Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

K-12 science teachers in dire need of PD

Sustained professional learning opportunities are needed to help science teachers teach new science standards, according to a new report

K-12 science teachers are often left to deal with a lack of coherent and sustained professional learning opportunities that researchers say are needed to support science teachers inside and outside of the classroom, particularly as they strive to teach new science standards.

As researchers’ and teachers’ understanding of how best to learn and teach science evolves and curricula are redesigned, many teachers are left without the experience needed to enhance the science and engineering courses they teach, according to a Jan. 20 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

This issue is particularly pronounced in elementary schools and in schools that serve a high percentage of low-income students.…Read More

K-12 science instruction poised for change

The new standards aim to prepare students to be better decision-makers about scientific and technical issues and to apply science to their daily lives.

Science teaching in at least some of the nation’s classrooms is about to undergo significant changes as states adopt a new set of K-12 science standards.

The voluntary, rigorous, and internationally benchmarked standards are designed to get students thinking like scientists, and they place new emphasis on engineering at the elementary level. That will mark a big shift for teachers who’ve never taught engineering principles before, observers say.

The new standards also call for schools to address the sensitive topic of global climate change—something that could hinder their adoption in more politically conservative states.…Read More

Next-generation science standards open for comments

The next-generation science standards are internationally benchmarked.

A second draft of the Next Generation Science Standards, which are being developed with input from 26 states, is open for public review and comment until Jan. 29.

The revised draft, released Jan. 8, continues to focus on what the National Research Council (NRC) calls its “three dimensions” of science proficiency: practices, cross-cutting concepts, and core ideas in various science disciplines.

School leaders, educators, and other stakeholders who’d like to weigh in on the second draft can read learn how to do so here. The final standards are expected to be released in March.…Read More

Kansas headed for another debate over evolution

The first draft of the multi-state standards declares that evolution and its underlying mechanisms are "key to understanding both the unity and the diversity of life on Earth."

Kansas is headed toward another debate over how evolution is taught in its public schools, with a State Board of Education member saying June 1 that science standards under development are “very problematic” because they describe the theory as a well-established, core scientific concept.

From 1999 to 2007, the state had five different sets of science standards for its schools as conservative Republicans gained and lost majorities on the board, which sets the guidelines. The debates attracted international attention—and some ridicule—before the latest standards, which reflect mainstream scientific views about evolution, were adopted five years ago.

Kansas is now among 26 states helping to draft new science standards alongside the National Research Council, with the goal of creating standard, nationwide guidelines. A first draft became public last month, and the Kansas board is scheduled to hear an update on June 12.…Read More

Tennessee bill on teaching evolution, climate change to become law

Supporters say the legislation is intended to help students think critically, but critics say evolution is established science that shouldn't be taught as a controversy.

Tennessee’s Republican governor says he will let a bill become law effective April 20 that protects teachers who allow students in their classrooms to criticize evolution and other scientific theories, such as global climate change.

Gov. Bill Haslam had said previously he would probably sign the bill. On April 10, he disclosed he would let the law take effect without his signature, saying he believes the legislation doesn’t change science standards currently taught in Tennessee’s public schools.

Tennessee was the state where the nation’s first big legal battle over evolution was fought nearly 90 years ago.…Read More