Lesson Imaging in Math and Science: Anticipating Student Ideas and Questions for Deeper STEM Learning

193 Pages·2016·6.29 MB·English

by  Michelle Stephan

From respected voices in STEM education comes an innovative
lesson planning approach to help turn students into problem
solvers: lesson imaging. In this approach, teachers anticipate
how chosen activities will unfold in real time—what solutions,
questions, and misconceptions students might have and how
teachers can promote deeper reasoning. When lesson imaging
occurs before instruction, students achieve lesson objectives
more naturally and powerfully.
A successful STEM unit attends to activities, questions,
technology, and passions. It also entails a careful detailed image
of how each activity will play out in the classroom. Lesson
Imaging in Math and Science presents teachers with
• A process of thinking through the structure and imple-
mentation of a lesson
• A pathway to discovering ways to elicit student thinking
and foster collaboration
• An opportunity to become adept at techniques to avoid
shutting down the discussion—either by prematurely
giving or acknowledging the “right” answer or by casting
aside a “wrong” answer
Packed with classroom examples, lesson imaging tem-
plates, and tips on how to start the process, this book is sure
to help teachers anticipate students’ ideas and questions and
stimulate deeper learning in science, math, engineering, and $29.95 U.S.
technology.
LessonImaginginMathScience_Stephan_1016_cover.indd 1 9/22/16 8:21 AM

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Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Chapter 1: STEM Literacy: Th e Nature of STEM
Teaching and Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Chapter 2: Beginning the Imaging Process:
Unpacking the Goals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Chapter 3: Imaging the Launch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
Chapter 4: Imaging Student Reasoning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
Chapter 5: Imaging Mathematically Powerful
Whole-Class Discussions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
Chapter 6: Putting It All Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Chapter 7: Getting Started . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 175
About the Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180
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Acknowledgments
Th e authors would like to thank all of the teachers and administrators we
have worked with over the last two decades. Without the collaboration of
George McManus, Ashley Dickey, Jennifer Smith, Robin Dehlinger, Kristy
Bullock, Ericka Allred, and countless other teachers, we could not have writ-
ten this book. We also owe a debt of gratitude to Carol Collins. If she had
not wandered into our lesson imaging presentation in Houston, there would
be no book.
Michelle Stephan would like to thank her parents, Don and Nancy
Stephan, for providing the type of childhood that encouraged her to dream
big. She would also like to thank her family, Chris Robinson and Tai Stephan,
for their understanding, patience, and humor throughout the writing of this
book.
Chris and Julie Cline would like to thank Michelle Stephan for introduc-
ing them to lesson imaging and for the support she has provided the past
three years. Th ey would also like to thank Kristy Bullock for supporting their
work with Dr. Stephan and for trusting them to be leaders in their school.
vii
Introduction
To me, lesson imaging is a visualization process. You often hear about
athletes visualizing their game. Imaging is a process in which teachers
visualize what will take place in their classroom when they present a task.
—George McManus, middle school mathematics teacher, Florida
Imagine that your parents or grandparents are celebrating their 50th wed-
ding anniversary this year. You and your siblings want to plan a special event
with lots of family and friends, so you decide to throw a party for them
three months from now. With the date decided, you need to think through
numerous details carefully. W here will the event take place: the city where
they currently live? Th e city in which most of your family lives? Somewhere
central to all? Also, what kind of venue will be needed—a formal setting or
more of a “party” atmosphere? Whom will you invite? When do invitations
need to be sent? Will it be a surprise? And so on.
As the day gets closer, you excitedly begin to imagine the event in your
mind, playing it out activity by activity. You imagine where you will seat
certain relatives; you know, for example, that Uncle Lee does not get along
well with cousin Meagan, so you should place them far away from each
other. As you let the image unfold, you realize that there aren’t enough non-
alcoholic beverages at the party for those who do not drink, such as cousin
Christine. Th en you remember that even though your parents love pastries,
Auntie Donna is on a diet, so you must make sure there are healthy snacks,
1
2 Lesson Imaging in Math + Science
too. Aunt Connie is allergic to fi sh, so you must provide an alternative to
the salmon you’d planned to serve. And of course Aunt Melanie’s family will
be late, so folks should probably have about 30 minutes to mingle until the
major festivities begin. You schedule the speakers, plan the approximate time
frame, gather photos to display in the room, and make the fi nal decisions on
the food and drinks the caterers will serve.
You have a clear vision of what the program will look like. You can see
your parents’ best friend, Julie, speaking, and you imagine the joke you will
tell as a nice way to get her off the microphone (she is a bit long-winded).
You visualize Uncle Mike taking the microphone and telling that “fi sh story”
again—but he often uses colorful language, so how will you manage what
he says? And you can’t forget the traditional toast that Todd always makes at
family occasions! You visualize all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren
running around and dancing to the music.
If only the celebration would unfold as your mind imagines it!
We have all had similar experiences when we plan a party, a bat mitz-
vah, a wedding, and so on. We plan meticulously for every situation that
might occur, given the diversity of people attending the event and interacting
with one another in both predictable and unpredictable ways. You know
your family traditions, relationships, desires, and motivations, and you can
more or less envision how the night will play out. Of course, the event never
happens the way we imagine it will. Sometimes it goes much better than
we thought, and sometimes we wish we had never decided to do it in the
fi rst place. Nevertheless, you had an image of how people might act, com-
municate, and relate to one another. You anticipated a potential time line
for events to occur and even imagined a bit of a contingency plan in case it
didn’t go exactly as you expected.
A very similar thought process goes on in what we call lesson imaging.
When planning for the next day’s class, a teacher might imagine what is
going to happen when the bell rings to welcome students into fi rst period
science. She will have a warm-up activity on the board, and she imagines
students taking the fi rst two minutes to get settled and then getting on with
the routine they established during the fi rst two weeks of class. Around fi ve