IQWST - Investigating and Questioning the World through Science and Technology - is an NSF-funded project which aims to develop the next generation of inquiry-based science curricula for middle schools. The curriculum will include 12 units, 4 in each year, 3 in each of the following disciplines: physics, chemistry, life science, and earth science. The project brings together educators, scientists, psychologists, and literacy experts from Michigan State University, the University of Michigan, Northwestern University, University of Illinois at Campaign-Urbana, Teachers College at Columbia University, and Project 2061 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
MoDeLS - Modeling Designs for Learning Science - is an NSF-funded project which aims to develop a learning progression for scientific modeling, explore its implementation in elementary and middle school, examine students' developing knowledge and practices, and investigate how to support teacher learning about modeling, so they can be more effective in teaching this practice. The project brings together researchers from Northwestern University, the University of Michigan, Weizmann Institute of Science, Michigan State University, University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana, and Project 2061 at the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
CMLeS - Continuing Motivation to Learn Science - Multiple studies have documented that student motivation and goal orientation towards mastering science learning declines as they grow older, especially during the transition from elementary to middle school. Possible reasons for this decline have been suggested, but they have not been tested nor compared to evaluate their relative influence. The CMLeS project (Continuing Motivation to Learn Science) investigates the relation between various environmental factors and the development of students' motivation and goal orientation as they progress from 5th to 8th grade. It focuses in particular on differences between traditional and democratic schools, teaching styles, peer and parent influence, and differences between in-school and after-school engagement in science learning.
ReKoTa - Representing Knowledge Trajectories - Using a knowledge-in-pieces perspective, we have developed a computer-based graphical method for representing the development of students' knowledge of concepts on a given scientific topic. This representation facilitates quick diagnosis of weaknesses and strengths in students' understanding, identification of concepts that are not taught and assessed properly, and comparison of different pedagogical approaches. It is being tested with high school chemistry majors on chemical bonding.
RAS - Readiness for Abstract Science - While young children are capable of cognitively grappling with abstract scientific concepts, according to Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, there may be hidden costs to a premature exposure to them, since this exposure can direct personal resources toward cognitive development and away from physical, emotional, and social development. In this study we investigate the scientific reasoning skills of middle and high school students that have learned in traditional or Waldorf schools to see how formally introducing students to abstract scientific concepts at different ages affects their abstract reasoning skills.
