An electronic newsletter for the science education community
July/August 2006
Field Notes
Educators share how they are using Project 2061 tools
This 2061 Connections report continues a series in which
educators express their thoughts about how they are using AAAS Project
2061 reform tools to improve science and mathematics education.
Finding the Missing Link in Elkhart,
Indiana
In the initial year of my
new position as one of two Master Science Teachers for Elkhart Community
Schools in Elkhart, Indiana, my title may be “Master Science
Teacher,” but I sometimes think that the sign on my door should
read, “Caution: Master Science Teacher in Training.”
![[PHOTO] Danaé Wirth](media/wirth.jpg)
- Danaé Wirth
My work is being funded through
a Math Science Partnership (MSP) grant in which the Elkhart school
system, the non-profit science organization ETHOS (Encouraging Technology
and Hands On Science), and Purdue University have partnered to positively
influence science education reform in Northern Indiana. One of my
most challenging and fulfilling responsibilities in this assignment
is to direct a committee responsible for developing “Power Indicators”—the
essential standards taken at each grade level from the larger group
of state science standards—for our local school system.
Although I am familiar with
the science standards for Indiana, I had not looked at each grade
level in sufficient depth to know the progression of concept skills
or grade-level content, so I quickly found myself in a crash course
of “STANDARDS 101.” A senior colleague suggested I begin
with a look at national science learning goals and introduced me to
three Project 2061 publications: Designs
for Science Literacy, Benchmarks
for Science Literacy, and Science
for All Americans. These resources led me to become interested
in an additional Project 2061 publication, the Atlas
of Science Literacy.
But trying to decipher the Atlas growth-of-understanding
maps was like attempting to understand hieroglyphics! As you might
have guessed, I am of the audio/kinesthetic learning persuasion and
concept maps are not my forte.
Believing that support could
be very valuable in helping me to better understand and use the Atlas,
I went online to the Project 2061 Web site and completed an application
for a scholarship to attend an Atlas workshop.
I was surprised and delighted to be selected as a recipient for a
three-day Atlas workshop in Washington, DC, this past March.
I was eager for the chance to explore Atlas, to learn about
its features, and to see how I could apply it as a resource for my
current responsibilities as a Master Science Teacher.
In fact, the workshop proved
to be so valuable and provided so much information to think about
regarding science learning goals that it was almost overwhelming!
It was the missing link that connected the knowledge I had gained
from state and national standards, other Project 2061 publications,
and science literacy pedagogy. I had never before seen the entire
context of science literacy, which gave me more of a view of what
we’re really trying to do with science education—it was
more than just standards. I finally felt I had a comprehensive view
of K–12 science education and I resolved to develop power indicators
that were sound in content, developmentally appropriate, and progressive
enough to align with national learning goals. After several more months
of back and forth e-mails and electronic and in-person meetings of
the committee, I believe that our committee produced a strong document
that accomplished all of these goals.
Achieving a greater understanding
of how I could use the Atlas of Science Literacy and how
to make the most of other Project 2061 publications helped me to streamline
the task of developing curriculum goals and implementing programs
that foster science literacy. I am convinced that the work done by
AAAS Project 2061 is invaluable to science education reform, and speaking
for this “Master Science Teacher in Training,” my challenges
are a little easier to meet, thanks to their resources.
—Danaé Wirth
Danaé Wirth has been
with the Elkhart School System for five years, as a first grade teacher,
a cohort teacher for the Indiana Math Initiative, a Reading Recovery
teacher, and now a Master Science Teacher.
# # #
To learn more about Project
2061’s scholarship program for the "Using Atlas of
Science Literacy" workshop, visit the workshop pages on Project2061.org.
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