Project 2061 Staff Receive Distinguished Article Award
For immediate release
Tuesday, 25 March 2003
March 25 2003—At its annual
meeting in Philadelphia today, the National Association for
Research in Science Teaching (NARST) presented two Project
2061 staff members with NARST’s 2003 Distinguished Paper
Award. Project 2061 is a long-term initiative of the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) dedicated
to reforming science and mathematics education.
Entitled “How Well Do Middle
School Science Programs Measure Up? Findings from Project
2061’s Curriculum Review” the article describes
in depth how Project 2061 conducted its landmark study of
middle school science textbooks to evaluate how likely they
are to support the teaching and learning of key science ideas. The
evaluators found that the majority of the texts fall short
in presenting the material effectively. Authored by Sofia
Kesidou, a program director with Project 2061, and Jo Ellen
Roseman, the director of Project 2061 and principal investigator
for the study, the paper was published in the volume 39, number
6 issue of the Journal of Research in Science Teaching (JRST),
the leading international journal for science educators.
The
award has been given to the best JRST article published each
year since 1974. All articles published by JRST are considered,
but the 20 NARST members on the Awards Committee narrowed
the field to 10 articles in the final round. Each article
was judged on seven criteria: significance of the problem
or issue, presentation of background information, adequacy
of its approach to the problem, interpretation of conclusions,
potential impact of the article, uniqueness and originality,
and overall conduct and reporting of the research.
The judges’ comments reflect
the importance of the subject matter and the value of the
article’s contribution to the field. One judge declared
it: “A solid and much needed study” while another
wrote: “It offers an excellent instance of testing assumptions
about textbooks and programmes through a careful study focusing
on learning goals (rather than contents) and using research
based criteria, which constitutes an advance on previous studies
on similar subjects. The interpretation of data is careful
and reflective, always taking into account alternative explanations.”
Continuing its work on curriculum
materials, Project 2061 has teamed up with three major research
universities to form the Center for Curriculum Materials in
Science, a program which trains graduate students and postdoctoral
students in research on and design of effective curriculum
materials. The Center will also provide training to education
students and current teachers—as well as serving as
a forum where education researchers can share their work on
the role of curriculum materials in teaching and learning
science. The results of Project 2061’s science and mathematics
textbook evaluations are available online at www.Project2061.org.
# # #
Founded in 1848, the American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has worked to advance
science for human well-being through its projects, programs,
and publications, in the areas of science policy, science
education and international scientific cooperation. AAAS and
its journal, Science, report nearly 140,000 individual and
institutional subscribers, plus 272 affiliated organizations
in more than 130 countries, serving a total of 10 million
individuals. Thus, AAAS is the world's largest general federation
of scientists. Science is an editorially independent, multidisciplinary,
peer-reviewed weekly that ranks among the world's most prestigious
scientific journals. AAAS administers EurekAlert! http://www.eurekalert.org, the online
news service, featuring the latest discoveries in science
and technology.
Since 1985, AAAS's Project 2061
has worked to reform K-12 education so that all high-school
graduates are science literate—that is, prepared to
live interesting, responsible, and productive lives in a world
increasingly shaped by science and technology. The project
is creating a coordinated set of tools and services—books,
CD-ROMs, online resources, and professional development workshops—that
educators, parents and families, and community leaders can
use to make meaningful and lasting improvements in teaching
and learning for all students.
# # #
Contact
Information:
Mary
Koppal
(202) 326-6643
Monica Amarelo
(202) 326-6431
mamarelo@aaas.org
Read
the article:
How
Well Do Middle
School Science
Programs Measure
Up? Findings
from Project
2061’s
Curriculum
Review
