And...The Final Two Content Area Websites!

Discovery Education for Students

Students will use this as an additional study resource along with content that is covered in the classroom.  Students will have free access to expand upon their own learning, study for assessments, and find help for projects.  Additionally, assignments can be created that will direct students to access this site and complete certain tasks.  It is a tool with multiple uses.

Popular Science

This site is the website for the well-known "Popular Science Magazine".  This site will be used to help add relevancy to scientific content covered in the classroom.  Often students want to know what connection a topic or subject has to the real-world.  This site gives real examples of various scientific subjects in action.  Students will be given assigned readings of specific articles that connect to classroom content.  Additionally, "current event" assignments will be added to allow students to explore the various articles on the site and choose a topic in which they are interested.  All of this increases students' interest and understanding of science.

Image found at www.popsci.com

Essential Question and Answer #3

STEM Literacy:  How does the incorporation of engineering concepts into science classrooms affect students' achievement?


"Most real-world problems are ill-defined, lacking required information, and not having a known correct nor best solution. School science has traditionally been built around well- defined problems, such as predicting an ideal projectile’s trajectory" (Fortus, Dershimer, & Krajcik, 2004). The results of such "science" are students who do not truly understand what it is to practice science. Students become incapable of asking the deeper, more important "how" and "why" questions. They only want to know facts to pass a test. Students become incapable of understanding the reasoning for carrying out a procedure. They just do it because the teacher told them to (which means they could not come up with their own procedure if needed). Students cannot view and organize data in a systematic manner. They just find bits and pieces of evidence that fit whatever argument they would like to make, ignore the rest, and make poor arguments about why something happens the way it does. None of this is good science.


I can recall, personally, moments while sitting in science classes thinking, "This can't be the right way to learn this stuff." For example, while talking about the motion of an object, the teacher or professor would say, "We will just treat it as though it's on a frictionless surface...". But, when is the last time we have encountered a frictionless surface?! Never! Situations like that never made sense to me. By using a design-based approach, students must wrestle with such variables, rather than ignore them.


Students will learn to "own" their learning in a design-based classroom, because the projects are created by the students. They will have a greater desire to know and understand the important information, since it allows them to make better judgements and learn the material in a manner that improves their designs. Students will also have a sense of accomplishment. However, it is noted that such curricula is difficult to create and manage. Careful planning must be done so that students are merely "playing with stuff" in the classroom, and never learning the necessary material. Students need to know how they will be assessed, and be focused in on the key components of the projects. Teachers must be willing to be more flexible, because no two designs or projects will look alike.  Students can come up with multiple solutions for one problem, yet they can all be good, valid solutions that the teacher must recognize. Time also becomes a factor.

The benefits, though, are great. We know that life's problems are "ill-defined", and require much thought in order to solve them. If students are not prepared to solve these problems, then we as educators are doing them a disservice.


Fortus, D., Dershimer, R. C., Krajcik, J. S., Marx, R. W., & Mamlok-Naaman, R. (2004). Design-based science and student learning. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 41(10), 1081-1110.

Two MORE Content Area Websites!

http://education.jlab.org/elementbalancing/index.html

During the chemistry unit, students are expected to learn and understand the Law of Conservation of Mass. The law states that "matter cannot be created or destroyed in a normal chemical or physical change." Part of understanding this concept is being able to recognize that, if one starts with a certain number of specific atoms at the beginning of reaction, then, after the reaction takes place, there should be the exact same number of those specific atoms. Students learn to represent this by writing chemical equations, in which the law must be upheld. So, students learn to "balance" the equation, assuring the same number of atoms occur on both the reactant and product side of the reaction. This also requires following some very specific rules in doing so. This website allows students to practice this concept, and build their equation balancing skills. It can be used both in the classroom, as well as at home by students.

http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/begin/cells/scale/

This is a simple site that can have a huge impact on students. It is a site that, in a way, "virtually" illustrates the size of an atom. However, it is not limited to educating students about the atom. Included in the "zoom-in", virtual illustration are many other things from life science and physical science, including cells, viruses, DNA, Proteus, amoebas, and more! Students are able to zoom in and out of the screen, comparing the sizes of all of the objects, starting with items with which they are familiar, like a coffee bean or grain of rice. In the classroom, it can be used as a demonstration in the front of the classroom, allowing students to come to the Interactive Whiteboard to move the slider, or it can be used as an activity where students can be sent in the classroom or at home. It can be used in the life science classroom to help students grasp concepts of cells and cell parts.  It can be used in the physical science classroom when discussing the atom. Other applications are certainly possible.