About Science Instructional Strategies: A Look at the OGT

Science Instructional Strategies: A Look at the OGT provides classroom teachers, curriculum specialists, and other leaders in science education with resources and information for preparing students for the science section of the Ohio Graduation Test and for helping them to become scientifically literate citizens. Read articles that focus on topics such as item analysis, strategies for revisiting past content while moving forward with new material, and the use of released OGT items in instruction. Watch 30-minute webcasts that elaborate on the content of the articles. And take advantage of the mini-collections—small sets of ORC resources—created to support the articles and webcasts by providing additional examples and materials.

About the archived series:

• "What Do Wrong Answers Tell Us?" focuses on how item analysis of released OGT questions can shed light on student misconceptions and how these questions can be used in instruction.



• "So Your Students Are Not Where They Are Supposed To Be..." addresses the importance of the verbs in the science benchmarks and grade level indicators, the relationship between the standards language and released OGT items, and instructional strategies for helping students who are under prepared get ready for the OGT.



• "Using OGT Items in Learning Cycle Lessons" looks at the learning cycle instructional model and demonstrates how released OGT questions can be used in learning cycle lessons.



• "Building a Test Bank of OGT-Like Items to Help Prepare Students for the Science OGT" describes a process for determining the standards alignment and cognitive demand of OGT-like items (past Ohio proficiency test items, NAEP items, items from other states) and discusses the instructional use of these items.



• "Nonfiction Reading and Science Instruction" concentrates on science vocabulary acquisition, graphic organizers, how fiction reading is different from science content reading, teacher feedback on students' formative assessment, and a look at implications for the OGT.



• "Writing to Represent Scientific Knowledge" takes a close look at writing to represent scientific knowledge and provides science educators with helpful information on this topic.



• "Formative Assessment: Research-Based Classroom Practice" examines formative assessment and provides science educators with helpful information on this topic.



• "Misconceptions and Using Released OGT Items as Pre-Assessments" explores science misconceptions and how they can be identified, remedied, and avoided.



• "Implementing the Inquiry Continuum in the Classroom" describes the inquiry continuum, identifies common characteristics across the inquiry continuum, and discusses different ways teachers can assess student learning when teaching using an inquiry approach.



• "Incorporating Real-World Connections Into Science Instruction" discusses the benefits of incorporating real-world connections into science instruction and provides examples of lessons that make connections between the content and real-world contexts for Earth and space, life, and physical sciences.