Unpack Everything: Science Education Reform in the Real World

To wrap up 2024, Sam and Dan share a bit about what's been going on lately personally and professionally. We'll be back to sharing our regular conversations with science education folks in the new year! In case you'd like to jump around, here's a general outline of the ground covered: 00:48 - Dan shares about his newborn baby and reflections on becoming a parent 13:27 - Sam shares about what’s hap...

This week, Dan and Sam unpack the Franklin Standards. These standards have been developed by the National Association of Scholars and Freedom in Education as an alternative to the NGSS. Unfortunately, they are on the road to adoption in at least one state. As we dug in, we found that these standards have very little to do with what we know science to be and show evidence of being politically motiv...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by elementary school teacher, Myra Lam, to talk about teaching science with attention to language needs. She discusses the strategies she uses in her classroom that have supported her multilingual students. Resources: Why you should stop pre-teaching science vocabulary and focus on students developing conceptual meaning first (STEM Teaching Tool #66) Science in th...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Dr. Enrique (Henry) Suarez to talk about language and the role it plays in science sensemaking. He discusses translanguaging and how it describes the process multilingual students undergo as they engage and interact with the world. He also shares some helpful steps we can take to better support students in this work. Resources: @SciEdHenry on Twitter Pedagogy o...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Nina Hike, a Chicago Public Schools teacher who teaches with social justice science issues like we heard about in Transformative Science Teaching . She gives a lot of context and depth to what this can look like in the classroom. Resources: @ninahike06 on Twitter Pushing Praxis - Nina's podcast!! Near-Space Science: A Ballooning Project to Engage Students with...

Sam and Dan are back with Season 3! This week, we are joined by the author of Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability , Dr. Daniel Morales-Doyle!! After our summer book club, we were so excited for the chance to chat with the author about the book and to unpack more about why we should teach with social justice science issues. Resources: @dmoralesdoyle on Twitter...

Season 3 of Unpack Everything: Science Education Reform in the Real World is coming soon! Join us this season as we unpack what it means for a classroom to be student-centered and student-driven. Follow along and send us the questions YOU have about science education! @SciEdPod on Instagram and Twitter unpackeverythingpod@gmail.com Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley released under CC...

Our summer book club book is Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability by Daniel Morales-Doyle!! Dr. Morales-Doyle and Harvard Education Press have kindly provided us with a discount code. When buying directly from Harvard Education Press , enter promo code TRSC24 at checkout to receive 20% off your book order. Resources: Fund for Teachers Let's keep the conver...

Our summer book club book is Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability by Daniel Morales-Doyle!! Dr. Morales-Doyle and Harvard Education Press have kindly provided us with a discount code. When buying directly from Harvard Education Press , enter the promo code TRSC24 at checkout to receive 20% off your book order. We will discuss Chapters 4 through 6 on July 27. L...

Our summer book club book is Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability by Daniel Morales-Doyle!! Dr. Morales-Doyle and Harvard Education Press have kindly provided us with a discount code. When buying directly from Harvard Education Press , enter the promo code TRSC24 at checkout to receive 20% off your book order. We will discuss Chapters 2 and 3 on July 13 and Ch...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Will Baur to talk about scaling up science education reform at the ground level. Will shares what it's like working on various curriculum and professional development projects as a teacher and in support of other teachers in his state. Resources: @Pearwilliambaur on Twitter OpenSciEd Curriculum Materials - The specific OpenSciEd units Will refers to can be...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Dr. Tiffany Neill to talk about scaling up science education reform at the state level. Tiffany gives us a glimpse into the work she did at the Oklahoma State Department of Education to inform and implement policy related to updating state science standards and supporting districts in the adoption of high-quality instructional materials. Resources: @tiffanyneil...

Surprise! We ended up talking quite a bit about AI with John Bartucz at the end of last week's interview. If you're interested in how AI can be used productively in education, you can listen to the rest of our conversation here. Follow along and send us the questions YOU have about science education! @SciEdPod on Instagram and Twitter unpackeverythingpod@gmail.com Our music is 'Rainbow...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by John Bartucz to talk about building equitable computer science learning environments. We discuss what the "ideal equitable classroom" might look like, and John shares the 3-step routine he uses in his classroom to gradually give students freedom, flexibility, and ownership over their learning. John also shares why he thinks it's important for stud...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Dr. Stefanie Marshall to talk about what equity could look like in the STEM education system. We consider the American education system across multiple levels -- federal, state, organizational, and school -- to identify barriers that prevent equitable changes from being made that would impact the experiences of students in classrooms. Stefanie also shares some...

We are planning a summer book club!! What book should we read together and talk about on the podcast? Vote here! Teaching Climate Change: Fostering Understanding, Resilience, and a Commitment to Justice by Mark Windschitl Teaching Toward Rightful Presence in Middle School STEM by Edna Tan and Angela Calabrese Barton Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability by Dani...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by fourth grade teacher, Patrick Conley. Patrick shares some of his experiences teaching science at the elementary school level and provides a look at the PeBLES2 project, Place-Based Learning for Elementary Science at Scale, from inside his classroom. (Check out our previous episode with Dr. Kate Cook Whitt to hear more about the research behind this project.) He...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Dr. Kate Cook Whitt to talk about 3D science learning for elementary students. Kate gives us an overview of the PeBLES2 project, Place-Based Learning for Elementary Science at Scale. In this National Science Foundation funded project, the PeBLES2 team designed science instructional materials and professional learning to support elementary teachers in making loc...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Colleen LaMotte to talk about using 3D assessments in the classroom. Colleen shares how her thinking about assessment has shifted over the years -- from assessment OF learning to assessment FOR learning and ultimately to assessment AS learning . She gives us an in-depth look at the various formative and summative assessment opportunities she uses throughout the...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Dr. Bill Penuel to talk about three-dimensional assessment. Bill shares how the Framework and NGSS prime us to do assessment differently than we have done in the past. He also walks us through the process of developing a 3D assessment task and provides examples of what formative and summative 3D assessments might look like in the classroom. He gives us a peek i...

Season 2 of Unpack Everything: Science Education Reform in the Real World is coming soon!! Our first set of episodes focused on unpacking the three dimensions called out in the NGSS and Framework for K-12 Science Education. Through conversations with our guests, we’ve developed a shared understanding of "the basics" -- what science and engineering practices, crosscutting concepts, and di...

In today's episode, Dan and Sam reflect on all they've heard over the past few months while discussing the three dimensions with classroom teachers, researchers, and curriculum developers. Resources: Public Goods, Private Goods: The American Struggle Over Educational Goals Follow along and send us the questions YOU have about science education! @SciEdPod on Instagram and Twitter unpackever...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Dr. Joy Barnes-Johnson to talk about disciplinary core ideas. Joy shares how she teaches the content found in the DCIs while prioritizing student exploration, play, and joy in the classroom. Resources: Dr. Joy Barnes-Johnson's website Check out Joy's dissertation: Efficacy-Related Beliefs and Practices about Equitable Science Teaching: A Case Study in a...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Dr. Zoë Buck Bracey to talk about the third dimension of the NGSS - disciplinary core ideas. Zoë shares some background about how the DCIs were chosen and addresses some of the common criticisms of the NGSS, such as "a lot of what I used to teach has been left out." She also walks us through several examples of how the OpenSciEd High School team has u...

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Rabi Whitaker to talk about the practical aspects of using the crosscutting concepts in the classroom. Rabi shares resources that she has used in her own pedagogical journey with the crosscutting concepts and gives us so many tangible examples of how she uses the crosscutting concepts in her planning, instruction, and assessment. Resources: NGSS Crosscutting Co...