Investigating Influences in Idaho 阀杆教育

有了这些知识， 365滚球官网扩展 water educator Jim Ekins and Lakeland School District 阀杆 coordinator Sarah Halsted set out to get north Idaho kids excited about science, 技术, 工程与数学, 或干.

“What science is really about is curiosity,埃金斯说。. “It’s really about coming up with a question, something that interests you. Maybe that interest comes from a need – we need clean water. Maybe it comes from a personal interest – ‘Hey, 那些虫子真的很整洁, 我想更多地了解他们.’ ”

With support from the UI-Micron 阀杆教育研究 Initiative, Ekins and Halsted launched a multi-part program to inspire kids to study science and help teachers develop science-pedagogy skills.

The project is one of the initiative’s second round of innovative programs designed to elevate 阀杆 education by focusing on 学生, 家长与学校.
这个项目s are part of a five-year project funded by a $1.两百万美光基金会捐赠.

The first leg of the project was the i阀杆 From Excellence Program, a professional development summer institute for teachers in the Lakeland School District’s elementary schools. The teachers learned guided-inquiry methods that were designed to support Next Generation Science Standards and Common Core standards related to science Literacy. Halsted created a short film providing an overview of the program, 在Vimeo上可用.

“开始, teachers work with a place-based challenge, 比如水质, unified under the thematic arc of watersheds. This drives an investment in learning standards-driven content, such as phases of matter in the water cycle, mountain formation and the rock cycle, the interconnectedness of ecology with water in the watershed, 水化学,霍尔斯特德说. “The content frames the investigative process so teachers and 学生 better understand what leads to water quality being compromised.”

“Eventually teachers and 学生 will come up with their own questions as they dive deeper into the research, and determine where they would like to focus their elaboration investigations.”

The teachers then applied their learning in an afterschool program for fourth-grade 学生. 这个项目, 《365体育滚球》,” gave 学生 hands-on experience with water science, 地质, 天气和更多. It also gave teachers the yearlong practice in the less pressured afterschool environment, to increase confidence levels before guiding the lessons in the formal classroom environment.

Each school is near a body of water, so the 学生 were able to conduct live experiments. Ekins taught about water quality and the macroinvertebrates that live in the water and feed the fish, 调整UI扩展 idah20水资源管理大师 curriculum for the 学生 and teachers.

“We’re trying to get the kids exposed to real-time data so they can actually do their own hands-on inquiry,埃金斯说。.

Ekins and Halsted also surveyed teachers, 学生 and 父母 to learn the effects of the program. Their preliminary data show teachers reported an average 48-percent increase in their content knowledge, and 父母 strongly approved of the program, with 100 percent surveyed supporting 系统源于卓越 and expansion to grades three to six.

Sixty-seven percent of the 学生 reported an increase in their interest in science by the end of the year, and 33 percent reported an increased interest in their desire to pursue 阀杆 professions.

Ekins and Halsted are now working with industry and government partners to expand the program and integrate hands-on science methods into Lakeland District’s classrooms.

“Overcoming barriers to 阀杆 education involves a holistic approach that includes teachers, 学生, 父母, 社区, 和阀杆专业人士,霍尔斯特德说. “We are excited to continue to develop this model on all levels and impact future opportunities for our Idaho 学生 and families.”

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