Steven Perri

Classroom Communities Part 3: Science Talk

1. The logistics - Talk to your mentor teacher about day, time, topic, and format (small/large/whole
class)!

Small group (5 students)

November 2, 2018
During science class

2. Experience: What is a shared experience is that you could have together in class to guide your science
talk, or that you are pretty certain your students had already (e.g., we did slime & bubbles together)?

Water and the Water Cycle. Students have been learning about water on Earth and the water cycle in
science class.

3. NGSS Connections: Identify 1 or 2 NGSS performance expectations that are connected to the topic

5-ESS2-2 Describe and graph the amounts of salt water and fresh water in various reservoirs to provide
evidence about the distribution of water on Earth.

4. Driving questions. Write out 1-2 lead questions to guide your science talk.

Remember: Good science talk driving questions are:

● Open-ended enough to allow students to offer many different stories and ideas
● Focused enough that students are not too unfocused.

1. If 97% of the Earth’s water is ocean water (salt water) and only 3% is freshwater, what does this
mean for plants, animals, and humans?

5. Introduction Plan: How will you introduce your science talk to your students? Write out the
introduction you will share with your students to start your science talk which includes:
● Group norms for science talk (e.g., use talk stems, if so, which ones; how students get the floor,
etc.,)
● How you will introduce the topic and guiding questions

I will explain the guidelines of a science talk to the students. In my explanation, I will be clear about the
purpose of a science talk, particularly mentioning that it’s a conversation meant for them and not me.
Next, I’ll show students talk stems that I have written out on a large sheet of paper that they can use as a
guide during the talk. I am going to write these talk stems specifically: I think… That makes me think
of… I agree… I disagree… I don’t understand… I like your idea because…. Next, I will show the
students a visual representing the distribution of all of Earth’s water. I will explicitly connect this topic
back to their unit on the water cycle and say that they are similar topics because they both involve water
at a global scale. After I give them some time to study it over, answer questions, and briefly explain it, I
am going to ask them the guiding question.
Water distribution image found here: https://www.ck12.org/earth-science/distribution-of-water-on-
earth/lesson/Distribution-of-Water-on-Earth-MS-ES/

Scient Talk Transcript

(1)Teacher: If 97% of the Earth’s water is Ocean water and only 3% is freshwater, what does that
mean for plants, animals, and humans?
(2)Student: That people can drink 3% of the water and animals can drink 90% of the water which
means that animals in the oceans have more water than us.
(3)Student: So like… we don’t have like… the animals… they get a lot of water and we don’t get
that much.
(4)Teacher: So the animals get more water than us?
(5)Student: Cause like… you know how it's like… in Africa, I think, its the water source and I
think they drink… uhhh… ocean water, in Africa.
(6)Student: I think like animals get more water than us since some animals live in the ocean they
can at least get more water than us and then we get less because there's only 3% of freshwater on
the earth.
(7)Teacher: So you’re saying that animals drink ocean water? Humans?
(8)Student: We drink some of it and the animals drink some of it so like they drink the lake water
and we drink water that comes out of sinks.
(9)Teacher: Ohhh! Okay!
(10)Student: Let’s say you like get freshwater… you like bought freshwater… and you put it in
with the plant… um you pour it on them.
(11)Teacher: Yeah and so that’s one way that plants can get their water!
(12)Student: There might not be enough water for all of us because like if you don't waste the
water and we actually like use it for stuff and we like actually use it for what we need to use it…
to like water our plants, and stuff like that.
(13)Teacher: Yeah okay so it sounds like there are a lot of ways that we use water, but we only
have 3% of it to use between all of us. So would it make sense for us to try and not waste our
water? Prompting students.
(14)Student: We waste by pouring… if they don't want to drink it and they change their minds
they maybe like pour it out or they don’t drink it.
(15)Teacher: That’s true that does happen.
(16)Student: I do this. It’s like where like… cause I’ll get some water… cause I’ll get a lot… and
then I’ll get thirsty from being outside… and then I’ll get some and like... it will be a lot and it
will be like a half cup left and I’ll just pour it in the sink… and that’s like wasting too.
(17)Teacher: Okay so maybe instead of filling your entire cup with water you can fill it up with a
smaller amount that you know you’ll drink.
(18)Student: Yeah and if you don’t want to drink it you can leave it on the table… for like… if
you want to drink it later…
(19)Student: Maybe you will leave the water out on the table for a couple of days and maybe it
will evaporate when it gets hot.
(20)Teacher: Oooo “evaporate”! You guys must know that word from your studying of the water
cycle, right?
(21)Student: Oh yeah! Mrs. Meissner put some water in like a big cup over there by the window
and it evaporated.
(22)Student: Oh yeah someone put their water bottle by the window and it was sweating.
(23)Teacher: Oh really!? I think there is a word for water sweating…
(24)Student: Oh yeah condensation!
(25)Student: So yeah like if you think you waste water then like you can bring a bottle to reuse
and if you don't drink all your water then you can just put it in the refrigerator. Cause this one
time I was in Ohio at my cousin’s house… and then I had this water… and then I umm fell asleep
while I was drinking it… then I woke up and when I tried the water it tasted like potato skin
because I left the water out and so I dumped it out.
(26)Teacher: Other than drinking, what else do you use water for?
(27)Student: Take a shower. Take a bath.
(28)Teacher Anything else?
(29)Student: Ummm… like this is what athletes do they just pour it on them… like if they're hot.
(30)Student: You can like wash your hair with it and wash your hands.
(31)Student: Plants!
(32)Teacher: So I want to go back to someone’s comment which was that animals can drink salt
water and I wanted to see if I got their response right. So can all animals drink salt water?
(33)Student: So when humans drink salt water they don’t get hydrated… they just get more
thirstier… cause salt makes you thirsty.
(34)Teacher: So we don’t think that humans can drink salt water even though salt water makes
up 97% of the Earth’s water? Is that what we think?
(35)Students: Yeah.
(36)Student: My Dad… like so when I was two… he like wanted me to gargle salt water and spit
it out… so my mouth wouldn’t get infected.
(37)Student: Certain animals can’t drink salt water because it will make them sick.
(38)Teacher: So what I’m hearing is that we have all of this water on Earth but only 3% we can
use right? So we have to find ways to save water because that 3% is for the entire world’s
population. That’s crazy!
(39)Student: I feel bad for the people in Africa because they don’t really get that much rain and
so I think maybe they can like leave out buckets when it rains and then they have water to use and
drink.
(40)Student: and they don't have that much food.
(41)Student: I kind of feel bad for the people in Africa because their freshwater is dirty.
(42)Teacher: Yeah and even though some African countries sit right on the ocean they can’t
drink that water. So where might they get their water from?
(43)Student: The lakes.
(44)Student: I disagree, there’s no lakes.
(45)Student: Maybe they like have a well or something.
(46)Teacher: Oh a well? That goes into what?
(47)Students: In the ground!
(48)Teacher: So you think there might be water in the ground then?
 (49)Student: Yeah because I seen this video that was like… there was like little kids in Africa
drinking all this dirty water that was like… dirty stuff in it like dirt… and… all kinds of other
stuff
(50)Teacher: That sounds pretty sad and unfair.
(51)Student: Like… so I carry around water in my water bottle… and so when I have a lot I just
leave it here so I don’t waste it
(52)Teacher: That’s a good idea.
(53)Student: If I had water that was sitting out for a long time I would pour it out.
(54)Teacher: Because it would taste bad?
(55)Student: Yeah. And like the sun would make it evaporate.
(56)Student: Where do the people in Antarctica get their water? Do they just dive into the water
to get their food?
(57)Teacher: Well nobody really lives in Antarctica because it’s too cold, right?
(58)Student: I know how penguins get their food… it’s like… they’ll go underwater and get
some fish and bring it back up… and chew it.
(59)Student: But how do penguins get in the water?
(60)Teacher: Penguins swim in water. It’s not all completely frozen in Antarctica!
(61)Student: Well what if all of the ocean gets frozen?
(62)Teacher: Hmmm what do your classmates think?

6. Post Talk Reflection (2 paragraphs)

I conducted my science talk with a group of five students in the reading corner of my mentor
teacher’s classroom. The premise of our science talk was the distribution of water on Earth. The guiding
question was, “If 97% of the Earth’s water is ocean water (salt water) and only 3% is freshwater, what
does this mean for plants, animals, and humans”? I chose this topic for the students to talk about because
they had been learning about the water cycle in their science block. My talk aligned with my plan because
the students did not get off the subject of water and the visual I shared with them seemed to be
captivating. If you read through the transcript, you will find that “water” is always the focus of whatever
is being said. However, my talk diverged from my plan because the students did not use any of the
language from the talk stem examples that I displayed. There was one instance where a student said “I
disagree” but I’m not confident that this student took the phrase directly from my examples.

Before the transcript began I introduced the science talk to the students, as indicated in my plan. I
could tell by the expressions on their faces that they were excited to have a discussion together. I selected
the transcript section because in this section the students hit many major points that I was hoping they’d
get to eventually. For example, the students mentioned some ways that humans and animals get their
water and what sources they get it from. Also in this part, they brought up water waste, water
conservation, and issues with water accessibility in other countries. After the transcript, I summarized the
major points made by the group and asked them if they still concurred with their original ideas about the
topic. After my science talk, I felt accomplished because I got through the talk without any issues and felt
that as a group we had excellent participation and insight. If I could change one thing from my talk it
would be to emphasize the talk stems more for the students in the beginning. By doing this, I believe that
they would better understand that the science talk was intended for them to communicate with each other
and not just with me, the teacher. Most of the time the students were looking only at me and they moved
from point to point quickly without taking time to reflect on each other's comments. An example of this is
when a student brought up “condensation” and right after it was brought up another student told a story
about water tasting like “potato skin”. Besides this flaw, my science talk was successful.