MS Course Mapping Discussion

[Eric Brunsell]

What are your thoughts about middle school courses?  How many different ways can you see to organize courses using middle school?

[sare...@yahoo.com]

There are many different ways to organize the courses in middle school but I think that it will depend on the instructional format of the school and the content in the other areas.  For example if the 6th graders study geography in social studies it would make sense to me to have the students study the history and structure of the earth at the same time in science.  I think the biggest challenge for me will be to get the stakeholders in the school district  to clearly articulate the values and constraints so we can build the courses.

 

I have attached the work I did for 8th science to map out my course and units when my district announced that we were changing our MS science topics to meet the draft of the NGSS.  8th grade was given the task of covering all physical science content.     I got the impression that there were two reasons for this change away from the integrated science we had in previous years: ,a) the Science curriculum leader was more comfortable with traditional courses, b) the science curriculum leader thought physical science would overlap with algebra and support the math skills used in the course.

 

I would counter that in MS students develop the ability to become more abstract thinkers and that some of the topics in life and earth science such as heredity would be more appropriately taught at the 8th grade level,  I also would say that there are math connections in all science disciplines and that the math skills used in physical science does not overlap with the algebra as much as one might think beyond F=MA.  However graphing and basic algebraic equations are only a small portion of the 8th grade algebra course.   Our students are working on solving multi-step equations with inequalities, polynomials and FOIL this semester in math,  and there is not a lot of overlap with science for those specific skills at the 8th grade level. 

[fende]

This is an interesting reworking of the draft and I think your inclusion of guiding/essential questions is key.  A few thoughts:

• I wonder about the benefit of doing this when you did.  Much has changed since the May draft.  Are you now reworking this to address the final version?  It is worrying to me that states and districts are asking teachers to do this without standards documents even being finalized.  I can't speak to the reasons in your district, but as someone outside looking in, this seems like a challenging use of human capital with so many other initiatives in place.  I apologize for my bluntness; I like to say it like it is.
• I wonder about the design of this document.  This doesn't seem to exhibit curriculum design, but rather a different template for looking at the standards.  The essential questions are helpful in getting a sense of what would be going on, and their are a few explorations highlighted using NSTA resources as a guide, but I wasn't able to get a solid sense of what your curriculum might "look" like.  Of course, it would probably be helpful (at least to me) if I saw a "before" curriculum map in conjunction with this "after."  That might help the curricular overlay be clearer.
• I commend you on sharing work that at most, for everybody, is drastically incomplete.  You've encouraged me to share a document in the elementary section.  Thank you.

[sare...@yahoo.com]

1)  My district Science coordinator informed all MS science teachers in June of 2012 that the curriculum would be changed for the 2012-2013 school year based on the draft of the NGSS.  Numerous teachers tried to point out the oddity of using a draft to guide changes but we were overruled and told the changes would be happen for  Sept of 2012 so we had summer to try to figure out what to do.  I completely agree with your assessment and that is one reason why I'm VERY CONCERNED about the implementation of the NGSS because I've seen so much wasted time and effort.

We we told that all physical science standards would be reassigned to 9th grade and to make it work.  So I tried to make lemons out of lemonade and worked to package the standards in ways that related to inquiry-labs and STEM design projects.

What I attached was the overview of the units of study for the entire 8th grade,  I have created documents that show the short term and long term learning targets for each unit of study with the corresponding activities and assessment.  I wasn't sure if I should post those as well.  I'll add the expanded version for my current unit of study on Matter.

The layout was done to match the template that was "required" by the district.  I would make modifications to the template but there is a lot of personal preference in the layout of a curriculum map.

You are also correct in that these documents need revision based on the final version of the NGSS standards however at this time, I have not heard any information about how the district plans on implementing the NGSS.  

[fende]

Thanks for this.  I hope you don't have to do too much "wheel reinvention" moving forward.  I found the matter expansion you supplied a very worthwhile document and it has certainly provided me with a visual of how the MS PEs can be built into a curriculum mapping format.  Thanks again.

Fred

[Deborah Hilscher Middle School]

My focus for this question was on my current content moving  toward the Integrated Conceptual Model. I believe, based on some brief conversations, that this may be the preference of my district.   One model would be to keep From Molecule to Organisms MS-LS1 and LS3   Heredity: Inheritatance and Variation of Traits as the life science components.  I would then add MS- ESS2 .4 the Cyling of Water (Hydrology Cycle) that is driven by energy from the sun. The hydrologic cycle and the sun's interaction, directly affect the survival of organisms such as migration, plant, growth, adaptation due to change in salinity, temperature etc.   In life science we discuss chemical processes of body such as metabolism, osmosis, molecules of the body such as water and carbon, and how those processes work together to maintain homeostasis.  MS-PSI Matter and Its Interactions taught in this context would provide a deeper understanding of the chemical composition of the body. This content would also help explain on a more micro level how mutations occur.  I would move Interactions, Energy, and Dynamic Relationships LS2  to Course 3 ( Current Earth Science Course) because you are mapping our the relationships between biotic and abiotic factors and the cycling of energy.

 

On Monday, April 29, 2013 11:22:38 PM UTC-5, Eric Brunsell wrote:

[Deborah Hilscher Middle School]

Our distict strongly encourages the GANAG lesson plan format.  Instructing and assessing the goals is valued,  The "i" format of the goals is what I use. Your goals are very student friendly which I believe is integral. I think some of district work will be to create student friendly goals/expectations that are student friendly.

[DAVID TREML]

After looking at the standards we decided it would be most beneficial to integrate the standards instead of creating specific courses. We are leaning toward this method to provide the students with variety as well as we do not want large gaps from sixth grade to high school. After shuffling the standards around we tentatively did arranged it the following way:

 

		6th		7th		8th
Earth Science		Cycles		Solar System Weather		Universe Plate Tectonics Human Impacts
Life Cycle		Cells Ecosystems		Biodiversity Genetics Adaptation Natural Selection		Senses Fossil Evidence and Diversity
Physical		Forces and Motion Energy and Forces		Atoms Conservation of Energy		Chemical Reaction Waves Electromagnetic

 

 

We are a far way off from finalizing anything, but we wanted to get a start. Any input that anyone has would be greatly appreciated. I would love to see some other models as we consider numerous possibilities.

[ccpu...@gmail.com]

On Monday, April 29, 2013 11:22:38 PM UTC-5, Eric Brunsell wrote:

> What are your thoughts about middle school courses?  How many different ways can you see to organize courses using middle school?

Thanks for the ideas shared here. I have the next school year to really dig deep into this topic (middle school science NGSS alignment) and come up with a plan. In the drafts there was a course progression presented in one of the appendices. I have noticed that it is not live yet for the final NGSS. We currently have 8th grade teaching all physical science. With ESS being an elective course in high school, and with enrollment declining in that course, I feel that I want more ESS during that 8th grade year. I also like the idea of an integrated approach.

[Marsha Ratzel]

As I worked on the draft standards, it became more and more apparent to me that there is a real connection between what we need to know about physical science and the chemistry of life.  I think that the HS curriculum goes after it a bit.

In my district life science has always been at 7th grade.  The teachers love it and fight tooth&nail every time any suggests that it should be changed and/or switched.  I think that NGSS may be the reason why we would have to overcome that resistence.

If you think about the growth industries of science....biotech is super hot right now.  And to my way of thinking that means understanding not only the biology of life but also the biochemsitry of life.  So if we want to do this any justice, wouldn't we want to wait to study life science as long as possible so that students would know more about the chemistry that makes it so?  Maybe postpone life science until 8th grade?????  If you started with the ideas how things are put together (you know all the properties of matter and how they combine/form new things, etc)....then the last middle school course could tie all this together.

Isn't this really the biology course of the future?  Isn't this really the way the colleges are thinking about biology now?

On Monday, April 29, 2013 11:22:38 PM UTC-5, Eric Brunsell wrote:

[cobrien]

Integrated courses seem the most logical fit to me at the 6-8 grade level.  It pairs the varied interests of this age group with the fact that they have very short attention spans! One problem with this is that there are no materials offered by textbook companies to help teachers teach NGSS integrated science, to my knowledge.  I am positive this will come within the next year.  There is money to be made and the textbook companies will comply.  It may even come down to simply rearranging their texts that they already have to make them fit the NGSS.  Before jumping into developing my own courses, I’d like to take a wait and see approach.  Give it a year or two before trying to invent something.  After all, the NGSS are not even complete yet AND the states have yet to officially adopt them. Spend this first year getting acquainted with the standards and see where it goes nationally.

On Monday, April 29, 2013 11:22:38 PM UTC-5, Eric Brunsell wrote:

[sare...@yahoo.com]

Should be be comfortable shifting the responsibilty to a textbook company?  I've gone through several textbook adoption cycles and have been very dissapointed and amazed by the wide range in quality of textbooks.  I also know that the book picked by the teacher advisory committee may not be the final picked by the district due to pricing and other offers from publishers.

 

At a minimum,  are these some topic that are better suited together or for older/younger students?  For example, I think that chemical reactions, history of the earth and heredity would be better suited for 8th graders. because these topic can be more abstract, while 6th graders would do well with more concrete topics in ecology, zoology and rocks.

[Tammy Huenink]

I think the best option in middle school is an integrated approach.  There seem to be many ways to organize the courses even using the cross cutting concepts as an option.  I think it is important to keep in mind what is best for students and not teachers having the focus of "this is what I what to teach".  With many middle school science teachers not being experts in a discipline and being 1-8 certified I am concerned about the traditional physical, life, earth blocking.  With the physical sciences typically in 6th grade what happens when the teacher teaching that grade has no background in the subject and is now teaching an entire curriculum.   Not only might an integrated approach be the best option but may integrate the teachers as well so that they can teach their strengths for each grade level.

On Monday, April 29, 2013 11:22:38 PM UTC-5, Eric Brunsell wrote:

[Eric Brunsell]

I agree regarding biology in college -- at least in many of the advanced courses. 

[Kathryn Fedel]

I used to teach sixth, seventh, and eighth science concurrently with an integrated approach. The kids were able to build on knowledge year to year and not get bored for a full year if not interested in the material. I currently teach 6th grade Earth science but next year Earth/physical science. I prefer the integrated approach but in the past teachers were teaching similar topics differently so we went to a single subject (life-Earth-physical) per year approach to keep learning consistent. Sixth and eighth grade will be integrated a bit next year but our seventh grade will still be only life science.

On Monday, April 29, 2013 11:22:38 PM UTC-5, Eric Brunsell wrote:

[Barbara Walton-Faria]

We already have an integrated approach...the problem with that approach is cohesiveness between topic areas...a connection that my middle school units can made and that allow me to build on lessons already learned. It is difficult to connect cell biology and force and motion at the middle school level. Sometimes I miss the "old" days where we taught a specific science in each grade because the connections were obvious because of the content..now we have to look for connections within bigger circles of themes. Thoughts?