<![CDATA[New York City Support and Technical Assistance Center - ABE/HSE Instructional Strategies]]>Fri, 10 Apr 2026 05:29:31 -0700Weebly<![CDATA[Teaching Science in ABE: Moving Beyond Worksheets to Real Learning]]>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 20:10:41 GMThttps://www.nycstac.org/abehse-instructional-strategies/teaching-science-in-abe-moving-beyond-worksheets-to-real-learning

In many Adult Basic Education (ABE) classrooms, science instruction often follows a predictable pattern: vocabulary lists, textbook readings, and worksheets. These approaches are understandable. Teachers are working with limited time, mixed-level learners, and competing priorities. However, when science becomes primarily an exercise in reading comprehension, learners miss the very thing that makes science meaningful: curiosity, investigation, and sense-making.

The purpose of this post is to offer practical shifts that align with best practices in adult science instruction without requiring a total curriculum overhaul.

What We Often See in ABE Science

Traditional ABE science lessons often fall into these traps: Science is taught as reading practice rather than inquiry. A heavy focus on vocabulary before learners understand the concepts. Teacher explanation followed by passive worksheet completion. Limited opportunities for discussion or hands-on exploration. These approaches often emerge when teachers feel pressure to “cover content.” However, evidence  suggests that adults learn science most effectively when they are actively involved in figuring things out rather than just learning about them.

What Best Practice Looks Like in ABE

Strong science instruction doesn't require expensive labs. It centers on these six key principles :

1. Start with Curiosity, Not Definitions
Instead of beginning with a glossary, start with an "Anchoring Phenomenon"—a question, image, or observation that demands an explanation. The Old Way: "Today we will learn about evaporation." The Inquiry Way: Show a wet paper towel drying. Ask: "Where did the water go? Why did it go there?" This shift encourages learners to think like scientists before they are burdened by formal terminology.

2. Use Everyday Phenomena
Adults bring a lifetime of experience to the classroom. Connect science to their roles as parents, workers, and consumers: Why does a soda can "sweat" in the summer? Why do some foods spoil faster than others? Why is the electricity bill higher in the winter even if we don't use the AC?

3. Let Learners "Talk it Out"
Learning deepens when students explain their thinking to one another. You don't need new materials for this—just intentional timing. Use strategies like Turn and Talk or Agree/Disagree lines. Even a five-minute debate on why a car gets hot in the sun can transform a lesson from passive to active.

4. Introduce Vocabulary
"Just-in-Time" Vocabulary is important, but timing is everything. Think of it as "Just-in-Time, not Just-in-Case." Try this: Let learners explore a phenomenon first. Once they have observed water disappearing from a tray, then introduce the word evaporation as a label for what they have already seen. This creates a "mental hook" for the word, making it easier to remember than a dry definition.

5. Incorporate Simple Investigations
Hands-on learning in ABE does not require lab equipment. Simple household materials can create meaningful science experiences — cups, ice, flashlights, or paper towels are often enough. The example comes directly from one of my classroom observations :
​
A teacher placed a cup filled to the top with water and began adding paper clips one at a time. Before starting, he asked learners: "How many paper clips do you think I can add before the water spills over?" Learners immediately leaned in. Some predicted five. Others said twenty. A few debated whether the water would spill at all. As the teacher slowly added paper clips, the tension in the room built. Learners counted aloud and reacted when the water formed a dome above the rim. The teacher asked: Why didn’t it spill right away? What did you notice about the water surface? Have you ever seen something like this before?
This short activity took only a few minutes, but it shifted the lesson from passive listening to active thinking. It also created a natural entry point to introduce concepts like surface tension, prediction, and observation. Simple investigations like this create space for: Prediction Observation Discussion Evidence-based Reasoning Even brief activities using everyday materials can make science more active and meaningful for adult learners.

6. Connect Science to Literacy and Numeracy
Science shouldn't be "one more thing" to squeeze into the schedule; it should be the context for your other lessons. Science naturally requires: Literacy: Evaluating the credibility of a health article. Numeracy: Measuring distances or graphing temperature changes over time. But What About the Test? A common concern for ABE educators is: "If we spend time on experiments, will my students pass the GED? The answer is a resounding yes. Modern high-stakes science tests are not memorization contests; they are logic and data tests. They ask students to interpret graphs, identify variables, and evaluate evidence. Worksheets teach students how to find an answer in a paragraph. Inquiry teaches students how to think like the person who wrote the paragraph. By moving beyond the worksheet, you are building the cognitive stamina and critical thinking required to navigate complex test passages.

A Small Shift Goes a Long Way
Improving science instruction in ABE does not require a complete redesign. By starting with a question, adding discussion, and delaying vocabulary until it's needed, you move science from a chore to a discovery.

Science becomes less about completing worksheets and more about making sense of the world—and that is where meaningful learning begins. The Challenge: What is one "everyday mystery" your students have asked about recently? How could you turn that into a 10-minute inquiry? 
​
Happy Teaching! 

​Lizelena

Picture
]]><![CDATA[Helping Students Make Sense of Graphs]]>Thu, 12 Mar 2026 18:10:43 GMThttps://www.nycstac.org/abehse-instructional-strategies/helping-students-make-sense-of-graphs
Hand a class a graph and watch what happens.

Some students lean in and start pointing at patterns right away. Others stare at it quietly, unsure where to begin. In our classrooms this moment is familiar. Even learners who are comfortable reading texts can feel stuck when information appears in a graph.

The issue is rarely motivation. More often, students simply haven’t been shown how to approach a graph in a systematic way.

I recently came across the article From Graph Novices to Experts: A Metacognitive Strategy to Help Students Develop Graph Literacy by Tony Matthys, Jenne VandePanne, and Stephanie Tubman, published in Science Scope in December 2025. The article offers a practical approach for teaching this skill more explicitly. At its core is something we don’t always make visible in the classroom: the thinking process behind interpreting a graph.

Although the authors designed the lesson for middle school, the core idea translates easily to adult education, particularly in GED and workforce classrooms where students regularly encounter charts, tables, and graphs.

Why Graph Literacy Deserves Attention
Graphs have become a common way to communicate information. They appear in news stories, workplace reports, public health messages, and policy discussions. Being able to interpret them is part of participating in a data-driven world.

Many students, however, develop only partial confidence with graphs. Bar graphs may feel familiar, but once the format changes—a scatterplot, a double-line graph, or a graph with an unusual axis—the task suddenly feels much harder. Students often search quickly for the answer or disengage altogether.

When students look at a graph, several things are happening at once. They need to identify what each axis represents, understand the units, notice patterns across the data, and connect those patterns to a larger idea. Without a strategy for navigating these elements, the task can quickly feel overwhelming.

Shifting the Focus: From Answers to Process
The lesson described in the article takes a slightly different approach. Instead of asking students to jump straight to interpretation, the teacher helps them slow down and notice how they are making sense of the graph.

Students annotate the graph as they work. They write directly on it, noting what different elements represent, highlighting patterns, and recording questions that arise as they read the visual information.

Over time, students use these annotations to build what the authors call a graph interpretation tool—essentially a set of steps they can follow whenever they encounter a new graph.

The process is simple but powerful. Rather than relying on the teacher to explain the graph, students begin to develop their own routine for working through it.

One framework referenced in the article summarizes the process with the acronym DATA:
  • Describe what the x-axis and y-axis represent

  • Address the units and range shown on each axis

  • Tell the trend or overall pattern

  • Analyze specific points in the data

Teachers can use this structure as a guide, though the emphasis remains on helping students construct their own version of the process.

What the Lesson Looks Like
The lesson unfolds in several phases that gradually shift responsibility from teacher modeling to student independence. The structure will feel familiar to anyone who has tried to scaffold a new skill in class.

It begins with a light entry point. Students examine a humorous graph and discuss what it appears to claim. The conversation focuses less on whether the claim is serious and more on how students figured out what the graph was communicating. This opening discussion surfaces the strategies students already use when approaching graphs.

From there, the class moves to a more substantive graph related to race results comparing horses and humans running a marathon-length course. The teacher models how to annotate the graph—pointing out axes, identifying units, and marking patterns—while students record their own notes. Working through the graph together allows students to see the thinking process unfold step by step.

Afterward, students begin drafting their personal graph interpretation tools. In small groups they compare their steps with those of their classmates, noticing similarities and gaps.

At this stage the lesson introduces an interesting element: students observe experts analyzing the same graphs. Scientists and engineers tend to follow internal routines when reading data visualizations, but those routines are rarely visible to learners. Watching expert thinking gives students additional ideas they can incorporate into their own tools.

Finally, students test their interpretation tools on new and unfamiliar graphs. Some include unusual features, such as reversed axes or more complex data sets. As students work through these graphs, they continue annotating and refining their approach.

A Simple Way to Try This with Adult Learners

This idea adapts easily to GED-level graphs.

For example, present a graph showing unemployment rates over time. Before asking any interpretation questions, invite students to annotate the graph together. Encourage them to mark the axes, identify units, circle patterns, and write questions directly on the image.

Then ask a different kind of question: “What steps did you use to figure this out?”

Those steps become the starting point for a class-generated interpretation tool. Over time, students can refine that tool and use it whenever they encounter graphs in reading passages or exam questions.

Strategies like this work best when teachers adapt them to their own classrooms.

Now, what’s your idea? How do you help students approach graphs in your classroom?
​
Happy Teaching! 
Lizelena 

]]><![CDATA[Level up your Students’ Media Literacy]]>Wed, 18 Feb 2026 16:12:01 GMThttps://www.nycstac.org/abehse-instructional-strategies/level-up-your-students-media-literacyIn an era of digital noise, teaching adult learners to obtain, evaluate, and communicate information isn’t just a curriculum requirement - it's a survival skill. For adults making critical health decisions, or navigating policy, the stakes of being misled are incredibly high.

I am sharing with you today the Fact Checking 102 Guide, published by Douglas Allchin for the Science Teacher journal this past 2025.
​
Most of us already teach the basics of fact checking like stopping to check a source or tracing a claim back to its original source. But for our learners the challenge is often deeper than just finding the source; it’s about knowing who to trust and why. The Fact Checking 102 Guide moves past just “finding facts” and starts looking at how to judge a source’s reputation. By teaching our students how to spot a solid track record of reliability versus a well disguised sales pitch, we give them the tools to make confident informed decisions for their families and communities.

The Foundation: Fact Checking 101

Before the students experience 102, they need the 101 Basics, most media literacy starts with the SIFT method:
  • Stop: Before sharing or commenting, assess the source and check your emotions. If a headline makes you angry or excited, pause.
  • Investigate the source: Who wrote this? Are they reputable?
    Find better coverage: Look for other news outlets reporting the same thing
    Trace back to the original: Find the actual study or quote to see if it was taken out of context.
The Expansion:
  • E (Expertise): Moving beyond a person's reputation to verify if they have the relevant specialized knowledge and a track record of reliability
  • D (Depends on Consensus): Recognizing that in science, "truth" isn't found in one study or one "maverick" scientist, but in the collective judgment of the entire expert community.

The 102 Expansion

While SIFT is a great start, our learners face more sophisticated challenges and level 102 isn’t just about finding the source, it is about judging the reputation of that source. It is moving past “is this true?” to “why should I judge this person?” Fact Checking 102 is the deeper dive into SIFT—especially Expertise and Consensus—to understand when trust is actually warranted.

Practical Strategies for your Classroom Adapted from the Article
 
Unmasking Conflicts of Interest: motivation matters because power, profit, and privilege are powerful engines for misleading the public.
  • The Strategy: Teach students that a claim is suspect if the person making it has a financial stake in the outcome.
  • Classroom Example: Discuss a doctor who warns about vitamin D deficiency while being a major investor in a vitamin D testing company.
  • The Lesson: If the goal is to promote a personal interest rather than to inform, the "science" is secondary.

Trust is a "Track Record": most of us often think of trust as a personal feeling or a moral virtue. We need to redefine intellectual trust as something objective.
  • The Strategy: Help students look for a history of truth-telling based on evidence of past behavior that can be measured.
  • The Lesson: We trust established scientific institutions because they have a public, transparent record of reliability and accountability.

​The "Consensus" vs. The "Maverick": misinformation often relies on a "lone wolf" scientist who claims to have the "truth" that everyone else is hiding.
  • The Strategy: Teach students that "settled" science depends on the collective judgment of the relevant expert community (Consensus).
  • Classroom Discussion: If a scientist has a bold new claim but hasn't convinced their own peers in a professional journal, why should we believe them on social media?

Vetting Expertise and Independence: Expertise is specialized; a Nobel Prize in one field does not make someone an expert in another.
  • The Strategy: Check for Expertise and "Source Independence". Many misinformation sites are just "carbon copies" of each other.
  • The Lesson: To find an objective view, students need multiple independent sources with contrasting or complementary perspectives.

Resources for your Next Lesson  Happy Teaching! 
Lizelena ]]><![CDATA[Two Classrooms, Two Paths: Project-Based Learning in Adult Education]]>Fri, 09 Jan 2026 14:38:06 GMThttps://www.nycstac.org/abehse-instructional-strategies/two-classrooms-two-paths-project-based-learning-in-adult-educationProject-Based Learning (PBL) doesn’t always announce itself. Sometimes it’s clearly named and intentionally designed. Other times, it shows up quietly—in the way lessons connect, questions deepen, and learners stay with a topic long enough to really care about it.
During two recent classroom observations, I saw both versions. Different approaches, same powerful results. Together, they offer a helpful reminder: PBL is less about labels and more about intentional design.

Classroom Example 1: When the Project Leads the Learning
In the first classroom, the teacher was very clear: this was a PBL. And it showed!
Students were working through a career planning and budgeting project grounded in a realistic case scenario. They were introduced to a person with career goals and financial challenges and asked to figure out: What advice would you give? What information do you need to make smart decisions? Right away, learners were positioned as problem-solvers.

As the project unfolded, students:
  • Researched careers they were genuinely interested in
  • Looked into education and training pathways
  • Calculated potential income
  • Built realistic personal budgets covering housing, transportation, food, and savings

Reading, writing, math, and social studies skills weren’t taught in isolation—they were tools learners needed to move the project forward. Reflection and discussion helped students connect career choices to broader civic and economic factors.
The project wrapped up with a “My Future, My Plan” product. Learners chose how to present their work—portfolios, infographics, posters, or other formats—highlighting their career path, budget, and reflections. With co-teaching in place, students received support without losing ownership.

Why this matters:
This is PBL in its clearest form—authentic, sustained, student-centered, and deeply relevant to adult learners’ lives.

Classroom Example 2: A Unit That Feels Like PBL (Even If It’s Not Called That)
In the second classroom, the teacher didn’t describe the work as PBL. But as the Women and Their Right to Vote unit unfolded, it was hard not to notice how closely it aligned with PBL principles.

Starting with a Smart Entry Point
Instead of jumping straight into history, the unit began with a single word: suffrage. Learners explored its meaning, connotations, and relevance before digging into historical events. This simple move did a lot of heavy lifting—building background knowledge, supporting vocabulary, and inviting learners into the topic through language.
From there, students wrestled with big questions:
  • Who gets the right to vote?
  • How has that changed over time?
  • Who holds power, and how is it challenged
These weren’t “one-and-done” questions. They kept resurfacing as the unit moved forward.

Skills Working Together
This unit was a strong example of multidisciplinary instruction done well:
  • Reading: A set of leveled NEWSELA articles gave all learners access to complex ideas about the women’s suffrage movement.
  • Writing: Warm-ups, creative responses, summaries, and short answers helped students process and reflect in different ways.
  • Math: Learners analyzed survey data, graphs, and percentages—using numbers to support civic understanding.
  • Media literacy: Propaganda analysis and video added a modern, relevant lens that connected past and present.
  •  Close reading tasks reinforced academic habits that align well with GED-style expectations, without feeling disconnected from the larger purpose.

Thoughful Assessment and Visible Impact
The unit concluded with an open-book multiple-choice assessment, complemented by film analysis and summarizing tasks. This approach mirrors real-world demands where adults must locate information, review documents, and make informed decisions.
Perhaps most telling was the display of student writing outside the classroom. One learner shared:
“I’m so proud of this work. It was hard, and it didn’t get done in a day or even a week.”
That statement captures a key outcome of effective PBL: persistence, ownership, and pride.

What These Classrooms Teach Us About PBL
Across both observations, several themes emerged:
  • PBL can be explicit or embedded—both are valid
  • Multidisciplinary instruction strengthens relevance and coherence
  • Sustained inquiry encourages deeper thinking and engagement
  • Authentic tasks build confidence and persistence in adult learners

Entry Points for Programs and Teachers
Programs looking to integrate or strengthen PBL can start small and build intentionally:
  • Design learning around a meaningful question or problem
  • Integrate reading, writing, math, and media skills around shared content
  • Allow learning to unfold over time, not in a single lesson
  • Create opportunities for learners to share work beyond the classroom
  • Recognize and build on PBL practices already in place

Final Reflection
Project-Based Learning in adult education is not about adopting a new label—it is about designing learning experiences that are coherent, purposeful, and meaningful. Whether the project drives the curriculum or anchors a strong unit, PBL creates space for adults to engage deeply, think critically, and take pride in their learning.

A Final Note of Thanks (and a Funny Coincidence)
Before closing, I want to extend a sincere thank-you to both teachers who opened their classrooms for these observations. By pure coincidence (and truly unplanned), both of their names are John. Different contexts, different approaches—same commitment to thoughtful, learner-centered instruction. Their willingness to reflect on practice and invite feedback is exactly what strengthens adult education across programs. We learn from one another when we share what’s really happening in classrooms.
Thank you, John and John, for the powerful learning experiences you’re creating every day.

Helpful Resources for Exploring PBL and Multidisciplinary Instruction

If these examples sparked ideas, the following resources offer practical tools and inspiration:
  • Buck Institute for Education (PBLWorks) – Project design tools and PBL frameworks
  • NEWSELA – Leveled informational texts that support differentiation and inquiry
  • ReadWriteThink – Classroom-ready strategies for reading, writing, and critical thinking
  • The Moth – Storytelling resources that support voice, reflection, and audience
  • Teaching Tolerance / Learning for Justice – Civic, equity-focused instructional materials
  • NYT Upfront – Engaging current events texts for secondary and adult learners

​Happy Teaching! 
​Lizelena 

]]>