A Chem-mystery! Who stole Ian’s bike?

Title: A Chem-mystery! Who stole Ian’s bike? The article referenced in the analysis below can be found at: Chemical Solution. [Reading Passage]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com. I used Discovery Education to locate this piece of text. I chose a piece of text involving chemistry concepts because I teach some principles of chemistry to my 8th graders at the beginning of each school year. Additionally, this article will help me in encouraging students discover careers that use science, and show them how to use scientific principles to solve real-world problems. My partner, Jennifer, said that the article ties in with some videos she uses to expose students to scientific processes and careers that are related to chemistry. To find the article, I used the Discovery Education search engine to find this piece of literature for grades 6-8 in the subject of chemistry. I was also drawn to this piece because they gave me the Lexile score, which was 770. Before now, I haven’t seen any Lexile scores on assignments I’ve created for my science students, so I thought it would be good practice for me to read this piece, knowing that it was geared toward their age group. The first time I read through the article completely, I noticed three sections that are the most important to the lesson. I imagined that I would use this article to supplement our chemistry unit in 8th grade. The first idea in the text that I found engaging is the idea that chemical reactions can be used to solve real-world problems in society. One of the enduring understandings of the 8th grade Matter and Interactions Unit is, “The processes of chemical reactions have real world applications such as in cooking, medicine, and technology. (light bulbs, air bags, cell phones, and even atomic weapons)” (Rubicon 1). The second take away I had from the reading is that different chemical reactions can be used to identify different pieces of evidence – it is not just that one reaction will give the detectives all the answers. And third, I liked how students were expected to take the evidence provided and determine who the culprit was. This part of the reading ties in perfectly with our Nature of Science – STEM Practices standard: “MS-ETS1-3. Analyze data from tests to determine similarities and differences among several design solutions to identify the best characteristics of each that can be combined into a new solution to better meet the criteria for success.” (Rubicon 2) As an experienced reader of scientific texts, I found a few vocabulary words that I imagined my students might need assistance understanding before they read the article. These words are: vapors, serums, and forensic chemist. All in all, I think that this piece of text would be an interesting piece for my 8th graders to read so they could see how what we study in class relates to everyday life, and how to use the clues presented in the story to solve a problem. In “Chemical Solutions”, there are several different voices used to tell the story of the missing bike. There is Ian, the child who lost his bike, the detective, and several neighbors. The text is presented mostly chronologically, with the exception being when Ian tells the detective when and where he had last seen his bike. An idea that is alluded to in the text, but not explicitly stated is the use of the scientific method to find answers. The language of the text allows the reader to observe the presentation of facts from the mystery from an outside prospective (like being a fly on the wall). I think that the author’s purpose was to present middle school students with a mystery, provide the facts/evidence, and then ask the students to solve it. I think that the author anticipated careful, purposeful readers. This article requires the reader to pay close attention in order to keep track of the evidence and correctly solve the mystery with the facts presented at the end of the passage. In addition to text, the story has pictures of a bike, a thorn on a rose, a detective’s badge, and an envelope with clues. The reading strategy presented in The Science Teacher article really piqued my interest because the strategy allowed for students to use critical thinking skills in a prescribed way to find the answer to the mystery. The title for this reading strategy is C-E-R, or “Claim-Evidence-Reasoning”. The object of the Chemical Solutions piece is for the students to solve the mystery – who stole Ian’s bike? Using the C-E-R process, students could 1. Make a claim about which character in the passage stole Ian’s bike, 2. Restate evidence from the reading that helps support their claim, and 3. Provide reasoning, including scientific principles, that connects the evidence to the claim. (IMSSP) I discussed the idea of using a CER with students reading this article, and my partner, Jennifer, said she had used the CER strategy with her students when they study forensics. After I found out more about the CER reading strategy from the article, internet resources, and my partner, I knew that this could be a successful strategy for this piece of text. When I read through the article again, I wrote down clues from the story, then I made a decision about which character I thought took Ian’s bike. I read through the article again, with my hypothesis in mind and made note of any other clues that could support my case. Finally, I went back and connected the clues I found in the article with scientific principles. One of the final clues that really pointed to who committed the crime was that the piece of fiber found at the scene of the crime was synthetic – made from plastics. The two suspects in the case had clothing made from cotton (natural fiber) and fleece (synthetic fiber). Students might not know that fleece is made from plastics, and therefore synthetic, so they could have trouble arriving at the same (correct) solution that I did. In conclusion, I think that the CER strategy could really be useful in helping my students engage with the Chemical Solutions article. To help the students be more successful I would provide definitions for words they hadn’t encountered before and would make sure they knew the differences between how cotton and fleece fabrics are made. References Chemical Solution. [Reading Passage]. Available from http://www.discoveryeducation.com. Guilford, J., Bustamante, A., Makura, K., Hirsch, S., Lyon, E., & Estrada, K. (2017, January). Text Savvy. The Science Teacher, 49-56. (n.d.). Retrieved April 07, 2018, from https://archbalt.rubiconatlas.org/Atlas/Develop/UnitMap/View/Default?UnitID=39421&TeacherID=19319&EditMode=1&SubNavDevelop=1 Archdiocese of Baltimore Rubicon Atlas Matter and Interactions (Rubicon 1) (n.d.). Retrieved April 07, 2018, from https://archbalt.rubiconatlas.org/Atlas/Develop/UnitMap/View/Default?UnitID=39419&TeacherID=&EditMode=1 Archdiocese of Baltimore Rubicon Atlas Nature of Science: STEM Practices (Rubicon 2) Scoring C-E-R Writing. (n.d.). Retrieved April 07, 2018, from https://www.mydigitalchalkboard.org/portal/default/Content/Viewer/Content?action=2&scId=504488&sciId=17987 Integrated Middle School Science Partnership (IMSSP)