Effective Science Teaching Techniques

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kevin Mon, Jan 10, 2022 05:06 PM UTC

It’s unlikely that the student populations and physical facilities you see in the video clips will exactly match your own classroom. A classroom might be in an inner-city or a rural area; the class might be a charter school where students call teachers by their first names, or it might be a school where the science-resource teacher doesn’t know all of the students’ names. Because of this, it might be tempting to say, “These kids aren’t like my students, and my classroom doesn’t have these resources, so this lesson doesn’t speak to my situation.”

1. Strategies for Effective Science Teaching:
The Student Thinking and Science Content Storyline Lenses
Grade K-3
STeLLA Conceptual Framework
Learning to analyze science teaching
STUDENT through two lenses SCIENCE
CONTENT
THINKING
STORYLINE
allows you to learn and use strategies
for more effective science teaching.
SCIENCE TEACHING
STRATEGIES TO REVEAL, SUPPORT, AND STRATEGIES TO CREATE A COHERENT SCIENCE
CHALLENGE STUDENT THINKING CONTENT STORYLINE
1. Ask questions to elicit student ideas and A. Identify one main learning goal.
predictions.
B. Set the purpose with a focus question or
2. Ask questions to probe student ideas goal statement.
and predictions.
C. Select activities that are matched to the
3. Ask questions to challenge student learning goal.
thinking.
D. Select content representations and
4. Engage students in analyzing and models matched to the learning goal and
interpreting data and observations. engage students in their use.
5. Engage students in constructing E. Sequence key science ideas and
explanations and arguments. activities appropriately.
6. Engage students in using and applying F. Make explicit links between science
new science ideas in a variety of ways ideas and activities.
and contexts.
G. Link science ideas to other science ideas.
7. Engage students in making connections
by synthesizing and summarizing key
H. Highlight key science ideas and focus
science ideas.
question throughout.
8. Engage students in communicating in
scientific ways. I. Summarize key science ideas.

2. Copyright © 2017 by California State Polytechnic University, Pomona and BSCS. All
rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by
any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing.
The development of this material was funded by the National Science Foundation
under Grant Number NSF MSP 1321242. Any opinions, findings, conclusions, or
recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the authors and do not
necessarily reflect the views of the granting agency.

3. Contents
How to Learn from Lesson Analysis: The Basics ........................................................ 1
Student Ideas and Science Ideas Defined ................................................................. 5
Strategies to Reveal, Support, and Challenge Student Thinking .............................. 7
Defining the STeLLA Student Thinking Lens ................................................................ 7
STeLLA Strategy 1: Ask Questions to Elicit Student Ideas and Predictions .............. 9
STeLLA Strategy 2: Ask Questions to Probe Student Ideas and Predictions .......... 11
STeLLA Strategy 3: Ask Questions to Challenge Student Thinking ......................... 13
STeLLA Strategy 4: Engage Students in Analyzing and Interpreting Data and
Observations ............................................................................................................ 15
STeLLA Strategy 5: Engage Students in Constructing Explanations
and Arguments ........................................................................................................ 19
STeLLA Strategy 6: Engage Students in Using and Applying New Science Ideas
in a Variety of Ways and Contexts ........................................................................... 25
STeLLA Strategy 7: Engage Students in Making Connections by Synthesizing
and Summarizing Key Science Ideas ....................................................................... 27
STeLLA Strategy 8: Engage Students in Communicating in Scientific Ways .......... 29
Summary of STeLLA Student Thinking Lens Strategies ........................................... 33
Strategies to Create a Coherent Science Content Storyline .................................. 35
Introduction to the Science Content Storyline Lens .................................................. 35
STeLLA Strategy A: Identify One Main Learning Goal ............................................. 39
Analysis Guide A: Identifying One Main Learning Goal ............................................. 41
STeLLA Strategy B: Set the Purpose with a Focus Question or Goal Statement .... 43
Analysis Guides B and I: Setting the Purpose and Summarizing Key Science
Ideas ........................................................................................................................ 45
STeLLA Strategy C: Select Activities That Are Matched to the Learning Goal ........ 47
Analysis Guide C: Selecting Activities Matched to the Learning Goal .................... 49
STeLLA Strategy D: Select Content Representations and Models Matched to the
Learning Goal and Engage Students in Their Use ................................................... 51
Analysis Guide D: Selecting and Using Content Representations ........................... 55
STeLLA Strategy E: Sequence Key Science Ideas and Activities Appropriately ...... 57
Analysis Guide E: Sequencing the Science Content Storyline within a Lesson ....... 63
STeLLA Strategy F: Make Explicit Links between Science Ideas and Activities ....... 65
Analysis Guide F: Making Explicit Links between Science Ideas and Activities ....... 69
STeLLA Strategy G: Link Science Ideas to Other Science Ideas ............................. 71
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4. Analysis Guide G: Linking Science Ideas to Other Science Ideas ............................ 75
STeLLA Strategy H: Highlight Key Science Ideas and Focus Question
Throughout ............................................................................................................... 77
Analysis Guide H: Highlighting Key Science Ideas and Focus Question ................. 79
STeLLA Strategy I: Summarize Key Science Ideas.................................................. 81
Summary of STeLLA Science Content Storyline Lens Strategies ............................ 83
References ............................................................................................................... 85
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5. How to Learn from Lesson Analysis: The Basics
In this professional development program, you’ll be viewing videos of classroom teaching and
interviews with students and teachers, as well as answering questions that are designed to help
you deepen your understanding of science and science teaching by guiding you to become
more analytical about science lessons. You’ll also learn to analyze science teaching by focusing
your attention on two key issues: student thinking and the science content storyline. These two
ways of looking at science teaching will be discussed later. For now, we need to establish some
important ground rules—viewing basics for watching the videos and analysis basics for how to
begin analyzing video-recorded science teaching in this program.
Viewing Basics
Viewing Basic 1: Look Past the Trivial, or Little Things, That Bug You
Keep in mind that real teachers and students are recorded in the classroom videos. Because
they’re human, they might do things you find annoying or frustrating. For example, a teacher
might have certain mannerisms that annoy you or a high-pitched voice that irritates you. She
may repeat the same phrase over and over (“OK” or “good” or “like”). He might seem too
energetic and silly, or too boring and monotone for your taste. But mannerisms and word choice
aren’t essential features for high-quality science teaching. Learn to look past them.
You should also not expect perfect, television-quality camera work. Classrooms are very difficult
places to video record, and the videographers are trying to capture the real thing in real time,
not a staged lesson on a controlled set. For these lessons, the priority was to get the best
possible sound quality from students and show exactly what they were seeing and doing during
the activities. To capture all of this, the videographers had to move quickly from one part of the
classroom to another. You’ll begin to appreciate this reality style of videography as you work
with the videos.
Viewing Basic 2: Avoid the “This Doesn’t Look Like My Classroom!” Trap
It’s unlikely that the student populations and physical facilities you see in the video clips will
exactly match your own classroom. A classroom might be in an inner city or a rural area; the
class might be a charter school where students call teachers by their first names, or it might be
a school where the science-resource teacher doesn’t know all of the students’ names. Because
of this, it might be tempting to say, “These kids aren’t like my students, and my classroom
doesn’t have these resources, so this lesson doesn’t speak to my situation.” But every teacher
needs to understand the science content, use that knowledge to develop a coherent science
storyline in the lessons, and pay attention to students’ thinking and learning. These are the
essentials of science teaching, and they apply to all students in all kinds of communities.
Viewing Basic 3: Avoid Making Snap Judgments about the Teaching or Learning in the
Classroom You’re Viewing
As you watch classroom videos, it’s easy to make quick judgments about the teacher, the
students, and the classroom environment. These judgments can be either positive—“I really like
how the teacher conducted that activity”—or negative—“The teacher never uses any wait time;
she always rushes the students.” Remember you’re viewing only a brief snapshot of classroom
interactions, so it’s dangerous to generalize that “the teacher always does this” or “the students
always do that” from a few minutes of video. Also, it’s not always helpful to focus on what you
like or don’t like about what you see and hear. When watching a video, it’s best to base your
ideas on specific observations and evidence, which you’ll learn more about as you examine the
STeLLA lenses and strategies.
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6. Analysis Basics
Analysis Basic 1: Focus on Student Thinking and the Science Content Storyline
Your learning will be maximized if you limit your focus to a close scrutiny of student thinking and
the development of the science content storyline in the lessons. Set aside for later your interest
in other important issues, such as classroom management and gender equity. As you observe
interesting moments in a video or find you have a question or judgment, make a note of it. This
will become your claim.
Analysis Basic 2: Look for Evidence to Support Any Claims
Another key step in video-based lesson analysis is the identification of specific evidence to
support your claims. As you look at video clips of student work, get in the habit of identifying
specific time markers and statements the teacher or the students make that support your
thinking about an event. Referring to video transcripts is essential in this process.
• Claim: It seems like Miriam doesn’t really understand the idea of plants being producers.
• Evidence: At video segment 16:54, the teacher comes over and asks Miriam to explain
her diagram of matter in a food web. Miriam says that the plants take in matter from the
soil and pass it along to the mouse.
Analysis Basic 3: Look More Than Once
Video recording enables us to look at a teaching episode over and over. Take advantage of this
opportunity. To deepen your learning from analyzing classroom videos, look at them more than
once. Studying transcripts is a powerful way of revisiting a lesson clip. Let go of your everyday
entertainment view of video watching (“I’ve already seen that movie”) and adopt an analysis
Analysis Basic 4: Consider Alternative Explanations and Teaching Strategies
A final key step in video-based lesson analysis is setting aside your first reaction and refining or
modifying quick judgments. Turn your reaction or initial judgment into a question and then
consider alternative explanations for what you’re observing. For example:
• Initial judgment: It bothers me that the teacher never answers students’ questions. The
students must be frustrated.
• Questions: Why doesn’t she answer students’ questions? Does this frustrate them?
• Alternative explanation: The teacher will answer their questions eventually, but for now
she just wants students to see the wide range of ideas they have.
• Alternative explanation: The teacher wants students to answer their own questions
and become more active in taking responsibility for their own learning.
• Alternative explanation: The students are used to this process, so it doesn’t frustrate
them. They know the teacher values their questions.
• Alternative teaching strategy: To show that students’ questions are valued, the
teacher could record them on a class chart or in a class question notebook.
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7. Learning from Lesson Analysis
Observation
Begin with an
observation, question,
or judgment.
FOCUS ON
STUDENT THINKING
Alternatives AND LEARNING Claim
Consider alternative AND Turn your observation,
explanations and SCIENCE CONTENT question, or judgment
teaching strategies. STORYLINE into a claim.
Evidence and
Reasoning
Provide specific evidence
and your reason(s) why it
supports or develops
the claim.

8. Analysis of Student Thinking
Lesson Analysis Stage Example
Observation • Do students really understand the purpose of this activity?
Begin with an observation,
question, or judgment.
Claim • Students don’t understand that this activity is intended to
Turn your observation, question, demonstrate that trait variations in cottonwood-tree seeds explain
or judgment into a specific claim. why some seeds survive and others don’t.
Evidence and Reasoning • Students are asked what they learned from the activity with the
Provide specific evidence and fan and cottonwood-tree seeds. In video segment 29:30,
reason(s) why it supports or Constanza states that heavier seeds don’t travel as far as lighter
develops the claim. seeds. When the teacher probes for more information, Constanza
has nothing to add. At segment 32:33, Manuel echoes basically
the same idea (“lighter ones go further”). These students aren’t
using any language about traits or talking about what this means
for the seeds’ survival. They observe and identify patterns
(strategy 4), but they don’t use observations or science ideas to
construct explanations (strategy 5).
Alternatives • This would be a good time to ask a challenge question, such
Consider alternative as Can you use the idea of traits to explain what we saw
explanations and teaching happen in this activity? This question might have supported
strategies. Constanza and Manuel in moving forward in their thinking.
Analysis of Science Content Storyline
Lesson Analysis Stage Example
Observation • Did this activity match the main learning goal?
Begin with an observation,
question, or judgment.
Claim • I think the focus on drawing loud-wave and soft-wave diagrams
Turn your observation, question, distracted students from the learning goal.
or judgment into a specific claim.
Evidence and Reasoning • The learning goal is “Vibrating objects produce sound.” The
Provide specific evidence and teacher focused on this goal when she asked whether all of the
reason(s) why it supports or students’ soundmakers caused things to vibrate. After many
develops the claim. students called out, “Yes!” the teacher showed the class how to
draw wave diagrams (video segment 21:20). However, as
students discussed these drawings (segments 28:32–32:00), no
one ever mentioned vibrations. All they talked about were loud
sounds making big waves and soft sounds making small waves.
So I thought the coherence of the content storyline was lost at
this point.
Alternatives • I think the teacher should have spent more time probing and
Consider alternative explanations challenging students’ ideas about the question, Do all
or teaching strategies. soundmakers cause things to vibrate? This would have provided
valuable information to help the teacher determine whether
students really understood the main learning goal.
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9. Student Ideas and Science Ideas Defined
Student Ideas
Students don’t come to science classrooms as blank slates. Based on their experiences,
observations, and learning about the world they live in, they bring to the table many ideas
about how to explain events (phenomena) in the world around them. Their ideas are often
different from the ideas scientists have developed over centuries of research. Because of
this, we sometimes refer to student ideas as “common student ideas,” “misconceptions,” or
“naive theories.” These descriptions highlight the fact that their ideas often don’t match
scientific ideas. But this is not to say that students’ ideas are wrong and should be ignored,
discounted, or replaced. Quite the contrary. If we listen carefully to their ideas, we discover
that their thinking makes a lot of sense based on the evidence available to them. We can find
important nuggets of scientific truth in their thinking. To help students build on and change
their ideas about the world around them, we should look for the logic in their ideas and think
about how they developed those ideas. Then we can plan experiences and provide evidence
that will challenge them to deepen their thinking or reconsider their ideas. In STeLLA, we use
the phrase student ideas to acknowledge their importance and value in shaping our planning
and teaching of science. However, student ideas are not necessarily the same thing as
science ideas.
Science Ideas
In STeLLA, we use the term science ideas in a very particular way.
A science idea is a complete sentence (or more) describing scientific knowledge that a student
can learn. Think of it as a knowledge outcome in a lesson. A science idea is consistent with
knowledge that is agreed upon as part of the scientific-knowledge base that is well supported
by evidence.
A science idea is NOT
• a topic (trait variation, forces),
• a student activity (“Students are making bubble maps comparing trait variations in plants and
animals.”),
• a set of instructions,
• a question, or
• an interesting student idea that is not scientifically accurate.
In planning and teaching science, it’s important to state science ideas in complete sentences
to clarify exactly what it is we want students to understand, and how science ideas are
different from common student ideas. If we say that our goal is to help students understand
uneven heating on Earth (a topic), we aren’t clarifying the difference between what students
think about water in their world and what scientists have learned about how water changes
and is conserved in the water cycle.
There are many different kinds of science ideas. Science ideas can be stated as facts,
terminology, descriptions of observations, explanations of phenomena, concepts, patterns,
laws, principles, or theories the scientific community accepts as established ways to describe
natural phenomena (often referred to as canonical knowledge). Following are some examples
of science ideas that range from simple facts to concepts and theoretical ideas.
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10. Examples of Science Ideas about Earth’s Changing Surface
a. A canyon is one kind of landform. (Fact)
b. When water runs downhill, it moves some of the soil and rocks on Earth’s
surface. (Accurate statement and observable pattern)
c. Earth’s surface is constantly changing. (Concept)
d. The movement of Earth’s tectonic plates caused by heat from the interior
explains many of the changes on Earth’s surface. (Theory)
Examples of Science Ideas about Variations in Plants and Animals
a. Cottonwood trees produce seeds that the wind carries away. (Fact)
b. Some seeds can travel farther than others. (Description of observed pattern)
c. Claim: Cottonwood-tree seeds that are lighter in weight have a better chance of
surviving and growing. Evidence: Our evidence is that we used the fan to test how
far light and heavier cottonwood-tree seeds would fly, and we discovered that lighter
seeds traveled farther. Reasoning: We read in a science book that seeds have a
better chance of surviving if they’re farther away from the parent tree. This makes
sense because these seeds will be able to get more light and water. So that’s why
we think the lighter cottonwood seeds have a trait that will give them a better
chance of surviving and producing young. (Explanation)
d. Variation in traits affects which plants or animals of the same kind survive long
enough to produce young. (Concept)
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11. Strategies to Reveal, Support, and Challenge Student Thinking
Defining the STeLLA Student Thinking Lens
A major role for you as a teacher is to elicit student ideas and guide their thinking. To
continuously diagnose and assess your students’ understandings and confusion, you need to
use teaching strategies that will make your student thinking visible to you. This means
encouraging students to communicate about new ideas as much as possible and helping them
elaborate on their ideas by speaking and writing in complete sentences or even paragraphs.
You can elicit student thinking when you lead whole-class discussions or engage with individual
students or small groups as they work on activities independently. Student thinking can also be
revealed to you through their writings, drawings, presentations, and hands-on work with science
Once student thinking is made visible, you need to listen and be on the lookout for
misunderstandings, misconceptions, or naive theories just as actively as you look for right
answers. Go beyond identifying “wrong” answers and focus instead on figuring out how
students’ ways of thinking and sensemaking are leading them astray. Diagnosing these
misunderstandings is the first step toward supporting students in the challenging process of
changing their misconceptions and developing more-scientific explanations of the world around
Through the Student Thinking Lens, you’ll learn the importance of students’ ideas and how to
reveal, support, and challenge student thinking. STeLLA presents eight specific strategies
teachers can use to focus on student thinking:
1. Ask questions to elicit student ideas and predictions.
2. Ask questions to probe student ideas and predictions.
3. Ask questions to challenge student thinking.
4. Engage students in analyzing and interpreting data and observations.
5. Engage students in constructing explanations and arguments.
6. Engage students in using and applying new science ideas in a variety of ways and
contexts.
7. Engage students in making connections by synthesizing and summarizing key science
ideas.
8. Engage students in communicating in scientific ways.
Each of these strategies supports teachers in revealing, supporting, and challenging students’
scientific thinking:
• Strategies 1–3 focus on particular types of questions teachers can ask that help students
learn to think and reason scientifically and develop understandings of core ideas and
crosscutting concepts in science.
• Strategies 4–7 reveal, support, and challenge student thinking by engaging them in four
types of activities that are especially important in learning science.
• Strategy 8 helps teachers instruct students explicitly about how to think and
communicate like scientists. This strategy engages students in learning to use the eight
scientific practices identified in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead
States, 2013).
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12.

13. Strategies to Reveal, Support, and Challenge Student Thinking
STeLLA Strategy 1:
Ask Questions to Elicit Student Ideas and Predictions
Questions and activities reveal student thinking by eliciting prior knowledge, experiences, and
predictions relevant to the learning goal. Before studying forces or variation in traits, how are
students already thinking about events in their daily lives when they encounter different traits in
plants or observe the effect of forces pushing or pulling objects? What are their personal
theories about how plants of the same kind show variation in traits or why objects move or don’t
move? What knowledge and experience do they draw on to predict what will happen if multiple
forces act on an object?
A question or activity designed to elicit students’ initial ideas and predictions is addressed to
multiple students (the whole class or a small group) and results in a variety of student ideas
rather than one “right” answer. The goal of these questions and activities is to learn about
students’ prior knowledge, misconceptions, experiences, and ways of making sense—whether
or not their ideas are scientifically accurate. The more you can understand how students think
about phenomena and science ideas, the better you can adapt your instruction in future lessons
to challenge their misconceptions and support them in changing their ideas toward more-
scientific, evidence-based understandings.
Questions that elicit student thinking also play a role in engaging students in the topic of study—
helping them see the links between their own ideas and the science ideas they will learn in the
lesson. Students are also able to see that different people have different ideas. This sets up a
need to find out which ideas are best.
Predictions can often be used effectively to elicit students’ initial ideas. You’ll want to take note
of these ideas, since they can later be challenged by using a “discrepant event.” A discrepant
event is an observation or piece of information that doesn’t match student predictions. For
example, students may predict that seeds won’t grow in the dark. Observing seeds germinating
in the dark is a discrepant event that challenges students to rethink their ideas. You’ll learn more
about questions that challenge student thinking when you study STeLLA Student Thinking Lens
strategy 3.
Questions that elicit student ideas should be phrased in everyday language that will make sense
to students even before they begin a unit of study. If a teacher asks, “What do you think
photosynthesis is?” most students will have nothing to contribute. In contrast, many students will
be able to respond to the question, “How do you think a plant gets its food?” It’s best to avoid
using scientific terminology when eliciting student ideas. Instead, think of an everyday
connection and everyday words that students can explore.
When Is Strategy 1 Used?
• When a new idea is going to be introduced (often at the beginning of a unit or lesson)
• To set up a discrepant event at any point in the unit of study
Response to Student Ideas
• Make it clear that you aren’t going to tell students which ideas are right or wrong at this
point. Confusion may result if students are unclear about which of their peers’ ideas are
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14. “right” from a scientific perspective, and which are just interesting, so make sure to give
your reasons for taking this approach. For example, you might say,
• “Right now we’re just getting our ideas out there. These are just our predictions
about ______. Later, we’ll gather some evidence to see if we can support or
challenge any of our predictions.”
• “As you listen to different ideas, think about which ideas you agree or disagree with.
Also think about your reasons for agreeing or disagreeing. Do you have evidence to
support your idea? Do you have evidence to challenge someone else’s idea?”
• Ask questions to gain more understanding of how students are thinking.
• Ask questions to help students better understand their own thinking.
• Ask questions to help students better understand each other’s ideas.
Examples of Questions That Elicit a Variety of Student Ideas
About Plants and Animals
• What do you think plants and animals need to live?
• How are plants and animals different from one another?
• Do you think plants need food? How do they get their food?
• How does an environment help meet an animal’s needs?
About Earth’s Changing Surface
• Why do you think the surface of Earth isn’t totally flat?
• How would you describe the surface of Earth where you live? Why do you think there
are hills in one place and flat areas in another place?
• After a heavy rain, you might see some dirt in the middle of the street. Where did the dirt
come from? How did it get into the middle of the street?
• In what ways do rivers cause changes on Earth’s surface?
• Sometimes big bulldozers move soil or dirt from one place to another. Does anything in
nature move soil or dirt from one place to another? How do you know?
• Do mountains ever change? Do they ever grow taller or become smaller?
• Can mountains grow so tall they reach outer space? Why or why not?
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15. Strategies to Reveal, Support, and Challenge Student Thinking
STeLLA Strategy 2:
Ask Questions to Probe Student Ideas and Predictions
Throughout a lesson, you, as the teacher, should take every opportunity to ask questions that
probe student thinking. Probe questions are directed to one student who has already provided
an answer or offered an idea. The teacher then follows up with this student to probe his or her
thinking. Sometimes a teacher asks a sequence of questions that probe one student’s thinking
before moving on to another student or another thread or topic. These questions shouldn’t
introduce new language or science ideas, nor are they intended to change student thinking;
rather, the goal is to build on ideas a student has already presented. Probing an individual
student’s thinking can take place during a whole-class discussion or as students work
individually or in small groups.
The purpose of asking questions that probe student thinking is to get more information about a
student’s understanding of an idea he or she has expressed. It isn’t designed to teach new
ideas or “lead” students to a correct answer.
A probe question may ask a student to provide more information (“Tell me more.”) or clarify his
or her thinking (“Did you mean …?”). Like questions that elicit student ideas, questions that
probe student thinking can help you learn about students’ prior knowledge, misconceptions,
experiences, and ways of making sense. The more you can understand how students are
thinking about science ideas and phenomena, the better you can adapt your instruction to
challenge their misconceptions and support them in changing their ideas toward more-scientific,
evidence-based understandings. You have to know what students are thinking in order to
challenge and guide their thinking effectively!
Questions that probe student thinking are useful for students as well. When asked questions
that probe their thinking, students explore, share, and clarify their own ideas. They also benefit
from listening to other students’ ideas. Just as you want students to listen to each other’s
responses when you ask elicit questions, you also want them to listen for ideas they agree or
disagree with when you’re asking another student a probe question. This gives all students an
opportunity to consider ideas, evidence, and reasoning that might challenge their thinking.
When Is Strategy 2 Used?
• After a question designed to elicit student ideas and predictions
• As a follow-up after a question designed to challenge student thinking
• Frequently throughout the lesson
Examples of General Questions That Probe Student Thinking
• Can you tell us more about that?
• What do you mean when you say …?
• Can you tell me more about how you think that happens?
• So you’re saying [paraphrase student response]. Can you tell me how I’m getting it
wrong?
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16. • Can you tell me how you’re thinking about that?
• Can you put that idea into a complete sentence?
Examples of Content-Specific Questions That Probe Student Thinking
About Plants and Animals
T: What do you think plants need to live and grow? (Elicit)
S: I think plants need sunlight.
T: Why do you think plants need sunlight? (Probe)
S: Sunlight helps them be healthy and grow strong.
T: What does it mean for a plant to be healthy and strong? (Probe)
S: It means that the plant is green and can stand up straight.
T: Tell me about how you think sunlight helps a plant do that. (Probe)
S: Without sunlight, plants can’t make food.
T: So sunlight helps plants make food? Tell me more about that (Probe)
S: Plants use sunlight, water, and air to make food.
About Earth’s Changing Surface
Context: Students watch a short video that shows a fast-flowing mountain stream.
T: What do you think is happening to the rocks or soil in the stream? (Elicit)
S: The water is going over the rocks.
T: Can you say more about the water and the rocks? (Probe)
S: I think the water might move some of the small rocks and dirt at the bottom of the
stream.
T: Tell me more about that. (Probe)
S: The water is going really fast, so it pushes some of the small rocks and dirt along with it.
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17. Strategies to Reveal, Support, and Challenge Student Thinking
STeLLA Strategy 3:
Ask Questions to Challenge Student Thinking
Throughout the lesson, you, as the teacher, should take every opportunity to ask questions that
probe and challenge student thinking. Probe questions reveal how students are thinking without
trying to change their understandings or ideas. In contrast, challenge questions try to move
students toward changing their thinking and developing deeper understandings of science
ideas. Thus, challenge questions are designed to push students to think more deeply, to
reconsider their thinking, to make a new connection, and/or to use new science vocabulary.
Learning to ask good challenge questions takes time and conscious effort. The goal is to get
students thinking harder while also scaffolding or guiding their thinking toward more-scientific
Care must be taken to avoid questions or hints that lead students to the “right” answer without
challenging them to really think. Such leading questions are often posed in a fill-in-the-blank or
yes-no format, accompanied with hints that frequently enable students to guess the right
Examples of Leading Questions to Avoid
About Plants and Animals About Earth’s Changing Surface
T: What is the word for the place an animal T: The Grand Canyon is getting deeper and
lives? deeper. What causes that?
S: Home. S: Earthquakes.
T: Is there a different word for that? T: You think earthquakes? But what did we do
S: Shelter? yesterday with the trays?
T: We were talking about a more scientific word S: Ummm …
for it yesterday. T: What’s at the bottom of the Grand Canyon?
S: Oh! Environment. S: Dirt and rocks?
T: What’s flowing through the Grand Canyon?
S: The Colorado River.
T: Is the Colorado River causing the Grand
Canyon to get deeper?
S. Yes!
Questions that challenge student thinking don’t ask students to simply state a vocabulary term;
rather they push students to use science ideas in a meaningful way. Challenge questions avoid
leading directly to the right answer and focus instead on guiding student thinking toward a new
concept or deeper understanding. It’s not an easy task for us as teachers to shift our focus from
helping students get the right answers (“leading”) to challenging students to develop or clarify
their thinking and reasoning.
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18. When Is Strategy 3 Used?
• Anytime during the lesson except when you’re trying to elicit students’ initial ideas and
predictions about a science idea or concept
Examples of General Questions That Challenge Student Thinking
• Can you add some of the new ideas we’ve been talking about to your explanation?
• Can you explain how that happens?
• Why does that happen?
• How does that relate to the ideas we’ve been studying?
Example of Content-Specific Questions That Challenge Student Thinking
About Plants and Animals
T: What do plants need to live and grow? (Elicit)
S: They need food.
T: What do you mean by food? (Probe)
S: Plants make food to live and grow.
T: How do they make the food? (Challenge)
S: From water and air and sunlight.
T: So is water food for plants. (Probe)
S: No. Plants use water to make food.
T: Let’s go back. You said that plants make food from water, air, and sunlight. Is that right?
(Probe)
S: Yes.
T: What parts of the plant help it get each of those things? (Challenge)
S: The water comes in through the roots. The air comes in through little holes in the leaves.
And the sunlight comes in through the leaves too.
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19. Strategies to Reveal, Support, and Challenge Student Thinking
STeLLA Strategy 4:
Engage Students in Analyzing and Interpreting
Data and Observations
Overview of Student Thinking Lens Strategies 4–7
Strategies 1–3 focus on types of questions teachers can ask to reveal and challenge student
thinking. Strategies 4–7 focus on four types of activities that can reveal and challenge student
thinking:
• Engage students in analyzing and interpreting data and observations.
• Engage students in constructing explanations and arguments.
• Engage students in using and applying new ideas in a variety of ways and contexts.
• Engage students in making connections by synthesizing and summarizing key science
ideas.
In each of these types of activities, students should be asked questions that probe and
challenge their thinking.
We’ll focus now on what it means to engage students in analyzing and interpreting data and
Analyzing and interpreting data is one of eight scientific practices identified in the Next
Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) as essential in elementary science
classrooms. This practice is important because observations and raw data have little meaning
on their own. But when they are organized and represented in a variety of ways, the result
reveals or communicates different aspects of the data. In some instances, students record data
in a table as they collect it, but they need to graph the data to reveal a pattern. In other
instances, students need to observe a physical representation of a natural phenomenon or draw
pictures of what they see to make sense of something in their world.
When students organize data, they may construct tables, graphs, or diagrams. When they
analyze data, they identify patterns, find similarities and differences, or use statistical analysis,
such as finding an average (i.e., a mean, median, or mode). When students interpret data, they
bring meaning to the patterns they identify and find relationships using science ideas and
knowledge/data in their experiences. They connect observations or patterns to science ideas or
use data and observations to answer a question. Analysis and interpretation bring out the
meaning of data—and their relevance—so that students can use it as evidence to construct an
explanation or engage in argumentation.
Students need support in learning how to organize, present, and analyze data in ways that will
reveal patterns and relationships. As with analysis and interpretation, patterns also help
students make sense of data and observations so they can use this information as evidence in
constructing explanations of phenomena.
How can you help students learn to organize data and observations?
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20. • Make sure students can distinguish between an observation and an interpretation or
idea about what the observation might tell them about how the world works.
• Help students record their data and observations accurately using words, drawings,
numbers, or combinations of these.
• Provide feedback to help students communicate their observations clearly and
completely. Some teachers require students to speak and write in complete sentences
whenever they share their observations and ideas.
How can you help students learn to analyze and interpret data and observations?
• Encourage students to look for patterns in their data and observations.
• Teach students how to find patterns by organizing and presenting data and observations
in forms that will help them see this information in new ways. It’s important to teach
students how to create and interpret these different forms, emphasizing how they can
help reveal patterns in data. These forms include the following:
• Drawings
• Charts
• Tables
• Diagrams
• Venn diagrams
• Different kinds of graphs
• Have students share data and observations with the class to identify patterns. This
allows students to draw on a larger set of data and observations from which clear
patterns and trends, as well as exceptions in the data, may become more visible.
• Computers, digital tools (e.g., sensors, animations, databases, and spreadsheets), and
mathematics can sometimes help students see patterns that will support their analyses
and interpretation of data. But don’t use these tools just because they’re “cool.” Make
sure they’ll help students develop richer scientific understandings of the learning goals.
When deciding whether to use these tools, ask yourself the following questions:
• Do these tools support students in collecting and/or making meaning of their data in
age-appropriate ways that are consistent with the lesson’s science content storyline?
• Are these tools interesting and engaging but potentially distracting from the storyline
and intended learning?
When Is Strategy 4 Used?
• Anytime during the lesson when students are investigating phenomena and/or scientific
models
• To help develop student understandings of new science ideas
• As an opportunity for students to apply new science ideas in order to make sense of a
new set of data or observations
• When students are learning to communicate in scientific ways (See Student Thinking
Lens strategy 8: Engage students in communicating in scientific ways.)
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21. Examples of Analyzing and Interpreting Data and Observations
About Weather
• Students collect weather data using observations and weather instruments (such as a
thermometer) and look for weather patterns over time.
• Students organize weather data (e.g., the temperature and rainfall conditions outside)
and record this information on a weather chart or calendar.
• Students record weather data on bar graphs to help them analyze weather patterns
(e.g., number of sunny day, number of cloudy days).
• Students interpret patterns in the weather data to help them think about the short-term
forecast and the long-term climates of a specific location.
About Forces
• Students collect data on the distance a toy car travels over different surfaces (carpet,
tile, and rough sandpaper). Then they record their data on a class data table and look for
patterns in the distances the toy car traveled.
• Students closely examine the three different surfaces (carpet, tile and sandpaper) and
connect their observations to the data on how far a toy car traveled over each surface.
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22.

23. Strategies to Reveal, Support, and Challenge Student Thinking
STeLLA Strategy 5:
Engage Students in Constructing Explanations and Arguments
The job of a scientist is to come up with ideas that help explain aspects of the world, such as
why the Sun rises in the east, why tides rise and fall in a predictable pattern, and why we are
similar—but not identical—to our parents. Likewise, students studying science should learn to
construct scientific explanations to help them make sense of their world. As students construct
explanations, they
• deepen their understandings of important science ideas;
• create an account of why events happen, not merely descriptions of what happened;
• speculate about things they cannot directly observe (things that are too small, like
atoms; too slow, like mountain building; too quick, like electricity moving through a
circuit; or too abstract, like gravity); and
• use evidence from data and observations to create logical reasons that support their
ideas.
Arguments in science play an important role in this explanation-building process. Scientific
arguments aren’t the same as arguments in everyday situations. In science, arguments are
conversations used to justify and support new ideas and address questions about the design of
experiments and the interpretation of data. Through argumentation, scientists question one
another with the goal of coming to a shared understanding that is plausible and supported by
evidence—not merely to convince each other that they are right. As students engage in
scientific argumentation, they also engage in classroom conversations to
• justify and defend explanations using evidence and logical reasoning,
• compare competing explanations,
• evaluate the way an experiment was designed or how data was interpreted to identify
weaknesses and limitations of proposed explanations, and
• determine whether proposed explanations fit the data and are reasonable based on
other experiences in the world.
Explanation and argumentation depend on each other in science. Students engage in
argumentation as they work to construct, defend, and evaluate explanations of various
phenomena or events. In this discussion, we’ll consider each practice separately and then
provide some classroom examples to demonstrate how they work together to help students
deepen their understandings of science ideas.
Constructing Explanations
Constructing explanations is one of the eight essential science practices for K–12 science
education defined in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013).
Scientific explanations create a storyline of why observable events happen. They’re often used
to predict future events or make inferences about past events. However, scientific explanations
aren’t storylines that emerge from our imaginations. They are logical, supported by data and
observations, and link new ideas to established scientific concepts.
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24. A description of one student’s experience in science class might help you better understand
scientific explanations. Thomas is a kindergarten student in a hands-on science class in which
students collected data on the weather, making careful observations and measurements over
the course of a month. Thomas and his classmates gave detailed descriptions of the weather
outside and created beautiful graphs showing sunny days and cloudy days. Thomas was a
careful observer. But at the end of the unit, he was frustrated: “It was fun at first to collect
weather data. But I always knew it’s usually sunny outside, and sometimes we have clouds.”
All that measuring and observing didn’t lead Thomas to any new understandings about weather.
The entire activity led him to a description of what weather is without any new understandings of
why it’s important to recognize weather patterns in different places.
Generating explanations involves logical thinking, using science ideas to make sense of
evidence in the form of observations and data:
Constructing explanations = Logical thinking + Science ideas/theories + Evidence
How can we best help students engage in reasoning to construct and understand scientific
explanations? To support this kind of work, an atmosphere needs to be created that welcomes
students’ genuine ideas and their efforts to build explanations from evidence rather than the
more typical search for what the teacher wants to hear.
A useful framework for guiding students in their construction of explanations was developed in
the Investigating and Questioning Our World through Science and Technology curriculum
(Krajcik & Reiser, 2004), which emphasizes three aspects of constructing scientific
explanations: claim, evidence, and reasoning (CER). We have modified this framework to
emphasize the central role of science ideas in scientific reasoning and clarify what is involved.
Following is a description of each step using language from Krajcik and Reiser, as well as our
added language (in italics).
• Claim: What happened, and why do you think it happened? A claim is a statement that
answers a question we are investigating.
• Evidence: What information or data or observations support your claim?
• Reasoning: How can you use logic and science ideas to explain the evidence and
support your claim? What science ideas (theories) can you use to help make sense of
this evidence? How can you use linking words to help you connect your claim, evidence,
and reasoning?
As students use the claim, evidence, and reasoning framework, they learn how to build
explanations by thinking through the science ideas and evidence.
Constructing Arguments1
Scientists work hard to set aside their beliefs and biases and focus instead on what they
actually see in their data and observations. But this isn’t always easy because different
explanations can be given for the same evidence. Consequently, scientists must critically
evaluate the logic of the reasoning as well as the evidence used in building any explanation.
This section draws heavily from A framework for K–12 science education: Practices, crosscutting concepts, and
core ideas (pp. 71–74) by the National Research Council (NRC), 2012, Washington, DC: National Academies Press.
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25. Scientists present arguments to make the case for their proposed explanations. In response,
other scientists use arguments to identify a claim’s weaknesses and limitations. Argumentation
is also needed to resolve questions involving the best experimental design, the most
appropriate techniques of data analysis, or the best interpretation of a data set.
Even very young students can begin constructing their own arguments to explain data and
observations. But the teacher needs to support students by creating conditions where they
actively listen and respond to one another, as well as a classroom culture that encourages them
to make sense of events and phenomena rather than merely restating ideas from a textbook or
the teacher. STeLLA Student Thinking Lens strategy 8—Engage students in communicating in
scientific ways—provides language you can use to introduce students to the argumentation
• Think of an idea, claim, and explanation.
• Give a reason or evidence for your idea.
• Listen to others’ ideas and ask clarifying questions, agree or disagree with others’ ideas,
or add onto someone else’s idea.
• Suggest an experiment or activity to get more evidence.
• Let your ideas grow and change.
In addition, strategy 8 provides sentence starters that students can use to support developing
their argumentation ability:
• My idea is …
• My evidence is …
• I agree/disagree because …
• I want to add onto what _______ said.
• We could get better evidence if …
• I want to change my idea …
When Is Strategy 5 Used?
• Anytime during the lesson when students are reasoning about observations and other
forms of data, communicating to reach a common understanding of the science content
storyline, and making links between their observations and science ideas.
Example of Constructing Explanations and Engaging in Scientific Argument
About Weather
Context: Students examine picture graphs showing the weather data they collected over the
past month for their area and for another location with very different weather. Their task is to
analyze the patterns they observe in each graph (strategy 4), identify similarities and differences
between the graphs, and use patterns and evidence from the graphs to develop an explanation
that answers the question, Is weather the same everywhere? (strategy 5).
T: What can we say about the weather patterns we observed on our graphs?
S1: I think our place is sunnier than Place B.
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26. T: What’s your evidence?
S1: Our place has more sunny days than cloudy days.
T: Can you provide more details about that and give us some data from the graphs?
(Strategy 4)
S1: There were 18 sunny days this month and only five cloudy days.
T: Who can add to that evidence?
S2: I think that our weather is mostly sunny during November, because 18 is more than five,
so that means it’s sunny. Place B isn’t sunny at all.
T: What do you mean by “Place B isn’t sunny at all”? Do you have some evidence?
S2: Almost all their days are cloudy. (Strategy 4)
T: So can you use this evidence to answer our focus question: Is weather the same
everywhere? What is your claim—your answer to this question—and your evidence?
Please answer in a complete sentence. (Transition to strategy 5)
S3: I think that weather isn’t the same everywhere. My evidence is what we found out about
the weather differences in these two places.
T: Tell me your reasoning. Can you connect your claim and evidence to any of the science
ideas we’ve been studying? Give me a complete explanation that includes your claim,
your evidence, and your reasoning. (Strategy 5)
S3: OK. My claim is that weather isn’t the same everywhere. My evidence is that we have
more sunny days than Place B. My reasoning is that there must be some difference
between Pomona and Place B that causes us to have more sunny days than Place
B. Maybe Place B is at a higher altitude, because we learned that it’s cooler at
higher altitudes. Maybe it’s cooler because it’s cloudy. ( Strategy 5, Explanation)
T: What do others think about this explanation?
S4: I agree with the idea that maybe Place B is at a higher altitude, because I sometimes
see clouds covering up Mount Baldy when it’s sunny down here. (Strategy 5,
Argument)
T: Any other ideas?
S5: I like the idea about altitude, but Place B could be cloudy for another reason. (Strategy
5, Argument)
T: Do you have another reason to suggest?
S5: Maybe it’s more polluted in Place B. Pollution causes smog. (Strategy 5, Argument)
S6: But it’s really polluted here, and we have lots of sunny days. (Strategy 5, Argument)
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27. T: Who has a different claim or reasoning?
S2: I agree with S3 that weather isn’t the same everywhere, and I agree with his
evidence. But I have a different reason.
T: What’s your reasoning?
S2: We went to San Francisco, and it was, like, cloudy and foggy every morning, and I
think it was because it was right next to the ocean. (Strategy 5, Argument)
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28.

29. Strategies to Reveal, Support, and Challenge Student Thinking
STeLLA Strategy 6:
Engage Students in Using and Applying New Science Ideas
in a Variety of Ways and Contexts
After students encounter new science ideas, they need the opportunity to practice using them
and to see their usefulness in explaining a variety of phenomena. Too often, we as teachers
expect students to hear a new idea and then immediately understand and be able to use it in a
scientifically accurate way. This is one of the most common mistakes in science teaching and
learning—we simply don’t give students enough opportunity and time to wrestle with new ideas
that are often in conflict with their personal ideas and theories. Research shows that the process
of meaningful conceptual learning is a messy one in which students often cling to their
personally sensible ideas and have difficulty changing their ideas and ways of thinking even
after learning about contradictory evidence, scientific explanations, and scientific ways of
To learn ideas that are often abstract and difficult, students need multiple opportunities to use
them in a variety of situations before they really make sense of the ideas and develop a
meaningful conceptual understanding. When students are challenged to explain a new real-
world situation they haven’t encountered before, at first they’ll fall back on prior knowledge and
misconceptions to explain the situation. Only with practice in explaining a variety of real-world
situations, as well as careful support and guidance from the teacher, will they become
comfortable and successful using new science ideas to explain new scenarios and phenomena.
As students start internalizing new science ideas, they will need less and less guidance and
support from others and will develop a deep conceptual understanding they can use to reason
about different situations.
Activities that challenge students to use and apply new ideas go beyond asking students to
repeat knowledge they’ve learned or memorized (e.g., “What is a trait?”). Use-and-apply
activities require students to think, reason, and make sense of science ideas to explain new
situations. Students must connect the ideas they’re learning to new scenarios, situations, or
phenomena, and they must make connections among science ideas.
Use-and-apply activities come in different forms, each of which is most effective if it requires
students to put at least two ideas together and respond in one or more complete sentences.
Following are examples of activities that challenge students to use and apply new ideas:
• Explaining a new situation or phenomenon.
• Making predictions.
• Making sense of new observations or experimental data.
• Creating synthesis diagrams or concept maps.
• Designing a solution to a practical problem.
Don’t Worry!
As the previous list indicates, sometimes an investigation that engages students in analyzing
and interpreting data and observations (strategy 4) can be used as an opportunity for students
to use and apply new ideas (strategy 6). As you’ll learn shortly, synthesizing and summarizing
activities (strategy 7) can also provide opportunities for students to use and apply new ideas.
Don’t worry about how to classify a particular activity. Just make sure to be clear about your
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30. purpose for an activity. Are you using a firsthand investigation to help students encounter and
begin developing a new idea or to give students a chance to practice using new ideas they’ve
already encountered but not yet mastered? The most important thing is this: Give students
many opportunities to think, reason, and explain; make connections; and practice using new
ideas in multiple contexts.
Teachers sometimes pose use-and-apply questions to assess student learning at the end of a
unit of study. While such questions make excellent and challenging assessment tasks, don’t
wait until the end of a unit to pose them. Students need multiple opportunities to practice using
new ideas in a variety of contexts in order to develop a deep understanding of the concepts.
That is, use-and-apply activities are an essential (and often underused) part of the learning
process. If students have the opportunity to really make sense of new ideas through a number
of different use-and-apply experiences, they will develop understandings that enable them to
successfully tackle use-and-apply test questions at the end of the unit or school year.
When Is Strategy 6 Used?
• After students have encountered new science ideas
• Before the final unit assessments
Example of Using and Applying New Ideas
About Variation in Traits
• After studying about how size variations among the wind-blown seeds of cottonwood
trees might impact their survival when they land in different environments, students
consider whether the concepts of traits, variation, survival, and the environment apply to
animals as well as plants. The teacher reads a story about mice—some with tan fur,
some with white fur, and some with black fur. The mice live in a shrubby mountain
environment. The mountain is a volcano that erupts, killing off the vegetation and
covering the ground with lava that hardens into a dark-colored surface. Students are
challenged to use their knowledge about trait variations, survival, and the environment to
predict what will happen to the mice when they return to the mountain. The teacher asks
students to consider these questions:
• How will changes in the environment affect the mice’s survival?
• Does fur color make a difference in the mice’s survival?
• How might the mice’s survival impact the color of baby mice the following year?
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31. Strategies to Reveal, Support, and Challenge Student Thinking
STeLLA Strategy 7:
Engage Students in Making Connections by Synthesizing
and Summarizing Key Science Ideas
Many times, the teacher or the textbook does all the organizing and synthesizing of the science
content, and the students are simply expected to absorb the information. However, students will
be challenged to think and reason and make sense of science ideas if they’re given the task of
synthesizing and summarizing the ideas, evidence, and experiences they’ve encountered in
lessons or units.
One way to engage students in this work is to ask them to write a summary at the end of the
lesson (either individually or in small groups). To support students in constructing meaningful
summaries, you can scaffold this work (especially at first) by giving them key words to use in
their summaries, requiring them to write a certain number of sentences, or providing a sentence
starter, among other possibilities. Whole-class discussion of these student summaries can then
be used to highlight key ideas.
Synthesis activities involve teachers and students in pulling together various new ideas—in
making connections and synthesizing ideas. In fact, sometimes the entire lesson is focused on a
synthesis activity. For example, toward the end of a series of lessons about Earth’s changing
surface, the teacher might have students work in small groups to create and present a diagram
that illustrates how water can shape Earth’s surface. Or students might create a concept map
that organizes key science ideas about traits and trait variation. Making a concept map and
presenting it to the class could be the focus of an entire lesson. Such an activity involves
students in actively considering how all the ideas they studied fit together.
Synthesis work can take a variety of forms. For example, students could write a unit synthesis of
ideas, or they might create visual representations, such as concept maps, diagrams, Venn
diagrams, models, charts, or role-plays. A true synthesis task that will make students’
understandings (and confusion) visible doesn’t simplify the task by allowing students to repeat
memorized information. Instead of giving students a diagram to label, for example, the teacher
might give them a blank sheet of paper to create their own diagrams and then have them
explain their diagrams to others to elaborate the meaning behind them.
When Is Strategy 7 Used?
• After students have encountered new science ideas and/or observations, usually at the
end of a lesson or after a series of lessons on related content.
Examples of Synthesizing and Summarizing Key Science Ideas
About Variations in Plants and Animals
Example 1:
• In a 1st-grade lesson, students investigate how the wind might carry various sizes of
cottonwood seeds different distances. They find that lighter seeds traveled farther, flying
over a parking lot and a pond and eventually landing in a plowed field. Heavier seeds fell
to the ground sooner, landing on the parking lot or in the pond. After clarifying these
results, students are asked to build a story about what helped some cottonwood-tree
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32. seeds survive as the wind carried them over the three different environments, and why
other seeds didn’t survive or travel as far.
• One student begins the story with a sentence that others add to until the story is
complete. Students are encouraged to use at least one of the following science words in
their sentences:
• Traits
• Variation
• Survive/survival
• Environment
Example 2:
• At the end of a 1st-grade unit on traits and variation, students consider how trait
variations might impact the survival of different individuals in populations of plants or
animals. Students are given laminated index cards, each containing one of the following
vocabulary words: traits, variation, survival, environment. Each word card has a magnet
on the back so that students can place the words on the board and rearrange them. The
teacher challenges students to think of a sentence using most or all of these words to tell
people outside of class why some cottonwood-tree seeds survive and others don’t. The
sentence starter is We learned that cottonwood-tree seeds _________. After some think
time, the teacher asks several students to come to the board and share their sentences,
arranging the word cards as they speak. Then the teacher challenges the rest of the
class to agree, disagree, or add onto each student’s sentence.
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33. Strategies to Reveal, Support, and Challenge Student Thinking
STeLLA Strategy 8:
Engage Students in Communicating in Scientific Ways
Students’ thinking will be revealed more clearly as they learn to think and communicate using
scientific norms of discourse. In other words, students should learn to think and communicate in
scientific ways, though they may not always use scientific terminology. Scientific discourse
centers on a particular argumentation pattern that values the use of evidence, coherent
reasoning, and consistent explanations with supporting data. Scientists expect skepticism and
challenging questions in response to their ideas. Students can adopt such scientific discourse
and use it to propose ideas or explanations, support ideas with evidence, ask challenging
questions, and agree or disagree with their classmates’ ideas.
The National Research Council convened a prestigious panel of expert science-education
researchers, teachers, scientists, and cognitive psychologists, who issued a report emphasizing
the importance of helping elementary students learn to participate and communicate
productively in science (NRC, 2008). Their description of this strand of scientific proficiency
highlights the importance of engaging students in
• learning how to communicate effectively in a scientific community in the classroom,
• understanding the norms for presenting scientific arguments and evidence, and
• practicing productive social interactions with peers in the context of classroom science
investigations.
The panel concluded that, like scientists, “science students benefit from sharing ideas with
peers, building interpretive accounts of data, and working together to discern which accounts
are most persuasive” (NRC, 2008, p. 21). However, before they can be effective in this new way
of interacting with one another, students need to learn about scientific argumentation and how it
differs from arguments more familiar to them, such as those that occur on the playground.
Scientific ways of thinking and communicating don’t just develop as students engage in science
activities; they need to be explicitly taught. Explicitly teaching students about scientific practices
and communication will help them better understand the nature of science and improve the
clarity, precision, and elaboration of their ideas.
Such explicit instruction about scientific ways of communicating is also essential in addressing
the diverse student populations in our schools. While many students learn about scientific ways
of thinking at home and in extracurricular activities, some students grow up in cultures and
environments where different ways of thinking are highly valued and emphasized; others grow
up in more insular environments where expressing differing viewpoints is actively discouraged.
These students need to learn about scientific ways of thinking and communicating in order to
understand and be successful in a new cultural setting—the scientific community.
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States, 2013) represent a national
consensus that science education should help K–12 students learn core science ideas and
crosscutting concepts through the use of eight essential scientific practices:
1. Asking questions
2. Developing and using models
3. Planning and carrying out investigations
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34. 4. Analyzing and interpreting data
5. Using mathematics and computational thinking
6. Constructing explanations
7. Engaging in argument from evidence
8. Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information
These practices represent a much richer view of scientific activity than the “scientific
method,” the widely accepted but overly simplistic view of science. The NGSS science
practices present a more accurate view of science as focusing on evidence and argument in
building and using models and in generating explanations to make sense of phenomena.
The STeLLA strategy of communicating in scientific ways supports students in learning
about and using these eight science practices. The purpose of strategy 8 is to help you
explicitly teach elementary students how to develop these practices. The following chart
shows the relationship between the STeLLA descriptors for communicating in scientific ways
and the science practices defined in the NGSS. The STeLLA language is designed to be
more accessible to K–12 students.
STeLLA Next Generation Science Standards:
Communicating in Scientific Ways Science Practices
1. Ask why and how questions. Asking questions
2. Observe. Analyzing and interpreting data
3. Organize data and observations. Using mathematics and computational
thinking
4. Think of an idea, claim, prediction, or model to
explain your data and observations.
Developing and using models
5. Give evidence for your idea or claim.
Constructing explanations
6. Reason from evidence or models to explain your
data and observations.
7. Listen to others’ ideas and ask clarifying
questions.
Engaging in argument from evidence
8. Agree or disagree with others’ ideas.
9. Add onto someone else’s idea.
10. Search for new ideas from other sources. Obtaining, evaluating, and
11. Consider whether new ideas make sense. communicating information
12. Suggest an experiment or activity to get more
evidence or to answer a new question. Planning and carrying out investigations
13. Let your ideas change and grow.
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35. Examples of Ways to Engage Students in Communicating Scientifically
The Communicating in Scientific Ways chart on the following pages can be used to teach
elementary students about scientific practices and communication. This tool connects what
scientists do with the kind of talk they use to communicate about what they do. When used
frequently, this chart can help you support students in improving their abilities to engage in
scientific practices and communication.
STeLLA: Communicating in Scientific Ways
What a Scientist Does Symbol What a Scientist Says
1. Ask why and how How come …?
questions. I wonder …
Why …?
How do they know that …?
2. Observe. I see …
I noticed …
I recorded …
I measured …
3. Organize data and I see a pattern …
observations. I think we could make a graph …
Let’s make a chart …
4. Think of an idea, My idea is …
claim, prediction, or I think that …
model to explain your
We could draw a picture to show …
data and
observations. I think it looks like this …
5. Give evidence for My evidence is …
your idea or claim. The reason I think that is …
I think it’s true because …
6. Reason from The reason I think my evidence
evidence or models supports my claim is because …
to explain your data The model shows that …
and observations.
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36. What a Scientist Does Symbol What a Scientist Says
7. Listen to others’ ideas Are you saying that …?
and ask clarifying What do you mean when you say …?
questions.
What is your evidence?
Can you say more about …?
8. Agree or disagree I agree with _______ because …
with others’ ideas. I disagree with _______ because …
9. Add onto someone I want to piggyback on _____’s idea.
else’s idea. I want to add onto what _____ said.
10. Search for new ideas We could get some new ideas
from other sources. from …
11. Consider whether That idea makes sense to me
new ideas make because …
sense. That idea doesn’t make sense
because …
What’s their evidence?
12. Suggest an What if we …?
experiment or activity We could get better evidence if we …
to get more evidence
or to answer a new
question.
13. Let your ideas change I think I’m changing my idea.
and grow. I have something to add onto my idea.
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37. Summary of STeLLA Student Thinking Lens Strategies
Strategy When Purpose
Ask questions to When a new idea is To reveal students' initial
elicit student ideas going to be ideas, predictions,
and predictions. introduced misconceptions, and
Questions experiences
Before a new
That Reveal learning goal is
a nd developed
Challenge Ask questions to Anytime To reveal more about a
Student probe student ideas given student’s current
Thinking and predictions. thinking
Ask questions to As part of developing To challenge student thinking
challenge student the learning goal (not in the direction of the learning
thinking. when eliciting goal
students’ initial
To help change student
ideas) thinking about the science
ideas
Engage students in As part of developing To teach students how to
analyzing and the learning goal or organize, present, and
interpreting data and after a learning goal analyze data in ways that will
observations. has been developed reveal important patterns and
(as a use-and-apply relationships that can be used
activity) in developing explanations
Engage students in As part of developing To engage students in using
constructing the learning goal or evidence and science ideas to
explanations and after a learning goal explain observations and data
arguments. has been developed and to develop arguments
(as a use-and-apply that assess the strengths and
activity) weaknesses of competing
explanations
Activities Engage students in After the learning To engage students in using
That using and applying goal has been newly learned science ideas
Challenge new science ideas developed to explain new situations, new
Student in a variety of ways
Before the final unit
phenomena, and new real-
Thinking and contexts. world connections
assessment
To demonstrate the wide
usefulness and value of the
new ideas
Engage students in After the learning To engage students in making
making connections goal has been connections among ideas,
by synthesizing and developed evidence, and experiences
summarizing key they have encountered in the
science ideas. lesson(s)
Engage students in Anytime To engage students
communicating in productively in science
scientific ways. practices and discourse

38.

39. Strategies to Create a Coherent Science Content Storyline
Introduction to the Science Content Storyline Lens
You’ve probably encountered science textbooks packed with a wealth of science content. Science
textbooks are sometimes so loaded with information that it’s difficult to unearth and understand the
big ideas that might tie all the facts together. It may seem to you that the solution to this problem is
to throw out the textbooks and teach science only through hands-on activities. However, research
shows that hands-on doing does not automatically lead to minds-on learning. Teachers may present
accurate science content and engaging hands-on activities, but these content ideas and activities
often aren’t carefully woven together to tell a coherent story. Students miss the point of the activities
they’re carrying out and instead pick up random pieces of scientific terminology without fitting the
ideas together to develop rich conceptual understandings.
To help students develop more meaningful understandings, you can use the Science Content
Storyline Lens to focus attention on how the science ideas in a lesson (or unit) are sequenced and
linked to one another to build a coherent “story” that makes sense to students.
What Is a Science Content Storyline?
A science content storyline consists of carefully chosen and sequenced science ideas that build on
one another to illustrate a bigger picture (a big idea, a core science idea, or a crosscutting concept).
This coherent set of science ideas creates a story within a lesson, as well as across lessons and
units. The ideas flow from one to the next so that students can make the connections, just as they
can follow and make sense of a good story. The central ideas of the story are emphasized,
connected, and linked. Details are used to support the development of the central storyline but are
kept to a minimum so they don’t clutter and detract from the storyline.
There are two key points to keep in mind regarding coherent science content storylines. First, the
storyline is about the science ideas in the lesson and how they are organized to tell a story about
one big idea or crosscutting scientific concept. Second, the activities students carry out in the lesson
and unit must engage them in making sense of this science content storyline, with the science ideas
and terms explicitly linked to the activities. Thus, each activity helps develop a key part of the
science content storyline.
Why Is the Science Content Storyline Lens Important?
Looking at lessons through the Science Content Storyline Lens can help you identify places where
students are likely to get confused because of gaps in the storyline, too much distracting information,
or activities that aren’t clearly linked to the science ideas. It also highlights exactly what knowledge
students have access to during the lesson that will help them make sense of the main ideas.
Research results from the 1999 Third International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS Video
Study) of 8th-grade science teaching in five countries (Roth et al., 2006) illustrate the importance of
a clear science content storyline in a lesson. The video study found that US science lessons
engaged students in carrying out a variety of activities. In contrast with higher-achieving countries,
however, the science activities in US lessons were often used without clear links to the science
ideas they might illustrate or support. In fact, more than 25% of the randomly selected US science
lessons were almost entirely activity focused, with little or no explicit teaching of science-content
ideas. Students simply followed directions and carried out activities without being required to think
about scientific explanations or engage in scientific reasoning. In higher-achieving countries,
however, lessons were structured to build a clear, coherent science content storyline. All parts of the
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40. lesson, including hands-on activities, were closely linked and used to build a story about one science
A Framework for K–12 Science Education (NRC, 2012) also emphasizes the importance of helping
students develop a “coherent … understanding of science” (p. 25). But many students leave their
science classes holding “disconnected and even contradictory bits of knowledge as isolated facts”
(p. 25), which they quickly forget when the test or the course is over. Students typically experience
science as a sequence of discrete chapters or units and miss the important connections among the
ideas in these chapters/units that will help them deeply understand key concepts. Students often
view each day’s lesson as linked to the previous only by topic, not by an overarching question or
crosscutting concept. They don’t expect that ideas and activities experienced in a unit or chapter at
the beginning of the school year will have much at all to do with a unit or chapter studied in the
Research shows that we can do better as science teachers by helping students develop deeper
understandings of core principles that they can use to “make sense of new information or tackle
novel problems,” as experts do (NRC, 2012, p. 25). According to the National Research Council
(2012), “Research on learning shows that supporting development of this kind of understanding is
challenging but aided by explicit instructional support that stresses connections across different
activities and learning experiences.… To develop a thorough understanding of scientific
explanations of the world, students need sustained opportunities to work with and develop the
underlying ideas and to appreciate those ideas’ interconnections over a period of years rather than
weeks or months” (pp. 25–26).
What Is Challenging about Developing a Coherent Science Content Storyline?
Developing a coherent science content storyline is especially challenging when you engage students
in using scientific-inquiry practices. Students can be actively engaged in predicting, observing, and
manipulating materials without making any connections to science ideas and explanations—that is,
students can be busily doing the activity without thinking about and learning from it. But this isn’t how
science works. Scientists don’t predict and observe without thinking about and making connections
to what they already know. Instead, they use scientific practices and the science ideas they already
grasp to develop better understandings of important ideas and phenomena. This idea-focused work
is what students should do in their science-inquiry activities as well. Otherwise, they’ll develop the
misconception that science is all about measuring, observing, and predicting and miss the point that
the essence of science is about using those practices to build better understandings and
explanations of phenomena in the world around us.
Developing a coherent science content storyline is also challenging when you’re simultaneously
using a Student Thinking Lens to make student thinking visible in the lesson. How will you weave the
student ideas that arise during the lesson into your planned science content storyline? Your goal
should be to use students’ ideas to shape how the science content storyline unfolds (within and
across lessons). Before teaching, therefore, you need to anticipate student ideas that might arise
and determine how those ideas will affect the science content storyline. While teaching, you must
make meaningful adjustments to the planned science content storyline as a result of student ideas
that emerge.
What Strategies Support the Planning and Teaching of a Coherent Science Content
In this section, we’ll examine the following planning and teaching strategies that help create a
coherent content storyline within and across science lessons:
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41. • Identify one main learning goal.
• Set the purpose with a focus question or goal statement.
• Select activities that are matched to the learning goal.
• Select content representations and models matched to the learning goal and engage
students in their use.
• Sequence key science ideas appropriately.
• Make explicit links between science ideas and activities.
• Link science ideas to other science ideas.
• Highlight key science ideas and focus question throughout.
• Summarize key science ideas.
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42.

43. Strategies to Create a Coherent Science Content Storyline
STeLLA Strategy A:
Identify One Main Learning Goal
Research suggests that science lessons often contain too many science ideas, and that these ideas
are presented as a list of facts to memorize rather than a big idea or concept that is useful in
explaining and predicting the outcome of events in the world around us. Teachers may present
accurate science ideas and engaging hands-on activities, but they may be either too numerous or
not carefully woven together to create a coherent story. As mentioned earlier, students often miss
the point of the activities they’re carrying out and instead pick up bits and pieces of scientific
terminology without fitting the ideas together to develop rich conceptual understandings.
The Science Content Storyline Lens focuses attention on how the science ideas in a lesson are
sequenced and linked to one another and to lesson activities to help students construct a coherent
“story” that makes sense to them. The first step in creating a coherent science content storyline in a
lesson is to identify the main learning goal. What big idea or crosscutting concept do you want
students to learn in this lesson?
A main learning goal IS …
• a big idea (a core science idea or a crosscutting concept) that students are expected to learn
and take away from this lesson (or series of lessons).
• a big idea (a core science idea or a crosscutting concept) that shows the relationship among
science ideas and can be used to explain multiple phenomena.
• the focus of the lesson (or sometimes a series of lessons) that organizes supporting science
ideas, activities, and essential vocabulary terms.
• stated in a complete sentence(s).
• stated by the teacher, a student, a text, or a multimedia program.
The main learning goal should be a core science idea or crosscutting concept that shows the
relationship among science ideas and can be used to explain a variety of phenomena.
Supporting details or facts aren’t appropriate as main learning goals (e.g., “A tuning fork vibrates
back and forth quickly,” or “Plants can take in air through tiny holes in their leaves”). A main learning
goal is an important science concept that warrants at least 40 minutes of lesson time (and possibly
more time over a series of lessons). A helpful way to define a main learning goal is to complete the
statement, “I want my students to understand and be able to reason using the core science idea
that … [state the learning goal in a complete sentence].”
The main learning goal should be stated in a complete sentence so it’s clear and specific. When you
state learning goals as topics or phrases, you aren’t challenging yourself to identify exactly what is to
be learned and assessed. For example, the phrase “sound and vibrations” sounds good on the
surface, but what exactly do you want students to understand about sound and vibrations? Will you
focus on what causes an object to vibrate and the sound it produces? Is it enough for students to
know that all soundmakers vibrate? Or do you also want them to understand that sound can make
objects vibrate?
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