Nebraska K-12 Science Education Summit

WELCOME!

Who are we?

• K-12 teachers• University faculty

and staff• NDE• Extension Educators• ESU professional

developers

• District administrators

• NRD• NE Game & Parks• Omaha Zoo• Groundwater

Foundation• NPPD

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180+ registrants

Why this summit?

• Statewide efforts to revise NE science standards

• Increasing capacity at UNL/NU system for science education

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What is new?1. Organized around disciplinary core

explanatory ideas2. Central role of scientific practices3. Use of crosscutting concepts4. Coherence: building and applying

ideas across time5. Focus on explaining phenomena6. Standards expressed as performance

expectations

The NRC Framework and NGSS

• Blending core ideas, crosscutting concepts, and scientific and engineering practices

• To form useable understanding, knowing and doing cannot be separated

• Allows for problem-solving, decision-making, explaining real-world phenomena, and integrating new ideas

Core Ideas

Practices

Crosscutting Concepts

3 – Dimensional Learning

Possibilities through Partnership

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Revised NE science

standards

Possibilities for science education innovation

Expertise

Realized science

education innovation

3-D outcomes

(NGSS)

Event Sponsors

• IANR Science Literacy• NebraskaSCIENCE• Nebraska 4-H• Nebraska Collaborative for Food, Energy, &

Water Education• UNL Center for Science, Mathematics, and

Computer Education (CSMCE)

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7/2010 – April 2013

1/2010 - 7/2011

1990s

1990s-2009

Phase II

Phase I Phase III

Assessments

Curriculum Development

Teacher education

Instruction

Building on the Past, Preparing for the Future

Revisiting History

• Early 2000s• National Science Education Standards (NSES)• Early-career secondary science teacher• Learning to teach under ‘new paradigms’

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Early Partnership Experiences

• University of Kansas Pathfinder Science Monarch Watch

• Administrative support• Effective mentors and colleagues

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Lessons from History

• “evidence clearly supports the claim that states are moving toward the science education envisioned in the” standards (pg. 62)

• “However, states have not progressed as far with translating standards into science curriculum” (pg. 62)

Ellis, J. (2004). The influence of the National Science Education Standards on the science curriculum. In K. Hollweg and D. Hill. (Ed.), What is the influence of the National Science Education Standards? (pp. 39-63).

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Science Literacy for the 21st Century

An Institutional Initiative to Foster Science-Informed Decision-Making about Food, Energy, and Water

Cory T. Forbes, Ph.D.Associate Professor of Science Education

Coordinator, Science Literacy InitiativeDirector, NE Collaborative for Food, Energy, & Water Education

Institute of Agriculture and Natural ResourcesUniversity of Nebraska – Lincoln

IANR Science Literacy Initiative

• Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources (IANR) at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln

• Comprehensive, institutional effort to promote science literacy through applied STEM in food, agricultural, natural resources, and human (FANH) contexts

• Focus: Using FANH sciences to foster STEM learning

http://casnr.unl.edu/grow-eat-learn

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The Challenge

• By 2030, projected world population of 8.3 billion people

• Nearly 1 billion more people in 15 years

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• Will result in significant increases in demand for food (35-50%), energy (45%), and water (30%)

Food-Energy-Water Nexus• Interrelationships

between food, energy, and water

• 70% freshwater used for irrigation

• 30% global energy used in agriculture

• 7% of global energy used to move water

• Water used for energy production

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Socio-ecological systems

Addressing Nexus Challenges

• Need problem-solvers, innovators, and leaders• Food, agricultural, natural resources, and human (FANH)

sciences industries• Contexts of everyday life

• Systemic effort to prepare future generations for challenges in the Nexus

• ‘Science for all’ a long-standing goal of science education reform (AAAS; 1990 NRC, 2013; 2000; 1996)

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Critical Epistemic Questions

What do we know?[Knowledge of science concepts]

How do we know it?[Science practices, processes, and inquiry]

Why does knowing it matter? What can we do with this knowledge?

[Knowledge in use]

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Dimensions of Science LiteracyNational Research CouncilScientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts and processes required for personal decision making, participation in civic and cultural affairs, and economic productivity. It also includes specific types of abilities. (NRC, 1996, pg. 22)

Organisation for Economic Co-operation and DevelopmentScientific literacy is the capacity to use scientific knowledge, to identify questions and to draw evidence-based conclusions in order to understand and help make decisions about the natural world and the changes made to it through human activity. (OECD, 2003, pgs. 132–33)

American Association for the Advancement of ScienceScience literacy…has many facets…being familiar with the natural world and respecting its unity; being aware of some of the important ways in which mathematics, technology, and the sciences depend upon one another; understanding some of the key concepts and principles of science; having a capacity for scientific ways of thinking; knowing that science, mathematics, and technology are human enterprises, and knowing what that implies about their strengths and limitations; and being able to use scientific knowledge and ways of thinking for personal and social purposes. (AAAS, 1990, pg. xiv)

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State of Science Literacy

• Unfortunately…“evidence mounts that scientific literacy is far from what it could or should be” (NRC, 2007, pg. 20)

U.S. students underperform on standardized science assessments

PK-12 science learning environments not characterized by features of effective instruction

Science curriculum broad, fragmented, and conceptually disconnected

Lack of public understanding of science• Significant effort required to foster science literacy

globally

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Outcome:A scientifically literate society capable of making effective decisions grounded in STEM-informed analyses of complex, real-world challenges associated with food, energy, and water

IANR Science Literacy Framework

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Underlying principles:• Feeding 9 billion people• An emphasis on natural and

managed systems• Linked with standards for

STEM teaching and learning• Partnership-driven

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Institutional Commitment

• Trans-disciplinary expertise in multiple IANR units College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources Nebraska Extension Agricultural Research Division College of Education and Human Sciences

• Science Literacy faculty cluster• Contributions from IANR personnel through

teaching, research, and extension activities

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NC-FEW

• Systemic, statewide, partnership-driven effort to foster science literacy about food, energy, and water

• Objectives:1) Advance FEW education and outreach efforts2) Serve as a hub for FEW education efforts3) Enhance collaboration around FEW education and

education research in Nebraska and beyond

• Innovation hub

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K-12 Science Ed Activities

• Focus activities Curriculum development Professional development and teacher education Assessment design and program evaluation

• Core principles Contextualized in food, energy, water systems Aligned with STEM standards Involve consideration of socio-scientific issue(s)

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UnICORN

• Understanding Inheritance in CORN• 3rd-grade science curriculum unit foregrounding

corn as a ‘model’ organism• Online, computer-based population simulation

• Familiarity to students in everyday experience

• Laying the foundations for scientific understanding necessary to understand genetic engineering and biotech

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Life Science Standards

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Science Standards

Corn Life Cycle/Physiology

Develop models to identify parts and stages in an organism’s life cycle (SC5.3.2.b; SC5.3.1.b; 3-LS1-1)

Genetic Inheritance in Corn

Identify and provide evidence for variation in an organism’s inherited traits (SC5.3.2.a; 3-LS3-1)

Corn in the Environment

Describe and explain how variation in an organism’s inherited traits can influence survival and reproduction (SC5.3.4.a; 3-LS4-2; 3-LS3-2)

Research Experience for Teachers (RETs)• Multidisciplinary teams• 2 components Research immersion experience for teachers Instructional materials development

• Translating Applied STEM Research into Secondary Science (TASRs) and Water Education Leaders for Secondary Science (WELS2) Develop content knowledge Learn to use new instructional resources Research experience

• Groundwater Foundation’s Hydrogeology Challenge

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Teacher Professional Development• Masters of Applied Science, Science for Educators

specialization• 36 credit hour, online, non-thesis graduate degree

program• Focus on Earth systems science• K-12 teachers, Extension educators, informal

educators• Fully online

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Climate Education

• EZgcm (Easy Global Climate Modeling)• Partnership with NASA, Columbia University, and

LPS• NGSS – emphasis on scientific modeling• Secondary geoscience• Integrated curriculum development, teacher

professional development, piloting and testing, and implementation

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Discipline-Based Education Research• Education research and evaluation to improve

science education (NRC, 2012)

• Integration of knowledge of teaching and learning with discipline-specific science content

• PK-12 science learning environments• Develop empirical foundations for claims about

what science education programming works, how, for whom, and to extent

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Moving Forward

• Many thanks to our current partners!• Engage with us• Today’s summit provides a productive opportunity

to advance this conversation

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Social Media

#nebsciencesummit#UNLSTEMed #IANRSciLit #IANRSTEM

#NCFEW #FEWNexus

#STEMed #NSFfunded #nebsci

#NDESTEM

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Thanks

• Lindsay Augustyn, UNL Center for Science, Mathematics and Computer Education

• Erin Ingram, IANR Science Literacy

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Thank you

Cory T. ForbesAssociate Professor of Science EducationCoordinator, IANR Science Literacy InitiativeInstitute for Agriculture and Natural ResourcesUniversity of Nebraska-Lincoln523 Hardin Hall, 3310 Holdrege StreetLincoln, NE 68583-0995402.472.7844 (phone) | 402.472.2946 (fax)cory.forbes@unl.edu

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