After discussions or writing assignments where students have presented and defended arguments, explanations, or ideas, routinely schedule in reflection time for students to think about and explain where they have landed in their thinking, extending the practice of argumentation to private reflection and synthesis as students develop a greater understanding of a phenomenon or identify optimal characteristics from a set of design solutions. Then, bring closure to an argument where students reconcile their differing ideas so that they can decide on next steps as a class. Whether or not students are able to reach consensus, ask them questions like “What is our best explanation at this point?” or “Who has changed their thinking?” in order to promote the practice that argumentation involves working together to achieve a greater shared understanding.
Resource Information
- MDP:
Learning Orientation
- Resource Type: NGSS Connection
Learning Orientation Principles
The strategy above is aligned to the principles in bold.
Emphasize student reasoning, sensemaking, and developing a deep understanding as the goal of activities, rather than producing the right answer or complying with instructions
- Use assignments that are meaningful, challenging, and require students to take personal responsibility to engage at a deeper conceptual level with the material; provide students with ample time to do this work
- Press students for evidence and reasoning to demonstrate the importance of making sense of phenomena and/or solving design problems, rather than simply producing the correct answer
- Provide multiple ways to complete assignments and/or allow for flexibility in approaches to solving problems
- De-emphasize the negative consequence of mistakes by framing mistakes as part of the learning process that helps students improve their skills
Use evaluation and feedback practices that focus on deeper content understanding/reasoning and students' effort and strategy use over normative comparisons and ability/intelligence
- Design assessments to evaluate students’ three-dimensional learning with a focus on reasoning, making sense of phenomena and/or solving design problems, and deep conceptual knowledge rather than superficial knowledge
- Use rubrics and descriptive criteria for assessments rather than policies such as grading on a curve to focus the assessment on students’ understanding rather than on their relative standing among peers
- Provide positive and constructive feedback to students that emphasizes that success and failure are related to one’s effort and strategy use, which can be changed
- Provide opportunities for students to revise work or submit multiple drafts
De-emphasize social comparison and competition
- Communicate that all students have valuable contributions by calling on a variety of students in a supportive way during class discussions or activities
- Encourage students to focus on their own effort, growth, and learning as opposed to comparing themselves to their peers
- Avoid tasks that encourage competition among students (to solve a problem first, to earn the highest grades, etc.) and practices like posting student grades publicly
- Design group work that requires multiple perspectives/roles to promote peer collaboration focused on learning rather than performing
Model the commitment to learning and growth that you want your students to exhibit
- Approach course content, lesson activities, and your own learning with a positive attitude and a willingness to take risks (i.e., doing something outside of your comfort zone)
- Identify and model the use of effective learning strategies when encountering challenging tasks or making mistakes
