Western Science Chronicle
SIATECH
V O L U M E
INSIDE
THIS ISSUE:
T.I. Science
2
ELL Tips
4
Reading
Strategies
6
Holiday
10
Demonstrations &
Activities
Choosing
Common
12
Promoting 13
Independent
Thinking
I ,
I S S U E
4
N O V E M B E R
2 0 1 3
Science at Treasure Island
My name is Del Spicer and I have taught
at SIATech for six years. I started teaching after working in a virus research lab
for about twenty years. I left the lab and
went back to school received my teaching credential from San Francisco State
University.
Last week two staff members
and nineteen science and mathematics
students went on field trip to the Exploratorium. The Exploratorium has moved
from the Place of Fine Arts to Pier 15 on
the Embarcadero in San Francisco.
The Exploratorium opened in 1969 and was the brain child of Dr. Frank Oppenheimer.
Once the students received their orientation from the Exploratorium staff they were free
to check the exhibits.
I gave them some questions I wanted
them answer.
My Exploratorium Experience.
 Describe what was your
most interesting experience at the Exploratorium .
 Would you visit the Exploratorium on
your own?
 The Exploratorium was the brain
child of Frank Oppenheimer
 There was another famous Oppenheimer. What is his relationship to Frank
and what was it he helped to develop?
They all seemed very excited about the science exhibits. I appreciate Mr. Hoey for helping and taking the pictures.
West Coast Science Completions by Site
SITE
Number of Completers Reported
Sacramento
3
Treasure Island
7
PAGE
2
Exploring the Exploratorium
On Thursday, Nov. 14th, some students
from SIATech’s math and science classes
attended a field trip to the Exploratorium’s Pier 15 location.
There were many interesting exhibits to learn from, and
all the trainees who went were very impressed with how
much fun the hands-on activities could be. Malik Riser
was able to shake hands with himself with the help of a
very large parabolic mirror, while Merih Alem and Yonas Abraha worked on flying different satellites on the
same simulator. When asked which exhibit was the most
fun, Sandy Mendez replied, “All of them!” Our group
had a great time, and everybody came away with a new
perspective about how the world really works!
Photos and text by Mike Hoey, Treasure Island SIATech
NEWSLETTER
TITLE
5 Key Strategies for ELL Instruction
By Rebecca Greene
English Language Learners (ELLs) face the double challenge of learning academic content as well
as the language in which it is presented. Teachers have traditionally treated language learning as a
process of imparting words and structures or rules to students, separate from the process of teaching
content knowledge. This approach has left ELLs especially unprepared to work with the complex texts
and the academic types of language that are required to engage in content area practices, such as
solving word problems in Mathematics, or deconstructing an author’s reasoning and evidence in English Language Arts. ELLs need to be given frequent, extended opportunities to speak about content ma-
terial and work through complex texts in English with small groups of classmates.
The new, widely-adopted Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards
also call for all students, including ELLs, to master an array of academic language practices that are
critical to achievement in content areas. Examples of these academic language practices include: argument from evidence, analysis of complex texts, and developing and using models. At Stanford’s Understanding Language, we have found that ELLs benefit from instructional approaches that treat language and content in an integrated way that is designed to help them build the language skills that
they need to succeed in content classrooms, college and careers.
Working closely with Denver Public Schools teachers Ms. Emily Park-Friend (Bruce Randolph
School) and Ms. Katie Langlois (Morey Middle School), we’re glad we can show through this video se-
ries ways that these 7th grade ELA teachers prepare their learners by activating prior knowledge, scaffolding meaning making with complex texts, and developing ELLs’ discipline and academic language
practices in ELA classrooms.
The set of six video clips begin with this short overview by Understanding Language ELA work
group members George Bunch (University of California, Santa Cruz) and Aída Walqui (WestEd). This
overview video discusses the key shifts found in the Common Core for ELLs and the opportunities for
ELLs to grow their disciplinary knowledge and English language skills in heterogeneous classrooms.
Through the classroom videos, we see several key strategies for encouraging English Language Development:
Scaffolding Understanding
The classroom video series highlight how ELA teachers can take account of the language demands
that ELLs face in content classrooms and help ELLs meet these demands with increasing autonomy
over time. As discussed in this video, this means providing ELLs with strategic types of scaffolding,
such as graphic organizers, visual aids, peer help, or home language help, and removing these sup-
ports as students’ skills develop. This way, ELLs can be given the opportunity and the necessary support to meet rigorous academic standards.
(Continued on page 5)
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5 Key Strategies for ELL Instruction cont’d.
Purposeful Grouping
Also, as this video explains, ELLs learn best when
they are in heterogeneous classrooms. ELLs need to be
given ample opportunities to have extended interaction
(such as doing ‘jigsaw’-type activities) with peers of
varying English proficiency levels, who can provide
ELLs with a range of models for how to use English
words or structures appropriately, as well as abundant,
personalized feedback on ELLs’ own developing English
use. It is best for ELLs if, within their classrooms, teach-
ers sometimes group students heterogeneously according to English proficiency, and sometimes homogeneously, depending on the purpose of the task at hand.
Background Knowledge
Another teaching technique (demonstrated here) that is beneficial for ELLs, is to provide them
with relevant background knowledge about a topic to be discussed in class, or activate their existing
knowledge of a topic. Besides increasing student interest, this allows students to focus more fully on
the instructional goals, rather than being overwhelmed with too much new information at once. It
also allows ELLs to bridge new knowledge to old knowledge, increasing understanding, and it helps
some ELLs fill in contextual information (such as American political history or cultural details) that
they may not have due to coming from different cultural backgrounds.
Extended Discussion
Though teachers have generally attempted to teach ELLs difficult vocabulary before having them
read texts, ELLs learn new vocabulary best through extended discussion with their classmates after
reading or between multiple readings, as this video explains.
Valuing Linguistic Differences
Schools and teachers can help ELLs greatly by learning about ELLs’ home cultures and languages,
treating cultural and linguistic differences as resources rather than obstacles, and reaching out to students’ homes and communities to build learning opportunities together.
https://www.teachingchannel.org/blog/2013/10/25/strategies
-for-ell-instruction/
5
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What Students Can Do When the Reading Gets Rough
Sunday Cummins
With the new focus on close reading and challenging informational texts, students need to take an active
role in monitoring their own understanding.
Nick, a 5th grader, sits reading with the informational text held close to his eyes, an intense look on his face. The
teacher moves quietly to his side for a reading conference. When she asks him to tell her about what he's reading, he
pauses with a blank look. He quickly glances at the end of the text, then looks up and regurgitates the last fact on the
page: "The Himalaya are growing taller." The teacher realizes that Nick either hasn't been paying attention to what he's
reading or has been struggling to understand the text, unsure how to help himself.
This is a familiar scenario. Frequently, when assigned to read, intermediate and middle grade students engage in a
mindless encounter with the text. Their minds wander. They daydream. Or, try as they might to focus and gather information, they're mostly confused and not sure how to repair the breakdowns in their comprehension.
As we pursue helping students meet the Common Core State Standards, there's a lot of push in the field to engage
students in close reading, which can be defined as a careful, systematic analysis of a text for a particular purpose
(Brummett, 2010). This analysis takes place at the word and phrase levels as well as at the sentence and paragraph
levels. A legitimate concern is that students like Nick won't be able to read a text closely for purposes like synthesis of
the author's central ideas if they can't self-monitor—noticing what they do and don't understand and then repairing
meaning when it breaks down.
A student like Nick can probably do so if the teacher asks text-dependent questions related to the content (and there's
a place for this). However, students also need to learn how to independently read a text closely, using text-dependent
questions (Boyles, 2012/2013), such as
What's the author's main idea?
What details in the text make me think so?
How do those details support or convey the author's main idea?
Teaching for this kind of self-monitoring doesn't have to be a digression from pursuing the Common Core standards.
It's possible to teach students to monitor and repair their capacity for meaning-making as they engage in close reading.
A Productive Inner Dialogue
Let's examine what this might look like with an excerpt from an informational article, "Active Earth" (Geiger, 2010), written for intermediate-grade students. The main idea is that Earth is not an inert entity. Instead, it's active in many ways,
and this activity affects the movement of the tectonic plates.
In the following paragraphs, the author offers several key details that support that main idea. If a student can understand this excerpt well, he or she will have a better idea of how to think strategically through the rest of the article.
Collision!
As the plates move, they crash into each other like bumper cars. We see and feel the shifting in many ways: earthquakes, volcanoes, mountain ranges—even hot springs! Most of
this action happens at the edges of the plates, where they meet.
Plates meet at convergent, divergent, or transform boundaries. A
convergent boundary is where two plates collide. A collision
between two continents is a real head-banger. It causes the plates
to push upward. That's what's been happening as India crunches
into the Asian plate. The plate carrying Asia has been pushed up.
Way up. In fact, the collision has created the towering Himalaya
Mountains! This huge collision is still going on. As it does, the
Himalaya grow taller. (p. 12)
Let's say a 5th grader is working on self-monitoring while also reading to determine how key details support the main idea. He or she
would have read the whole article first to identify the author's main
idea. Then the student would closely reread the excerpt to examine
key details. Here's how the student might self-monitor during this
close reading:
(Continued on page 7)
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What Students Can Do When the Reading Gets Rough cont’d.
Before I read, I'm going to remind myself that the author's main idea is that
the Earth is active. I figured that out when I read the whole article through the
first time. Now I'm going to think about the information in each sentence—
information I understand and information I don't understand.
(Student reads the first sentence.)
OK. I know about bumper cars. I've driven one and know that when they
crash, the impact jerks your whole body. This helps me understand the force
of two plates hitting each other. Bam!
(Student reads the second sentence.)
Here the author is giving me examples of what this hitting looks like. She
includes a list of terms I know, like earthquakes and volcanoes. I'm not sure
what a hot spring is because I've never seen one, but it's in the list so it must
be similar to the other terms—that is, a hot spring, whatever it is, must be caused by the tectonic plates shifting, just
like an earthquake is. So if I think about this first paragraph, I realize the author has helped me by connecting this concept with a familiar experience—bumper cars—and by listing examples of what those crashes cause, a few of which
I'm familiar with. I'm starting to better understand what it means for the Earth to be active: Major crashes are occurring,
and these cause things like earthquakes.
The student is engaged in close reading. He or she is self-monitoring for understanding and, at the same time, examining how various details help clarify the main idea. The trick is for students to sustain this kind of thinking for the rest
of the excerpt and then continue to think critically as they read longer texts on their own.
So how do we help students self-monitor as they're also thinking critically through the text?
Teach the Term Self-Monitor
Many students believe reading and understanding should be effortless, and they find complex texts frustrating as a
result. They don't realize that proficient readers sometimes lose track or get confused about the meaning of a text but
then are able to automatically refocus and skillfully repair their understanding. Engaging students in a conversation
about this can be liberating for them. Explaining the act of "self-monitoring for meaning" may help students articulate
what they need to do to stay focused on making meaning or why they're confused. Here's an example of a teacher's
student-friendly explanation of this process:
Have you ever been assigned to read a text and as you read, your mind wandered to other topics, like what you're doing after school? (Chances are students will nod their heads and smile knowingly.) Or, while you're reading, have you
ever struggled to understand? When we read, we need to self-monitor. This means we need to stay focused on the
text while reading and be aware of when our meaning-making is breaking down. We need to ask questions like, Do I
already know this? Is this new information? Do I understand what I just read? If I don't, how do I figure it out? These
kinds of questions can help us stay focused on the text and help us determine if we need to reread the text and use
particular strategies to make better sense of it.
It's also helpful to articulate other ways students fail to self-monitor. Some students skip over difficult vocabulary without even realizing that this will affect their comprehension. Others may look at photos and illustrations in a text for their
aesthetic appeal ("That's cool!"), but they don't consider how these features support or extend the author's central ideas. Or students may realize they've encountered an unfamiliar vocabulary word or idiom, but they're unsure how to
figure out what it means.
When discussing the concept of self-monitoring, describe these instances. Chances are students' eyes will open wide
when they realize you know exactly what's happening in their minds as they read. They'll be more likely to listen as
you model ways to stay focused, concentrate on meaning-making, and repair meaning when it breaks down.
Introduce the Coding Method
I've found that the coding method (Hoyt, 2008) is an effective strategy for students who struggle with self-monitoring
while reading informational texts. After reading a chunk of text, students code their thinking using the following symbols:
(Continued on page 8)
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What Students Can Do When the Reading Gets Rough cont’d.
* This information is already familiar.
+ This is new information.
? I'm not sure I understand this information.
✔ I tried to problem solve by __________.
Students write the code on a sticky note and jot a quick thought
as a way to track their thinking. For example, if a student was
reading the second paragraph in the excerpt, he or she might
stop at multiple points to write the following coded notes:
+ I get what the author is saying about two plates hitting like dinner plates. I had never heard of tectonic plates' "boundaries."
✔ At first, I didn't understand "convergent boundary," but then I
figured it out by reading the author's description a couple of
times and creating a picture in my head. She's saying that this is
where two plates collide or crash, and it must be a hard crash
because when my brother head-bangs me, it hurts.
? I'm not sure what a convergent boundary—two plates meeting
and pushing upwards—looks like in real life.
I model and guide students in writing these notes before they try this out with a partner and then on their own.
Sometimes, despite the modeling and guidance, students may begin to code their way mindlessly through an
excerpt. This can happen if they don't have a purpose for reading beyond self-monitoring for comprehension.
This means they'll use all your sticky notes, write a million "I already knew this" statements, and end up not really
understanding the article. One strategy that helps is asking students to pause after coding and reflect on how the
thinking they coded helps them better understand the main idea.
For example, after writing the coded notes about the second paragraph, that same student might write the following:
The author wants me to understand that the Earth is active. She's helped me by telling me about boundaries—
places where the edges of the tectonic plates (the Earth's crust) meet and crash. She described one of these
boundaries in detail to help me think through what happens when two plates meet. The plates push upwards.
Model, Assess, and Model Again
When I first introduce coding to students, I place a text on the document camera, read aloud a chunk of the text,
and then think aloud about what was familiar or unfamiliar, what I understood or what I was able to figure out. I've
read the article in advance, determined the main idea, and then written model notes with codes on sticky notes.
As I think aloud, I place these prewritten notes onto the article (projected by the document camera) so students
can see a visual of my thinking.
After the first lesson, I read through the students' coded notes. What I learn from this formative assessment helps
me determine teaching objectives for the next minilesson on self-monitoring. For example, if there are few coded
notes about what the students didn't understand, I'll model writing these types of notes during the next lesson. If
they're writing about how they figured out the meaning of a chunk of text they didn't understand but they only
used a few limited ways of doing so, I'll model additional ways to solve the problem.
For example, let's say several students who were confused about something in the text write that they chose to
reread the text to help clarify the meaning. However, I find that there's no indication in their notes that this approach actually helped. I might model how using features like photographs and captions can help me better understand the text. I might model continuing to read with my questions in mind, seeking out answers that might
surface later on.
Sometimes a student's coded note can serve as a model for classmates. For example, a student might write the
following note:
✔ I know what a convergent boundary looks like now! The author gave me a real-life example—the Himalaya.
Then I looked at the photo of the Himalaya Mountains, and I completely understood. Those big ridges in the photo are where the edges of the plates pushed up.
(Continued on page 9)
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What Students Can Do When the Reading Gets Rough cont’d.
During the minilesson, I'd place the sticky note on the document camera and ask the student to share her thinking and
how she monitored for meaning. Students usually appreciate
having their work affirmed in front of their peers, and this conversation can propel students forward in their own engagement
with texts.
The goal of teaching students to code their thinking is for them
to self-monitor automatically, without the sticky notes and
codes. Some students will need to continue coding more than
others to stay on task. Others will quickly understand what they
need to do and take flight as readers.
Provide Time and Support
To help students become proficient at self-monitoring, provide
plenty of quality time for students to immerse themselves in
sustained reading of informational texts (Hiebert, 2009). The
more students read these kinds of texts, the more familiar the
themes and structures will feel to them when they read texts
that are less familiar. They'll also become more comfortable
working their way through complex, sometimes frustrating, texts.
The tricky part is getting students to choose these texts. To invite curiosity, prominently display engaging informational texts in the classroom library and book-talk them. Ask the librarian to share new texts with students, and encourage students to discuss the texts and read one another's reviews of them. Coach stu- dents as they read to support
them as they tackle longer, more complex texts (Cummins, 2011). And be sure to read informational texts aloud to
students (Cummins & Stallmeyer-Gerard, 2011). This can increase students' interest in picking these texts up on
their own.
Informational texts have changed drastically in the last 10 years. Authors strive to capture and sustain the reader's
attention. The texts often have attractive designs and layouts with features that help the students access more difficult concepts.
Consider Marc Aronson's Trapped: How the World Rescued 33 Miners from 2,000 Feet Below the Chilean Desert
(Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 2011). Aronson narrates the disaster, chronicling the fate of the miners as well
as the efforts of hundreds of professionals who worked tirelessly to rescue them and to care for bereaved family
members. He describes the ominous conditions of this geographic location and the creative engineering people engaged in solving the problem. Colleagues have told me there's an audible moan when they stop reading aloud
Trapped for the day—students don't want to stop listening. Once teachers start reading aloud resources like these,
these texts and similar titles fly off the library shelf, independently chosen by eager readers.
Starting Out Right
Before jumping into teaching to the Common Core standards, we need to step back and ask, "What does a student
need to be able to do to begin working toward achieving the standards?" If a student is unaware when meaning
breaks down or doesn't understand how to repair it when
it does, then teaching for self-monitoring is a good place
to start.
http://www.ascd.org/publications/educationalleadership/nov13/vol71/num03/What-Students-CanDo-When-the-Reading-Gets-Rough.aspx
Holiday Demonstrations and Activities
(Ideas from Carolina Biological Supply Company)
Crystal Risko
Product Developer
As the holidays arrive and students become focused on their winter vacation plans, performing demonstrations or
doing fun class activities can help hold their wandering attention span while still teaching science concepts. The
following are a few suggestions of activities or demonstrations that you and students may enjoy.
Safety
Conduct these activities in accordance with established laboratory safety practices, including appropriate personal
protective equipment (PPE) such as gloves, chemical splash goggles, and lab coats or aprons. Ensure that students
understand and adhere to these practices. Know and follow all federal, state, and local regulations as well as school
district guidelines for the disposal of laboratory wastes. Students should not eat, drink, or chew gum in the lab and
should wash their hands before and after entering or leaving the lab.
Marbled Gift Wrap
Topics covered: properties of water, polarity, properties of soap
BACKGROUND
Foam shaving cream is primarily composed of air and soap. Soap is an amphipathic substance, which means that its
molecules have both a hydrophilic (water loving) and a hydrophobic (water fearing) end. Because of this, soap is
able to combine with water and also with many oils. Because of the shaving cream’s hydrophobic end, when you
drop food coloring (a hydrophilic substance) onto shaving cream, the coloring does not spread.
Paper is primarily composed of cellulose (a hydrophilic substance). When you place paper on top of the shaving
cream and the colored pattern, the food coloring is attracted to the paper, causing the colored pattern to transfer permanently to the paper.
MATERIALS (PER STUDENT)
Foam Shaving Cream
stock
Liquid Food Coloring
Waxed Paper
Ruler
Toothpicks
Paper or card
PROCEDURE
1. Spread out the waxed paper so it covers an area slightly larger than the paper you are going to marble.
2. Squirt shaving cream on the waxed paper and smooth it out with a ruler so that you have at least 2 cm of shaving
cream covering the paper.
3. Place drops of the food coloring that you like on the shaving cream.
4. Using toothpicks, swirl the colors around in the shaving cream to create a pattern that is pleasing to you.
5. Place the paper on top of the shaving cream so that it is lying flat. Pat it very lightly to ensure that the entire surface of the paper contacts the shaving cream.
6.
7.
8.
9.
Grab the paper by 1 corner and peel the paper up from the shaving cream.
Lay the paper flat on a dry surface with the shaving cream side up.
Allow the shaving cream to dry.
Using the ruler, scrape any remaining shaving cream from the paper.
Holiday Demonstrations and Activities
(Ideas from Carolina Biological Supply Company)
Silver Decorations
Topics covered: oxidation-reduction reactions, activity series
BACKGROUND
In this activity students perform a redox reaction in which silver crystals take the place of copper in copper wire. The copper changes from its elemental form to its aqueous ionic form. During the course of the reaction, the silver ions are reduced
and are removed from the solution. The silver ions are deposited on the copper wire as elemental silver. The copper metal is
oxidized and forms ions in the solution, changing the solution from colorless to light blue. The following reaction occurs:
2AgNO3(aq) + Cu(s) → Cu(NO3)2(aq) + 2Ag(s)
MATERIALS (PER STUDENT)
0.1 M Silver Nitrate, 50 mL
Copper Wire
Beaker, 50 mL
Scissors
String, 20 cm
Craft Stick
PROCEDURE
1. Shape a piece of copper wire into an object of your choosing, such as a star, snowflake, Christmas tree, or other shape.
This shape must be small enough to hang suspended in the beaker without touching the sides or bottom.
2. Tie 1 end of the string to the wire shape.
3. Tie the other end of the string to the craft stick.
4. Place the wire shape in the beaker and rest the craft stick on top of the beaker. Rotate the craft stick, winding the string
around it, until the wire shape is suspended.
5. Pour silver nitrate into the beaker until the shape is
covered.
6. Allow the shape and solution to remain undisturbed.
Examine it after half an hour has passed. If you
leave the shape in the silver overnight, the shape
may disintegrate.
3 Strategies to Promote Independent Thinking in Classrooms
-
Imagine the intentional focus you would bring to crossing a rushing creek. Each stepping-stone is different in shape,
each distance uneven and unpredictable, requiring you to tread with all senses intact. The simple act of traversing water
on stones is an extraordinary exercise in concentration. Now think of how, with all the tweeting, texting and messaging
that technology has given us, our attention is frittered away by the mundane. The speed of communication undermines
the continuum of thought. That rushing creek is much harder to cross.
In his study of people who find satisfaction with their lives, Harvard psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (3) defines as
autotelic those who are happiest when they are absorbed in complex activities. By focusing on tasks and outcomes that
stretch their skills, these young people are more likely to grow into contented adults. The most significant factor for autotelic development is what Csikszentmihalyi terms attentional capacity. Consequently, if his research into self-motivated
learning is correct, then the classroom should become an incubator for growing students' attentional capacity. Instruction should be organized in intriguing yet challenging ways to foster attention.
Teachers can utilize three strategies to cultivate improved focus: sequencing instruction, recovery from mistakes, and
setting goals.
1. Sequencing Instruction
Finding intriguing ways to sequence information is one method for promoting students' sense of discovery. One science
teacher organizes his physical science class into circus labs. This requires that his students, instead of all doing the same
activity in the same period, will instead be working on independent investigations to teach one aspect of the lesson. To
understand the concept of "heat," they rotate among 14 different explorations over the two-week unit. Each lab forces
students to collaborate as they uncover scientific properties. After all the labs are complete, they have a fuller picture of
heat's physical properties. Students have reported these activities as intriguing, compelling and shared -- all of which
promoted long-term concentration to make the learning more effective.
2. Recovery from Mistakes
Learning from past errors also provides capacity for continued student learning. Here are two unique approaches
demonstrating this method.
A math teacher begins each class with a simple question: "Who made the biggest mistake last night?" Then he waits for
volunteers to share errors from their homework. After correcting one volunteer's problem, he challenges the other students: "That wasn't a big enough mistake. Surely somebody else made a bigger one than that!" With his generous encouragement for learning from failure, he ratchets up his students' curiosity for process solutions. Revisiting and revising will
concentrate the mind if done without judgment.
Another example of recovery from mistake making is through teaching students how to improve their writing by having
them revise papers they've already written. Students who experiment with new sentence patterns and advanced grammatical structures, not from a textbook but from their own previous essays, are learning from application. For improved
expression, this is far more motivating and worthwhile than going back to a less personal source.
3. Setting Goals
Teachers also have success by incorporating purposeful goals in classroom instruction. If students can be motivated into
exploration and discovery in any subject, they will set certain goals for themselves in the classroom. The teacher, by encouraging such goal setting, cultivates their focus even further. For example, in an American studies course, one teacher
centers students on the Big Question of the week. The first week begins with a very compelling question. "Who is an
American?" she writes in large letters on the board. Through aligning the central intention early in the period and opening doors for understanding, she provides a scaffold for ongoing dialogue. As another example, a biology teacher poses
the question: "What is living?" Again, the psychic energy in the class is amplified. This central question alone funnels the
course readings, class discussion and research into a purposeful focus.
By testing and analyzing unique ideas, the classroom can grow students' attentional capacity and show them the value of
and methods for thinking independently. Only through strategy and design can the classroom become a laboratory of
focus and attention. This is what we must do if we want schools to fulfill their purpose: developing young minds that
have been assured new ideas are exciting and worth pursuing.
How do you encourage independent thinking in your classroom?
http://www.edutopia.org/blog/3-strategies-promote-independent-thinking-margaret-regan