Informal Science Education
In collaboration with the Museum Institute for Teaching Science (MITS), the Regional Alliance is working to build a network of informal science educators in the northeast region. The initiative was launched this past September with a two-day conference in Worcester. Attending the conference were more than 115 educators, including directors, education coordinators, and exhibit developers from aquariums, aviaries, botanical gardens, nature centers, observatories, planetariums, museums, science centers, and zoos.The conference offered several small workshop sessions that focused on topics such as program and exhibit design and evaluation and strategies for fundraising, community outreach, and partnering with schools. Greg DeFrancis, education director from the Montshire Museum of Science led "Designing Exhibits That Promote Active Thinking," in which participants developed a concept for a hands-on exhibit in the area of light and balance. The role of informal science educators in implementing standards was explored during a session with Karen Worth, senior scientist from the Education Development Center. George Hein, co-director, Program Evaluation and Research Group at Lesley College, looked at strategies and methods for assessing the impact of programs and exhibits. During "It's Not Just a Nature Walk Any More," Dot Lamson, director of environmental education for the Chewonki Foundation in Wiscasset, Maine, demonstrated how ecological concepts such as energy flow and cycles can be taught through simple outdoor hands-on experiences.
In addition to the workshop sessions, conference participants had opportunities to share their own work with colleagues during poster sessions and roundtable discussions. Most of the educators at the conference emphasized how they valued the time for networking. "For me it was inspirational...meeting others so dedicated to science and community outreach. This conference has helped me become aware of the resources available to educators...I'll probably stay in this field [environmental education] longer!" Participants also appreciated the more informal networking time, including an elegant evening reception at the New England Science Center that included a short planetarium program on the MARS Pathfinder Mission. The conference ended with participants developing next steps for forming and sustaining the network. All of the suggestions emphasized strategies for promoting collaboration and sharing resources. Immediate conference outcomes include the formation of a network steering committee and a listserv for disseminating information about informal science education. The Regional Alliance Hub is hosting the listserv. (To subscribe, see Regional Network Discussion Groups, page 3.) For more information about the Informal Science Network, contact Molly Singsen at TERC, molly_singsen@terc.edu
Equity
Seated around a conference table, several educators quietly study a graph that presents data on the increase in the number of ninth-grade students taking and passing college-preparatory science in an urban school district from 1995 to 1996. The graph shows data for African American, Asian, Latino, and Caucasian students. In the second year there is a dramatic increase in the number of African American and Latino students taking and passing the course. The educators at the table begin to discuss what they see and what it may tell them about science education and equity in the district. "Look at how many more African American and Latino students took the course in the second year, it is more than twice as many as the year before...the number of students that passed has also doubled. How come more students didn't enroll in the course the year before?" As they discuss, the group begins to develop scenerios that might explain the data. They also start asking for more data. They want to know what happened to the students that didn't pass. Did the school district change the requirements for enrollment? What would happen if all students only took the college-preparatory science course? Would more students perform at higher levels, even those who didn't pass the course?The ten-minute discussion was one small example of how data can inform and direct educational change. The example was just one of many at a two-day Data Strategies Conference sponsored by the Regional Alliance and its Equity Network.
The conference convened in September, 1997, in Lowell, Massachusetts. It brought together professional developers and technical assisance providers who are committed to working with school districts to strengthen their use of data for improving student learning results. Presenters at the conference included Russell Quaglia, director of the National Center for Student Aspirations, and Dr. Ruth Johnson, professor at California State Univesity and author of Setting Our Sights: Measuring Equity in School Change.
Participants learned about the work of the National Center for Student Aspirations at the University of Maine. The center defines student aspirations as "an individual's ability to identify and set goals for the future, while being inspired in the present to work toward those goals." The center's director believes that by addressing student aspirations, educators can change the teaching and learning environment and make a tangible difference in the lives of students. Russell Quaglia and members of the Center's staff presented several of the survey tools they use to collect data on the conditions that affect student aspirations. They discussed how they can work with schools to properly gather the data and use the results to direct change. A few case studies demonstrated the potential of this particuliar work with data to improve student aspirations and learning.
During several large and small group activities, Dr. Ruth Johnson had participants focus on their reasons for having schools use data and what it means to engage in a data user process. What do people want to accomplish? What are the major challenges to schools using and gathering data? How can data help us monitor progress, assess equity and access, and examine institutional belief systems and underlying assuptions? Her sessions brought out the complexities and difficulties of using data, but they also emphasized how data and inquiry need to direct every stage of a change process.
The conference was part of a larger effort of the Equity Network to develop a cadre of facilitators that can help schools gather and use data that includes information about student achievement, school environment, and teaching materials and practices. For more information about the Equity network, contact Bob McLaughlin, (802) 223-0463, bob_mcLaughlin@terc.edu
K - 16 Collaboration
The first issue of From the Inside, a journal on professional development school (PDS) partnerships is now available. The journal is one of the results of the 1996 John Dewey PDS Conference sponsored by the Regional Alliance and coordinated by the KŠ16 Network Steering Committee. The Regional Alliance is supporting the publication of the first two issues of the journal as part of the organization's efforts to encourage K-16 collaboration.David Leo-Nyquist, editor of From the Inside, recognized the need for a PDS journal for education practitioners. In his editorial from the first issue, he emphasizes that the publication will not be a traditional university-based research journal, but rather a journal of practitioner narratives that are honest accounts of the dilemmas and rewards of PDS partnerships. He states, "Much of the existing literature on PDSs focuses on 'outsider' academic preoccupation's with theoretical foundations and structural and organizational arrangements, sometimes to the exclusion of 'insider,' school-based perspectives. This tendency reinforces historical dichotomies between research and practice, university and school, and professor and teacher that have undermined the possibilities for collaborative work and for developing common understandings across institutional boundaries. It also minimizes the impact such literature can have on the improvement of practice by neglecting the personal and professional aspects of this important work. From the Inside will attempt to bridge these differences by exploring the rich opportunities for collaboration provided by work being done within PDS (and PDS-like) settings."
If you would like a copy of the journal, send a self-addressed 9x12 envelope stamped with 78¢ postage to the Regional Alliance at TERC. For subscription information, contact Bob McLaughlin, (802) 223-0463, bob_mclaughlin@terc.edu
If you are interested in contributing to the journal, contact David Leo-Nyquist, editor, From the Inside, Box 247, Saint Michael's College, Winooski Park, Colchester, Vermont 05439, dleo-nyquist@smcvt.edu
Regional Network Discussion Groups
The new Regional Alliance Hub (ra.terc.edu) makes it easy to subscribe to the electronic discussion groups hosted by the Alliance Regional Networks. If you do not have access to the Web, you can still subscribe to any of the discussion groups. Send an e-mail to: ra_manager@list.terc.edu Leave the subject line blank, but in the body of the message type: join listname. For example: join ra-ciaThe Alliance has several active discussion forums.