Angling For A Common Curriculum
Posted on March 6th, 2011 by Mary Lord
Is America ready to join Europe and Asia in embracing a common curriculum? A bipartisan group of educators, business leaders and labor representatives thinks so. Citing the common English and math standards some 40 states have adopted, the group announced support this week for a proposal to provide specific guidelines for schools and teachers about what should be taught in each grade.
Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Angling For A Common Curriculum
Tags: Curriculum, Education Policy, Public Policy
From the “miracle fiber” Kevlar invented by Dupont chemist Stephanie Kwolek to Silly Putty, our world abounds with materials discovered by accident. In this activity from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE), students will learn some serious materials science–and hit several national science and tehcnology standards–by using everyday items to create and investigate the properties of Funny Putty.
Elementary schools are struggling to fit science lessons into a school day packed with other subjects, particularly reading and math that are tied to accountability measures. The amount of science instruction varies by school and district, but many educators say students need more hands-on lessons beginning in elementary school to help prepare them for careers in science fields.
Farewell, bulky backpacks–at least in Florida. State education officials recently rolled out a five-year proposal that calls for all students in K-12 to use only “electronic materials” delivered by Kindles, iPads and other similar technology by 2015.
eGFI has come out with packs of 16 colorful cards explaining the engineering disciplines, complete with a teacher guide with ways to use them in classrooms. We think you can come up with even more great ideas. Best one wins a $50 Amazon Gift Card. The contest is OVER, and the winner has been posted (see inside)!
The STEM Academy is a national non-profit education program designed to improve STEM literacy for students. The curriculum prepares students through comprehensive student assessment including traditional tests, project-based learning presentations, and portfolios. The Academy also offers a grant fund for high schools.
ScienceEducation.gov supports cyber-learning and open participation with lesson plans, curricula, classroom activities, homework help, and professional development information. There are more than 35,000 web pages of STEM content available.
The Illuminations website from the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics features a library of 104 online activities that help to make math come alive in the classroom or at home. It also has 560 lessons for preK-12 math educators, information on mathematics teaching standards, and hundreds of links to outside web resources.
The “Out of the Blue” Website, supported by the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve in Colorado, offers teachers k-12 lessons that can be conducted at the park or in the classroom, as well as some that are Web-based. Each activity and lesson plan is listed and correlated to Colorado State Learning Standards and cross-referenced according to grade, subject, and whether it is suitable as a pre- or post-trip classroom lesson or an on-site activity.
