Ingrid  Flores    

   DTiR  ATG  2016-­‐2017    Final  Report  

 The  Next  Generation  Science  Standards  (NGSS)  were  presented  to  the  public  in  2013.  

Some  California  school  districts  became  early  implementers  of  the  NGSS,  while  some  deferred  their  implementation  due  to  ongoing  work  with  the  Common  Core  State  Standards  in  math  and  English  Language  Arts.  However,  the  State  expects  implementation  of  the  NGSS  starting  in  Fall  2017.  Therefore,  CA  school  districts  are  expected  to  train  their  teachers  for  full  implementation  by  this  deadline.  With  this  implementation  pending,  I  chose  to  work  with  the  Poway  Unified  School  District  to  support  NGSS  professional  development  to  K-­‐5  science  teachers.    The  purpose  of  the  grant,  Developing  NGSS  Understanding  Through  Lesson  Study,  was  to  first  develop  understanding  of  the  standards  through  varous  all-­‐day  workshops  focusing  on  different  elements  of  the  NGSS  and  second,  to  provide  opportunities  for  the  participating  teachers  to  create  NGSS-­‐aligned  science  curriculum  for  dissemination  to  their  school  site  peers.    A  third  expectation  was  to  immerse  the  project  participants  in  hands-­‐on  exporatory  science  activities  to  develop  conceptual  understanding  in  science.     In  collaboration  with  the  Executive  Director  of  Learning  Support  Services  for  PUSD,  I  planned  five  all-­‐day  workshops  that  were  held  from  8  am-­‐3  pm  during  AY  2016-­‐2017.  As  well,  a  Professional  Growth  Day  event  and  a  principals  training  event  were  added  to  the  plan.  The  participants  in  the  projects  were  one  teacher  selected  from  each  of  the  26  PUSD  elementary  schools  by  the  Executive  Director.  These  teachers  represented  their  respective  school  as  a  science  specialist-­‐in-­‐training  for  his/her  school.  The  workshops  consisted  of  intensive  professional  development  in  NGSS-­‐aligned  activities,  but  also  had  some  brief  informational  sessions  relevant  to  the  teachers’  district.  However,  the  workshops  focused  mainly  on  a  science  related  agenda.  Every  workshop  was  planned  through  face-­‐to-­‐face  and  telephone  meetings  with  the  Executive  Director  throughout  the  project  and  resulted  in  an  agenda  for  each  workshop  session.    

Athough  I  did  not  know  prior  to  the  project,  the  PUSD  budget  allowed  for  providing  substitute  teachers  for  the  26  elementary  teacher  participants  in  the  ATG  project.  However,  due  to  unforeseen  budget  constraints  during  the  academic  year,  the  district  was  able  to  provide  only  five  dates  for  the  workshops  over  AY  2016-­‐2017  and  a  Professional  Growth  Day  that  was  an  extension  of  one  of  the  workshops.  These  professional  development  opportunities  called  for  subsitute  teachers  to  cover  the  teacher  participants’  classes  during  the  workshops.  The  number  of  workshop  days  was  limited  due  to  both  lack  of  availability  of  substitutes  as  well  as  budget  constraints  in  the  number  of  days  to  employ  the  subsitutes.  However,  in  spite  of  these  challenges,  the  overall  project  outcomes  were  a  noteworthy  success.       I  designed  workshop  activities  to  first  focus  on  developing  understanding  of  the  three  dimensions  of  the  Next  Generation  Science  Standards:  1)  Disciplinary  Core  Ideas  (DCIs);  2)  Cross  Cutting  Concepts  (CCCs),  and  3)  Science  and  Engineering  Practices  (SEPs).    This  training  is  essential  to  begin  working  through  understanding  with  the  standards  for  one  of  the  goals  of  the  project-­‐-­‐creating  NGSS-­‐aligned  science  curriculum.  Three  workshops  focused  on  activities  aimed  at  the  DCIs  and  CCCs  but  included  activities  on  the  SEPs.  All  remaining  workshop  sessions  included  the  learning  from  the  first  three  workshops  and  continued  to  develop  the  Science  and  Engineeing  Practices.  The  SEPs  are  known  to  challenge  elementary  teachers  due  to  their  lack  of  understanding  what  engineering  practices  “look  like”  in  a  K-­‐5  or  K-­‐8  setting.  Therefore,  one  of  the  specific  goals  of  all  workshop  sessions  was  to  include  the  enactment  of  engineering  practices.  For  example,  there  was  an  activity  on  creating  a  shock  absorbing  system  

for  a  lunar  lander,  while  another  focused  on  creating  batteries  and  electrical  circuits  with  lemons,  galvanized  nails,  and  copper  wires.       Because  there  were  district  budget  constraints  that  determined  how  many  days  were  accommodated  for  the  project  workshops,  it  was  not  possible  to  implement  the  lesson  study  component  of  the  project.  This  was  described  in  the  proposal  as  a  process  in  which  small  groups  of  teachers  in  a  given  grade  level  cooperatively  write  a  lesson  and  implement  the  lesson  cyclically  in  each  of  the    teachers’  classrooms  while  the  other  teacher-­‐collaborators  observe,  take  notes,  and  refine  the  lesson  collaboratively.  The  lesson  study  element  would  have  required  at  least  four  more  full  days  and  26  substitutes  more  for  each  of  the  four  extra  days.  Therefore,  the  Executive  Director  suggested  that  the  26  teachers  create  grade  level  lessons  to  implement  in  their  own  classrooms  during  their  inservice  time.  To  this  end,  the  teachers  created  lessons  based  on  the  5-­‐E  model  that  I  taught  them.  These  lessons  were  uploaded  to  MYConnect,  the  learning  management  system  that  PUSD  teachers  use  to  post  resources  for  teaching  personnel  and  for  them  to  access  professional  development  resources.  Until  the  end  of  the  Spring  2017  semester,  teachers  continue  to  refine  and  upload  their  lessons.                                One  of  the  most  memorable  and  productive  events  in  the  project  was  Professional  Growth  Day  on  January  18,  2017.  This  event  consisted  of  all  700  PUSD  K-­‐5  teachers  divided  among  7  specific  elementary  schools.  The  26  participant  teachers  (site  science  leaders)  were  divided  among  the  7  schools  as  were  the  26  principals.  At  the  same  time,  all  700  teachers  were  receiving  professional  development  consisting  of  the  hands-­‐on  science  lessons  created  by  the    participant  teacher  teams.  The  event  was  exciting,  amazing,  and  I  was  very  proud  to  see  the    learning  in  the  workshops  up  to  that  time  being  applied  with  all  700  PUSD  elementary  teachers.  The  26  teacher  participants  did  an  excellent  job  in  this  event!  Professional  Growth  Day  is  an  event  that  is  provided  to  all  26  elementary  school  sites,  and  teachers  decide  what  they  woud  like  to  learn.  In  relation  to  my  project,  the  Executive  Director  and  I  planned  this  day  as  an  extension  of  the  NGSS  workshop  on  the  previous  day.       The  Executive  Director  informed  me  that  the  principals  from  the  26  participating  elementary  schools  were  highly  complimentary  of  the  Professional  Growth  Day  event,  but  were  just  as  excited  about  the  learning  from  the  NGSS  workshops  that  their  respective  science  leader  (n=26)  were  sharing  with  their  school  site  teaching  peers.  Therefore,  the  Executive  Director  asked  me  if  I  was  willing  to  engage  the  26  principals  in  hands-­‐on  NGSS  activities  that  were  reflective  of  concepts  that  the  26  science  leaders  were  learning.  I  decided  that  I  would  have  them  engage  in  science  and  engineering  practices  activities  that  allowed  them  to  experience  the  kinds  of  learning  their  science  leaders  were  exposed  to  during  th  workshops.  One  activities  I  chose  were  creating  a  shock  absorbing  system  for  a  lunar  lander  using  specific  items  provided  to  them.  The  other  activity  was  creating  a  bridge  using  only  toothpicks  and  school  glue  with  the  goal  of  supporting  weights  up  to  20  pounds  when  tested.    My  objective  was  for  the  principals  to  learn  how  to  support  their  teachers  in  science  activities,  as  science  requires  lots  of  preparation  and  materials  that  need  to  be  purchased.  Teachers  need  to  feel  supported  in  their  preparation  for  teaching  science.     A  survey  was  disseminated  to  the  teachers,  but  as  of  the  submission  date  for  this  final  report,  only  10  teachers  have  responded.  I  am  submitting  this  report  somewhat  late  as  I  am  still  waiting  for  the  remaining  16  teachers  to  respond  to  the  survey  on  Google  Forms.  The  survey  has  responses  for  the  10  responders  and  is  included  in  this  report.  The  workshop  agendas  for  the  workshops  is  also  included  in  the  final  report.    Another  document  that  provide  evidence  of  the  workshop  outcomes  is  a  complimentary  letter    writing  by  the  Executor  Director  of  Learning  Services  for  PUSD  descring  what  was  accomplished  during  the  workshops  and  most  importantly,  the  effects  of  the  workshops  on  PUSD  getting  ready  to  go  into  full  NGSS  implementation  in  Fall  2017.  Mission  accomplished!  

Ingrid  Flores    

NGSS  Workshop  1  Agenda    October  7,  2016  

   

8:00-­‐8:15:  Science  quotes  activity  8:15-­‐8:30:  Overview  of  sessions  8:30-­‐8:45:  Daily  Science  and  technology  decisions  8:45-­‐9:45:  Examining  the  standards  activity  9:45-­‐10:  Break    10-­‐10:45:  Three  dimensional  learning                                          What  is  the  purpose  of  curriculum  standards?                                            Structure  of  NGSS  definition  activity  10:45-­‐11:00:    Analogy  Activity  11:00-­‐11:45:  Lesson  Sketch  and  cross  curricular  integration  11:45-­‐12:00:    Debrief  12:00-­‐1:00:  Lunch  1:00-­‐1:20:  Overview  of  professional  growth  day  1:20-­‐1:50:  Brainstorming  for  professional  growth  day  small  group-­‐Present  ideas  1:50-­‐2:20:  Whole  group  discussion  2:20-­‐2:45:  Next  Steps,  what  now,  needs,  wants,  clarifications,  thoughts                                                      

Ingrid  Flores    

 NGSS  Workshop  2  Agenda    

November  3,  2016    

 8-­‐9:00  am:  Opening  Activity                                Cross  Cutting  Cconcepts    9:00-­‐10:00  am:  Extracting  DNA  Activity    

• Learning  how  to  use  a  compound  microscope  using  virtual  tutorial  and  virtual  microscope.  

• Microscope  to  view  the  extracted  DNA  material  10:00-­‐10:15  am:  The  Nature  of  Science  presentation  

10:15  am:  Break    

10:30-­‐10:45  am:    MyConnect  Learning  Management  System  10:45-­‐12  pm:    Citizen  Science  and  lesson  based  on  the  topic    

• Work  with  grade  level  • Use  individual  laptops  to  explore  citizen  science  sites  • Create  a  lesson  sketch  

12-­‐12:30  Lunch  break  12:30-­‐2:30  Professional  Growth  Day  Preparation  Progress  reports  by  Executive  Director  of  Learning  Supports:  Cindy  Le  Clercq  

• Plan  final  format  preparation  • Lesson  Plans  need  to  be  submitted  to  MyConnect  • Lesson  planning  support  by  Dr.  Flores  • Masters  to  copy  and  materials  • Links  to  NGSS  resources  

                 

     

   

Needs  and  To-­‐Dos  • Microscopes  and  slides  • Strawberries  • Copies  • http://concord.org/ngss/  • copies  of  NGSS  standards    • transition  document  

Ingrid  Flores    

 NGSS  Workshop  3  Agenda    

January  12,  2017      

8:00-­‐  8:30  am:  Cross  Cutting  Concepts  Activity  

8:30-­‐  10  am:  Light  Exploration/Concepts  of  Light    

10-­‐  10:15  am:  Break  

10:15  am-­‐  12  pm:  Lunar  Lander  Activity  

12-­‐1:00  pm:  Lunch    

1:00-­‐2:00  pm:  Disciplinary  Core  Ideas  Activity  

1-­‐2:30  pm:  Teacher  Science  Lesson  Planning      

1:30-­‐3:00  pm:  Finalizing  Professional  Growth  Day  Activities  and  Resources  

   

             

                                   

 

Ingrid  Flores    

POWAY  UNIFIED  SCHOOL  DISTRICT  Elementary  Professional  Growth  Day  

January  13,  2017  Principal  Groups  

 GRADE  LEVEL   HOSTING  SITE   PRINCIPAL  GROUPS  

TK/K  Contacts:  PE:  Lynnette  McDonnell  Science:  Julie  Mori  

Midland   Sidia  Martinez  –  Lead  Principal  Ricardo  Cecena  Deanne  McLaughlin  Rhonda  Taylor  Tina  Ziegler  

 

1  Contacts:  PE:  Julie  Takeshita  Science:  Pat  West  

Willow  Grove   Amy  Huff  –  Lead  Principal  Sal  Embry  Joe  Erpelding  Doug  Johnson  

 

2  Contacts:  PE:  Cyndi  McClelland  Science:  Stephanie  Vasquez  

Adobe  Bluffs   Eddie  Park  –  Lead  Principal  Mark  Atkins  Laura  Crow  Christine  Donnelly  

 

3  Contacts:  PE:  Lauren  LeMaster  Science:  Linda  Rasmussen  

Canyon  View   Megan  Battle  –  Lead  Principal  Mike  Mosgrove  Bob  Rodrigo  Terry  Worthington  

 

4  Contacts:  PE:  Louie  Martinez  Science:  Sylvie  Evans  

Painted  Rock   Denise  Davis  –  Lead  Principal  Mandy  Bedard  Rhiannon  Buhr  Gail  West  

 

5  Contacts:  PE:  Margaret  Epperson  Science:  Kara  Fradsham  

Stone  Ranch   Lisa  Danzer  –  Lead  Principal  Ann  Auten  Libby  Keller  Jennie  Mikels  Cindy  Venolia  

     

NGSS  Workshop  4  Agenda    March  9,  2017  

PUSD  Union  Office  

Ingrid  Flores    

NGSS  Workshop  4  Agenda    11031  Via  Frontera    

   Welcome  Activity:  8-­‐8:15  am  Break  the  Code  Activity:    8:15-­‐8:45  am  Science  and  Engineering  Practices  Brainstorm  and  Sort  Activity:  8:45-­‐10:00  am  Break:  10-­‐10:15  am  Whale  Activity  10:15-­‐10:30  am  Teacher  Science  Lesson  Planning:  10:30  am-­‐12  pm  Lunch:  12-­‐1:00  pm  Science  and  Engineering  Practices  Stations  Rotations  Activity:  1:00-­‐3:00  pm                                                      

       

Ingrid  Flores    

 NGSS  Workshop  5  Agenda    

April  6,  2017    

Welcome  Activity:    8-­‐8:15  am  Cross  Cutting  Concepts  Activities:  8:15-­‐8:45  am  Science  and  Engineering  Practices  Activities:  8:45-­‐10:00  am  Break:  10-­‐10:15  am  Disciplinary  Core  Ideas  Activities  10:15-­‐10:45  am  Creating  Electrical  Circuits  Activities:  10:45  am-­‐12  pm  Lunch:  12-­‐1:00  pm  

Lemon  Batteries  Activity:  1:00-­‐3:00  pm    

                                                         

Ingrid  Flores    

 NGSS  Workshop  Agenda  

PUSD  Elementary  Principals  Training    April  20,  2017  

   

Scientist  quotes:  7:30-­‐7:  50  am  NGSS  Conceptual  Shifts  activity:  7:50-­‐8:20  am  NGSS  overview:  8:20-­‐9:00  am  Break:  9:00-­‐9:15  am  Lunar  landing  Activity:  9:15-­‐  10:15  am  Break:  10:15-­‐10:30  am  Toothpick  Bridge  Activity:  10:30  am-­‐  12  noon    

• Consider  the  current  shifts  in  science  education.  • Reflect  on  classroom  practices  for  teaching  and  learning  in  the  sciences.    • Discuss  three  dimensional  learning  per  NGSS  • Discuss  how  a  classroom  might  look  different  with  the  new  NGSS  

 

Ingrid  Flores    May  2017  

1  

Assigned  Time  Grant  Project  Next  Generation  Science  Standards  Workshops  Survey  

 Long  Answer  Text  Items:    1.    What  was  most  valuable  to  you  in  our  six  meetings/workshops?  2.    What  activities  have  you  tried  in  your  classroom?  3.    What  aspect  of  learning  do  you  feel  you  need  more  time  with?  4.    What  does  science  look  like  now  in  your  classroom  compared  to  August  2016?  5.    What  will  you  do  differently  next  school  year?  6.    What  else  do  you  need  go  move  forward  as  a  science  leader  at  your  school  site?  7.    What  do  you  want  in  terms  of  more  training  and  professional  development  next  year?    Multiple  Choice  Items:    8.      Compared  to  the  beginning  of  the  Next  Generation  Science  Standards  workshops  in  Fall                  2016,  how  has  your  science  content  knowledge  increased  as  of  April  2017?  _____  Significantly  (5)  _____  Somewhat          (5)  _____  Not  at  all    9.      How  has  your  confidence  for  science  teaching  increased  due  to  the  NGSS  workshops  ?  _____  Significantly      (3)  _____  Somewhat            (7)  _____  Not  at  all    10.      To  what  degree  have  the  NGSS  workshops  helped  you  in  your  science  lesson  planning?  _____  Significantly      (7)  _____  Somewhat              (3)  _____  Not  at  all    11.    To  what  degree  did  the  NGSS  workshops  stimulate  your  science  learning?  _____  Significantly      (8)  _____  Somewhat              (2)  _____  Not  at  all    12.      To  what  degree  did  the  NGSS  workshops  lived  up  to  your  expectations?  _____  Significantly        (8)  _____  Somewhat                (2)  _____  Not  at  all              

Ingrid  Flores    May  2017  

2  

Long  Answer  Text  Items  Responses    1. What  was  most  valuable  to  you  in  our  six  meetings/workshops?  

Learning about new resources and the new "structure" of NGSS lessons. The collaboration with people who were excited about science! Hands on activities Getting to collaborate with colleagues about lesson planning, resources, and implementation. Time to spend looking into Science lessons and talking with other teachers around the district to see what science is like at their school. Networking with colleagues, training on new NGSS integrated standards, time to develop and test lesson plans Time to collaborate with colleagues and the hands-on science The opportunity to collaborate with colleagues at other sites and the resources to take back and immediately share with the other teachers. Better understanding of the key components of the NGSS standards Collaboration and lesson plan format  

2. What  activities  have  you  tried  in  your  classroom?  The new lesson format and the Jell-O earthquake activity. Clouds in a bottle, mystery science. Slides and other Mystery Science activities Mad Science Mystery science and hands on experiences, more Engineering projects. Integrated lessons plans that follow the new NGSS format Anything related to Mystery Science A few lessons from Mystery Science to try it out. For this past year, I've still been using the experiments from the Harcourt science book. a number of engineering activities, and the weather and sound Mystery Science lessons Mystery science  

3.    What  aspect  of  learning  do  you  feel  you  need  more  time  with?     Finding a consistent curriculum that could help me get my school/team on board. Getting more comfortable with the standards at the primary level. More time to develop lessons for units that are new to my grade. Time to plan more units. I had a great physical science unit with activities, mystery science. I'd like more time to develop more earth and life science units. Continued work developing lessons plans, networking with grade level partners from district, training to help ease the tension of change among our peers Pooling resources together Finding more easy-to-use activities that support the new standards, apart from the ones found on Mystery Science. Also, building excitement at my site about the new standards. Lesson planning and looking for appropriate resources Unpacking the NGSS standards  

4. What  does  science  look  like  now  in  your  classroom  compared  to  August  2016?  It is more hands on and we are using a variety of new resources (instead of Science books) We are doing about the same, But I love science.

Ingrid  Flores    May  2017  

3  

Much more engaging More hands on, more student lead, more inquiry, less front loading More hands on, exploring and designing. More working together and trying things over and over. Hands on; Inquiry based; Collaborative; Messy and Fun More integrated with ELA More hands-on learning and higher student engagement! More time for student exploration, and student generated inquiry questions that promote individual research and classroom presentations. Thematic engineering tasks that coordinate with current units of study. inquiry based, asking questions, exploring, doing!

 5. What  will  you  do  differently  in  your  science  teaching  next  school  year?  

I will feel confident enough to supplement with my own materials and do hands on activities (like Mystery Science) in the new exploration structure. I would like more science center opportunities. Begin the year with this science. Fully switch over to a science notebook. The structure and purpose of my student notebooks will look different then they do now, more aligned with what we learned about in our sessions. Continue to build upon what I started this year and to add to it. Not so much differently just more of what Iʼve already started doing More integration Implement the NGSS completely instead of just using it as a supplement to our old standards. Add the use of science notebooks as an assessment tool. Plan more thematic units that are cross curricular. Create a gofund account or donors choose to purchase science and engineering equipment

 6. What  else  do  you  need  go  move  forward  as  a  science  leader  at  your  school  site?  

To figure out a way to get the staff onboard. Just curriculum More time to explore resources to present to staff, time to talk with my staff about changes in science Time to develop units and research ideas Time.....as always Resources to help all teachers. Another year of learning with passionate colleagues. It so inspiring to be around other teachers who are motivated to try something new! Time to meet with staff and share appropriate resources. The ability to co-teach or model lessons for those hesitant to jump in. Materials, resources, space for a science/ stem lab, time to plan (please continue with xplo and let us plan for science inquiry!), PD opportunities, TLC

 7.    What  do  you  want  in  terms  of  more  training  and  professional  development  next  year?    Figuring out how to involve other staff members into our learning so that they can feel confident enough to try things in their classroom. I liked the way it was structured this year. I like the hands on, would like more tactile resources. I liked having examples of activities to take and try. I would like more actitvity ideas aligned with my grade. I valued and would like to have more collaboration creating lessons, sharing ideas, and

Ingrid  Flores    May  2017  

4  

exploring resources. Time to develop more units. It takes time to research ideas and put them in sequential order for what makes sense in a unit. Training, model examples, development of lessons to share and show how what many are already doing just needs to be tweaked a bit to fit new standards Creating a bank of tried and true units. Much like the time this year. With all of the elementary sites using Mystery Science next year, it will be even easier to collaborate on what lessons work well or suggestions for changes. Many teachers also pull lessons from other resources and those are always good to share. Continue to unpack the standards, continue to plan units, but broaden the scope to include more examples of how the science might connect to ELA, math, and social studies. Continue to identify useful resources across all grade levels.