Making Sense of Science Matter For Teachers of Grades 6-8 - Tapa blanda

""Making Sense of SCIENCE" is phenomenal. We've learned so much about science, literacy, and facilitation during their academies, and as a result, our science teachers have grown tremendously. The work has been instrumental in improving student achievement in our district."

-- Kathy Huncosky and Lesli Taschwer, Science instructional resource teachers, Madison, WI

"At last we have an outstanding professional development resource that takes into account both students' and teachers' ideas and leads teachers through a collaborative process that makes a measurable difference in their teaching and student achievement. By engaging in sense making using well-developed teaching dilemmas, teachers can better understand their students' ideas and take deliberate actions to address them through improved understanding of content and how to teach that content."
-- Page Keeley, (Past-President of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Author of the "Uncovering Student Ideas in Science" series)

"This course tackles core science topics and the challenges of teaching those topics head-on. It delves deeply into matter at the observable and atomic levels and meets the needs of teachers from novice to expert."

-- Barry Kluger-Bell, physicist, science educator, and former Assistant Director of the Exploratorium Institute for Inquiry

"What more could you ask for in a professional development experience? I learned new ways to get kids talking about science in a rich way, ways to analyze student work, and ways to improve my lessons. I also came face to face with some of my own science misconceptions. My teaching practice is changed forever."

-- Vicki Baker, National Board Certified teacher, Union City, CA

This comprehensive professional development course for grades 6-8 science teachers provides all the necessary ingredients for building a scientific way of thinking in teachers and students, focusing on science content, inquiry, and literacy. Teachers who participate in this course learn to facilitate hands-on science lessons, support evidence-based discussions, and develop students' academic language and reading and writing skills in science, along with the habits of mind necessary for sense making and scientific reasoning.
"Matter for Teachers of Grades 6-8" consists of five core sessions: Session 1: Properties of Matter

Session 2: Particles of Matter

Session 3: Changes in Matter

Session 4: Atomic Structure

Session 5: Matter in ActionThe materials include everything needed to effectively lead this course with ease: Facilitator Guide with extensive support materials and detailed procedures that allow staff developers to successfully lead a courseTeacher Book with teaching, science, and literacy investigations, along with a follow-up component, "Looking at Student Work ," designed to support ongoing professional learning communitiesCD with black line masters of all handouts and charts to support group discussion and sense making, course participation certificates, student work samples, and other materials that can be reproduced for use with teachers