Science Made Sensible: Teaching Graduate Students to Communicate Science and Middle Schoolers to Experiment Through Shared Classroom Experiences

提案编号：0638135主要赞助人：迈克尔·盖恩斯机构：迈阿密大学标题：科学明智的：教学研究生沟通科学，和中学生实验通过共享课堂经验这个项目对研究生研究员在生态和环境学科与中学科学教师，以提高前者的沟通技巧和后者的探究为基础的教学技能。研究员和教师参加学生学习，课程开发和有效沟通的夏季研讨会。他们根据研究员的研究领域制定和实施基于探究的课程计划，以培养中学生对科学的兴趣。《科学理性》解决了三个问题。首先，研究生课程无法让未来的科学家做好清晰沟通的准备。在这个项目中，中学是这种培训的场所。第二，教师的科学知识限制了他们教什么和如何教。与研究生合作，教师学会在课堂上纳入基于研究的，跨学科的和定量的活动。第三，学生的成绩和对科学的兴趣在中学期间开始稳步下降。由研究生研究员和教师团队塑造的实践研究经验使中学生对科学感兴趣。需要对科学家的专业培训进行结构性改革，以扩大他们的职业选择范围。该计划装备研究生研究员的职业生涯，需要有能力有效地沟通复杂的主题，以不同的观众。

PROPOSAL #: 0638135PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATOR: Michael GainesINSTITUTION: University of MiamiTITLE: Science Made Sensible: Teaching graduate students to communicate science, and middle schoolers to experiment through shared classroom experiences This project pairs graduate student fellows in ecological and environmental disciplines with middle school science teachers to improve the communication skills of the former and the inquiry-based teaching skills of the latter. Fellows and teachers attend summer workshops on student learning, curriculum development, and effective communication. They develop and implement inquiry-based lesson plans built upon the fellows' research areas in order to foster middle school student interest in science. Science Made Sensible addresses three problems. First, graduate programs fail to prepare future scientists to communicate clearly. In this program, middle school serves as a venue for such training. Second, teachers' knowledge of science constrains what and how they teach. Partnering with graduate fellows, teachers learn to incorporate research-based, interdisciplinary and quantitative activities in the classroom. Third, student achievement and interest in science begins a steady decline during middle school. Hands-on research experiences shaped by graduate-fellow-and-teacher teams keep middle school students interested in science. Structural change in the professional training of scientists is needed to expand their array of career choices. This program equips graduate fellows for careers that require an ability to communicate complex subject matter effectively to diverse audiences.