Using Process Portfolios to Document Thinking and Learning
This 1.5 hr. workshop is dedicated to making thinking “visible” by documenting what influences a student’s thought process and by keeping track of the changes that occur when additional information is acquired. Process portfolios can be used in any subject area where a student’s ideas are evolving: a piece of writing, an experiment, a model, […]
PLT: Fostering an Adventurous Exploration of Our World
Primary Team Goal: To build a strong repertoire of scientific experimentation and data analysis skills in students for mastery of performance-based assessments such as Internal Assessments (IAs) for IB, independent research, or Capstone Projects in AP and PBAT programs. Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) differ slightly from professional learning communities you may belong to in your school […]
PLT: What Will We Take Forward?
Primary Team Goal: To fearlessly redesign the broken aspects of traditional classroom education in response to a year filled with numerous faltering systems and the illumination of unbearable inequities. Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) differ slightly from professional learning communities you may belong to in your school setting in that PLT members come from all over the […]
Statistics for Teaching Science: Part 2 The Problem with Describing Data Using the Mean
Often by middle school and certainly by high school, students default to the mean as the best way to describe data without much consideration for how they might defend that choice. So, you might think, what’s the harm in that? Everyone knows what is meant by this descriptor, it is familiar and understandable, easy to […]
PLT: Making a Successful Transition to Standards-based Learning
Primary Team Goal: To design original phenomenon-driven units that target performance expectations in math and science through the pursuit of curiosity and reflective critical thinking. Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) differ slightly from professional learning communities you may belong to in your school setting in that PLT members come from all over the world so there is […]
Developing and Using Models Part 2
In this 1.5-hour workshop, we will explore 3-dimensional modeling for use in Next Generation science and math courses. Helping prepare students for a career in science or mathematics requires a refined ability to engage in critical thinking about complex systems. Because models are analogies for a real-world processes, structures, or events, they are an efficient […]
Statistics for Teaching Science: Part 3 Getting Comfortable with Variance, Standard Deviation, Standard Error of the Mean, and the 95% Confidence Interval
The variance, standard deviation, and standard error of the mean are excellent methods for describing data because they convey the variability of the observed data around the mean. Anyone teaching AP, IB, Pre-AP, Pre-IB, or college-bound science students will likely want to know how to calculate these values, what they indicate, and how to contextualize […]
PLT: Fostering an Adventurous Exploration of Our World
Primary Team Goal: To build a strong repertoire of scientific experimentation and data analysis skills in students for mastery of performance-based assessments such as Internal Assessments (IAs) for IB, independent research, or Capstone Projects in AP and PBAT programs. Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) differ slightly from professional learning communities you may belong to in your school […]
PLT: What Will We Take Forward?
Primary Team Goal: To fearlessly redesign the broken aspects of traditional classroom education in response to a year filled with numerous faltering systems and the illumination of unbearable inequities. Professional Learning Teams (PLTs) differ slightly from professional learning communities you may belong to in your school setting in that PLT members come from all over the […]
Statistics for Teaching Science: Part 4 Expressing Error on a Graph
Error bars are placed on a graph to give a more detailed account of what was observed. Although there are many descriptors that can be used to draw error bars, in each case the value is used to express the uncertainty or variability of the data. Error bars created from certain calculations are especially informative […]