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Lorem Ipsum Dolor Spring 2016
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knowing any of the science behind the activities.
Senior campers should still have the chance to develop and implement
their own projects; however, they too need greater guidance in developing a
testable question. In addition to the telephone and email contact prior to
camp, seniors should have a couple webinar sessions to plan their work with
the content mentors. During camp, each day should include a group "research
meeting" in which the students explain their progress. Peer to peer
conversations would enable the students to learn from each other as well as
recognize the inconsistencies in their thinking about their own projects.
Another suggestion for improvement to the camp process would be to
have students keep better records of their work. None of the student
notebooks reviewed were anything beyond a list of procedures that the
students intended to follow, rather like a recipe. A great resource for
teachers/mentors is the book Supporting Grade 5-8 Students in Constructing
Explanations in Science: The Claim, Evidence and Reasoning Framework for
Talk and Writing by Katherine McNeill and Joseph Krajcik (2011). This book
explains how to help students think deeply about their work by linking
observational and experimental evidence to conclusions.
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