Take advantage of the Internet, conferences, and publications to stay current. However, new people will sometimes be involved at this point, due to local decision-making policies or the need to involve other stakeholders, for example. The National Science Education Standards set broad content goals for teaching grades K-12. Attract students’ attention. Resolve any discrepant results. The more fundamental concepts you analyze using this process, the more confidence you will have in the quality of the instructional materials and their alignment with the Standards. Identification and involvement of community stakeholders. If the community was not wholly supportive of the process or outcome, begin now to involve key community stakeholders in discussions aimed at preparing for the next round of instructional materials selection. Anticipate and prepare to answer questions from school board members, other administrators, and the community. The book includes sample activities for teaching about evolution and the nature of science. Teaching Standard B—Teachers of science guide and facilitate learning, pp. Read Standard A, Science as Inquiry, referenced on the following page. who is most likely to affect the selection process and then target your outreach efforts to them. For example, a curriculum framework may indicate that sixth grade students will learn about ecosystems and biological adaptations. Most notably, Project 2061 is producing in-depth reviews based on its Bench-marks for Science Literacy (AAAS, forthcoming c). Compliance with policy is necessary to gain final administrative approval and access to funds for new instructional materials. Record what you find and where in detail on Form 2. These data should be readily available. Science content should be consistent with national, state, and local standards and benchmarks. You may want to have summary charts or figures on hand. In order to help fulfill the educational goals and objectives of the school system, the board strives to provide instructional materials that will enrich and support the curriculum and enhance student learning. Assessment criteria in this section are grounded in the Assessment Standards. Read Standard G, History and Nature of Science, referenced in the following box. Use the content expertise of the scientists on the team and consult your reference books to develop your understanding of what exactly would constitute achieving each standard. (See Figure 1 for an overview of the review process.). When sampling, you may want to have reviewers "specialize" in a particular content area or confine their attention to a small set of the standards. New York: Teachers College Press, Columbia University. Mock reviews provide the necessary practice, allowing the process outlined in this guide to be adjusted to reflect local needs and values. mixed messages about materials selection preparation of instructional materials that the evidence. (See Worksheet 2 on page 114 in the back of this chapter.). Based on feedback from you, our users, we've made some improvements that make it easier than ever to read thousands of publications on our website. Each reviewer has made independent decisions, but defending those decisions to others and listening to other opinions may strengthen the review process. Now you may want to create a flow chart of all the steps in a review to help keep reviewers oriented. Background information, materials, and step-by-step presentations are provided for each activity. For more information on planning and implementing a science program, see Designing Mathematics or Science Curriculum Programs: A Guide for Using Mathematics and Science Education Standards (NRC, 1999a) and Designs for Science Literacy (AAAS, forthcoming a). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann. Any newcomers should be provided with background information about the process so far and engage in a mock review in order to develop understanding of the review data. Materials shall support and be consistent with the system's mission, vision, and goals. d. You should develop some understanding of scientific inquiry in the Standards. Policy information. many focused on improving science and mathematics education. A. Lieberman and L. Miller, eds. If needed and feasible, make a group decision to supplement your standards with the appropriate sections of the Standards or Benchmarks. Are suggestions provided for pre- and post-investigation discussions focusing on concept development, inquiry, and the nature of science? Opportunities to develop understanding of scientific inquiry: a. discussion of both roles and limitations of skills such as organizing and interpreting data, constructing explanations; b. discussion of how science advances through legitimate skepticism; c. discussion of how scientists evaluate proposed explanations of others by examining and comparing evidence, reasoning that goes beyond the evidence, suggesting alternative explanations for the same evidence; d. opportunities for students to demonstrate these same understandings as a part of their investigations. The Review Team Summary (Form 4) will need to be extended to include more standards. (These will be very helpful in the selection process and for planning professional development if the materials are selected.) Does the teacher's guide indicate the types of support teachers will need for the instructional materials? Information about deadlines can be especially important in budget planning and for avoiding unnecessary delays. The demands of implementing the new program may leave no staff or no time to deal with ongoing evaluation and long-term planning. M.G. 32-33 and 36-37. I hope that teachers can use these principles and apply these in their own classroom practices. Does the material provide specific means (e.g., connections among activities, linkage between text and activities, building from concepts to abstract and embedded assessments) to help the teacher keep students focused on the purpose of the lesson? An anonymous survey of the materials that teachers are actually using may be necessary, since the curriculum prescribed by current policies may not be the one that has been implemented in the classroom. Do you want to take a quick tour of the OpenBook's features? In the process, you will be contacting school personnel and community members for information and opinions, as well as building awareness of the existing program and the possible need for changes. Gather student achievement data. 3 The Development of a Guide for Evaluating Instructional Materials, The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Selecting Instructional Materials: A Guide for K-12 Science, 1 The Relationship of Instructional Materials to Achieving K-12 Science Standards, 2 A Review of National Efforts to Evaluate Instructional Materials, 4 Guide to Selecting Instructional Materials. The process used to select those materials is critical to providing students and teachers with a solid foundation for achievement and successful teaching. Recruit reviewers. Later, during the selection process, decisions will be made on how best to put together a sequence of instructional materials that meet all student learning goals. This information is usually provided along with the overall scores to school administrators. Since the applicable policies and logistical arrangements are highly variable, this guide cannot address all situations. When the content of the standard is found in the materials, continue to look through the materials for how well and how often the students are engaged in learning about that content. Consult other reviewers of the same materials to determine whether this is a high priority standard, and, if so, reviewers can add it to their lists. Can you find specific references to historical contributions of scientists in the development of fundamental concepts of evolution? The following procedures for content analysis will help you examine instructional materials for fundamental concepts of evolution, science as inquiry, and the nature of science. See also "Budget Planning" in Step 1. 2. Keep the focus on standards-based student achievement information, not only to collect convincing data but also to reinforce the message that student achievement is the goal of the science program. In most localities, an oral presentation will be required — most likely to the school board. Although a curriculum cannot ensure support, it should address the need for support and provide indicators of support, such as provision of materials and equipment for laboratory investigations, budget allocations for professional development, and proclamations by the school board. stands which part of the main text of the document contains the standards to be used in the review. Read through several lessons in the student and teacher materials. Good working notes are helpful in this process. If policy will allow, consider confining the scope of the instructional material review to those areas identified as most in need of improvement. Partnership programs with local science and technology organizations can provide important information on current scientific knowledge and practices. Having just completed the selection process, you — and participants in the review and selection process — are in a position to recommend ongoing monitoring of the effects and to prepare for the next round. If you have too little time or too few reviewers to handle the number of materials that need to be reviewed, you may need to review the instructional materials by sampling. Look through both student and teacher materials. As described at the end of "Step 3: Reviewing Materials," the selection process begins with examination of a ranked list of instructional materials suitable for a specific grade and content area in the curriculum framework. Describe the contacts made with the community and school district administrators, as well as their involvement in the process and any pertinent results or findings. 2. Jump up to the previous page or down to the next one. Is there consistency between learning goals and assessment? If done by you, the review will get off to a faster start. 3. Fit the most promising instructional materials into the curriculum framework. The information collected before the review will help influence final selection decisions and provide compelling background information in support of your recommendations during the approval process. See National Science Education Standards, pp. To be both usable and defensible, the selection criteria must be few in number and embody the critical tenets of accurate science content, effective teaching strategies, and appropriate assessment techniques. Overall estimate of alignment to National Science Education Standards Teaching Standard, Worksheet 4: Analysis of Assessment Process. Identify where educational tools can be found. If extensive teacher education will be required, are sufficient resources available: release time, leadership, ongoing support, and evaluation? Criterion 1: A Coherent, Consistent, and Coordinated Framework for Science Content . . Prepare to present a case for approval. Examine several lessons in the student and teacher materials for evidence to answer the following questions. Review how your district and state will gather data on student achievement with the new materials. 155–156; and grades 9-12, p. 181. We recommend using the analysis worksheets provided at the end of this chapter. The review of instructional materials, which precedes selection, will be based on standards; that is, specific student learning goals. This summary is a bridge from the review step to the selection step. Give all presenters a common format to follow and forbid the offering or accepting of gifts (which is usually prohibited by local policy anyway). Practice by doing a mock review. For example, making and comparing model casts and molds of sea shells does not necessarily contribute to an understanding of how fossils are formed or provide important evidence of how life and environmental conditions have changed. So, try to keep the reviewers focused on the benefits to the students and to themselves. If this was not done at the end of the review, reconvene those who were involved in reviewing and selecting the materials to discuss what worked and what did not. Criterion 8: An Inclusion of Appropriate Educational Technologies. Instructional materials constitute alternative channels of communication, which a teacher can use to convey more vividly instructional information to learners. First, clip together a packet of all review forms for one piece of instructional material from one reviewer. only collect useful data, but also increase interest in the review, selection, and approval processes. Opportunities to learn should be consistent with contemporary models of learning. Evaluate the type of media suitable for use depending on such variables as the size of the audience, the resources available, and the characteristics of the learner. Use their advice to compile a broad account of local science education efforts, including a history of recent professional development in science, sources of current funding, and projects and programs in science teaching and learning that are under way or planned. Make decisions about materials needed, reviewer assignments, and time needed. Provide comfortable accommodations and a lot of positive reinforcement. The assumptions and implied goals of the review criteria should be checked against subsequent student achievement and teacher feedback. If you need to streamline the process, reviewers can review first by one common criterion agreed to be of highest priority. Continue community involvement. Up to this point, each set of materials was reviewed only against standards. ...or use these buttons to go back to the previous chapter or skip to the next one. A curriculum framework (see box) is in place that is based on standards and describes a scope and sequence for student learning. Record, reproduce, and distribute reviewer-generated definitions of criteria produced during this part of the training. Use a separate Form 5 sheet for each unit or set and be sure to identify at the top which materials you are addressing. student population. The reviewers are encouraged to make comments about the knowledge and experience of local teachers in the "Summary Judgment" and "Additional Information" sections of their reviews. Selecting Instructional Materials provides a rigorously field-tested procedure to help education decisionmakers evaluate and choose materials for the science classroom. The review process always seems too laborious and lengthy to some reviewers. Most standards documents have informative text that precedes the standards, which can provide background information, references to research, and examples of the standards in action. Instructional materials should be appropriate for the age, emotional and social development, and ability level of the students for whom the materials are selected. Go back to Form 1 and choose the next standard. The training of reviewers is an essential step. Contemporary science curricula should provide a balance among the different dimensions of science literacy, which include an understanding of scientific concepts, the ability to engage in inquiry, and a capacity to apply scientific information in making decisions.3. If so, could local schools use the materials in a developer's field test? Identify the fundamental concepts that are not developed and the variation of treatment among those that are included in the materials. Do the photographs and illustrations provide further understanding of the fundamental concepts? 4. teacher's guide presents common student misconceptions about evolution and the nature of science; suggestions are provided to access prior understandings of students; and. How many different types of materials must be managed and orchestrated during a typical chapter, unit, or teaching sequence (e.g., student text, teachers guide, transparencies, handouts, videos, software)? Are there learning activities designed to help students confront their misconceptions and encourage conceptual change? However, there are production issues that have to be considered for their educational impact on any material.