Secondary / High School

Causal Patterns in Air Pressure Phenomena: Lessons to Infuse into Pressure Units...

Causal Patterns in Air Pressure is a curriculum module for teachers who want their students to develop a deep understanding of air pressure concepts. Research shows that students who are taught about the nature of the causal patterns while learning science achieve deeper understanding than students who learn the science concepts only. This curriculum module is designed to address persistent difficulties students have when learning about air pressure. These difficulties stem from how students reason about the nature of cause and effect. The module consists of nine lessons, organized into three sections. Each section introduces one of three ways of thinking about causality that students need to master in order to develop a deep understanding of air pressure. Each lesson contains understanding goals for the subject matter and causal patterns. Background information helps teachers recognize the misunderstanding and how it is typically revealed in students reasoning about air pressure. RECAST (REveal CAusal STructure) activities are designed to reveal the underlying causal structure of concepts and to help students restructure their understandings. The curriculum incorporates best practices in science education, such as inquiry-based learning and modeling. It is designed for middle school but can be modified for use with other ages. The module can be infused into broader units on pressure. It was developed as part of a research project called the Understandings of Consequence Project, which is supported by the National Science Foundation.

Good Work: When Excellence and Ethics Meet

What does it mean to carry out "good work"? This is just one of the probing questions posed in this new edition. The authors have added a new afterword, Good Work in 2002, in which they reflect on their work in the light of recent events and report on their continuing studies of strategies that allow people to maintain moral and ethical standards at a time when market forces have unprecedented power. ISBN: 978-0465026081

Making Learning Visible: Children as Individual and Group Learners

In this richly-illustrated book, the culmination of a two-year research collaboration between teachers and pedagogues from Reggio Emilia and researchers from Project Zero illuminates ways in which documentation can foster both individual and group learning, creating a relationship between them. They identify methods and processes that will enable educators to reflect not only on the learning processes of children but also on those of adults. 

Examples of documentation to aid teachers' own reflections

Documentation collected for this purpose helps teachers stay close to students' learning and interests by enabling them to revisit a learning experience. It leads teachers to compare what they thought would happen to what really went on and informs decisions about where to go next. Sharing this kind of documentation with others reduces the subjectivity of a single person's analysis and interpretation and can deepen understanding. This form of documentation is the least shaped (or the most "raw") of the three types described here. Reviewing this type of documentation often influences the amount of time a group spends on a topic and the level of student involvement in shaping the learning experience.

Below are examples of the documentation and practices with varying age groups. 

Examples of documentation shared back with learners

Making visible images of learning and being together in a group is a way to foster group identity and learning. This type of documentation promotes conversation or deepens understanding about one or more aspects of a learning experience. It can serve as a memory of learning in the classroom, allowing children and adults to reflect on, evaluate, and build on their previous work and ideas. Sharing documentation back with learners can take many forms: a photocopied sheet of paper, words repeated back to students, work brought back to a small group or put up on a wall, or a carefully arranged panel. The examples in this section range from more immediate and "in the moment" to more fully framed and shaped.