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Visible Learning for Science, Grades K-12
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Visible Learning for Science, Grades K-12
What Works Best to Optimize Student Learning

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March 2018 | 216 pages | Corwin
In the best science classrooms, teachers see learning through the eyes of their students, and students view themselves as explorers. But with so many instructional approaches to choose from—inquiry, laboratory, project-based learning, discovery learning—which is most effective for student success?  

In Visible Learning for Science, the authors reveal that it’s not which strategy, but when, and plot a vital K-12 framework for choosing the right approach at the right time, depending on where students are within the three phases of learning: surface, deep, and transfer. 

Synthesizing state-of-the-art science instruction and assessment with over fifteen years of John Hattie’s cornerstone educational research, this framework for maximum learning spans the range of topics in the life and physical sciences. Employing classroom examples from all grade levels, the authors empower teachers to plan, develop, and implement high-impact instruction for each phase of the learning cycle:  

Surface learning: when, through precise approaches, students explore science concepts and skills that give way to a deeper exploration of scientific inquiry.  

Deep learning: when students engage with data and evidence to uncover relationships between concepts—students think metacognitively, and use knowledge to plan, investigate, and articulate generalizations about scientific connections.  

Transfer learning: when students apply knowledge of scientific principles, processes, and relationships to novel contexts, and are able to discern and innovate to solve complex problems.

Visible Learning for Science opens the door to maximum-impact science teaching, so that students demonstrate more than a year’s worth of learning for a year spent in school. 
 
List of Videos
 
Acknowledgments
 
About the Authors
 
Introduction
 
Chapter 1. Science Learning Made Visible
Visible Learning

 
Surface, Deep, and Transfer

 
Challenging Tasks

 
Science Is More Than Demonstrations and Labs

 
The Role of Social Skills in Science

 
Teacher Clarity

 
Conclusion

 
Reflection Questions

 
 
Chapter 2. Science Surface Learning Made Visible
Surface Learning in Science

 
Selecting Science Tasks That Promote Surface Learning

 
Surface Learning in Science Made Visible

 
Scientific Processes and Thinking

 
Feedback

 
Conclusion

 
Reflection Questions

 
 
Chapter 3. Science Deep Learning Made Visible
Deep Learning in Science

 
Selecting Science Tasks That Promote Deep Learning

 
Deep Learning in Science Made Visible

 
Scientific Processes and Thinking

 
Feedback

 
Conclusion

 
Reflection Questions

 
 
Chapter 4. Science Transfer Learning Made Visible
Transfer Learning

 
Types of Transfer: Near and Far

 
The Paths for Transfer: Low-Road Hugging and High-Road Bridging

 
Managing Misconceptions

 
Conditions Necessary for Transfer Learning

 
Selecting Science Tasks That Promote Transfer Learning

 
Helping Students Transform Scientific Understanding

 
Scientific Processes and Thinking

 
Feedback

 
Conclusion

 
Reflection Questions

 
 
Chapter 5. Science Learning Made Visible Through Evaluation
Determining Impact

 
Calculating the Effect Size

 
Selecting Evaluations That Promote

 
Response to Intervention in the Science Classroom

 
Learning From What Doesn’t Work

 
Conclusion

 
Reflection Questions

 
 
References
 
Index

Supplements

The authors have written a book with research to support that various learning techniques are effective at different times. Its lack of ‘an all or nothing’ approach truly impresses. This book reminds teachers to make relevance obvious when teaching science standards and that mistakes are necessary for learning to occur. It is so relevant in today’s school climate and is an easy read for busy teachers who are trying to do the best they can for their students.”

Mandy Frantti, Teacher, Munising Public Schools
Munising Public Schools

Visible Learning for Science is a great science methods text with its many, many great examples and excellent inclusion of research. I would definitely use this book in the classroom!”

Dr. Rita Hagevik, Associate Professor and Graduate Director of Science Education, University of North Carolina at Pembroke
University of North Carolina at Pembroke

John Taylor Almarode

Dr. John Almarode is a bestselling author and an Associate Professor of Education at James Madison University. He was awarded the inaugural Sarah Miller Luck Endowed Professorship in 2015 and received an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council for Higher Education in Virginia in 2021. Before his academic career, John started as a mathematics and science teacher in Augusta County, Virginia. As an author, John has written multiple educational books focusing on science and mathematics, and he has co-created a new framework for developing, implementing, and sustaining professional learning communities called PLC+. Dr. Almarode's... More About Author

Douglas Fisher

Douglas Fisher, Ph.D., is professor and chair of educational leadership at San Diego State University and a leader at Health Sciences High and Middle College. Previously, Doug was an early intervention teacher and elementary school educator. He is the recipient of an International Reading Association William S. Grey citation of merit and an Exemplary Leader award from the Conference on English Leadership of NCTE. He has published numerous articles on teaching and learning as well as books such as The Teacher Clarity Playbook, PLC+, Visible Learning for Literacy, Comprehension: The Skill, Will, and Thrill of Reading, How Tutoring Works, and... More About Author

Nancy Frey

Nancy Frey, Ph.D., is a Professor in Educational Leadership at San Diego State University and a member of the International Literacy Association’s Literacy Research Panel. Nancy has published in The Reading Teacher, Theory Into Practice, Reading Psychology, Early Childhood Education Journal, and Educational Leadership on research related to literacy, school leadership, and effective instruction. Current books include The Teaching Reading Playbook, Teaching Students to Drive Their Learning, Welcome to Teaching, and The PLC+ suite of books. In 2008 she was given the Early Career Achievement Award by the Literacy Research Association and is a... More About Author

John Allan Hattie

John Hattie, PhD, is an award-winning education researcher and best-selling author with nearly thirty years of experience examining what works best in student learning and achievement. His research, better known as Visible Learning, is a culmination of nearly thirty years synthesizing more than 2,100 meta-analyses comprising more than one hundred thousand studies involving over 300 million students around the world. He has presented and keynoted in over three hundred international conferences and has received numerous recognitions for his... More About Author

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ISBN: 9781506394183
$41.95