In evaluating the success of teacher development programs, valid and scalable measures of teaching practice are needed. We have developed and validated the Science Lesson Plan Analysis Instrument (SLPAI) for quantitative evaluation of teacher-generated multiday lesson plans. This paper presents the SLPAI as a complement to surveys and classroom observation, and demonstrates its use in 2 pilot studies. The SLPAI was used formatively to measure the teaching practices of incoming program cohorts and tailor program instruction. It was also used to track changes in teaching practice and pedagogical
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Christina JacobsSonya MartinTracey Otieno
This article examines the literature on Native science in order to address the presumed binaries between formal and informal science learning and between Western and Native science. We situate this discussion within a larger discussion of culturally responsive schooling for Indigenous youth and the importance of Indigenous epistemologies and contextualized knowledges within Indigenous communities.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Bryan Mckinely Jones BrayboyAngelina Castagno
The First Synthesis Meeting was held in January 2008, at the front end of the Portal to the Public grant period. For this meeting, forty-three experts, stakeholders and members of the project team came together at Pacific Science Center for two days of dialog and reflection. Participants brought diverse knowledge and experience, and represented public, research scientist and informal science education perspectives. The First Synthesis Meeting's goal was to facilitate in-depth conversation to identify current initiatives, best practices, and future directions regarding activities in the field
The Astronomical Society of the Pacific (ASP) will develop and test a new model of informal science education professional development to help small museums increase the public's knowledge and interest in astronomy. The lead collaborators in addition to ASP are the National Optical Astronomy Observatory (NOAO) and the Association of Science Technology Centers (ASTC). The project deliverables include 1) workshops for approximately 240 informal science education (ISE) practitioners in 180 small ISE institutions delivered both on-site and through distance learning 2) hands-on astronomy activity toolkits and 3) an on-going "community of practice" network. The project development team includes representatives from small ISE institutions (Randall Museum, CA; Lakeview Museum of Arts and Science, IL; Stamford Museum & Nature Center, CT) as well as others. This project has the potential for making a strategic impact on the ISE field with its research on the use of distance learning compared to on-site professional development workshops
In this article, the author shares general research on the subject of transformation in the context of historical/cultural organizations. The author's research examined seven history museums who had undergone various levels of change and transformation and looked for similarities, idiosyncrasies, patterns, and differences across the organizations and their stakeholders' interests. These changes and transformations are presented in a broader context of shifts in the missions and structure of cultural organizations, and presents key understandings for those institutions seeking to undergo change
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Candace Tangorra MetalicAmerican Association for State and Local History
This report is the result of work undertaken by Ecsite-uk, The UK network of science & discovery centres and museums, to demonstrate the impact of Science & Discovery Centres, to encourage their effective collaboration, and to maximize their future viability. The report includes three parts: the results of a survey of UK science and discovery centres, recommendations for science and discovery centres which will lead to demonstrating value, and best practices shared between science and discovery centres from those that have achieved financial stability. In addition to this report, Ecsite-uk
This is the summative evaluation of Statistics for Action (SfA). The mixed-methods evaluation included both process (project implementation) and impact (project effectiveness) assessments. It was posited a cascade-like impact of SfA, in which new materials would be developed by TERC staff; a host of environmental organizations would be trained to utilize them with grass roots community groups; and these groups would then incorporate SfA into their ongoing environmental campaigns. Ultimately, it was theorized, the public messaging around environmental issues would be strengthened by SfA’s
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Arbor Consulting PartnersMargaret ConnorsMindy FriedMadeleine Taylor
resourceprojectProfessional Development, Conferences, and Networks
This MSP-Start Partnership, led by Widener University, in partnership with Bryn Mawr College, Delaware County Community College, Philadelphia University, Lincoln University, and Haverford Township School District, is developing the Greater Philadelphia Environment, Energy, and Sustainability Science (ES)2 Teacher Leader Institute. Additional partners include the Center for Social and Economic Research at West Chester University, Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center, Energy Coordinating Agency, US EPA Region 3 Office of Innovation, National Center for Science and Civic Engagement and its SENCER program, Pennsylvania Campus Compact, Philadelphia Higher Education Network for Neighborhood Development, Project Kaleidoscope, Sustainable Business Network of Greater Philadelphia, and the 21st Century Partnership for STEM Education. Building on a base of relationships developed over the past five years by many partners in the Math Science Partnership of Greater Philadelphia, the project brings together faculty and resources from multiple institutions (a "Mega-University" model) to develop a coherent, innovative, and content-rich, multi-year curriculum in environment, energy, and sustainability science for an Institute that leads to a newly developed Master's degree. Teachers participating in the Institute (A) improve their STEM content knowledge in areas critical to human environmental sustainability, (B) improve their use of project based/service learning and scientific teaching pedagogies in their teaching, (C) engage in real-world sustainability problem solving in an externship with a local business, non-profit or government organization that is active in the newly emerging green economy, and (D) develop important leadership skills as change agents in their schools to improve student interest, learning, and engagement in STEM education. The Institute aims to serve as a regional hub, connecting educational, business, non-profit and government organizations to strengthen the STEM education and workforce development pipelines in the region and simultaneously support positive social change toward environmental sustainability and citizenship. The project's "Mega-University" and "Institute as a regional connector-hub" approaches are powerful models of collaboration that could have widespread and significant national applicability as organizations and systems adjust to the new challenges of our global economy and to the needed transition to sustainability.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
Stephen MadigoskyWilliam KeilbaughVictor DonnayBruce GrantThomas Schrand
resourceprojectWebsites, Mobile Apps, and Online Media
SETAC is funded by the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Union and emerges out of the need to undertake specific action for the improvement of science education. It regards science education as among the fundamental tools for developing active citizens in the knowledge society. SETAC draws on the cooperation between formal and informal learning institutions, aiming to enhance school science education and active citizenship looking further into the role of science education as a lifelong tool in the knowledge society. On the day of the project’s conclusion, 31 October 2010, after two years of work SETAC contributes the following products and results to the field: 1. “Quality Science Education: Where do we stand? Guidelines for practice from a European experience” This is the concluding manifesto that presents the results of the SETAC work in the form of recommendations for practitioners working in formal and informal science learning institutions; 2. “Teaching and Learning Scientific Literacy and Citizenship in Partnership with Schools and Science Museums” This paper constitutes the theoretical framework of the project and innovative ways of using museums for science education and develop new modes of linking formal and informal learning environments; 3. Tools for teaching and learning in science: misconceptions, authentic questions, motivation. Three specific studies, leading to three specific reports, have been conducted in the context of the project, looking in particular into notions with an important role in science teaching and learning. These are on: Children’s misconceptions; Authentic questions as tool when working in science education; Students’ attitudes and motivation as factors influencing their achievement and participation in science and science-related issues; 4. Activities with schools: SETAC developed a series of prototype education activities which were tested with schools in each country. Among the activities developed between the partners, two have been chosen and are available on-line for practitioners to use and to adapt in their own context. These are: The Energy role game, a role game on Energy invites students to act in different roles, those of the stakeholders of an imaginary community, called to debate and decide upon a certain common problem; MyTest www.museoscienza.org/myTest, which aims to encourage students to engage in researching, reflecting and communicating science-oriented topics; 5. European in-service training course for primary and secondary school teachers across Europe. The training course is designed in such a way as to engage participants in debate and exploration of issues related to science education and active citizenship. The course is open to school teachers, headteachers and teacher trainers from all EU-member and associate countries. Professionals interested can apply for a EU Comenius grant. All the products of the project as well as information about the training course are available at the project website, some of them in more than one languages: www.museoscienza.org/setac
This research study involves collaboration between researchers at the University of Maryland, College Park and Bowie State University, an HBCU, to examine a multi-component pre-service model for preparing minority students to teach upper elementary and middle level science. The treatment consists of (1) focused recruitment efforts by the collaborating universities; (2) a pre-service science content course emphasizing inquiry and the mathematics of data management; (3) an internship in an after school program serving minority students; (4) field placements in Prince Georges County minority-serving professional development schools; and (5) mentoring support during the induction year. The research agenda will examine each aspect of the intervention using quantitative and qualitative methods and a small number of case studies.
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TEAM MEMBERS:
James McginnisSpencer BensonScott Dantley
The TEAMS Collaborative received three separate rounds of funding from the National Science Foundation; Inverness Research served as the external evaluator to the project for all three rounds of funding. This summative report details the return on NSF's long-term investment in the TEAMS Collaborative. It outlines the overall contributions of the project to participating museums, individual staff at those museums, and to the larger field of informal science education institutions. It also summarizes the ways in which the TEAMS Collaborative was able to effectively capitalize on NSF's investment
This Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center (NSEC) is a collaboration among Harvard University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the University of California—Santa Barbara, and the Museum of Science—Boston with participation by Delft University of Technology (Netherlands), the University of Basel (Switzerland), the University of Tokyo (Japan), and the Brookhaven, Oak Ridge, and the Sandia National Laboratories. The NSEC combines "top down" and "bottom up" approaches to construct novel electronic and magnetic devices with nanoscale sizes and understand their behavior, including quantum phenomena. Through a close integration of research, education, and public outreach, the Center encourages and promotes the training of a diverse group of people to be leaders in this new interdisciplinary field.