Key Elements of The Science Proficiency Guide

Key Elements of The Science Proficiency Guide PDF Author: Indiana. Department of Education (1984- )
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description

Key Elements of The Science Proficiency Guide

Key Elements of The Science Proficiency Guide PDF Author: Indiana. Department of Education (1984- )
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 72

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Book Description


Taking Science to School

Taking Science to School PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309133831
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 404

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Book Description
What is science for a child? How do children learn about science and how to do science? Drawing on a vast array of work from neuroscience to classroom observation, Taking Science to School provides a comprehensive picture of what we know about teaching and learning science from kindergarten through eighth grade. By looking at a broad range of questions, this book provides a basic foundation for guiding science teaching and supporting students in their learning. Taking Science to School answers such questions as: When do children begin to learn about science? Are there critical stages in a child's development of such scientific concepts as mass or animate objects? What role does nonschool learning play in children's knowledge of science? How can science education capitalize on children's natural curiosity? What are the best tasks for books, lectures, and hands-on learning? How can teachers be taught to teach science? The book also provides a detailed examination of how we know what we know about children's learning of scienceâ€"about the role of research and evidence. This book will be an essential resource for everyone involved in K-8 science educationâ€"teachers, principals, boards of education, teacher education providers and accreditors, education researchers, federal education agencies, and state and federal policy makers. It will also be a useful guide for parents and others interested in how children learn.

Mathematics and Science Content Standards and Curriculum Frameworks

Mathematics and Science Content Standards and Curriculum Frameworks PDF Author: Rolf K. Blank
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 198

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Book Description
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO), collaborating with Policy Studies Associates and a panel of experts in mathematics and science education, has completed a study of states' curriculum frameworks development and standards-setting from 1994. The Council study analyzed the content and quality of state frameworks and standards documents and examined how states are working with local educators on implementation. This report describes the changing landscape of framework development and standards-setting in the United States and identifies emerging issues for practitioners and policy makers. The study was conducted with three kinds of data concerning the current situation of state standards and frameworks in mathematics and science. A concept mapping analysis of all state curriculum frameworks and standards documents in mathematics and science was completed. In order to identify all current state documents, works in progress, and dissemination and implementation activities, interviews were held with state mathematics and science education specialists. With the aggregated information from these sources, a report that focuses on current and emerging policy issues pertaining to the implementation of standards-based reform in mathematics and science education was developed. Contains 27 references. (Author/ASK)

Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards

Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309305152
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 114

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Book Description
A Framework for K-12 Science Education and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) describe a new vision for science learning and teaching that is catalyzing improvements in science classrooms across the United States. Achieving this new vision will require time, resources, and ongoing commitment from state, district, and school leaders, as well as classroom teachers. Successful implementation of the NGSS will ensure that all K-12 students have high-quality opportunities to learn science. Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards provides guidance to district and school leaders and teachers charged with developing a plan and implementing the NGSS as they change their curriculum, instruction, professional learning, policies, and assessment to align with the new standards. For each of these elements, this report lays out recommendations for action around key issues and cautions about potential pitfalls. Coordinating changes in these aspects of the education system is challenging. As a foundation for that process, Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards identifies some overarching principles that should guide the planning and implementation process. The new standards present a vision of science and engineering learning designed to bring these subjects alive for all students, emphasizing the satisfaction of pursuing compelling questions and the joy of discovery and invention. Achieving this vision in all science classrooms will be a major undertaking and will require changes to many aspects of science education. Guide to Implementing the Next Generation Science Standards will be a valuable resource for states, districts, and schools charged with planning and implementing changes, to help them achieve the goal of teaching science for the 21st century.

A Framework for K-12 Science Education

A Framework for K-12 Science Education PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309214459
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 400

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Book Description
Science, engineering, and technology permeate nearly every facet of modern life and hold the key to solving many of humanity's most pressing current and future challenges. The United States' position in the global economy is declining, in part because U.S. workers lack fundamental knowledge in these fields. To address the critical issues of U.S. competitiveness and to better prepare the workforce, A Framework for K-12 Science Education proposes a new approach to K-12 science education that will capture students' interest and provide them with the necessary foundational knowledge in the field. A Framework for K-12 Science Education outlines a broad set of expectations for students in science and engineering in grades K-12. These expectations will inform the development of new standards for K-12 science education and, subsequently, revisions to curriculum, instruction, assessment, and professional development for educators. This book identifies three dimensions that convey the core ideas and practices around which science and engineering education in these grades should be built. These three dimensions are: crosscutting concepts that unify the study of science through their common application across science and engineering; scientific and engineering practices; and disciplinary core ideas in the physical sciences, life sciences, and earth and space sciences and for engineering, technology, and the applications of science. The overarching goal is for all high school graduates to have sufficient knowledge of science and engineering to engage in public discussions on science-related issues, be careful consumers of scientific and technical information, and enter the careers of their choice. A Framework for K-12 Science Education is the first step in a process that can inform state-level decisions and achieve a research-grounded basis for improving science instruction and learning across the country. The book will guide standards developers, teachers, curriculum designers, assessment developers, state and district science administrators, and educators who teach science in informal environments.

Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards

Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards PDF Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309289548
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 288

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Book Description
Assessments, understood as tools for tracking what and how well students have learned, play a critical role in the classroom. Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards develops an approach to science assessment to meet the vision of science education for the future as it has been elaborated in A Framework for K-12 Science Education (Framework) and Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). These documents are brand new and the changes they call for are barely under way, but the new assessments will be needed as soon as states and districts begin the process of implementing the NGSS and changing their approach to science education. The new Framework and the NGSS are designed to guide educators in significantly altering the way K-12 science is taught. The Framework is aimed at making science education more closely resemble the way scientists actually work and think, and making instruction reflect research on learning that demonstrates the importance of building coherent understandings over time. It structures science education around three dimensions - the practices through which scientists and engineers do their work, the key crosscutting concepts that cut across disciplines, and the core ideas of the disciplines - and argues that they should be interwoven in every aspect of science education, building in sophistication as students progress through grades K-12. Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards recommends strategies for developing assessments that yield valid measures of student proficiency in science as described in the new Framework. This report reviews recent and current work in science assessment to determine which aspects of the Framework's vision can be assessed with available techniques and what additional research and development will be needed to support an assessment system that fully meets that vision. The report offers a systems approach to science assessment, in which a range of assessment strategies are designed to answer different kinds of questions with appropriate degrees of specificity and provide results that complement one another. Developing Assessments for the Next Generation Science Standards makes the case that a science assessment system that meets the Framework's vision should consist of assessments designed to support classroom instruction, assessments designed to monitor science learning on a broader scale, and indicators designed to track opportunity to learn. New standards for science education make clear that new modes of assessment designed to measure the integrated learning they promote are essential. The recommendations of this report will be key to making sure that the dramatic changes in curriculum and instruction signaled by Framework and the NGSS reduce inequities in science education and raise the level of science education for all students.

State Curriculum Frameworks in Mathematics and Science

State Curriculum Frameworks in Mathematics and Science PDF Author: Rolf K. Blank
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 148

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Book Description
A majority of states are now involved in developing, revising, and implementing state frameworks in mathematics, science, and other core subjects. The Council of Chief State School Officers completed a one-year study of 60 current state curriculum frameworks in mathematics and science. The purposes of this study were to define and describe state mathematics and science curriculum frameworks, evaluate the role of frameworks in systemic reform, and assist states with development of new frameworks. Chapters in this report reflect key aspects of the design of the study, including: (1) a survey of states to identify frameworks and collect information about state context; (2) a content analysis of key elements of the frameworks using definitions and categories developed in the study; and (3) a qualitative review of specific aspects of recent frameworks by teams of experts. The value of frameworks is as follows: one-half of frameworks link content to teacher professional development; frameworks can provide a rationale for use of technology and tools in classrooms; frameworks can help explain an approach to systemic reform; and frameworks can assist schools in evaluating curriculum organization and resources. Appendices include Elements for Analyzing State Curriculum Frameworks, Definitions of Categories and Concepts for Conceptual Mapping of State Frameworks, Questions for a Qualitative Analysis of State Frameworks in Mathematics and Science, and Sample Vignettes. Contains 34 references. (MKR)

Seeing Students Learn Science

Seeing Students Learn Science PDF Author: National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309444357
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 137

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Book Description
Science educators in the United States are adapting to a new vision of how students learn science. Children are natural explorers and their observations and intuitions about the world around them are the foundation for science learning. Unfortunately, the way science has been taught in the United States has not always taken advantage of those attributes. Some students who successfully complete their Kâ€"12 science classes have not really had the chance to "do" science for themselves in ways that harness their natural curiosity and understanding of the world around them. The introduction of the Next Generation Science Standards led many states, schools, and districts to change curricula, instruction, and professional development to align with the standards. Therefore existing assessmentsâ€"whatever their purposeâ€"cannot be used to measure the full range of activities and interactions happening in science classrooms that have adapted to these ideas because they were not designed to do so. Seeing Students Learn Science is meant to help educators improve their understanding of how students learn science and guide the adaptation of their instruction and approach to assessment. It includes examples of innovative assessment formats, ways to embed assessments in engaging classroom activities, and ideas for interpreting and using novel kinds of assessment information. It provides ideas and questions educators can use to reflect on what they can adapt right away and what they can work toward more gradually.

Evaluation of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Project 2061: Appendices

Evaluation of the American Association for the Advancement of Science's Project 2061: Appendices PDF Author: Andrew A. Zucker
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description


Science for All Children

Science for All Children PDF Author: National Science Resources Center of the National Academy of Sciences and the Smithsonian Institution
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309176298
Category : Education
Languages : en
Pages : 240

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Book Description
Remember the first time you planted a seed and watched it sprout? Or explored how a magnet attracted a nail? If these questions bring back memories of joy and wonder, then you understand the idea behind inquiry-based scienceâ€"an approach to science education that challenges children to ask questions, solve problems, and develop scientific skills as well as gain knowledge. Inquiry-based science is based on research and experience, both of which confirm that children learn science best when they engage in hands-on science activities rather than read from a textbook. The recent National Science Education Standards prepared by the National Research Council call for a revolution in science education. They stress that the science taught must be based on active inquiry and that science should become a core activity in every grade, starting in kindergarten. This easy-to-read and practical book shows how to bring about the changes recommended in the standards. It provides guidelines for planning and implementing an inquiry-based science program in any school district. The book is divided into three parts. "Building a Foundation for Change," presents a rationale for inquiry-based science and describes how teaching through inquiry supports the way children naturally learn. It concludes with basic guidelines for planning a program. School administrators, teachers, and parents will be especially interested in the second part, "The Nuts and Bolts of Change." This section describes the five building blocks of an elementary science program: Community and administrative support. A developmentally appropriate curriculum. Opportunities for professional development. Materials support. Appropriate assessment tools. Together, these five elements provide a working model of how to implement hands-on science. The third part, "Inquiry-Centered Science in Practice," presents profiles of the successful inquiry-based science programs in districts nationwide. These profiles show how the principles of hands-on science can be adapted to different school settings. If you want to improve the way science is taught in the elementary schools in your community, Science for All Children is an indispensable resource.