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Author Archives: Bill Zoellick
Science, Community, and Clams
It would be great if students had a chance to do science that matters. It would be great if students had first-hand experience with the work and concerns of their communities. It would be great if we didn’t lose so … Continue reading
NGSS as Maine’s Science Standards? It’s Not So Simple.
Many educators feel that the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) should become Maine’s science standards. There is no question that the NGSS have already had a positive impact on science instruction across Maine. But some of us who help schools and … Continue reading
Posted in Instructional Practice
Tagged Authentic Learning, science teaching, Standards
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Design of Middle and High School Citizen Science Programs
I have been invited by a National Academy of Science committee to share some of what we have learned at the Schoodic Institute in more than 10 years of designing and implementing citizen science programs in schools. The invitation was … Continue reading
Teaching Toward the Future: Adaptation and Climate Change
“I touch the future … I teach” — a quotation associated with Christa McAuliffe — captures something essential about the motivation and hope that keeps most of the teachers I know doing what they do. One of the things that … Continue reading
Posted in Professional Development, Schools and Scientists
Tagged Climate Change, science teaching, Standards
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Inquiring Into How Authentic Science Learning Works
Back in September I wrote about the different understandings of what makes “authentic science learning” authentic and therefore engaging for students. Since writing that post, my Schoodic Institute colleagues and I have started a project that involves students in forest ecology and … Continue reading
Posted in Research
Tagged Authentic Learning, Path Analysis, science teaching, Self Efficacy
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Authentic Science
“Authentic” science learning is generally considered to be a good thing that might help engage students who are otherwise not interested in science. But … what makes science education authentic?
Posted in Informal science, Schools and Scientists
Tagged Authentic Learning, science teaching, Self Efficacy
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Standards and Informal Science
Last Friday I was participating in a panel discussion about connecting informal science learning and classroom science–and the question of connecting informal science to standards came up. It’s a perfectly reasonable question. After all, teachers are expected to pay a … Continue reading
Posted in Informal science, Instructional Practice
Tagged Schools, science teaching, Standards
1 Comment
Lord Kelvin’s Hogwash
As I was reading this morning I ran across this: As the great nineteenth-century mathematical physicist Lord Kelvin famously said, “If you cannot measure it, you cannot improve it.” We need real-time data to understand our performance: are we getting … Continue reading
Self-paced, Student-Centered
Last week I joined a group of science and math teachers to talk about how the new school year was going. One of the teachers is working in a school where the administrative directive is to shift to “proficiency based” and … Continue reading
Posted in Instructional Practice, School Change
Tagged science teaching, self-paced learning, Standards
2 Comments
Schools As Watershed Systems
How do we measure progress as we improve schools? In a blog post this past week week Brian Drayton noted that while you can look at the improvement in performance of a business by looking at its bottom line, this doesn’t … Continue reading
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