Reflection on Student Work

Description of Task This task falls during an environmental science unit covering air, atmosphere, and climate change. Students have learned about the effects of greenhouse gases on the changing climate conditions and how humans contribute to the increase in those gases in our atmosphere. In this activity students were exploring ways in which climate changes can be recorded in nature. More specifically, they were investigating how trees can tell us about past climate conditions in an area as well as allow us to make inferences about what future climate conditions may be like. By examining tree growth rings, students were able to identify differences in growth rates of the tree as a result of varying climate conditions. I split the students into groups, gave each group a tree cross section, and asked them to do the following (This is summarized form of what I gave the students): 1) Measure the width of each tree ring to the nearest half millimeter. 2) Record its width in your data table 3) Graph your data with ring width on the y-axis and year on the x-axis. Label axes and include units Ideal Response

Comment [ED1]: I assess student understand on a daily basis in order to track the development of student understand, provide feedback, and guide changes in my future lesson planning.

Comment [ED2]: The purpose of the graph was to help students visualize the change in tree growth rate over time and then think about how the climate conditions may have affected this change. Comment [ED3]: For this particular activity I am focusing most on the accuracy of student measurements and correctness of their graphs. I am not as concerned with attractiveness of the work.

Patterns in Students Responses I show some representative student response below.

All students correctly measured their ring widths to the nearest half mm. Student A put the y-axis on the right side of their graph. Only student C has axes labels. Many students did not do this. Student B has completely mislabeled the values on the y-axis. Only a few students made such a mistake. All students are missing a graph title. Very few students included this. Student D has a well-drawn graph, but has failed to include labels or units. This represents about 2/3rds of the class.

Comment [ED4]: By searching for patterns in the students work, I can more easily determine concepts that the students understand well and concepts that need to be revisited.

Student A

Student B

Student C

Student D

Implications for prior lessons and for assessment task

Comment [ED5]: In analyzing student work, I take the time to reflect on how my prior lessons may have affected the outcome of student work in order that I can take note of possible changes for the next time I teach something.

Prior lessons were successful in helping students understand how to correctly take length measurements using a metric ruler. However, it is apparent from the graphing results that not all students have a very strong understanding of how data is displayed on a graph. Students such as student B suggest that not all students fully grasp that a graphs axes labels are meant to progress in a logical fashion, usually linearly. Although we have discussed how to read graphs in prior lessons, I will be sure to highlight how the axes of a graph are labeled and include some form of labeling practice. I have also noticed that very few students included a graph title. I feel that this is an essential and important element of any graph as it gives the viewer an instant idea of the data that is being represented. I did not however, explicitly instruct students to include a graph title and I wonder if perhaps this is the reason that so few students included one. If I were to do this activity over again, I would be sure to explicitly ask for a graph title and demonstrate for students how to formulate one. Implications for following lessons In the following lesson, I will have students revisit their data and graphs and have a class discussion about what our graphs should look like and the elements that should be included in the graph. This will give students who made mistakes during the previous lesson to correct them and get more practice drawing an accurate graph. This will utilize about half of the class period. The second half of the class period will consist of students answering a series of question using the data they collected and the graphs that they drew. These questions will guide them in interpreting their data. They should begin to see patterns in the data and be able to make observations about past climate conditions in their area. Furthermore, based on their collected data they will make inferences about the impacts of climate change on future tree growth. What I learned about how students learn - Implications for teaching in general Despite looking at various graphs and interpreting the data that they represent, I can still see that some students are struggling with how to set up their own graphs. This could suggest that some students do not understand the larger aspects of graphing and the purpose of graphing. They seem to become confused with how axes should be labeled and the importance of including units and titles. Being a lover of science and research myself, I never realized how challenging reading and graphing data could be for some students. While I have been successful in getting students to measure and record data in a table, they still need a bit more coaching in the way of transferring that data to a graph. I take this as a message that I need to do more in terms of scaffolding students when making graphs. Rather than just giving students data and telling them to graph it, I will dedicate time to teaching students how to properly establish the axes of graph with sufficient opportunities for practice.
Comment [ED6]: Analyzing student work has a large impact on how I plan my following lessons. The patterns that I find allow to me hone in on the concepts that need to be readdressed in follow-up lessons.

Comment [ED7]: Finally, I often reflect on what student work teaches me about how students learn and which concepts are more difficult for them to understand. This helps me in determining the concepts that deserve the most attention.