A comparative case study was conducted of two elementary science teachers' enactment of a formative assessment strategy, known as Reflective Assessment. Qualitative analysis of three data sources addressed the two research questions of the differences in enactment of RA and what those differences look like. This study suggests that differences do exist in how teachers implement formative assessment in the enactment of the same science curricula, though further investigation into this is needed.

Receive practical ideas to build understanding about how to combine reading and hands-on activities as tools to understand the nature of wave movement.

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Join us as we discuss ideas to integrate math, reading, and science (e.g. force and motion, weather) into K–5 classrooms to build confidence about using reading and math as tools to understand STEM literacies.

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This inquiry lesson uses a variety of practical situations to help students construct their knowledge of combustion, including a fire accident and a candle burning in a sealed jar experiment.

This study used a cross-age design to investigate Taiwanese students' understanding of combustion and how they apply their knowledge in a variety of practical situations. The study used nine content and six application questions to investigate 631 students' understanding of combustion ranging from 6th grade to university students. For example, three application questions were used to investigate the students' knowledge application in closed systems, including how/why should people act when a fire accident occurs in a room (Q13), why does a lighted candle extinguish in a bottle (Q14), and how/why do two lighted candles of different lengths burn in a bottle (Q15)? Students' conceptions about how combustion occurs in semi-closed and closed systems, which have very important real world consequences have not been studied in detail and science instruction rarely mentions the situation. There are two main findings. First, the older students, in general, had better understanding of content knowledge than the younger students. For example, the younger students could not recognize water as one of the products in a combustion reaction (19% vs. 91% in the older students). Second, the students' performance on the application questions, though requiring similar knowledge to solve, varied considerably. For example, most of the answers about the fire accident (Q 13) were correct regardless of their ages. On the question about a single candle experiment (Q 14), the students' performances were uniformly low regardless of age. As students had problems with the conceptions of combustion, the study has implications for science teachers and science teacher educators. Specifically, teachers can utilize the findings to develop different instructional strategies to overcome the alternative conceptions. The findings can benefit teachers giving similar instruction to students and curriculum developers modifying current curriculum materials.

Combustion is an everyday phenomenon familiar to people in all walks of life. The science is complex enough to be interesting, while still being understandable by young learners. There are, however, some alternative conceptions that emerge when people are asked to explain combustion in a closed system. This inquiry activity, developed as part of an inquiry program for 8th grade students in Taiwan, uses a variety of practical situations to help students improve their understanding of combustion. For example, Question 1 (Figure 1) uses a fire accident, question 2 uses the candle burning in a sealed jar experiment, and question 3 involves a scenario with two lighted candles of different lengths and asks students to predict and explain which candle would go out first. This presentation will discuss the development, implementation, and evaluation of the inquiry materials.

Nicole Wilton is the program manager of the Community Music Education Program at the University of Saskatchewan. Huili Hong and Renee Rice Moran are assistant professors who teach literacy classes in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction (CUAI) at East Tennessee State University. LaShay Jennings is a clinical instructor in CUAI who works with field-based student teachers. Ed Dwyer is a professor who teaches literacy classes in the same department. Nicole, Huili, Renee, LaShay and Ed have a great deal of interest in integrating artistic, social, and experiential strategies within instructional programs designed to enhance literacy achievement. According to these experts, students need to become physically, experientially, and emotionally as well as academically involved when learning sight words and in learning in general. Emphasis is placed on encouraging teachers and other instructional personnel to foster self-efficacy among their students through activities that generate success through products produced and learning experienced. Preparing a sturdy and attractive book focused on sight vocabulary in context is presented herein as a key strategy for both promoting self-efficacy and enhancing reading competence among students in the primary grades. Although the activity presented focuses on promoting sight word acquisition among primary grade readers, the strategies are adaptable to a wide variety of learning endeavours.

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