Five case studies look at public schools, including the Matthew J. Kuss Middle School, in Fall River, MA, where the school day was extended by 100 minutes per day beginning in the ’06-’07 school year. Science learning benefited from the lengthened school day, and so did the students’ performance on the science portion of the MCAS.
Supported with funding from the Noyce Foundation, the report, “The Power of More Time to Deepen Inquiry and Engagement,” lists “key successful practices” identified across the five case-study schools. It concludes, “Without fundamentally restructuring the school calendar—particularly at the elementary and middle school levels—to add more learning time and prioritizing science during that time, most American students will simply not spend enough time to become either proficient in, or excited about, science.”
Via blogs.edweek.org
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Even veteran educators are putting research into practice and testing the merits of inquiry-based approaches to learning versus lecture-style teaching. At George Washington University, for example, physics professor William Briscoe — a professor for 35 years — took an apprehensive leap into inquiry learning, using small group discussions and hands-on activities to teach his introductory physics class. He noticed that the average grade students in that class received on the first test he administered were 10% higher than those of students in his lecture courses.
With the goal of getting young students inspired by and excited about learning STEM subjects, a new project in Arizona, Engineers Serving Education, has the ambitious goal of reaching nearly 10,000 elementary and middle school students over the next year.
According to author Annie Murphy Paul (“
York Regional Academy Regional Charter School is a breeding ground for future science fair competitors. Currently serving grades K-2, the school has plans to grow to serve students through grade 12. Following an International Baccalaureate program, the school is inquiry-based, with the students guiding instruction.
Lori Smolleck, assistant professor of education, at Bucknell University, emphasizes the use of inquiry-based teaching to promote critical thinking in science education. “Teaching science as inquiry encourages students to ask their own questions and find their own answers based on evidence,” she says. “This may take a bit longer, but the rewards associated with increased student motivation and interest, as well as the resulting depth of understanding and the acquisition of sophisticated knowledge of scientific content, are well worth the extra time.”
