Developing Students' Ownership Science Concepts

As both a former teacher of students with learning issues and a science teacher I found Ralph T. Pillsbury techniques to :train students to generate their own depictions and create their... See More

As both a former teacher of students with learning issues and a science teacher I found Ralph T. Pillsbury techniques to :train students to generate their own depictions and create their own stories to increase their true understanding of science concepts and how those concepts fit into the big picture of what they already knew." of great benefit to many types of learners. I am going to look into Richard Mayer's work on science illustrations.

Would give 50 stars if I could!

I taught in an urban school with 97% of my students receiving lunch assistance, we had the lowest science scores in the county when I took the job, and most of my students read at least 3 ye... See More

I taught in an urban school with 97% of my students receiving lunch assistance, we had the lowest science scores in the county when I took the job, and most of my students read at least 3 years below grade level. By my second year, we had the second-highest value-added scores in the county! I attribute much of that success to using this method. Vocabulary is possibly the biggest hurdle in science for middle school students. This method IS my review for state exams - no practicing multiple choice tests, no drill and review - just DRAW. I did take it one step further and require that my students use no more than 5 words in their explanations - to force them to use their own words and to rely on communicating their understanding in the drawing. Fantastic resource!

Great Yearlong Project

This article introduces a great idea for a cumulative, year long project. I really like how this project takes a rough draft product that students work on all year and then turn it into a f... See More

This article introduces a great idea for a cumulative, year long project. I really like how this project takes a rough draft product that students work on all year and then turn it into a final project that highlights what students have learned throughout the year. I also really like how this project incorporates art and science. Although this article has excellent ideas, I wish there were more examples of student work and an example of the rubric used for assessment.