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“Nice Ideas” [sic] offers inspiration aplenty for ways to create science/math/language literacy classroom con-nections and units. Find it on page 3 of the CSMEE newsletter (Horizon, Winter 1999). Right away we are reminded of the answers to such questions as, What is the chemical and geometric structure of ice? What is the size of the largest recorded snowflake? Why does ice float?” because the answers are right there. After reading the article it is easy to see that the information in this short article on water, ice and snow, can act as the basis for planning interdis-ciplinary standards-based science units.

We can use the information in this article and ones like it to find out two kinds of information about students. First we can find out about their content area prior knowledge when we ask them some of the ques-tions answered by the article. (How big is the biggest recorded snowflake?) Second, by ask-ing them to explain how we might find out (or con-firm) the answers, we can learn about students’ under-standing of research. For example, when they answer that, “We can look up the information in journals or other references, or even, that we could conduct an observation,” we then know that they know about these resources. Students’ responses serve as assess-ments of their content and their research skills and knowledge, and the basis for our next steps.

Now we can proceed to access resources to enable them to search out answers—in print and through experiment. The work that students do in this area, reading, writing and experimenting about a topic, and perhaps creating models (of snowflakes, for example), can be integrated into the second literacy block to increase their language and science literacy skills.

MAKING UNIT PLANNING OPERATIONAL IN OUR CLASSROOMS

A unit might start with a lesson in which students are asked to think about and recall what they know about ice and snow, including snowflakes. Then, it could proceed with a cooperative KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned). In this activity, students work in their cooperative groups to record what they know and what they would like to know about snowflakes, for example. Each group prepares a list of their “Know” and “Want to Know” categories.

A class chart for these categories can then be created which reflects all of the students’ contributions and hung up for the class’s consideration. From students’ current understandings as reflected on the chart, and their oral discussion, it will be possible for us to see directions for possible further discussion, readings and research and writing. A plan can then be made for a middle section of the unit. Finally, A possible culminating activity might be oral presentations by each group of the reports they have created based on their readings, research and other activities.

TEACHER CREATED PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS

To catch up on or learn about additional forms of performance assessment that teachers can create and use, go to the Teacher Center and read “A Student Watcher’s Guide to Performance in Science.” Learn, for example, about using concept mapping as an assessment and evaluation tool. When students create concept maps at the begin-ning and ending of a unit, the result is a clear demonstration of their learning. Learn even more about this and other forms of performance assessment by going online to the site listed under concept mapping and download a powerful list of additional readings.

What can you do then? To develop your ideas and apply them, first visit your Teacher Center and check out the ERIC/CSMEE articles. Share your successes!

Q
HOW CAN YOU FIND OUT ABOUT ERIC/CSMEE?
A.
YOUR TEACHER CENTER HAS COPIES OF SAMPLE ITEMS FROM ERIC (ON THE RESOURCE LIST, PG. 7). TO LEARN EVEN MORE, VISIT ERIC/CSMEE ONLINE: http://www.ericse.org, OR CALL 1-800-276-0462.

Q
HOW USEFUL ARE THESE RESOURCES FOR PLANNING REAL CLASSROOM LEARNING AND TEACHING EXPERIENCES?
A.
SEE THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS FOR SAMPLE IDEAS ABOUT HOW TO USE THE RESOURCES.

RESOURCES AT THE TEACHER CENTER
How deep can ERIC/CSMEE learning be? “How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?” Even songs remind us how math and science questions surround us. Matching resources to support students’ learning, however, hinges on pinpointing those resources’ loca-tion. That is where ERIC comes in. Looking for infor-mation about science fairs or alternate assessment methods for tracing secondary students’ math and science progress? See ERIC/CSMEE online and samples at your Teacher Center in hard copy.

ONLINE OR IN PRINT— PINPOINTING RESOURCES WITH ERIC/CSMEE.
What about ways to introduce envi-ronmental education, and encourage learning at home? Reading in the content areas to support the literacy standards? Or clarifying the relation-ship among standards, the curricu-lum, science unit planning, and active/project-based learning? Need sci-ence and math resources for English Language Learners and students with spe-cial needs? Go to ERIC/CSMEE! exchange of information and services.

AT YOUR TEACHER CENTER— ERIC/CSMEE RESOURCES
Resources are listed alphabetically by topic

About ERIC—Learning About available Resources
All About ERIC, (NLE 1999-4007).

Assessment and Science
A Student Watcher’s Guide to Performance in Science; topics include portfolio assessment and rubrics, with a brief description of a rubric for assessing portfolios, (David L. Haury. ERIC DIGEST. (May 1997).

Internet
Getting Online: A Friendly Guide for Teachers, Students, and Parents, (NLE 98-2529).

Minorities
Minorities in Science and Math, (Julia V. Clark. ERIC DIGEST. May 1997.)

Parents and Science
Science Education Resources: An Annotated Bibliography Of Science Education Resources For Families, (Peter Rillero. ERIC/CSMEE. 1994).

Science Fairs
A Science Fair Companion, (Wendy Sherman McCann. ERIC DIGEST. May 1999).

Science Fairs in Elementary School, (Andrea K. Balas. ERIC DIGEST. January 1998).

Science and Math Teaching
Information Resources for Science Education, (Matthew J. Maurer. ERIC DIGEST. November 1998).

K-8 Science and Mathematics Education, The ERIC Review, Volume 6, Issue 2, (Fall 1999). Outstanding issue with additional resources listed.

Tropical Rainforest Education, (Peter Rillero. (ERIC DIGEST. June 1997).

Resources for Teaching and Learning About Probability and Statistics, (Hea-Jin Lee. ERIC DIGEST. May 1999).

CSMEE HORIZON, (CSMEE, Winter 1999). Fascinating facts about ice, water, and snowflakes—could serve as the basis for an assessment of students’ knowledge, levels and interest, (great additional references).

Special Education
Science Classrooms For Students With Special Needs, (Wendy Sherman McCann. ERIC DIGEST. February 1998).

REFERENCES
Ames, C. (1993). How school-home-communications influence parent beliefs and perceptions. Equity and Choice, 9 (3), 44-491.
___ (1995) Teachers’ school-to-home communication and parent involvement: The role of parent perceptions and beliefs (Report # 28). East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, College of Education, Center on Families, Communities, Schools, and Children’s Learning.

Christenson, S.L. (1995). Supporting home-school collabo-ration, in A. Thomas and J. Grines. (eds.), Best Practices in School Psychology III, (253-267). Washington, DC: National Association of School Psychologists, or,

___ (1995). Supporting home-school collaboration, on the Internet at University of Minnesota website, Child Youth and Family Consortium, http://www.cyfc.umn.edu/Learn/supporting.html Rich, D. (May, 1998). What parents want from teachers. Educational Leadership. (37-39).

Center for School Community Development (CSCD) at North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL). (1999). Literature Review of School-Family Partnerships. Online: http://www.-ncrel.org/sdrs/pidata/pi0ltrev.htm or call 1-800-356-2735.


	LEARNING WITH ERIC - CREATING UNIT PLANS. “Nice Ideas” [sic] offers inspiration aplenty for ways to create science/math/language literacy classroom con-nections and units. Find it on page 3 of the CSMEE newsletter (Horizon, Winter 1999). Right away we are reminded of the answers to such questions as, What is the chemical and geometric structure of ice? What is the size of the largest recorded snowflake? Why does ice float?” because the answers are right there. After reading the article it is easy to see that the information in this short article on water, ice and snow, can act as the basis for planning interdis-ciplinary standards-based science units. We can use the information in this article and ones like it to find out two kinds of information about students. First we can find out about their content area prior knowledge when we ask them some of the ques-tions answered by the article. (How big is the biggest recorded snowflake?) Second, by ask-ing them to explain how we might find out (or con-firm) the answers, we can learn about students’ under-standing of research. For example, when they answer that, “We can look up the information in journals or other references, or even, that we could conduct an observation,” we then know that they know about these resources. Students’ responses serve as assess-ments of their content and their research skills and knowledge, and the basis for our next steps. Now we can proceed to access resources to enable them to search out answers—in print and through experiment. The work that students do in this area, reading, writing and experimenting about a topic, and perhaps creating models (of snowflakes, for example), can be integrated into the second literacy block to increase their language and science literacy skills. MAKING UNIT PLANNING OPERATIONAL IN OUR CLASSROOMS A unit might start with a lesson in which students are asked to think about and recall what they know about ice and snow, including snowflakes. Then, it could proceed with a cooperative KWL (Know, Want to Know, Learned). In this activity, students work in their cooperative groups to record what they know and what they would like to know about snowflakes, for example. Each group prepares a list of their “Know” and “Want to Know” categories. A class chart for these categories can then be created which reflects all of the students’ contributions and hung up for the class’s consideration. From students’ current understandings as reflected on the chart, and their oral discussion, it will be possible for us to see directions for possible further discussion, readings and research and writing. A plan can then be made for a middle section of the unit. Finally, A possible culminating activity might be oral presentations by each group of the reports they have created based on their readings, research and other activities. TEACHER CREATED PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENTS To catch up on or learn about additional forms of performance assessment that teachers can create and use, go to the Teacher Center and read “A Student Watcher’s Guide to Performance in Science.” Learn, for example, about using concept mapping as an assessment and evaluation tool. When students create concept maps at the begin-ning and ending of a unit, the result is a clear demonstration of their learning. Learn even more about this and other forms of performance assessment by going online to the site listed under concept mapping and download a powerful list of additional readings. What can you do then? To develop your ideas and apply them, first visit your Teacher Center and check out the ERIC/CSMEE articles. Share your successes! Q HOW CAN YOU FIND OUT ABOUT ERIC/CSMEE? A. YOUR TEACHER CENTER HAS COPIES OF SAMPLE ITEMS FROM ERIC (ON THE RESOURCE LIST, PG. 7). TO LEARN EVEN MORE, VISIT ERIC/CSMEE ONLINE: http://www.ericse.org, OR CALL 1-800-276-0462. Q HOW USEFUL ARE THESE RESOURCES FOR PLANNING REAL CLASSROOM LEARNING AND TEACHING EXPERIENCES? A. SEE THE FOLLOWING SECTIONS FOR SAMPLE IDEAS ABOUT HOW TO USE THE RESOURCES. RESOURCES AT THE TEACHER CENTER How deep can ERIC/CSMEE learning be? “How deep is the ocean? How high is the sky?” Even songs remind us how math and science questions surround us. Matching resources to support students’ learning, however, hinges on pinpointing those resources’ loca-tion. That is where ERIC comes in. Looking for infor-mation about science fairs or alternate assessment methods for tracing secondary students’ math and science progress? See ERIC/CSMEE online and samples at your Teacher Center in hard copy. ONLINE OR IN PRINT— PINPOINTING RESOURCES WITH ERIC/CSMEE. What about ways to introduce envi-ronmental education, and encourage learning at home? Reading in the content areas to support the literacy standards? Or clarifying the relation-ship among standards, the curricu-lum, science unit planning, and active/project-based learning? Need sci-ence and math resources for English Language Learners and students with spe-cial needs? Go to ERIC/CSMEE! exchange of information and services. AT YOUR TEACHER CENTER— ERIC/CSMEE RESOURCES Resources are listed alphabetically by topic About ERIC—Learning About available Resources All About ERIC, (NLE 1999-4007). Assessment and Science A Student Watcher’s Guide to Performance in Science; topics include portfolio assessment and rubrics, with a brief description of a rubric for assessing portfolios, (David L. Haury. ERIC DIGEST. (May 1997). Internet Getting Online: A Friendly Guide for Teachers, Students, and Parents, (NLE 98-2529). Minorities Minorities in Science and Math, (Julia V. Clark. ERIC DIGEST. May 1997.) Parents and Science Science Education Resources: An Annotated Bibliography Of Science Education Resources For Families, (Peter Rillero. ERIC/CSMEE. 1994). Science Fairs A Science Fair Companion, (Wendy Sherman McCann. ERIC DIGEST. May 1999). Science Fairs in Elementary School, (Andrea K. Balas. ERIC DIGEST. January 1998). Science and Math Teaching Information Resources for Science Education, (Matthew J. Maurer. ERIC DIGEST. November 1998). K-8 Science and Mathematics Education, The ERIC Review, Volume 6, Issue 2, (Fall 1999). Outstanding issue with additional resources listed. Tropical Rainforest Education, (Peter Rillero. (ERIC DIGEST. June 1997). Resources for Teaching and Learning About Probability and Statistics, (Hea-Jin Lee. ERIC DIGEST. May 1999). CSMEE HORIZON, (CSMEE, Winter 1999). Fascinating facts about ice, water, and snowflakes—could serve as the basis for an assessment of students’ knowledge, levels and interest, (great additional references). Special Education Science Classrooms For Students With Special Needs, (Wendy Sherman McCann. ERIC DIGEST. February 1998). REFERENCES Ames, C. (1993). How school-home-communications influence parent beliefs and perceptions. Equity and Choice, 9 (3), 44-491. ___ (1995) Teachers’ school-to-home communication and parent involvement: The role of parent perceptions and beliefs (Report # 28). East Lansing, MI: Michigan State University, College of Education, Center on Families, Communities, Schools, and Children’s Learning. Christenson, S.L. (1995). Supporting home-school collabo-ration, in A. Thomas and J. Grines. (eds.), Best Practices in School Psychology III, (253-267). Washington, DC: National Association of School Psychologists, or, ___ (1995). Supporting home-school collaboration, on the Internet at University of Minnesota website, Child Youth and Family Consortium, http://www.cyfc.umn.edu/Learn/supporting.html Rich, D. (May, 1998). What parents want from teachers. Educational Leadership. (37-39). Center for School Community Development (CSCD) at North Central Regional Educational Laboratory (NCREL). (1999). Literature Review of School-Family Partnerships. Online: http://www.-ncrel.org/sdrs/pidata/pi0ltrev.htm or call 1-800-356-2735.