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Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related institutions.
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Although the LHC and quantum physics are not directly accessible to
elementary school students, there are any number of embedded or underlying
concepts that are amenable to inquiry, from the behavior of magnets to
basics of motion, to the behavior of matter. This would be true for almost
any science news topic.
A great resource for finding these underpinnings and for identifying
inquiries that will support higher level understandings later is the Atlas
of Science Literacy from AAAS Project 2061. The Atlas takes the Project
2061 Benchmarks and arranges them in developmental progressions. A number
of these maps are available in interactive form at the National Science
Digital Library http://strandmaps.nsdl.org/ and the paper Atlas can be
ordered from AAAS.
Also, a lot of energy continues to be expended on developing inquiry
activities. Unfortuantely, isolated teacher-developed activities are
generally not as effective as the already-existing research-based inquiry
science curriculums (Science and Technology for Children, Full-Option
Science System, and Insights are three comprehensive curricula that are
research-based). The power of these curricula comes not so much from
individual activities as from the sequencing of activities. The sequence is
carefully designed to elicit and develop reasoning about deep concepts and
science process. Perhaps your project could familiarize teachers with some
of these existing exemplary materials and show how the fundamental science
in these materials is connected to current events.
Dave Smith
On Wed, Oct 1, 2008 at 4:03 PM, Susan Timberlake <[log in to unmask]>wrote:
> ISEN-ASTC-L is a service of the Association of Science-Technology Centers
> Incorporated, a worldwide network of science museums and related
> institutions.
>
> *****************************************************************************
>
> Hello,
>
> I'm working on series of science enrichment publications for
> elementary school teachers on the theme "Headline Science:
> Science, Math, and Literacy Behind the Headlines."
>
> My first task is to come up with a theme for each issue that is both
> conducive to developing inquiry-based activities and connected to
> science that kids are likely to see in the news in the coming year.
> So, for example, while the Large Hadron Collider might well be in the
> news this coming year, I think I'd be hard-pressed to come up with
> related inquiry-based activities for elementary school students; thus,
> quantum physics is probably not an appropriate theme for the year.
>
> I'd love input from the many creative and well-informed people on this
> list about what news-related science topics could connect to a wealth
> of inquiry-based activities. (Note that energy and climate change are
> probably the theme for future issues, so they're not on the menu for
> this year.) If you have a favorite activity to recommend, I'd love to
> hear about that too.
>
> Thanks,
> Susan
> _____________________________
> Susan Timberlake
> Writer, editor, and content developer
> www.susantimberlake.com
>
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--
David L. Smith
Da Vinci Science Center
Allentown, PA
http://www.davinci-center.org
Please consider the environment before printing this email.
Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But since no one was
listening, everything must be said again. -- Andre Gide
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For information about the Association of Science-Technology Centers and the Informal Science Education Network please visit www.astc.org.
Check out the latest case studies and reviews on ExhibitFiles at www.exhibitfiles.org.
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