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Padlet from Hilary Dito- CCCOE 6-12 training

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Padlet from Hilary Dito- CCCOE 6-12 training

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https://padlet.com/hdito/ix4ykl12vkt6

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Powering the Planet: Renewable Energy - Nature Works Everywhere

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We use energy to power our lives every day: to boot up our computers, fuel our cars, charge our cell phones, flick on a light switch, and in myriad other ways. Join scientist Alex Wegmann as we embark on a Virtual Field Trip to explore a compelling question: How can we get the energy we need without harming nature?

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In English and Spanish

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Current news stories that can be modified to 4th grade reading levels and up. Also available in Spanish

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Released in June 2016. State Board of Education to act at November meeting

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Download by grade level

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NGSS Standards

On September 4, 2013, the SBE adopted the Next Generation Science Standards for California Public Schools, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve (CA NGSS) as required by California Education Code 60605.85. The NGSS Appendices A-M were also adopted to assist teachers in the implementation of the new science standards and to aid in the development of the new science curriculum framework.

The SBE-adopted California Next Generation Science Standards (CA NGSS) can be viewed below by grade level Disciplinary Core Ideas (DCI): Life Sciences, Earth and Space Sciences, and Physical Sciences or by grade level Topic (e.g., Chemical Reactions, Structure and Function, or Space Systems).

For information on how to read the standards and implement the standards, please read How to Read CA NGSS (PDF) or consult the 2016 Science Framework or visit the Adopting and Implementing NGSS page. For questions about the CA NGSS and 2016 Science Framework, contact the Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division (CFIRD) at cfird@cde.ca.gov or 916-319-0881.

Kindergarten through Grade Five Standards

Standards Arranged by Disciplinary Core Ideas (Life, Earth and Space, and Physical Science)

Grades Six through Eight Standards

On November 6, 2013, the SBE approved the Science Expert Panel's (SEP) recommended Integrated Learning Progression model as the preferred model for middle grades six through eight. At the same November meeting, the SBE approved a recommendation by the SSPI to reconvene the SEP in order "to develop ... as an alternative model ... a discipline specific model" for the grade span of six through eight based on Achieve's domains model in Appendix K.

In December 2013, the SEP reconvened to develop an alternative domain specific course model.

The documents below provide middle school educators the rationale for the CA NGSS Integrated Learning Progression Course for middle grades six through eight and the Alternative Discipline Specific Course for grades six through eight. The documents also describe learning progressions for each grade level.

Integrated Learning Progression Model (PDF)
This document provides middle school educators the rationale for the Integrated Learning Progression Course arrangement of standards developed by the California Science Expert Panel. Documents containing the standards for each grade level are below.

Discipline Specific Model (PDF)
This document provides middle school educators the rationale for the Discipline Specific Course arrangement. Documents containing the standards for each grade level are below.

Integrated Model Standards Arranged by Disciplinary Core Ideas

Discipline Specific Model Standards

Grades Nine through Twelve Standards

Standards Arranged by Disciplinary Core Ideas (Life, Earth and Space, and Physical Science)

NGSS Appendices A-M

The NGSS Appendices A-M were adopted to assist teachers in the implementation of NGSS and in the development of the new science curriculum framework.

Questions: Curriculum Frameworks and Instructional Resources Division | cfird@cde.ca.gov | 916-319-0881

Last Reviewed: Friday, July 9, 2021

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NGSS for California Public Schools, K-12

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On September 4, 2013, the SBE adopted the Next Generation Science Standards for California Public Schools, Kindergarten through Grade Twelve (CA NGSS) as required by California Education Code 60605.85. The NGSS Appendices A-M were also adopted to assist teachers in the implementation of the new science standards and to aid in the development of the new science curriculum framework.

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NGSS Evidence Statements provide educators with additional detail on what students should know and be able to do. These Evidence Statements describe a detailed look at the NGSS performance expectations.

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Veritasium is a channel of science and engineering videos featuring experiments, expert interviews, cool demos, and discussions with the public about everything science.

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"science videos" science "science education" "science literacy" veritasium misconceptions physics education astronomy "science songs" chemistry biology teach...

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An element of truth - videos about science, education, and anything else I find interesting.

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CrossCutSymbols

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) include 7 Crosscutting Concepts that are the big ideas that connect the sciences and help to understand nature. Students who understand the NGSS crosscutting concepts will have a deep framework for integrating and understanding science ideas.

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The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) include 7 Crosscutting Concepts that are the big ideas that connect the sciences and help to understand nature. Students who understand the NGSS crosscutting concepts will have a deep framework for integrating and understanding science ideas.

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Translating NGSS into Classroom Instruction

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Translating NGSS into Classroom Instruction

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The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) may seem overwhelming at first glance. However, just like with Common Core, we need to realize that the transition to NGSS will take time: Start slow. Just start!

Even though we don't yet have ready access to NGSS-aligned curriculum materials and assessment items, you can enhance student learning now by...

1. regularly incorporating the NGSS Science and Engineering Practices into instruction (see my September Blog)

2. using a student-centered, constructivist approach to planning instruction (e.g., the 5E Learning Cycle)

This blog focuses on the 5E model as a framework for planning the type of instruction promoted by NGSS. It includes an overview of the instructional approach, a planning tool to help you get started, tips for what teachers and students should be doing during each phase of the cycle, and examples of what each phase might look like in the classroom.

What are the phases in the 5E learning cycle?

Click on the link below for an overview of these 5 components, a description of what teachers and students should be doing at each phase in the cycle, and examples of what each phase might look like in the science classroom.

Note: The 5E teaching sequence can be used for entire courses, specific units, and individual lessons. Each lesson begins with an engagement activity, but students can reenter the 5E model at other points in the cycle.

Students do not enter our classrooms as blank slates, but bring with them preconceived ideas about how the world works. When we introduce them to new ideas, students assess them according to what they already believe to be true. For example, we can tell our students that gases take up space and have volume, but when we ask them where the mass of a seed comes from when all we start with is a tiny seed, they are hesitant to take our word for it that carbon dioxide is the major contributor.

When new ideas don't seem to mesh with what students already believe about the world, they are not fully integrated into their knowledge base. The 5E model encourages students to explore science concepts and phenomena, construct their own understanding through self-reflection and interaction with peers, and relate those understandings to other science concepts so that they can reconsider and appropriately change the way they understand reality (Bybee, 1997).

How is 5E different from the traditional way of teaching science?

The traditional way: The teacher dispenses information to be learned by the students.

The 5E way: The teacher plans learning experiences in which students construct knowledge through exploration and investigation.

The traditional way: The teacher explains concepts and vocabulary before students experience them for themselves.

The 5E way: Students' explanations precede explanations provided by the teacher. Students explore a phenomenon/concept and describe what's going on in their own language first in order to create a need for new vocabulary.

The traditional way: Students memorize facts and definitions.

The 5E way: Students apply science ideas to explain new situations or phenomena.
5E Planning Tool: Post examples below of how you are incorporating the 5E Learning Cycle into your science teaching practice...

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Translating NGSS into Classroom Instruction: 5E Planning Tool and Teaching Tips

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The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) may seem overwhelming at first glance. However, just like with Common Core, we need to realize that the transition to NGSS will take time: Start slow. Just start! Even though we don't yet have ready access to NGSS-aligned curriculum materials and assessment items, you can enhance student learning now by...

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Take these quick surveys to assess the current mindset within yourself, your students, your classroom, and your school, and identify areas where you can develop your mindset.

Assess your current personal mindset and how it may be impacting your success.

Assess your students' current motivational behavior in the classroom.

Assess the mindset of your current classroom environment and how it may be impacting your students' motivation.

Assess the mindset of your current school environment and how it may be impacting the motivation and success of both staff and students.

How can I develop a growth mindset in myself, my students, and my colleagues?

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Brainology is an online interactive program in which middle school students learn about how the brain works, how to strengthen their own brains, and how to better approach their own learning. In the process they develop a growth mindset whereby they think of their intelligence as something they can develop through study and learning rather than as something fixed, as explained by our co-founder Dr. Carol Dweck.

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Examples of engineering in educational settings and background information on engineering and engineering design.

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LinkEngineering is a collaboration between the National Academy of Engineering and five partner organizations: Achieve, Inc., American Society for Engineering Education , Council of State Science Supervisors, International Technology and Engineering Educators Association, The National Science Teachers Association.

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Implicit Beliefs about Intelligence and Implications for Educators

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On this page, we will look at some scenarios that you can possibly come across in your teaching. These scenarios will help you identify certain mindsets, help students with fixed mindsets...

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As a kid I wanted to become a cliché when I grew up so I bought a guitar and grew my hair. I successfully learnt all the chords but struggled to combine them in a meaningful way (perhaps I should've joined an experimental jazz band instead of churning out 1980s power ballads). When my dreams of rock stardom eventually withered on the vine, I turned my attention to mastering magic, then to conquering chess, and to all manner of other hobbies.

What all these childhood endeavours had in common - apart from their mutual failure - was that I took it for granted that I'd have to work hard at them, I knew I'd have to practise endlessly and that I wouldn't become expert overnight.

I played that old six-string every night after school till my fingers bled, readily accepting that improvement would be incremental.

Most of us feel this way about our interests. We know, for example, that to run a marathon we'd have to train hard for months beforehand (or, in my case, to walk to the pub without getting out of breath I'd have to stop eating chocolate).

And yet when it comes to schooling - to mastering English or maths or science - we often forget the importance of hard work and practice. We assume that academic ability, that one's IQ, is somehow fixed, innate. We might not do it consciously, but we say things like "maths isn't his forte" or "she's not a natural artist". That's why most students who start the year in the bottom set, end the year in the bottom set.

By creating a culture in which students believe that their abilities are preordained, and in which they are either good at a subject or not, we discourage them from taking risks, from making mistakes. After all, if ability is fixed, then if at first you don't succeed, you may as well give up.

Sir Ken Robinson argues that every child starts out willing to take a chance. If they don't know, they'll have a go; they're not frightened of being wrong, he says. However, he contends that by the time they are adults, most people have lost that capacity because in schools we regard mistakes as the worst thing you can make and we educate people out of their creative capacities.

In her book, Mindset, Dr Carol Dweck calls the belief that "your qualities are carved in stone" the 'fixed mindset". But does it really have to be this way?

What if we applied the same mindset to schooling as we do to our hobbies and interests? What if we taught our students that, although people may differ in every which way - in their initial talents and aptitudes, interests, or temperaments - everyone can change and grow through application and experience?

What if we instilled in our students what Dr Dweck calls the "growth mindset", the belief that "your basic qualities are things you can cultivate through your efforts"?

Even Alfred Binet, the inventor of the IQ test, believed that education and practice could bring about fundamental changes in intelligence. He said, in his book Major Ideas About Children, that "a few modern philosophers assert that an individual's intelligence is a fixed quantity which cannot be increased. We must protest against this brutal pessimism ... with practice, training, and above all, method, we become more intelligent than we were before".

Practice, training, and method - these three words uttered a century ago - remain the perfect definition of what the best teachers do. They provide a safe and secure environment in which all students can learn without fear of failure and in which all students can increase their intelligence with deliberate practice.

So let us look at five practical strategies which can help instil the growth mindset in our classrooms.

1, Use frequent formative feedback

Dr Dweck's research found that people with a fixed mindset "greatly misestimated their performance and their ability (while) people with the growth mindset were amazingly accurate".

Why should this be? Because, as Dr Dweck says: "If, like those with the growth mindset, you believe you can develop yourself, then you're open to accurate information about your current abilities, even if it's unflattering. What's more, if you're oriented towards learning, as they are, you need accurate information about your current abilities in order to learn effectively."

We should, therefore, ensure that our students are acutely aware of their strengths and areas for development. We should frequently assess our students and give them formative feedback so that they know what they do well and what they can do better. We should dedicate quality time in our lessons for our students to act on this feedback, to redraft work in order to improve upon it.

2, High levels of challenge for every student

Dr Dweck and Binet agree that everyone can improve with practice; they agree that effort is more important than "talent" or "innate ability". Therefore, we must challenge our students to be the best, we must have high expectations of all our students and must encourage them to take a leap of faith, even if that means falling over a few times.

Teachers' attitudes directly affect their students' learning and, ultimately, the grades they get. A teacher who has high expectations of every student in his or her class will reap the rewards: more students will rise to the challenge and succeed.

Many teachers think that lowering standards will give students a taste of success, boost their self-esteem, and raise their achievement. But all the evidence suggests it doesn't work. Instead, it leads to poorly educated children.

Instead, we should believe in the growth of the intellect and talent. We should set high standards for all our students, not just the ones who are already achieving.

3, Explicitly welcome mistakes

Teachers must actively encourage their students to make mistakes, they must foster a safe and secure environment in which falling over is not only accepted without criticism or humiliation, but in which it is actively encouraged as evidence of effective learning and of getting better at something.

Every teacher knows that some students do not raise their hands in class to answer a question because they fear they will be criticised or made to feel embarrassed for being wrong. And yet the opposite should be true: students should be eager to raise their hands because to get an answer wrong is to learn from their mistakes; to get an answer wrong is to learn the correct answer.

Equally, raising a hand to say, "I don't understand this ... can you help?" is not a sign of weakness or low intelligence, it is a means of increasing one's intelligence.

Of course, making a mistake - even if you have a positive mindset - can be a painful experience. But a mistake shouldn't define you; it's a problem to be faced and learnt from. We teach this by modelling it, by publicly making mistakes and by making explicit our own implicit learning.

4, Engaging in deliberate practice

In his book, Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell suggests that as a society we value natural, effortless accomplishments over achievement through effort. We endow our heroes with superhuman abilities that lead them inevitably towards greatness. People with the growth mindset, however, believe something very different. For them, even geniuses have to work hard for their achievements. After all, what's heroic about having a gift?

Thomas Edison is credited with inventing the lightbulb but he wasn't an innate genius who single-handedly, effortlessly discovered his invention in - forgive the pun - a lightbulb moment. This is what Professor Anders Ericsson calls the iceberg effect: beneath the visible tip of genius, Edison had 30 assistants, including highly trained scientists, often working around the clock in a corporate-funded state-of-the-art laboratory.

"His" invention was the culmination of a lot of time-consuming work involving mathematicians, chemists, physicists, engineers and glass-blowers. Yes, he was a genius; but he wasn't born one. He was, according to his biography, an ordinary boy. He just worked hard, tried and tried again. He never stopped being curious, never shied away from taking on a new challenge.

Similar stories could be told of many geniuses such as Charles Darwin - whose Origin of Species was the result of years of research, a lot of effort and toil involving hundreds of discussions with colleagues and mentors, and went through several drafts, taking Darwin half a lifetime to finalise. In other words, his book wasn't created in a big bang, it evolved over time.

Jack Nicklaus, the most successful golfer of all time, famously said: "Nobody - but nobody - has ever become really proficient at golf without practice, without doing a lot of thinking and then hitting a lot of shots. It isn't so much a lack of talent; it's a lack of being able to repeat good shots consistently that frustrates most players. And the only answer to that is practice."

Matthew Syed, author of Bounce, quantifies the amount of "purposeful practice" that is required to achieve excellence. He says that "from art to science and from board games to tennis, it has been found that a minimum of 10 years is required to reach world-class status in any complex task".

Malcolm Gladwell, meanwhile, asserts that most top performers practise for around 1,000 hours per year. We should, therefore, provide our students with plenty of opportunities to practise and perfect their knowledge and skills.

Professor Daniel Willingham says that deliberate practice "reinforces (the) basic skills required for more advanced skills, it protects against forgetting, and improves transfer". Professor Siegfried Engelmann says that students need "five times more practice than many teachers expect".

There are two kinds of practice proven to be the most effective: first, distributed practice which is "a schedule of practice that spreads out study activities over time", and second, interleaved practice which is "a schedule of practice that mixes different kinds of problems, or a schedule of study that mixes different kinds of material, within a single study session" (Dunlosky et al, 2013).

5, Reward effort not attainment

Dr Dweck conducted research with hundreds of students. She gave each student a set of 10 problems to solve from a non-verbal IQ test. Most of the students did well and when they'd finished, she praised some of the students for their ability ("you got a high score, you must be smart") and some for their effort ("you got a high score, you must have worked hard").

Both groups were exactly equal to begin with but, after receiving praise, they began to differ. The students whose ability was praised were pushed into the fixed mindset. When they were given a choice, they rejected a challenging new task that they could learn from, favouring more of the same instead because they didn't want to do anything which would expose flaws in their intelligence and bring their talent into question. In contrast, 90 per cent of the students whose effort was praised wanted to try the challenging new task precisely because they could learn from it.

Dr Dweck concluded that praising ability actually lowered students' IQs whereas praising effort raised them. She also said that praising children's intelligence harmed their motivation because, although children love to be praised, especially for their talents, as soon as they hit a snag their confidence goes out of the window and their motivation hits rock bottom. If success means they're smart, then failure means they're dumb.

This doesn't mean we shouldn't praise children, Dr Dweck argues. But it does mean we should only use a certain type of praise. We can praise our students as much as we want for the "growth-oriented process - what they accomplished through practice, study, persistence, and good strategies". But we should avoid the kind of praise that judges their intelligence or talent, and we should avoid the kind of praise that implies "we're proud of them for their intelligence or talent rather than for the work they put in".

Matt Bromley is an education writer and consultant, and an experienced school and college leader. Find out more at www.bromleyeducation.co.uk. Follow him on Twitter @mj_bromley. Read his blog at mjbromleyblog.wordpress.com. He is the author of The IQ Myth, a book about developing the growth mindset in schools which is available from www booksforschool.eu

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Teaching strategies to create 'growth' mindsets

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As a kid I wanted to become a cliché when I grew up so I bought a guitar and grew my hair. I successfully learnt all the chords but struggled to combine them in a meaningful way (perhaps I should've joined an experimental jazz band instead of churning out 1980s power ballads).

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Creating a Growth Mindset in the Classroom

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Creating a Growth Mindset in the Classroom

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Stanford University psychology professor Carol Dweck coined the phrase"growth mindset" as the belief that you can develop your abilities, and then watched as the term took hold as a meme for motivation on playgrounds and in classrooms across America.

Now she's worried about its misapplication: Teachers who use growth mindset as a shorthand without understanding it; parents who attempt to teach a growth mindset by haranguing kids to try harder; schools that assume they can measure growth mindsets by asking teachers and students to grade how they handle adversity and solve complex problems.

Less than a decade after the publication of Dweck's "Mindset: The New Psychology of Success," research by her and others is flourishing, gamers are creating growth mindset games and school districts are paying attention to what are often referred to as "soft skills," such as social emotional learning or non-cognitive skills like perseverance and self-control.

But with popularization comes the risk of oversimplification. Dweck explained what growth mindset is and isn't at a recent Education Writers Association seminar, "The Hidden Value of Motivation," at Stanford.

Praising a child's intelligence, Dweck explained, creates a "fixed mindset" - the belief that how smart they are governs what children can and can't do. So when they become stuck on a problem, children tend to give up, concluding they weren't born bright enough or are just not good at math. Dweck said that's self-defeating because children then become "less resilient in the face of obstacles."

Its opposite, a growth mindset, while it may appear a truism on its face, can become a powerful motivator. Teaching children that the brain works like a muscle that gets stronger with practice reinforces persistence. Encouraging students to visualize brain synapses firing when they overcome challenges is not merely a metaphor: Brain studies that Dweck and other speakers cited showed surges in brain activity when students respond to mistakes.

A body of research confirms that a growth mindset can improve performance, Dweck said. A 2012 study of all Chilean 10th-graders by Stanford colleagues showed students with a growth mindset significantly outscored peers with a fixed mindset in math and reading, regardless of income. A study of how mothers praised children between ages 1 and 3 showed there was an impact on learning that the children retained years later. Those children who received more "process praise" commending effort, relative to other forms of praise, were more likely to work hard, confront challenges and better deal with failure - traits of a growth mindset - in 2nd grade.

But the growth mindset movement has pitfalls, too. Prodding students to increase effort alone, telling them they would have done better if they had tried harder, isn't enough, Dweck said. Without suggesting learning strategies when students are stymied and judiciously offering help at the right time, a student may feel more incompetent if more effort doesn't work. Telling students to "keep trying and you'll get it" does not instill a growth mindset, Dweck said. "I call it nagging."

Teachers who heap encouragement on students may assume they have adopted a growth mindset. But, Dweck said, "growth mindset is about closing the achievement gap, not about making low-achieving kids feel good in the moment but not learn in the long run."

Teachers who incorporate a growth mindset also provide critical feedback and give students an opportunity to revise their work. They create a classroom where students are encouraged to take on challenges, try new strategies and acknowledge and explain their mistakes, she said.

Teachers must be in touch with themselves, too, and look for their own "fixed mindset triggers." Do they feel dread when faced with a challenge, frustrated when they struggle with a problem, defensive and discouraged when they face criticism and setbacks? Do they assume that students who are struggling to learn have a fixed mindset and blame the children's parents?

Most people, Dweck said, have neither a fixed nor a growth mindset; they're a hybrid, and different situations and challenges bring out qualities of one or the other.

Teachers must work hard to create a growth mindset and a classroom where it thrives, Dweck said. "It requires a constant journey," she said.

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How teachers can create a 'growth mindset' in classrooms

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Stanford University psychology professor Carol Dweck coined the phrase"growth mindset" as the belief that you can develop your abilities, and then watched as the term took hold as a meme for motivation on playgrounds and in classrooms across America.

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We're used to reassuring our kids: "It's OK - not everyone can do difficult math."

But believing such messages may deter both boys and girls from choosing to pursue degrees in physical science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, according to a new national, longitudinal study published in Frontiers in Psychology.

Instead, the key to piquing their interest in STEM may be telling them it's OK if they find the subjects hard to master. "Students may need to hear that encountering difficulty during classwork is expected and normal," argued Lara Perez-Felkner, a coauthor of the study and assistant professor of higher education and sociology at Florida State University.

The study used data from 4,450 students in the United States who later entered college to probe why some students shun math-intensive fields. The researchers' reasoning: If a student thinks math is too difficult, they become reluctant to try it.

"Most people believe they can do some mathematics, such as splitting a dinner bill with friends," said Samantha Nix, lead author and doctoral student at Florida State University. "But fewer believe they can do mathematics they perceive as 'difficult.'"

High school students who believed they could master the toughest math concepts were more likely to major in math-intensive fields at the college level. Similar results were found for students who believed "most people can learn to be good at math" - something psychologists call a "growth mindset."

Beliefs still mattered even after statistically correcting for some other factors such as demographics and science coursework. However, these controls were somewhat limited. Math grades were omitted, for instance.

Performance on a difficult math test was used as a control. But students had "almost no probability" of correctly answering the test's problems. This fact limits how well the test can measure individual differences in math performance, since everyone was bound to bomb it.

Gender gaps in beliefs were modest. In 12th grade, boys rated their math abilities higher than girls did by 0.2 points on a 4-point scale, for instance.

Despite the mostly gender-neutral findings, popular press ran with a story about girls lacking math confidence. "Misperception discourages girls from studying math-intensive science," proclaimed the study's press release. "Why do girls doubt their maths ability in the first place?" asked another outlet.

Advancing inaccurate clichés like "women don't pursue science because of lack of confidence" does little to address the low numbers of women in STEM.

Nevertheless, related studies suggest beliefs concerning hard work may still affect boys and girls differently in some contexts. Messages about how the mind grows with hard work especially improved middle school girls' performance on a high-stakes math test, according to a prior experiment.

Professors prizing innate "genius" may also discourage women more than men, warned Andrei Cimpian, associate professor of psychology at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Women's personal growth mindsets - although undoubtedly beneficial - may not be sufficient to buffer them against an environment that cherishes innate talent," he says.

Across 30 academic fields, philosophy and math professors were the most likely to say that success in their fields depends on innate talent, according to a recent study Cimpian helped lead. Fewer women were found in fields that idolized "brilliance" over hard work. This remained true even after statistically correcting for other factors such as the math performance of graduate school applicants.

"It is crucial to look not just at what's in people's heads but also at the ability beliefs that are 'in the air,'" Cimpian concluded. Teachers who believe that math intelligence is fixed can both comfort and demotivate students with messages such as "It's OK- not everyone can be good at math."

Encouraging students to work their way through difficult math problems may actually help them change their mindset - and improve their outcomes. Struggling students' grades improve when they hear that intelligence can grow with hard work, according to a new study on "mindset interventions" involving 1,594 students in 13 high schools in the United States. Students spent roughly 45 minutes reading and then doing two writing exercises related to an article about the brain's ability to grow.

Improvement in grades was roughly one-tenth of a letter grade - a modest, but still impressive, improvement considering the intervention lasted less than an hour.

My research has looked at how opportunities such as sketching engineering designs shape basic spatial skills such as mentally rotating objects. These skills are important to success in math-intensive careers, yet often neglected in education.

"Oh, but you can't teach those skills," teachers often say when I've discussed my research with them. Contrary to such beliefs, I found that 12 hours of spatial instruction improved students' spatial skills and grades in a challenging calculus-based physics course. In fact, a quantitative review of 217 related studies found training spatial skills was "effective, durable, and transferable."

Teachers who continue to believe that "your basic intelligence can't change" - despite evidence to the contrary - may rob students of opportunities to learn and grow. Computer science and math instructors who endorse such beliefs, for instance, report being more likely to advise struggling undergraduates to drop their classes.

We need to abandon dangerous ideas that some people just can't do math. Neuroscience and educational research flatly contradict such beliefs. As the new study suggests, valuing hard work over innate "genius" might even spur students to tackle new challenges.

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Fostering a Growth Mindset Is Key to Teaching STEM

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We're used to reassuring our kids: "It's OK - not everyone can do difficult math." But believing such messages may deter both boys and girls from choosing to pursue degrees in physical science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, according to a new national, longitudinal study published in Frontiers in Psychology.

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This site is a curated collection of science phenomena for the NGSS, along with phenomenon based learning resources and help for how to use phenomenon to drive student questions in the classroom centered around 3 dimensional teaching and learning.

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Teaching Channel: Anchoring lessons with Phenomenon

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Teaching Channel: Anchoring lessons with Phenomenon

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Changing a Fixed Mindset to a Growth Mindset

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In response to a great deal of feedback received during the 2nd 60 Day Public review of the Draft Science Curriculum Framework, the Instructional Quality Commission has requested a revision of Chapter 5, the Grades 6-8 Chapter.
The revised chapter will be posted by CDE on Tuesday, October 4. Public feedback on this revised chapter can be sent to Scienceframework@cde.ca.gov. The draft chapter and information on how to participate in the meeting will be posted online. Feedback will be reviewed and considered by the IQC during their teleconference meeting scheduled for October 14.

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2016 IQC Public Meeting Notices and Agendas - Instructional Quality Commission (CA Dept of Education)

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Instructional Quality Commission Public Meeting Notices and Agends for 2016.

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Data Base of Phenomena from San Lorenzo USD

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Data Base of Phenomena from San Lorenzo USD

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Resources and presentations from NGSS Rollouts

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There have been many studies of how specific materials are affected by hygroscopic swelling. Let's explore what hygroscopic swelling is and the effect it may have on engineering designs.

What Is Hygroscopic Swelling?

In simple terms, when something swells up because it gets wet, it's experiencing hygroscopic swelling. Put a quarter cup of rice in a pot of water and you end up with half a cup of rice - hygroscopic swelling is at work. A leak upstairs prevents the door downstairs from shutting properly - the door frame underwent hygroscopic swelling. Leave a wad of paper in your pockets and run the laundry through the wash - hygroscopic swelling will make sure you wind up with a thicker (and, in this case, mushy) stack.

"Rice p1160004″. Licensed under Creative Commons Attribution - Share Alike 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons.

Hygroscopic Materials

In other words, some materials are hygroscopic and have a tendency to absorb moisture from their surroundings and then store it. When that happens, the material changes by expanding in volume, becoming sticky, or otherwise altered. The list of hygroscopic materials is long. It includes paper, cotton, wood, nylon, polycarbonate, sugars, and many more. Not all materials are hygroscopic, however. Going back to our everyday examples, if you instead leave a coin in your laundry and run it through the wash, it will not expand in size.
Remember this childhood trick? A scrunched up straw wrapper expands when water is added to it, seemingly coming alive as a larva.
Hygroscopic Swelling Effects in Engineering

Let's suppose you have a device or component made up of certain materials, some hygroscopic and others that are not. If the hygroscopic materials absorb moisture from the surrounding environment, they will swell up, leading to stresses and strains. Eventually, the hygroscopic swelling may cause the entire device or component to break or deform.

One paper analyzes the implications of hygroscopic swelling in Epoxy Molding Compounds (EMCs). EMCs are popular within the semiconductor industry as encapsulation materials to protect other components. The researchers studied sample beams comprised of copper and an EMC as they underwent moisture absorption. At first, the sample beams were warped concavely. As the EMC absorbed moisture, hygroscopic swelling caused the copper/EMC beam to warp in the opposite direction. The researchers then ran further tests to see whether or not the warpage could be reversed. They were unable to reverse all of the warpage. (Note: There's more to this study. Read the full paper here.)

Another example also involves encapsulated microcircuits. Researchers studied five polymeric mold compounds and found that hygroscopic swelling can cause deformation as significant as that caused by a 90°C thermal expansion. Wow.

Additional Resources

Check out some additional research on hygroscopic swelling implications:

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There have been many studies of how specific materials are affected by hygroscopic swelling. Let's explore what hygroscopic swelling is and the effect it may have on engineering designs. In simple terms, when something swells up because it gets wet, it's experiencing hygroscopic swelling.

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SAN JOSE, Calif. - Wildfires can be deadly for firefighters. When the flames come too close and escape is impossible, firefighters may need to shelter in place. That's why they carry portable flame shields with them. They douse these with water and then huddle under them to escape the flames. But right now, these shelters don't offer enough protection. In 2013, despite such shelters, the Yarnell Hill fire in Arizona claimed the lives of 19 firefighters.

This inspired Nicholas Perez, 13, of St. Edward School in Corona, Calif. Two years ago, he started searching for a material to make a better fire shelter. Now, he's unveiled his version. All it took him to develop and test it were a few dozen eggs, a lot of foil, an oven and several packs of diapers.

To keep firefighters from burning, Nicholas says, "I knew I had to find something that absorbed and retained water. And I thought 'wait a minute, diapers do that.'"

When he cut open diapers, Nicholas found small crystals of a chemical called sodium polyacrylate (Pol-ee-AK-rih-layt). When dry it's a crystal. But when exposed to water, it plumps up into a moist gel that's many times its original size. By cutting open diapers, he was able to isolate the crystals. In the first year of his project, he demonstrated that these crystals, when made into a gel, formed a fire-resistant shield in a doorway - one that could withstand direct blasts from a blowtorch.

This year, he was determined to take the next step and use those crystals to build a fire shelter. Nicholas showed what he came up with here at a competition known as Broadcom MASTERS (for Math, Applied Science, Technology and Engineering for Rising Stars). Society for Science & the Public (the publisher of Science News for Students and this blog) created the program in 2010. It brings together students with winning middle-school science-fair projects from across the United States. This year, finalists shared their work with each other and the public on October 3 in San Jose, Calif. The MASTERS program is sponsored by Broadcom, a company that builds devices to help computers connect to the Internet.

Nicholas built his shelter based on the type firefighters now use. His uncle's neighbor, a fire captain, gave the teen two shelters to work with. The teen dismantled one of them. He kept the outer layer of foil, designed to resist flames. Behind it, he inserted his sodium polyacrylate crystals. He held them in place with a cotton cloth - sort of a blanket. The crystals are meant to protect a firefighter from convection heat - the transfer of heat by moving air. He also made sure there was an air gap between the shelter and the fighter, which fire shelters use to resist conduction heat - the type transferred when molecules bump into each other.

To test his invention, the teen built a small wooden frame shaped like a box. He placed a single raw egg inside, along with a meat thermometer. It would measure the temperature inside as the outside of the box heated up. Then the young researcher soaked his shelter in water. The crystals absorbed the water, becoming a thick gel. Nicholas then surrounded his boxed egg with this gel-coated cotton blanket and placed the whole thing in an oven at 287° Celsius (550° Fahrenheit). Then, he monitored the temperature next to the egg for 30 minutes.

After the test was done, he took the egg out and cracked it open to see if it had cooked. An egg's proteins will denature - or lose their structure and become white and solid - at 62 °C (144 °F), so the teen reasoned this egg would make a good stand-in for a firefighter under the same conditions.

In his oven, the official U.S. Forest Service fire shelter heated very quickly. "It reached my thermometer's maximum capacity of 390 °F [199 °C] after 15 minutes," Nicholas recalls. "I know even if I was able to keep measuring, the temperature would keep increasing," he says. Needless to say, the egg inside was completely cooked. But inside the teen's new fire shelter, the egg stayed comfortable. The air temperature in the box climbed only 11 degrees Fahrenheit. And the egg it sheltered remained "completely raw."

Nicholas also exposed both his fire blanket and the official fire blanket to direct flames from a blowtorch. While the U.S. Forest Service shelter reached 115 °C (240 °F) when torched, Nicholas' shelter stayed nice and cool. "It went up zero degrees - and stayed the same the whole test," he reports.

While he still plans to tweak his shelter's design, Nicholas is already getting a patent for his invention. "I believe fewer firefighters will die if they use mine," he says of the new shelter. Soon, he hopes to sell it, and help firefighters beat the heat.

Power Words

conduction One of three major ways that energy is transferred. (The other two are convection and radiation.) In conduction, energy is transferred when atoms and molecules bump into each other, with slower, colder particles gaining energy from the warmer, faster ones that slam into them.

convection The rising and falling of material in a fluid or gas due to uneven temperatures. This process occurs in the outer layers of some stars.

denature A change in the chemistry of proteins that causes them to lose their structure, usually due to stress. Stresses can include heat, acids or bases, solvents and radiation. You can watch proteins denature by cooking an egg (the egg white turns white when albumin denatures) or by making your own cheese.

proteins Compounds made from one or more long chains of amino acids. Proteins are an essential part of all living organisms. They form the basis of living cells, muscle and tissues; they also do the work inside of cells. The hemoglobin in blood and the antibodies that attempt to fight infections are among the better-known, stand-alone proteins.Medicines frequently work by latching onto proteins.

radiate (in physics) To emit energy in the form of waves.

radiation (in physics) One of the three major ways that energy is transferred. (The other two are conduction and convection.) In radiation, electromagnetic waves carry energy from one place to another. Unlike conduction and convection, which need material to help transfer the energy, radiation can transfer energy across empty space.

sodium polyacrylate When dry, this chemical is a crystal. Upon contact with water, however, it quickly swells into a moist gel that can grow to become many hundreds of time its original size. This property quickly gave rise to its popular name: the super slurper. The best known use for this chemical is to soak up urine, creating relatively leak-proof disposable baby diapers.

thermal Of or relating to heat. (in meteorology) A relatively small-scale, rising air current produced when Earth's surface is heated. Thermals are a common source of low level turbulence for aircraft.

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Teen invents a better tent to beat fire's heat

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SAN JOSE, Calif. - Wildfires can be deadly for firefighters. When the flames come too close and escape is impossible, firefighters may need to shelter in place. That's why they carry portable flame shields with them. They douse these with water and then huddle under them to escape the flames.

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Article: How do Polymer Crystals work...

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Article: How do Polymer Crystals work...

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Polymer crystals are one of those special items that are almost magical. Polymer crystals gel very similar to a gelatin dessert. One of their major uses is by the disposable diaper manufacturers, where they are referred to as super absorbent polymers. The polymers allow for thinner and lighter disposable diapers.

Add water to the white crystalline flakes and they absorb many times their size in the polymeric gel that forms. One pound of the crystals holds about 50 gallons of water! The gel that forms swells by absorbing 30 grams of water for each gram of the crystals. The odorless crystals are shown below.

Construction workers, bicyclists and motorcyclists may be seen wearing cloth headbands or wearing a cloth collar around their neck. The crystals are sewn into a pouch in the cloth. The cloth item is then soaked in water for several hours. A tiny handful will swell up to many times it size and provide moist evaporative cooling for the wearer.

Florists also use polymer crystals as a dirt-free way to store water and to keep cut flowers fresh for a long time.

It takes about 45 minutes to hydrate the typical headband or collar. Refrigeration ahead of time is not necessary, but it does help extend the cooling time. The same polymer crystals can be rehydrated many times. The following picture shows how the same crystals appear (several hours later) after about an ounce of water was poured on the crystals:

Other uses of the crystals:

water and sewerage treatment plants use it to trap and suspend solid particles to make the solids easier to remove

soil conditioning

ore processing

paper and textile plants

manufacturing of dyes, adhesives and permanent press fabrics

Related information

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How do polymer crystals work and why do they absorb so much water?

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Polymer crystals are amazing in that they can absorb many times their size. In fact, one pound of these crystal flakes can hold up to 50 gallons of water. Find out what these polymer crystals are and why they are able to absorb so much water.

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You can print these for your classroom

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Print-It-Yourself NGSS Classroom Posters | Project NEURON | University of Illinois

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Because of high demand from teachers, we're providing a set of three posters that highlight the three NGSS strands: Science and Engineering Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and the Disciplinary Core Ideas.

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Resources to support 5E Unit Planning. Click on the bin and then click "view original".

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$100 for 10

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Classroom kits - about $17 a car. Solar panels from $11-$15

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SunWind Solar Car Kits and Solar Energy Education

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OUR SOLAR ENERGY KITS SunnySide Up Classroom 10-Pack DETAILS SolRun Classroom 15-Pack DETAILS SunnySide Up DETAILS SolGear DETAILS SolarDrive Solar Car & Inventor's Kit DETAILS