LIVE INTERACTIVE LEARNING @ YOUR DESKTOP Tuesday, June 16, 2009 ExploraVision's Educational Value -...

LIVE INTERACTIVE LEARNING @ YOUR DESKTOP

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

ExploraVision's Educational Value - Teacher Spotlight

Introducing today’s Presenters

Phyllis SerfatyScience Research ConsultantNorth Shore Hebrew Academy High School, Great Neck, NY

Brian ShortNational Science Teachers Association

David M. StoneUniversity Laboratory High SchoolUrbana, Illinois

Overview

1. Introducing the Competition

What is ExploraVision? Why Should teacher use

the program? Prizes offered.

2. ExploraVision & Educational Value

3. ExploraVision’s K-12 Content Standards

4. ExploraVision Teacher Spotlight

5. Resources for Teachers

Introducing the Competition


Introducing the CompetitionUse your clipart to indicate elements eligible for the

competition

Grades K-12 Public School

Private Schools

Parochial Schools

Home-schooled

U.S. Canada Teams of 2-4 Students

1. Introducing the CompetitionWhat is ExploraVision?

• Competition for all students in grades K-12. FREE to enter!

• Public, Private, Parochial & Home-Schools in U.S. and Canada

• Designed for students of all interest, skill & ability levels

• Students work in teams of 2-4 to select a technology, research

how it works and why it was invented, and then project how that

technology may change in the future.

• Each team is guided or led by a teacher and optional mentor

• Online registration option


• Grades K-3• Grades 4-6• Grades 7-9• Grades 10-12

Each entry category is judged separately


Entry Components• Abstract• Description

– Present technology– History– Future technology – 20 years– Breakthroughs– Design Process– Consequences +/-

• Communication with web page designs• Bibliography• Web Page Graphics


Everyone’s a Winner!

• Entry gifts and certificates for all students, teachers and mentors

• Honorable Mention Awards for 500 teams

• 24 Regional Winners

• 8 National Winners


• 24 RegionalWinners

• Toshiba productsfor all teammembers

• Toshiba laptop computer for teams’ schools• School banner• Local awards ceremony


National Winners• Eight teams • Four first-place student team members each

receive a $10,000 U.S. savings bond• Four second-place student team members

receive a $5,000 U.S. savings bond• All team members attend gala awards weekend

in Washington, D.C.


Washington, DC Awards Weekend• Congressional Visits• Science Showcase• Press Interviews• Gala Awards Banquet Dinner• Awards• Sightseeing


In order to win, ideas must focus on fairly complex and technologically sophisticated applications?

True False


• Winning ideas have focused on things as simple as ballpoint

pens and as complex as nanotechnology applications.

• All inventions and innovations result from creative thinking

and problem solving.

• Keep in mind that ExploraVision can be much more than a

contest; it can be a tool to ignite every student’s enthusiasm

for science.


• A competition in which students collaborate to develop a collective vision of a future technology, research background regarding the technologies they plan to incorporate, discuss technological strides required for their technology to become a reality, assess the potential positive and negative societal impacts of the technology, and develop a set of storyboards for use in presenting their technology to other individuals.


Let’s Pause for Two Questions

from the Audience

ExploraVision & Educational Value



• ExploraVision does require extra work for both teachers and students, but it is an excellent way to incorporate the National Science Education Standards into your class using existing framework, to motivate students, and to help them learn to organize and communicate what they learn.


• Building strong communication skills.

• Working in cooperative learning groups.

• Stressing science is for all students.

• Encouraging interdisciplinary learning.

2. ExploraVision & Education Value

• Allows students to explore science geared to their own interests

• Allows them to recognize, assess, and evaluate current problems

• Encourages them to use their creativity and imagination to find solutions for those problems


• Focuses on the designing of a solution to those problems

• Builds research skills by giving students an incentive to do research on the historical and current technologies that hold their interest

• Provides students with a challenge that goes beyond the textbook


Which standards do you believe closely align with ExploraVision?

Performance-based assessments of science & problem-solving abilities

Engaging students in problem-solving & critical thinking activities

Teaching students responsibility for their own learning

Building strong communication skills

Working in cooperative learning groups

Stressing science is for all students

Encouraging interdisciplinary learning


• Moving towards performance-based assessments of science and problem-solving abilities.

• Engaging students in problem determination, group problem solving, and critical thinking activities.

• Encouraging students responsibility for their own learning.


1. The importance of invention in history

2. The scientific breakthroughs required to create an invention

3. The gradual “building block” nature of scientific progress

4. How science relies on constant improvement of technological tools in order to progress

5. That all new technologies have both positive and negative impacts on our lives

The process of putting together an ExploraVision entry will help your students understand:


• Allows students across grade levels to participate in a significant science competition.

• Encourages students to “step out of the box”, collectively play with ideas, and put them together in a meaningful way.


• Encourages me to keep up with technological changes and societal impacts.

• Rejuvenates me as a teacher.


Let’s Pause for Two Questions

from the Audience

ExploraVision’s K-12 Content Standards



Teacher’s roles will vary somewhat according to the age level of the student teams.

Sponsor your students

Brainstorm

Assign roles

Facilitate

Seek assistance

Provide Encouragement

Challenge your team

Provide oversight


For elementary school:

• It pulls together many of the scienceskills and concepts taught at your gradelevel, plus provides an opportunity for both individual and collaborative work.

• Lower elementary school children are learning to observe, compare and contrast, and connect actions with results. They also frequently ask "why?" ExploraVision helps answer these questions and reinforces process skills.

• Plus, elementary-level teams have an excellent chance of winning — there are far fewer entries in the K–3 category than in any other category.


As a result of activities in grades K–4, all students should develop:

• Abilities of technological design – Identify a simple problem – Propose a solution – Implement proposed solution – Evaluate a product or design – Communicate a problem, design and solution

• Understandings about science and technology


For junior high/middle school:

• Contests are excellent motivators for students at this age — many of whom are increasingly experienced with various technologies such as computers, communications equipment, household appliances and other tools.

• ExploraVision fits very well with the recommendations of the National Science Education Standards and state frameworks at the middle-school level.

• Early adolescent students are capable of the reasoning necessary to carry out a design project. They have an increasingly greater familiarity with technology and are building the foundations of in-depth science knowledge.

• When there is authentic learning that is practical and relevant to their lives, students are motivated and have positive attitudes about school and learning. They also retain learned information longer, and this knowledge transfers to other domains


As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students shoulddevelop:

• Abilities of technological design – Identify appropriate problems for technological design – Design a solution or product – Implement a proposed design – Evaluate completed technological designs or products – Communicate the process of technological design



For high school:

– High-school level science and technology should focus not only on design solutions, but also on cost, risk, benefits, potential environmental impacts and other trade-offs. This assessment is key for success in ExploraVision.

– While ExploraVision entries at this level contain more complex information and more "professional" presentation than those created by younger students — winning requires the same kind of imagination, teamwork and creativity.


As a result of activities in grades 9–12, all students shoulddevelop:

• Abilities of technological design – Identify a problem or design an opportunity – Propose designs and choose between alternative solutions – Implement a proposed solution – Evaluate the solution and its consequences – Communicate the problem, process and solution


• Scientific inquiry is driven by the desire to understand nature; technological design is driven by the need to meet human needs and to solve human problems.

ExploraVision Teacher Spotlight



• Personal Experience


Let’s Pause for Questions from the Audience

Resources for Teachers


5. Resources for Teachers

• Visit the ExploraVision web site:

http://www.exploravision.org

– How to obtain entry materials– The entry process– Online registration and submission– Web seminar archive– Prizes, Rules and FAQ’s– Past winners– Videos of interviews from teachers and students

Thank you!

Other questions?

Please email [email protected] or call 1-800-EXPLOR-9

mailto:[email protected]

http://www.elluminate.com

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http://learningcenter.nsta.org

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National Science Teachers AssociationDr. Francis Q. Eberle, Executive Director

Zipporah Miller, Associate Executive Director Conferences and Programs

Al Byers, Assistant Executive Director e-Learning

NSTA Web SeminarsPaul Tingler, Director

Jeff Layman, Technical Coordinator

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