Workshop: Science Communication for Youth Audiences
Communicating your science with youth audiences during graduate school is a powerful way to improve public science literacy and inspire the next generation of scientists. In collaboration with the BU’s Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, we are hosting a Science Communication Workshop with the following goals:
- Introduce graduate students to principles and practices behind how young people learn science (with a focus on Massachusetts) and how to incorporate social justice into science education.
- Foster a productive conversation between educators and graduate students about opportunities and challenges for bringing scientific research into classroom settings.
The workshop will consist of two parts: asynchronous materials to read/watch at your leisure, and a live event on May 10 including a debrief discussing, hosted by Wheelock’s Don DeRosa, about the materials and a panel discussion, featuring current middle and high school teachers in the region.
Click here for the pre-workshop reading/viewing materials
The following materials were curated by Wheelock’s Don DeRosa, to provide an thoughtful and practical introduction to science education, geared toward graduate students. Many, if not all, of the principles described in the following materials are relevant to any audience.
First: A vision for K12 science Education. The following brief readings and videos provide an overview of the current vision for science education both locally and nationally.
- (6 pages) A Vision for Science and Technology/Engineering Education: The Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering standards provide the framework for what science should be taught in K12 science courses across MA. The vision provides and overview of driving principles and goals that drive the vision. The MA standards are adapted from the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).
- (8:41 min.) Watch this presentation by Paul Anderson as he provides an overview of NGSS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHTIhX527jQ
- NGSS are the current standards for science education that are widely adopted and adapted throughout most of the country. (There is no nationally mandated curriculum.) The standards, informed by current understanding of how people best learn science, emphasize learning based on three dimensions: science practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. Thus, the teaching strategy associated with the implementation of these dimensions is referred to as 3 dimensional (3D) teaching and learning. It is predicated on the notion that students learn scientific ways of knowing and content by using all three dimensions as they strive to making sense of phenomena.
- (3 pages) Three-Dimensional Instruction- Using a new type of teaching in the science classroom by Joe Krajcik. This brief article by a leading developer of the NGSS will expand the ideas behind 3D learning articulated by Paul Anderson
- (Optional – 3 min.) Dive deeper by learning about the 5Es in Action, in this video created by graduate students.
- This is a widely used framework for science instruction use by many of the leading science curriculum developers. It consists of five fundamental elements that support student centered constructivist learning that is consistent with the current understanding how students learn science.
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Second: Understanding how people learn science.
- (19 pages) Scientific Inquiry and How People Learn Science. This excerpt from the National Academies of Science’s How Students Learn Science in the Classroom provides an overview of research that supports 3D teaching and learning. It is long, but includes highlighted text in yellow as a guide.
Third: Addressing social justice.
- Teaching science using socioscientific issues (SSI) integrates the constructivist, phenomenological based tenets of 3D learning in a context that addresses real issues of social justice in students’ communities. Research suggests these strategies forge student agency, identity, and knowledge in the context of science. (Optional – peruse this website for definitions and links to learn more.) The following two videos provide great local examples.
- (3 min.) Change Makers: Urban Youth Food Justice Ambassadors, based on the work by BC Professor Michael Barnett (video)
- (3 min.) Seeding the Future through Justice Driven STEM (video)
Event information
Monday, May 10, 5-6:45 pm EST
- 5:00 – 5:30 – Debrief Discussion (graduate students only)
- 5:30 – 6:45 – Welcome and Panel Discussion for Teachers and Graduate Students
Register below to receive the event link.
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