Informative Assessments of Water

I've spent the past couple of days doing some informative assessments about the properties of water. This is the first real look into standards based grading that deals with content in science. So far the year has been about the process and getting good at the business of science: investigative questioning, hypothesizing, analyzing, concludzing. I know that the last word is spelled poorly, but it just seemed to fit with the other prior....to a certain degree.

Here's what I've started to find out:

1. Students are nervous in the service when I ask them to come and sit to talk.
2. They are genuinely confused about a lot of science topics like atoms.
3. We think we've taught those concepts.
4. I really like talking to students about what they know and don't know.
5. They are suspicious of my motives and not very trusting....I don't think.
6. There are major holes in background knowledge that I need to fill

It has taken a long time to interview the students. The rest of the class has been watching screencasts that I've put together about macromolecules and also doing so background research into their structure and function. The students are well behaved and for the most part don'd need me to hound them about staying with the job at hand.

The big issue is getting them to demonstrate what they know in a non-threatening environment. When we talk science, they get feed back and increase their understanding. I'm seeing that.

Moving to the Two Sigma Solution is going to be hard work for all involved.