UDL Guidelines

Universal design for learning-representation and science content: a pathway to expanding knowledge, understanding, and written explanations

Lisa A. Finnegana and Lisa A. Diekerb

aDepartment of Exceptional Student Education, Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, Florida, USA; bDepartment of Child, Family, and Community Sciences, University of Central Florida, Orlando, Florida, USA

ABSTRACT The need for all students to develop a stronger ability to express their science knowledge in writing is important. In this article, the authors take you on a journey in an elementary school classroom with tools to help foster deeper learning and stronger writing skills in science content. With many students in high school required to pass end-of-semester science exams to receive a diploma, teaching writing at an early age across various content areas is an even more critical component of today’s curriculum. Presenting curriculum material through multiple means (Universal Design for Learning-Representation) allows students to gain information through a learning approach that best fits the students’ learning needs. The authors examine multiple means of representing science curriculum to engage students in creating detailed and compre- hensive concept maps and to provide supportive scientific evidence in written explanations as they gain more content knowledge in science.

KEYWORDS Animal adaptations; Universal Design for Learning Framework; multiple means of representation; concept maps; written explanations

Engagement in science: the need for Universal Design for Learning

Creating engaging learning environments and opportunities can be challenging in most class- rooms, but when attempting to meet the needs and interests of a classroom filled with diverse learners, inclusive of students with differences in language, race, culture, ability, and familial social economic status, it can be compounded. Typically, my students’ energy and engagement in science was palpable when participating in labs and hands-on learning. However, their enthusi- asm waned with direct instruction that aligned to the textbook. In addition to decreased engage- ment I noticed that their written explanations to questions I created from their textbook readings and instruction, even if supplemented with lab activities, resulted in thin and narrow responses. Oftentimes, my students only connected content using examples and evidence from the textbook in their essay or short answer statements. They didn’t seem to analyze and synthesize all the con- tent or information taught from discussion, lab

activities, and other supplemental learning. I real- ized that my students writing experience focused solely on narrative writing from their language arts class.

As a result of their superficial written explana- tions, I developed a desire to move my students’ writing experiences beyond narrative storytelling and immerse them in a rich and diverse learning environment to support their knowledge base in hopes of deepening their written explanations. I believed the best way to potentially approach this shift in my instructional approach and their engagement behavior was to infuse Universal Design for Learning (UDL) into my instruction supported by student-created concept maps to expand students’ evidence-supported explanations.

As part of their notetaking, I decided to have students create concept maps to organize their newly learned information discovered using mul- tiple methods of representation. Students were to use these maps to explain a phenomenon of ani- mal adaptations and how those adaptations can help an organism survive. For this to occur, the

CONTACT Lisa A. Finnegan [email protected] Florida Atlantic University, Exceptional Student Education, 777 Glades Road, ED 426, Boca Raton, FL 33431-0992, USA. � 2019 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

SCIENCE ACTIVITIES 2019, VOL. 56, NO. 1, 11–18 https://doi.org/10.1080/00368121.2019.1638745

science classroom was filled with nonfiction pic- ture books at a variety of reading levels, teacher- directed WebQuest activities, and videos that the teacher discovered to bring both inspiration for and deeper learning of science content. The stu- dents immediately devoured these nontraditional resources to build their conceptual knowledge. Using picture books as anchors, students shared pages of interest and later called one another to their computers to share information from their WebQuest searches. The students enthusiastically gained information from their explorations. A model of how these resources were used in the classroom is provided for other teachers to see the ease-of-implementation in using UDL con- cepts. I quickly learned by increasing representa- tion in a lesson on structural and behavioral adaptations students increased their engagement and written outcomes.

The lesson sample provided is grounded in a UDL framework to support Next Generation of Science Standards (NGSS) related to biological evolution. The three principles of the UDL framework that support the teaching and learning environment are multiple means of engagement, representation, and action and expression. The UDL framework is designed to consider individu- alized learning needs. This lesson incorporated multiple means of representation by providing students with a variety of approaches to access information. The core concept was anchored in the disciplinary idea of ecosystems dynamics, functioning, and resilience (LS2.C) and biodiver- sity (3 LS4.3). These lessons built to the founda- tion in their preparation for understanding the movement of matter among plants, animals, decomposers and the environment (5-LS2-1) and that plants get the materials they need for growth chiefly from air and water (5 LS1-1) and that their environment plays a role in their ability to adapt and survive.

Through multiple means of representation, the scientific concepts I wanted students to know and understand were as follows: the environment changes in ways affecting the physical characteris- tics, temperature, and availability of resources of an environmental place, therefore, some organ- isms are able to survive and reproduce, others move to new locations, some organisms die, and

some are transformed (adapted) to their new environment (http://www.nextgenscience.org/pe/ 3-ls4-4-biological-evolution-unity-and-diversity). Additionally, students were to construct a scien- tific explanation based on evidence for how environmental factors influence the growth of organisms (3-LS3-2) through identifying factors as well as local conditions that affect organisms (LS1.B.). Finally, in these lessons, students were to understand that more than one cause could be a factor in providing an opportunity to demon- strate knowledge and understanding of molecules and organisms and their structures and processes for survival. These lessons were done to lay the foundation to understanding animal and plant survival as a species as a bridge to understanding the food-web cycle.

These standards are as complex as the diversity of my students. This was done initially through lab activities and their textbook lessons. I realized I could not really reach this diverse set of stu- dents through a singular modality of a textbook or even a website. Infusing the UDL framework principle of multiple means of representation provided a pathway for my 5th grade students to meet these standards, by being exposed to a var- iety of modalities of learning. To expand this unit of study, I brought in several nonfiction pic- ture books at a variety of reading levels about plants and animals; some specifically about plant and animal adaptations, from the school and public library. I read some of the books and audiotaped some of the higher (above grade) reading level books so students could choose to listen to a recorded version of the book if desired. Students wrote down facts they learned about animal and plant adaptations and eagerly shared their newfound facts with their peers, the class, or me. A second avenue for students to gain content understanding was through a web- quest. Students were given three websites that had facts about animals and plants around the world. They wrote notes in their science journals about their findings. Once again students shared their findings with their peers and often called me over to their computer screens to share their interesting discoveries. One unintended positive consequence to this activity was their continued interest in exploring the internet and returning to

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school the next few days with their discoveries of new websites found from their searches at home in evenings. A final approach to extend their content knowledge was through a selection of DVDs on plants and animal life. Throughout the videos I would stop at different places to talk about what they viewed as well as at the end of viewing so students could share their thoughts and then write in their science journals once more.

As the teacher in this classroom, it was easy to both see and hear the excitement of newfound knowledge emerge from my students when pro- vided more UDL-representation types of materi- als. They clearly attempted to research science content through various representations of content.

The next challenge I provided for myself and my students was their being able to represent what they knew through written explanations supported by evidence discovered from their research. As many states move toward end-of- course exams to measure student understanding in the science content areas, encouraging quality written essay and short answer responses in gen- eral science at the elementary level piqued my interest. In addition, how the concept of using multiple means of representation, as presented by the Center for Assistive Special Technology (CAST.org), could impact my students’ learning of content and support their written explanations became an instructional approach of specific interest for me; particularly since I learned that the majority of my students’ experiences in writ- ing, prior to this academic intervention, was focused on narrative story-writing (Table 1).

Writing expectations in science

Writing quality explicit explanations with sup- porting evidence and factual details is an import- ant skill for students in the science content area. The National Science Education Standards focus on the development of information literacy skills to support learners in their writing of logically sound and evidence-based, knowledgeable scien- tific explanations and using evidence to support claims in scientific argumentation (Nunez-Eddy, Wang, and Chen 2018). The field of science relies

on written communication to document and dis- seminate findings. Writing scientific explanations requires learners to merge newly learned scien- tific concepts with prior knowledge and then transfer that knowledge into written discourse. Writing in science provides a real-life avenue for demonstrating and communicating the know- ledge and understanding of academic language learned in science (Schneider, Bonjour, and Bishop 2018). Today, the NGSS address the need for science to be a part of a child’s comprehen- sive curriculum; meaning language skills must be a part of science and science must be a part of language arts. Understanding content involves more than doing and knowing something, but extends to being able to demonstrate knowledge through reading and writing, using complex rea- soning and thinking – persuading and informing the reader (Hand et al. 2018, Kahn & Hartman 2018). Explanations are a central artifact of sci- ence; the construction related to students coordi- nating evidence to support their claims and evaluating their explanations is central to scien- tific argumentation (Nunez-Eddy, Wang, and Chen 2018). Further, explanations build student use of academic language alongside their concep- tual understanding (Huerta & Spies 2016).

A crucial role of a teacher in supporting stu- dents’ mastery of science through an inquiry- based approach is teaching students how to docu- ment and write clear, detailed, and evidence- based observations and explanations. Students learn to write when teachers surround them with examples and models of writing, set guidelines and expectations, let them make decisions and mistakes, provide feedback, and allow opportuni- ties to practice in authentic, realistic ways (Morabito 2017; Schneider, Bonjour, and Bishop 2018). Teachers in today’s classroom should be prepared to incorporate an eclectic repertoire of writing-to-learn strategies to meet the demands for every student.

Prior to this UDL implementation, these same students, only practiced narrative prompt writing in their English Language Arts class. In science they had to be explicitly instructed to write claims or thesis statements in response to a ques- tion and support the thesis statement with the evidence learned or discussed in class. I found I

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had to push students to meet my expectation in writing whereby they support a claim with a jus- tification or reasoning and evidence and exam- ples using their own words or paraphrasing rather than regurgitating memorized text. I mod- eled several examples of written explanations throughout the school year before requiring stu- dents to demonstrate their own writing and implementing this study.

Deepening understanding of UDL: what is it and why use it?

Creating a learning environment whereby my students could pour through resources as they learned and share with each other was a goal I wanted to achieve. UDL supports such a collab- orative environment. UDL offers three guiding principles for developing curricula that eliminates barriers to learning, builds on student strengths, and allows for greater success. The guiding prin- ciples of UDL are: (1) to support diverse recogni- tion networks by providing multiple means of

representation through attempting to present information and content in different ways; (2) to support strategic networks by providing multiple means of action and expression through provid- ing different for students to demonstrate their content understanding; and (3) to support diverse affective networks by providing multiple means of engagement through stimulating interest and motivation in learning.

UDL- representation in action

This research experience in my classroom, to use UDL-representation to teach deeper science con- tent while reaching my diverse set of learners, started with my desire for students to improve their written test responses from simple textbook memorized facts to a broadened sense of under- standing. In the first phase of this experience, I used the curriculum resource provided by the school district. The unit of study was a Life Science chapter on adaptations. Students used the textbook chapter’s introduction information

Table 1. 5-E science inquiry and writing integrated lesson. NGSS Standard

5-E Sequence Science activity Writing activity Guided questions

Engage � Lab activities (cover hand with lard and student places in a bucket of ice water)

� Students examine a variety of images of bird beaks and feet and matched images to word cards to indicate type of foods eaten and use of feet (This activity can be done when connected with examining owl pellets)

� Students care for a variety of plants (desert & leafy plants) in a variety of settings (sunny & shady) using a variety of watering levels (monthly, weekly, bi- weekly, and daily) and tracked their growth and overall wellness

� What did the lard do for your hand? � What would animals need if they lived

in temperatures similar to the water? � If an animal that lives in a place that

does have icy cold temperatures but cannot increase their body fat to stay warm what might the animal do to survive?

� Can you distinguish the beak features between a bird that eats seeds and a bird that eats fish?

� If the oceans and other waterways become toxic what might happen to the birds that eat fish and other water organisms?

Explore � Read multi-level tradebooks or picture books about adaptations of plants and animals

� Webquest of website on plants and animal adaptations including creating your own environment

� Videos Explain � Students compare supplemental sources

of learning facts written in science journals with peers

Student use textbook and labs as a resource to explain how an adaptation can support an animal in its’ survival

� What can you tell me about animal adaptations?

� What are they? How do they help and organism to survive?

� What scientific evidence can you use to support your explanation?

Elaborate Evaluate � Teacher reviews concept maps from

science journals to evaluate number of adaptations student noted

� Teacher evaluates written explanation

14 L. A. FINNEGAN AND L. A. DIEKER

organizer and chapter lesson review questions to write about what they knew about adaptations after each lesson was read and discussed in class. The responses were written in their science note- books. Instruction was focused on the textbook lessons and hands-on interactive lab activities. Students responded to lesson review and chapter outline graphic organizer questions. Question responses were reviewed the next day to check for understanding. Students were then partnered with one other student for each of the three hands-on interactive lab activities incorporated in this unit of study. Discussion questions were raised related to the chapter lessons and labs, and students were given a 12”�18” blank, white paper to create a concept map based on their know- ledge from textbook lessons and labs. Students responded to the following questions for their written responses: What can you tell me about animal adaptations? What are they? How do they help an organism to survive? What scientific evi- dence can you use to support your explanation?

Not surprisingly, the explanations written by my students in this unit were initially limited to information from their textbook. Their thoughts and their written words did not extend to ani- mals outside the textbook environment and were part of the driving force to intentionally extend the ways in which content was taught.

To add to my students’ knowledge from the text, I decided to incorporate UDL concepts spe- cifically related to the principle of representation (UDL-R) using multimedia from a selection of Eyewitness Videos, a selection of websites, and a selection of tradebooks on adaptations. The vid- eos were paused during viewing to discuss the behavioral or structural adaptations mentioned during the videos, to assist students in identifying adaptations throughout the videos and allow stu- dents time to write in their notebooks. To enhance the readability of the tradebooks, I added one more layer to the already available resource (UDL-representation) by creating audio- tapes for students to listen while reading, if desired. The last activity my students participated in, to enrich their content learning, was an inquiry-based WebQuest where students were able to search and discover information related to animal and plant adaptations. Students also

were given the choice to work with a partner or individually and were given three websites to ini- tiate their on-line learning quest. For example, one such link was https://www.uen.org/theme- park/habitat/animal.shtml, a website on animal adaptation from Utah Educational Network. Since websites require updating and can change or be discontinued, the purpose of the WebQuest was not to only explore the sites provided by the teacher, but also for students to use UDL-repre- sentation to share their own understanding and knowledge. It is important to note that students took a separate technology class as one of their specials (P.E., Art, Computer, Spanish, etc.) where they learned keyboarding skills. This class provided them with skills already in place in the use of software programs such as word, excel, and power point. They also discussed in this course how to identify credible website sources by evaluating the author, date, sources, site design, domain, and writing style. Of curious note, not only did students initially view the web- sites given during class, but also independently discovered numerous additional websites on adaptations discovered at home and shared those websites with each other as well.

Students used their science notebooks to write information on animal behavioral and structural adaptations. They learned from multimedia sour- ces, trade books, and websites, and then trans- ferred information to their concept maps after each UDL-R approach to learning. Students shared their notes with two other students after each learning opportunity and then shared their concept maps with fellow classmates prior to writing a final explanation about adaptations. My students were asked again to respond to the questions: What can you tell me about animal adaptations? What are they? How do they help an organism to survive? What scientific evidence can you use to support your explanation?

How UDL impacted writing in science

Although students gained a multitude of facts related to animal and plant adaptations through UDL-R, they expressed concern with the amount they would need to put in their written explana- tions. Students were encouraged to respond to

SCIENCE ACTIVITIES 15

the question prompts with the amount of infor- mation they felt adequately represented their knowledge, and enough information to answer the posed questions to their satisfaction, not the teacher’s.

Students’ notes were reflections on each of the three methods in which UDL-R were imple- mented, therefore they had notes of information for the multi-media sources, trade book reading, and website research activities. Student notebooks contained numerous pages of evidence from their UDL-R experience. Student notes using UDL-R principles contained anywhere from 30 to up to 100 facts related to adaptations. The majority of the written facts by the students identified a structure or behavior an organism held; however, the students did not elaborate or explain the fea- ture’s purpose, which would have further sup- ported their written responses to the questions posed.

Based on observations, students were actively involved in sharing information they discovered from multimedia sources, websites, and trade books. Students shared their notes from multi- media sources, drew each other to their com- puters to share information learned from websites, shared websites they discovered at home, and passed on tradebooks to other stu- dents, encouraging them to read the available information.

While students’ concept maps became more complex, something I noted was the potential for maps to become overwhelming for students who demonstrated difficulty in organizing their thoughts. While students attempted to write their second explanations, some started asking whether they were required to write all the facts they dis- covered from their UDL-R activities, or if what they had written was enough. Students verbalized they felt they learned more about adaptations through the websites, multimedia, and trade books than they had while using the textbook only in their written explanations and follow-up interviews. Figure 1 provides an example of a concept map before UDL-R and Figure 2 an example of the same student’s concept map after exploring the use of UDL-R.

The students also shared that using technology was a better source for information because, “it

gave more places to go than the textbook. I learned more from doing this then the regular textbook.” Another student was quoted as saying, “I don’t think that the textbook had a lot of info as much as technology and tradebooks. The text- book tells you just a little bit just so you under- stand, but with technology and tradebooks get you more info.” Another student noted, “using multimedia gave him a general sense of informa- tion but that technology gave more detail as he discovered that all animals in the world have some type of adaptation.” One student summar- ized it well by stating, “I learned that our text- book didn’t give a lot of information. I thought the multimedia was good because they showed it, the trade books were always there to go back to and the internet let you see whatever you wanted to see.” The incorporation of digital learning resources can enhance learning when students are able to access and make appropriate use of them (Taffs and Holt 2013).

Students having access to a variety of means of resources enables them to understand concepts more clearly and precisely. Clarity in their under- standing allowed students to write explanations supported by evidence and detail, and the sharing of that information assisted students with scaf- folding their knowledge. Writing is one of the most fundamental and powerful tools that we have for demonstrating what we have learned. Students who struggle with written expression face significant barriers when required to write evidence-supported explanations. One research- based approach to teaching students how to write is the Self-Regulated Strategy Development (SRSD) model (Graham and Harris 2016; Harris et al. 2011).The SRSD model is an instructional intervention that enhances student learning and can be taught to students to support them in effectively performing a task. The SRSD model can benefit all learners with their writing tasks when given explicit instruction on the six stages of implementation of the strategy. First students learn to develop background knowledge and the skills needed to use a specific strategy (Step 1), then they discuss the strategy and when to use it based on the type of writing being done as well as learn how to monitor themselves (Step 2). Next students model the strategy by practicing

16 L. A. FINNEGAN AND L. A. DIEKER

the steps and the process (Step 3), memorize it through frequent practice until achieving automa- ticity (Step 4), and support the strategy process through small group, peer practice, and/or one to one instruction if needed (Step 5). Finally and ultimately established students move toward independent practice (Step 6) (U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, What Works Clearinghouse, 2017). Explicit instruction of the writing process makes it visible and concrete as students are taught to covertly generate ideas, develop a framework to write from, and plan and revise their written text (Graham and Harris 2016; Harris et al. 2011). The SRSD model moves stu- dents through the six stages of a writing strategy using goal setting, self-monitoring, self-talk, and self-reinforcement. For the purposes of this study students were required to check they had a claim or thesis statement, evidence (scientific facts learned, ideally more than one to support their claim), and the scientific reasoning or justifica- tion connecting the claim and evidence.

UDL’s future fit

Although UDL-R required more lesson prepar- ation, resources, and teacher input, students ver- balized a deeper understanding through UDL-R practices. In reviewing the student notebooks and listening to student discussions, the amount of knowledge acquired and the depth of discus- sions were richer, after UDL-R concepts were implemented. As a classroom teacher, I will con- tinue to implement UDL-R practices as lesson plans are being developed. Concepts maps allowed students to organize the enormous amount of facts they collected from varied resources, and sharing the facts with their peers generated discussion and reinforced content understanding. The principles of UDL allowed for flexibility, not only in the representation (UDL-R) of the content, but also in flexibility in engagement and assessment. Incorporating UDL’s other principles, while also including a writing assignment supported by specific writing instruction, could be the ultimate method of learning and expressing science for every stu- dent in my classroom.

Figure 1. Concept Map 1 (Pre-UDL-R) by Student 3.

SCIENCE ACTIVITIES 17

References

Graham, S., and K. R. Harris. 2016. A path to better writ- ing: Evidence-based practices in the classroom. The Reading Teacher 69(4):359–65. doi: 10.1002/trtr.1432.

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Schneider, M., J. Bonjour, and A. M. Bishop. 2018. A note- worthy connection: Developing science knowledge and literacy with science notebooks. Science and Children 56(3):8–72. doi: 10.2505/4/sc18_056_03_68.

Taffs, K. H., and J. I. Holt. 2013. Investigating student use and value of e-learning resources to develop academic writing within the discipline of environmental science. Journal of Geography in Higher Education 37(4):500–14. doi: 10.1080/03098265.2013.801012.

U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Evaluation and Regional Assistance, What Works Clearinghouse 2017. Self-regulated strategy development

Figure 2. Concept Map 2 (Post-UDL-R) by Student 3.

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