An electronic newsletter for the science education
community
March/April
2005
Supporting Goals-Based
Learning with STEM Outreach
How to bolster outreach efforts aimed at students in
the elementary grades is the subject of a recent AAAS
Project 2061 article in the Journal of STEM Education (JSTEM).
In “Supporting Goals-Based Learning with STEM Outreach,” program
director Sofia Kesidou and communications director Mary
Koppal draw on Project 2061’s standards-based research
and the available research on teaching and learning to
recommend strategies and resources that can help members
of the scientific community develop outreach activities
and materials that are more relevant and effective.
Kesidou and Koppal present three key recommendations
for enhancing content for K–6 students and for placing
outreach efforts within the broader context of education
reform in science, mathematics, and technology:
-
Align Your Outreach Efforts to Relevant Content
Standards. Alignment is not as easy as it might
seem. To be meaningful, aligned activities or
materials need to address the substance of a standard
or learning goal, not just a key word or topic. Aligned
materials also need to reflect the appropriate grade level
sophistication.
-
Pay Attention to What Students
Are Thinking. Research
has shown that even the very young have their
own ideas about almost every topic they are likely
to encounter. By being aware of these ideas
and taking them into account when planning outreach work,
developers can ask better questions of students and provide
more convincing evidence about the validity and plausibility
of a scientific explanation.
-
Take Advantage of Instructional Strategies
That Work. Specific strategies have been shown
by research to engage students with
ideas and help them to understand and retain the most
important concepts. Outreach activities and materials
can be strengthened by evaluating
them in light of such strategies.
In the complete article you can find
details about
how to apply these recommendations to outreach efforts
and examples of resources that can help.
The Kesidou and Koppal article is listed
as article 1 on the JSTEM Web
site (Vol. 5, Issues 3 & 4).
[Table of Contents]
