Secondary Student Mastery and Achievement using Authentic Relevant Teaching

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Being “scientifically literate” is required by national and state standards. It cannot be defined as simply “remembering the scientific process.” Scientific literacy involves much more. It means that students not only understand important science concepts but also apply what they know to real life applications.

Clearly, traditional practices simply are not enough for teaching diverse student populations. Many school personnel are struggling to teach challenging science content. It is critical to use instructional practices that are effective with linguistically diverse and economically disadvantaged students. In an age of increasing expectations and mandatory accountability for diverse students, it is not enough for them to simply “do well” on state-mandated exams.

IDRA’s Science Smart! professional development provides teachers with scientifically-based strategies to teach initiative scientific concepts, critical-thinking skills, problem-solving abilities and processes. As teachers’ understanding of science and pedagogy increases, they become more able to engage young minds in the sciences. CPE credit is available.

IDRA’s Science Smart! professional development package is especially valuable because it ties in to the curricula that teachers are currently using. In addition, professional development is valuable when teachers experience the excitement of hypothesis setting, experiment and discover scientific concepts.

Benefits and Outcomes

IDRA Support
IDRA’s science training uses a variety of ways to work with school staff that can include workshop training, video conferences, demonstration lessons, pre-classroom-observations, project listserv, web casting, online discussions and reflections. IDRA provides the following support for face-to-face and online coaching and mentoring sessions:

• Implementing the scientific process proficiency in a standards-based curricula.
• Using cognitively guided instruction: Questioning techniques, teacher strategies and building the classroom environment.
• Conducted ongoing assessments of instructional efforts.
• Differentiating instruction in the science classroom.
• Developing literacy skills (writing, reading and building language in science).
• Implementing cognitively challenging standards-aligned strategies for student success in science.
• Supporting teachers through mentoring and coaching strategies.

Science Smart! Will Address Your Specific Needs
Cross-cutting themes that will be incorporated into each training session include:

• “Helping Second Language Learners Excel in Science”
• “Teaching Science Using Multicultural Books”
• “Directing Instruction to Guide and Empower Student Scientific Process Thinking”
• “Instructional Strategies to Guide Students through the Academic Text of Science”
• “Differentiating Instruction for Diverse Learning in Science”
• “Creating a Hands-On, Problem-Solving Environment to Energize Student Learning Science”
• “Exploring True Science Nature through Mathematics”
• “Stimulate Student Thinking in Science through Technology”
• “Engaging Parents to Ensure Student Success in Science”

An example of a model plan that IDRA would use with your district is in the box below

This information is also available in PDF.

• Strengthen the belief that all students can increase their achievement on state-mandated exams and that students’ understanding of science concepts and processes can be deepened to levels of increasing complexity.
• Align the conceptual strands of state standards by organizing according to student’s strengths, with special focus on English language learners.
• Value students’ experiences as a basis for strengthening their scientific competency.
• Explore scientific concepts and processes in new ways and support peer collegiality among science teachers who are experiencing success.
• Use critical-thinking skills to apply scientific concepts, problem-solving abilities and processes.
• Move from a traditional science instruction approach to a broader paradigm that makes it possible to affirm that all students really can learn science.