Resources for Science Literacy: Professional Developmentcd-ROM and Companion Paperback

By Project 2061

Ten years ago, Project 2061 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) set out to define what it means to be science literate. Project 2061 confronted this issue head on with the creation of Science for All Americans, a work that defined the knowledge, skills, and habits of mind that all citizens need to live interesting, responsible, and productive lives in a culture shaped by science and technology. Benchmarks for Science Literacy took this a step further, mapping how student understanding should progress from simple ideas intelligible to kindergartners toward the more sophisticated knowledge recommended for high school graduates.
Now, Project 2061 has turned its attention toward the educators themselves, focusing on the manner in which teachers prepare for their work in the classroom. Resources for Science Literacy, a new two-part, CD-ROM tool, offers educators the opportunity to enhance their understanding of science literacy; make sound decisions about curriculum materials, classroom instruction, and assessment; and make better use of Science for All Americans and Benchmarks for Science Literacy. At same time, it works to bypass some of the obstacles that have stymied education reform efforts in the past. Few teachers can be expected to understand all of the topics included in Science for All Americans--from the natural and social sciences, mathematics, technology, and their interconnection to the history and nature of science and technology. Experts on teacher education and professional development recognize this dilemma and how it affects the ability to adequately convey what students need to know. Resources for Science Literacy: Professional Development has been created to meet the needs of today's teachers, offering help in overcoming the difficulties of making science literacy a reality.
Resources for Science Literacy: Professional Development offers a carefully selected collection of references, workshop activities, research, analyses, and course plans that illustrate many aspects of science literacy and its application to K-12 science education. Links throughout the text allow users to search for resources relating to specific topics presented in Science for All Americans, Professional Development places a veritable storehouse of developmental tools and strategies right at the user's fingertips. For example, users can create a customized list of recommended trade books dealing with the scientific inquiry chapter of Science for All Americans, then review the specific learning goals related to that topic recommended in Benchmarks for Science Literacy and the National Science Education Standards, go on to explore the cognitive research on student learning of concepts related to scientific inquiry, and, finally, examine the college course syllabi for guidance on developing a systematic approach to learning more about the topic.
For teachers planning their own professional growth, individuals and higher education institutions involved in planning preservice and inservice education, and school districts designing staff development programs, Resources for Science Literacy: Professional Development will be an invaluable asset.

Key Features:

* Full text of Science for All Americans
* Science Trade Books
* Cognitive Research
* College Course's
* Comparisons of Benchmarks to National Standards
* Project 2061 Workshop Guide

The Resources for Science Literacy: Professional Development CD-ROM makes available for the first time the full text of Science for All Americans in an electronic format. Its other major components are:

Project 2061 Workshop Guide
Project 2061 receives frequent requests from educators for help in understanding and using Science for All Americans and Benchmarks for Science Literacy as tools to plan curriculum, instruction, and assessment. In response, it has developed workshops for a variety of purposes and audiences, including teachers, administrators, curriculum developers, and policymakers. Developed by over three dozen teachers from Project 2061 School-District Center teams and other consultants, the Workshop Guide brings together a wide array of workshop options so that educators can design their own workshops to suit specific needs, audiences, and time frames. The Guide includes detailed instructions for planning a Project 2061 workshop; essential workshop components, including recommended options for making progress toward particular goals; suggestions for evaluating audience understanding of a presentation; and sample workshop plans, agendas, handouts, transparencies, and evaluation forms. And an easy-to-use table of contents provides brief summaries of each workshop and its purpose, offering a simple way to preview and select appropriate options.

Science Trade Books
Most teachers will be quite knowledgeable about some of the topics in Science for All Americans but less familiar with others. In turn, the Science Trade Books component consists of books that range from basic introductions--some actually written with young adults in mind--to more sophisticated treatments requiring considerable background knowledge. In addition to nonfiction science books, this database includes novels, philosophical works, and collections of essays that shed light on various aspects of science literacy. Featuring more than two hundred citations, users may browse the entire collection of entries alphabetically by author or title, or by calling up books related to a particular section of Science for All Americans, while links allow users to view brief introductions to the books, notes on special characteristics of some works, bibliographic information, and reviews where available. Each title has been critically reviewed by the AAAS's Science Book and Films or a similar source and explicitly addresses content in Science for All Americans.

College Courses
College Courses provides fifteen

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0195108736
• ISBN13: 9780195108736
• Release Date: April 1997
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
• Length: 144 Pages
• Weight: 0.81 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 9.0" x 8.9"