Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, Volume 4: 25 New Formative Assessment Probes, Sep/2012

Wouldn't it be helpful to know what your students' ideas are about a science concept before launching into a new lesson or unit? Uncovering Student Ideas in Science, Volume 4, offers 25 more formative assessment probes to help reveal students' preconceptions of fundamental concepts in science, bringing the total to 100 probes for the popular series by author Page Keeley. Teachers of grades K-12 will find short probes with grade-band specifics that provide easy-to-follow suggestions for addressing students' ideas by promoting learning through conceptual-change instruction. Volume 4 adds to the probes in physical, life, and Earth and space science with a new category called "unifying principles." Also covered is a discussion on balancing formative assessment with summative assessment.

About The Authors:

Page Keeley is an author, speaker, and consultant who works with school districts and STEM organizations throughout the U.S. and internationally in the areas of formative assessment and teaching for conceptual change. She recently retired from the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA) where she was the Senior Science Program Director for 16 years, directing projects and developing resources in the areas of leadership, professional development, linking standards and research on learning, formative assessment, and mentoring and coaching. She has been the Principal Investigator and Project Director of three National Science Foundation–funded projects, including the Northern New England Co-Mentoring Network; PRISMS: Phenomena and Representations for Instruction of Science in Middle School; and Curriculum Topic Study: A Systematic Approach to Utilizing National Standards and Cognitive Research. In addition to NSF funded projects, she has directed state Math-Science Partnership (MSP) projects, including TIES K–12: Teachers Integrating Engineering into Science K–12, and a National Semi-Conductor Foundation grant, Linking Science, Inquiry, and Language Literacy (L-SILL). Keeley also founded and directed the Maine Governor’s Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership, a replication of the National Academy for Science Education Leadership, of which she is a fellow. 

Keeley is the author of eighteen books and numerous journal articles and book chapters. She is also a co-author for McGraw-Hill’s elementary and middle school science programs. Keeley taught high school science for 2 years and middle school mathematics and science for 12 years before leaving the classroom in 1996. At that time she was an active teacher leader at the state and national level. She served two terms as president of the Maine Science Teachers Association and was the District II National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) director. She received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Secondary Science Teaching in 1992, the Milken National Distinguished Educator Award in 1993, was named the AT&T Maine Governor’s Fellow in 1994. 

As a nationally known professional developer and speaker, she received the National Staff Development Council’s (now Learning Forward) Susan Loucks-Horsley Award for Leadership in Science and Mathematics Professional Development in 2009, and the National Science Education Leadership Association’s Outstanding Leadership in Science Education Award in 2013. She has been a science education delegation leader for the People to People Citizen Ambassador Professional Programs, leading the South Africa trip in 2009, the China trip in 2010, the India trip in 2012, the Cuba trip in 2014, and the Peru trip in 2015. 

Joyce Tugel is a Science Specialist at the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA). Her work is primarily focused on the areas of science professional development, standards and research on learning, formative assessment, and teacher leadership. Joyce is a co-author of two books in the NSTA Press Uncovering Student Ideas in Science series and editor of Notes from the Field - Teaching for Conceptual Change: Uncovering Student Thinking in Science Through Action Research. She has served as the Project Director for the NOAA-funded Earth as a System is Essential: Seasons and the Seas (EaSiE) project and numerous Maine Math Science Partnership initiatives, including the Science Content, Conceptual Change and Collaboration (SC4) project. Prior to coming to the MMSA in 2005, Joyce was a science professional development specialist at the TERC Eisenhower Regional Alliance for five years and taught high school chemistry and physical science for ten years. Prior to receiving her science teaching certification, Joyce was a researcher in environmental biogeochemistry at the University of New Hampshire. Joyce is the National Science Education Leadership Association’s Region A Director, and has served as the National Science Teachers Association's District II Director and Professional Development Division Director. She is a Fellow of the third cohort of the National Academy for Science and Mathematics Education Leadership. During her accomplished teaching career, Joyce received the Presidential Award for Excellence in Secondary Science Teaching, the Milken Foundation National Distinguished Educator Award, and the New England Institute of Chemists Secondary Teaching Award. Joyce received her B.S. and M.S. degrees in Microbiology from the University of New Hampshire.