(Open to all grantees)
Participants share their experiences transitioning to digital curricula, explore what curricula should look like, and define how digital curricula enhance and deepen science learning.
Since the last SIG meeting, a great deal has happened relating to technology in the classroom. Most notably, the availability and promotion of e-textbooks at the K-12 grade levels have begun to dominate the e-learning landscape. An increased use of a variety of other digital tools designed to enhance learning such as educational games, banks of virtual simulations, and digital assessment features are being developed by major publishers and groups like Apple. A brief overview of the current state of educational technology will be presented.
Because of this new climate and the challenges that face us in this environment as developers of inquiry-based curriculum, a return to the original question about what curriculum should look like in the digital environment and how inquiry figures into its design seems warranted. Individuals will briefly describe their experiences and challenges in redesigning print material for the digital environment and in developing instructional materials as digital products from inception.
It may also be that this is a critical point to consider why inquiry materials have made so little impact in classrooms in the last decades and whether the move to digital could be pivotal in making a bigger impact. The SIG meeting will provide us the opportunity to share what we have been doing and what we have learned and to consider whether the move to digital instructional materials provides a greater opportunity to impact how science is taught.