FA #4 - Student Interviews: Investigate Young Learners' Concept Understanding

This field assignment is investigating concept development K-5. You will be investigating the students’ concept of “What is alive? You will be using a series of pictures and asking the student if each the picture portrays something that is alive or not alive and reasons for their answer. You will be trying to identify the student’s criteria for judging something to be alive (or not). We will work this field assignment in two parts. You will bring your interview notes from your grade level to class and exchange your findings with your classmates who had different grade levels, so that grades K-5 are represented. You will be analyzing all the data (K-5), & derive some conclusions regarding the concept development from kindergarten to fifth grade.

Instructions-- Interview each student [see Semi-Structured Interview, notes, Readings] on how they respond to the concept of “what is alive?” [Remember: students should be selected to represent Miami-Dade, Broward, or Monroe County’s diverse population. Selection criteria: select boys and girls, range of academic backgrounds, range of cultural backgrounds, students at-risk, students with disabilities, ESE and LEP (ESOL) students. Children must be interviewed separately.] Include place/school, day, time, specific diversity characteristics of each child, and ages.

For each of the interviews you will be conducting a structured conversation about “what it means to be alive.” Use a series of line drawings of a cow, seed, grass, car, worm, baby, and rock. [Everyone must use the same pictures. Pictures are in a separate document.] First show the child the picture of the cow, say “This is a cow.” “Is a cow alive?” and “What makes a cow alive or not alive?” Progress through the remainder of the images in the same manner. Record as much of the students’ responses as possible. Probe their answers with additional questions. Often what children say is unclear, open for interpretation, or the answer does not reflect what they may be capable of knowing.Record the probes and additional answers and submit all notes as part of the assignment.

Summarize your overall impression of the children’s understanding of “what it means to be alive.” Draw some conclusions concerning how students in your particular grade level understood the concept of “alive.”

At this point you will bring your interview notes to class. You will meet with 4310 students who have interviewed different grade levels and share information on _TBA____.

By analyzing class data (K-5 interview results) identify some general criteria children at different grade levels construct to guide their determination of whether something is alive or not. Discuss the activities and learning opportunities that teachers of each grade group (K-1st , 2nd-3rd and 4th-5thgrades) must provide their students in their concept development of criteria for being “alive.”

Write your reflection regarding your initial thoughts of students’ learning of a concept and how that compares with what you have learned about the concept development of “being alive) from K-grade 5.

Document and report in the FA#2 assignment the name of the school, school’s address, grade level (s) of placement, and the teacher assigned as cooperative teacher.

FA #4- Student Interviews
Investigate Young Learners' Content Understanding---Scoring Rubric
SCE 4310

NAME ______DATE ______45 Points Possible

Instructions -- Interview 5 students on an assigned focus topic in science. Do each interview with one child at a time. After you interview each child reflect upon their responses and answer the following questions. The primary Florida Educator Accomplished Practices (FEAPs) that this assignment relates to are Assessment, Knowledge of Subject Matter, Diversity, Critical Thinking, and Continuous Improvement.

CONTENT ____1. Write all of the school site info including: name of school, name of teacher, grade level, location in school where the tasks take place, date/time of each interview (2 points possible).

____ 2. Interview three children. For each child (8 points for each child): Child #1 ____a. Write his/her first name, age. Identify the content area of the questions. Write the responses of the child for each picture responding to the questions “Is the ___ alive?” and “What makes the ___ alive or not?” Include any probing questions. Include (copies of) all hand written field notes for this assignment. Ask these questions for the pictures of cow, seed, grass, car, worm, baby, and rock after stating to the child “This is a ___.” (4 points) ____b. Process what you found for this child. Summarize your overall impression of his/her understanding of what it means to be alive. What misconceptions does his/she have? What accurate concept perceptions does he/she have? (4 points) ____ 3.Interview three children. For each child (8 points for each child): Child #2 ____a. Same as above (4 points) ____b. Same as above (4 points) ____ 4. Interview three children. For each child (4 points for each child): Child #3 ____a. Same as above (4 points) ____b. Same as above (4points)

_____5. Summarize general criteria the children that you interviewed construct to guide their determination of whether something is alive or not. (4 points)

____6.By analyzing class data (K-5 interview results) identify some general criteria children at the other two grade levels [K-1; 2-3; 4-5] used to guide their determination of whether something is alive or not. This should be an extensive analysis for the other two grade groups. (4 points)

____7. Discuss specificlearning activities that teachers of each grade group (K-1st , 2nd-3rd and 4th-5th grades) could provide to their students to further their concept developmentof criteria for being “alive.” (4 points)

____8. Write a half-page (minimum) reflection regarding your initial thoughts of students’ learning of a concept and how that compares with what you have learned about the concept development of “being alive” from K-grade 5 including from NSTA journal articles. Refer to specific NSTA journal article and cite references in your writing. (4 points)

COMMUNICATION ____ Spelling & punctuation - check (1 point possible)
____ Grammar check(2 points possible)

TOTAL POINTS = ______(45 points possible)

FA4 Scoring Rubric

Each 4 point item will be scored according to the following specifications: * has complete information (data) and descriptions 4 pts.
* has most information (data) and adequate descriptions 3-4- pts.
* has key details missing 2-3 pts.
* has most or all details missing 0-1 pts.

Each 2 point item will be scored according to the following specifications: * has complete information (data) and descriptions 2 pts.
* has most information (data) and adequate descriptions 1.5 pts.
* has key details missing .5 - 1 pt.
* has most or all details missing 0 pt.

Each 1 point item will be scored according to the following specification * has complete information (data) and descriptions 1 pt.
* has most information (data) and adequate descriptions .5 pt.
* has key details missing .25 pt.
* has most or all details missing 0 pt.

1