Module+4


 * 4.1 A Little More Lab Safety and Set-Up **

__ 4.1.1 Lab Safety Revisited __
 **Attached Files: **  Setting up your lab on the first day that students will perform a lab is one of the most important tasks a science teacher does. We will review lab safety here. View the Safety Power Point and example of lab-bench organization, accompanying scavenger-hunt activity and an example of a rubric for evaluating student lab conduct. Use the examples and power point to help write your post below.

**4.2 Assessment and Evaluation: Achievement Categories and Assessment**

**__ 4.2.3 More on Assessment __**  In // The Ontario Curriculum, Grades 11 and 12, Science (2008) //the Ministry clearly states their policy on assessments. Assessments that explore student creativity and personal preferences may take some time to develop and the creation of a suitable rubric can be challenging, but when used appropriately gives students a sense of ownership and ultimately enhances student learning and raises the quality of the product. An example of such an assessment may be a research project, where the final communication of the research is in a format of the student's choosing. Submissions could include essays, posters, videos, powerpoints, presentations, skits, etc. The desired inquiry skills are still developed during the research phase, but students will become more involved as they look forward to making a video, performing a song, or creating an artwork. > // Assessment is the process of gathering information from a variety of sources (including assignments, day-to-day observations, conversations or conferences, demonstrations, projects, performances, and tests) that accurately reflects how well a student is achieving //// the curriculum expectations in a course. As part of assessment, teachers provide students with descriptive feedback that guides their efforts towards improvement. Evaluation refers to the process of judging the quality of student work on the basis of established criteria, and assigning a value to represent that quality. // (page 23) Please read chapter 5 in // Growing Success 2010 // for the current policy on evaluation.

When designing assessments, it is important to incorporate all of the achievement chart categories. At the beginning of the year, the course outline that is handed to the students will detail the individual weighting of each category. This may differ for each course, or may be something predetermined by a department or school. It may differ significantly between different grade levels and can vary between the different streams. Whatever the division is, students should be evaluated in each category on a regular basis, both formatively as well as summatively. Infrequent assessment in a particular category can result in a very skewed weighting of specific questions or assignments. This does not mean that each evaluation or assessment necessarily addresses each achievement chart category. On quizzes early in the unit, many questions will likely be in the ** Knowledge and Understanding ** category. Labs and research projects easily incorporate ** Thinking and Investigating **skills, and also allow student the opportunity to demonstrate their ability to ** Communicate **their comprehension. Frequently, lab questions will also ask the student to ** Apply ** the information to new areas. Especially in the intermediate grade, and likely at the beginning of a course, students find** applying ** concepts quite difficult. It is important to allow students to develop this skill in a formative setting before they encounter it on a summative evaluation. Please read through the following articles below. Choose one article, write a brief summary and then reflect on how you can use this in your science classroom. Some things you may wish to consider in your reflections: Submit one document containing your article summary and reflection in the drop box below. Then proceed to the discussion board and discuss how your thoughts and understanding of assessment have changed (or not) after today's readings. McTighe, Jay. (2005). Seven Practices for Effective Learning. Educational Leadership, 63(3), 10-17. Buck, G A. (2009). Preparing Teachers to Make the Formative Assessment Process Integral to Science Teaching and Learning. Journal of Science Teacher Education, 20(5), 475-494. Miedijensky, S. (2009). Embedded Assessment in Project-Based Science Courses for the Gifted: Insights to Inform Teaching All Students. International Journal of Science Education, 31(18), 2411-2435. Kay, R. (2009). Exploring the Use of Audience Response Systems in Secondary School Science Classrooms. Journal of Science Education and Technology, 18(5), 382-392. Gallagher-Bolos, J A. (2008). Whole-Class Inquiry Assessments. The Science Teacher, 75(6), 39-44. 
 * Have you used this type of assessment before? How and where?
 * What were the benefits?
 * How do you foresee using this type of assessment in a science course?
 * What do you hope to accomplish with this assessment?
 * How frequently will you use formative and summative assessments?
 * Articles: **

 ** 4.3 Teaching Strategies: Inquiry Learning **   __ 4.3.1 Overview of Inquiry Learning __ **Attached Files:**  View the following power point which gives a brief outline of what inquiry learning entails. The outline in the power point presentation is followed by two examples of virtual inquiry lab activities and you are asked to explore the sites, comment in the first discussion board below using the questions in the discussion board intro as a guide. You are also asked to find 2 other virtual lab sites related to the course you will teach, explore them, give a brief summary and comment and share the site and your comments with the rest of the class in the second discussion board below. Comment on the submissions of at least two other classmates. The virtual lab inquiry activities in the power point presentation are followed by an example of problem based inquiry using case studies. Explore at least 2 case studies from this site that apply to the courses you will teach. Comment on the case studies and their applicability to inquiry learning in the third discussion board below. Finally, find one site for problem based inquiry learning that is applicable to the course you will teach. Write a summary, comment and share the site address with your classmates in the fourth discussion board below. Comment on the sites shared by at least 2 other classmates.

 **4.4 Lab Creation, Organization, and Assessment** __ **4.4.1 - Lab Creation and Organization** __ **Attached Files: ** ** What are the goals of laboratory instruction? Does laboratory instruction as currently practiced, meet these goals? **  Laboratory work is considered essential in promoting students’ learning of science and of scientific inquiry. What the students perceive as important to learn from a regular laboratory exercise is probably affected by the teacher’s objectives. If as a science teacher you want to impart on your students this sense of inquiry. When selecting an investigation for your students to complete consider the following questions: Read the articles (above and below) on how choosing the right labs enhances the students' lab experience and write a reflection that addresses at least two of the questions posed above. ** Articles: ** Colosi, J C. (1998). Jigsaw Cooperative Learning Improves Biology Lab Courses. Bioscience, 48(2), 118-24. Donaldson, N L. (2001). What Makes Swing Time? A Directed Inquiry-based Lab Assessment. Science Activities, 38(2), 29-33.
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-size: 12px;">what am I asking the students to do?
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-size: 12px;">did the students do what I intended them to do?
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-size: 12px;">did the students encounter opportunities to learn in agreement with my (the teachers') objectives?
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-size: 12px;">am I evaluating the student's ability to follow directions (cookbook labs) or am I allowing them to construct their own knowledge?
 * <span style="color: #444444; font-family: inherit; font-family: inherit; font-size: 12px; font-size: 12px;">am I ensuring that all students are actively engaged and participating?

<span style="font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 22px;">**__ 4.4.2 - Lab Assessment __** **Attached Files:** <span style="font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 12px; line-height: normal;"> <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; display: block; font-family: 'Lucida grande',Arial,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 12px;"> There are many aspects to a lab investigation. Students must prepare for the lab by first understanding the lab, complete any pre-lab work which may include developing a hypothesis, constructing data tables, answering background knowledge questions and doing calculations. They also must perform the lab and eventually communicate what they have learned in the lab. There are therefore numerous points along the way where assessment can happen. What are the ways we can assess a student's lab work? The most common method of assessment involves a lab report. What is a lab report? What are the components of a lab report? As many students find out early in their science education lab reports are a huge part of having a scientific career. Many students are asked to write up lab reports on lab experiments but have no idea what is expected in a good paper. The purpose of writing a lab report is to determine how well you performed your experiment, how much you understood what happened during the experimentation process, and how well you can convey that information in an organized fashion. Lab reports also help us organize our data and results so that others can repeat the investigation and receive the same outcome. Although there are different ways to both write and evaluate a lab report, there are some standards that should be adhered to. Read the file above called ** lab reports ** for a complete review of how to write lab and research reports. Complete the Lab Report Ordering Activity. The steps to a lab report are summarized but are in random order. Identify each of the steps of a lab report and place them in a logical sequence that you would expect your students to follow for a lab write up. What should student lab reports look like? Read through the student samples of lab reports posted on the Ontario Ministry of Education website for a junior science classroom. Also analyze several subject specific lab report exercises. Select one of the sample labs from the website and review and reflect on all the components of the lab. How would the report be assessed?