MSP Regional Meeting: NIH Resources to Support STEM Education Bruce A. Fuchs, Ph.D., Director Office of Science Education National Institutes of Health , DHHS bruce.fuchs@nih.gov http://science.education.nih.gov

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) http://www.pisa.oecd.org Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) Policy oriented-determined by needs of governments “Literacy”- capacity of 15 year old students to apply knowledge Not limited to curricular competencies- lifelong learning 49 countries- OECD members + others

Problem Solving Example

PISA 2003 Problem Solving USA

Argument: What About Our Top Students? PISA Score (95th Percentile)

Science.education.nih.gov

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NIH Curriculum Supplements Series Targets grades K-12 16 teaching units developed to date Developed in collaboration with NIH scientists Created with outside curriculum development experts (e.g., BSCS, EDC) Interactive teaching units that combine cutting- edge science from the NIH with innovative pedagogy. Over 340,000 supplements requested by educators in more than 16,700 zip codes http://science.education.nih.gov

Inquiry in Science Inquiry refers to the way scientists study the natural world and propose explanations based on evidence Scientists ask questions about the world What causes earthquakes? Is the climate changing? What causes human illness? Inquiry in different fields of science is similar Rigorous reasoning Considers evidence (observations, lab experiments, etc.) Hypothesis testing Build models and/or theories that are predictive and subject to further testing Inquiry is central to the nature of science

Inquiry in Science Education Inquiry refers to a way of teaching science that incorporates aspects of the scientist’s approach Inquiry can be used to teach science content Inquiry is also a skill students should master Inquiry is not… Best learned simply by reading about it A procedure that can be memorized (e.g., “the scientific method”)

Inquiry in Other Occupations Inquiry is used in other careers–not just science Physician diagnosing illness in a patient Assembly line worker investigating production line errors Office worker using database to solve customer’s problem Businesses report that employees with problem solving and critical thinking skills are in short supply These skills are rewarded in the U.S. economy

Features of Classroom Inquiry Students engage in scientific questions Students give priority to evidence Students form explanations from evidence Student connects explanation to scientific knowledge Students evaluate their explanations in the light of alternatives Students can communicate and justify proposed explanations

Doing Science: The Process of Scientific Inquiry Inquiry in the “foreground” of lesson Discuss how scientists work Evidence Teamwork Sharing data and explanations Working with questions Scientific Testable Solve a community health problem

Challenges to Inquiry Preparing teachers Myths about inquiry Inquiry intimidating if teacher is unsure of content Professional development Supportive curricular materials Myths about inquiry All instruction should be inquiry based Students must generate their own questions Good “hands-on” curricular materials = good inquiry Inquiry is independent of subject content matter

Assessment: A Major Challenge Most state and national-level assessments do not measure inquiry skills We measure what is cheap and easy We don’t measure some things we value most Assessment should measure both content knowledge and specific inquiry skills Businesses assess these skills in prospective employees Schools need effective, inexpensive ways to assess these skills

Office of Science Education Office of Science Policy Bruce A. Fuchs, Ph.D., Director Office of Science Education National Institutes of Health , DHHS bruce.fuchs@nih.gov http://science.education.nih.gov