1. Day 7 Warm-Up Question:  Brian asks students to reflect on the various experiences that they have had in class so far and evaluate which of the experiences has been important in changing their thinking about sound.
  2. C:\Users\Melissa\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\NE0P4AQL\MPj04387860000[1].jpg“Evidence Buckets” Introduction: Brian draws attention to the various experiences students have had throughout the week by showing them four posters showing four “buckets” of evidence.  He prompts students to synthesize multiple pieces of evidence across multiple experiences as they work with small groups to construct an explanation for either the difference in pitch or the difference in volume between drums. This small group project includes a high degree of scaffolding to support students’ use of academic language during the construction of their evidence-based scientific explanations. You can see an example of the scaffolding by looking at the Explaining Sound group assessment.
  3. Small Group Discussions to Construct Explanations: Groups of students discuss the questions and the evidence in order to construct written explanations and diagrams of drums producing either two different pitches of sound or two different volumes of sound.
  4. Day 8 Warm-Up Question: Brian asks students to reflect on what is difficult about the group assignment and what is going well so far.
  5. Small Groups Present their Evidence-Based Explanations: Brian selects a few small groups from each class to share their written explanations and their drawings for the “Explaining Sound” assignment. Take a look at some samples of the students’ evidence-based explanations and see how students are beginning to develop partial understandings of sound.

C:\Documents and Settings\Jessica Thompson\My Documents\My Pictures\Microsoft Clip Organizer\j0431548.pngDiscussion Questions: 1) Both of Brian’s Warm-Up questions during this lesson are metacognitive questions – questions that push students to think about their own thinking and learning. What are some of the reasons why a teacher might use metacognitive questions? How is this related to ideas from How Students Learn Science in the Classroom? 2) Scaffolding is supposed to help students accomplish tasks and understand ideas that they otherwise may not have been able to accomplish on their own. How did Brian utilize scaffolding throughout this lesson to help all students – even those who are still struggling – complete the evidence-based explanation assignment?