TEEMScience Summer '99 Institute

Objectives & Requirements

Unit Theme: Creating Contexts for Learning

Program Theme: Teacher as a Facilitator and Reflective Professional

Focus of the Summer Institute

Helping students understand ideas about the world of science through personal experience is one of the fundamental goals of science teaching in today's schools. Helping you learn how to do this is the central purpose of the TEEMScience Summer Institute, as well as the teaching internships that will take place during the Fall and Spring Semesters. The Summer Institute will engage you in a variety of experiences in science education that are experiential, inquiry oriented,and reflective.

The TEEMScience program will encourage a reflective and constructivist philosophy of teaching in which you will examineyour prior knowledge of teaching, and then explore science teaching experientially, as well as by asking thoughtful questions of reflection such as what am I doing and why? To integrate the process of reflection and construction, you willbe asked to evaluate your own work by using assessment tools such as the portfolio and learning log.

Objectives:

1. Describe about a rationale for a hands-on, minds-on, inquiry-oriented approach to science teaching. Consider questions and issues related to the nature and philosophy of science.

2. Apply the knowledge about how students learn science in terms of recent theories of learning and science education research.

3. Implement several models of teaching including the direct/interactive teaching model; inquiry models of teaching, constructivist models of teaching, and cooperative learning models.

4. Discuss about the goals and history of science education and their relationship to science teaching practice.

5. Apply various strategies such as asking questions, encouraging writing, and aiding student reading that foster thinking in the science classroom.

6. Utilize computer-mediated telecommunications to foster student collaboration and research in science.

7. Describe how to assess student learning using traditional and nontraditional methods, e.g performance assessments, writing, group problem solving, portfolios, and alternative tests.

8. Describe how to engage students in activities that focus on science, technology and society and social responsibility of science in the classroom

Institute Requirements:

There are several aspects of the course which will be required. These are as follows:

• The first requirement is that you make a list of the goals that you will work on during the summer term.
• The second is that you participate in a number of Learning Projects during class and assigned for after class.
• A third requirement is that you keep a reflective log of your experiences this term. Your log should include a reflective discussion of each class and comments related to your work during the term.
• The fourth requirement is to develop a Science Teaching Portfolio described herein.

Grading and Assessment:

Assessment of your performance in this course will be determined by a combination of methods. Your participation and products from the assignments will be evaluated by the instructors. The overall assessment of your progress as a science teacher will also include an evaluation of your portfolio and your reflective log.