<p> Detailed Instructions for Integrated Engineering and Physics Lessons</p><p>While the structure of this Math and Science Teacher Partnership indicates that there is a 4-hour dedicated PLC time after each training day, for the physics portion of this 9th grade physical science training, we structured the PLC meeting guidelines to more or less reflect a continuous project for each PLC group. The PLC meetings will help teachers discuss their ideas with fellow peers in order to work through the challenges of integrating engineering and physics together. The goal of the first 4 hours of the PLC is for teachers to create a small lesson that has their students demonstrate their knowledge of the engineering design process while simultaneously covering physics content. This lesson, expected to span only one or two class periods, is to give teachers, who may have never attempted to bring engineering to their classroom, a chance to practice a relatively new concept in their classroom. The second 4 hours is to give teachers more practice with integrating engineering and physics in the form of developing and integrating a unit that will span several class periods. Since this is a larger unit, teachers will be expected to craft their own assessment for Engineering Design Process (EDP) as well as a brief physics content assessment.</p><p>Some important things to stress during PLCs: ● Prior to implementing these developed units, it is expected that teachers explicitly introduce or review the engineering design process with their students prior to implementing the first integrated lesson. Teachers and districts have the freedom to choose which EDP model they will implement. </p><p>● There is no right way that EDP and physics content are integrated. The way in which to incorporate these two topics together varies depending on the objective of the lesson/unit being taught. That is to say, for example, sometimes it makes more sense to address the physics concepts before engineering design and other times it is more advantageous to design and then learn the physics from design and redesign in the engineering design process.</p><p>● Integrated lessons/units should focus equally on EDP and physics. That is to say that there should be a balance between these two topics. Ideally, when students reflect on their prototypes, they should be using physics words and concepts to describe what they observe. Likewise, students should not simply focus on equations and formulas, but should be putting physical meaning to those equations.</p><p>● When multiple pieces of student work and assessment are requested, please be sure that the chosen work matches the assessment (i.e. teachers collect all artifacts from several students).</p><p>If you have any questions regarding these instructions, please do not hesitate to contact Emily Dare ([email protected]) or Josh Ellis ([email protected]). PLC 1 Teachers will develop a simple lesson that will engage their students both in engineering and physics at the same time; this lesson should only consume one or two class periods. When appropriate, this lesson should focus on force and motion since this will be covered on Training Day 1. During Training Day 1, teachers will experience an integrated physics and engineering activity that focuses on force and motion with a mousetrap race car; teachers are welcome to do something similar in their own classrooms. It is not expected that teachers engage students in reflection that is more than a class discussion, i.e. students do not need to do a formal write-up unless the teachers feels it is appropriate. </p><p>Each EDP lesson must include: ● An engineering design process - Teachers will select an EDP model to use in their classroom. This may be a model that was presented in one of the training days, a model that their school/district uses, or a model of their own choosing. Teachers should explicitly go through this model with their students prior to or as part of the integrated lesson they develop. Teachers may also choose to present the process as student work through the process.</p><p>● At least one focus topic in physics - Since this EDP project should only consume one to two class periods, it is important that teachers concentrate their EDP to a very focused physics concept (e.g., Newton’s 1st Law). Ideally, this topic would fall under the “Force and Motion” category that will be explored during Training Day 1, but since school curriculum schedules may not match up, we do not require this.</p><p>● A written lesson plan - Teachers must write a lesson plan for this integrated lesson. It does not have to follow any particular format, but must at least include 1) the goals of the lesson and 2) a description of what the students are to do during the lesson. An example of an additional feature would be an “alignment to standards” section.</p><p>● Several artifacts from student work (photos, videos, projects, etc.) - Teachers will need to bring several examples of student work to the last PLC meeting before Training Day 2. These artifacts can be anything from photos or videos of student work (physical objects are also ok, but electronic artifacts for submission are preferred) to formative/summative assessments given to students. Since this is supposed to be a short lesson to give both teachers and students practice with integrating engineering and physics, it is not expected that the teacher require students to complete a finished project such as a short paper or presentation. This work will also be necessary for you to bring to Training Day 2 so that we may keep copies. Encourage teachers to select examples that range from “poor” to “excellent,” and make sure to discuss why teachers came to certain conclusions about their students’ work. They may quickly see that assessing these artifacts is rather difficult, but let them struggle with it a bit (this will be somewhat resolved in PLC 2).</p><p>● EDP Time Tracking Worksheet - While students are working on their EDP/physics activity, they should note how much time they are spending on each stage of the EDP. It is encouraged that teachers craft some sort of guideline or checklist for students to assure that they complete this task; an example document is attached at the end of the PLC outline documents. Teachers will be presented with one model of EDP during Training Day 1 and are encouraged to use this model, unless their school/district uses a different model. This particular document is based off of a particular EDP model (MA Engineering Standards) and teachers should modify it to match the model they chose to use in their classroom. When used in the classroom, students are to indicate the amount of time spent on whatever steps they go through as well as add a short description of what they did in that step. Teachers should remind students that the engineering design process is not linear, but that the students should expect to jump from step to step every so often.</p><p>Each EDP lesson may include: ● More than one focus topic in physics - For teachers who have implemented integrated EDP/Physics lessons before, they may be comfortable with tackling multiple physics concepts at one time. </p><p>● Artifacts of different types - While only one type of artifact is required to show documentation of the implemented EDP lessons, teachers should not feel limited that they need to only supply photos of student project. Teachers are welcome to bring other artifacts, such as assessments and reflections. PLC 2</p><p>After Training Day 2, teachers will begin to develop another integrated engineering/physics lesson for their students. This lesson, however, should be a grander scheme than the first one and is expected to take several class meetings to complete. It may be an expansion of the first lesson if teachers rotate through different classes of students and wish to improve upon the first lesson they developed and implemented during PLC 1. </p><p>There are several large differences between this unit and the previously developed lesson. It is important to keep in mind that this unit should really stress that students learn or use physics concepts to come to conclusions. Students should engage in some sort of reflection piece in which they formally integrate what they did to the science behind what they did. This unit should end in some project that is beyond the scope of the engineered object (prototype). For example, students could reflect on their engineering by writing a lab report that also incorporates their physics knowledge and discoveries. Presentations are also another way for students to critically analyze their learning. These submitted student works should allow the students to explicitly connect the physics in their objects to the decisions that they made. Students should be assessed for their physics content knowledge prior to the activity and then again once the activity (and any closing discussion) has ended. As with the smaller project, teachers should collect student artifacts in the form of pictures or video. Additionally, teachers are asked to create and use an assessment for the evaluation of student EDP (this is elaborated below).</p><p>Each EDP lesson must include: ● An engineering design process - Teachers will select an EDP model to use in their classroom. This may be a model that was presented in one of the training days, a model that their school/district uses, or a model of their own choosing. Teachers should have already gone through this model with their students during the smaller integrated lesson, but in the event that that did not occur, they should incorporate it into the unit they develop. As with before, teachers may choose to present the process as students work through the process.</p><p>● At least one focus topic in physics - Since this EDP project should only consume one to two class periods, it is important that teachers really focus their EDP on a minimal amount of physics concepts. Ideally, this topic would fall under the “Energy” category that will be explored during Training Day 2, but since school curriculum schedules may not match up, we do not require this.</p><p>● A written lesson plan - Teachers must write a lesson plan for this integrated lesson. It does not have to follow any particular format, but must at least include 1) the goals of the lesson and 2) a description of what the students are to do during the lesson. An example of an additional feature would be an “alignment to standards” section.</p><p>● Several artifacts from student work (photos, videos, projects, etc.) - Teachers will need to bring several examples of student work to the last PLC meeting before teachers move onto Chemistry training. These artifacts can be anything from photos or videos of student work (physical objects are also ok, but electronic artifacts for submission are preferred) to formative/summative assessments given to students. Since this is supposed to be a short lesson to give both teachers and students practice with integrating engineering and physics, it is not expected that the teacher require students to complete a finished project such as a short paper or presentation. This work will also be necessary for you to submit to us so that we may keep copies (details about how this is collected will be given to you at a later point). Encourage teachers to select examples that range from “poor” to “excellent,” and make sure to discuss why teachers came to certain conclusions about their students’ work. The EDP assessment that teachers create for this unit should help them alleviate some concerns.</p><p>● EDP Time Tracking Worksheet - EDP Time Tracking Worksheet - While students are working on their EDP/physics activity, they should note how much time they are spending on each stage of the EDP. It is encouraged that teachers craft some sort of guideline or checklist for students to assure that they complete this task; an example document is attached at the end of the PLC outline documents. Teachers will be presented with one model of EDP during Training Day 1 and are encouraged to use this model, unless their school/district uses a different model. This particular document is based off of a particular EDP model (MA Engineering Standards) and teachers should modify it to match the model they chose to use in their classroom. When used in the classroom, students are to indicate the amount of time spent on whatever steps they go through as well as add a short description of what they did in that step. Teachers should remind students that the engineering design process is not linear, but that the students should expect to jump from step to step every so often.</p><p>● Pre/Post Physics Content Assessment - Teachers are asked to administer a brief pre/post physics content assessment to their students. Sample assessment questions, taken from the Anoka Hennepin Common Assessment, will be provided to the teachers on Training Day 2 so that teachers have a sample to use and modify should they so choose (these will be available online with the slides we post from the day). Teachers are welcome to develop their own assessment as well, but they should keep in mind that it should be brief.</p><p>● EDP Assessment - As teachers may have found during PLC 1, assessing EDP in the classroom can be challenging, which is why we are asking teachers to think thoroughly through how to assess EDP with their students. On Training Day 2, teachers will be presented with at least one EDP assessment sample (which will be available online with the slides from the day) and may chose to use something similar to what is presented to them. This piece should be used to assess the final product that comes out of this unit; i.e. beyond just assessing the engineering prototype and whether it works or not.</p><p>Each EDP lesson may include: ● More than one focus topic in physics - For teachers who have implemented integrated EDP/Physics lessons before, they may be comfortable with tackling multiple physics concepts at one time. ● Artifacts of different types - While only one type of artifact is required to show documentation of the implemented EDP lessons, teachers should not feel limited that they need to only supply photos of student project. Teachers are welcome to bring other artifacts, such as assessments and reflections. </p>