Purposeful Earth & Life Science Education: The
Incorporation of SMART into a Classroom
An Efficacy Study
Authors: Donna Campano, M.S., Teresa Brown B.S., Kelly Miksch, B.S.
Table of Contents
Motivation: Students Struggling to Apply Concepts ..................................................... 1
Objective: Increase State Testing Results ................................................................... 2
Methodology ................................................................................................................ 2
Pairing Best Teaching Practices and SMART .......................................................... 2
Implementing the 4C’s with SMART: Lesson Examples .......................................... 4
Additional Observations and Results ......................................................................... 10
Conclusion and Student Outcomes ........................................................................... 12
Appendix .................................................................................................................... 14
About the School .................................................................................................... 14
About the Teachers ................................................................................................ 15
Motivation: Students Struggling to Apply Concepts
Oak Grove Elementary School (OGES) is a Title 1 campus within the North East Independent
School District (NEISD) in San Antonio, Texas. Due to low state test scores in 2014-2015, Oak
Grove Elementary School (OGES) shifted to departmentalized classes from traditional
classrooms, with each teacher focusing on one subject for the 2015-2016 school-year.
While investigating the root causes of low test scores, science teacher Donna Campano
observed that students were struggling with specific Earth and Life Science concepts, as
outlined in the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Her biggest instructional challenge was vocabulary development: her students could provide the
basic meaning of key vocabulary words, but would not successfully apply them. As such, her
students were struggling to achieve high marks.
Objective: Increase State Testing Results
Teacher Donna Campano conducted a thorough analysis of the previous three school years’
State of Texas Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR), and District Benchmark results
in science, to determine any patterns or trends in student challenges.
Campano determined that she needed to integrate a technology solution combined with a 4 Cs
(Communication, Collaboration, Creation and Critical Thinking) and Total Participation
Techniques (TPTs) approach. She chose to implement a SMART solution (SMART Board and
components of the SMART Learning Suite) into her inclusive learning environment to:
1.
Enrich content learning as a part of classroom practice
2.
Achieve increased test scores
3.
Give her students the ability to interact with instruction
4.
Create collaborative projects
5.
Engage her students in preparatory review sessions.
Methodology
Pairing Best Teaching Practices and SMART
“Donna paired her best teaching practices with her SMART Solution to create a “perfect storm”
of instruction that created a very impactful learning environment. One that would not have been
possible without its engaging technology components.”
Choosing a Technology Solution
Campano knew that to make a significant difference in her students’ performance, she first
needed to look at her teaching practices and lessons. She needed to better highlight the
essential knowledge and skills her students needed for state evaluations.
Working with OGES Instructional Technology Specialists Teresa Brown and Kelly Miksch to
settle on a comprehensive technology solution for her classroom, Campano determined the best
purpose-built education technology solution that fit her instructional goals and classroom
objectives would be a SMART Board integrated with SMART Learning Suite software, allowing
her to:






Address the specific content her students needed
Allow creation of engaging, focused lessons
Enable practice and application of learning in a variety of ways
Address different learning styles
Support Total Participation Techniques
Positively affect student learning outcomes
Enabling Best Teaching Practices
Campano knew her new technology solution would enable her to use best teaching practices to
help students learn the 4Cs (critical thinking, collaboration, communication, and creativity) to
become 21st century learners. Collaborating with Brown, Miksch, and district science specialist,
Alma Gonzales, she created technology-enhanced curriculum content for her class that would
also support her goals. This new content leveraged key features in the SMART Learning Suite.
SMART Notebook™
Students applied their knowledge at a higher level of critical thinking by interacting with
vocabulary and other science concepts on a SMART Board. Students were hands-on with their
learning and began to use their key vocabulary words more frequently during class discussions,
and with their learning partners.
SMART lab™
SMART lab created a dynamic learning environment that Involved the whole class. Competitive
multiple choice games were used to review key concepts and vocabulary. The fun competition
made students more engaged with Campano's content, and helped them understand how to
use their vocabulary and science content in discussions and investigations.
SMART amp™
Campano leveraged SMART amp to provide her students with the opportunity to make
connections with key standards, and show their understanding. By shifting her SMART amp
workspaces into more student-driven digital learning environments, she flipped her instruction
so that her students could learn by themselves, from each other and engage in more critical
thinking.
Implementing the 4C’s with SMART: Lesson Examples
Critical Thinking & Problem Solving with SMART amp – Weather, Climate and
Water Cycle:
To introduce a unit on the water cycle and its interaction with the sun,
Campano had her students create a picture of the water cycle in groups
using SMART amp. Each group was responsible for creating the water
cycle in their workspaces, and had to document, label and describe each
part. Additionally, they were asked to collaborate using SMART amp’s
chat feature to build their content and vocabulary knowledge.
Using SMART amp greatly increased student engagement in the
material. Students began to use key vocabulary words at a deeper level
in the chat function, and off-topic conversation significantly decreased
compared to normal classroom work. All group members, even special
education students, contributed and engaged with the content in SMART
amp. Unexpectedly, students also began to discuss their learning outside of class, and would
ask to continue to use the software when they came in to the lesson.
To analyze if her activity was engaging her students effectively in the required content
knowledge, she gave her assessment for the weather and climate unit, and found that her
classroom scores were starting to increase. She also noticed that her SMART amp activity
achieved the following benefits:
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It helped model critical thinking and problem solving – by
giving them a project that required them to work together as a
group to determine the best way to create the final project.
It emphasized problem solving skills in her classroom.
Students needed to divide the workload, include all assignment
elements, add and manipulate digital content, and communicate
with classmates to build, revise and edit their final work.
It made critical thinking and problem solving more
intentional and purposeful in her classroom. Students were
required to conduct research on a variety of different website
sources and determine the most accurate information
It encouraged her students to be better critical thinkers and problem solvers. By
giving the task of authentic problem solving with a purpose, they had to take learning
into their own hands to solve problems with peers and on their own.
It prioritized effective higher order thinking pedagogy – The class was not just "filling
in the blanks" on a worksheet. They had to completely understand concepts and
vocabulary words to create their cycles.
Finished Student Workspaces: Weather, Climate and Water Cycle:
Building Communication Skills with SMART Boards and SMART Notebook–
Environments and Organisms:
Campano used SMART Notebook to show her class the different environments they needed to
learn, and had them identify their interactions. After looking at these interactions, students were
assigned to construct basic food chains and food webs. Students used the classroom SMART
Board to write the vocabulary word that described each part of the food chain, and then drew
arrows to show the flow of energy.
Campano then created a SMART Notebook food web that used letters instead of names to
symbolize different organisms. Students were asked to identify which type of organism consumer, producer or decomposer - the different letters stood for. In partners, they discussed
their thinking then explained their decisions to the class for class discussion. If the class did not
agree with a label, they would ask questions to have the pair further clarify their reasoning.
Students compete in SMART lab assessment (left). A SMART board displays a student work in progress (right).
To review learning and conduct formative assessment, Campano also developed a SMART lab
“Battle of the Flowers” activity, where students collaborated in teams to answer questions
related to different standards within the unit. All her students, including her special education
students, displayed high engagement in this competitive, game-based learning check.
These activities achieved the following Communication benefits:

It modeled effective communication. Students had to help each other create complete
sentences and hold each other accountable for using correct vocabulary.

It emphasized overall communication through collaboration. Students had an
opportunity to practice the necessary vocabulary in an engaging way, and show a
deeper level of understanding through collaborative communication techniques.

It encouraged students to give oral presentations. As students practiced their
content with the SMART Notebook software, it gave them the confidence to be able to
discuss their learning orally.
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It helped students structure and organize their communication by providing way to
visually and graphically map of the connections of their learning in SMART Notebook.
As students utilized technology and new media for innovative communication, it gave them
confidence in their thinking and learning. Students wanted to share their project with everyone
who walked into their room!
Global Collaboration with SMART amp – Earth, Sun & Moon
Students work in collaborative SMART amp workspaces using devices.
Because Campano’s students had been so successful at collaborating with their peers, she
wanted them to be able to interact with students from different schools. Collaborating with
Brown and Miksch, they developed a SMART amp activity to engage students from 7 different
schools across the district to compare and contrast the physical characteristics of the Earth, Sun
and Moon.
Campano’s students for the assignment by watched videos and read information on how to
describe the physical characteristics of the earth, sun and moon. Then they were divided into
collaborative groups formed of students from different schools to present their learning. The
attribution feature in SMART amp showed students what each group member added to the
workspace, motivating students to contribute with focus and accuracy.
This activity achieved the following Collaboration benefits:

It modeled effective collaboration skills. Students needed to be able to work with
collaborators they had never met within a digital workspace online and achieve a
common goal.

It created a learning environment that emphasized collaboration skills. Groups
determined the best way to work with each other, using the chat feature to discuss what
they had contributed and discovered as the project evolved.

It provided students substantial opportunities to work in diverse teams. Students
worked with new individuals without any prior knowledge of their team’s abilities. Group
members treated each other equally regardless of if they were in regular, gifted, or
special education programs.

It encouraged students to be more effective collaborators through learning to work
together virtually instead of in person.
Representing their schools in this new collaborative activity made a positive impact on
students learning and their self-esteem. All students contributed to the group workspace
and displayed strong understanding of the material. In some cases, Campano observed that
her special education students were contributing as much, if not more, than some other
members of their groups. Students displayed pride in their accomplishments, even
discussing the project outside of science class.
A completed student workspace.
Assignment detail from a completed student workspace.
Creativity and Innovation with SMART amp - Landforms
Campano, with Brown, Miksch and Gonzales, developed a SMART amp activity focused on
landforms. Using the vocabulary from the state standard, students were asked to describe the
landforms they’d studied in class to describe what created it, and each answer a question
embedded into a workspace. Students participated in hands-on investigations of how that
landform was created, using iPads to take pictures of their investigations for their final project.
A student contributes to their SMART amp workspace (left). Campano teaches at her SMART board (right)
Once her students completed their investigations, gathering images, videos and URLs within
SMART amp, Campano gave them questions to answer for each land form in the workspace.
Students were required to write and speak in complete sentences, using active sentences and
full sentence structure, further developing their learning in language and vocabulary.
Along with an increase in students’ end-of-unit assessment scores, this SMART amp activity
achieved the following Creativity and Innovation benefits:

It modeled creativity and innovation skills. Students determined how their
workspaces would, combining multimedia elements with explanations of which process
and agent created the landform.

It encouraged creativity and innovation in her classroom. Groups sourced and
created new diagrams and images using the web and drawing tools, not using existing
media in the SMART amp picture gallery.

It enabled students to work in a variety of different mediums. Students used digital
cameras to record the results of their experiments and input them into their workspaces.

It facilitated problem solving through creative thinking and innovation. Groups
experimented with multiple representations of the same concept in order to determine
the best way to display their thinking visually.
Enabling creativity in the classroom made students excited and eager to get started with class
each day. Being able to take and incorporate their own digital photos into the workspace helped
provide variety to the lesson, boost engagement, and retain learnings, ultimately leading to
higher end-of-unit assessment scores.
Finished student workspaces – Landforms activity
Additional Observations and Results
Student Engagement
Based on her use of her new, SMART-integrated lessons and activities, Campano observed
that her students became truly excited about the content they were learning, and couldn't wait to
get working on them when they came into her classroom. She saw that they were proud of
each project they worked on. As they captured their knowledge in the digital workspaces, they
could then talk about each of the key learning concepts in a deep and meaningful way.
Using game-based elements in her learning checks and formative assessment also increased
student engagement. Students were excited to answer questions in small groups and on their
own when the conducted through the SMART lab activity “Speed-Up”. Through using SMART,
her students’ excitement was reignited in wanting to learn everything – not just the “easy”
concepts.
Gradual Release of Responsibility
By using SMART amp workspaces to enable students to study course material at their own
pace, Campano saw her students naturally move through the Gradual Release of
Responsibility. When they were responsible for the pace of their own learning students became
more engaged in answering the questions that were posed to them. They were able to review
and re-review videos and materials as needed, and as a result began to better understand
learning concepts. Students began to make connections outside of her classroom, even
engaging with her outside of class to discuss what they were learning.
Student-led Learning
Campano discovered that when she allowed students to take the lead in the design of their
assignment workspaces it allowed them to define their own learning, defend their thinking in
ways that spoke to them, and be more creative in the presentation of content knowledge. In
designing her SMART amp workspaces to be student-driven, students began to learn by
themselves, from each other, and ultimately engage in more critical thinking.
SMART amp allowed Campano to access student workspaces in real time, acting as a coach to
evaluate content and provide feedback in real-time through the chat feature. Students loved
having the freedom to explore new concepts while receiving guiding questions and assistance
to better understand and apply key concepts in their learning.
SMART amp also allowed students to receive additional guidance from OGES’s principal Harold
Massey. Students treasured this additional attention and took ownership of their work to
improve their workspaces based on his individualized feedback. Overall, as students felt more
empowered in their learning, engagement and understanding of the content improved.
Conclusion and Student Outcomes
Overall, Campano feels that the effective implementation of SMART in her classroom helped to
bridge the learning gap of her students. It provided them with an engaging and authentic way to
show their learning, and allowed them to construct their understanding in a way that was
meaningful to them. Using SMART allowed her to bring the 4Cs and 21st century skills into the
classroom. As a result, her students actively wanted to learn and show their knowledge within
her SMART activities.
Below is the breakdown of Campano’s year-over-year (from 2014-15 to 2015-16) results.
OGES STAAR Summary Report Grade 5 Science:
Total Percentage Pass Rate Results
100
90
10
80
PERCENTAGE
70
60
4
50
30
0
82
40
57
20
46
0
17
10
0
GeneralEd.-2015
General Ed.-2016
Special Ed.-2015
Satisfactory
Advanced
Special Ed.-2016
General Education Students:

31% Increase in the Total Percentage Pass Rate:
o 25% Increase in Students Achieving Level II: Satisfactory Pass Rate.
o 6% Increase in Students Achieving Level III: Advanced Pass Rate.

Special Education Students:

29% Increase in the Total Percentage Pass Rate:
o 29% Increase in Students Achieving Level II: Satisfactory Pass Rate.
o 0% Increase in Students Achieving Level III: Advanced Pass Rate.
OGES STAAR Summary Report Grade 5 Science:
Total Percentage Of Correct Answers
80
70
PERCENTAGE
60
50
40
30
65
55
20
72
74
46
50
56
51
10
0
GeneralEd.-2015
General Ed.-2016
Special Ed.-2015
Earth & Space
Org. & Env.
Special Ed.-2016
General Education Students:
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17% Increase in the Total % of correct answers in “Earth and Space”.
9% Increase in the Total % of correct answers in “Organisms and Environment”.
Special Education Students:
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10% Increase in the Total % of correct answers in “Earth and Space”.
1% Increase in the Total % of correct answers in “Organisms and Environment”.
Appendix
About the School
Oak Grove Elementary School
Established in 1961, Oak Grove Elementary School (OGES) is a Title 1 campus within the North
East Independent School District (NEISD) in San Antonio, Texas. Its mission is to assist
students in using academic, social, and healthy-living skills, to lead in any college, career, or
community setting. OGES supports additional staffing and programs – to meet the needs of
their low-income, low achieving students, and other designated students with special needs
within their school.
Science Program
Stated within their philosophy1, the core purpose of the NEISD and OGES science program is to
develop the abilities, knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes, and
habits of mind that are required for personal decision-making, participation in civic and cultural
affairs, and economic productivity. The program’s goal is to ensure that all students have
some appreciation and wonder of science; possess sufficient knowledge of science to engage in
public conversation on scientific issues; are careful consumers of scientific information related to
their everyday lives; and have the skills to enter careers of their choice.
Curriculum Design
The scope and sequence2 of 5th grade science at NEISD and OGES was developed to assist
educators in planning for the key components of science instruction required by students to
experience success. It is broken down into six key components, covering “Critical Content in
the Introduction to the TEKS”, “Big Ideas” or “Enduring Understandings in Science”, “Essential
Questions”, “Crosscutting Concepts”, “Spiraling Content” and “Formative Assessment”. For
instance, their larger core ideas in science are chunked into smaller units of study, with specific
student expectations listed for each. They also include appropriate opportunities for frequent
formative or mini-assessments, and spiraling content as well3.
Classroom Technology
Donna Campano and her students had access to a SMART Board and the SMART Learning
Suite (SMART Notebook, lab, response and amp) in her classroom, as well as 6 iPads and
Google Chromebooks in a 1-1 ratio.
1
http://www.neisd.net/curriculum/SchImprov/sci/Philosophy_new.htm
http://www.neisd.net/curriculum/SchImprov/sci/documents/05_scope_and_sequence_2013_2014.pdf
3
http://www.neisd.net/curriculum/SchImprov/sci/program/gr05/documents/05_yag_14_15.pdf
2
About the Teachers
Donna Campano (Hafner), M.S.: Donna Campano (Hafner) has been a
teacher in Texas public schools since 1987. She started her career in
North East ISD, where she taught 3rd grade at Northern Hills
Elementary. She moved to Lubbock ISD for a short time and then
returned to North East ISD. She taught 4th and 5th grades as well as
served as a campus math facilitator during her time in North East. She
is passionate about teaching, learning and helping her students be
successful. An ardent technology user, she is a SMART Exemplary
Educator (SEE). She is currently teaching 5th grade in Round Rock ISD.
Teresa Brown, B.S.: Teresa Brown has been a teacher in Texas public
schools since 1980. She moved to North East ISD, where she taught
Kindergarten and first grade at Windcrest Elementary and Longs Creek
Elementary before moving out of the classroom to become an
Instructional Technology Specialist in 2006. She is passionate about
teaching and integrating technology into instruction to better support the
teachers and students she serves. In fact, she has presented at TCEA
yearly since 2008! An ardent SMART Learning Suite user, she is a
SMART Exemplary Educator, and participated in the SEE Global
Summit in 2016.
Kelly Miksch, B.S.: Kelly Miksch had been a teacher in North East ISD
(NEISD), where she taught Kindergarten through Third grade at Olmos
Elementary and Longs Creek Elementary, before moving out of the
classroom to become an Instructional Technology Specialist from 20072016. Kelly is passionate about working with educators and students to
engage and integrate technology into classroom curriculum daily. She
has had the opportunity to work with many educators and students
throughout North East ISD in the past 20 years. However, in May she
left NEISD to expand her impact globally, and work for SMART
Technologies.