Science4Us just participated in it's first adoption. It was the Texas State Science Adoption. They did it via a third party that put together a coalition. This has me thinking about the adoption buying process and how Texas issues its proclamation of science K8 curriculum adoption.
The adoption process by states and school districts is a high-stakes way of buying and selling. Many states, primarily in the SE of the US, do a periodic (every 6 years for instance) adoption of curriculum for the state. A rotation might be:
Year 1 - Reading
Year 2 - Language Arts & Writing
Year 3 - Math
Year 4 - Science
Year 5 - Social Studies
Year 6 - Other
And repeat...
What the adoption means varies by state. Sometimes they select one curriculum and all the districts and schools must adopt it. Or they pick several and let the schools and districts decide among the short-list. Sometimes they allow the schools to buy from the adopted curriculum with state funding assistance but not if they buy outside of the adopted.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Science Education
I started this blog in February of 2009 with a colleague as a way to explore the needs and possibilities for upgrading science education for elementary school students in the US. As it turns out, I saw a huge need for a better education for the kids in K-2nd to build science knowledge, interest, and confidence.
It seemed a national disaster that in 4th grade, most of our students were:
It seemed a national disaster that in 4th grade, most of our students were:
- Below grade level in science knowledge and skills
- Saying that they were not interested in science
- Believing that they were bad in science
To make matters were, it was the disproportionately the minorities (except the Asians) and girls who fell into the self-defeating category. Frankly, STEM careers are a growth area and we should be steering far more of our students into it.
So, I put my money were my mouth was and started development of a curriculum that I felt could address the problem. I spent a great deal of money. I just counted on my fingers and I can say that I spent "well into seven figures." (Most specifically, the company that I own spent the money). We funded it from cash flow.
The product is now available and we are beginning to take it to market. We've already been through four phases of field testing: two were considered alpha, two beta. During our development, the NGSS standards were released and we cover them thoroughly. Cover means we introduce concepts, we teach them, we practice them, we reinforce them, and we assess on them. It's a full curriculum: teacher materials and student materials. It's 100% digital. I hope you like it. Here's some ways to get into the heart of it:
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Science Needs
I've moved far along but I'm back to using this blog as a way to keep notes. I just read;
Science educators have become very good at teaching the ‘formalized knowledge structures’ (e.g, in chemistry, the organization of the periodic chart) as Clark et al state, and very good at assessing those, but what do we 1 do poorly? I want to concentrate on two areas: career interest and conceptual understanding. We interest far too few students (hence the narrowing pipeline analogy) in scientific careers, and we produce adults with poor conceptual understanding of science (Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century,
2007). As a result, we live in a society of individuals with naïve understandings of science (Pew Research Center and AAAS, 2009).
Rethinking science learning, a needs assessment
by Diane Jass Ketelhut of Temple University, Response Paper, Dede Conference on Games STEM Education
Science educators have become very good at teaching the ‘formalized knowledge structures’ (e.g, in chemistry, the organization of the periodic chart) as Clark et al state, and very good at assessing those, but what do we 1 do poorly? I want to concentrate on two areas: career interest and conceptual understanding. We interest far too few students (hence the narrowing pipeline analogy) in scientific careers, and we produce adults with poor conceptual understanding of science (Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century,
2007). As a result, we live in a society of individuals with naïve understandings of science (Pew Research Center and AAAS, 2009).
Rethinking science learning, a needs assessment
by Diane Jass Ketelhut of Temple University, Response Paper, Dede Conference on Games STEM Education
Friday, September 24, 2010
The White House Agrees with us!
I was just reading the Executive Summary of the Sept 2010 Report to the President by the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) called: PREPARE AND INSPIRE:
K-12 EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATH (STEM) FOR AMERICA’S FUTURE. Quoting a portion of Recommendation #4:
Information and computation technology can be a powerful driving force for innovation in education, by improving the quality of instructional materials available to teachers and students,
aiding in the development of high-quality assessments that capture student learning, and accelerating the collection and use of data to provide rich feedback to students, teachers, and schools. Moreover, technology has been advancing rapidly to the point that it can soon play a transformative role in education. Realizing the benefits of technology for K-12 education, however, will require active investments in research and development to create broadly useful technology platforms and well-designed and validated examples of comprehensive, integrated “deeply digital” instructional materials.
To learn more about the National Science Board report on recommended ways to foster the development of STEM professionals, entrepreneurs, and inventors.
K-12 EDUCATION IN SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING, AND MATH (STEM) FOR AMERICA’S FUTURE. Quoting a portion of Recommendation #4:
Information and computation technology can be a powerful driving force for innovation in education, by improving the quality of instructional materials available to teachers and students,
aiding in the development of high-quality assessments that capture student learning, and accelerating the collection and use of data to provide rich feedback to students, teachers, and schools. Moreover, technology has been advancing rapidly to the point that it can soon play a transformative role in education. Realizing the benefits of technology for K-12 education, however, will require active investments in research and development to create broadly useful technology platforms and well-designed and validated examples of comprehensive, integrated “deeply digital” instructional materials.
To learn more about the National Science Board report on recommended ways to foster the development of STEM professionals, entrepreneurs, and inventors.
- Read the White House press release and blog on Change the Equation and learn more aboutChange the Equation
- Read the eight-page executive summary of the PCAST report Prepare and Inspire: K–12 Education in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) for America’s Future
- Read the full report (108 pages)
- Read information on the report at the NSB website
- Members of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology talk aboutteachers who inspired them in science (video)
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Random notes
John, just ran across more science materials to look at:
http://www.friendlychemistry.com/ - a couple with ten years of offering this course.
Taking Science to School from the NSF.
Pandia Press' REAL Science plus History Odyssey.
And I was just reading a fun quaint blogsite.
http://www.freelyeducate.com/
http://www.friendlychemistry.com/ - a couple with ten years of offering this course.
Taking Science to School from the NSF.
Pandia Press' REAL Science plus History Odyssey.
And I was just reading a fun quaint blogsite.
http://www.freelyeducate.com/
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Science Education and the Hubble Telescope
Happy birthday, Hubble!
The Hubble Space Telescope is celebrating its 20th birthday and we have some images taken by the iconic space observatory over the past two decades. Arp 148, shown here, is the staggering aftermath of an encounter between two galaxies, resulting in a ring-shaped galaxy and a long-tailed companion. This image is part of a collection of 59 images of merging galaxies taken by Hubble and released on its 18th anniversary.
My involvement in the Hubble feels very personal. My Dad was a top management guy at NASA who helped push the Hubble from a concept to a fully-funded priority. At Dad's funeral, the head of NASA told an annecdote how Dad dealt with some proposed changes and upgrades in the Hubble telescope design after it was fully funded by Congress. Essentially, the engineering team felt that the telescope had some design weaknesses and would benefit from (a very expensive) second set of cameras. The head of NASA said that he wasn't going to go to Congress and ask for it but my Dad could if he wanted. He did, he got it, and Hubble's new cameras actually saved the day and were far more reliable and useful than the original set.
Friday, August 6, 2010
National Level Science Standards
Science standards at the national level are urgently needed:
http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards
They have standards proposed for the Language arts and math area but not so much for other subjects. And their initial work was apparently off-track, way too oriented towards engineering without adequate science.
K-2nd science education looks really cool at Science4Us.com
http://www.corestandards.org/about-the-standards
They have standards proposed for the Language arts and math area but not so much for other subjects. And their initial work was apparently off-track, way too oriented towards engineering without adequate science.
K-2nd science education looks really cool at Science4Us.com
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