Introduction The combination of goals for students, learning theory, and research on appropriate teacher behaviors all inform

effective science teaching in todays classroom. This lesson aims to model how effective science teachers can use these tools to engage their students. It explicitly addresses the application of learning theory and student goals to create an environment where students are responsible for their learning. This lesson also explicitly addresses the nature of science and the nature of technology through direct student questioning and inquiry based activities.

Standard Construct and revise an explanation based on evidence for how carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen from sugar molecules may combine with other elements to form amino acids and/or other large carbon-based molecules. (HS-LS1-6 Next Generation Science Standards)

From Sugar to Amino Acid The lesson begins with a concrete experience with sugar and amino acid molecules. The students are all given ball and stick models of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen which they must label with their name or initials. They are told to create a sugar molecule with six carbons, twelve hydrogens, and six oxygens. The shape of the sugar molecule in regards to bonding is not imperative because the objective of this lesson is the rearrangement of the atoms, not the bonding of the atoms. Telling students the number of atoms is a necessary scaffold for students to focus on the rearrangement of atoms rather than the number of atoms. The students will need to creatively design the arrangement of the atoms that they see is appropriate. After the students create the sugar molecule it is fitting to assess student understanding of the nature of science (NOS). Proposing questions such as: To what extent did this require creativity? To what extent did your peers design affect your own design? These will assess student thoughts on science based on the experience they just had in building the molecule. Following these questions it would also be beneficial to ask the students to apply their understanding of science in regards to creativity and collaboration to how real scientists do science. They should investigate this idea through questions such as: To what extent do real scientists use creativity? To what extent are real scientists affected by their peers? The students should be investigating the nature of science through the scientific simulations and investigations they are working on. (Clough 2007) It is important to use appropriate wait time and have an eager persona so that the students are encouraged to speak and know the teacher values their answers. (Clough 2007, Herman 2008) The students should clarify or elaborate their comments when it is needed to better assess student thinking. To continue with the process from sugar to amino acid molecules the students are told that an animal is eating all of the sugar molecules so they must all be taken apart and placed in a bag to simulate the sugar molecules going into the animal. Asking the students to describe why the molecules must be taken apart rather than just placed whole in the bag will reach the misconceptions of the students about what happens to sugar molecules. To make the next molecule the students are given one nitrogen and directed to randomly grab five carbons, two oxygens, and nine hydrogens out of the bag. In a

smaller class the students can grab atoms directly out of the bag, however, in a larger class it is more time efficient to pour the atoms in separate plastic containers for the students to grab out of. After they have designed the new molecule the students are told it is an amino acid. It is essential to ask the students the following questions so that they are developing ideas about the rearrangement of atoms: Why dont you have all of your original atoms? What evidence do you have for where your original atoms went? What evidence do you have that the atoms rearranged in going from sugar to amino acid? Using the words support or provide evidence rather than prove will represent the NOS more accurately because evidence must be interpreted, it does not simply lead to prove a conclusion. (Schwartz 2007) The extended answer questions promote critical thinking skills and deep understanding of content within the lesson. During the discussion of these questions it is appropriate to ask the students to talk in partners if they are struggling to answer. Additionally, talking with partners will assist ELL students or struggling students because they will hear the content in student language rather than teacher language. As the students have partner discussion the teacher should circulate the room and listen to what students are saying to each other. This will assist with classroom management issues and help the teacher develop an appropriate question to begin discussion. Listening to the partner discussions can also clue the teacher in to misconceptions many students have that needs to be addressed. After they have discussed ideas in partners they will have more confidence in their ideas and class discussion will be more robust. After discussing the rearrangement of atoms, asking the students the following question will lead to the bigger picture: What evidence do you have that we didnt use all of the original atoms? What do you think happens to those leftover atoms? o If students say the atoms stay in the body of the animal then ask, How do the atoms leave the body? o If students say atoms are excreted by the animal then ask, Where do the atoms in the waste travel to next? While students present answers to the discussion questions acknowledging comments rather than rejecting or confirming is more beneficial to the students and to the discussion because the students will be required to think instead of looking to the teacher for answers. As well as acknowledging answers, they should be written on the board. Putting ideas on the board will help students connect conceptualize and will assist in referencing the concrete experience in further discussion. (Olson 2009)

Connecting Concrete Experience to Abstract Ideas Students will begin by describing how what they have done with the sugar molecule activity can be connected to what they know already know about the law of conservation of mass. If students are having difficulty remembering the basic principles of the law of conservation of mass then they could be asked: Explain how you know that mass can be transferred but not created or destroyed. Discuss this with your partners. While students are discussing with their partners the teacher should walk around and make sure students are on the right track. Once the class comes back together, the teacher will ask students to share what they discussed while creating a list of key ideas on the board for students to refer back to later in class. It is likely that this list will include ideas such

as: the amount of matter you have does not increase or decrease as it changes states, mass can be converted to energy, because the atom I had during the activity didnt disappear, it went to another person, all of the atoms used came from previous molecules. The teacher will then ask the students to connect what they now remember about the law of conservation of mass to the sugar molecule activity. Having students talk about prior knowledge regarding conservation of mass is good for teasing out misconceptions about conservation of mass. It is important to catch any misconceptions at this point because if students have misconceptions about conservation of mass then they will have difficulty making accurate connections between the law and any other concrete activities. All students will come into the classroom with prior beliefs and misconceptions, but through questioning we can help students come to realize and correct their misconceptions. To help students make connections, the teacher should ask questions such as: To what extent does the law of conservation of mass support the idea that sugar atoms recombine to form amino acids? What evidence do we have to support that none of the atoms were lost between the breaking apart of the sugar molecule and the creation of the amino acid? What evidence do we have to support that the sugar atoms that were not used to make the amino acids were not lost? According to the HRASE Questioning Hierarchy, it is best to ask questions that relate to students prior experiences, ask students to compare activities, apply their knowledge to new situations or systems and explain the reasons behind their thinking (Clough 2007). The purpose of asking questions is to give students a starting point to build off of; questions are used as a means to empower students to do the thinking. By having students work in groups, students are learning to appreciate and respect the opinions of others, collaborate, share ideas, and communicate effectively. The questions above are asking students to compare the activity they just participated in to another system and to then provide evidence for their ideas. After students have formed connections between how the sugar molecule activity represents the law of conservation of mass, then the class will move into other systems and phenomena that can be explained by the law of conservation of mass. One of these systems is the carbon cycle. Using their knowledge of the law of conservation of mass, students will draw a figure that represents how a particle of carbon moves throughout its life cycle. Students will create their drawings individually at first on whiteboards and then share their drawings with the class. Students must rely on their own knowledge to see what they can come up with. They will then partner up with another student and revise their drawings if they choose to do so. Having students work together here is beneficial because they are able to bounce ideas off of each other as well as learn something from their partner that they may not have known or thought about when working individually. As students are doing this the teacher will ask students questions to assess their understanding of the content as well as NOS ideas: How is collaborating with other students to explain how carbon moves throughout its life cycle similar to how real scientists work? How did what you and your partner discussed after your initial drawing affect your decision to change your drawing, To what extent does this support that science is a social process? You all collaborated with partners to refine your drawings. To what extent does this support that real scientists benefit from collaborating with other scientists? How are the diagrams that you drew similar or different from the diagram that your partner created?

While asking these questions it is important for the teacher to keep in mind what the proper wait times are. Wait time one is the length of time the teacher waits after asking a question and wait time two is the length of time a teacher pauses while waiting for another student to share their input. When a teacher asks a complex question it is important to give students enough time to think of an extended answer. Extended wait times can be especially beneficial to students in special education. Bright students may see multiple connections between ideas and increased wait time gives them more time to develop these connections further (Rowe 1986). Extended wait times are useful in special education classes as well. Students in these classes showed positive outcomes when given five seconds of wait time versus only one to two seconds of wait time. Extended wait time in second language classes is important as well, especially when asking questions to students in their second language. Addressing Misconceptions about the Carbon Cycle If students do not understand how a particle of carbon moves throughout and interacts with the environment, then we could do a concrete activity to help represent the movement of the particles and the roles that the atmosphere, water, plants and other animals play in the cycle. Addressing the misconceptions of students is a fundamental step of learning because students must become dissatisfied with their current ideas in order to successfully accept new ideas. On the board we would create a scene including trees, water, an animal, the atmosphere and people. We would use 8 magnets to represent carbon atoms moving through the environment. This demonstration would begin by asking students: Currently, all of the carbon atoms we are tracking in this system are located within the atmosphere, where will they move next and why? How do the carbon atoms move? This demonstration includes asking guiding questions and leading students through the carbon cycle. At this point we will expect students to have the carbon atoms moving around multiple places in very different paths. Our end goal is for students to understand that carbon cycles all the way through the pieces of the environment and eventually goes back into the atmosphere where it started. It is beneficial to do this activity as a demonstration because we can catch misconceptions about the movement of carbon as they happen. For instance, if a student believes that all eight of the molecules move together from one place to the next we can dig deeper into that misconception by asking for the thoughts of other students. We can also draw on the previous class activity by asking students about the movement of the molecules earlier and why they did not all move together.

References Clough, M.P. (2007). Teaching the Nature of Science to Secondary and Post-secondary Students: Questions rather than tenets. The Pananeto Forum, Issue 25, January. Clough, M.P. (2007). Wait Just a Moment! The Iowa Science Teachers Journal, 34(2), 2. Clough, M.P. (2007). What is so Important About Asking Questions? The Iowa Science Teachers Journal, 34(1), 2. Herman, B. (2008). Are Questions Enough? An action research investigation to analyze the effect of questions and non-verbal behaviors on student responses with suggestions for improving practice. Iowa Science Teachers Journal, 35(3), 12-16. Olson, J.K. (2009). Being Deliberate about Concept Development: Effectively moving students from experience to understanding. Science & Children, February, p51-55. Rowe, Mary. (1986). Wait Time: Slowing Down May Be A Way Of Speeding Up. Journal of Teacher Education, 37(3), 47-48. Schwartz, R. (2007). Whats in a Word? Science Scope, 31(2), 42-47.