- Year 2019
- NSF Noyce Award # 1852735
- First Name Melissa
- Last Name George
- Institution University of California, Santa Cruz
- Role/Position Cal Teach Science and Math Initiative Internship Coordinator
- Workshop Category Track 2: Teaching Fellowships
- Workshop Disciplines Audience Other: STEM Education
- Target Audience Noyce Master Teachers, Noyce Teaching Fellows
- Topics Supporting Each and Every Student
- Session Length 30 minutes
Participants will work through the three stages of the backward design framework to plan their own unit.
Stage 1: Identify the desired results by considering the learning goals for the unit.
Stage 2: Determine acceptable evidence that students are making progress towards learning goals
Stage 3: Plan learning experiences that facilitate students’ construction of meaning.
Evidence: Chapter 20: Zoology Brut-Using Backward Design to Explore the Sixth Extinction through Art, Architecture, and Appetite by Melissa George
In Best Practices in STEM Education: Innovative Approaches from Einstein Fellow Alumni, Second Edition, Edited by Tim Spuck, Leigh Jenkins, Terrie Rust & Remy Dou
The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) supports K-12 education that addresses human impacts on Earth’s systems while encouraging citizen scientists to become active in their own communities (Achieve, 2013). As a teacher-researcher, I embraced this challenge by developing a high school zoology course using backward design (Wiggins & McTighe, 2005) for a diverse set of learners . Implementing the technique’s three stages, I structured NGSS-focused learning goals, planned assessment to meet these goals, and centered instruction on student interests. My course, Zoology Brüt, adopts the term art brüt coined by French artist Jean Dubuffet referring to work created outside the boundaries of the official culture. The course uses this same philosophy, inspiring students to express their ideas in non-traditional ways: (a) organism study of structure and function through multiple representations (art), (b) ecosystem modeling and monitoring using student designs (architecture), and (c) evaluating the culturally embedded culinary use of animals (appetite). My unit will serve as a backdrop for workshop participants to explore the use of backward design to create creative units. This will involve also involve the practice of multiple strategies to tailor courses to differentiate for diverse learners.