Biology

Integrative Analysis Using Big Ideas: Energy Transfer and Cellular Respiration

Big ideas in science education are meant to be interpretive frameworks that empower student learning. Unfortunately, outside of the broad conception of scientific evaluation, there are few theoretical explanations of how this might happen. Therefore, we contribute one such explanation, an instructional concept called integrative analysis wherein students use a big idea to interconnect isolated scenarios and enrich their meanings. We illustrate the characteristics and value of integrative analysis within an empirical study of student learning in 9th-grade biology.

Author/Presenter

Jonathan T. Shemwell

Daniel K. Capps

Ayca K. Fackler

Carlson H. Coogler

Year
2023
Short Description

Big ideas in science education are meant to be interpretive frameworks that empower student learning. Unfortunately, outside of the broad conception of scientific evaluation, there are few theoretical explanations of how this might happen. Therefore, we contribute one such explanation, an instructional concept called integrative analysis wherein students use a big idea to interconnect isolated scenarios and enrich their meanings.

Understanding Students' Sense-Making Processes When Faced with Unexpected Data: A Case Study in High School Biology

Examining a lesson in a high school biology unit that utilized noisy sensor data, we sought to understand the ways students engaged in active reasoning about the data and the factors that influenced this process. Video analysis centers on one small group of students as they learn to use sensors to collect data on osmosis, focusing particularly on their reactions to variation within and across experimental runs.

Author/Presenter

Natalya St. Clair

Brandi Ediss

Lynn Stephens

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2021
Short Description

Examining a lesson in a high school biology unit that utilized noisy sensor data, we sought to understand the ways students engaged in active reasoning about the data and the factors that influenced this process. Video analysis centers on one small group of students as they learn to use sensors to collect data on osmosis, focusing particularly on their reactions to variation within and across experimental runs.

Innovator Interview: Steve Roderick

The Concord Consortium. (2021). Innovator Interview: Steve Roderick. @Concord, 25(1), 15.

Author/Presenter

The Concord Consortium

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2021
Short Description

Interview with Steve Roderick about helping teachers on the InquirySpace project bring more authentic science experiences to their classes.

Increasing Engagement during Online Learning through the Use of Interactive Slides

It is difficult in asynchronous online instruction to keep students engaged and motivated. The rapid and unexpected nature of the move to online instruction has meant that the content presented to students has been primarily static and linear. Thus, there is a need for creative pedagogical approaches that re-create some level of the laboratory experience. One economical and accessible approach to building an interactive lab experience is making web-based interactive slides.

Author/Presenter

Nazzy Pakpour

Isabel Souto

Pamela Schaffer

Year
2021
Short Description

The rapid and unexpected nature of the move to online instruction has meant that the content presented to students has been primarily static and linear. Thus, there is a need for creative pedagogical approaches that re-create some level of the laboratory experience. One economical and accessible approach to building an interactive lab experience is making web-based interactive slides. In the virtual spaces created by this approach, students can explore different modalities of content in a nonlinear and asynchronous manner.

Newcomer Emergent Bilingual Students’ Meaning-Making in Urban Biology Classrooms: A Communities of Practice Perspective

This study investigated how newcomer emergent bilinguals made meaning in two 9th-grade biology classrooms. Methods relevant to naturalistic inquiry were used to collect and analyze data. Findings indicate that newcomers bridged aspects of personal experiences with social competencies valued in classrooms through using heritage languages, engaging as brokers and collaborators, and attempting to realize goals of learning English and content simultaneously. Findings also show that misalignments between social competence and personal experience constrained meaning-making.

Author/Presenter

Mark B. Pacheco

Julie C. Brown

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2022
Short Description

This study investigated how newcomer emergent bilinguals made meaning in two 9th-grade biology classrooms. Methods relevant to naturalistic inquiry were used to collect and analyze data. Findings indicate that newcomers bridged aspects of personal experiences with social competencies valued in classrooms through using heritage languages, engaging as brokers and collaborators, and attempting to realize goals of learning English and content simultaneously. Findings also show that misalignments between social competence and personal experience constrained meaning-making. This study illustrates a need for activities that reflect and expand newcomer resources and experiences, and for activities that can take shape through student participation.

AiMs Modeling Curriculum

The Deep Structure Modeling (DSM) project addresses the pressing need to more effectively organize science teaching and learning around “big ideas” that run through disciplines. Big ideas are important tools for learning because they enable students to organize and link information within a consistent knowledge framework. The project includes a freely available two-week unit on teaching cellular respiration by modeling the big idea of energy.

Author/Presenter

The DSM Team

Year
2019
Short Description

The Deep Structure Modeling (DSM) project addresses the pressing need to more effectively organize science teaching and learning around “big ideas” that run through disciplines. Big ideas are important tools for learning because they enable students to organize and link information within a consistent knowledge framework. The project includes a freely available two-week unit on teaching cellular respiration by modeling the big idea of energy.

AiMs Modeling Curriculum

The Deep Structure Modeling (DSM) project addresses the pressing need to more effectively organize science teaching and learning around “big ideas” that run through disciplines. Big ideas are important tools for learning because they enable students to organize and link information within a consistent knowledge framework. The project includes a freely available two-week unit on teaching cellular respiration by modeling the big idea of energy.

Author/Presenter

The DSM Team

Year
2019
Short Description

The Deep Structure Modeling (DSM) project addresses the pressing need to more effectively organize science teaching and learning around “big ideas” that run through disciplines. Big ideas are important tools for learning because they enable students to organize and link information within a consistent knowledge framework. The project includes a freely available two-week unit on teaching cellular respiration by modeling the big idea of energy.