Description

The Arctic Paleoecology Workshop series was an opportunity for junior high and high school teachers to interact with nationally and internationally acclaimed ecologists involved in cutting-edge research at the University of Illinois. The 2017 Arctic Paleoecology Workshop, called Plants: Past, Present, and Future, included scientific presentations, discussions, and original lesson plans aimed at helping teachers incorporate ecosystem science and paleoecological concepts into their classrooms. The emphasis was on current climate change topics, ongoing research, and “real data.”

Outcomes

The Arctic Paleoecology Workshop series developed curriculum materials and provided teacher workshops for junior high and high school teachers in the summer.

The goals of this project were to

• provide an introduction to core concepts related to climate change, ecosystems, and paleoecology;
• develop a framework for engaging students in critical thinking about ecology;
• provide curriculum materials and lesson plans for teachers; and
• build bridges between educators, scientists, and students.

Partners and Funding

Dr. Barbara Hug has partnered with members of Dr. Feng Sheng Hu's lab, Dr. Katy Heath's lab and Dr. Jonathan Greenberg's lab at the University of Illinois to develop curriculum and plan workshops. Funding is provided by the National Science Foundation through Award No. PLR1418339.

Completed (June–December 2014)

Description

The Eco prototype was an online educational game designed to be incorporated into middle school science classrooms. Students enter a shared online world (think Minecraft) that features a simulated ecosystem of plants and animals. They soon learn that their actions affect the surrounding ecosystem—possibly causing permanent changes (pollution, climate change, species extinction). Within Eco, students cooperate to build a civilization, balancing the health of the environment with the progress of their society. To succeed, they must measure, model, and analyze the underlying ecosystem simulation, advocating their findings to their classmates and making decisions as a group to pass laws and complete public projects. Only through cooperation and science-based decision making can students succeed in preventing the destruction of their environment.

Collaborators and Funding

Impact on Science Education staff partnered with Strange Loop Games, a game development company in Seattle, Washington, to create a prototype of the digital game Eco. Our staff secured funding through two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) grants with the U.S. Department of Education's research arm, the Institute of Education Sciences for Phase I ($149,833, 6 months, Award No. EDIES14C0044) and Phase II ($899,871, 2 years, Award No. EDIES15C0028). Impact on Science Education staff performed testing and research, provided science and education content expertise, and assisted in designing the prototype. Since the beginning of Phase II of the project, Strange Loop Games has been developing the game independently.

Description

The Ecosystem Ecology Workshop: Insights into Climate Change is an opportunity for junior high and high school teachers to interact with nationally and internationally acclaimed ecologists involved in cutting-edge research at the University of Illinois. The workshop includes scientific presentations, discussions, and original lesson plans all aimed at helping teachers incorporate ecosystem science and paleoecological concepts into their classrooms. The emphasis is on current climate change topics, ongoing research, and “real data.” The goals of this project are to provide an introduction to core concepts related to climate change, ecosystems, and paleoecology; develop a framework for engaging students in critical thinking about ecology; provide dynamic tools and lesson plans for teachers; and build bridges between educators, scientists, and students.

Partners and Funding

Education experts at Impact on Science Education partnered with members of Dr. Feng Sheng Hu's lab in ecosystem ecology and paleoecology to create the curriculum materials and teacher workshops for the Ecosystem Ecology Workshops. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation through Award No. DEB0816610.

Status: Completed (January 2012–August 2013)

Description

In the summers of 2012 and 2013, FIND Orphy provided a range of informal science education opportunities for children, parents, schools, and interested community members. Weekend science activities were hosted throughout the year, which culminated a one-week summer camp for elementary students at the Orpheum. "Orphy," the Orpheum's mascot, served as a teaching mechanism to help young museum visitors relate to the project.

Partners and Funding

The FIND Orphy collaborative outreach program between Project NEURON and the  Orpheum Children’s Science Museum in Champaign, Illinois, was made possible with funding through the University of Illinois Office of Public Engagement.

Description

Science teachers are tasked with inspiring and educating the next generation of researchers. To do so, they need access to curricula that reflect current scientific understanding and training to expand their own knowledge. This is especially important for topics such as genomic biology, in which the boundaries of knowledge are advancing rapidly.

Attendees of the Genomics for™ Teachers workshop series engaged in and critiqued hands-on curriculum activities related to genomics, explored and discussed the Next Generation Science Standards, heard presentations from University of Illinois faculty on the societal impacts of genomic biology, and received guidance and peer feedback on independent curriculum development projects.

Partners and Funding

Genomics for™ Teachers was supported by the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology and Project NEURON at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Description

Neuroscience Day brought two days of neuroscience activities to middle and high school students in South Sioux City, Nebraska, and Sinte Gleska University in Mission, South Dakota. Seven schools participated in the Neuroscience Day events, providing over 200 students and nearly 20 teachers with an opportunity to learn about neuroscience and interact with students, scientists, educators, and medical professionals.

Partners and Funding

Neuroscience Day was made possible by a collaboration between two National Institutes of Health Science Education Partnership Award (NIH-SEPA) programs: Project NEURON and Building Bridges. The "Building Bridges: Health Science Education in Native American Communities" project is a partnership between the University of Nebraska Medical Center's Munroe-Meyer Institute (UNMC) and the Great Plains Area Tribal Chairmen’s Health Board (GPTCHB) to to encourage connections between biomedical scientists, science educators, and community leaders that improve K-12 student and public understanding of the health sciences (Award No. 1 R25 RR032178-01).

Completed: 2016–2023

Description

PAGES (Progressing through the Ages: Global change, Evolution, and Societal well-being) was an ambitious Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)-aligned curriculum development and K–12 teacher education program. The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) require K–12 science teachers to teach ecology, evolution, and climate change topics, where common misconceptions exist among teachers and the general public. This project confronted these challenges by showing the strong links between ecology, evolution, and climate change topics and human health and societal well-being.

Outcomes

PAGES developed six curriculum units that developed ideas across elementary, middle, and high school grades.

Partners and Funding

This project was supported by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences and the National Institutes of Health under Award Number R25GMR129196. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.

Status: Ongoing (2019– 

Description

Browse over 200 scientific phenomena that are ready to use in the classroom. Filter by content area or a specific Disciplinary Core Idea (DCI). Each phenomenon has a document that contains a description, phenomenon-driven questions, and resources for exploring the phenomenon.

Description

Project MICROBE creates free curriculum materials and teacher workshops for middle and high school science teachers to introduce microbes into their classrooms. The curriculum is designed to meet the Next Generation Science Standards by integrating the pioneering work of past and present microbiologists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Partners and Funding

Project MICROBE came out of Project NEURON and is made possible through the collaboration with Dr. Rachel Whitaker and members of her lab, with funding provided by the National Science Foundation, Award No. DEB0816885.

Description

Project NEURON (Novel Education for Understanding Research On Neuroscience) brought together scientists, science educators, teachers and students. They developed and disseminated curriculum materials that connect frontier science with national and state science standards. Project NEURON to linked NIH-funded neuroscience research with educational research that examines how teachers and students learn. Project NEURON also helped teachers integrate the newly developed materials into existing state curriculum frameworks. The goals of Project NEURON were to develop and disseminate curriculum modules for use in secondary science classrooms, improve instructional practices of secondary science teachers, and improve student engagement and learning of key science concepts. In addition to developing free curriculum modules, the project created an ongoing series of professional development opportunities for teachers and graduate students. It also provided a dissemination mechanism for the modules: a website, presentations at science and science education conferences, and article submissions to peer-reviewed journals.

Outcomes

Over the course of seven years, Project NEURON developed a plethora of resources and opportunities: nine free curriculum units for high school biology teachers; various educational videos, games, and simulations; teacher workshops at local and national conferences; and professional and scientific research articles. In addition, Project NEURON curriculum materials were also adapted and extended in several other Impact on Science Education projects: BrainCASE: The Golden Hour, Neuroscience Day, FIND Orphy, and Project Microbe.

Partners and Funding

Project NEURON was based at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The project was awarded funding through the Science Education Partnership Award of the National Institute of Health, Award Nos. R25RR024251 and R25OD011144.

Description

The Workshop in Evolutionary Biology ("Developing Tools to Teach Evolution and Dispel Common Misconceptions") was created to help science educators teach evolution. Teachers learn about what evolution is and what it is not, engage in hands-on exercises, receive curriculum materials and activities for their classrooms, and read and discuss Jerry Coyne's book, Why Evolution is True. Attendees participate in seminars about research on evolution by evolutionary biologists and tour research labs on the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign campus.

Partners and Funding

This workshop is made possible through a collaboration with members of Impact on Science Education and Dr. Becky Fuller and members of her lab. Funding and support is provided by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign School of Integrative Biology, Department of Animal Biology, The Institute for Genomic Biology, and the National Science Foundation, Award Nos. DEB0953716 and IOS1354934.