National Science Teachers Association - Content and Research
The NSTA Scope, Sequence, and Coordination Project has produced several volumes to help teachers restructure their curricula to incorporate constructivism, spaced learning, and inquiry-based techniques.
Links
The NSTA Scope, Sequence, and Coordination Project has produced several volumes (I-Content and Supplement, II-Relevant Research) to help teachers restructure their curricula to incorporate constructivism, spaced learning, and inquiry-based techniques. The research volume is keyed to the content guide. (It is available at the second site above.)
Another publication, Environment, Block I, studies the patterns of change in living organisms and adaptations associated with survival. This large scale view of the environment leads to studies of such factors, as water, light, temperature and, of course, energy transformations.
The NSTA Institute encourages teachers to take classes when and where they want! Such topics as "Studying the Universe with Space Observatories and a constellation of courses in conjunction with the JASON Academy (energy, ocean science, aquatic ecology, and teaching project-based science)sound very exciting.
Annotation
The National Science Teachers Association is the key professional organization for K12 science teachers. Selection of an articulated corpus of benchmarks for science education will help eliminate some of the most pressing problems in curricula development today. Schools and districts often adopt a modularized approach (kits, projects of particular interest)which lack full K-12 articulation. Moreover, another alternative, the text-based series, may differ from school to school or district to district. In view of today's highly mobile demographics students may be exposed to a wide mix--exciting but, ultimately, confusing. Similarly, in the realm of telecommunications in which folks can jump from site to site, the absence of standards--not uniformity--will compound the confusion. Establishing a content infrastructure is a vital prerequisite for network science project development.
Policy-makers also prefer a set of standards with which to assess the effectiveness of science programs. At the same time, however, misinterpretation of the term "standards" has, in some cases, tainted its use. As always, local sensitivity should be considered.
