We seek to engage middle school science students in active learning of quantitative, literary, and scientific reasoning through a cohesive and integrated learning progression. Science education, at its best encourages life-long habits of an inquiring mind, scientific engagement, and scientific literacy. However, a majority of the public does not understand and cannot evaluate scientific knowledge, suggesting that there is a major disconnect between STEM education, quantitative reasoning, and media literacy. To address this disconnect we use a Design-Based Research approach to develop new curriculum and tools that are aimed at helping students to develop what they learn in the classroom and in hands-on science experiments into robust literacy skills across domains ranging from science to popular media. Through these efforts we explore four questions regarding how students learn science and media literacy skills: (i) What perceptions of science and media presentation of scientific knowledge do students have? (ii) How do students perceive and relate information across learning and information domains? (iii) Do learning experiences that more explicitly link these domains aid in the gaining of deeper literacy skills? (iv) Can digital tools integrated into curriculum improve assessment of student learning?
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We have ongoing collaborations with local schools in Southern Illinois to explore and develop these efforts into curricula and tools that will aid in transforming STEM education to meet the rapidly expanding needs o our students and society. These efforts have focused on (i) how climate affects human and ecological communities at local, regional, national, and global scales; (ii) how hydrological processes across such scales influence freshwater communities and local water quality for humans; and (iii) the role of citizen science in exploration, data collection, and the broad scale understanding of these processes for citizens and scientists alike. |
Collaborators on these past or ongoing projects include:
Robin Warne, PhD (SIUC Zoology)
Grant Miller, PhD (SIUC Curriculum and Instruction)
Andrey Soares, PhD (SIUC Information Systems and Applied Technologies)
Dave Ardrey (SIUC Curriculum and Instruction; Director of School Partnerships and Outreach)
Unity Point Point School Faculty and Students (http://www.up140.jacksn.k12.il.us/default.aspx)
Egyptian School District Faculty and Students (http://www.egyptianschool.com/)
Robin Warne, PhD (SIUC Zoology)
Grant Miller, PhD (SIUC Curriculum and Instruction)
Andrey Soares, PhD (SIUC Information Systems and Applied Technologies)
Dave Ardrey (SIUC Curriculum and Instruction; Director of School Partnerships and Outreach)
Unity Point Point School Faculty and Students (http://www.up140.jacksn.k12.il.us/default.aspx)
Egyptian School District Faculty and Students (http://www.egyptianschool.com/)