NESTA AND MELS: GOING BEYOND THE CONTROVERSY: PROMOTING CRITIQUE, EVALUATION, AND ARGUMENT IN EARTH SCIENCE

Critique and evaluation are central to the scientific enterprise. A Framework for K-12 Science Education identifies critiquing, arguing, and analyzing as evaluative processes that are foundational to science and science learning. However, it can be challenging for students to think critically and scientifically about many Earth science topics. Therefore, our team has developed instructional scaffolds that help students to purposefully evaluate connections between lines of evidence and alternative explanations of phenomena. In doing so, students construct deep understanding of Earth science topics. This workshop will have teachers learn about and use these instructional scaffolds that promote critique, evaluation, and Earth science learning. These scaffolds cover complex socio-scientific issues including climate change, freshwater resources, fracking, universe origins, and fossil dating. We have created these scaffolds through support from the National Science Foundation, with all materials freely available to teachers. The workshop will discuss how to promote students’ evaluations and argumentation skills embedded within three-dimensional NGSS learning and CCSS critical discourse skills.