essential features for constructing scientific explanations
            Scientific data
            Scientific principles
    Learning performances and examples
            First grade: Sound
            Second grade: State of matter
            Third and Fourth grade: Day/night and shadows
            Fifth grade: Water cycle
    Complexity of the learning task
            Openness of the question
            Characteristics of the data (type and amount)
    Check Point
    Study Group Questions
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Chapter 4: Integrating Scientific Explanation into Classroom Instruction
    Instruction sequence for constructing scientific explanations
            Assessing prior knowledge
            Framing the question
            Making predictions
            Collecting, recording and interpreting data
            Constructing scientific explanations
    Instructional strategies for supporting the explanation building process
            Introducing the framework for explanation
            Using real world examples to introduce the framework
            KLEW(S) chart
            Critique a teacher example
            Debate a peer example
    Talk moves for scaffolding the construction of scientific explanations
    Check Point
    Study Group Questions
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Chapter 5: Designing Assessment Tasks and Rubrics
    Overview of the development process
    Step 1: Identify and unpack the content standard
            Fourth grade writing case – Unpacking
            Third grade podcast case – Unpacking
    Step 2: Selecting scientific explanation level of complexity
            Fourth grade writing case – Level of complexity
            Third grade podcast case – Level of complexity
    Step 3: Create learning performances
            Fourth grade writing case – Learning performance
            Third grade podcast case – Learning performance
    Step 4: Write the assessment task
            Fourth grade writing case – Assessment task
            Third grade podcast case – Assessment task
    Step 5: Develop specific rubric
            Fourth grade writing case – Rubric
            Third grade podcast case – Rubric
    Using assessment data to inform instruction
            Fourth grade writing case – Examples
                Incomplete evidence and incomplete reasoning
                   Incomplete evidence and complete reasoning
            Third grade podcast case – Example
    Assessing informal science talk
    Check Point
    Study Group Questions
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Chapter 6: Creating a Classroom Community of Young Scientists
    Norms of participation in science learning
            Active listening and patterns of talk
            The role of the scientific explanation framework
            A culture of constructive criticism
    Check Point
    Study Group Questions
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Carla Zembal-Saul is a Professor of science education in the College of Education at Penn State where she holds the Kahn Professorship in STEM Education and currently serves as head of the Department of Curriculum and Instruction. A former middle school science teacher, she has been involved in school-university partnership work for more than fifteen years, and most of her teaching, scholarship, and service take place in that context. Her research focuses on K-6 teacher learning as they engage in professional development aimed at supporting students in talking and writing evidence-based arguments in science. Examining classroom discourse is a fundamental aspect of Professor Zembal-Saul’s work and she employs video analysis as both a research tool and a pedagogical approach for working with teachers. She has published her research findings in numerous book chapters and articles in peer-reviewed journals, and she is active in professional organizations, including the National Association for Research in Science Teaching and the National Science Teachers Association. Carla Zembal-Saul earned her doctorate at the University of Michigan.
Katherine L. McNeill is an Assistant Professor of science education at Boston College. A former middle school science teacher, she received her doctorate in science education from the University of Michigan. Her research focuses on how to support students with diverse backgrounds in engaging in scientific explanation and argumentation in both talk and writing. Her research has been generously funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and from this work, she has published a book on supporting middle school students, numerous book chapters, and articles in a variety of journals including the Journal of Research in Science Teaching, Science Education, The Journal of the Learning Sciences, and the International Journal of Science Education. In 2011, Professor McNeill received the Early Career Research Award from NARST. She has also conducted numerous workshops at the annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and for school districts including the Detroit Public Schools and the Boston Public Schools.
Kimber Hershberger is currently a third grade teacher in the State College Area School District (SCASD) in Pennsylvania. She also serves as co-instructor for the science methods course and a mentor teacher for the Penn State – SCASD Professional Development School Partnership. Her involvement in a local professional learning community that focuses on incorporating content storyline and the CER framework in science teaching has been a highlight of her work. She holds degrees from Juniata College (B.S., elementary education) and Penn State University (M.Ed., science education). Kimber Hershberger has co-authored several articles for NSTA journals, including Science and Children and Science Scope. In addition, she has presented numerous times at the annual conference of the National Science Teachers Association, including sessions at the Research Dissemination Conference, about her work on how to scaffold students’ use of claims and evidence through science talks and journals. She loves visiting interesting places like the Galapagos Islands, India, Italy, and Japan and sharing her travel adventures with her students.
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