On the morning of November 2nd, the Science Leadership Team tackled a challenge: How could they get their Lego minifigure to “jump” the highest off a lever. Each group was given two rulers, a pencil, a minifigure, a triple beam balance, and some clay. The challenge was to design an experiment and collect data to be able to defend their claim of how to get the action figure to go the highest. Each group was then ask to explain and defend their position to other groups based on their findings. This challenge was a way to illustrate the value of argumentation in the science classroom. Teachers commented how talking with other teachers from different grade levels gave them different perspectives as to how to approach the problem. Each group happen to pick a different variable to test. This mirrored the types of conversations that happen in the classroom and why we value communication and collaboration in the science classroom.
After this practice in Argumentation – Driven Inquiry, the team dove right into looking at the Commendations and Recommendations provided by the Tri-State Consortium Team to help plan out the next steps for our science curriculum. Each group of three teachers from varying grade levels were given one of the Essential Questions that framed our visit last spring to look over and review. From there the teachers came back together in their building level groups to discuss what goals each building should work toward. The goals and district narrative will be solidified over the next science leadership meetings. Overall the team found that we were commended for our emphasis on science, technology and innovation in the classroom and look forward to continuing the trend throughout the school year.
