Science Upcoming Events

Compare and Contrast is an instructional strategy that can be used at all grade levels and in all content areas.  This is an electronic version of the training that was offered through Georgia's Critical Thinking Skills program first issued in the 1990s.  The Compare and Contrast Strategy has the rationale for using the strategy, model lessons, sample lessons, processing activities, and variations for use in different content areas.  It also includes a variety of visual organizers and took box activities to actively engage students to participate in class.  Instructions are included for Kindling, Survey, Boggle, and Give One-Get one.

Supports educators as they interact with the resources introduced on the Doing and Talking Math and Science website, which was developed by WIDA researchers

For nearly 20 years, the Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) has led the field in understanding and addressing reading development, assessment, instruction, and intervention. Join us as we learn more about how FCRR harnesses the power of research, innovation, and engagement to ensure that all children learn to read.

This is a recording plus materials for this session presented live on April 28, 2021.

About the Presenter:

Nicole Patton Terry, Ph.D., is the Olive & Manuel Bordas Professor of Education in the School of Teacher Education, Director of the Florida Center for Reading Research, and Deputy Director of the Regional Education Lab—Southeast at Florida State University (FSU). Prior to joining FSU in 2018, she was an Associate Professor of Special Education and the founding Director of the Urban Child Study Center at Georgia State University. She founded and directs The Village at FCRR, a division that takes a collective impact approach to creating and maintaining research partnerships with diverse community stakeholders to promote reading achievement, school readiness, and school success among vulnerable children and youth.  She currently serves as an Associate Editor for the Journal of Learning Disabilities, a board member for the Society for the Scientific Study of Reading, and a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association.  Dr. Terry earned a Ph.D. from Northwestern University's School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, with a specialization in learning disabilities. She was a special education teacher in Evanston Public Schools in Evanston, IL. Dr. Terry’s research, innovation, and engagement activities concern young learners who are vulnerable to experiencing poor language and literacy achievement in school, in particular, African American children, children growing up in poverty, and children with disabilities.  Her research and scholarly activities have been supported by various organizations, including the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, the Institute of Education Sciences, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, and the Spencer Foundation.

 GDOE Virtual Teacher Specialist presents routines that promote student engagement and integrate literacy with science.

These two short recordings of a webinar give teachers strategies they can use to support scientific explanations in their science classrooms.

This recording of a webinar gives benefits, instructions, and examples of digital interactive notebooks.

This recording talks of the importance of scientific argumentation, examples of argumentation skills that are being developed in grades 3-5, and the components of argumentation.

This recording promotes building a community in the classroom by setting rules and expectations, providing easy access to materials, getting to know each other personally, and engaging students and encouraging discourse.

 This recording provides rationale and instructions on creating and using virtual notebooks and e-portfolios.

 This recording centers on quoting, paraphrasing, and summarizing.

 This recording focuses on the learning targets for using guided questions and thinking maps to compare and contrast earth science concepts and then using the thinking maps to write compare and contrast statements.

The agenda includes the following:

Citing specific textual evidence;

Quoting, Paraphrasing, Summarizing;

Citing evidence to support claims;

Argumentative claims and informational claims’

RACE/ACE/ICE writing strategy

 The engineering process steps and its use in the scientific process are discussed, and biomimicry is presented for the study of earth science.

The agenda includes informational writing, informational/narrative writing, and narrative writing.

 The agenda includes investing in your students, introducing phenomena, and engaging lesson plans.

Literacy Integration

The main points include the following:

Literacy Resources

Reading Strategies

Writing Strategies

Book Study

3D Assessment

The agenda includes the following:

What are 3D assessments?

Integrating 3D assessments

Examples for life science

Listen as the middle specialists for 6th, 7th, and 8th grade discuss how we support students with obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information.

 This video looks at what makes a laboratory investigation success for students as well as teachers.

 Main points include feedback to move learning forward, setting the stage, and feedback examples.

 Stephanie Miles explains the process involved in teaching this lesson.

 Stephanie Miles demonstrates using videos and other resources for student engagement.

 Stephanie Miles presents tools for teaching vocabulary.

 The agenda includes a discussion of the research, how to use games, and examples of online games.

 This recording of a panel of high school virtual specialists discuss literacy in the science classroom.

Stephanie Miles walks through lessons to present the Cycling of Matter and Energy.

 Stephanie Miles gives a lesson on environmental science in biology.

 Owen Nix presents ideas on how to get online students to buy in.

 A physical science teacher demonstrates how he uses phenomena in the classroom.

 A physical science teacher discusses phenomenon, student feedback, collaboration, and conclusions. For each of these sections there are resources listed as discussed as to their use. These resources could also be used in a variety of subject areas where a teacher wants to present information, get student feedback, have students collaborate, or have students make presentations about their learning,

This video takes a look at Georgia Public Broadcasting’s offerings for physical science.

 An eighth grade science teacher talks of how to make a virtual lesson more engaging and gives examples from her classroom.

An eighth grade teacher discusses using virtual labs with different implementation strategies and resources.

 A discussion about CER writing with implementation strategies, student samples, and resources is provided in this video.

 Gallery Walk is highlighted as an instructional strategy and implementation is demonstrated in both virtual and face to face classrooms.

 This webinar explains transitioning from traditional labs to phenomenal investigations. The recording is available as well as links to the resources.

 This introduction to 3-D science explains the science standards and the shift in teaching methods.

This video will look at some assessments and explore different assessment resources.

 This video explores real world science projects available to students as well as other citizens.

Several models for co-teaching are examined with pros and cons listed and a sample lesson is demonstrated for different models.

The Concept Attainment Strategy is an instrumental strategy used to develop content and to promote thinking through the presentation of examples and nonexamples of a concept. The strategy should be viewed as a framework that can be varied based on the content, outcomes to be measured, operations to be performed, and the needs of the students. This strategy is appropriate for all grade levels and all content areas.

The Inductive Learning Strategy is an instructional strategy that promotes  thinking.  The strategy can be viewed as a framework that can be varied based on the content, outcomes to be measured, operations to be performed, and the needs of the students.  This is part of a series of guides for Georgia's Critical Thinking Skills program that was developed in 1994.  This strategy is appropriate for all grade levels and all content areas.  Inductive thinking is a natural process in which the mind observes phenomena, compares and contrasts attributes, and groups and labels data in order to form generalizations, make predictions, or form and test hypotheses.

The materials consist of a VoiceThread, handouts, and sample and model lessons.

The Decision Making Strategy is an instructional strategy that promotes  thinking.  The strategy can be viewed as a framework that can be varied based on the content, outcomes to be measured, operations to be performed, and the needs of the students.  This is part of a series of guides for Georgia's Critical Thinking Skills program that was developed in 1994.  This strategy is appropriate for all grade levels and all content areas.  This strategy is content focused.  The phases include making a decision, communicating that decision to others, and synthesizing the content and the decisions.  The student may be the decision maker or the evaluator of a decision.

The materials consist of a VoiceThread, handouts, and sample and model lessons.

The Mystery/Inquiry  is actually two  instructional strategies that promotes  thinking.  These strategies can be viewed as a framework that can be varied based on the content, outcomes to be measured, operations to be performed, and the needs of the students.  This is part of a series of guides for Georgia's Critical Thinking Skills program that was developed in 1994.  They are  appropriate for all grade levels and all content areas.  In both strategies, there is an event, evidence, explanation, and evaluation.  In inquiry teaching, the teacher presents the event and students formulate possible explanations,

The materials consist of a VoiceThread, handouts, and sample and model lessons.

 This is copied and pasted directly from the video weblink: "Dr. Elfrieda (Freddy) H. Hiebert describes 7 facts about a generative vocabulary approach and describes 7 instructional strategies to support each word fact. Download the presentation slides at http://www.textproject.org/assets/library/powerpoints/Hiebert-2014-02-08-A-Generative-vocabulary.pdf ." Upon registration, an email will be sent to you with the link to the 18 minute video.

Dr. Gordon uses the  book This Is Disciplinary Literacy: Reading, Writing, Thinking, and Doing Content Area by Content Area by Releah Cossett Lent as a basis for a VoiceThread on using/teaching reading and writing in disciplines other than English/Language Arts.  Students learn academic content, problem solving, and critical thinking by engaging in the practices of the discipline (science, social studies, mathematics). Students learn and experience the work of each discipline. This work includes the core academic content, skills, norms, and communication tools (reading, writing, and speaking).  She also includes a PowerPoint on Unlocking the Power of Classroom Talk.

The Georgia Department of Education examined the status of science instruction in Georgia. 

This is the recording of the Zoom session held on July 25, 2022.  You may register for this recording and view it as your professional learning. You will receive an email confirming your registration.  In it is a link to certify that you watched the video and that you wish to receive the license.  If you do not complete the certification form, no one will know if you decided that you wish to have the license.

Free support materials will be granted to 50 Heart of Georgia RESA middle school teachers. (There are 3 HGRESA districts that have access to Boardworks.)  This access will be available only after the teacher receives the professional learning. Teachers can receive professional learning via a live session on July 25 at 1:30 PM. Teachers can also receive professional learning as a CODE class which will be posted after July 25.

What is Boardworks?

• Ready-made, supplemental library of interactive instructional content in Math, Science, ELA, and History
• Over 25,000 slides across 900+ lesson presentations in K-12 Math, Science, ELA, and History content, designed to operate on any device
• A tool designed to enhance instruction while saving teachers hours of lesson prep time
• The library has tons of interactive games, quizzes, interactive graphs, animations, activities, virtual experiments in science, interactive timelines in history
• Use with your interactive boards (Smartboards, Promethean Boards, Clear Touch, etc.) & with student devices (Chromebook, Ipads, etc.)
• A platform to easily share interactive content with students to increase student engagement and differentiated instruction

How does Boardworks benefit teachers in the Heart of GA RESA?

• Boardworks is a supplemental curriculum designed to support various teaching strategies and modalities - flexible to allow for teacher autonomy
• Teachers can use these resources for synchronous or asynchronous instruction (great tool to support any blended learning with 1:1 devices to increase student engagement
• Helps build core content knowledge through teacher library
• Teachers have complete K-12 Access to all content areas- use all content areas for academic recovery or reteaching/remediation support
• Boardworks is designed to maximize the use of all existing instructional technology and help teach exciting and engaging lessons across the curriculum while saving hours of time in lesson creation due to having access to ready-made library of content

Access Questions:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 This is the recording of the Zoom session held on July 27, 2022.  You may register for this recording and view it as your professional learning.  You MUST complete the form requesting the program.  The link will be in your email registration confirmation.

Free support materials will be granted to 50 Heart of Georgia RESA high school teachers. (There are 3 HGRESA districts that have access to Boardworks.)  This access will be available only after the teacher receives the professional learning. Teachers can receive professional learning via a live session on July 27 at 10 AM. Teachers can also receive professional learning as a CODE class which will be posted after July 27.

What is Boardworks?

• Ready-made, supplemental library of interactive instructional content in Math, Science, ELA, and History
• Over 25,000 slides across 900+ lesson presentations in K-12 Math, Science, ELA, and History content, designed to operate on any device
• A tool designed to enhance instruction while saving teachers hours of lesson prep time
• The library has tons of interactive games, quizzes, interactive graphs, animations, activities, virtual experiments in science, interactive timelines in history
• Use with your interactive boards (Smartboards, Promethean Boards, Clear Touch, etc.) & with student devices (Chromebook, Ipads, etc.)
• A platform to easily share interactive content with students to increase student engagement and differentiated instruction

How does Boardworks benefit teachers in the Heart of GA RESA?

• Boardworks is a supplemental curriculum designed to support various teaching strategies and modalities - flexible to allow for teacher autonomy
• Teachers can use these resources for synchronous or asynchronous instruction (great tool to support any blended learning with 1:1 devices to increase student engagement
• Helps build core content knowledge through teacher library
• Teachers have complete K-12 Access to all content areas- use all content areas for academic recovery or reteaching/remediation support
• Boardworks is designed to maximize the use of all existing instructional technology and help teach exciting and engaging lessons across the curriculum while saving hours of time in lesson creation due to having access to ready-made library of content

Access Questions:  This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

In Novel Engineering, students use literature as a basis for a project to identify problems in the book, design solutions, and then build prototypes. This session guides participants through the execution and effective use of Novel Engineering projects across grade levels. Join Amy Rubin, Media and Education Technology Instructor in Fulton County Schools, for this informative presentation.

This CODE material has the PowerPoint and the recording of the meeting.

GaDOE Updates and Resources:

What are the new resources, and where are they? Join the GaDOE science team to see new releases and updates and how you can use them in your classroom tomorrow. We will share the new platform for all GaDOE resources.

3D Science with Language and Literacy Integration:

In this session, there will be an overview of 3D Science and how to introduce a phenomenon. Participants will notice the intentional use of the integration of language throughout the student performance progression and student artifacts. In addition, there will be a focus on connections between science and literacy and on introducing academic vocabulary in context while students figure out the phenomenon.

The CODE materials include the PowerPoint and recording of this meeting.

GaDOE Updates and Resources:

What are the new resources, and where are they? Join the GaDOE science team to see new releases and updates and how you can use them in your classroom tomorrow. We will share the new platform for all GaDOE resources.

3D Science with Language and Literacy Integration:

In this session, there will be an overview of 3D Science and how to introduce a phenomenon. Participants will notice the intentional use of the integration of language throughout the student performance progression and student artifacts. In addition, there will be a focus on connections between science and literacy and on introducing academic vocabulary in context while students figure out the phenomenon.

This 34-page document provides support for engaging and accelerating student learning in science.  

Engaging in argument from evidence is one of the eight science and engineering practices that directly connects to the Georgia Standards of Excellence for English Language Arts. This discussion focuses on how to effectively support students in analyzing and developing arguments in both science and ELA by emphasizing connections between the disciplines and leveraging points of departure.

Join Keith Crandall of the GaDOE Science team and Sarah Welch from the GaDOE ELA team to discuss argumentative writing in science. The video walks through the pieces of a scientific arguments and how to help students write scientific arguments. The video emphasizes the pieces of C-E-R and describes the why the different pieces are important to student’s scientific arguments.

Join Keith Crandall of the GaDOE Science team to explore 3-Dimensional science. This can be a resource for new science educators, educators that are new to science, or educators that have not taught science in a while. The video details the parts of 3-D science and the uses in the classroom to help students be successful learning science. This video, also, discusses resources that can be used to help teachers design 3-D science lessons.

Join the GaDOE Science team in exploring what science looks like in a 3-dimensional science classroom. This video takes instructional coaches through the dimensions of science, shows how it applies in the science classroom, and introduces resources to assist in 3-dimensional science teaching.

Join Teris Dunn-Jaglowicz in this session about thinking maps. Strategies and student examples are shared!

The high school Biological Science Virtual Specialist details how 5E lessons can be utilized in a science classroom to assist students in sense making.

Obtaining, evaluating, and communicating are the perfect way to assist students in engaging students with literacy in the science classroom. Teachers can assist students in making the most of science by utilizing various strategies, multiple modalities, and 3D science components. Join us to explore strategies that leverage the connections between 3D science and literacy.

Looking for resources to support science? Student-directed science learning doesn’t mean you have to re-invent the wheel. Join this session to see a collection of print and post-ready resources you can use right away. These organizers, sentence frames, and more can fit into your pacing and put students in the driver’s seat of their own learning.

We are continuing our journey into the structure of argument writing with a focus on science; however, this time we will also discuss the role of argument in the speaking and listening standards! This interactive follow-up session will focus on in-depth strategies and resources for argument writing, speaking, and collaborating! Using scientific phenomena as the impetus, participants will expand their argument writing resource banks for both science and ELA classrooms. We will also discuss formative and summative assessments for argumentative tasks. Participants will leave this session with practical argument writing resources that can be implemented in class the next day.

Engaging in argument from evidence is one of the eight science and engineering practices that directly connects to the Georgia Standards of Excellence for English Language Arts. This discussion focuses on how to effectively support students in analyzing and developing arguments in both science and ELA by emphasizing connections between the disciplines and leveraging points of departure.

These videos will be helpful for those wanting to learn chemistry content. The resources to teach chemistry can be requested as indicated below. This is copied directly from the GPB website:  "Chemistry: A Study of Matter is a series teaching high school chemistry. The series provides instructional content delivered through thirty-minute episodes and integrated classroom materials. Episodes provide content while giving cues for the classroom teacher to pause the program and interact with students, engaging them in discussions, problem-solving, and laboratory activities. Classroom materials, including note-taking guides to accompany the episodes, worksheets, classroom activities, quizzes, and tests are available in electronic format. For security reasons, only student materials are provided on this site. teachers' resources are free for Georgia educators. If you are a Georgia educator, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request the Chemistry teacher resources. You may be asked to verify your Georgia educator status. 

These videos will be helpful for those wanting to learn physics content. The resources to teach physics can be requested as indicated below. This is copied directly from the GPB website: "Physics Fundamentals is a series teaching high school physics. Physics Fundamentals provides instructional content delivered through thirty-minute episodes and integrated classroom materials. Episodes provide content while giving cues for the classroom teacher to pause the program and interact with students, engaging them in discussions, problem-solving, and laboratory activities. Classroom materials, including note-taking guides to accompany the episodes, worksheets, classroom activities, quizzes, and tests are available in electronic format. For security reasons, only student materials are provided on this site. The teacher resources are free for Georgia educators. If you are a Georgia educator, please email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. to request the Physics Fundamentals teacher resources. You may be asked to verify your Georgia educator status." 

Dr. Kevin Raczinski has developed videos, PowerPoints, and exercises for laying the foundation for writing, building brief writing exercises, and guiding students through writing exercises.  The materials are for science and for social studies.  It is highly suggested that participants watch the introductory video first.

Dr. Kevin Raczinski has developed videos, PowerPoints, and exercises for laying the foundation for writing, building brief writing exercises, and guiding students through writing exercises.  The materials are for science and for social studies.  It is highly suggested that participants watch the introductory video first.

Dr. Kevin Raczinski has developed videos, PowerPoints, and exercises for laying the foundation for writing, building brief writing exercises, and guiding students through writing exercises.  The materials are for science and for social studies.  It is highly suggested that participants watch the introductory video first.

Dr. Kevin Raczinski has developed videos, PowerPoints, and exercises for laying the foundation for writing, building brief writing exercises, and guiding students through writing exercises.  The materials are for science and for social studies.  It is highly suggested that participants watch the introductory video first.

 The following info is directly copied from the GDOE PL page: "Join GaDOE’s K-2 science virtual specialist to explore using the science and engineering practice of constructing explanations in the K-2 classroom. Attendees will receive instructional resources."

  The following info is directly copied from the GDOE PL page: "Join our GaDOE Science K-2 virtual specialists to dive more deeply into the science and engineering practice of constructing explanations in the K-2 classroom. Presenters provide lesson examples and instructional resources on the practice of constructing explanations."

The following info is directly copied from the GDOE PL page: "Join GaDOE’s 3-5 science virtual specialist to explore using the science and engineering practice of constructing explanations in the 3-5 classroom. Attendees will receive instructional resources."

The following info is directly copied from the GDOE PL page: "Join GaDOE’s 8th grade science virtual specialist in this short webinar about using the science and engineering practice of constructing explanations in the 8th grade classroom. Attendees will receive instructional resources on the practice of constructing explanations in 8th grade classrooms."

The following info is directly copied from the GDOE PL page: "Join GaDOE’s ESOL science virtual specialist in this short webinar about using the science and engineering practice of constructing explanations in the 6th grade classroom. Attendees will receive instructional resources on the practice of constructing explanations in 6th grade classrooms."

This is copied and pasted directly from the weblink:  "This page contains a series of FREE online professional development modules on the Next Generation Science Standards. This series was originally created to provide NGSS professional development to school districts in the South Sound LASER Alliance with support from Washington State LASER.

NOTE: This online PD was built several years ago (2014?) and therefore does not have the latest information on NGSS and does not utilize the latest tech tools. In other words, it is showing its age a bit. There are 4 modules: NGSS 101 Part 1- Overview, NGSS 101 Part 2- Science & Engineering Practices, NGSS 101 Part 3- Crosscutting Concepts, and NGSS 101 Part 4- Engineering Design.

Below you will find the video modules embedded in the page. Each video module asks you to engage with a variety of documents, external video clips and links. You will find the documents and links for each module directly underneath the video module.

NOTE: These modules were originally created in another online platform called Brainshark- so you may hear some references to the original platform that are no longer relevant." After registering, you will receive the links for the videos and resources in the email confirmation.

 This is posted directly from the website: "Bryan Cox and Lavita Williams, GADOE’s Computer Science Specialists, share how to make computational thinking a part of your makerspace. They include how problem-solving can be abstract and tangible and offer some low-budget resources to increase engagement." 

This is copied and pasted directly from the GDOE website:  "Amy Rubin, media and educational technology instructor with Fulton County Schools, shares how she uses in-person and online makerspaces with her students. Learn the Who, What, When, Where, Why, and HOW of makerspaces in the school library media center."

 The following is copied and pasted directly from the GDOE PL site:  "Different languages? No problem. This session will quickly highlight how multilingual learners access and use their full linguistic repertoires in communication and learning, including by using more than one language. The session will also cover technology tools you can use to support the teaching and learning of multilingual learners. To report an issue with the event link, please email the event contact. Primary Contact: Laura Canepa-Redondo - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  (30 minutes)

 The following was copied directly from the GDOE PL site:  "Looking for resources to support science? Student-directed science learning doesn’t mean you have to re-invent the wheel. Join this session to see a collection of print and post-ready resources you can use right away. These organizers, sentence frames, and more can fit into your pacing and put students in the driver’s seat of their own learning." To report an issue with the event link, please email the event contact. Primary Contact: Keith Crandall - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

(Open Education Resources for Science Education PD) This was copied directly from the website:  "We are now posting open education resources for professional development! Our STEM Teaching Tools have been used to support extended professional development (PD) sessions. We are now posting open educational resource (OER) versions of those PD sessions. They include all of the resources that PD facilitators need to adapt and run the sessions—including slides, speaker notes, facilitator guides, and embedded resources. We are starting with PD focused on supporting 3D formative assessment. We will keep adding more over time."

"The NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education and the resulting Next Generation Science Standards include a signature focus on engaging all students in integrated three-dimensional science learning using inclusive instructional approaches. This new vision calls for new approaches to classroom assessment.

This open educational resource provides an introduction to formative assessment that supports equitable 3D instruction. It is designed to provide an introductory professional development session of 60-70 minutes for educators to help them learn about formative assessment and how it fits into the new vision. The module includes all of the resources that PD facilitators need to adapt and run the sessions—including slides, speaker notes, facilitator guides, and embedded resources.

The professional development module supports the following specific goals for educators: Explore how equity and social justice goals relate to the use of formative assessments; Develop a shared understanding of formative assessment purposes and processes; Learn how cognitive formative assessments and cultural formative assessments can build capacity for equitable 3D instruction; Learn about the kinds of professional learning resources available to support the development of 3D formative assessments." Always review materials extensively before using them to align with goals, grade level appropriateness, topics, etc.

 (Open Education Resources for Science Education PD) This was copied directly from the website:  "How is assessing three-dimensional science learning different than past assessments of science learning? How can we design assessment tasks that elicit the core ideas, practices, and crosscutting concepts in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) performance expectations?

There are very few existing examples of elementary and middle school assessments completely aligned to the NGSS. Instead, educators need to adapt their existing assessments.

This open educational resource provides an opportunity for educators to begin building or adapting three-dimensional formative assessments in a 60-70 minute professional development session. The module includes all of the resources that PD facilitators need to adapt and run the sessions—including slides, speaker notes, facilitator guide, and embedded resources.

The workshop aims to help participants identify assessment components that focus on individual practices, core ideas, or crosscutting concepts, and understand how, taken together, the components can support educators as they make inferences about students’ three-dimensional science learning. Through this workshop, participants will review tasks that aim for assessing performance expectations, discuss strengths of these tasks, and gain practice adapting them to better elicit three-dimensional science learning." Always review materials extensively before using them to align with goals, grade level appropriateness, topics, etc.

(Open Education Resources for Science Education PD) This was copied directly from the website:  "How can science instruction be meaningfully connected to the out-of-school lives of students? What role do students’ cultures play in science learning? How might teachers use formative assessments to root science learning in students’ cultural contexts, interests, and identities? This open educational resource is designed to help educators develop cultural formative assessments that build on students’ pre-existing interests, identities, and experiences.

This session highlights cultural dimensions of science learning and showcases a general instructional technique for formative assessment called “self-documentation”—where students collect information related to a particular theme in their everyday lives. It describes an example use case of a self-documentation activity and how it was incorporated into a culturally diverse classroom. The session also highlights different assessment approaches and guides educators in thinking about particular goals for incorporating cultural formative assessment into their own practice.

This resource is designed to be used as a 2 to 2.5 hour professional development session for educators. The module includes all of the resources that PD facilitators need to adapt and run the sessions—including slides, speaker notes, facilitator guide, embedded resources, and sample student work. It may be more useful for educators after they have already participated in the following professional development session: ACESSE A: Introduction to Formative Assessment to Support Equitable 3D Instruction.

The professional development module supports the following specific goals for educators: Learn how to promote equity and social justice as the focal point of NGSS implementation work by focusing on learning and teaching as an inherently cultural process; Develop a shared understanding of how cultural formative assessment can reveal the interests, experiences, and identities of students; Understand how and when to use different kinds of cultural formative assessment to guide instruction — and ‘overlap’ the curriculum with the lives of youth." Always review materials extensively before using them to align with goals, grade level appropriateness, topics, etc.

 (Open Education Resources for Science Education PD) This was copied directly from the website:  "As the educational vision in the NRC Framework for K-12 Science Education is being implemented, it is crucial to design assessment practices to be coherent with its 3D model of learning. This session provides a step-by-step process to support participants as they design a 3D assessment task. Along the way, they learn how to define 3D learning performances for specific lessons—and how to use a range of tools to support their assessment design work. A key goal of the session activity is to improve the connection of intended learning goals to assessment practices.

Participants build their 3D assessment design capacity by following a step-by-step process using supporting tools to design and workshop tasks—before piloting them in their classrooms. The approaches learned in this workshop can be used with any science curricula, at any grade level, and across all domains of science and engineering." Always review materials extensively before using them to align with goals, grade level appropriateness, topics, etc.

(Open Education Resources for Science Education PD) This was copied directly from the website:  "This pair of workshops is designed to introduce you to the process of selecting phenomena that can anchor an entire unit that supports students’ 3D science learning or that can serve as a basis for a multi-component assessment task. This resource can also be used by individuals wanting to refine their teaching practice around phenomena-based instruction. You may have heard a lot about phenomena, but you may also be wondering what exactly they are, and whether using phenomena is any different from how teachers teach today already.

This learning experience will help you: Explain to a peer the role of phenomena and design challenges in science teaching, with a particular focus on equity and justice; Generate working definitions of phenomena, design challenges, and disciplinary core ideas; Identify phenomena related to a bundle of three-dimensional standards; Experience how phenomena can be introduced at the start of a unit, in order to launch a student-driven series of questions.

With respect to the assessment process, this resource supports the task of clarifying learning goals and eliciting evidence of student learning. Specifically, analyzing standards helps to clarify learning goals. In assessment, scenarios present phenomena to students, and then specific prompts are designed to elicit student understanding of core ideas, practices and crosscutting concepts. Once written as a scenario for an assessment, teachers can use the resources introduced in ACESSE Resource B to design specific prompts for their assessments (SEP Task Formats Tool, CCC Prompts Tool). This resource complements Resource C, in that it provides some ways to integrate tools to connect science instruction meaningfully to students’ everyday lives and cultural practices. This workshop has multiple segments, and it is broken into two sessions that last roughly three hours each, which can be organized as a full-day session or across multiple days. " Always review materials extensively before using them to align with goals, grade level appropriateness, topics, etc.

(Open Education Resources for Science Education PD) This was copied directly from the website:  "Students bring a range of intellectual and cultural resources, which they have accumulated in their unique life experiences, into the classroom as they learn science. These resources can be considered different “facets” of student thinking. These resources may relate to their conceptual understanding of natural phenomena, their repertoires of practice when engaging in scientific activity, or their abilities to productively engage with school and classroom approaches to learning. Student’s facets of thinking can be leveraged to help students as they refine their understanding of science phenomena. This session introduces the facet-based approach, then engages participants in identifying facets in a batch of student work and in developing corresponding assessment rubrics, preparing them to use this approach in their own teaching.

This learning experience will help participants: Analyze cognitive formative assessment responses to surface the range of student thinking about science topics and concepts; Guide instruction based on that diversity of student ideas; Design and use classroom formative assessment tasks to support equitable 3D instruction. " Always review materials extensively before using them to align with goals, grade level appropriateness, topics, etc.

(Open Education Resources for Science Education PD) This was copied directly from the website:  "In this workshop, we will build our capacity to identify the range of intellectual resources students use as they make sense of phenomena. Every learner has the right to fully belong in their educational contexts. Instruction should welcome the diverse contributions they bring to sense-making. This resource can help support this goal by helping educators develop an asset-based stance towards the various contributions that students bring to making sense of phenomena. The resource starts by highlighting the rationale for culture-based approaches to pedagogy—and then focuses on how to identify and leverage the resources students use in moments of sensemaking. This learning experience will help participants: Explore equity dimensions of sense-making through the science and engineering practices; Learn to see different ways students contribute to making sense of phenomena—and connect to science; Better appreciate that navigating multiple ways of knowing is the basic human condition—not the exception for some students; Make a commitment to shape instruction to support diverse sense-making. " Always review materials extensively before using them to align with goals, grade level appropriateness, topics, etc.

(Open Education Resources for Science Education PD) This was copied directly from the website:  "In this workshop, we will build our capacity to identify a variety of meaningful phenomena of different types that connect to specific science and engineering learning standards. We will first explore what makes a phenomenon compelling to students and how we can ensure this happens in our classrooms. Then, we will focus on different classes of phenomena, and how using them can promote goals for equity. This resource can also be used by individuals wanting to learn how to allow students to take meaningful action to solve problems associated with real-world phenomena related to science and engineering. Participants will explore different classes of meaningful phenomena (using the framework of Suárez & Bell, 2019): Everyday phenomena, which all students will be able to experience in class or have experienced outside of class; Contemporary scientific phenomena, which relate to current science, most often science that is in the news today because it is unsettled or sparks controversy; Societally relevant phenomena, which relate to science-technology intersections, connects to care and concern and enables students to see connections to social and socio-ecological justice; and Culturally relevant phenomena, which are grounded in the worlds of specific communities in culturally significant ways and allows students to draw on ways of knowing from families and cultural communities. " Always review materials extensively before using them to align with goals, grade level appropriateness, topics, etc.

The following was copied directly from the GDOE PL site:  "This video is part of a series that provides strategies and resources for gifted educators. In this video for educators of kindergarten and first grade students, Jennifer Borngesser from Fayette County defines critical thinking and why it is important, including the relationship to Bloom’s Taxonomy. She also shares some activities for verbal thinkers, quantitative thinkers, and nonverbal thinkers as well as ideas for cross-curricular critical thinking tasks." To report an issue with the event link, please email the event contact. Primary Contact: Mary Jean Banter - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The following was copied directly from the GDOE PL site:  "This video is part of a series that provides strategies and resources for gifted educators. In this video for educators of first and second grade students, Jennifer Borngesser from Fayette County defines critical thinking and why it is important, including the relationship to Bloom’s Taxonomy. She also shares some activities for verbal thinkers, quantitative thinkers, nonverbal thinkers as well as ideas for cross-curricular critical thinking tasks." (1 hour); To report an issue with the event link, please email the event contact. Primary Contact: Mary Jean Banter - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.;  

 The following was copied directly from the GDOE PL site:  "This video is part of a series that provides strategies and resources for gifted educators. In this video for educators of third and fourth grade students, Shakeerah Brodie from Clayton County defines critical thinking and why it is important including, the relationship to Bloom’s Taxonomy. She also shares some activities for English Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, Science, Fine Arts, and Physical Education." To report an issue with the event link, please email the event contact."  Primary Contact: Mary Jean Banter - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

The following was copied directly from the GDOE PL site:  "This video is part of a series that provides strategies and resources for gifted educators. In this video for educators of fifth and sixth grade students, Shakeerah Brodie from Clayton County defines critical thinking and why it is important, including the relationship to Bloom’s Taxonomy. She also shares some activities for English Language Arts, Social Studies, Math, Science, Fine Arts, and Physical Education." To report an issue with the event link, please email the event contact. Primary Contact: Mary Jean Banter - This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

This comes directly from the website:  "In this virtual workshop, you will learn how to access and share PhET simulations with your students, and explore the features that make PhET sims a powerful tool for science and mathematics teachers." After registering, you will receive the link to the 2 hour session.

 This comes directly from the website:  "

• In this virtual workshop, we will review strategies for how to use PhET in circumstances where you are presenting a simulation in front of the whole class using a projector, interactive whiteboard, or sharing your screen online.
• Is this your first time learning about PhET? If so, we encourage you to first take the Introduction to PhET Simulations workshop." After registering, you will receive a link to the workshop.

 This comes directly from the website:  "In this virtual workshop, we will review strategies for how to use PhET to create sim-based inquiry activities for science classes, including activity sheets that students can use as they work independently or in small groups while they have direct access to simulations on their own device. (5 hours)

• Is this your first time learning about PhET? If so, we encourage you to first finish the Introduction to PhET Simulations workshop and the Whole-Class Strategies workshop to learn how a PhET sim can be presented in a whole class setup."

This comes directly from the website:  "

• In this virtual workshop, you will learn how to effectively design a learning sequence that makes use of PhET’s simulations for mathematics and science.
• Is this your first time learning about PhET? If so, we encourage you to first finish the Introduction to PhET Simulations workshop, the Whole-Class Strategies workshop, and either the Math Activity Designor the Science Activity Design workshop."

This was copied and pasted directly from Mrs. Candler's website as a description of the MrOwl tool:  "MrOwl is a free online tool that helps you discover, create, and share internet topic playlists, called “branches,” about the things that are important to you. It’s never been easier to keep everything all in-one-easy place and create collections of information with subtopics, links, photos, documents and more. And everything is searchable – even the documents."

In this series of 3 brief videos, our main purpose is to illustrate a practical process for incorporating writing into science and social studies classrooms, in purposeful ways.

We define “purposeful” as writing that helps students learn and communicate content understanding.

Writing is simply a method we use to teach and assess content.

Step 1: Lay a foundation: Build students’ understanding of the vocabulary for informational writing, which is a common type of writing in science and social studies. (Video 1)

Step 2: Prioritize writing on standards that require higher-order, critical thinking. (We will explore examples). Build brief writing questions aligned to these. (Video 2)

Step 3: Guide students through some of these writing questions so that they are more successful when they respond independently. (Video 3)