Going backwards to move your science curriculum forward:
A practical guide to designing better science units
Nick Mitchell, ES Science Coordinator, American School of Doha, [email protected]
Activity #1
Stage 1 of unit design: Identify desired results
Instructions: Read over the AERO performance indicators below that have been
selected for a 5th grade unit about energy. Then determine the essential
knowledge, skills, and understandings for the unit.
AERO performance indicators:
Forms of Energy
1. Describe how energy has the ability to create change. (1.2.8A.6)
2. Explain that energy comes from different sources, such as electricity and
water, and is utilized in many common objects. (1.3.4A.2)
3. Describe how energy produces changes (e.g., heat melts ice, gas makes car go
uphill, electricity makes TV work). (1.3.4A.3)
4. Identify the various forms of energy, such as electrical, light, heat, sound and
explain that these forms of energy can affect common objects and are involved
in common events. (1.3.4A.4)
Energy Transformation
5. Compare the following ways in which energy may be transformed:
mechanical to electrical; electrical to thermal (1.4.8A.6)
6. Describe how an object can have potential energy due to its position or
chemical composition (1.4.8A.6b)
7. Explain that solar energy reaches Earth through radiation, mostly in the form
of visible light. (1.4.8C.6)
Earth’s Resources
8. Identify the importance of minerals, ores, and fossil fuels as Earth’s resources
on the basis of their properties
9. Identify examples where human activity has had a beneficial or harmful effect
on other organisms (e.g., feeding birds, littering vs. picking up trash,
hunting/conservation of species, paving/restoring greenspace) (3.6.4A.5b)
10. Explain how recycling and conservation affect populations, resources, and the
environment (6.1.6A)
11. Explain ways humans benefit from Earth’s resources (e.g., air, water, soil,
food, fuel, building materials) (6.1.6A)
Knowledge:
Skills:
Understandings:
Going backwards to move your science curriculum forward:
A practical guide to designing better science units
Nick Mitchell, ES Science Coordinator, American School of Doha, [email protected]
Activity #2
Stage 2 of unit design: Determine acceptable evidence (assessments)
Instructions: Using the essential knowledge, skills, and understandings you
developed for the 5th grade energy unit, develop a series of assessment ideas that
can provide evidence for student learning of each essential.
Suggestions:
 Use a variety of assessment mediums (writing/doing/saying)
 At least 3 pieces of evidence per essential
 Each individual assessment should assess more than one essential
Assessment ideas:
Going backwards to move your science curriculum forward:
A practical guide to designing better science units
Nick Mitchell, ES Science Coordinator, American School of Doha, [email protected]
Activity #3
Stage 3 of unit design: Plan learning experiences and instruction
Instructions: Pick one of the assessment ideas you developed for the 5th grade
energy unit. Plan about a week’s worth of lessons leading up to that assessment
so that students will be prepared to successfully demonstrate their learning on
the assessment.
Suggestions:
 Try to address students’ preconceptions about the topic
 Use multiple experiences around a concept to develop deeper understandings
 Use activities where students can learn by doing and thinking like a scientist
(inquiry-based)
Lesson ideas:
Going backwards to move your science curriculum forward:
A practical guide to designing better science units
Nick Mitchell, ES Science Coordinator, American School of Doha, [email protected]
Recommended Resources:
Book resources
Taking Science to School: Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8 (2007)
Richard A. Duschl, Heidi A. Schweingruber, and Andrew W. Shouse, editors
Understanding by Design (2004) Jay McTighe and Grant Wiggins
Talk About Assessment: Strategies and Tools to Improve Learning (2007)
Damian Cooper
How to Grade for Learning (2009) Ken O’Connor
How People Learn (1999) John D. Bransford, Ann L. Brown, and Rodney R.
Cocking, editors
How Students Learn: Science in the Classrooms (2005) M. Suzanne Donovan and
John D. Bransford, editors
Web resources
National Academies Science Standards Framework (coming Spring 2011):
http://www7.nationalacademies.org/bose/Standards_Framework_Homepage.ht
ml
NSTA update on progress of new National Science Standards:
http://www.nsta.org/about/standardsupdate.aspx
AERO Science Framework (free to download):
http://www.projectaero.org
Taking Science to School (read online for free):
http://www.nap.edu/openbook.php?record_id=11625&page=1
Grand Island Public Schools (example of a backwards-designed science
curriculum)
http://www.gips.org/learning/Curricular-Areas/science/CourseGrade-LevelDesign-Maps
Atlas Rubicon Exemplar units
http://www.rubicon.com/AtlasTestDrive_Video.php?video=Exemplar
Going backwards to move your science curriculum forward:
A practical guide to designing better science units
Nick Mitchell, ES Science Coordinator, American School of Doha, [email protected]