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Compatible Content Creates Coherent

CurriculumOne Small Step at Kindergarten Leads to One Giant Leap at High

School Graduation

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Goals/Outcomes for LCF Focus: what to teach

• Have a better understanding of the AAAS resources– Focus on Benchmarks and Atlas

• Increase comfort level using the resources– Compatibility with GLEs

• Begin thinking about coherent curriculum development– Begin K-12 conversation

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Informed and Reformed

• Hello? Are you a big idea?• Page Keeley – Curriculum Topic Study• Science Literacy- Science For All Americans• From teaching units to... What’s to be

learned?• What’s important and understandable

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Voyage of Discovery

• Began with Curriculum Topic Study• More time spent with resources, more

learned about learning goals for grade band• Unburdened my teaching• Liberating• Using the resources

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Project 2061: Tools for Reform• Why: Help the radical reform of the education

system in America• Goal: All students will be literate in science

(mathematics, natural science, social science, “engineering”)

• Strategy: Develop and disseminate tools for reform (including helping you help students pass the WASL!)

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A Little History• 1985 Project started by Jim Rutherford at AAAS• 1989 Published Science for All Americans• 1993 Published Benchmarks for Science Literacy• 1996 Hired me as director, Published Resources for Science

Literacy: Professional Development• 1998-2000 Developed and applied Curriculum Analysis Tool,

Published Blueprints for Reform, and analysis of middle school mathematics and science materials

• 2001 Published Designs for Science Literacy, Atlas of Science Literacy, and analysis of H.S. biology materials

• Today Developing curriculum and assessment development tools, about to publish Atlas II

Project 2061’s Learning Goals Tool set

• Science for All Americans

• Benchmarks for Science Literacy

• Atlas of Science Literacy

• Intended as curriculum design tools

• What to teach

Science for All AmericansDefining Science Literacy

• Describes adult literacy• Necessary knowledge and

skills for all citizens• Science, mathematics, and

technology core• Emphasize connections

across disciplines

Benchmarks for Science Literacy

Establishing Goals

• Grades 2, 5, 8, and 12

• Specific learning goals — standards

• Avoids technical language

• Informed by research• “Also See” boxes

What are Literacy Learning Goals (Benchmarks and

Standards)?• What every child should know and the skills

every child should have• A coherent set leading to Science Literacy• Not everything children should know or be

able to do• High standards does not mean more or

harder material, it means students are expected to achieve the learning specified by the goals

A New Way of Looking at Benchmarks and Standards

• Until now, we have had lists, but benchmarks is really a connected web of ideas. Maps display these connections

• Maps have really been a part of Project 2061’s thinking from the beginning

• Developed by the Project 2061 school district teams

• Led by Dr. Andrew Ahlgren, Associate Director and Chief Cartographer

Map-like thinking was part of Benchmarks from the start

Integration is not a requirement

Atlas of Science LiteracyCo-published with NSTA

•Large-format collection of maps displaying knowledge and skills acquired over time leading to understanding of major concepts. •Explicit display of connections across time and across disciplines•Soren Wheeler, Ted Willard, Ryan Arndt, cartographers

Atlas Components• Complete set of literacy goals for major topics

– Does not specify or advocate any particular style or type of instruction

• Explicit connections among benchmarks– “contributes to”

• Connections to other maps• Story lines • Notes, research summaries, reflections on

mapping

Benchmarks make up the boxes

The connecting arrow implies “contributes to”

The connections are often learning goals, too!

Strands tell a “story” of connected ideas

How can you use the Atlas?

• Studying, Understanding, Sorting Standards

• Professional Development– Understanding growth of understanding and role of

each grade level

• Curriculum Analysis, Design, and Development– Grade-by-grade and interdisciplinary coherence– Prerequisites and “What comes next”

• Assessment Analysis, Design, and Development

• Aiding curriculum selection

Maps help in choosing materials

Analysis: What the reviewers looked for

Analysis: What the reviewers found

Future Atlas Components

• Next edition will include all the benchmarks• Electronic version will allow navigation among

maps with common benchmarks• Resources can be attached to individual

benchmarks to integrate all Project 2061 tools– Connections to State Standards– Assessment items– Recommended Curriculum materials and trade books– Video clips– Research– Phenomena -- and much more!

Project 2061’s Curriculum Tool set

• Designs for Science Literacy

• Resources for Science Literacy– Professional Development

– Instructional Materials (in work)

– Assessment (in work)

• Help with What and How to Teach

• Still not Instructional Materials

Designs for Science Literacy

Designing K-12 Curriculum

• Critical criteria for reformed curricula

• Redesigning current curricula

• How to get started today

Resources for Science Literacy:Professional Development

• Collected resources for pre- and in-service reference and training: book and CD

• Recommended trade books• Cognitive research abstracts• College Courses• Comparisons of Benchmarks

to national standards• Complete scripts and

materials for workshops

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How is NCOSP using the tools?• Using Curriculum Topic Study

– Understanding the specific content of a lesson

• Understanding the GLEs and EOLs (that were based on the Benchmarks)

• Thinking about curriculum coherence over time (and eventually across subjects)

• Evaluating instructional materials for “alignment”

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Tying Benchmarks/Atlas to GLEs/EOLs

• You are responsible for the EOLs• Benchmarks and Atlas are tools for helping you

use the EOLs to help your students succeed• The Benchmarks describe knowledge, the EOLs

behaviors that demonstrate the knowledge• The WASL may not be true to the EOL verbs so

the knowledge is the goal!

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Flow of Energy and Matter Through Ecosystems Survey

• To get big ideas out on the table• Complete learning goals for grade band that

you teach– Elementary, Middle, High School

• Complete what you think are the learning goals for grand bands that you do not teach– Elementary, Middle; Elementary, High; Middle, High

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Atlas/GLE Work Session• Explore compatibility, similarities and

differences of Science K-10 Grade Level Expectations and Benchmarks– With focus on what to teach

Working in pairs, read introduction to Flow of Matter and Energy in Ecosystems pgs 76 and 78

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Atlas Exploration

Questions to consider

• Do learning goals match your survey answers?

• Are there learning goals that you did not consider?

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Matching GLEs to Learning Goals

• GLE Review• Matching learning goals to the

GLEs/EOLs• Now you try it!

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Break Time! - Before taking a break – shuffle seating - Elementary, Middle and High school represented at each table

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Curriculum Coherence

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Curriculum Coherence Across Grade Levels

• Why?– Provides a “story” that students can follow– Defines specific learning goals at grades– Avoids needless redundancy—students learn it right

the first time!– Liberates teachers to really apply “Less is More”– Helps students learn more science that will stay with

them throughout their lives

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Curriculum Coherence Across Grade Levels

• How?– Work together in multi-grade groups to sort learning

goals into coherent “maps”– Eliminate the extraneous and redundant to make

room for the essential (this is the hardest part)– Identify instructional materials and assessments (this

is the second hardest part)– Coordinated PD (Content, CSP, Collaboration)– Establish trust in grades above and below

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Using the Atlas

• Make a GLE/EOL map

• Assess which learning goals your instructional materials target

• Look for gaps, holes, extras, and redundancies

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What if the Curriculum Falls Short?

• Coherence over a few important topics is more important the “hitting” all the EOLs

• Modify or supplement only in response to evidence of student learning (student work, valid assessments)

• Don’t forget that learning about Inquiry is also content that must be addressed explicitly—not just done (Chapter 1)

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Coherent Curriculum Work Session

• Compare findings of grade band maps• Begin conversation across grade level

– Look at the roles of each grade band in creating coherence.

– How does what is taught in kindergarten affect what is taught in high school?

– Compare the learning goals/GLEs to the survey results at each grade band.

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Review of Goals/Outcomes Focus: what to teach

• Have a better understanding of the AAAS resources– Focus on Benchmarks and Atlas

• Increase comfort level using the resources– Compatibility with GLEs

• Begin thinking about coherent curriculum development– Begin K-12 conversation

Sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. HER-0315060

Conclusion

• Progression of understanding

• What going to take back and apply to the classroom?

• Revisit resources during May Learning Community Forum