Develop to the latest and greatest thinking relying on Big Ideas and Science Anchors.
Correlate to the existing standards which turn out to be the National Science Education Standards!
Which are on the National Academies Press website.
Friday, October 16, 2009
Standards for Science - What to teach?
I'm finally starting work on the science project. First question, what standards? Answer:
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Chemistry, Elementary Education, The Periodic Table
I've mostly been thinking about physics, earth sciences, biology, and the scientific method. I've just started to think about Chemistry which is arguably, the most important and central science. Here's what I've been reading:
A Blog Post About Chemistry which covers a range of issues from the periodic table to teaching chemistry in alterative ways.
Teresa's howtoteachscience.com ....Cd, book...websites...
A Blog Post About Chemistry which covers a range of issues from the periodic table to teaching chemistry in alterative ways.
Teresa's howtoteachscience.com ....Cd, book...websites...
Saturday, July 25, 2009
PreK-2nd Science Education - Big Strands
The curriculum should cover:
Earth Science
Earth’s Surface
Changes in position of objects and environments through time; - volcanoes, canyon thru erosion, mountains thru earthquakes, videos, beaches thru erosion (interesting how they are rebuilt), dust-storms thru cutting down cover
Relative movements of the Earth, Moon, Sun, and the planets - sun song,
Physical Science
Matter and Its Transformations - water cycle, burn something (smoke and ash)
Energy and Its Transformations - physics and game engine
Forces and Motion - physics game engine
Life Science
Change and Evolution - Avoid evolution but show how selection changes. Dogs are great example.
Cells and Their Functions
Organisms
Ecology
Earth Science
Earth’s Surface
Changes in position of objects and environments through time; - volcanoes, canyon thru erosion, mountains thru earthquakes, videos, beaches thru erosion (interesting how they are rebuilt), dust-storms thru cutting down cover
Relative movements of the Earth, Moon, Sun, and the planets - sun song,
Physical Science
Matter and Its Transformations - water cycle, burn something (smoke and ash)
Energy and Its Transformations - physics and game engine
Forces and Motion - physics game engine
Life Science
Change and Evolution - Avoid evolution but show how selection changes. Dogs are great example.
Cells and Their Functions
Organisms
Ecology
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Science Curriculum Math Curriculum
[Talk about online science curriculum and online math curriculum!] Here is a list of science and math textbook publishers from Gizmos website (explorelearning .com) for future reference. http://www.explorelearning.com/index.cfm?method=cResource.dspResourceCatalog
- Carolina Biological
- CPM
- Delta Education
- Freeman
- Glencoe/McGraw-Hill
- Harcourt
- Holt
- Houghton Mifflin
- It's About Time
- Key Curriculum
- Macmillan
- McDougal Littell
- Prentice Hall
- Scott Foresman
- Wright Group
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Learning SEO & Online Marketing - Intermediate: Education and Parenting Domains
Learning SEO & Online Marketing - Intermediate: Education and Parenting Domains
I'm not entirely sure how this "create a link" works. Can someone explain it to me?
thanks, john
I'm not entirely sure how this "create a link" works. Can someone explain it to me?
thanks, john
Monday, July 20, 2009
Science simulation tools
A few big possibilities if I don't want to develop from scratch.
www.fantasticcontraption.com - a great game, reminds of the incredible machine. I think it's by Brain Fargo (who I remember from Interplay's Glory Days in the late 80s, early 90s when I was at 3DO). Can this be used as a learning tool? As in:
- no ads
- programmable with decent science
- is it physics and motion only??
www.explorelearning.com - their gizmos are cool, they're intended for education, they belong to VoyagerU that just merged with some one.
- what would their licensing model be?
Videos
- universal
- brainpop.com
www.fantasticcontraption.com - a great game, reminds of the incredible machine. I think it's by Brain Fargo (who I remember from Interplay's Glory Days in the late 80s, early 90s when I was at 3DO). Can this be used as a learning tool? As in:
- no ads
- programmable with decent science
- is it physics and motion only??
www.explorelearning.com - their gizmos are cool, they're intended for education, they belong to VoyagerU that just merged with some one.
- what would their licensing model be?
Videos
- universal
- brainpop.com
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Really True
SpellingCity a great place to learn spelling is a labor of love by a group of web savvy educationally-minded parents who felt there was a need to create a useful educational site. Is that really true???
Astronomy Science Curriculum
A great astronomy science curriculum website covering especially planets, moons, asteroids, meteors, comets, dwarf planets and other solar system facts.
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Total standards overhaul
Events are speeding up in the US educational standards world. Most of the states have agreed to a common effort to develop common standards. Which the states will subsequently adopt or not. The learning fun blog says that the States Agree to Share Standards:
Forty-Nine States and Territories Join Common Core State Standards Initiative
The Council of Chief State School Officers - CCSSO - led a Process to Develop Common English-language arts and Mathematics Standards. It's collaborative, it's efficient, it's sensible and it's about time. And I hear it's being extended to include science. What about social studies and geography? Bravo! And I quote the release:
By signing on to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, governors and state commissioners of education across the country are committing to joining a state-led process to develop a common core of state standards in English-language arts and mathematics for grades K-12. These standards will be research and evidence-based, internationally benchmarked, aligned with college and work expectations and include rigorous content and skills.
“To maintain America’s competitive edge, we need all of our students to be prepared and ready to compete with students from around the world,” said NGA Vice Chair Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas. “Common standards that allow us to internationally benchmark our students’ performance with other top countries have the potential to bring about a real and meaningful transformation of our education system to the benefit of all Americans.”
This means no more armies of people redefining the educational standards at each state level. No more need for state specific textbooks. An ability to use common tests around the country and compare results. But wait, there's more:
- They are likely to include science. Maybe social studies too.
- They are likely to include preschool.
- They are likely to define benchmarks that are observable and measurable!
- They are likely to remain consistent with international norms such as the international bac.
The Washington post reported 6/1 that:
Forty-six states and the District of Columbia today will announce an effort to craft a single vision for what children should learn each year from kindergarten through high school graduation, an unprecedented step toward a uniform definition of success in American schools.
Forty-Nine States and Territories Join Common Core State Standards Initiative
The Council of Chief State School Officers - CCSSO - led a Process to Develop Common English-language arts and Mathematics Standards. It's collaborative, it's efficient, it's sensible and it's about time. And I hear it's being extended to include science. What about social studies and geography? Bravo! And I quote the release:
By signing on to the Common Core State Standards Initiative, governors and state commissioners of education across the country are committing to joining a state-led process to develop a common core of state standards in English-language arts and mathematics for grades K-12. These standards will be research and evidence-based, internationally benchmarked, aligned with college and work expectations and include rigorous content and skills.
“To maintain America’s competitive edge, we need all of our students to be prepared and ready to compete with students from around the world,” said NGA Vice Chair Vermont Gov. Jim Douglas. “Common standards that allow us to internationally benchmark our students’ performance with other top countries have the potential to bring about a real and meaningful transformation of our education system to the benefit of all Americans.”
This means no more armies of people redefining the educational standards at each state level. No more need for state specific textbooks. An ability to use common tests around the country and compare results. But wait, there's more:
- They are likely to include science. Maybe social studies too.
- They are likely to include preschool.
- They are likely to define benchmarks that are observable and measurable!
- They are likely to remain consistent with international norms such as the international bac.
The Washington post reported 6/1 that:
Forty-six states and the District of Columbia today will announce an effort to craft a single vision for what children should learn each year from kindergarten through high school graduation, an unprecedented step toward a uniform definition of success in American schools.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Science standards
My question is where are the exact science standards defined? Answer:
1. Project 2061 by American Association for the Advancement of Science - For the big idea on forces and motion, pick 4, then D.
2. Australian Learning Progressions - Are standards online?
3. National Science Foundation Educational Standards.
There's been very little change over the last few years. The current state/federal partnership to update them will involve lowering the number of benchmarks to increased focus on the big ideas!
1. Project 2061 by American Association for the Advancement of Science - For the big idea on forces and motion, pick 4, then D.
2. Australian Learning Progressions - Are standards online?
3. National Science Foundation Educational Standards.
There's been very little change over the last few years. The current state/federal partnership to update them will involve lowering the number of benchmarks to increased focus on the big ideas!
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Science Standards and Groups
We started with standards that came from the NSTA - National Science Teachers Association. But they are broad, vague, grade specific, and voluminous.
The move has been to more:
- outcome based - meaning what the students specifically knows how to do
- hierarchial - with big ideas and less significant ideas clearly distinguished
- international - leadership in science standards has moved into the international arena
- scaffolded and spiraling and grade-banded - the talk is now of students covering the same big idea in K-2nd, 3rd-5th, and middle school at different levels of sophistication.
NSTA
NAEP
National Science Education Standards - see content, items, results over time by grade etc
Education Commission - International Standards
Pennsylvania Science Anchors - html conceptual
Pennsylvania Science Anchors - pdf doc
The move has been to more:
- outcome based - meaning what the students specifically knows how to do
- hierarchial - with big ideas and less significant ideas clearly distinguished
- international - leadership in science standards has moved into the international arena
- scaffolded and spiraling and grade-banded - the talk is now of students covering the same big idea in K-2nd, 3rd-5th, and middle school at different levels of sophistication.
NSTA
NAEP
National Science Education Standards - see content, items, results over time by grade etc
Education Commission - International Standards
Pennsylvania Science Anchors - html conceptual
Pennsylvania Science Anchors - pdf doc
Sunday, April 12, 2009
cool free physics engine
Here's a piece of code waiting for someone to really take advantage of it for educational purposes. http://www.newtondynamics.com However, it's more designed to be downloaded and ran than over the net which is not our preferred modus operandi. Still, it's cool.
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Notes on Taking Science to Schools by NAS (2007)
Paraphrasing & Commenting
SCIENCE PROFICIENCY
Consists of 4 elements
1. Know science content
2. Do the evidence-explanation dance.
3. Know "the scientific method".
4. Participate: Do & debate science.
Note: 1 & 3 are knowledge. 2&4 are activities/processes.
Key issues.
A. How to incorporate 2&4 in online program? (esp 4)
B. Does the manditory testing test all 4? Or mostly just 1.
C. Should a (our) curriculum teach to the test (#1) or to Science Proficiency more boadly (#1-4)?
More detailed explanation of the 4 elements
1. Know science/Science content.
2. Do the evidence<->explanation thing.
--Compare evidence to explanation & vice versa.
--Generate explanations from evidence. Test explations using evidence. Say how explanations predict evidence.
3. Know "the scientific method(s). (How science is done and progresses. How it has progressed.)
4. Do & discuss science. (Do experiments and the evidence/explanation dance. Debate science.)
CONCLUSIONS
1. Kids come with implicit scientific knowledge (right or wrong).
2. ...and this varies with experience...
3. ...that is influence by race, gender & other social factors.
4. Kids learn by doing science.
5. Variety of approaches is needed.
Corollaries:
a. Must take into account what students know (meaningful? actionable?)
b. ...and be sensitive (meaningful? actionable?)
c. Kids are smarter (and better at abstracting) than we thought. (but how actionable?)
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Treat children smarter.
2. Organize K-8 instruction & progression around a few "Big Ideas"
3. Stress the evidence-explanation dance. Include other forms of evidence generation besides experiments (e.g., observation, historical analysis)
4. Get students doing all 4 "Scientific Proficiencies": (1) knowing content (2) the evidence-explanation dance, (3) scientific method? and (4) doing, talking & debating (science).
5. (Authorities should give teachers the mandate to...) Get students investigating, talking and writing around the evidence-explanation dance.
MY SYNTHESIS OF THE CONCLUSIONS AND...
1. Build on the (implicit) science understanding that students come with.
2. Provide a variety of approaches to encourage and accomodate the variety among students (in the understanding/beliefs/attitudes they bring and individual learning styles/abilities/stages.)
...RECOMMENDATIONS
3. Treat children smarter.
4. Organize around "Big Ideas".
5. Get students doing and discussing the evidence-explanation dance.
MY REACTION TO THESE
a. Generally, 1&2 seem hardest and 3-5 seem easiest, most straightforward to implement.
b. 1-3 present the question of how? since they are rather vague and aspirational.
c. In a classroom, 2&3 present some challenges with all but #4: How to include/engage/encourage/not discourage students with "lower" scientific confidence, understanding or ability, with less interest and with different or "less scientific" learning and thinking styles?
d. An individual, online environment presents challenges with #5. How can a student do science and discuss/debate science on a computer, alone, at home?
SCIENCE PROFICIENCY
Consists of 4 elements
1. Know science content
2. Do the evidence-explanation dance.
3. Know "the scientific method".
4. Participate: Do & debate science.
Note: 1 & 3 are knowledge. 2&4 are activities/processes.
Key issues.
A. How to incorporate 2&4 in online program? (esp 4)
B. Does the manditory testing test all 4? Or mostly just 1.
C. Should a (our) curriculum teach to the test (#1) or to Science Proficiency more boadly (#1-4)?
More detailed explanation of the 4 elements
1. Know science/Science content.
2. Do the evidence<->explanation thing.
--Compare evidence to explanation & vice versa.
--Generate explanations from evidence. Test explations using evidence. Say how explanations predict evidence.
3. Know "the scientific method(s). (How science is done and progresses. How it has progressed.)
4. Do & discuss science. (Do experiments and the evidence/explanation dance. Debate science.)
CONCLUSIONS
1. Kids come with implicit scientific knowledge (right or wrong).
2. ...and this varies with experience...
3. ...that is influence by race, gender & other social factors.
4. Kids learn by doing science.
5. Variety of approaches is needed.
Corollaries:
a. Must take into account what students know (meaningful? actionable?)
b. ...and be sensitive (meaningful? actionable?)
c. Kids are smarter (and better at abstracting) than we thought. (but how actionable?)
RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Treat children smarter.
2. Organize K-8 instruction & progression around a few "Big Ideas"
3. Stress the evidence-explanation dance. Include other forms of evidence generation besides experiments (e.g., observation, historical analysis)
4. Get students doing all 4 "Scientific Proficiencies": (1) knowing content (2) the evidence-explanation dance, (3) scientific method? and (4) doing, talking & debating (science).
5. (Authorities should give teachers the mandate to...) Get students investigating, talking and writing around the evidence-explanation dance.
MY SYNTHESIS OF THE CONCLUSIONS AND...
1. Build on the (implicit) science understanding that students come with.
2. Provide a variety of approaches to encourage and accomodate the variety among students (in the understanding/beliefs/attitudes they bring and individual learning styles/abilities/stages.)
...RECOMMENDATIONS
3. Treat children smarter.
4. Organize around "Big Ideas".
5. Get students doing and discussing the evidence-explanation dance.
MY REACTION TO THESE
a. Generally, 1&2 seem hardest and 3-5 seem easiest, most straightforward to implement.
b. 1-3 present the question of how? since they are rather vague and aspirational.
c. In a classroom, 2&3 present some challenges with all but #4: How to include/engage/encourage/not discourage students with "lower" scientific confidence, understanding or ability, with less interest and with different or "less scientific" learning and thinking styles?
d. An individual, online environment presents challenges with #5. How can a student do science and discuss/debate science on a computer, alone, at home?
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
You can learn a lot from bicycles about:
True or false.
You can learn a great deal from bicycles in terms of:
T/F The history of the last century. True.
More info: In the late 1880s, the bicycle was the focal point of technological innovation in the US. In the last decade of the 19th century, at least one-third of all new patent applications at the U.S Patent Office were bicycle related.
T/F The evolution of commerce. True.
Sewing machine factories had the equipment and skills to build bicycles, so some companies made the shift to this new, promising business. One such converted engineer was James Starley, one of the leading bicycle makers of his generation. Starley made a series of basic technological improvements that led to the development of the modern bicycle. As early as the 1870s, he devised ways to make steel tubing light yet strong enough to build bicycles.
T/F Physics. True.
(introduction to gyroscope section)
Sources:
http://www.fi.edu/learn/sci-tech/bicycle-tech/bicycle-tech.php?cts=instrumentation
*[From The American Bicycle. Pridmore and Hurd, 1995.]
You can learn a great deal from bicycles in terms of:
T/F The history of the last century. True.
More info: In the late 1880s, the bicycle was the focal point of technological innovation in the US. In the last decade of the 19th century, at least one-third of all new patent applications at the U.S Patent Office were bicycle related.
T/F The evolution of commerce. True.
Sewing machine factories had the equipment and skills to build bicycles, so some companies made the shift to this new, promising business. One such converted engineer was James Starley, one of the leading bicycle makers of his generation. Starley made a series of basic technological improvements that led to the development of the modern bicycle. As early as the 1870s, he devised ways to make steel tubing light yet strong enough to build bicycles.
T/F Physics. True.
(introduction to gyroscope section)
Sources:
http://www.fi.edu/learn/sci-tech/bicycle-tech/bicycle-tech.php?cts=instrumentation
*[From The American Bicycle. Pridmore and Hurd, 1995.]
Monday, March 30, 2009
List of resources
Here's another list of resorces, this one from thepioneerwomen.com
Audio Memory: You Never Forget What You Sing!
Gravitas Publications: Real Science 4 Kids - "Gravitas Publications, Inc. is a small, independent publishing company, specializing in quality educational materials for children and adults. Gravitas Publications is owned and operated by Dr. Rebecca W. Keller, the author of the increasingly popular science series Real Science-4-Kids (RS4K)"
Standard Deviants Educational Videos & DVDs - An expensive, but awesome resource for older kids, Standard Deviants was founded in 1993 with a mission to "combine solid educational content with cutting-edge technology and top-notch writing…Sometimes described as a cross between Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live, our products teach the most difficult concepts with an added twist of humor."
Teaching Textbooks - "Teaching Textbooks were designed specifically for independent learners, they simply have more teaching/explanation than any other product on the market. We realized that independent learners needed a product that contains the maximum amount of teaching, so a Teaching Textbook, with its approximately 700 pages of text and 120 - 160 hours of teacher instruction on CD-ROM, is both a teacher and a textbook combined into one."
Then our own list, collected and grown again:
BTW, in my search for interesting science education, I’ve run across a few resources that I thought that I would mention. These are lesser known but very useful resources.
1. The Science Songs - they are great!
2. The FOSS Science resources
3. Annenberg Media has complete science materials for K5.
4. Operation Physics is a curriculum of 13 physics units for grades 4-9
5. Time4Learning has huge chunks of great interactive online science curriculum.
6. The science gizmos at explorelearning.com
7. Glencoe virtual science dissections
8. unscientific list of tones
9. Andrew Nutter's sites: Chem4Kids , BIOLOGY4KIDS.COM, http://www.physics4kids.com/, http://www.geography4kids.com/, http://www.cosmos4kids.com/, and http://www.numbernut.com/
Audio Memory: You Never Forget What You Sing!
Gravitas Publications: Real Science 4 Kids - "Gravitas Publications, Inc. is a small, independent publishing company, specializing in quality educational materials for children and adults. Gravitas Publications is owned and operated by Dr. Rebecca W. Keller, the author of the increasingly popular science series Real Science-4-Kids (RS4K)"
Standard Deviants Educational Videos & DVDs - An expensive, but awesome resource for older kids, Standard Deviants was founded in 1993 with a mission to "combine solid educational content with cutting-edge technology and top-notch writing…Sometimes described as a cross between Sesame Street and Saturday Night Live, our products teach the most difficult concepts with an added twist of humor."
Teaching Textbooks - "Teaching Textbooks were designed specifically for independent learners, they simply have more teaching/explanation than any other product on the market. We realized that independent learners needed a product that contains the maximum amount of teaching, so a Teaching Textbook, with its approximately 700 pages of text and 120 - 160 hours of teacher instruction on CD-ROM, is both a teacher and a textbook combined into one."
Then our own list, collected and grown again:
BTW, in my search for interesting science education, I’ve run across a few resources that I thought that I would mention. These are lesser known but very useful resources.
1. The Science Songs - they are great!
2. The FOSS Science resources
3. Annenberg Media has complete science materials for K5.
4. Operation Physics is a curriculum of 13 physics units for grades 4-9
5. Time4Learning has huge chunks of great interactive online science curriculum.
6. The science gizmos at explorelearning.com
7. Glencoe virtual science dissections
8. unscientific list of tones
9. Andrew Nutter's sites: Chem4Kids , BIOLOGY4KIDS.COM, http://www.physics4kids.com/, http://www.geography4kids.com/, http://www.cosmos4kids.com/, and http://www.numbernut.com/
10 elearning has many modules - http://e-learningforkids.org/courses.html
11 VoyagerU's math and science gizmos at explorelearning.com
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Online Science Courses to Checkout
I. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT/EMPG. Do later.
II. McGRAW HILL
A. K-8 DIVISION IS MACMILLANMCGRAW HILL
Main Textbook series is "Science: A Closer Look"
You can see their product line here. Also click a book and click through to see online sample of their Chapter/Section reviews and quizzes. (I got perfect score on all my grade 5 electricity and cells.)
http://www.macmillanmh.com/science/2008/student/index.html
Not available cheap on Amazon. Have to pay full price to get any copies.
http://www.macmillanmh.com/science/2008/student/index.html
B. SRA is their online. STILL NEED TO CHECKOUT FOR DETAILED INFO.
III. PEARSON
A. NovaNet from Pearson is their online course series for 6-12).
Press release on new NovaNet courses: http://www.pearsoned.com/pr_2008/081208.htm
Glossy brochure on: http://www.pearsonschool.com/live/assets/200814/NN_Brochure_Core_02(lo)_7241_1.pdf
Video sales pitch: http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ9Oj&ProgramID=32510
Call 1-88-977-7100 (Pearson NovaNet)
B. SuccessMaker Enterprises is their main computerized course series.
need url
C. Pearson's Family Education Network...Don't bother looking at this. There's nothing there in the way of online courses. Just a lot of homeschooling and general educational info. But no course offerings.
II. McGRAW HILL
A. K-8 DIVISION IS MACMILLANMCGRAW HILL
Main Textbook series is "Science: A Closer Look"
You can see their product line here. Also click a book and click through to see online sample of their Chapter/Section reviews and quizzes. (I got perfect score on all my grade 5 electricity and cells.)
http://www.macmillanmh.com/science/2008/student/index.html
Not available cheap on Amazon. Have to pay full price to get any copies.
http://www.macmillanmh.com/science/2008/student/index.html
B. SRA is their online. STILL NEED TO CHECKOUT FOR DETAILED INFO.
III. PEARSON
A. NovaNet from Pearson is their online course series for 6-12).
Press release on new NovaNet courses: http://www.pearsoned.com/pr_2008/081208.htm
Glossy brochure on: http://www.pearsonschool.com/live/assets/200814/NN_Brochure_Core_02(lo)_7241_1.pdf
Video sales pitch: http://www.pearsonschool.com/index.cfm?locator=PSZ9Oj&ProgramID=32510
Call 1-88-977-7100 (Pearson NovaNet)
B. SuccessMaker Enterprises is their main computerized course series.
need url
C. Pearson's Family Education Network...Don't bother looking at this. There's nothing there in the way of online courses. Just a lot of homeschooling and general educational info. But no course offerings.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Striving for some actionable insights
1. I get a little impatient as I guess you do with all the big reports with overarching conclusions stated as broad generalizations about what should be. A mixture of cynicism and interest, admiration and distain. Fortunately, we don't have to revise US science education policy, we just have to create a decent online curriculum that works for many but not necessarily all kids. But as a practical matter, what are the reports and our experience/common sense telling us that's usefu....
2. INTEREST/MOTIVATION/ENGAGEMENT. Kids learn best when their curiousity and excitement are engaged.
3. SCIENTIFIC CITIZENS? I think educating to create scientifically literate voters who make analytical science-based policy judgments is a little idealistic and silly. The majority of people will vote their emotions and prejudices. Issues will remain too complex and people too busy for most citizens to give serious scientific analysis to policy issues. Some people will naturally love and others will naturally hate and ignore science. We will always have a big population of the scientifically engaged/literate and the scientifically disinterested/illiterate.
4. CREATING OPPORTUNITY. On the other hand, making sure that all kids have the opportunity to get good at science (if they are so inclined temperamentally/intellectually) seems like a sensible and feasible goal. Otherwise stated, forget kids that don't like science, let's make sure that kids that like science aren't blocked by race, background or lousy teachers/schools/environment.
5. NURTURING EXCELLENCE FOR US COMPETITIVENESS. This is a second realistic, feasible, important goal. For kids that like science, we should have the mechanisms to make them the world's best and our country the world's best at science and technology. Science has to be cool and respected. Science Education has to be (a) available (b) high quality and (c) with fast and far advancement possible.
6. STIMULATION, CONTENT, INQUIRY & DEBATE/DISCUSSION/COMMUNICATION. These four items are my quick initial stab at the pillars of good science education. STIMULATION is kind of my own thing. The other 3 things are paraphrasing what I think your "motherlode" (lode/load homonym!) NRC blue-ribbon committee report is saying. They are saying that yes, experiments are important [i.e., INQUIRY] but not the only thing. You have to get kids involved in COMMUNICATING (reading/writing) in an interactive way [DEBATE/DISCUSSION] so they are using and understanding scientific reasoning, vocabulary, synthesis. And so they are absorbing and forming scientific explanations of the world and comparing that they think with what their friends think and their teachers say and the books says and their preacher says.
7. THE SCIENCE CYCLE. To restate what I just said, here's my sparkling theory. Learning science is about wondering (how something works, why something is as it is), observing, making your own theories, hearing others' theories, making a mental model of others' theories, comparing/contrasting it with your theories and observations. Maybe you could say Scientific Learning = Observations (mine and others) * Mental Representations (mine and others), where...
Learning is roughly the same as understanding and developing.
Observations is roughly the same as noticing, gathering/analyzing data.
Mental Representations is roughly the same as theories, hypothesies, explanations, principles.
Here's a third way of saying about the same thing.
A. MOTIVATION: I wonder (or am induced to wonder) how things work.
B. SCIENTIFIC PROCESS(ING): Once motivated, I engage in the process of going back and forth comparing OBSERVATIONS (that I make or am given) with EXPLANATIONS (that i make up or am given).
C. RESOLUTION:
(1) I am satisfied and feel accomplished when I arrive at a set of observations and explanations that make sense to me.
(2) I pass the test when I can move back and forth between the official observations and explanations that I am being taught.
8. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD IS B.S. Another part of the discussion I find a little silly, is the stuff about understanding the scientific method and defining, inculcating and glorifying it. For people who are logical, linear, analytical thinkers it is second nature, a big Duh! if you try to teach it. (You don't have to teach it. You just model it and use it and they will absorb it.) And for people whose minds don't work scientifically, science will be difficult and possibly a turnoff. If you get the motivation thing going and the ping-pong game between observation and explanation is being played vigorously, the scientific process/method just happens naturally and comes along for the ride.
9. INTUITION, IMAGINATION & CREATIVITY matter. This is another reason why I think expounding on scientific method is a waste of time. It's not just scientific method that makes science progress. In fact, the progress, breakthroughs, ahas, inventions, discoveries come primarilyt from I, I and C. Scientific method is the tool, not the craftsmanship. Wonder, beauty and curiousity are also part of the non-scientific methods that are key to scientific motivation and progress.
10. HOW DO YOU (students) THINK THIS WORKS??? From my recent reading, esp. the recent "Uncovering Student Ideas in Science: New Formative Assessment Probes" series of 4 books from NSTA, I think this can be a key to a good curriculum. Ask the class (your homeschooler) why the sky is blue, how people got here, what causes day and night, what made the Grand Canyon, why is it sunny one day and rainy the next? If you get them engaged in explaining, exploring, wondering or best of all arguing about why? and how?...then the rest will be much easier.
ADDENDA:
1. I don't literally mean "forget students that aren't inclined toward science". I think we need mechanisms in high school and college (perhaps earlier) to feed their scientific curiousity and knowledge without turning them off and discouraging them with a lot of math, memorization and competition. Example, my young "R" is interested in science but thinks she's bad at it and hates math. She just took Astronomy for Poets (in college), enjoyed it, learned a lot and got an A. That's a success for doing the right thing with a scientifically-interested non-scientist. Bravo for the college and the teacher.
2. Just to restate the bit about "I pass the test when I can go back and forth well between the observations and explanations I have been given" above. An example: Exam gives a word problem. I know the formula (and hopefully what it means). I plug the data given into the formula and calculate the answer. I've just gone from given data to formula to answer data. In otherwords, from given observation to explanation to calculated observation. Capiche? Second Example: Exams asks why does the sky look blue? I answer with the theory about how the red and other wavelengths get filtered out by the atmostphere and blue light is what's left. OK, I just went from observation to theory on the exam. Last example: Exam asks what happens if you drop Calcium (Ca) in water? I say you get Ca(OH)2. I went from explanation (theory or principal about how Ca reacts (donates two electrons) with how OH reacts (want to accept one electron) to data. (Explanation to expected observation.) Just dancing back and forth between facts and principles and vice versa.
2. INTEREST/MOTIVATION/ENGAGEMENT. Kids learn best when their curiousity and excitement are engaged.
3. SCIENTIFIC CITIZENS? I think educating to create scientifically literate voters who make analytical science-based policy judgments is a little idealistic and silly. The majority of people will vote their emotions and prejudices. Issues will remain too complex and people too busy for most citizens to give serious scientific analysis to policy issues. Some people will naturally love and others will naturally hate and ignore science. We will always have a big population of the scientifically engaged/literate and the scientifically disinterested/illiterate.
4. CREATING OPPORTUNITY. On the other hand, making sure that all kids have the opportunity to get good at science (if they are so inclined temperamentally/intellectually) seems like a sensible and feasible goal. Otherwise stated, forget kids that don't like science, let's make sure that kids that like science aren't blocked by race, background or lousy teachers/schools/environment.
5. NURTURING EXCELLENCE FOR US COMPETITIVENESS. This is a second realistic, feasible, important goal. For kids that like science, we should have the mechanisms to make them the world's best and our country the world's best at science and technology. Science has to be cool and respected. Science Education has to be (a) available (b) high quality and (c) with fast and far advancement possible.
6. STIMULATION, CONTENT, INQUIRY & DEBATE/DISCUSSION/COMMUNICATION. These four items are my quick initial stab at the pillars of good science education. STIMULATION is kind of my own thing. The other 3 things are paraphrasing what I think your "motherlode" (lode/load homonym!) NRC blue-ribbon committee report is saying. They are saying that yes, experiments are important [i.e., INQUIRY] but not the only thing. You have to get kids involved in COMMUNICATING (reading/writing) in an interactive way [DEBATE/DISCUSSION] so they are using and understanding scientific reasoning, vocabulary, synthesis. And so they are absorbing and forming scientific explanations of the world and comparing that they think with what their friends think and their teachers say and the books says and their preacher says.
7. THE SCIENCE CYCLE. To restate what I just said, here's my sparkling theory. Learning science is about wondering (how something works, why something is as it is), observing, making your own theories, hearing others' theories, making a mental model of others' theories, comparing/contrasting it with your theories and observations. Maybe you could say Scientific Learning = Observations (mine and others) * Mental Representations (mine and others), where...
Learning is roughly the same as understanding and developing.
Observations is roughly the same as noticing, gathering/analyzing data.
Mental Representations is roughly the same as theories, hypothesies, explanations, principles.
Here's a third way of saying about the same thing.
A. MOTIVATION: I wonder (or am induced to wonder) how things work.
B. SCIENTIFIC PROCESS(ING): Once motivated, I engage in the process of going back and forth comparing OBSERVATIONS (that I make or am given) with EXPLANATIONS (that i make up or am given).
C. RESOLUTION:
(1) I am satisfied and feel accomplished when I arrive at a set of observations and explanations that make sense to me.
(2) I pass the test when I can move back and forth between the official observations and explanations that I am being taught.
8. THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD IS B.S. Another part of the discussion I find a little silly, is the stuff about understanding the scientific method and defining, inculcating and glorifying it. For people who are logical, linear, analytical thinkers it is second nature, a big Duh! if you try to teach it. (You don't have to teach it. You just model it and use it and they will absorb it.) And for people whose minds don't work scientifically, science will be difficult and possibly a turnoff. If you get the motivation thing going and the ping-pong game between observation and explanation is being played vigorously, the scientific process/method just happens naturally and comes along for the ride.
9. INTUITION, IMAGINATION & CREATIVITY matter. This is another reason why I think expounding on scientific method is a waste of time. It's not just scientific method that makes science progress. In fact, the progress, breakthroughs, ahas, inventions, discoveries come primarilyt from I, I and C. Scientific method is the tool, not the craftsmanship. Wonder, beauty and curiousity are also part of the non-scientific methods that are key to scientific motivation and progress.
10. HOW DO YOU (students) THINK THIS WORKS??? From my recent reading, esp. the recent "Uncovering Student Ideas in Science: New Formative Assessment Probes" series of 4 books from NSTA, I think this can be a key to a good curriculum. Ask the class (your homeschooler) why the sky is blue, how people got here, what causes day and night, what made the Grand Canyon, why is it sunny one day and rainy the next? If you get them engaged in explaining, exploring, wondering or best of all arguing about why? and how?...then the rest will be much easier.
ADDENDA:
1. I don't literally mean "forget students that aren't inclined toward science". I think we need mechanisms in high school and college (perhaps earlier) to feed their scientific curiousity and knowledge without turning them off and discouraging them with a lot of math, memorization and competition. Example, my young "R" is interested in science but thinks she's bad at it and hates math. She just took Astronomy for Poets (in college), enjoyed it, learned a lot and got an A. That's a success for doing the right thing with a scientifically-interested non-scientist. Bravo for the college and the teacher.
2. Just to restate the bit about "I pass the test when I can go back and forth well between the observations and explanations I have been given" above. An example: Exam gives a word problem. I know the formula (and hopefully what it means). I plug the data given into the formula and calculate the answer. I've just gone from given data to formula to answer data. In otherwords, from given observation to explanation to calculated observation. Capiche? Second Example: Exams asks why does the sky look blue? I answer with the theory about how the red and other wavelengths get filtered out by the atmostphere and blue light is what's left. OK, I just went from observation to theory on the exam. Last example: Exam asks what happens if you drop Calcium (Ca) in water? I say you get Ca(OH)2. I went from explanation (theory or principal about how Ca reacts (donates two electrons) with how OH reacts (want to accept one electron) to data. (Explanation to expected observation.) Just dancing back and forth between facts and principles and vice versa.
Taking Science To School publication NRC
I've found the motherload of thinking and info on current science education needs.
TAKING SCIENCE TO SCHOOL
Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8
Committee on Science Learning, Kindergarten Through Eighth Grade
Richard A. Duschl, Heidi A. Schweingruber, and Andrew W. Shouse, Editors
Board on Science Education
Center for Education
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu
As best I can tell, I can buy a hardback version for $50, a PDF for $39, or read it online for free.
The charge to this committee was to answer three broad questions:
(1) How is science learned, and are there critical stages in children’s development of scientific concepts?
(2) How should science be taught in K-8 classrooms?
(3) What research is needed to increase understanding about how students learn science?
Four Strands defining Students who are proficient in science:
a know, use, and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world;
b generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations;
c understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge; and
d participate productively in scientific practices and discourse.
They started with a number of assumptions about how children learn science, among them:
Students learn science by actively engaging in the practices of science.
A range of instructional approaches is necessary as part of a full development of science proficiency.
They came up with, as they summarized, five conclusions about science curriculum, which I'll further summarize here:
1: Science curriculum should be revised to reflect new models of education and development.
2: The next gen should teach a few core ideas cumulatively K-8. Core ideas. Cumulatively.
3: The next gen should present science as an ongoing process of theorizing, weighing evidence, and testing empirically and for internal consistency and coherence.
4: Science instruction should teach all four strands of science proficiency
5: Next gen should include in the classroom the process of science as described in point 3.
Is this summary sufficient? No, what was lost if the repetitive summarizing. I'll read much of it to find out.
Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8
TAKING SCIENCE TO SCHOOL
Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8
Committee on Science Learning, Kindergarten Through Eighth Grade
Richard A. Duschl, Heidi A. Schweingruber, and Andrew W. Shouse, Editors
Board on Science Education
Center for Education
Division of Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL OF THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES
THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES PRESS
Washington, D.C.
www.nap.edu
As best I can tell, I can buy a hardback version for $50, a PDF for $39, or read it online for free.
The charge to this committee was to answer three broad questions:
(1) How is science learned, and are there critical stages in children’s development of scientific concepts?
(2) How should science be taught in K-8 classrooms?
(3) What research is needed to increase understanding about how students learn science?
Four Strands defining Students who are proficient in science:
a know, use, and interpret scientific explanations of the natural world;
b generate and evaluate scientific evidence and explanations;
c understand the nature and development of scientific knowledge; and
d participate productively in scientific practices and discourse.
They started with a number of assumptions about how children learn science, among them:
Students learn science by actively engaging in the practices of science.
A range of instructional approaches is necessary as part of a full development of science proficiency.
They came up with, as they summarized, five conclusions about science curriculum, which I'll further summarize here:
1: Science curriculum should be revised to reflect new models of education and development.
2: The next gen should teach a few core ideas cumulatively K-8. Core ideas. Cumulatively.
3: The next gen should present science as an ongoing process of theorizing, weighing evidence, and testing empirically and for internal consistency and coherence.
4: Science instruction should teach all four strands of science proficiency
5: Next gen should include in the classroom the process of science as described in point 3.
Is this summary sufficient? No, what was lost if the repetitive summarizing. I'll read much of it to find out.
Learning and Teaching Science in Grades K-8
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Science Curriculum - NSTA Vision: Science Anchors
A few quotes from the National Association of Science Teacher's website apropos of standards and curriculum. They are looking to build their new framework around Anchors or Big Ideas. I like it.
One of the biggest challenges of both state and national standards is that they include far too many concepts and provide little or no guidance as to their relative importance. Attempting to “cover” all of the standards can result in a curriculum that is “a mile wide and an inch deep.” Content standards also tend to be too vague to provide clear educational objectives for instruction and assessment.
The idea is that they can extract these anchors and superimpose them across the existing standards to provide more guidance and focus, not to supercede or obsolete them. And I quote:
We do not intend for Science Anchors to replace the NSES and Benchmarks or state standards that have recently been revised and legislated; instead, we will build upon the work already completed. Our goal is to prioritize and organize the core ideas in science, update the science where necessary, and provide guidance for establishing clear and specific performance expectations that offer the same clear learning objectives for curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Also useful will be the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Science Framework, which is a carefully selected subset of the NSES and Benchmarks.
There is a propose 3D visualization which illustrates how the grades and concepts map together, the abacus. More interestingly, they have an example of how this would be implemented for The Universe.
One of the biggest challenges of both state and national standards is that they include far too many concepts and provide little or no guidance as to their relative importance. Attempting to “cover” all of the standards can result in a curriculum that is “a mile wide and an inch deep.” Content standards also tend to be too vague to provide clear educational objectives for instruction and assessment.
The idea is that they can extract these anchors and superimpose them across the existing standards to provide more guidance and focus, not to supercede or obsolete them. And I quote:
We do not intend for Science Anchors to replace the NSES and Benchmarks or state standards that have recently been revised and legislated; instead, we will build upon the work already completed. Our goal is to prioritize and organize the core ideas in science, update the science where necessary, and provide guidance for establishing clear and specific performance expectations that offer the same clear learning objectives for curriculum, instruction, and assessment. Also useful will be the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Science Framework, which is a carefully selected subset of the NSES and Benchmarks.
There is a propose 3D visualization which illustrates how the grades and concepts map together, the abacus. More interestingly, they have an example of how this would be implemented for The Universe.
NSTA Science Anchors
All we have is textbook companies trying to sell these enormous textbooks that cost a lot of money but which contain far more material than a teacher could possibly teach. They don't help the elementary school teacher at all.
The teachers all have their science experiments and projects that they like to do. But it's not a curriculum, it's just a few projects.
In K-5, the students are supposed to build a science foundation. In middle school, the are suppose to broaden it but in reality, they don't even have a foundation yet.
What they need is automated curriculum that engages the students, helps them get the big ideas, and connects the ideas to their own life
The teachers all have their science experiments and projects that they like to do. But it's not a curriculum, it's just a few projects.
In K-5, the students are supposed to build a science foundation. In middle school, the are suppose to broaden it but in reality, they don't even have a foundation yet.
What they need is automated curriculum that engages the students, helps them get the big ideas, and connects the ideas to their own life
When Brooklyn and New York’s population was booming at the end of the 19th century, the best way to get to and from Brooklyn was via ferries. As solutions were considered, I’m sure there were those who simply thought, “More boats!” These ardent defenders of the status quo were not engineers — they were the business.
Read the entire post about Building the Brooklyn Bridge. Also the comments which point out a few exaggerations like the comment about no power tools.
Monday, March 23, 2009
Tinkering - Science Curriculum
I'm listening this morning to to the McArthur Foundations discussion on tinkering as a tool for education in the digital age. Very interesting. A good starting point in finding collaborators to build curriculum. I threw up some quick reactions to it on a blog somewhat simplistically extolling the virtues of video games as a paradigm for the future of education.
I'm listening to the speakers. Each of them includes a few themes:
Community and master/follower
Mostly it's a supplementary museum experimental type activity.
Very hard to fit into a public school classroom environment. (OK, lets put them online.)
Getting beyond the classroom
I like the idea of teaching the link between music and science.
Foss Curriculum - This is an amazing resource which I've heard about a few times. In many ways, it's the raw materials that I'm interested in. Maybe my starting point is an automated curriculum system which leads students thru FOSS and other materials. Classrooms can buy directly their materials from FOSS, homeschoolers can buy homeschool size kids from me.
I'm listening to the speakers. Each of them includes a few themes:
Community and master/follower
Mostly it's a supplementary museum experimental type activity.
Very hard to fit into a public school classroom environment. (OK, lets put them online.)
Getting beyond the classroom
I like the idea of teaching the link between music and science.
Foss Curriculum - This is an amazing resource which I've heard about a few times. In many ways, it's the raw materials that I'm interested in. Maybe my starting point is an automated curriculum system which leads students thru FOSS and other materials. Classrooms can buy directly their materials from FOSS, homeschoolers can buy homeschool size kids from me.
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Research based...
I just read a great article articulating why the concept of research-based as a restriction for quality control for educational products, is so counter productive.
For a new science curriculum, it will nevertheless be important to be research-based so we can be used in schools.
school schmools
For a new science curriculum, it will nevertheless be important to be research-based so we can be used in schools.
school schmools
Saturday, March 14, 2009
Major K-12 Textbook Publishers
This posting now complete...Overviews big 3 textbook companies & their science curricula.
Three major companies now dominate the global K-12 textbook market:
1. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt division of EMPG (pvt, Cayman Islands)
2. McGraw-Hill Education division of McGraw-Hill (NYC. NYSE: MHP)
3. Pearson Education division (Upper Saddle River, NJ) of Pearson PLC (London. LSE: PSON)
I. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT has several relevant divisions:
a. Houghton Mifflin School Dvision is preK-8. Includes online site: Education Place. www.eduplace.com
b. McDougal Littel is 6-12.
c. Supplemental Learning Materials includes Great Source Division which makes kits and flexible resources including those for science. (The other parts of the Supplemental Learning Division seem to exclude science.
d. Educational Technology division includes Edmark House Series for early learning and special needs which includes Sammy's Science Book. Looks like toddlers, kindergarten and really special needs.
II. McGRAW HILL has 4 gradeschool textbook imprints.
Summary: Macmillan K-6 & Glencoe 6-12 are their mainstream curricula. SRA and Wright are their alternative/remedial/supplemental/individualized lines. More online & computer.
a. Macmillan McGraw Hill: PreK-6. "A Closer Look"
b. Glencoe is a 6-12 textbook printer division of McGraw Hill & uses Glencod as the brand.
Middle school has one main series (Life, Earth and Physical Science) but available in 3 levels (red, green blue). Also available as 15 book series, breaking each of the 3 branches into 5 mini-books each.
High school has all the disciplines Bio, Chem, Physics, Anat, etc. Multiple different titles for each. Eg. About 15 bio textbooks including 3 different AP books.
c. SRA K-12. Seems to all educations supplements geared toward practicing/drilling for test scores or for helping stuggling studesn.
iLabs 6-12 is online version.
Snapshots 1-5 video-based supplemental for students that stuggle with science concepts & vocab.
Science Labs 3-12 are boxes of attractive study cards that tell you just what you need to know to answer test questions, no more. "The perfect tool to reinforce and test core science skills". http://srareadinglabs.com/science_lab/data/fact_sheet_lep.pdf
Real Science Kits for k-6 "Meet national science standards with exciting multimedia lessons" for teachers with "varying science backgrounds" through sight, sound and activity.
d. Wright Group Also looks kinda remedial. For "differentiated instruction and state-of-the-art technology tools that help every student learn no matter what their individual need, ensuring success"
[Danny's curriculum not published by Glencoe. It's published by It's About Time which is in the little Education division of Herrf sic Jones Company. Which mostly sells class rings, gowns, awards, etc.]
III. PEARSON
Pearson Elementary Science Curricula
Scott Foresman is main series
Success Maker just like middle school. computerized.
Waterford Early Learning Another computerized program
Pearson Middle School Curricula
Extensive. Much like McGraw Hill. Too broad & complicated to summarize.
Pearson Education operates globally and has a range of competitors, both on a global basis as well as in each country in operates. In the United States of America, the main competitors in the K–12 (education) include Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a subsidary of EMPG and McGraw Hill Education a division of McGraw Hill Inc.. Internationally, competitors include: Macmillan Education, a division of Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH; and EMPGI an affiliate of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Business note on EMPG/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt...
EMPG is now in financial trouble. Maybe they will sell us their science curriculum assets! (kidding)
Education Media and Publishing Group, more commonly known as EMPG, is a holding company registered in the Cayman Islands. Its most important subsidary is Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a US educational publisher, based in Boston. It also has an affiliate that focuses on markets outside the USA called EMPGI. In January 2009 the two big credit rating services, Moody's Investor Services and Standard & Poor's, slashed the rating of EMPG and warned that default on its crushing $6.7 billion debt is increasingly likely. At the same time, Reed Elsevier dropped its valuation of their 11.8% stake in EMPG to just €15m. This values the group at around 5% of its original claimed worth, leaving Chairman Barry O'Callaghan with few options now that S&P rates the group CC
UNRELATED NOTE....
Click here for a demo of these exciting Virtual Dissections.
Virtual Dissections is a cool simulation, a randome note....not that related to this posting
Three major companies now dominate the global K-12 textbook market:
1. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt division of EMPG (pvt, Cayman Islands)
2. McGraw-Hill Education division of McGraw-Hill (NYC. NYSE: MHP)
3. Pearson Education division (Upper Saddle River, NJ) of Pearson PLC (London. LSE: PSON)
I. HOUGHTON MIFFLIN HARCOURT has several relevant divisions:
a. Houghton Mifflin School Dvision is preK-8. Includes online site: Education Place. www.eduplace.com
b. McDougal Littel is 6-12.
c. Supplemental Learning Materials includes Great Source Division which makes kits and flexible resources including those for science. (The other parts of the Supplemental Learning Division seem to exclude science.
d. Educational Technology division includes Edmark House Series for early learning and special needs which includes Sammy's Science Book. Looks like toddlers, kindergarten and really special needs.
II. McGRAW HILL has 4 gradeschool textbook imprints.
Summary: Macmillan K-6 & Glencoe 6-12 are their mainstream curricula. SRA and Wright are their alternative/remedial/supplemental/individualized lines. More online & computer.
a. Macmillan McGraw Hill: PreK-6. "A Closer Look"
b. Glencoe is a 6-12 textbook printer division of McGraw Hill & uses Glencod as the brand.
Middle school has one main series (Life, Earth and Physical Science) but available in 3 levels (red, green blue). Also available as 15 book series, breaking each of the 3 branches into 5 mini-books each.
High school has all the disciplines Bio, Chem, Physics, Anat, etc. Multiple different titles for each. Eg. About 15 bio textbooks including 3 different AP books.
c. SRA K-12. Seems to all educations supplements geared toward practicing/drilling for test scores or for helping stuggling studesn.
iLabs 6-12 is online version.
Snapshots 1-5 video-based supplemental for students that stuggle with science concepts & vocab.
Science Labs 3-12 are boxes of attractive study cards that tell you just what you need to know to answer test questions, no more. "The perfect tool to reinforce and test core science skills". http://srareadinglabs.com/science_lab/data/fact_sheet_lep.pdf
Real Science Kits for k-6 "Meet national science standards with exciting multimedia lessons" for teachers with "varying science backgrounds" through sight, sound and activity.
d. Wright Group Also looks kinda remedial. For "differentiated instruction and state-of-the-art technology tools that help every student learn no matter what their individual need, ensuring success"
[Danny's curriculum not published by Glencoe. It's published by It's About Time which is in the little Education division of Herrf sic Jones Company. Which mostly sells class rings, gowns, awards, etc.]
III. PEARSON
Pearson Elementary Science Curricula
Scott Foresman is main series
Success Maker just like middle school. computerized.
Waterford Early Learning Another computerized program
Pearson Middle School Curricula
- Prentice Hall Explorer...main textbook series
- Event Based-supplements Explorer with small books on Volcano, Hurricane, Asteroid, Global Warming, Toxic Spill etc.
- Prentice Hall Explorer Forensic Science-single book
- Discoveries, Investigations and Adventures in L, E & P Sciences
- Concepts and Challenges: Apparently their hard (more challenging) textbook series. Also in Life, Earth and Physical Sci.
- Success Maker Enterprise: Individual COMPUTER curriculum geared to below, at and above graade level.
- NovaNet: ONLINE curriculum
Extensive. Much like McGraw Hill. Too broad & complicated to summarize.
Pearson Education operates globally and has a range of competitors, both on a global basis as well as in each country in operates. In the United States of America, the main competitors in the K–12 (education) include Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a subsidary of EMPG and McGraw Hill Education a division of McGraw Hill Inc.. Internationally, competitors include: Macmillan Education, a division of Georg von Holtzbrinck GmbH; and EMPGI an affiliate of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.
Business note on EMPG/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt...
EMPG is now in financial trouble. Maybe they will sell us their science curriculum assets! (kidding)
Education Media and Publishing Group, more commonly known as EMPG, is a holding company registered in the Cayman Islands. Its most important subsidary is Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, a US educational publisher, based in Boston. It also has an affiliate that focuses on markets outside the USA called EMPGI. In January 2009 the two big credit rating services, Moody's Investor Services and Standard & Poor's, slashed the rating of EMPG and warned that default on its crushing $6.7 billion debt is increasingly likely. At the same time, Reed Elsevier dropped its valuation of their 11.8% stake in EMPG to just €15m. This values the group at around 5% of its original claimed worth, leaving Chairman Barry O'Callaghan with few options now that S&P rates the group CC
UNRELATED NOTE....
Click here for a demo of these exciting Virtual Dissections.
Virtual Dissections is a cool simulation, a randome note....not that related to this posting
REFERENCE PAGE (Terms, Definitions, etc.)
In education, Response To Intervention (commonly abbreviated RTI or RtI) is a method of academic intervention used in the United States designed to provide early, effective assistance to children who are having difficulty learning. WIKIPEDIA
Response to intervention was also designed to function as a data-based process of diagnosing learning disabilities. This method can be used at the group and individual level. The RTI method has been developed by researchers as an alternative to identifying learning disabilities with the ability-achievement discrepancy model, which requires children to exhibit a severe discrepancy between their IQ and academic achievement as measured by standardized tests. Further, the RTI process brings more clarity to the Specific Learning Disability (SLD) category of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEA 2004), which has been referred to as a residual category for children with moderate learning problems. [1]
RTI seeks to prevent academic failure through early intervention, frequent progress measurement, and increasingly intensive research-based instructional interventions for children who continue to have difficulty. Students who do not show a response to effective interventions are likely (or, more likely than students who respond) to have biologically-based learning disabilities and to be in need of special education. [2]
For children with learning disabilities, RTI may assist schools in avoiding the so-called "wait-to-fail" method by providing intervention as soon as children exhibit difficulty.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Hearing Test
Hearing test idea seems good. Similarly, there are services that monitor your heart over the internet. You put on the sensors. Then an expert in your disease can read.
Maybe there are other ideas similar that could be combined into a business?
Tests for learning disabilities?
Tests for learning style (visual, auditory, nasal, etc.)
Test for language abitlity. This consists of hearing different things in two ears simultaneously. It gives a bimodal distribution not a bell curve. Some people have it and some people don't. This is from my cognitive psychology background.
Etc.
These probably have to be gross screening tools rather than complete substitutes for professional, expert testing. Or not?
Maybe there are other ideas similar that could be combined into a business?
Tests for learning disabilities?
Tests for learning style (visual, auditory, nasal, etc.)
Test for language abitlity. This consists of hearing different things in two ears simultaneously. It gives a bimodal distribution not a bell curve. Some people have it and some people don't. This is from my cognitive psychology background.
Etc.
These probably have to be gross screening tools rather than complete substitutes for professional, expert testing. Or not?
Random notes
Learning Management System = Curriculum Mgmt System = Virtual Learning Environment=
LMS, CMS, VLE
LMS, CMS, VLE
Project Goal
V... Inc would like to offer an interactive online science curriculum to be used in either a school or home environment.
Background - Most elementary schools are doing a poor job teaching science for a number of reasons such as tight budgets, an emphasis on reading and math, and the unrelenting pressure of preparing for the high stake tests. Homeschoolers too lack a solid pleasant low cost scientific program, K-5. There are many projects & experiments & websites with information. What is lacking is a comprehensive scientific curriculum that builds interest and understanding in science.
Description - The course should cover the science curriculum standards as defined by the 50 states and prepare students for the emerging 5th grade standardized science tests. The course should be entirely online and automated with a large number of opportunities for enrichment through experimentation, group discussion, or classroom activities. As much of the course should be self-contained with outside websites and resources used sparringly (due to how they can change and the links need to be monitored and maintained).
Likely development path - There is probably some major components that can be rolled up easily:
- A curriculum in the public domain or for low cost should exist due to the large amount of research and investment coupled with the textbook consolidation in the last few years. This should include the basic text covering the materials, illustrations, descriptions of experiments, vocabulary lists, workbooks, teacher guide, and assessments.
- There are many choices for LMS for delivery. it should deliver to each student the next learning activity with good flexibility to repeat. It should handle any type of learning activity. All activities should be tracked. The preference would be for an open source system such as Moodle.
- The lessons should be packaged in small bitesize pieces with full audio visual support. At the outset, a simple screen reader such as Natural Reader for the PC can be integrated although I'd like to get the lessons read by a human. Students can be given both the text to follow along and a simple animation of key terms (like a blackboard) for much of the materials at first.
- Demonstrations and experiments can be provided in online simulated form, through video demonstrations, or through physical experiments.
Background - Most elementary schools are doing a poor job teaching science for a number of reasons such as tight budgets, an emphasis on reading and math, and the unrelenting pressure of preparing for the high stake tests. Homeschoolers too lack a solid pleasant low cost scientific program, K-5. There are many projects & experiments & websites with information. What is lacking is a comprehensive scientific curriculum that builds interest and understanding in science.
Description - The course should cover the science curriculum standards as defined by the 50 states and prepare students for the emerging 5th grade standardized science tests. The course should be entirely online and automated with a large number of opportunities for enrichment through experimentation, group discussion, or classroom activities. As much of the course should be self-contained with outside websites and resources used sparringly (due to how they can change and the links need to be monitored and maintained).
Likely development path - There is probably some major components that can be rolled up easily:
- A curriculum in the public domain or for low cost should exist due to the large amount of research and investment coupled with the textbook consolidation in the last few years. This should include the basic text covering the materials, illustrations, descriptions of experiments, vocabulary lists, workbooks, teacher guide, and assessments.
- There are many choices for LMS for delivery. it should deliver to each student the next learning activity with good flexibility to repeat. It should handle any type of learning activity. All activities should be tracked. The preference would be for an open source system such as Moodle.
- The lessons should be packaged in small bitesize pieces with full audio visual support. At the outset, a simple screen reader such as Natural Reader for the PC can be integrated although I'd like to get the lessons read by a human. Students can be given both the text to follow along and a simple animation of key terms (like a blackboard) for much of the materials at first.
- Demonstrations and experiments can be provided in online simulated form, through video demonstrations, or through physical experiments.
Monday, March 9, 2009
I've often thought an online hearing test could be a great service. Also a great business. It would probably have to come with a headset that can be sent.
It would allow people to check their hearing periodically to note the difference. To compare ears. To change range of hearing. etc.
Here's someone doing some work in this direction. They have an unscientific list of tones that go from 8Hz all the way up to 22,000Hz. It’s fairly common for people who are over 25 years of age to not be able to hear above 15Hz, so this will help you find out where your high frequency hearing cuts off.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Various Notes
Space and perhaps dinosaurs are awfully crowded. Watch out, e.g. for Jason Project.
MODELS
Online course. For subscription. (e.g. BrainPop, T4L)
Homework help. For subscription. (e.g. Discovery Channel's cosmeo.com)
E-market kits & supplies.
E-market textbooks. (e.g., Bridget Ardoin's scienceforhighschool.com)
Appealing sticky site--but not comprehensive--for ads.
PLAYERS
National Geographic. (e.g. Jason Project)
Discovery Channel. (e.g. Cosmeo.com)
Nasa & other government agencies.
NSF & NTF.
Museums & Science Centers (e.g., Exploratorium)
Educational businesses. Such as textbook or kit vendors. (e.g.,
Entrepreneurs. (e.g., T4L, Andrew Rader chem4kids.com)
Individual teachers....with textbooks to sell (e.g., Bridget Ardoin's www.scienceforhighschool.com)
...with experiments to share
School systems.
www.educationcreations.com $33/yr for worksheets preK-6 on 100Best
www.teach-nology.com. Online resource for teachers. Lots of free stuff plus $30/$50 yr subscriptions to access worksheets, b. worksheepmaking tool and c exambuddy (what's that?) etc. For profit. Consulting Divisioin & Membership Div; Maintains list of 100 best sites for teachers:
http://teachers.teach-nology.com/index.html You list your site and teachers votes' determine the rankings. Do we do. Eligible. It's freee.
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/
NASA and Odeo and others have great podcast directories. Some video podcasts can be used in our curriculum. eg. 60 sec piece on crab nebula from Chandra Orbiting X-ray observatory.
MODELS
Online course. For subscription. (e.g. BrainPop, T4L)
Homework help. For subscription. (e.g. Discovery Channel's cosmeo.com)
E-market kits & supplies.
E-market textbooks. (e.g., Bridget Ardoin's scienceforhighschool.com)
Appealing sticky site--but not comprehensive--for ads.
PLAYERS
National Geographic. (e.g. Jason Project)
Discovery Channel. (e.g. Cosmeo.com)
Nasa & other government agencies.
NSF & NTF.
Museums & Science Centers (e.g., Exploratorium)
Educational businesses. Such as textbook or kit vendors. (e.g.,
Entrepreneurs. (e.g., T4L, Andrew Rader chem4kids.com)
Individual teachers....with textbooks to sell (e.g., Bridget Ardoin's www.scienceforhighschool.com)
...with experiments to share
School systems.
www.educationcreations.com $33/yr for worksheets preK-6 on 100Best
www.teach-nology.com. Online resource for teachers. Lots of free stuff plus $30/$50 yr subscriptions to access worksheets, b. worksheepmaking tool and c exambuddy (what's that?) etc. For profit. Consulting Divisioin & Membership Div; Maintains list of 100 best sites for teachers:
http://teachers.teach-nology.com/index.html You list your site and teachers votes' determine the rankings. Do we do. Eligible. It's freee.
http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/
NASA and Odeo and others have great podcast directories. Some video podcasts can be used in our curriculum. eg. 60 sec piece on crab nebula from Chandra Orbiting X-ray observatory.
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Homeschool.com's top science choices
Homeschool.com publishes a top 100 websites each year. For 2009, they made some wise choices. Or not, it's far from a scientific process. Nevertheless, here's their science choices:
Science
BrainPOP http://www.brainpop.com
BrainPop excellent. Good model. Home page attractive with constant motion. Slick. Host characters have decent amount of personality. K-12 and Spanish. Content is mainly videos, all keyed to state standards by subject & grade. Good tools for teachers. Not sure if it creates reports for parents. Need to check.
Chem4Kids http://www.chem4kids.com This is one of Andrew Rader's 6 sites. In science, there's also physics and biology and cosmos. Plus a geography and math. Supported by Adsense. He's in LA. It's worth a call.
Business model looks to be some basic information on various sciences for free making money on ads. We could co-link to mutual benefit. No current conflict. Wonder if his motivation is primarily money or love.
Exploratorium http://www.exploratorium.edu. A collection of items.
By San Francisco Exploratorium. Enrichment, not curriculum. Presumably mostly from previous exhibits.
InnerBody http://www.InnerBody.com Human biology information.
Science for High School http://www.scienceforhighschool.com/
Bio, Physics & Chem high school courses on paper just for homeschool for sale at $120-$250/course including lab material produced by a single teacher. Her approach is to give kids weekly info to find on web, rather than just feeding it to them. Wonder if she is making any money? Is it for sale? If so, not a bad way to earn a living. One possibility: E-market disused or not yet marketed curricula. But mostly outside our core approach of online animated units with quizzes & reports.
Cosmeo http://cosmeo.com Discovery Science $10 month, math & science materials.
From Discovery Channel. Impressive. Not a curriculum or course. Instead, enrichment & homework help. Help seems very substantial, tied to whatever textbook is used. Kind of a multimedia reference library/librarian in a box. How-to-solve for "every" kind of math problem. Cool videos must make the site sticky for kids. Come back & do free 30 day trial. Textbooks references should reveal which the most popular are.
NASA for Students http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/index.html
Lots of resources esp. research tools by grade range.
Astronomy for Kids http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=ss&id=127
Nine Planets http://www.nineplanets.org
StarChild http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov
The Electronic Zoo http://netvet.wustl.edu/e-zoo.htm
Smith Life Science http://www.smithlifescience.com/
Mr. & Mrs. Smith's 6th grade science class in Moline, IL. Complete years lessons plans for Prenice Hall textbook. Seems free? What's the relationship? Implication for us?
The MAD Scientist Network http://www.madsci.org
Nonprofit. Real scientists answer your questions. Extensive archive.
Try Science http://www.tryscience.org
New York Hall of Science NYHOS main host w/ IBM, etc. Mostly promotes and extends Science & Technology Centers. Some experiments, all submitted by various Centers.
Science & Technology Education http://www.ftexploring.com
60 lessons in style compatable with ours by a single person who will write for pay, David Watson
Science
BrainPOP http://www.brainpop.com
BrainPop excellent. Good model. Home page attractive with constant motion. Slick. Host characters have decent amount of personality. K-12 and Spanish. Content is mainly videos, all keyed to state standards by subject & grade. Good tools for teachers. Not sure if it creates reports for parents. Need to check.
Chem4Kids http://www.chem4kids.com This is one of Andrew Rader's 6 sites. In science, there's also physics and biology and cosmos. Plus a geography and math. Supported by Adsense. He's in LA. It's worth a call.
Business model looks to be some basic information on various sciences for free making money on ads. We could co-link to mutual benefit. No current conflict. Wonder if his motivation is primarily money or love.
Exploratorium http://www.exploratorium.edu. A collection of items.
By San Francisco Exploratorium. Enrichment, not curriculum. Presumably mostly from previous exhibits.
InnerBody http://www.InnerBody.com Human biology information.
Science for High School http://www.scienceforhighschool.com/
Bio, Physics & Chem high school courses on paper just for homeschool for sale at $120-$250/course including lab material produced by a single teacher. Her approach is to give kids weekly info to find on web, rather than just feeding it to them. Wonder if she is making any money? Is it for sale? If so, not a bad way to earn a living. One possibility: E-market disused or not yet marketed curricula. But mostly outside our core approach of online animated units with quizzes & reports.
Cosmeo http://cosmeo.com Discovery Science $10 month, math & science materials.
From Discovery Channel. Impressive. Not a curriculum or course. Instead, enrichment & homework help. Help seems very substantial, tied to whatever textbook is used. Kind of a multimedia reference library/librarian in a box. How-to-solve for "every" kind of math problem. Cool videos must make the site sticky for kids. Come back & do free 30 day trial. Textbooks references should reveal which the most popular are.
NASA for Students http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/index.html
Lots of resources esp. research tools by grade range.
Astronomy for Kids http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=ss&id=127
Nine Planets http://www.nineplanets.org
StarChild http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov
The Electronic Zoo http://netvet.wustl.edu/e-zoo.htm
Smith Life Science http://www.smithlifescience.com/
Mr. & Mrs. Smith's 6th grade science class in Moline, IL. Complete years lessons plans for Prenice Hall textbook. Seems free? What's the relationship? Implication for us?
The MAD Scientist Network http://www.madsci.org
Nonprofit. Real scientists answer your questions. Extensive archive.
Try Science http://www.tryscience.org
New York Hall of Science NYHOS main host w/ IBM, etc. Mostly promotes and extends Science & Technology Centers. Some experiments, all submitted by various Centers.
Science & Technology Education http://www.ftexploring.com
60 lessons in style compatable with ours by a single person who will write for pay, David Watson
Big Curriculum Resources
The current goal is to find a science curriculum for a large number of grades to use as a lanch point. Contenders:
Annenberg Media has complete science materials for K5.
Operation Physics is a curriculum of 13 physics units for grades 4-9
the Georgia Science Program where the state is actually publishing a curriculum.
National Geographics Jason whcih has two modules done: Monster Storm & Resiliant Planet.
Explorelearning.com's gizmo's are probably unusable for commercial reasons. annoying.
Academy of Science simple experiments.
Annenberg Media has complete science materials for K5.
Operation Physics is a curriculum of 13 physics units for grades 4-9
the Georgia Science Program where the state is actually publishing a curriculum.
National Geographics Jason whcih has two modules done: Monster Storm & Resiliant Planet.
Explorelearning.com's gizmo's are probably unusable for commercial reasons. annoying.
Academy of Science simple experiments.
Georgia Science Curriculum
Erma told me to look at the Georgia Science Program where the state is actually publishing a curriculum. And I quote....
The Science curriculum in Georgia is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills for proficiency in science. Relationships between science, our environment, and our everyday world are crucial to each student’s scientific literacy. To become literate in science, therefore, students need to acquire understandings of “how to do science”, the Characteristics of Science Standards, and of “scientific concepts”, the Content Standards.
The Georgia Performance Standards for Science emphasized the idea that science is a way of knowing through the use of science processes to understand scientific concepts. Therefore, instruction needs to be organized so that the Characteristics of Science Standards and the Content Standards be taught together. Therefore, A CONTENT STANDARD IS NOT MET UNLESS APPLICABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENCE ARE ALSO ADDRESSED AT THE SAME TIME. For this reason they are presented as co-requisites.
The hands-on nature of the science curriculum standards increases the need for teachers to use appropriate precautions in the laboratory and field. The guidelines for the safe use, storage, and disposal of chemicals must be observed. Safety of the student should always be foremost in science instruction.
The Science curriculum in Georgia is designed to provide students with the knowledge and skills for proficiency in science. Relationships between science, our environment, and our everyday world are crucial to each student’s scientific literacy. To become literate in science, therefore, students need to acquire understandings of “how to do science”, the Characteristics of Science Standards, and of “scientific concepts”, the Content Standards.
The Georgia Performance Standards for Science emphasized the idea that science is a way of knowing through the use of science processes to understand scientific concepts. Therefore, instruction needs to be organized so that the Characteristics of Science Standards and the Content Standards be taught together. Therefore, A CONTENT STANDARD IS NOT MET UNLESS APPLICABLE CHARACTERISTICS OF SCIENCE ARE ALSO ADDRESSED AT THE SAME TIME. For this reason they are presented as co-requisites.
The hands-on nature of the science curriculum standards increases the need for teachers to use appropriate precautions in the laboratory and field. The guidelines for the safe use, storage, and disposal of chemicals must be observed. Safety of the student should always be foremost in science instruction.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Science standards & science tests
In Florida, science is about to be included on the tests. Broward county's Soaring into Science Curriculum map looks like a pretty good resource.
Here's a quick list of standardized tests by state.
California's STAR CST Blueprints for testing by grade by subject.
Here's a quick list of standardized tests by state.
California's STAR CST Blueprints for testing by grade by subject.
Monday, March 2, 2009
Random details
STC is another lab kit supplier
With the state/federal standards giving an outline of every lesson (or segment) that must be taught, it's pretty easy for a supplier to provide a kit (or workbook or software) for each unit.
Also easy for a teacher to mix and match which units he will do a lab for, which of these he will buy a kit for and which company's kit to buy. One from FOSS, one from STC, one he puts together hi;mself, one unit no lab, one unit online software.
What if our online science gave a list of kits for each unit, each sized for homeschool. With one-click ordering? A big convenience for parent...one-stop shopping and you buy unit by unit. A nice new distribution system for the various kit suppliers.
One wild idea. Is there a roll for a kit dissassembler? But a classroom kit....usually for 32 or 40 students. Break into home kits. Add in any extra supplies needed like an extra teachers guide.
Just brainstorming a little. Easier to do in writing than in head.
With the state/federal standards giving an outline of every lesson (or segment) that must be taught, it's pretty easy for a supplier to provide a kit (or workbook or software) for each unit.
Also easy for a teacher to mix and match which units he will do a lab for, which of these he will buy a kit for and which company's kit to buy. One from FOSS, one from STC, one he puts together hi;mself, one unit no lab, one unit online software.
What if our online science gave a list of kits for each unit, each sized for homeschool. With one-click ordering? A big convenience for parent...one-stop shopping and you buy unit by unit. A nice new distribution system for the various kit suppliers.
One wild idea. Is there a roll for a kit dissassembler? But a classroom kit....usually for 32 or 40 students. Break into home kits. Add in any extra supplies needed like an extra teachers guide.
Just brainstorming a little. Easier to do in writing than in head.
One idea: Linking online homeschool curriculum with kits from a school supplier
Just a preliminary idea before it fades....
Developing (or better still just marketing an existing) online science curriculum that correlates with home versions of kits. If someone like Delta has never adopted their kits for home use because its a niche market, there may be an opportunity.
A little like existing deal with Compass. Niche market a mainstream school product to homeschool.
Textbook publishers (like software suppliers) could be jealous of online marketing their offerings. They probably want to do it themselves and see online as a growth area, for schools if not for homeschool. By contrast (maybe), suppliers of kits would be happy if someone integrated their kits into an online program. (Lots of speculation here)
Developing (or better still just marketing an existing) online science curriculum that correlates with home versions of kits. If someone like Delta has never adopted their kits for home use because its a niche market, there may be an opportunity.
A little like existing deal with Compass. Niche market a mainstream school product to homeschool.
Textbook publishers (like software suppliers) could be jealous of online marketing their offerings. They probably want to do it themselves and see online as a growth area, for schools if not for homeschool. By contrast (maybe), suppliers of kits would be happy if someone integrated their kits into an online program. (Lots of speculation here)
School Specialty, Inc.
Do you know this $1B education materials company based in Greenville, WI. Their science division is based in Nashua, NH. At first blush, looks like they own the market for scientific kits/materials, phys ed, school furniture, etc.
The School Specialty Science division in New Hampshire owns the FOSS, DSM, SCI3+ and other brands of lab-in-a-box kits. FOSS is Full Option Science System developed over 30 years by the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. Maybe the leading set of kits. Impressive at a glance.
10K looks worth reading. Except below. URL http://library.corporate-ir.net/library/72/721/72100/items/299473/SCHS0810K.pdf
We are the largest provider of supplemental educational products and equipment to
the pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade (“preK-12”) education market in the United States and Canada. We
believe we are more than seven times larger than our nearest competitor in the supplemental educational products
and equipment market. With the industry’s broadest offering of more than 75,000 products, we are able to be the
single source supplier for substantially all of our customers’ supplemental educational product needs. Nearly 50% of
our revenues are derived from our proprietary products. We reach our customers through the industry’s largest sales
force of approximately 600 professionals, catalog mailings and our proprietary e-commerce websites. In fiscal 2008,
we believe we sold products to approximately 80% of the estimated 120,000 schools in the United States and we
believe we reached substantially all of the 3.7 million teachers in those schools.
The School Specialty Science division in New Hampshire owns the FOSS, DSM, SCI3+ and other brands of lab-in-a-box kits. FOSS is Full Option Science System developed over 30 years by the Lawrence Hall of Science at UC Berkeley. Maybe the leading set of kits. Impressive at a glance.
10K looks worth reading. Except below. URL http://library.corporate-ir.net/library/72/721/72100/items/299473/SCHS0810K.pdf
We are the largest provider of supplemental educational products and equipment to
the pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade (“preK-12”) education market in the United States and Canada. We
believe we are more than seven times larger than our nearest competitor in the supplemental educational products
and equipment market. With the industry’s broadest offering of more than 75,000 products, we are able to be the
single source supplier for substantially all of our customers’ supplemental educational product needs. Nearly 50% of
our revenues are derived from our proprietary products. We reach our customers through the industry’s largest sales
force of approximately 600 professionals, catalog mailings and our proprietary e-commerce websites. In fiscal 2008,
we believe we sold products to approximately 80% of the estimated 120,000 schools in the United States and we
believe we reached substantially all of the 3.7 million teachers in those schools.
Conferences to consider
CoSN Annual Conference, March 10-12 (Austin, TX)
SIIA Ed Tech Government Forum, March 17-18 (Washington, DC)
SIIA Ed Tech Industry Summit, May 3 - 5 (San Francisco, CA)
SIIA Ed Tech Government Forum, March 17-18 (Washington, DC)
SIIA Ed Tech Industry Summit, May 3 - 5 (San Francisco, CA)
elementary school text books
I've done some informal inquiries on a series of forums and discussion boards. So far, I'm hearing that mostly elementary school teachers do NOT use science textbooks or formal curriculum. It's much more a collection of units and activities.
It's unclear to me what they base them on although several mentioned that it was tied to state standards.
It's unclear to me what they base them on although several mentioned that it was tied to state standards.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
BRAINPOP.COM
Pretty cool. Terrific interface. Instruction, content, production values all excellent.
Numerous awards and significant partnerships. Good model. Has a lesson for each item on the standards list.
Linked with McGraw Hill and other key organizations.
Good section on special needs kids like dyslexia and autism.
Sparktop.org http://www.sparktop.org/explore/brainpop.html Linked to Brainpop. Site for dyslexia and LD sponsored by the Schwablearning.org of Charles Schwab.
Academic Benchmarks. com. You should know if you don't already. Useful tools for matching your curriculum to national and state standards item by item. Clever business idea.
Useful listing of educational sites (that all happen to use Academic Benchmarks.com)
Acahttp://www.academicbenchmarks.com/partner/
Pretty cool. Terrific interface. Instruction, content, production values all excellent.
Numerous awards and significant partnerships. Good model. Has a lesson for each item on the standards list.
Linked with McGraw Hill and other key organizations.
Good section on special needs kids like dyslexia and autism.
Sparktop.org http://www.sparktop.org/explore/brainpop.html Linked to Brainpop. Site for dyslexia and LD sponsored by the Schwablearning.org of Charles Schwab.
Academic Benchmarks. com. You should know if you don't already. Useful tools for matching your curriculum to national and state standards item by item. Clever business idea.
Useful listing of educational sites (that all happen to use Academic Benchmarks.com)
Acahttp://www.academicbenchmarks.com/partner/
Google "science k4"
1. youth.net science experiment lesson plans posted by teachers. Site run by single person unclear if for google juice or not.
2. col-ed.org looks identical? to #1
3. cicob.typepad.cob........blog for cobb county (GA?) teachers
4. ncpublicschools.org
5. lifelab.org......30 yo non-profit with curricula posted
6. edzone.net..........Links to many science teaching resources from a 30 yo organization
7. http://www.burlesonisd.net/it/blog/?page_id=2.......Blog from Burleson Indep School Dist...with 3 teachers as (free) consultant.
science k 5 (with a space btwn K and 5)
1&2 same as above.
3. ofcn.org. seems identical? to 1&2
4. http://www.sfscience.com/.......owned by PEARSON EDUCATION, INC.
5. edzone again
6. ncpublic schools again
7. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter112/ch112a.html.........texas state science stds
8. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter112/ch112a.html...from Lawrence Hall of Science UC Berkeley Complete science curribulum supposedly interactive. by FOSSWEB CA Edition. Complies with all CA state stds.
9. http://www.mcps.k12.mt.us/portal/Staff/Libraries/K5ScienceResources/tabid/323/Default.aspx........Missoula Public Schools
10. cobb county again
At page bottom related searches are listed:
1. youth.net science experiment lesson plans posted by teachers. Site run by single person unclear if for google juice or not.
2. col-ed.org looks identical? to #1
3. cicob.typepad.cob........blog for cobb county (GA?) teachers
4. ncpublicschools.org
5. lifelab.org......30 yo non-profit with curricula posted
6. edzone.net..........Links to many science teaching resources from a 30 yo organization
7. http://www.burlesonisd.net/it/blog/?page_id=2.......Blog from Burleson Indep School Dist...with 3 teachers as (free) consultant.
science k 5 (with a space btwn K and 5)
1&2 same as above.
3. ofcn.org. seems identical? to 1&2
4. http://www.sfscience.com/.......owned by PEARSON EDUCATION, INC.
5. edzone again
6. ncpublic schools again
7. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter112/ch112a.html.........texas state science stds
8. http://ritter.tea.state.tx.us/rules/tac/chapter112/ch112a.html...from Lawrence Hall of Science UC Berkeley Complete science curribulum supposedly interactive. by FOSSWEB CA Edition. Complies with all CA state stds.
9. http://www.mcps.k12.mt.us/portal/Staff/Libraries/K5ScienceResources/tabid/323/Default.aspx........Missoula Public Schools
10. cobb county again
At page bottom related searches are listed:
| harcourt science grade 5 | grade 5 science and technology | grade 5 science matter | grade 5 science projects |
| grade 5 science electricity | grade 5 science fair | grade 5 science weather | science quiz for grade 5 |
Sunday, February 22, 2009
OVERALL, looks like there are 3 big K12 textbook publishers....HMH, Pearson & McGraw Hill.(Lots of others turn out to just be divisions of these three.)
WIKIPEDIA says As of January 2009, the four largest college textbook publishers in the United States were:
- Pearson Education (including such imprints as Addison-Wesley and Prentice Hall)
- Cengage Learning (formerly Thomson Learning) NO K12
- McGraw-Hill
- Houghton Mifflin (including Harcourt)
Other (NO K12)US textbook publishers include:
- John Wiley & Sons
- Jones and Bartlett Publishers
- F. A. Davis Company
- W. W. Norton & Company
- SAGE Publications
K-12 EDUCATIONAL PUBLISHERS
#1 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
includes Holt McDougal division
includes Saxon, provides K12 math & science textbooks and online/homeschool programs.
#2&3 are...
McGraw Hill
owns Glencoe, which has textbooks and an "e-solutions" business
Pearson
owns Prentice Hall & Addison Wesley
Thompson educational (bought by Apax Partners pvt equity for $7.7B in 2007)???Not sure what happened to them or if K12. Part of Cengage, the big non-K12 publisher?
List of K12 TEXTBOOK PUBLISHERS
http://dir.yahoo.com/Business_and_Economy/Shopping_and_Services/Publishers/Education/Textbooks/K_12/
THE REST BELOW JUST MISCELLANEOUS TIDBITS
Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep Group formed 2006 when Irish company Riverdeep (Dublin) combined with Houghton Mifflin (Boston) in $3.4B deal. In 2007, it bought Harcourt educational business for $4B from Elsevier. Now largest
Holt McDougal, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
Two of the most trusted names in grades 6-12 educational publishing - Holt, Rinehart and Winston and McDougal Littell - have joined to become Holt McDougal, a division of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
http://holtmcdougal.hmhco.com/hm/home.htm;jsessionid=E5CA7393293B3CCAD359F9154A815659.cz-app-wk1
Pearson
Pearson is the world's leading PreK–20 educational publishing company, dedicated to working with educators to change the way America thinks.
Prentice Hall, Inc. | A Pearson Education Company | Upper Saddle River, New Jersey 07458
Glencoe, a McGraw Hill Company glencoe.com has e-solutions business.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/23/business/media/23publish.html article on textbook company acquisitions in 2006-07
2004 That's just the latest in a string of ambitious notions that have helped O'Reilly turn his company, O'Reilly Media, into the nation's second-largest tech book publisher. This fall more than 100 computer science professors nationwide will do the heretofore impossible: Through a new service called SafariU--a partnership between O'Reilly and Pearson Technology Group, a division of the $7.1 billion Pearson publishing juggernaut--they'll assign all-in-one textbooks, customized online to their exact specs. From a database of more than 5,000 O'Reilly and Pearson titles and articles, profs can click and drag anything from a few paragraphs to multiple chapters into their course syllabus. Then they can upload whatever outside material they need--articles, exercises, links, exams--and add it to the mix. Once it's digitally assembled, the text is instantly online; a print shop in Somerville, Mass., then cranks out hard copies to be shipped to the college bookstore.
Wiley: Our portfolio of global brands includes For Dummies, Frommer's, Betty Crocker, Pillsbury, CliffsNotes, Webster's New World, J.K. Lasser, Jossey-Bass, Pfeiffer, and Sybex.
Wolters Kluwer educational (bought by Bridgeport Capital for $1B in 2007) K12 none
Saturday, February 21, 2009
A curriculum plan
I had a chat which crystallized in my mind a likely plan. Other routes are possible.
a. Go find an orphaned K-5 science textbook curriculum. There are many due to the industry consolidation over recent years. There might be others developed on public moneys which never got fully published. But get a deal done which gets me access to a full curriculum. Ideally, full non-exclusive rights on an ongoing basis for free. Spend from nothing to $50K. Or more. Maybe royalties on a lease-to-buy basis to manage cash flow. To find a curriculum, perhaps work with a text book published exec who lost his job in one of the recent mergers.
b. Put it up in some format as fast as possible. Use the usual techniques to make it engaging:
d. Have both a family homeschool and school plan.
e Market market market.
Next steps.
- find lists of leading textbook vendors
- review mergers in last few years
- start speaking to execs who got ousted, looking for one who knows textbooks
- consider how to look at university or research-based curriculum, developed but unfunded.
Budget: $500K for initial development, $200K annually ongoing
Marketing expenses: $1M annually shared with other materials
Revenues:
Year 1: $50K
2: $150K
3: $300K
4: $600K
a. Go find an orphaned K-5 science textbook curriculum. There are many due to the industry consolidation over recent years. There might be others developed on public moneys which never got fully published. But get a deal done which gets me access to a full curriculum. Ideally, full non-exclusive rights on an ongoing basis for free. Spend from nothing to $50K. Or more. Maybe royalties on a lease-to-buy basis to manage cash flow. To find a curriculum, perhaps work with a text book published exec who lost his job in one of the recent mergers.
b. Put it up in some format as fast as possible. Use the usual techniques to make it engaging:
- Chop it into short sections
- Much use of multiple choice to keep engagement delivering additional information as followup to question
- Have all text narrated with good imagery, chalk talk, videos
d. Have both a family homeschool and school plan.
e Market market market.
Next steps.
- find lists of leading textbook vendors
- review mergers in last few years
- start speaking to execs who got ousted, looking for one who knows textbooks
- consider how to look at university or research-based curriculum, developed but unfunded.
Budget: $500K for initial development, $200K annually ongoing
Marketing expenses: $1M annually shared with other materials
Revenues:
Year 1: $50K
2: $150K
3: $300K
4: $600K
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Science kits
Here's a company - http://www.thinksciencekits.com - making green science kids. They have
Chemistry - kitchen - 9-12 (outside of scope)
Biology for middle school - I like the "make a fish that can compete" project.
Forensics - for 6-12th
Plus other: examine owl dung, dental bacteria, insects in the cold etc
Nature Pavilion opened in the fall of 2001 and it has been "a dream come true" for me! I started this store with 12 products and we now carry over 1900 items and now have 2 employees helping to get your orders to you quickly.
Nature Pavilion's mission is to find unique high quality nature and science gifts and toys and offer them at a reasonable price to our customers
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/gpe/gpe.html - the graphics are cute, the education is fact-based dressed up as discovery, and it's barely interactive. Yet it might be successful. Am I shooting too high?
http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/ - cute little flash games: states and such. Worth buying? cute but not so well designed.
Chemistry - kitchen - 9-12 (outside of scope)
Biology for middle school - I like the "make a fish that can compete" project.
Forensics - for 6-12th
Plus other: examine owl dung, dental bacteria, insects in the cold etc
Nature Pavilion opened in the fall of 2001 and it has been "a dream come true" for me! I started this store with 12 products and we now carry over 1900 items and now have 2 employees helping to get your orders to you quickly.
Nature Pavilion's mission is to find unique high quality nature and science gifts and toys and offer them at a reasonable price to our customers
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/gpe/gpe.html - the graphics are cute, the education is fact-based dressed up as discovery, and it's barely interactive. Yet it might be successful. Am I shooting too high?
http://www.arcademicskillbuilders.com/ - cute little flash games: states and such. Worth buying? cute but not so well designed.
Print-based religious and a GREAT Vision
I was just looking at the writeup of areasonfor.com's science program for elementary school:
... areasonfor.com/HomeSchool/Products/Science/GeneralInfo.aspx
They're on the same track I would be except for the religious part. Here's from their site, much quoted from the National Science Education Standards.
...a different paradigm from the traditional textbook approach. Why? In an effort to address standards and accountability, many of today's science textbooks seem to get learning backwards. They focus primarily on building a knowledge base, assuming students will later attach meaning to memorized facts. The problem is that few elementary students master information presented this way because they simply never become engaged with the material... ". . . active science learning means shifting emphasis away from teachers presenting information and covering science topics. The perceived need to include all the topics and information . . . is in direct conflict with the central goal of having students learn scientific knowledge with understanding."
(I should look at e-tutor with strategic studies and lessonpro too)
... areasonfor.com/HomeSchool/Products/Science/GeneralInfo.aspx
They're on the same track I would be except for the religious part. Here's from their site, much quoted from the National Science Education Standards.
...a different paradigm from the traditional textbook approach. Why? In an effort to address standards and accountability, many of today's science textbooks seem to get learning backwards. They focus primarily on building a knowledge base, assuming students will later attach meaning to memorized facts. The problem is that few elementary students master information presented this way because they simply never become engaged with the material... ". . . active science learning means shifting emphasis away from teachers presenting information and covering science topics. The perceived need to include all the topics and information . . . is in direct conflict with the central goal of having students learn scientific knowledge with understanding."
(I should look at e-tutor with strategic studies and lessonpro too)
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Good idea. Curriculum designed for homeschool should be easier for us to adopt than one designed for classroom. And maybe work better. Finding a curriculum provider driven more by idealism (mission) than money like this one and Jason could be good. Cheaper and more flexible and less likely to be disturbed by corporate strategy changes. Or other sudden corporate changes of direction or staff.
Gravitas publications
This business was founded in 2001 Dr. Rebecca W. Keller. Her background in biophysics, molecular biology and neuroscience, coupled with her love of the dramatic led her to prepare interesting “labs” for her children and neighbors. “Science is fun,” she says. A home-school mom, she developed Real Science-4-Kids after searching for a science curriculum that taught solid science concepts in a manner understandable for youngsters.
The site, btw, looks like it's entirely built in WordPress using templates.
The product line has a teacher handbook, student textbook, and student workbook. There's:
Chemistry: Pre Level 1 (does this mean middleschool?), Level 1, Level 2
Biology: Pre Level 1 (does this mean middleschool?), Level 1,
Physics: Level 1
Some interesting CD products
Kogs-4-Kids supports Real Science-4-Kids by connecting Level I Chemistry to language, history, philosophy, technology, critical thinking, and the arts. Real Science-4-Kids plus Kogs-4-Kids create a complete framework for understanding science.
I'll make inquiries as to more details about what they are and how we might work with them.
The site, btw, looks like it's entirely built in WordPress using templates.
The product line has a teacher handbook, student textbook, and student workbook. There's:
Chemistry: Pre Level 1 (does this mean middleschool?), Level 1, Level 2
Biology: Pre Level 1 (does this mean middleschool?), Level 1,
Physics: Level 1
Some interesting CD products
Kogs-4-Kids supports Real Science-4-Kids by connecting Level I Chemistry to language, history, philosophy, technology, critical thinking, and the arts. Real Science-4-Kids plus Kogs-4-Kids create a complete framework for understanding science.
I'll make inquiries as to more details about what they are and how we might work with them.
Saturday, February 14, 2009
Homeschool.com's top 100 websites
Every January, Homeschool.com lists the top 100 homeschooling websites.
A few points of note. Time4Learning, which includes an online interactive science curriculum, got listed as one of the top three sites most mentioned. This is independent of the fact that they sponsored the newsletter.
We should look at and understand each of the sites that the list for science.
A few points of note. Time4Learning, which includes an online interactive science curriculum, got listed as one of the top three sites most mentioned. This is independent of the fact that they sponsored the newsletter.
We should look at and understand each of the sites that the list for science.
Science
BrainPOP -This subscription site targeted at 3rd grade and up (is it too juvenile for middle school? high school? there's a junior site for k-3) seems to be founded and run by a physician (unless it's been sold, who is FWD Media the owner?). They charge $195 per year to access their resources (for a single classroom or family, they also have school ($995 with access for students limited to day time), district, and virtual school licensing) in seven subject areas: English, math, science, technology, health, arts & music, and social studies. Technology covers six areas: communication, computers & internet, energy technology, science & industry, simple machines, and transportation. Science covers 8 areas:xxx which includes roughly 220 activities.. All sections have animated flash movies and printable activities such as vocabulary list and true/false questions. Further todos. Look at activities and membership. Check for partnering opportunities. Their show conference attendence list is first rate. They have a cj affiliate program which we should consider. They seem to support both the smartboard (ready) and a deeper involvement with the promothean board where they've integrated with a student response system.
Chem4Kids
http://www.chem4kids.com
Exploratorium
http://www.exploratorium.edu
InnerBody
http://www.InnerBody.com
Science for High School
http://www.scienceforhighschool.com/
Cosmeo
http://cosmeo.com
NASA for Students
http://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/index.html
Astronomy for Kids
http://www.astronomy.com/asy/default.aspx?c=ss&id=127
Nine Planets
http://www.nineplanets.org
StarChild
http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov
The Electronic Zoo
http://netvet.wustl.edu/e-zoo.htm
Smith Life Science
http://www.smithlifescience.com/
The MAD Scientist Network
http://www.madsci.org
Try Science
http://www.tryscience.org
Science & Technology Education
http://www.ftexploring.com/
steve spagler science
I just learned about Steve Spangler Science from Andrea's homeschool blog. I'm trying to build an inventory working with the starting point of the Science Technology Engineering and Math for the rest of us blog.
Steve Spangler has Great Products for Amazing Science Fair Projects.
Basically, he has cool videos explaining science experiments and sells materials for them. They're heavy on fun. Check out for instance the self-carving pumpkin.
He’s been described as the guy who shoots potatoes, makes toilet paper fly, and mixes up a perfect batch of slime. But he may be best known for teaching millions of people how to turn an ordinary bottle of soda into an erupting geyser of fun. His now famous Mentos Geyser Experiment became an Internet sensation in September of 2005 and spawned more than a thousand related exploding soda experiments on videos sites like YouTube.com
On the education side, Steve Spangler is nationally known as a teacher's teacher who shares his passion for learning in the classroom, on the platform, and through the airwaves. Over the last 15 years, Steve has made over 500 television appearances as an authority on hands-on science and inquiry-based learning. His cool science demonstrations and creative insights earned him an Emmy as the host of NBC television’s News for Kids.
Since 1991, Spangler has served as the Executive Director of the National Hands-on Science Institute, which includes hands-on trainings workshops for teachers and administrators. The Institute’s successful model of combining hands-on training for teachers with on-site practice and evaluation with children has attracted the attention of educators throughout the country.
With twelve years experience in the classroom in the Cherry Creek School District in Colorado, Steve continues to share his creative learning strategies and inquiry research as a consultant for the Littleton Public Schools in Colorado. The focus of his work centers around hands-on learning and student motivation.
Steve Spangler's online videos showing his favorite science demonstrations and latest creations continue to catch the attention of parents, teachers, television producers and even a talk show host here and there. Steve had the privilege of being a guest on the Ellen DeGeneres Show in September of 2007 with a return visit in November. Ellen learned how to change her voice using a special gas, use liquid nitrogen to flash freeze fruit, perform the classic tablecloth trick and use giant rings of smoke to blow cups off the heads of people in the audience. Recently, Steve has also made appearances on the Food Network and the History Channel.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Science resources of note
The focus here should be online resources that have significant potential impact on curriculum. I'm not going to try to list every interesting science video at the national geographic, zoo, or a museum.
Jason.org - A national geographic owned amazing educational resource. It's been discussed that I could remarket it. Odd concept since it's free. Also, it requires a very educated involved teacher to run students thru it. So we would provide the virtual online classroom setting and charge money. We've never confirmed that jason would be supportive of this. They only have two middle school modules.
Gizmos - These little online ...gizmos...are cool. What's their business model?
Time4Learning Homeschool Science Curriculum Online - Very good, not so comprehensive. Could be updated.
http://www.homeschool.com/ - They have the premier homeschool directory by subject. The owner director lady, Rebecca, is on the T4L advisory board.
http://www.homeschoolscience.com/ - number one on google.
Apologia is the leading Christian homeschool science vendor.
Many homeschoolers use spiraling multidisciplinary unit studies to study science. Simply, every four years, you study the same unit. So imagine a family with a 2nd, 3rd, and 7th grader. They might all start with a unit on the digestive track. The 2nd and 3rd graders use the same materials, the 7th grader is covering the same unit but at a more sophisticated level. So the curriculum spirals. The unit part is that it might integrate with other subjects so bees might have a social studies, economics, historical, literary, or mathematical component.
www.pandiapress.com - looked great at a trade show. I bought the Earth & Space unit for grades 1-4. Looks great.
Jason.org - A national geographic owned amazing educational resource. It's been discussed that I could remarket it. Odd concept since it's free. Also, it requires a very educated involved teacher to run students thru it. So we would provide the virtual online classroom setting and charge money. We've never confirmed that jason would be supportive of this. They only have two middle school modules.
Gizmos - These little online ...gizmos...are cool. What's their business model?
Time4Learning Homeschool Science Curriculum Online - Very good, not so comprehensive. Could be updated.
http://www.homeschool.com/ - They have the premier homeschool directory by subject. The owner director lady, Rebecca, is on the T4L advisory board.
http://www.homeschoolscience.com/ - number one on google.
Apologia is the leading Christian homeschool science vendor.
Many homeschoolers use spiraling multidisciplinary unit studies to study science. Simply, every four years, you study the same unit. So imagine a family with a 2nd, 3rd, and 7th grader. They might all start with a unit on the digestive track. The 2nd and 3rd graders use the same materials, the 7th grader is covering the same unit but at a more sophisticated level. So the curriculum spirals. The unit part is that it might integrate with other subjects so bees might have a social studies, economics, historical, literary, or mathematical component.
www.pandiapress.com - looked great at a trade show. I bought the Earth & Space unit for grades 1-4. Looks great.
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