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David 804reflectiononstudentwork

The document describes a lesson where students measured tree ring widths and created graphs of the data. In analyzing student work, the teacher found that while students accurately measured the rings, many struggled with correctly graphing the data. Common errors included mislabeling axes, omitting titles and units, and placing the y-axis on the right side. To address gaps, the teacher plans follow-up lessons focusing on graph construction and having students revisit and correct their work. The analysis suggests scaffolding graphing skills more systematically.

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43 views4 pages

David 804reflectiononstudentwork

The document describes a lesson where students measured tree ring widths and created graphs of the data. In analyzing student work, the teacher found that while students accurately measured the rings, many struggled with correctly graphing the data. Common errors included mislabeling axes, omitting titles and units, and placing the y-axis on the right side. To address gaps, the teacher plans follow-up lessons focusing on graph construction and having students revisit and correct their work. The analysis suggests scaffolding graphing skills more systematically.

Uploaded by

api-282819165
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Reflection on Student Work

Description of Task
This task falls during an environmental science unit covering air, atmosphere, and
climate change. Students have learned about the effects of greenhouse gases on the
changing climate conditions and how humans contribute to the increase in those gases
in our atmosphere. In this activity students were exploring ways in which climate
changes can be recorded in nature. More specifically, they were investigating how trees
can tell us about past climate conditions in an area as well as allow us to make
inferences about what future climate conditions may be like. By examining tree growth
rings, students were able to identify differences in growth rates of the tree as a result of
varying climate conditions. I split the students into groups, gave each group a tree cross
section, and asked them to do the following (This is summarized form of what I gave the
students):
1) Measure the width of each tree ring to the nearest half millimeter.
2) Record its width in your data table
3) Graph your data with ring width on the y-axis and year on the x-axis. Label axes
and include units
Ideal Response

Patterns in Students Responses


I show some representative student response below.

All students correctly measured their ring widths to the nearest half mm.
Student A put the y-axis on the right side of their graph.
Only student C has axes labels. Many students did not do this.
Student B has completely mislabeled the values on the y-axis. Only a few students made
such a mistake.
All students are missing a graph title. Very few students included this.
Student D has a well-drawn graph, but has failed to include labels or units. This
represents about 2/3rds of the class.

Comment [ED1]: I assess student understand on


a daily basis in order to track the development of
student understand, provide feedback, and guide
changes in my future lesson planning.

Comment [ED2]: The purpose of the graph was


to help students visualize the change in tree growth
rate over time and then think about how the climate
conditions may have affected this change.
Comment [ED3]: For this particular activity I am
focusing most on the accuracy of student
measurements and correctness of their graphs. I am
not as concerned with attractiveness of the work.

Comment [ED4]: By searching for patterns in the


students work, I can more easily determine concepts
that the students understand well and concepts that
need to be revisited.

Student A

Student B

Student C

Student D

Implications for prior lessons and for assessment task

Comment [ED5]: In analyzing student work, I


take the time to reflect on how my prior lessons may
have affected the outcome of student work in order
that I can take note of possible changes for the next
time I teach something.

Prior lessons were successful in helping students understand how to correctly


take length measurements using a metric ruler. However, it is apparent from the
graphing results that not all students have a very strong understanding of how data is
displayed on a graph. Students such as student B suggest that not all students fully grasp
that a graphs axes labels are meant to progress in a logical fashion, usually linearly.
Although we have discussed how to read graphs in prior lessons, I will be sure to
highlight how the axes of a graph are labeled and include some form of labeling
practice.
I have also noticed that very few students included a graph title. I feel that this is
an essential and important element of any graph as it gives the viewer an instant idea of
the data that is being represented. I did not however, explicitly instruct students to
include a graph title and I wonder if perhaps this is the reason that so few students
included one. If I were to do this activity over again, I would be sure to explicitly ask for
a graph title and demonstrate for students how to formulate one.
Implications for following lessons
In the following lesson, I will have students revisit their data and graphs and have
a class discussion about what our graphs should look like and the elements that should
be included in the graph. This will give students who made mistakes during the previous
lesson to correct them and get more practice drawing an accurate graph. This will utilize
about half of the class period.
The second half of the class period will consist of students answering a series of
question using the data they collected and the graphs that they drew. These questions
will guide them in interpreting their data. They should begin to see patterns in the data
and be able to make observations about past climate conditions in their area.
Furthermore, based on their collected data they will make inferences about the impacts
of climate change on future tree growth.

Comment [ED6]: Analyzing student work has a


large impact on how I plan my following lessons.
The patterns that I find allow to me hone in on the
concepts that need to be readdressed in follow-up
lessons.

What I learned about how students learn - Implications for teaching in general
Despite looking at various graphs and interpreting the data that they represent, I
can still see that some students are struggling with how to set up their own graphs. This
could suggest that some students do not understand the larger aspects of graphing and
the purpose of graphing. They seem to become confused with how axes should be
labeled and the importance of including units and titles. Being a lover of science and
research myself, I never realized how challenging reading and graphing data could be for
some students.
While I have been successful in getting students to measure and record data in a
table, they still need a bit more coaching in the way of transferring that data to a graph.
I take this as a message that I need to do more in terms of scaffolding students when
making graphs. Rather than just giving students data and telling them to graph it, I will
dedicate time to teaching students how to properly establish the axes of graph with
sufficient opportunities for practice.

Comment [ED7]: Finally, I often reflect on what


student work teaches me about how students learn
and which concepts are more difficult for them to
understand. This helps me in determining the
concepts that deserve the most attention.

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