Project "SEED": Science Education through Experiments and Demonstrations

SEED项目是东北大学赞助的一个为期33个月的项目，旨在提高中级理科教师在课堂上使用实验、演示和项目的能力。它的基础是一个根深蒂固的概念，即对基本概念的理解需要在这些项目的具体例子方面有丰富的先验经验。与来自波士顿市区和郊区学校的科学监督员和协调员组成的顾问小组合作，制定了一个全面的计划，以培训教师将演示和实验纳入他们个人的教学风格。SEED项目的主要组成部分是为期四周的暑期课程，为期两个暑期，包括研讨会、研讨会和实地经验。为期12天的工作坊将集中于演示和实验，让中学生具体体验构成所有科学基础的基本概念和物理定律。课程包括：长度和时间；面积和体积；质量和密度；压力和天气；力、功和能量；运动；地球和太阳系；元素和化合物；光学；热和温度；以及电和磁。每期讲习班将涉及各种活动，这些活动可以适应不同的教学情况和课程。参与者还将帮助建造博物馆式的展品。这些展品旨在让学生与科学愉快地互动，激发他们的兴趣和好奇心，并为他们提供一些在其他情况下可能无法获得的实践经验。从以前的暑期工作坊项目中挑选出来的两名实习生将协助参与者参加研讨会活动和博物馆项目。已与公用事业公司、私营公司和政府实验室安排特别研讨会和参观，目的是将课程材料与日常工业和科学实践联系起来。此外，还将举办研讨会并参观东北大学的研究实验室。在暑期计划之前，将与参与者举行两次研讨会和实地考察，以评估他们的个人需求、兴趣和优势，以及他们可以使用的设施。暑期计划结束后，参与的教师将单独与项目工作人员会面，以制定一套在课堂上实施工作坊想法的目标。我们将举办后续研讨会和实地考察，以帮助教师达到他们的具体目标。形成性评估程序将被用来帮助教师评估他们的教学从该计划中受益的程度。NSF在该项目中的份额为326,169美元，与之相匹配的是该机构提供的206,952美元。这构成了超过63%的匹配。

Project SEED is a 33 month program sponsored by Northeastern University to enhance middle level science teachers' use of experiments, demonstrations and projects in their classes. It is based on the well-established notion that an understanding of the basic concepts requires extensive prior experience with concrete examples of these projects. Working with an advisory group of science supervisors and coordinators from both urban and suburban Boston-area schools, a comprehensive program has been developed to train teachers to incorporate demonstrations and experiments into their individual teaching styles. The principal component of Project SEED is a four-week summer program, held for two summers, which involve workshop sessions, seminars and field experiences. Twelve day-long workshop sessions will focus on demonstrations and experiments that will give middle-school students concrete experience with the basic concepts and physical laws that underlie all of science. Topics covered include: length and time; area and volume; mass and density; pressure and weather; force, work and energy; motion; earth and the solar system; elements and compounds; optics; heat and temperature; and electricity and magnetism. Each workshop session will involve a variety of activities that can be adapted to a diversity of teaching situations and curricula. Participants will also help build museum-style exhibits. These exhibits will be designed to give the students a joyful interaction with science, spark their interest and curiosity and to provide them with some hands-on experiences which may not otherwise be available. Aiding the participants in the workshop activities and the museum projects will be two teacher interns who have been selected from previous summer workshop programs. Arrangements have been made with public utilities, private corporations and government laboratories for special seminars and tours aimed at connecting curricular material to everyday industrial and scientific practice. There will also be seminars and visits to research laboratories at Northeastern University. Prior to the summer program, two seminars and site visits will be held with the participants to assess their individual needs, interests and strengths, and the facilities available to them. After the summer program, the participating teachers will meet individually with members of the Project staff to develop a set of goals for implementing workshop ideas in their classes. Follow-up seminars and site visits will be conducted to help the teachers meet their specific goals. A formative evaluation procedure will be used to help the teachers assess how much their teaching benefited from the program. The NSF share of the project is $326,169 which is being matched by $206,952 from the institution. This constitutes a match of more than 63%.