Facilitating Learning in the Science Classroom - Karolyn Shelstad

Teacher

Karolyn Shelstad is an Olson Middle School sixth grade Science teacher.

Instructional Strategy

Karolyn greets her students with a warm hello and an expectation of how to ready themselves for learning. She plans purposefully with the brain in mind. With each lesson, Karolyn gathers data to communicate progress with students and inform her instruction.

Karolyn’s lesson design includes the brain science of engagement: emotion, purpose, and relevance. The class begins with a song that facilitates the knowledge and understanding of the content. For example, the song about the periodic table of elements activates schema and grounds the students in prior learning. Once the dendrites firing, students begin to review the material through notes, charts, and peer interaction. With students purposefully engaged, Karolyn is able to collect data on proficiency and facilitate learning. Through questioning strategies, she determines if students are ready for their formative assessment. Students take the formative assessment and receive instant feedback about their progress toward proficiency in the learning targets.


See What It Looks Like


Enjoy the montage highlighting Karolyn’s students in action.


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