September: Voting and Chemistry Ideas

Eileen,

Here is some early information on our curriculum projects:

Voting and Anthony Quas:

This unit would examine the complex relationships between voting and statistics using the social studies and math curriculum for grades 6, 10, and 11.  The activity I have proposed is a class or school election where students research and design an election.  They would be using statistics and graphing and how it relates to polls, surveys, and post election results.  Once they have completed a class election on their teen topic, they would then use these skills to analyze a national issue as well.

Chemistry and Scott Mcindoe:

This unit would examine the properties of unknown chemicals and would be using the science curriculum for grades 7 and 11.  The activity I have proposed is a class is a CSI (Canada Version) type mystery where students use the properties of chemicals to identify unknown chemicals.  They would be learning lab safety and how to conduct simple chemical experiments.  They also would be graphing and discussing their results.  Once they have identified their substance they would make the connection with real world cases as well. 

I will have more information when we meet later this week.  

September: Related Topics and Suggestions

Other Topics of Interest:

I looked at the curriculum and like the fact that it is hands on and is inquiry based.  A few ideas to make it connect with both educators and students even more:

• Link informal curriculum to formal curriculum:  We are working on this. 

• Include a section for new comers (second language students)

1. Include supplemental visual dictionary of 5-10 keywords and essential components.
2. Perhaps some multicultural context and/or parts in second language for your highest second language populations in this region and/or Canada.

• Include a section linking curriculum with the regions First Nations:  This would have to be a collaborative project and would take some time to coordinate. 

• Include support for struggling readers:  Audio listening file button for students needing assistance with reading.  This is very easy to do and could initially just be someone reading the text we write. 

• Section for Schools and Students to Post Photos or Comments about Their Experiences with the Curriculum:   This is only a suggestion and probably would need to be discussed and planned in advance.

• Multimedia support:  A little video clip from the researcher and/or link from the activity to the real world of scientific research might enhance this curriculum.  For an example on of this in action check out the JASON project from Dr. Robert Ballard.  There website can be accessed here:  http://www.jason.org/public/whatis/start.aspx   They have an interesting plate tectonics curriculum for cross comparison.  

Question to Ponder:


Have science and education majors helped the project in the past?

Is there a way to involve science students and science majors interested in education in this project?

 

September: Curriculum Resources for Project

Question #2:

Retrieved from Mifflin County Schools

 

You asked me to explore the science standards for British Columbia.  I also decided to add the Victoria School District as most of the students that may benefit from this program are located within the Greater Victoria Area and the Royal BC Museum as they would be an excellent partner in these efforts and have many wonderful educational resources.  The Links to all of these sites can be found in this blog.  You can access key documents including science curriculum maps and the thematic strands for science grades K-10.  Grade 11 is unique and would need to be accessed separately.  

Information from the Victoria School District on Science:

At this stage I could not find any significant information to report.  This is probably due to key differences between the US educational system where I am from and the Canadian one.  David Blades told me that curriculum decisions tend to be made at the Provincial or Ministerial level here.  However, I believe that most secondary science teachers work on these issues in the schools the work in and in advisory committees in their respective districts where I believe we can share our work and resources with them for use by secondary students once the program is in place.  I am continuing to work on this and am planning on visiting the District office to learn more about science education efforts locally here in the Greater Victoria Area. 

Retrieved from Seaquaria Educational Resource Center

Suggestions

• We might want to find out when and where the local regional and provincial science education conferences and meetings might be taking place and go there to present your Department’s work once this program is more developed. 
•  I would be happy to go and present anything we develop and share it with educators here in British Columbia and/or possibly in Washington State (bonus international connection). 

September: Finding UVIC Researchers

What kinds of research are your colleagues doing here at UVIC? The primary resource that summarizes this best is probably this site within the Department’s own website. It can be located here:

http://seos.uvic.ca/people/index.htm#Faculty

There is another site as well:

http://seos.uvic.ca/research/index.htm

In our conversation you mentioned that you wanted to contact the researchers which I think is a fantastic plan. I might also recommend including your graduate students as well. Many of these students might be considering a career in both research and education and might be interested in volunteering or assisting the Department in its educational outreach efforts as funding for this program winds down. I would also guess that some of these students can help you with your interviews and or crafting the curriculum for schools as well. Either way, your department represents the rich diversity of people and topics that will make for an exciting educational program. I believe you mentioned this to me earlier but I can’t exactly remember. Having a few professors scheduled in advance (I recommend 3 to 4 months) will give us more time to think about the themes and topics the Department might want to consider when creating a curriculum that compliments it’s faculty.