using stories to teach chemistry patrice pages, editor of chemmatters magazine american chemical...

Using Stories to Teach Chemistry

Patrice Pages, Editor of ChemMatters magazineAmerican Chemical SocietyWashington, DC

AACT WebinarOct. 9, 2014

American Chemical Society

Purpose of presentation

Use magazine or newspaper articles to:

•improve students’ understanding of scientific concepts

•improve students’ scientific literacy

•improve reading comprehension

•encourage critical thinking

•encourage evidence-based argumentation.

American Chemical Society 2

A few definitions:

• Scientific literacy: Knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity (U.S. National Center for Education Statistics)

• Reading comprehension: Ability to read a text, understand it, and analyze it; in other words, reading ideas, not individual words.

• Critical thinking: Careful, deliberate determination of whether one should accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim (Moore & Parker).

• Evidence-based argumentation: Use of scientific facts (instead of opinions or guesses) to discuss a topic and make decisions.


Stories and science?

• Stories:

– use metaphorical truth to help us to connect to and care about the world

– usually answer “why” and “so what?” questions and connect with our emotions.

• Science:

– usually answer “how” questions and speak to the logical side of our brains.


Stories in the chemistry classroom

Main benefits:

•Hook listeners while teaching abstract ideas

•Provide a different perspective on hard facts by putting them in everyday context

•May allow to remember facts/concepts more easily.

•Provide an opportunity to earn extra credit!

A science story will work when students:

•know why they are being asked to read a given text

•apply prior knowledge and experience to the story

•ask themselves questions while they reading.


Where to find articles that read like stories:

• Magazines: Examples:

– Discover

– Science World (Scholastic)

– ChemMatters (American Chemical Society)

• Newspapers: Examples:

– The New York Times’ Science section

– The Washington Post’s Health & Science Section

– The Los Angeles Times’ Science & Health section.


• Magazine for high school chemistry students and teachers published by the American Chemical Society.

• Goal: To demystify everyday chemistry

• Started 30 years ago (Feb. 1983)

• Published 4 times during school year

• Subscription (or AACT member benefit): $16 per year (4 issues)


• Attention-grabbing introductory section

• Questions throughout the article to guide the flow of the story

• Chemistry concepts “woven” in the story

• Figures, illustrations, pictures, infographics, and video/podcasts

• Characters (usually teens), as much as possible.


ChemMatters article

Critical thinking, reading comprehension, scientific literacy, and evidence-based argumentation:

• Common Core State Standards: Expectations for:– Mathematics– English language arts (ELA)

– Literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects.

• Expected outcomes for ELA/Literacy standards:– Critical thinking and reading comprehension.

– Attentive reading of literary and informational texts.

– Ability to write arguments to support claims in a text

– Ability to write text that conveys information clearly and accurately.


Examples of articles that could be used to achieve critical thinking, reading comprehension, scientific literacy, and evidence-based argumentation:

•Performance-Enhancing Drugs: Is Winning Everything? (Oct. 2014)

•Skin Color: A Question of Chemistry (April 2014)

•Sinkholes: Chemistry Goes Deep (April 2014)

•It’s Not Easy Being Green… Or Is It? (February 2014)

•Global Climate Change: A Reality Check (December 2013)

•Why Cold Doesn’t Exist (Oct. 2013)


CCSS and NGSS

Next-Generation Science Standards (NGSS):

•Articulate students’ learning goals and performance

•Focus on:

Scientific Practices

Disciplinary Core Ideas

Crosscutting concepts

CCSS-ELA/Literacy, CCSS-Math, and NGSS overlap in their expectations.


Achieving critical thinking, reading comprehension, scientific literacy, and evidence-based argumentation

1. Choose articles that read like stories

2. Connect new ideas and information to existing knowledge

3. Develop vocabulary

4. Identify and summarize new content in the story

5. Identify multi-step processes and cycles


Achieving critical thinking, reading comprehension, scientific literacy, and evidence-based argumentation

1. Choose articles with the following elements:

–Relationships among human beings

–Relationship of individual to society

–Relationship of individual to nature

–Human survival, courage, hardships.

Source: 7 Actions that Teachers Can Take Right Now: Text Complexity, Text Matters:

http://textproject.org/professional-development/text-matters/7-actions-that-teachers-can-take-right-now-text-complexity/


2. Connect new ideas and information to existing knowledge

After reading the article:

• Show how the text connects to students’ prior knowledge.

• Support students in organizing new knowledge.

• Create an anticipation guide that compares students’ ideas with information in the text.

• Widen students’ knowledge with additional sources of information.

• Encourage students to share their knowledge.

Source: 7 Actions that Teachers Can Take Right Now: Text Complexity, Text Matters:

http://textproject.org/professional-development/text-matters/7-actions-that-teachers-can-take-right-now-text-complexity/


Anticipation Guide (example)

Me Text Statement

Graphene is the thinnest material known to exist, yet it is stronger than steel.

Allotropes of the same element have the same chemical and physical properties.

The first samples of graphene were made using sticky tape.


Directions: Before reading, in the first column, write “A” or “D,” indicating your agreement or disagreement with each statement. As you read, compare your ideas with information from the article. In the space under each statement, cite information from the article that supports or refutes your original ideas.

3. Develop vocabulary

– Encourage use of dictionary for unknown words.

– Have students create word walls for new vocabulary.

– Remind students to look for the origins of words.

Sources:

•Teaching Today, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/subject/reading_skills.phtml

•7 Actions that Teachers Can Take Right Now: Text Complexity, Text Matters: http://textproject.org/professional-development/text-matters/7-actions-that-teachers-can-take-right-now-text-complexity/


4. Identify and summarize new content in the story

– Ask students to identify titles, subheadings, graphics, and summary statements.

– Ask students to write down questions or ideas while they read.

– Teach students to look for terms that imply relationships (since, because, if, although, etc.).

– Ask students to describe new content through a diagram, graphic, or table to extract relevant information.

(Source: Teaching Today, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill: http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/subject/reading_skills.phtml)


Example of a table showing reading comprehension

Directions: As you read the article, complete the chart below describing the properties of graphene that may make the device available in the future.


What properties of graphene are important for this application?

Advantages of using graphene

Flexible solar panels

Foldable cell phones

Bionic devices

5. Identify multi-step processes and cycles

Many science concepts revolve around a sequence or cycle of events

– Identify the sequence or cycle of events described in a text and how such events follow each other (in various steps).

– Have students create flow charts, diagrams, or sketches and encourage them to share them with the rest of the classmates.

(Source: Teaching Today, Glencoe/McGraw-Hill:http://www.glencoe.com/sec/teachingtoday/subject/reading_skills.phtml)


ChemMatters Teacher’s Guide

For each ChemMatters article, a Teacher’s Guide provides lots of additional information, including:

•An anticipation guide: compares students’ ideas with information from an article.

•Reading strategies: encourage students to summarize the main information in the text in the form of tables, charts, and diagrams.


• Support ChemMatters articles by explaining concepts with animations and graphics

• Help students visualize chemistry concepts and understand them better.

Available at: www.acs.org/chemmatters (under “videos”)

Example: Video podcast on graphene based on article: Graphene: The Next Wonder Material? by Michael Tinnesand, ChemMatters, Oct. 2012, pp. 6-8.


ChemMatters video podcasts

• One free article from each issue.

• Articles from past issues organized by chemistry concepts.

• Free teacher’s guides.

• Free video podcasts.


ChemMatters online (www.acs.org/chemmatters)

Contact information

Patrice PagesEditor, ChemMattersAmerican Chemical SocietyEducation Division1155 Sixteenth Street, NWWashington, DC 20036Tel.: 202-872-6164

E-mail: [email protected]


using stories to teach chemistry patrice pages, editor of chemmatters magazine american chemical...

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