Integrating (Technology-Infused) Project-Based Inquiry Initiatives into a Middle-Grades Science Curriculum: Essentials and Challenges OR From (Technology-Infused) Project-Based Units to (T-I) Project-Based Curriculum: Challenges and Opportunities 11/12/2018

Project-Based Inquiry Learning Investigation in the context of a personally-engaging real-world challenge Early activities generate issues for investigation Students design investigations and report results, multiple resources used Results are applied to addressing the challenge Public exhibits of solutions, methodologies, what they have learned Investigation and application are often repeated until a good solution is achieved Assessments are built in Focus on processes involved in getting to solutions, not simply on solutions themselves 11/12/2018

Project challenges Explain an interesting phenomenon Solve a problem El Nino, finches dying off Solve a problem Helping students avoid catching each others’ colds Debate an important policy issue Global warming Achieve a design challenge Manage erosion in the schoolyard, design a vehicle Build a scientific model Ecology of a river Answer a “big question” How old is the universe? 11/12/2018

Learning Objectives Deep learning of content Learning of science, project, collaboration, and communication skills and practices Learning for transfer -- can use what’s learned outside the classroom to explain, predict, solve problems, analyze the ideas of others, ... 11/12/2018

Infusing Project-Based Learning with Technology Principle: Use hardware and software to make the goals of project-based learning more achievable To overcome learning difficulties To enhance activity structures and overcome classroom management, time, and other pragmatic difficulties To enhance access to phenomena 11/12/2018

Technology examples WorldWatcher for visualizing climate patterns BeGuile for access to population data Project Portfolio for keeping project records and putting together reports Model-It for system modeling SMILE scaffolds experiment design, writing up project experiences, and articulation of lessons learned 11/12/2018

Accomplishments Lots of standards-based units Lots of software -- in support of record-keeping, collaboration with each other and with scientists, model-building and simulation, designing experiments, presentation, articulation of what’s been learned, investigation in particular domains Principles of practice -- for promoting student engagement, for facilitation, for promoting student reflection, for promoting teacher learning, for infusing software, for promoting reading with understanding, for maintaining individual accountability, ... 11/12/2018

Results Students engage better and deeper; fewer discipline problems Learning of content is as good or better than comparisons (and more evenly distributed) Learning of science, project, collaboration, and communication skills and practices is really exciting 11/12/2018

From disparate units to 3 years of curriculum: Opportunities Easier to create and maintain a culture of knowledge building, inquiry, collaboration, and rigor Easier to integrate the sciences Easier to draw connections between methodologies used by different scientific disciplines Can sequence developmentally 11/12/2018

From disparate units to 3 years of curriculum: Challenges Providing coverage -- depth vs. breadth Addressing local needs while addressing national standards Energy Diversity of software Connecting the sciences Building skills across scientific disciplines Sequencing Task structures that work for different types of challenges and investigative methodologies Helping teachers assess 11/12/2018

Format Four speakers will each address a set of these issues -- 10 minutes each Discussant -- Michael Young, U. Conn. -- will challenge us to think more deeply and moderate a panel discussion -- 20 minutes Questions from the audience 11/12/2018

Four talks Joe Krajcik, Michigan -- tensions inherent in systemic use of projects in a reform curriculum -- social and systemic Paul Camp, GA Tech -- building skills across disciplines and their varying methodologies -- cognitive Danny Edelson, Northwestern -- getting to task structures that will work across units -- socio-cognitive and pragmatic Bob Sherwood, Vanderbilt -- navigating the commercial markets -- pragmatics 11/12/2018