2e Lessons in Science

By Martha Palm

November, 2011

One would think that science would be a perfect learning environment to expand the worlds of kids who need hands-on (minds-on) learning. It makes sense doesn’t it? The problem comes when we are asked as teachers to present the kinds of lessons where the answers are already known. Who wants to do that? Wouldn’t it be more fun thinking about the unknown?

I am a classroom teacher of the highly and profoundly gifted. I teach a class of 26 kids in 4th and 5th grade who have shown they are exceptionally gifted. In my experience I am finding more and more of my students are twice-exceptional — kids who are extraordinarily bright but can’t achieve to their potential for a variety of reasons. With time, I am learning how to be a more effective teacher for these students and sometimes find my mind overflowing with possible accommodations for them, especially in science. What I have found is that modifying my science curriculum has not only been extremely helpful to my 2e students, but it has also been helpful to my other students as well.

What helped to make my teaching in science more focused and appropriately modified was creating a cheat sheet — a one-page list of accommodations for science. As I plan the lessons, I make sure those accommodations are in place; and as I teach the lessons, I glance at the sheet to make sure I don’t miss anything. Below is the cheat sheet with notes added to explain each entry.

	Modification	Author and Source	Notes
	Give the Big Picture: Why are we thinking and learning about this topic in science?	Susan Baum (day-long class) Martha Stone Wiske, Harvard Graduate School of Ed. Wiggins and McTighe, Backward Design Rebecca Mann (NAGC conference session)	Everything I teach must connect to the basic elements of not only science, but of other disciplines. This means thinking conceptually, using basic generalizations: How do we know this is true? How has it/will it change? Why does it matter? Does this fit with what I already know and believe about the way things work?
	Focus on concepts.	Accardo, Pasquale et al. pg 466	When you think big picture, that often means you wonder about how information interacts with the big ideas of science: How do we know what is true? How do we interact or impact the environment? Why do things work the way they do?
	Set goals.	Russel Barkley, ADHD and the Nature of Self-Control	There needs to be some action for the student to connect past experience with a goal and then future experience. The “how” and “when” need to be made tangible for the student to carry this experience through time — hindsight and forethought. In the written goals of the day, include a word or two about a previous experience to help connect this new learning with previous knowledge.
	Use color. (Tape directions to lab book in color – purple.)	Susan Baum (day-long class) Science House classes, Science Museum of MN	Dr. Baum reminded us that all instruction and directions are to be visual. She said, “Think of it like you are teaching the deaf.” For science that means all instructions need to be written.
	Use graphic organizers.	Lovecky, Different Minds, pg 201/ Karen Rogers, St. Thomas University	It really helps kids to put thoughts down on paper, outside of their heads, so that they can maneuver their thinking. Kids with weak working memory or AD/HD appreciate the opportunity to use their full thinking capacity to think rather than using up valuable memory space to hold information.
	Underline.	Karen Rogers/slide show	Just giving the students an extra two minutes to underline the things they believe are important for the day is very helpful.
	Categorize: Coach on the use of categories. Give students time to organize thoughts. Start with example; then explain it. Think of answer, mentally rehearse answer; then answer question. Teach how to form an opinion (thinking of one answer and then an opposite point of view). Teach how to make choices – pros and cons.	Lovecky, Different Minds, pg 192/	Organizing thoughts is a big one, especially for kids with AD/HD, who have weak working memory. As they become more adroit at categorizing, students will be better able to form an opinion and give evidence to back it up.
	Find relationships: Teach kids to notice similarities and differences in work. Work on logic problems and rules for generating a generality. Given a number of related statements, find the relationship (nine times tables).	Lovecky, Different Minds, pg 192/	Finding relationships is strong because it requires taking what you know and comparing it to new information. This gives new information a place to be and gives the new ideas some background.
	Design own experiment.	Susan Baum, seminar	When students design their own experiments, they have a vested interest in how things turn out. One thing I often do is tell them, “Here are the materials available to you. What can you discover or find out using these materials?” Or, “Here is one experiment where you learn more about …. How could you use similar materials to discover other things?”
	Vocalize: Think-aloud method Subvocalization Review procedure with team aloud	Susan Baum, 2e: Twice-Exceptional Newsletter	Sometimes it’s helpful to have students whisper to themselves what they are trying to understand. Often this is just reading the directions to themselves under their breath.
	Predict: Ask prediction questions. Give contextual clues for prediction. Walk through how one predicts for science.	Lovecky, Different Minds, pg 203/	Teaching how to predict is something I had forgotten to do on a regular basis. 2e kids need that extra instruction on how to figure out what will happen next.

 

Applying these Ideas at Home

Parents can also make use of this cheat sheet in, for example, organizing your child’s tasks at home. The cheat sheet might look like this:

• Use color. Have your child write out (in color) the tasks he/she needs to accomplish in the next short period — homework, household chores, etc). As tasks are completed, check them off.
• Give the Big Picture. Point out that organizing tasks is a skill most working people use in their jobs. To make this one more realistic, the child could dress up and pretend to be in a specific career to carry out the tasks.
• Help your children categorize. This important skill helps kids learn how to break down huge projects, like cleaning their room or playroom. Asking children to clean their room often turns out to be a big battle. Unless, of course, you ask them to categorize. One time it could be soft things and hard things. Further, soft things you can wear, and hard things you can play with. You may find them asking if reading is playing or not because a book is hard. Then you might have them separate their books into books for school and books for play. You can see that this is a lot more fun than just saying “Clean your room.”
• Finding the relationships at home can be part of inviting kids over to play. My daughter wants to invite all those passionate about American Girl dolls over at the same time. Then, when she feels more like laughing and being silly, she invites the kids who enjoy those things. Sometimes people fit both categories; but as she thinks about it, she thinks in relationships.
• Set goals. Remembering past experiences is a great time to think about setting goals for the future. Looking at pictures we have taken can spur these thoughts.

These ideas that I have gathered have helped me both in the classroom and at home. I hope this little cheat sheet will help you in your determination to help the 2e children in your life not only achieve, but achieve in a joyful manner.

References

• Accardo, P. (Ed.). (1999). Attention deficits and hyperactivity in children and adults: Diagnosis, treatment, and management (2nd ed.). London: Informa Healthcare.
• Barkley, R. (2005). ADHD and the nature of self control. NY: Guilford Press.
• Baum, Susan. “To Be Gifted and Learning Disabled: From Definitions to Practical Intervention Strategies,” St. Thomas University, St. Paul, MN Seminar, 2009.
• Lovecky, D. (2004). Different minds: Gifted children with AD/HD, Asperger Syndrome, and other learning deficits. London: Jessica Kingsley.
• Mann, Rebecca. “Twice-Exceptional Learners with Spatial Strengths: Strategies for Strength-based Instruction,” NAGC Conference Session, 2009.
• Rogers, Karen. “Advanced Topics Gifted Education.” St. Thomas University, St. Paul, MN 2008.
• Wiggins, G. P. and McTighe, J. (2005). Understanding by design. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.
• Wiske, M. S. (1998) Teaching for Understanding: Linking Research with Practice (1st ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Martha Palm teaches at Dimensions Academy, part of the Bloomington Minnesota Public Schools. Her passion is helping students who are exceptionally bright, but have a second exceptionality that hinders their ability to reach their potential. Her professional pathway to this point has meandered across the globe from teaching in Europe, to involvement with the inception of the International Schools Curriculum Project (precursor to the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Program), to urban schools in Minneapolis, and then Bloomington, Minnesota. She lives with her delightful twice-exceptional daughter and equally delightful and twice-exceptional husband in her twice-exceptional household in Minneapolis.