Our working title- Science4Us.com.
Science Curriculum Development – K-8th grade - We are starting development on an online K8 science curriculum. The goal is to build a computer-centric online progressive science curriculum informed by the latest research. Our conceptual foundations:
- Students can absorb significantly more complexity than is usually offered (Taking Science to School).
- The science curriculum should be structured around the Big Ideas (Taking Science to School andNSTA Vision of Science Anchors) with details treated as such.
- Standards and curriculum should be organized in grade bands rather than by specific grades: K-2nd, 3rd- 5th, middle school, and high school.
- Students should learn science and scientific method in an integrated process in which they experience the scientific process (Taking Science to School),
- Scientific study should be inquiry based with significant room for experimentation and failure.
- A technology-based solution will, in a significant portion of the market, yield more cost-effective results than traditional approaches (train the teachers, create an environment for experimentation. (Science4Us.com hypothesis).
- An online animated and video environment can provide an inquiry-based experiential environment which largely achieves the educational goals (Science4Us.com hypothesis).
- The real need in providing online curriculum is in creating an integrated curriculum with a common user interface, teacher and parent support materials, and an effective scope and sequence, and a learning management system. Although the web is full of powerful interactive science simulations, they are too isolated to be able to weave together into a meaningful curriculum.
- The concept of citizen-science will be a foundation of some of the hands-on suggested further activities. Particular emphasis will be given to the fact that the frontier of scientific inquiry is within reach surprisingly often.
- Areas that we intend to explore include how community, social media, and web-based tools can be used for scientific education and collaboration.
