When students were asked to discuss “learning loss” for a recent article, one talked about school during COVID, saying, “I lost time I could have been enjoying my childhood.” I think that is a profound statement on where students are at right now. While it is clear that some typical school learning did not happen to the same extent through the past 11 months, I would like to reframe how we look at the learning that did happen and learning goals moving forward.  I argue that the primary focus of schooling should not be to push students toward artificial learning benchmarks at the expense ..read more

 Ask 20 teachers what scientific inquiry is and it’s possible you’ll receive 20 different answers. From a series of proscribed steps to a lab-based free-for-all, conceptions have shifted over time. In the National Research Council’s (NRC) 1996 National Science Education Standards (NSES), inquiry held a prominent position as its own content area, but the term rarely comes up in its 2012 Framework for K–12 Science Education (Framework). A report by the Midwest Comprehensive Center and myself (image above) details how notions of inquiry have changed in recent history, particularly as s ..read more

Based on current research, effective science instruction looks a bit different than what I often did as a teacher. In fact, there is more to it than having students engage in the three dimensions of the Wisconsin Standards for Science (or NGSS). Students must do more than go through a series of activities or labs (whether in person or virtually) to learn concepts. They need to be actively making sense of meaningful phenomena and solving problems, where their thinking develops over time. To illustrate what I mean, I am going to share four science activities, how I would modify them, and what as ..read more

At the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction, we see the inherent problem of putting out 25 (!) different sets of standards, but we don’t always do a good job of helping districts see how to integrate and simplify these guidance documents. One area of connection we’re currently working on is STEM – discussing a goal of transdisciplinary STEM literacy that we hope all students gain by the time they graduate from high school. These conversations have gotten me thinking about ways to coalesce around a smaller set of core literacies (or perspectives or lenses) that schooling should support as ..read more

I recently met with a group of teachers to discuss assessments that align with the vision of the new Wisconsin Standards for Science (very similar the NGSS). When I brought up Student Learning Objectives (SLOs) as an opportunity to collaboratively create aligned assessments and review student work, they shared that their principals required them to use standardized tests that didn’t align well to their discipline-specific visions or standards. I have heard similar challenges across states, so I wanted to share a few thoughts here (and a longer version of these ideas can be found here). The ..read more

A couple weeks ago, I participated in a workshop session led by Professor Rosemary Russ of UW-Madison. She shared a story of a mystifying event: her dog tends to sniff around more on walks after it rains. She broke us into small groups, gave us some chart paper, and asked us to discuss why that may be happening. Our group gradually dug in, shared ideas, and started drawing out our thinking (we were modeling, though she never used that term). After a while groups shared their thoughts, and she asked questions. In particular, she repeatedly pushed us to explain our thinking, our “why,” our under ..read more