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Education Dive
Scaling back on standardized assessments makes way for creative instruction
Shawna De La Rosa
June 30, 2020
Dive Brief:
In the absence of preparations for the Massachusetts Comprehensive
Assessment System, one district's science instructors encouraged
students to explore science in and around their homes, watch for
science in the news and perform their own experiments, District
Administration reports.
Georgetown Public Schools Superintendent Carol Jacobs allowed teachers
to scale back test prep, giving teachers the freedom to assign their
own science projects. For example, one teacher had her students collect
data at a creek or dig soil in their backyard to identify it.
Teachers could also focus on teaching students to connect to current
events through science, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The June 3
SpaceX launch was also an interesting science topic that gave teachers
the opportunity to discuss the issues of privatizing space exploration.
Dive Insight:
When coronavirus forced students to stay home, teachers scrambled to
convert lessons for a distance learning model. Though the transition
wasn’t easy, the challenge forced teachers and students to become
flexible and creative, as well as make mistakes.
Experts say that’s a good thing for students, as learning from mistakes
is an important part of the developmental process. Overcoming mistakes
teaches students to try things differently in order to get another
result that may work.
Trial-and-error can be further put to the test by challenging students
to get creative at home. With a little direction from teachers,
students can concoct substances like flubber (glue and borax) or even
create edible scientific recipes with healthy bacteria using yogurt and
milk. Not only do these do-it-yourself projects teach science, they
also hone math, reading and research skills.
There are also plenty of outdoor science projects students can take on
without leaving their backyards or neighborhood parks. Bottles can be
filled with natural items like different types of leaves or flowers, or
students can create bubble solutions from soap, use different wands to
test those bubbles and figure out which wands work best and why. For a
classic physics demonstration, they can also construct a catapult to
launch small objects into the air and measure how high they go.
While backyard science takes on new importance during coronavirus
closures, traditional outdoor science programs are facing challenges.
In a survey of nearly 1,000 outdoor education programs, around
two-thirds reported they may fold because so few students were able to
attend these programs last year.
By the the end of 2020, about 11 million students will have missed the
opportunity to participate in these programs. About 60% of those will
be from low-income schools and communities of color, and the
organizations will have lost about $600 million in revenue.
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