Rigorous Science Content and Instructional Practice

Ms. Katrina Slone, Knott County Public SchoolsDr. Kent Price, Morehead State UniversityGEAR UP Alliance Institute March 2009

What is the Mathematics Science Project (MSP)?

MSP is a federal initiative to improve mathematics and science instruction.

It attempts to deepen teachers’ content knowledge and enhance their ability to teach their subject area by learning from university partners and other expert practitioners.

It includes a component on school leadership development and also on helping the university strengthen teacher preparation.

Knott County Mathematics Science Partnership Project (MSP)

Who is involved in KnottCounty? All teachers of mathematics

and science in grades 3-12

School principals and district instructional coaches for mathematics and science

District staff responsible for grants and curriculum and instruction

Who are the partners? CTL (Collaborative for

Teaching and Learning) is the lead and provides coordination plus on-site and distance professional development/coaching

Morehead State University provides professional development/coaching with CTL and Knott County Instructional Coaches

What Are the Desired Outcomes?

Teachers in grades 3-12 should demonstrate increased knowledge of their content area and increased ability to apply that knowledge to classroom practice, to promote student learning.

Knott County High School

What Are the Desired Outcomes?

Knott County High School

Principals and other instructional leaders should have increased knowledge of how to lead, monitor and support instructional improvement efforts that result in higher achievement.

What Are the Desired Outcomes?

Students should demonstrate gains on achievement measures (KCCT) in mathematics and science and on the work they produce in class.

Participating teachers and administrators should coalesce into a community of learners that values its own professional growth and develops the capacity to sustain improvement efforts.

What Are the Desired Outcomes?

Morehead State University should gain critical insights into preparing and recruiting teacher candidates, and also into working with practicing teachers to deepen their content knowledge.

Current Project Activities

Formal training sessions, which engage teachers and principals in rigorous content through model lessons

On-site coaching with groups of teachers and in individual classrooms

Distance learning and support using Webex and Wikis

Study groups focused on content knowledge

The Role of Uncertainty in Science

All science involves observations or measurements

All measurements have uncertainty Understanding uncertainty is therefore critical

part of rigorous science teaching

- identified as a gap area by MSP

Types of Uncertainty

Random Uncertainty – measurement is just as likely to be too high or too low. – Example: When reading a ruler we round to

nearest marking– Can be reduced by taking multiple measurements

and using the average– Easily identified: multiple measurements give

slightly different answers

Types of Uncertainty

Systematic Uncertainty – measurement results in value that is consistently too high, or consistently too low– Example – a ruler that is warped, making it too

short– Note reduced by averaging– Difficult to detect: careful technique critical

Accuracy and Precision

Are NOT synonyms Accuracy – how close the result is to the

“true” value (lack of systematic uncertainty) Precision – how close a set of supposedly

identical measurements are each other (lack of random uncertainty)

Accuracy vs. Precision Illustrated

From Taylor 1997

Why is this important?

Example – suppose a class is doing an experiment to measure the effect of fertilizer on plant growth by measuring the change in height of originally identical plants with and without fertilizer. After one week, the plant with fertilizer grew 2.1 cm and the plant without fertilizer grew 2.0 cm. Did the fertilizer help?

It depends!

Without considering uncertainty:

2.1 cm > 2.0 cm fertilizer helped

But if uncertainty is 1 mm

2.1 ± 0.1 cm = 2.0 ± 0.1 cm fertilizer did not help

Conclusions

All scientific observations involve uncertainty Understanding uncertainty is essential for

rigorous teaching of science Without considering uncertainty, both

students and teachers can conclude that an experiment gives the “wrong answer” or even that science “doesn’t work”

Reference: Taylor, John R. An introduction to error analysis – the study of uncertainties in physical measurements, 2nd ed, University Science Books, 1997