As we started our year in Science with the Next Generation Science Standards for Middle School, I knew that we'd need some prep time familiarizing ourselves with the Science and Engineering practices as each standard is framed in a particular practice as we migrate through the year. To those unfamiliar, the SE practices are:
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To start our year in sixth grade, I decided to PRACTICE each PRACTICE before practically applying them to our standards. That way the students have a good understanding of the process, procedures and expectations that correspond with each of the Next Generation Science standards.
Some of the practices have more of an engineering focus, and others relate better to Science. Paul Anderson does an excellent job of explaining these practices and I used his Bozeman Science video series here to glean a better understanding of each practice. After we worked on each practice, we then reviewed using this game and posters:
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Science and Engineering Practice #1: Asking Questions
Our first practice was Asking Questions. For this I followed the QFT (Question Formulation Technique) as developed by the Right Institute.
The steps of a QFT are:
#1. Brainstorm AS MANY questions as you can about a phenomenon
#2. Identify which of your questions are Open Ended and which are Closed Ended
#3 Change ONE Closed Ended question to an Open Ended question to improve it.
#4. Prioritize your top 3 questions that you are truly curious about.
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I used this Google Slide Deck to introduce the strategy and then students placed the handout above into their interactive notebooks. We actually used a Merge Cube as our phenomenon the first time!! It was a fun way to show the Merge Cubes to the students and they had little to no knowledge of them!
Needless to say, it's always effective when you are
