ASPB EDUCATION FORUM

What Can We Do to Improve STEM Instruction and Learning?

The National Academies’ National Research Council (NRC) Board on Science Education hosted a conference April 9, 2008, in Washington, D.C. The meeting’s primary goal was to introduce science educators, administrators, and policy makers to the book Ready, Set, Science! Putting Research to Work in K–8 Science Classrooms (RSS), by Sarah Michaels, Andrew W. Shouse, and Heidi A. Schweingruber.

RSS is a user-friendly derivative of NRC’s technical tome Taking Science to School (TSS). RSS offers eight chapters and four appendixes filled with validated teaching techniques and sample teaching vignettes designed to clarify the four most effective strands of science instruction as outlined by the TSS project for use in all science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education:

1. Foundational Knowledge and Conceptual Change
2. Organizing Science Education Around Core Concepts
3. Making Thinking Visible: Talk and Argument
4. Making Thinking Visible: Modeling and Representation.

Carlo Parravano (Merck Institute for Science Education and NRC Board on Science Education member) began the session by stating that RSS confirms in research what we already “know” about teaching science: Inquiry-based learning that actively engages students is extremely effective. Parravano explained that the challenge is to get the RSS teaching models disseminated widely to teachers.

Heidi Schweingruber (RSS coauthor and acting director, Board on Science Education) emphasized that the RSS teaching models focus on creating testable questions, working in collaborative teams, and incorporating the four strands of science instruction. She called for a stop to “mile-wide, inch-deep” curricula and for the provision of sustained exploration.

Schweingruber pointed out that young children are more aware of scientific concepts than they get credit for. Their lack of mature language doesn’t mean they can’t think about and explore fairly sophisticated scientific experiences. She also explained that despite the book’s subtitle, RSS content is applicable to high school and undergraduate STEM curricula. Additionally, Schweingruber emphasized that RSS can support pre- and in-service teachers’ efforts to help students think aloud and talk through concepts, create quality models, and pursue inquiry-based learning.

Sarah Michaels (Clark University) delved into the practical format of RSS. She explained that the book’s blue pages are sample teaching vignettes or case studies. These vignettes are very carefully designed to teach a concept to students while also guiding teachers to organize lessons using the four strands of science education. One RSS vignette even features activities from ASPB member Paul Williams’s Fast Plants program! Additional speakers addressed these same concepts within their milieus (e.g., preservice teacher educator, state education policy adviser).

A second goal of the conference was to create a dissemination strategy for RSS. Attendees focused on methods for promoting RSS within their spheres of influence in instruction, administration, or policy. Suggested action points included the following:

1. Offer RSS as a text for teacher training programs.
2. Develop an effective two-page summary of RSS highlights. Contact state legislators and local decision makers. Focus on just a few trendsetting states (not all 50 right now).
3. Match RSS strands and vignettes with state science standards and/or adopted curricula.
4. Upgrade online access to RSS content available at the National Academies Press website (see below).
5. Disseminate information about RSS and offer specific teaching vignettes via teacher-oriented websites used to share the latest and greatest techniques, specific lessons, and materials.
6. Collaborate with other agencies on publicity, public outreach, and legislator and decision maker contact plans. Create and share a spreadsheet of everyone involved and the specialties of each.

Anyone interested in learning more about Ready, Set, Science! is encouraged to check out http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=11882. A podcast overview of RSS is available through http://media.nap.edu/podcasts/nax42readysetsc.mp3. RSS coauthors can be reached via e-mail: Sarah Michaels at smichaels@nas.edu, Andrew Shouse at ashouse@nas.edu, and Heidi Schweingruber at hschweingruber@nas.edu.