Posted weekly---Brief Description of what takes place during each class.

Week 1 (8/27/09): Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 & 2. Students participated in a Round Table (Getting Acquainted Activity). Students shared their views about their own individual professional development and the context of their experiences in school classrooms. Additionally, students were introduced to professional resources including other books and journals. The Professor did an overview of the class for the semester. He linked discussions to the local standards, Florida Sunshine State Standards, and the National Science Education Standards.  Students were asked to write their pertinent goals for science students in grades 7-12, click here.  Then, they paired up with another student to share and reflect about other goals.  Professor led a discussion concerning the goals for science students grades 7-12 and tied these ideas to other questions of importance in SCE 4330/SCE 6366.  Students were assigned to complete (Activity 1-1 How I see myself as a science teacher) and read  the first two chapters in the Bybee text.  O'Brien passed out the syllabus and the Florida Educator Accomplished Practices (FEAPs).  Students of SCE 4330/SCE 6366 (where needed) should begin planning their field placements and observational assignments.

Week 2 (9/3/09):  Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 & 2 and also see pages 79, 90, 131, and 145. Students completed the Index Cards  (Information).  Students were given an Activity Card  to work on, i.e., one of four activities:
 Card 1 "What causes the seasons on Earth?"
 Card 2 "What causes the phases of the moon?"
 Card 3 "Can you light a bulb with a wire and a battery?"  Explain.
 Card 4  "Pretend you are looking (at eye level) at a small flat mirror mounted on the wall and you see your face in the mirror.
             What will see if you move forward toward the mirror?  What will you see if you move backward away from the mirror?"  Explain.
Then students were paired to work on the activity cards together (4 groups).  Each student group created a white board presentation.  Card 1 and Card 2 groups went first. A communty-centered approach was encouraged where students dialogued with one another extensively. Next, the students viewed the "Private Universe" video produced by the Harvard University Department of Astrophysics.  The classic film is about students' science misconceptions/alternative theories or prior conceptions and naive theories [see p. 1, text] (e.g., reasons for the seasons, phases of the moon) and how difficult it is to help students to develop (or bridge) to meaningful understanding of scientific conceptions.  Student interviewing strategies are evident and the nature of constructivism & social constructivism as related to chapter 2 readings (see also, p. 1, 23, 83, 183-187) were evident. Essential elements of the student interview protocols included: 1) selection of focus content topic, 2) one-on-one interviews with no audience, 3) creation of several key/feature interview questions, 4) design the interview as an open inquiry to find out what the child actually knows, or if there might be a scientific misconception, 5) probing after each Q/R, 6) emphasis on finding out what is known/understood by child, not to teach the child, and 7) having props (such as hands-on materials/manipulatives and writing pad/board) to allow students to express their conceptual understanding. The professor led a brief discussion concerning implications of the information provided by the video. Note this idea can be a central aspect of an alternative graduate student assignment.  Homework: students were asked to write an reflective piece from this evenings work centered on the video, card activity (whiteboard), and readings (Chapters 1 & 2 to be submitted for homework for week 3.)  The Card 3 & 4 whiteboard presentations will be further related to next week's video follow-up: "Minds of Our Own."  Addition to course readings  Chapters 3 & 4 for next time, do activity 1-5, p. 19 in the text.  Check out our class website.  Related to our  videos  in Week 2 and week 3, see links at 4. Additional Science Teaching Methods Resources, i.e., Concept Mapping.  Later, professor reviewed the syllabus and upcoming work in the class and he answered student questions.

Week 3 (9/10/09):  Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 thru 4 and also see pages 135-136, 183-184, and 326.  Due dates for class assignments and a brief discussion was part of the presentation. See, link. First, several students shared from their written reflections from last week's lesson.  Some major concepts discussed included constructivist learning and teaching, interviewing students for discovering pre-conceptions, and assessment strategies for determining pre-conceptiions.  Other resources were introduced and shared including the books: Learning How to Learn, by Joseph D. Novak and D. Bob Gowin, Teaching Science to Every Child: Using Culture as a Starting Point by John Settlage and Sherry Southerland, and Essentials of Science Classroom Assessment by Xiufeng Liu.  Next, students worked in three groups of 3 or 4.  The students in each group selected a subject of mutual interest.  One student was the interviewer while another student was interviewed concerning the focus concept.  One or two of the other students took observational notes to share with the group after the interview.  Notes and ideas were exchanged within the group and a shared reflection concerning the activity was developed, and all worked was collectd by Dr. O'Brien.  The focus ideas were: Genetic engineering, evolution, and seasons.  Students were then introduced to concept mapping (handout provided) and were provided time to construct concept maps for the focus topic from the previous activity. Link for resources see 4. Additional Science Teaching Resources, including free 90 day trial for the concept making tool, Inspiration © were shown on the projector. (See our Class Homepage.)  Follow-up video (25 minutes ) from Minds of Our Own  was shown.  Professor collected  in-class activities and homework , Activity 1-5 and Class Reflection.  Homework for this week:  Do Activity 13-1, p. 189, What Does It Mean To Construct an Understanding of a Scientific Concept?  Do the activity as presented and steps in order 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6.  Try to use a Concept Mapping Tool, like Inspiration © to do #1. Draw a concept map that demonstrates your understanding of photosynthesis...... the Annenburg video Lessons from Thin Air can be found at
http://www.learner.org/resources/series26.html?pop=yes&pid=77

Week 4 (9/17/09): Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 thru 6 and also see pages 135-136, 149, 183-189, and 200-201. Class started an activity from the book: Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science published by the National Academy of Sciences, 1998.  Students are encouraged to attain a copy of the book (free) online at: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=5787
Note you can download a copy free by registering online at this National Academy of Sciences site (Also, note there are many other free teacher resources from NAS online).  The activity was selected from Chapter 6 Activities for Teaching About Evolution and the Nature of Science, pages  61-70. The instructor used the Learning Cycle Model of Instruction (5E's) for the activity. See handout provided in class and readings listed above.  The students worked in two groups to complete an investigation vis engagement, exploration, explanation, elaboration, and evaluation.  Discussion during this activity centered on the Nature of Science and the Nature of Scientific Inquiry.  Relationships of these central ideas and our understanding with previous classwork, readings, and takehome assignments were presented and discussed.  These discussions included making connections to the previous weeks focus topics including goals for science teaching, student preconceptions, constructivist learning and assessment.  Discussion concerning the week 3 homework, i.e., Activity 13-1, p. 189, What Does It Mean To Construct an Understanding of a Scientific Concept?, was postponed to next class.  Students were introduced to another resource "NSTA - National Science Teachers Association's" Official Positions - [See http://www.nsta.org/about/positions.aspx ].  Look at the NSTA position statement: The Nature of Science for next time.  [Students were provided a copy in class.]  The students were provided two additional readings to read for homework for next time: 1) Related to inclass discussion concerning Constructivism and Metacognitive learning--Cognitive Approaches and Strategies for Teaching Science from Eugene Chiappetta and Thomas Koballa, Jr., Science Instruction in the Middle and Secondary Schools, seventh edition, pp. 166-179, and 2) related to our work with student preconceptions, from Xiufeng Liu's Essentials of Science Classroom Assessment, pp. 21-43.  Students present turned in homework assignments to the professor and kept their class artifacts for individual portfolios. 

Week 5 (9/24/09): Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 thru 8  with special reference to Chapter 6 Contemporary Issues in Science Education , pp. 86-104.  Dr. O'Brien started the class with some personal observations from student teacher school site visits during September 23 and 24th and the positive experiences  of visiting the schools, teachers, and students (grades 9-12).  This lead to a discussion of the experiences of  SCE 4330/SCE 6366 students in the last couple of classes and overview of feature topics (Nature of Student Learning, Nature of Science,  Constructivist Orientation/Approaches to Teaching and Learning, and other topics.  Students who attended Open House meetings last week picked up handouts and nature of work accomplished in class and for take home assignments.  An updated list of work in the student files was provided:  click here.
Overview of some future class meetings was provided, for example, October 1st, class will be visited by Ms. Alana Edwards, FAU Environmental Studies Center Workshop Coordinator, to work with us and the Everglades: An American Treasure curriculum & instruction materials.  Don Cramp, a FIU doctoral student, administrator, and science teacher at Ransome Everglades will be a guest presenter on Oct 15th. During October 8th and 15th we will work with physics faculty in the physics learning center at FIU to discover reform practices happening in high school and introductory college physics.
In-class activities centered on the Nature of Science (NOS), where students worked in small groups to read recent NOS articles from  The Science Teacher and Science Scope, discuss and present small group  understandings of the reading including reference to NSTA position statement, [See http://www.nsta.org/about/positions.aspx ]. Importance of verifiable and important teacher resources was discussed including the history of researchers in NOS, such as authors Lederman and Lederman, McComas, and Chiappetta and Koballa.  Class activities such as the Evolution, Nature of Science Cube, Draw a Scientist were referenced.  Part of the discussion entailed State Standards including Florida's SSS  and the Nature of Science (see handout article by McComas, Lee, and Sweeney.  Questions concerning upcoming due assignments were addressed and students were given additional readings to add resources in covered topics.

Week 6 (10/01/09): Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 thru 10  with special reference to Chapter 10 How Science Curricula are Developed , pp. 142-148.  Dr. O'Brien collected student assignments and introduced tonight's guest presenter, Ms. Alana Edwards, FAU Center for Environmental Studies Coordinator, to work with the group and the Everglades: An American Treasure (EAT) curriculum & instruction materials. Agenda, description of curriculum, and other materials are referenced at: EATWorkshopPacket.pdf

Students signed in, completed a pre-test, played Eco-Bingo, and were provided a power-point presentation on "Exploring the KOE Watershed and CERP".  Next, Ms. Edwards provided an overview of the Everglades: An American Treasure Curriculum including the Contamination Lab activity.  Next there was a wrap-up and post-test.  Students were provided sets of the curriculum and  accompanying resources for their classrooms.  Dr. O'Brien responded to all of the questions concerning upcoming & due assignments.  Students are to continue their readings and assignments.  For next class, students should bring to class the EAT Curriculum Packet and Florida Waters Resources Manual.

Week 7 (10/08/09): Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 thru 12  with special reference to Chapter10 How Science Curricula are Developed , pp. 142-148 and Chapter 11 Integrated Approaches to the Science Curriculum, pp. 152-163.  Also, see  p. 32, and Chapter 13.  Dr. O'Brien collected homework from students.  He announced the Midterm exam will be given on 10/22/09 (focus and approach will be provided next week).  Students did a group activity where they evaluated the Everglades: An American Treasure (EAT) curriculum & instruction materials  from last week's presentation.  Several approaches for the evaluation were considered including the pertinent goals for science students in grades 7-12 determined by SCE students during week 1, click here.  Also, students used approaches from Activity 10-1 Curriculum Evaluation, while determining the fit and level of connections to Integrated Sciene Approaches (see Chapter 11 Bybee text), and relationship of curriculum to reform-based practices.  Two groups presented their recommendations in their consideration of the curriculum and resources. Then our class went to VH 164/165, The Physics Learning Center (PLC) to do an introductory physics modeling activity with David Jones.  Note, some additional resources and connections to prior materials in the SCE class: [see related reference handed out in earlier class concerning our work with student preconceptions, from Xiufeng Liu's Essentials of Science Classroom Assessment, pp. 21-43, check out Force Concept Inventory (FCI) by Hestenes et al.].  See modeling website: http://modeling.asu.edu/  The class will continue the physics activity with a modeling investigation next time [6:45-7:40 pm] after the Don Cramp presentation. [Don Cramp, a FIU doctoral student, administrator, and science teacher at Ransome Everglades will be a guest presenter on Oct 15th. 5-6:30 pm.]

Week 8 (10/15/09): Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 thru 14.  Mr. Donald Cramp [crampygator@aol.com] from the Ransome Everglades School provided a presentation for the first 1 1/2 hours of the class.  See his content outline for the presentation that follows:  Week 10 (10/29/09): Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 thru 16.  Dr. Jennie Dauterman discussed the COE Tasksream help info and provided assistance to students learning about Taskstream as part of SCE 4330/SCE 6366 assignments.  Go to http://education.fiu.edu/taskstream  Dr. O'Brien collected homework and passed back graded work.  He presented information related to upcoming homework assignments coming due/or due including: Microteaching in Class, Rationale Paper, Lesson Plans/Teaching, Unit Plan, and Final exam (including inclusion of FEAPs). He passed back to students the graded Mid-term exam and recommendations for students to look it over to and to include FEAP items (FEAP green pamphlet), more components/details of Inquiry-based instruction (see pages 60-64 in Bybee text for example), and also reformed-based, standards-based connections (tonight's activities with RTOP),  click here.  See Figures 4-1 & 4-2, p. 62-64, Bybee et al. taken from the NSES Inquiry Booklet (NRC, 2000), showing Changing Emphases/Changing Emphasis to Promote Inquiry. Students were introduced to the Reformed Teaching Observation Protocol (RTOP).  Students used the instrument to assess a college class instructor (Video 1) and to practice and learn the categories/scales associated with Reform in Science Teacher Practices (RTOP manual handout, 41 pages).  Students worked in pairs using discourse analysis to negotiate scoring the items on the instrument.  Student scores were compared to expert scoring. This developmental activity continued when students used the RTOP instrument to critique/score a second video (Video 2) related to reformed-based teaching.  Students scored the teaching individually, and compared their scoring to that of experts. Some of the features of the methods and instrument were further analyzed and discussed.  Students were encouraged to use the instrument as part of their self-analyses procedures to improve reform & standards-based teaching practices.

Week 11 (11/05/09): Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 thru 18. Dr. O'Brien collected homework and passed back graded work. He presented information related to upcoming homework assignments coming due/or due including: Microteaching in Class, Rationale Paper, Lesson Plans/Teaching, Unit Plan, and Final exam (including inclusion of FEAPs). Activities for tonight's lesson utilized the following resources: National Science Education Standards (1996), National Research Council, Washington, DC, National Academy Press, see link here ; Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards (2000), National Research Council, Washington, DC, National Academy Press, see link here ; course textbook, Teaching Secondary School Science, Bybee et al.; FEAPs Handbook (green copy), and the RTOP instrument click here. Reference point from which to start the lesson was last week's leasson and learning how to use the RTOP assessment instrument for reformed-base & standards-based teaching. (Brief discussion). Then students were asked to study the NSES Science Teaching Standards (see p. 96, Figure 6-6 in Bybee text, Standards A-F) which corresponds to information in the NSES text pp. 27-53, link here.  Discussion lead by Dr. O'Brien concerned the specific nature of the standards, and contexts for which to apply the standards (specifically in relation to upcoming asssignments such as Rationale Paper & microteaching lessons).  Next students were asked to explore the Essential Features of Inquiry (see pp.60-63, Bybee et al text) which correspond to Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards (2000), National Research Council, Washington, DC, National Academy Press, pp. 13-38, see link here. The question that Dr. O'Brien asked students next was to discover linkages and connections among the Inquiry Standards (Essential Features of Inquiry) and the 25 items on the RTOP assessment.  Students reported connections among the NSES Inquiry ideas and RTOP ranging from 10-20 items. O'Brien found relationships of the Essential Features of Inquiry (see pp.60-63, Bybee et al text) to the RTOP concepts for items 2, 4, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,16, 17, 19,21, and 22. The nature of the resources NSES, NSES Inquiry Guide, and RTOP were later compared to the FEAPs booklet items.  Students were asked to reflect on their understandings and concepts explored during the activities in class tonight and from last week with the following work: lesson plans (reflections), Rational Paper & Unit plan, and upcoming microteaching assignment.  Next, students took a look at a case study (NSES book, pp. 192-183 [hard copy] of grades 9-12, Fossils), and they used the p. 96 text Figure 6-6 to identify Teaching Standards cited in the case study.  After a brief break, students observed part of a Japanese Lesson Study and former methods students' microteaching lesson about earthworms and their environment.  About 20 minutes of the 48 minute lesson was observed (and related to RTOP and Inquiry-centered assessment of approaches (Chapter 4, Bybee et al), and facilitated students questions and planning for Microteaching and the future use of academic tools/resources related to the NSES Standards, reform, and the RTOP instrument.  Students were scheduled to present (approximate 20 minute) lessons (segment of a lesson) with focus on inquiry-instruction next week (November 12).  They are: Michael, Walter, Devane, Camille, and Roberto. Then the following week Jessica, Jasmine, Dahlia, Ken, and Elizabeth will do microteach lessons on November 19th.  In addition to readings and all other assignments, students should look at Activities 17-1 thru 17-7 (Questioning) in the Bybee et al text, as a focal component of inquiry-centered lessons. 

Week 12 (11/12/09): Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 thru 20, also see Activities 17-1 thru 17-7 (Questioning) from the Bybee et al text. Dr. O'Brien collected homework. Students scheduled to teach lessons (or a segment of a lesson) with focus on inquiry-instruction did so: Camille (Case of HIV spreading itself in the human population), Roberto (Cell Organelles), Devane (Peanut Lab), Michael (Next Generation Florida Standards), and Walter (Water Lab). Next week Jessica, Jasmine, Dahlia, Ken, and Elizabeth will do microteach lessons on November 19th.  Make sure to pass in written responses for homework Activities 17-1 thru 17-7 (Questioning) from the Bybee et al text, as a focal component of preparsation for the inquiry-centered lessons.

Week 13 (11/19/09):  Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 thru 22.  This week Ken (Punnett Square/Genetics), Dahlia (Egg Drop-Parachutes), and Jasmine (Marine (Oil) Pollution) completed their microteaching in class. For your microteaching lesson critique (focus on inquiry), students should get a copy of a CD with the microteaching session for self-critique.  Self-critique reports are due on December 10th.  Please hand in: a) lesson plan, b) copy of CD video, and c) assessment of your lesson using at least two (2) tools described next (look for evidence in your video copy/planning and reflection) 1. RTOP your lesson (component), see RTOP Form and manual from week 11 [see RTOP instrument click here.] Rate yourself providing rating and justification on the form, see the comments from week #11, and 2. explore the Essential Features of Inquiry (see pp.60-63, Bybee et al text) which correspond to Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards (2000), National Research Council, Washington, DC, National Academy Press, pp. 13-38, see link here. Use info provided on p. 62, Figure 4-1, Bybee text. How did your lesson fit the standards related to Essential Features of Inquiry?

Other assignment dates and information discussed in class: Take home final exam (copy provided in class with instructions, due on 12/10/09), Rationale Paper (due on 12/3/09)/will schedule an appt during 12/3/09 class for interview component [Note some interviews will be scheduled for 12/10/09 during class time], Instructional Unit Plan to be uploaded final version on TASKSTREAM by 12/3/09.

On 11/26/09 -- There will be no class!  Enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday!!  Next class will be on December 3rd.

Week 15 (12/03/09):  Reference Readings in Bybee, Chapters 1 thru 22, all of textbook.  This week Jessica (Moon Phases) completed her microteaching in class. All assignments and tests including dates and information were discussed in class.   All student questions were answered.  Dr. O'Brien left his class and students conducted course evaluations.  Students present were assigned a final interview day/time.