San Diego Unified District science, STEAM, and special education resource teachers and Program Managers from the Instructional Innovations and STEAM Innovations offices attended the Region 9 Science Community of Practice, a convening of educators in the San Diego, Orange and Imperial counties, for the first of a series of meetings to plan actions that encourage educators to question: “What kinds of talk, tasks, and tools do students need in order to fully engage in meaningful forms of science learning?”According to Ambitious Science Teaching, written by Mark Windschitl, Jessica Thompson, and Melissa Braaten:
“Ambitious teaching is supported by four sets of core practices that work together throughout every unit of study. These practices start with designing units of instruction (Planning for engagement with important science ideas); they then focus on making visible what students currently know about the science being taught (Eliciting students’ ideas); they help the teacher guide sense-making talk around investigations and other kinds of lab activities or readings (Supporting on-going changes in thinking); and finally they help the teacher scaffold students’ efforts to put everything together near the end of a unit (Pressing for evidence-based explanations).” (Source: https://ambitiousscienceteaching.org)
San Diego Unified took away helpful tools and resources that they hope to share with their science, STEAM and special education teachers in order to engage students in more meaningful discourse and get teachers excited to be more ambitious facilitators of science instruction.
“Ambition is enthusiasm with a purpose” – Frank Tyger, Editorial Cartoonist
“Ambition is enthusiasm with a purpose” – Frank Tyger, Editorial Cartoonist
