Systems of Thinking and Data as Evidence for Scientific Claims

- by Jacey Morrill

Jacey Morrill is an eighth grade science teacher at Greely Middle School, Cumberland ME. Jacey uses a systems approach in her curriculum to promote student thinking and unify their study of science, and encourages students to use data as evidence for a scientific position.

I teach 8th grade integrated science in a primarily suburban/rural area and generally have between 90-110 students each year. I originally joined the EaSiE project as a way to explore more about seasonal changes in New England, as my students have been full of misconceptions in this area in the past. I never expected to completely shift my teaching style and curricular focus after just one year of involvement. The focus on a systems approach to science has opened up my thinking and my students’ thinking about what science is and how science works. The data and graphing unit allowed me to start showing my students how to use data collected by them and by scientists as evidence for a scientific position.

Using a systems approach
After the first year of working on the EaSiE project, we had created a mini-unit for teaching about systems, what they are, and how they relate to science. My lessons fit the systems unit into my existing curriculum as a starting point for the year (lessons available at https://sites.google.com/site/sciroom234/home/unitaoverview)

I begin my mini-unit with the probe, “Is it a System?” to elicit student ideas (Keeley and Tugel, 2009). We then move on to the lesson using the bicycle and the manufactured systems. When we reach the lessons about the spheres we break away from those and spend additional time learning about the major spheres.

Students begin each year “remembering” what they learned during their previous years in school. I start with a concept map approach and just let the students brainstorm all the “science” terms they have learned. We make a huge list and then categorize the terms under the “sphere” headings of the 6 + 1 spheres (biosphere, lithosphere, hydrosphere, cryosphere, atmosphere, anthrosphere, and the cosmosphere). When all of the terms are categorized, we begin to connect them with string. I add in terms that we will be learning about this year as well. Students are always amazed at how many terms they can generate and how these vocabulary words can be found in multiples areas of science.

After connecting previous years' science with what we would be learning about in 8th grade, students have felt more confident in their current level of knowledge and how it might relate to what they will be learning this year. My students can look at science and see the importance of the different disciplines but also see how those disciplines need to work together to solve the problems our world faces today.

Learning about systems science has greatly impacted my teaching. In our district, 8th grade science was a blend of chemistry, physics, earth, and space sciences with six distinct units and few connections among them. This led to a disjointed year of science topic after science topic. Students found it difficult to see the relevance or meaning of science. Systems thinking, looking at science as a group of interacting parts with connections among other disciplines, allowed my students and me to see how everything is related and must work together to function properly. It led to a better flow of ideas and, as all educators know, the most effective way to learn is to take new information and connect it to information you already have stored in your memory. Having the curriculum flow from one related topic to another with overlapping concepts allowed students to store the new information and recall it more quickly in a variety of situations.

The success of the systems unit as an introduction to the school year has led to the use of some of the same vocabulary in the lower grades. The sixth and seventh grade teachers have begun to use the terms systems and interactions in their everyday teaching, making those connections earlier.

We are trying to make science relevant to our students, and I have that found one way to do this is to look at some of the major issues and problems we face today, like climate change, fossil fuels, earthquakes, or weather phenomena. Thinking in terms of systems allows current events to become a focal point as they happen. The focus on a systems approach to science has created a more coherent flow of science and scientific topics that are connected to students’ prior knowledge and are more relevant to students. This increases students’ engagement and interest and, in turn, leads to a greater understanding of how science works.

Using data to provide evidence for a scientific position
After the first year of working on the EaSiE project, we had created a mini-unit for teaching about data and graphing. I wanted to take the lessons that we created and merge them with lessons about weather and climate.

We began by looking at the Introduction to Global Temperature Variation Lesson found at https://sites.google.com/site/easiesite/home/wc-data. We completed this lesson in its entirety.

Students began collecting weather data at the beginning of the year. We used this data (temperature, barometric pressure, daylight length, etc.) to complete the following activity. We analyzed the temperature data as a class working through the specifics of how to graph data and how to analyze graphs using the lessons provided by the EaSiE Project. This gave the students equal footing on which to work through the big questions of what are weather and climate and is our climate changing. Students determined the difference between day-to-day changes and patterns over time. We were able to see a steady drop in temperatures from early Nov. to late Jan. Students took this seasonal connection and were able to explain why temperatures decreased, and we revisited the idea of daylight length.

As an introduction to climate change, students were given 20 images of glaciers (10 older, 10 more recent). They had to match the older images with the newer images and share out with another team. Each team made a statement about what they thought was happening and why, based on the photographic evidence available. (8 of the glaciers show retreat, 2 show growth). Given previous work on glacial vocabulary, the discussion was quite rich.

We revisited the statements students made about the glacier images and discussed how students could determine if climate change is happening. Students then came up with factors including changes in temp, sea level, ice-out, snow ground, amount of snow, CO2 levels, etc. We also discussed animal and plant changes (maple syrup, wooly adelgid, bird migration) and extreme weather. Students determined that these factors were more difficult to track and chose one of the other factors. Each student group analyzed data from the EaSiE project and wrote a summarizing essay about their factor and how it supports or doesn’t support whether climate change is happening.

The EaSiE lessons that I used allowed my students to be on equal footing in terms of how to graph and analyze data. This allowed students to explore an area they were interested in and greater ownership of the science. By becoming scientists, students learned how to collect and analyze “real” data that they have collected, not just what the teacher has given them. They could also work in groups based on interest and not just with “friends.”

My next steps will be to incorporate the buoy data information to compare water temperatures to the air temperatures and get another measure of seasonal changes in the weather. Students can then look at other spots around the region or even the globe to compare both water and air temperatures throughout the year.

The EaSiE lessons have been a great jumping off point for more discussion and a broadening of the curriculum. As I continue to use the lessons or portions of the lessons, I find the students asking for more. Collecting data and analyzing that data becomes second nature for students, something we do in science class that “real” scientists also do. These lessons provide relevance to the world and give students the opportunity to make a claim and support it with data.

Keeley, P. and Tugel, J. (2009). Uncovering student ideas in science: 25 new formative assessment probes. Vol 4. Arlington, VA: NSTA Press.