Exploring the Unknown

Author/Presenter

Amy Pallant

Sarah Pryputniewicz

Hee-Sun Lee

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2012
Short Description

This article describes The Concord Consortium's High-Adventure Science Project, which brings frontier science into the classroom, allowing students to explore questions in Earth and space science that scientists are currently investigating.

Modeling Earth's Climate

Author/Presenter

Amy Pallant

Hee-Sun Lee

Sara Pryputniewicz

Lead Organization(s)
Year
2012
Short Description

This article describes an online climate change curriculum that incorporates dynamic computer models that enable students to visualize the complex interactions related to climate change science. Students learn how adjusting variables in a dynamic model affects the entire system.

Middle School Science Teachers’ Confidence and Pedagogical Practice of New Literacies

Author/Presenter

Hui-Yin Hsu

Shiang-Kwei Wang

Lisa Runco

Year
2012
Short Description

Due to the rapid advancements of information and communication technologies (ICTs), educational researchers argue that multimodal and new literacies should become common practices in schools. As new ICTs emerge and evolve, students need the new literacies skills and practices to successfully participate fully in the civic life of a global community. Are teachers prepared to integrate ICTs in the classroom to develop students’ new literacies skills? The purpose of this study is to suggest a new literacies framework that guides ICTs integration and supports scientific inquiry, as well as investigate middle school teachers’ confidence to practice new literacies in science classrooms. The study adopted mixed-methodology design, surveyed 32 middle school science teachers’ ICTs and new literacies skills, and randomly observed 15 teachers’ new literacies practices in the classrooms. The results revealed that even though teachers have high confidence in using ICTs, the meaningful technology integration and new literacies practices were scarcely observed in their classroom practices.