E N G A G I N G T H E C U L T U R E , C H A N G I N G T H E W O R L D .

Honing Diagnostic Practice: Toward a New Model of Teacher Professional Preparation and Development

Improving the Effectiveness of Teacher Diagnostic Skills and Tools

Stamatis Vokos1, Eleanor Close1, Lane Seeley1, Pamela Kraus2 and Jim Minstrell2

Hunter Close1, Lezlie DeWater1,3, and Rachel Scherr1,4

1 Dept of Physics, Seattle Pacific University, Seattle 2 Facet Innovations, LLC, Seattle 3 Seattle Public Schools, Seattle4 Physics Education Research Group, Dept of Physics, Univ of Maryland, College Park

Supported by NSF 0822342 and 0455796,the Boeing Co.,and the SPU Science Initiative

• Web-based (www.diagnoser.com) diagnostic classroom tools in:

Properties of Matter, Heat and Temperature, Particular Nature of Matter, and Energy.

• At the heart of the resources are sets of formative assessment probes, which are administered in open-ended or MC form to students during instruction.

• Teachers receive real-time feedback that allows them to design contingent instruction.

Each Diagnostic Unit (e.g., Density Concepts) consists of– Learning Goals (from NSES and BSL)– Facet Cluster (i.e., a grouping of productive and

unproductive facets of student ideas)– Elicitation Questions (i.e., pencil-and-paper

questions that can be delivered to students to elicit their prior ideas about a subject)

– A Developmental Lesson (i.e., a conceptual story for instruction of a small set of concepts)

– Diagnoser Question sets (i.e., sets of MC and open-ended research-based formative assessment probes)

– Prescriptive Activities (i.e., instructional interventions for individual students or small groups, whose answers sets are consistent with specific problematic facets)

What do the teachers who succeed in developing an effective formative assessment practice actually do?  What about the ones who are less successful? 

What do the teachers see themselves as trying to accomplish, and what forms

of interaction with students do they believe will best serve those goals? 

Web-delivered Formative Assessment Tools

Classroom ObservationsWhat kinds of questions do teachers ask their students? What kinds of responses do they get? What contingent instruction do they deliver? What types of obstacles (real or perceived) do teachers encounter, which do not allow them to engage with students’ ideas?

Value development of rich content knowledge

for themselves

Value development of rich content knowledge

for their students

Recognize their students as intelligent agents

whose ideas merit careful attention and who can

figure things out

Recognize themselves as intelligent agents

whose ideas merit careful attention and who can

figure things out

Transformative Professional Development (Grades 5-12)Implementing a Diagnostic Learning Environment

We want teachers to:

Deepen their subject matter content knowledge,

enrich their pedagogical content knowledge, broaden their curricular content knowledge, and hone their diagnostic skills

We facilitate the process through which teachers:

Properties of Matter Heat and Temperature

Particular Nature of Matter and Energy

Example: Energy

Foundational Scaffold:The Algebra Project Steps

Step 1 Physical Events/Begin with a tripStep 2 Pictorial Representation/ModelingStep 3 Intuitive Language/“People Talk”Step 4 Structured Language/“Feature Talk”Step 5 Symbolic Representation

Energy Project ApplicationOf Algebra Project Steps

Step 1 Outside trip–identify example of energy transferStep 2 Choose aspects of scenario to representStep 3 Discuss and depict on own termsStep 4 Negotiate salient features of all energy transfersStep 5 Represent energy transfers symbolically

Use representations as a bridge for understanding content, reifying learner ideas, and implementing contingent instruction.

Embodying Energy: “Energy Theater”

•A hand gives a quick shove to a box on a table. The box speeds up initially then slows down to a stop.•You are a chunk of energy.•Objects in the scenario correspond to locations on the floor.•As energy is transferred among objects, you move to different locations on the floor.•You indicate changes in your form in some way.

“We will all start out orange (chemical), then we will all

flip to green (kinetic) as we

move. Then some of us will continue

as green, and some will flip to red (thermal).”

Scaffolding consensus

Each half of the room creates two consensus “plays” – the one they just did and a variation (e.g., stronger push, no friction, heavier box).

The other team watches both variations and tries to guess the scenarios that are represented.

Disciplinedrepresentational

tool

Fun kinesthetic

activity

Possible features of energy scenarios Negotiated features of energy scenarios

Form Source Receiver Path/Flow Evidence

Elementary tchrso Formo Systemo Sourceo Receivero Amounto Evidence

Secondary tchrs