Great Inservice

WHAT AM I DOING TO HELP KIDS ACHIEVE?

HOW DO I KNOW WHEN THEY ARE THERE?

WHAT IS THE EVIDENCE?

     Happy to say I had a great inservice today.  Meri Johnson is a science consultant who did a great job.  We had worked on an inquiry lab last fall and then she provided a great wrap up.  It is called CERR. It stands for Claim, Evidence, Reason and Rebuttal.  Honestly, if you think of every science fair, poster session or good short answer it follows that method (although I hate more acronyms, I'll buy this one).  Here is what I hope to try to introduce it.  I am going to have students do a lab about the electron around the atom (Hydrogen atom electron distribution lab).  They drop a marble on a target 100 times and record each drop.  They then compare that to the electron around a hydrogen atom.  Both graphs look similar.  I hope to add to the lab a card sort.  They will have the cards C, E and R and they must place claims, evidence and reasons in the correct place.  The key is that next time, they will develop CER on their own.  I was going to have a teacher led discussion about the rebuttal which is "People still believe in the planetary model of the atom.  After all it explains atomic spectra."   This would then tie into the next topic, which is orbital theory and geometry.  I'll take pictures....