Your grade in this course will be determined by your level of completion of all assignments and your participation in the class. The unit plan and the completed portfolio are the major assignments for the course. How well you present your work in class will be another component of your grade. Finally, your participation in class, including preparedness to discuss readings and attendance, is an important component of your grade. Read the syllabus carefully and see the instructor if you have any questions about what is required of you. Satisfactory work at the graduate level for all course requirements will result in an A- in the course. Outstanding work will result in an A. Any written work deemed unsatisfactory by the instructor will be given back to the student with comments for improvement. The instructor will make adjustments in these requirements for students with learning disabilities.

All course work must be completed and handed in to the instructors by December 11, 2006. If for some reason this cannot happen, the student must make arrangements with the instructor to complete the work before a mutually agreed upon date. The student and instructors will draw up a contract specifying the work that needs to be completed and the completion date. They will sign the contract and each will receive a copy.

All written assignments should be prepared electronically and handed in via WebCT.  In addition, you will need to submit Assignments 6-8 to TK20.

1. Your science teaching autobiography, Prepare a poster or other display that represents your answers to the following questions:

a) How did I get here?
b) What went into my decision to become a science teacher?
c) What was good/bad about the science classes that you were in as a student?
d) What would you do the same as a science teacher, what would you do that is different?

While the first two questions are important for setting context, pay particular attention to the last two. The poster will be due on September 18. Write a one-page description of how your poster answers these questions and submit via WebCT before class on September 18. You can also make the poster as an electronic file and upload it to WebCT.

2. Lesson plans: You will need to produce four lesson plans for this course:

1. Inquiry lesson plan (Due October 2)
2. Science in the community lesson plan (Due October 30 )
3. Social context lesson plan (Due November 20).
4. History and/or philosophy of science lesson plan (Due December 4).

One of these lessons can also be used for the peer teaching assignment. The lesson plan format is available at http://www-unix.oit.umass.edu/~afeldman/lessonplanformat.html and on WebCT in "Course Extras".

Each lesson plan should include a Reflective Introduction that explains how this lesson directly reflects science teaching and learning ideas and issues you have learned about in the course thus far.   Describe at least three aspects of your lesson that can be linked to course activities we're looking for "aha" moments or those ideas that you really agree with and act on in a lesson plan.   You may refer to class discussions, cohort discussions, readings, websites, and assignments.   Be specific and cite the origin of your lesson plan ideas.   Your descriptions may include ideas about content, process, student activity (for example, individual or group work), objectives, and personal teaching and learning goals for yourself and your students.   For example, you may state, "During our discussion on the state frameworks, I noted down the importance of...   In this lesson I use that idea by..." The point of this introduction is two fold; 1) for you to purposefully and reflectively use your learning in the course as you plan lessons and 2) for the instructors to understand the ideas and issues you find most salient as you learn about teaching science.

3. Review of the MA Science Curriculum Framework: Student groups will prepare critical reviews of the content specifications of the Science Framework. This should include comparisons with the National Science Education Standards (http://www.nap.edu/catalog/4962.html), the AAAS Benchmarks (http://www.project2061.org/tools/benchol/bolintro.htm), and the MA Science and Technology/Engineering Framework (http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/current.html). This is a group assignment. Each group will focus on one content/grade level of the Frameworks. Those focusing on the high school level should especially look at the draft standards http://www.doe.mass.edu/frameworks/updates.html
Everyone should read the Welcome, Vision, and Guideline sections of the current framework

Prepare a PowerPoint or equivalent presentation. Plan to spend no more than five minutes including questions for your presentation. That would mean no more than 3 PowerPoint slides. Due October 11.

4. Student interview: Details of this assignment can be found on WebCT. Due October 23

5. Teach one peer-lesson. Choose one of the lessons that you prepared for #4 above. Improve it based on your experience teaching it, feedback that you received from the other students in this class, and what you have learned in this class. The lesson plan and your response to peer review must be handed in to us the week after you teach the lesson. Peer teaching will begin on October 30.

6. Safety Plan: Prepare a Safety Plan for your classroom. A safety plan ensures that you are familiar with procedures you can and should be known as a practicing science teacher. It is an action plan containing the information you need to safely guide and manage your classroom. Details for this assignment are in WebCT and TK-20. You must upload it to both sites.. Due November 20.

7. Care of Live Specimens summary: Prepare a single-spaced, one to three page summary of the laws, rules and principles that underlie the collection, keeping, and use of living things for instruction. Details for this assignment are in WebCT and TK-20. Due November 27. You must upload it to both sites.

8. Unit plan: The unit plan should have as one of its major foci the use of models in your discipline, either to engender science learning or as used by scientists, or both.

This is a cooperative assignment. You will work in groups of 2 or 3 to prepare a complete unit plan. This group need not be your cohort group. This is due on December 11. You must upload it to both WebCT and TK-20.

The complete unit plan will consist of 5 parts: an abstract, rationale for the topic, a list of global and curricular objectives, an outline of day-to-day activities, and a final assessment. Email the abstract to the class list serve by Friday, December 8. The unit plan must be prepared in electronic form.

• ·Abstract: Approximately 150 words that briefly describe the unit plan. The purpose is to inform other science teachers about what they would find in the plan that would be useful to them.
• ·Rationale: The rationale should answer the following question -- "Why is it important to study this topic?" It should focus on the topic rather than more broadly on the subject. The rationale should be an argument in support of the importance of the topic. It should be one typewritten page (about 250-400 words).
• ·Objectives: List your global and curricular objectives for this unit. Global objectives relate to more universal teaching and learning goals. Curricular objectives are centered on the content of the unit. Be complete but do not atomize your list. A significant aspect of the objectives should be a focus on inquiry-based teaching and learning. We will look for the manifestation of those objectives in the individual lessons.   This requires your group to effectively understand the reasoning behind engaging students in inquiry.
• ·Day-to-day activities: Prepare lesson plans that include all 20 days. Tell both what will be taught (content) and how it will be taught (pedagogy). That is, what you expect to accomplish that day and how you will make that happen. Make sure that it would be clear to another science teacher.
• ·Final assessment: Describe how you will assess student learning and determine whether you will have met your objectives for the unit. If the final assessment is a test, give sample test questions. If it is another form of assessment, include the instructions and/or questions that you will give to students about the assessment.

Unit plan presentation

Each group will present its unit plan to the whole class. The presentation can either use a poster or a PowerPoint presentation. If you choose to do the latter, I would like you to prepare at most 5 slides:
1) Title
2) Rationale
3) Objectives
4) Day-to-day activities: An example from your day-to-day activities that best illustrates the major ideas of the unit plan
5) Final assessment

You can use the same outline if you choose to do a poster.