Pathways to performance expectations

One way to envision progress towards a set of performance expectations is through the lens of the science and engineering practices. We make use of the "practices web" developed by Nyman and St.Clair (2016) to illustrate how students build their understanding of phenomena through engaging in science and engineering practices.

These slides illustrate the investigation that takes place in a modified version of case study 2.1 of Climate of Change, in which students analyze and interpret several datasets from the equatorial Pacific in order to develop their understanding of the cycling of matter and energy in the Earth system and make claims about short-term climate variability, specifically the El Niño-Southern Oscillation.

Teacher participants in a 2018 workshop developed additional pathways using the practices web that highlight additional disciplinary core ideas:

• Investigating the ocean system
• Investigating the cycling of carbon
• Investigating Earth's climate and human impacts
• Investigating water as a resource

References

Nyman, M., and St. Clair, T., 2016, A Geometric Model to Teach Nature of Science, Science Practices, and Metacognition: Journal of College Science Teaching, v. 45, no. 5, p. 44-50.