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| Physical Science, Chemistry and Physics | |
| General Science (and Middle School) |
The Biology: Exploring Life Program seems as though it could stand alone as the main curriculum to follow. [reviewed by Megan Morgan, Fall 2005]
I think this is definitely a step closer to the constructivist approach to teaching. Using a text book for class reference is far to one dimensional. The ideas and activities that are offered on the website and lab program from this package provide students a useful alternative to just book reading. I think that the use of the Internet as a resource allows students to explore a lot more on their own, at their own pace to seek out answers to question that they may have regarding the lesson. [reviewed by Pete Peterson, Fall 2005]
"The author team creating BIOLOGY Exploring Life has rallied around three fundamental values:
It also claims to be adaptable and to foster pro-active learning in students. The web portion of this curriculum package includes Webquests, online activities, chapter reviews and assessments, and skills activities. There are two lab experiments included for each chapter. This curriculum package includes a support community for teachers. These all seem like useful features of Exploring Life. [reviewed by Kristina Carone, Fall 2005]
The HELP sounds like a wonderful program, but not something that could exist on its own. It would serve well as a unit(s) within a curriculum and give students opportunities to really learn and explore the idea of habitats, endangered species, and conservation. [reviewed by Megan Morgan, Fall 2005]
CIPS is a yearlong physical science course. This curriculum uses a combination of guided inquiry and direct instruction. In the guided inquiry activities students perform experiments, and they are guided in constructing many physical science concepts based on evidence from the experiments. Additional physical science concepts are taught by direct instruction.
CPIS is designed to engage students in building understanding of basic concepts and skills. Students perform hands-on, minds-on activities, which follow a learning cycle of four phases: Finding out students' initial ideas about a topic, development of new or changed ideas, and confirmation of students' ideas by comparing them with formal science ideas, application of agreed ideas to new situations.
The CIPS course is based on the themes of interactions and energy transfers between objects. There are five units in the curriculum. Each unit consists of two or three activities that help students develop physics and chemistry concepts.
The five units are: Foundations, Interactions and Energy, Interactions and Forces, Interactions and Conservation, Interactions of Materials.
In the CIPS classroom students perform investigations and discuss the meanings of their investigations in small and large groups. The laboratory activities are accompanied by computer-based simulations. Students are always required to support their claims and explanations with evidence and reasoning. This is different from a traditional science classroom where experiments are used to confirm an idea previously presented by the textbook and teacher.
The students are involved in science activities where they think, write, and reason about the physical world and how it works.
There is a companion fiction text titled Chronicles of the Wandering Star. The story line is woven around the concepts that are developed in the course.
Assessment in the CIPS learning environment values deeper conceptual understanding. Students have many opportunities to demonstrate their mastery of the concepts and skills introduced in the curriculum. They are quizzed and tested at the end of each unit. They are also engaged in several practical and application activities that can be assigned as homework and/or used for ongoing assessment.
CIPS content is designed to meet national standards (as defined in the National Science Education Standards and Project 2061 Benchmarks) and state standards.
The CIPS Project is supported by National Science Foundation grants and by San Diego State University and Western Michigan University.
For more information you can browse the CIPS website or contact the
publisher:
It's About Time
84 Business Park Drive
Armonk, NY 10504
Phone: 1-888-698-TIME (toll free)
Fax: 914-273-2227
To order books and workbooks contact:
Ellen Stahl
1 888 698-8463, ext 518
[reviewed by Michele Fogarty, Fall 2005]
The website also has a paragraph in its introduction that relates to what we talked about in class today, that being, "Science is an active enterprise, made active by our human capacity to think. Scientific knowledge advances when scientists observe objects and events, think about how they relate to what is known, test their ideas in logical ways, and generate explanations that integrate the new information into the established order. Thus the scientific enterprise is both what we know (content) and how we come to know it (process). The best way for students to appreciate the scientific enterprise, learn important scientific concepts, and develop the ability to think critically is to actively construct ideas through their own inquiries, investigations, and analyses. The FOSS program was created to engage students in these processes as they explore the natural world."
The website address is: http://www.lawrencehallofscience.org/foss/index.html. From there you can access information at two sites, depending on what you are looking for.
lhsfoss.org. Educators seeking information about the FOSS program goals, features of the program, standards correlations, or effectiveness data will find the lhsfoss.org website useful. Specific information found only on this site includes strategies and materials for full engagement of students with disabilities, current research projects related to FOSS in classrooms, and information about science and literacy.
FOSSweb.com. Teachers seeking tips for enhancing specific modules or courses, FOSS-approved print, video, and web-based resources, classroom management ideas, or plant and animal care will find FOSSweb their website of choice. FOSSweb will also be of interest to administrators and curriculum specialists in search of a calendar of professional development opportunities, implementation strategies, materials management tools and software. Parents and families of students using FOSS will enjoy the module-specific student activities for K-2, 3-6, and middle school on FOSSweb.
I looked at FOSS for middle school, since that is the age level I am currently dealing with. The components of that system are:
FOSS for Middle School consists of nine courses (two still in development) for students and their teachers in departmental science grades 6-8. Each course is an in-depth unit requiring 9-12 weeks to teach. The Middle School program includes the following five interconnected components
The modules listed are for the middle school grades. The table is from the website and is an overview of what they offer. They present units that will take 9-12 weeks to teach.
| GRADE LEVEL |
LIFE SCIENCE |
PHYSICAL SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY |
EARTH AND SPACE SCIENCE |
THINKING PROCESSES |
| Grades 6–8 |
Human Brain and Senses |
Electronics |
Planetary Science |
Inferring |
| Populations and Ecosystems |
Chemical Interactions |
Earth History |
||
| Diversity of Life |
Force and Motion |
Weather and Water |
||
Overall it is a very detailed, interesting and informative site. [reviewed by Julie Evans, Fall 2005]
They believe the best way for students to appreciate the scientific enterprise, learn important scientific concepts and develop the ability to think critically is to actively construct ideas through their own ininquiries, investigations and analyses. Their three goals are scientific literacy, instruction efficiency and systemic reform.
The middle school component consists of 9 course, each of which takes 9-12 weeks to teach. the program includes teachers guides, lab notebooks for the kids, equipment kits, resources bookls for kids and CD-Rom for middle school courses.
This program sounds as though it was well researched and it will be a great support for inquiry based teaching. [reviewed by Marilena Carranza, Fall 2005]
When school districts provide new teachers with curriculum packages, (in my experience) they have been useless. The guide is pretty much the index of the textbook with months (Sept-June) next to each one. I hope this is not the way it is in every school district. Has anyone in the class, have different experiences?? I would like to receive a detailed package that gave examples of what you could do with each day. This goes back to, "once you have experience, you will begin to be creative." Well, if we had a detailed curriculum we wouldn't have to wait for the time to pass. [reviewed by Natasha Chromey, Fall 2005]
I think this would be hugely enchancing for any classroom curriculum as well as an ecellent guideline for a yearplan's time management. I would, however, feel uncomfortable if a disctrict expected me to follow each lesson of the package directly: it doesnt allow for much personal freedom. Another drawback may be the need for computers to do many of the activities, a district may not be able to supply that for all students. The cost of the package is not cheap: $3,500 for one classroom package and the allowance to use within an entire school. [reviewed by Amanda Popielski, Fall 2005]
However, I believe that this curriculum package is very good for many
students. I say this because I have become a proponent of "Science as
Inquiry"/"Science as a Process" and "Relevance." The units of this
package start with Inquiry and end with Relevance. The units are the
same from Grade 9 to Grade 11:
Science as Inquiry
Physical Science
Life Science
Earth-Space Science
Science in a Personal and Social Perspective; Science and Technology
In between the Inquiry and the Relevance, students get some of the most important topics in the fields of Physical Science, Life Science, and Earth-Space Science in Grades 9 through 11. (The chemistry is taught within the Physical Science Unit.) The chances of interest in science may be higher because the student who "hates" Chemistry or Physics will not be "stuck" with it for a whole school year. Also, this jumping around within each year may be very effective in showing the connections between the fields of science. I viewed the 2 to 3 bullets for the second, third, and fourth units, and I believe they may be some of the most important topics that I would want my students to retain.
I also like the vertical movement or progression in each of the grades. The topics seem to flow one into the other.
The horizontal progression to me is effective because it stresses the importance of "Science As Inquiry" and "Science in a Personnel and Social Perspective; Science and Technology." After three years, the students are probably left with the impression that inquiry is important and may be a good skill to be used to teach yourself, and that much of what I learned in science has societal implications. [reviewed by Lou Pacchioli , Fall 2005]