Absolute Zero - Nova

I have found the Nova Absolute Value video an good suplement for my Thermodynamics Unit. Students really enjoy listening to the lives of the scientists involved in these experiments. After watching segments of the video I use the following follow up questions.

Conquest of Cold

Video Notes - Keep track of European and American Advancements in Cold Technology.

Assignment

1. Compare and Contrast the European Cold Advancements to the American Cold Advancements.


2. How has your life been impacted by the cold advancements? Pick one of the inventions talked about today.

Race to Absolute to Zero

Video Notes - Keep track of Dewer and Onnes

Assignment

1. Describe the set up of their experiments and how it worked to reach colder and colder temperatures.


2. Write a poem describe the race to absolute zero.


3. What does it mean to be “in a race with the goal post constantly moving?” Describe a time when you have experienced this in your own life.

I have students offer unique and thoughtful answers to these assignments. I am impressed by my students creativity and you may be too. I often give students a choice of assignments and do not assign all of the them.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/zero/

Literature Review - Transformative Assessments

Transformative Assessments by W.J Popham did a wonderful job setting up what formative assessments are and why they are beneficial to the classroom. Popham says (2008) “Formative assessments is a planned process in which assessment elicited evidence of students' status is used by teachers to adjust their ongoing instructional procedures or by students to adjust their current learning tactics." (Popham, p.6) Popham insists on the idea that the formative assessment is a process meaning a way of making informed decisions about instructional procedures not just for the following year but for the current teaching moment. Popham describes formative assessments in four levels to help distinguish the different uses of formative assessments:
Level 1: Teacher use of formative assessments for use in instructional activities
Level 2: Student use of formative assessments for assessing their own learning
Level 3: Change in classroom environment with regards to classroom assessment
Level 4: School-wide adoption of formative assessments at any of the other levels
For the purpose of my research I am currently looking at Level 1 formative assessments to make a change in how I design and use formative assessments in my classroom to inform my decisions. Within this level there are four steps according to Popham: Step 1 is to "identify assessment occasions"; step 2 is to "select assessment procedures"; step 3 says “establishes adjustment triggers”; and step 4 is “makes instructional adjustments." I would like to move along in the levels but feel like I need to make one step at a time and these four steps of level 1 are enough for me to concentrate on at this time.
A favorite quote of mine from the transformative assessment was (2008) "Don't let pursuit of the instructionally perfect prevent you from reaping the rewards of the instructionally possible." (Popham, p. ix) While I feel like I have not even scratched the surface of what can be learned from formative assessment it is important to keep trying and learning to make my classroom a better learning environment.

Popham, W.J. (2008). Transformative Assessments. Alexandria, Virginia. Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

Science Formative Assessment - Paige Keeley

Page Keeley in her book Science Formative Assessments had many ideas about the benefits of well thought-out formative assessment plans in the classroom. Keeley stresses the importance of understanding student’s knowledge and beliefs before a lesson to help students make connections to prior knowledge. Without connecting a lesson to prior knowledge the information will not stick in student’s brains beyond the unit says Keeley. Keeley says (2008), " Optimal opportunities to learn exist when science teachers are aware of the variety of different ideas students are likely to bring to their learning, see the connections between students' thinking and specific ideas targeted by state and national standards." (Keeley, p. ix)
Keeley's ideas help the teacher not only assess what the students know but ask the students to explain what they know or how they arrived at the answer. Keeley says, “the formative assessment techniques included in this book initiate the use of metacognitive skills and promote deeper student learning." (Keeley, p.5) Thus Keeley's FACTs (Formative Assessment Classroom Techniques) helps students recognize how they think about an idea and make the decision. Keeley accomplishes this deeper student thinking by asking "probing questions" that ask students to make a choice and then explain their choice or their "rule" for thinking.
The majority of Keeley's book discusses 75 practical strategies that can be used in the classroom to help promote learning as well as give the teacher formative assessment data. Keeley describes the process as " Students are learning while at the same time the teacher is gathering valuable information about their thinking that will inform instruction and provide feedback to students about their learning." (Keeley, p.3)

Keeley, P. (2008). Science Formative Assessments. Thousand Oaks, Ca. Corwin Press.