Earth Science

Developing scientific literacy about water systems is critical for K‐12 students.

This paper describes HASbot, an automated text scoring and real‐time feedback system designed to support student revision of scientific arguments. Students submit open‐ended text responses to explain how their data support claims and how the limitations of their data affect the uncertainty of their explanations. HASbot automatically scores these text responses and returns the scores with feedback to students. Data were collected from 343 middle‐ and high‐school students taught by nine teachers across seven states in the United States.

This paper describes HASbot, an automated text scoring and real‐time feedback system designed to support student revision of scientific arguments. Students submit open‐ended text responses to explain how their data support claims and how the limitations of their data affect the uncertainty of their explanations. HASbot automatically scores these text responses and returns the scores with feedback to students. Data were collected from 343 middle‐ and high‐school students taught by nine teachers across seven states in the United States.

This study explores the effects of geographic information systems (GIS) curriculum on fifth-grade students' spatial ability and map-analysis skills. A total of 174 students from an urban public school district and their teachers participated in a quasi-experimental design study. Four teachers implemented a GIS curriculum in experimental classes over six weeks while three teachers continued with regular teaching in control classes. Both groups completed pre- and post-tests measuring spatial ability and map-analysis skills.

The MEL project has developed a set of teaching resources to support the teaching of controversial and/or complex Earth and space science topics. Previously developed MEL teaching resources include those for climate change, earthquakes and fracking, wetlands use, and the formation of the moon. Current baMEL resources are under development for extreme weather, fossils and Earth's past, freshwater availability, and origins of the universe.

This column describes creating a classroom culture for engineering. Noting the importance of infiltration in the water cycle and in the supply of essential groundwater led the authors to develop an engineering activity in which students are challenged to build a stackable filter using the Earth process of infiltration as a model.

Kilpatrick, J., Marcum-Dietrich, N., Wallace, J., & Staudt, C. (2018). Engineering Encounters: Engineering a Model of the Earth as a Water Filter. Science and Children.

This column describes creating a classroom culture for engineering. Noting the importance of infiltration in the water cycle and in the supply of essential groundwater led the authors to develop an engineering activity in which students are challenged to build a stackable filter using the Earth process of infiltration as a model.

Kilpatrick, J., Marcum-Dietrich, N., Wallace, J., & Staudt, C. (2018). Engineering Encounters: Engineering a Model of the Earth as a Water Filter. Science and Children.

American Museum of Natural History. (2018). Writing a Scientific Explanation. Retrieved from https://www.amnh.org/explore/curriculum-collections/integrating-literac….

Disruptions in Ecosystems is a middle school curriculum unit with supporting teacher materials. The unit includes five chapters, each focused on a specific phenomenon related to ecosystem disruption, including questions around the reintroduction of wolves into Yellowstone and the invasion of zebra mussels in the Great Lakes and Hudson River.

Kastel, D. (2017, August 25). Classroom videos from disruptions in ecosystems unit [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2017/08/25/ngss-from-theory-to-pra…