Office of Curriculum, Technology, & Assessment

Description: This three-part series focuses on gaining understanding of and promoting student development of Scientific Literacy and 21st Century Skills through the use of inquiry. Taken in succession, the modules will explain and illustrate how inquiry-based learning helps students discover the nature of science for themselves.

This course is designed to enable you to:

• To develop an understanding of scientific literacy and 21st century skills through the use of inquiry.
• To develop strategies for promoting student development of scientific literacy and 21st century skills through the use of inquiry.

3parts to this self-paced course

Each of the modules contain these components:

• Pre-Self-Assessment  
• Engagement  
• Viewing Guide and Resources
• Media
• Webfolio Report

Modules:

Module 1: Inquiry in Action Part I
Inquiry promotes the use of questioning that comes from ideas, thoughts, and curiosity about the natural world. Inquiry-based education provides a context in which students are able to utilize science processes for deeper levels of content exploration and understanding. Scientists, classroom teachers, and students will share how inquiry impacts their investigations and interactions with natural phenomena.

Module 2: Inquiry in Action Part II
The second module of the series will continue to share examples of how inquiry-based education provides a contemporary, relevant, and authentic learning environment for todayıs 21st Century learner.

Module 3: Strategies for Implementation
This module will share useful and practical tools to transfer the examples shared in Modules 1 and 2 into the science classroom that merges standards-based curriculum and the natural curiosity of students.

NSDC Standards for Staff Development

Context Standards

Staff development that improves the learning of all students:

• Organizes adults into learning communities whose goals are aligned with those of the school and district. (Learning Communities)
• Requires skillful school and district leaders who guide continuous instructional improvement. (Leadership)
• Requires resources to support adult learning and collaboration. (Resources)

Process Standards

Staff development that improves the learning of all students:

• Uses disaggregated student data to determine adult learning priorities, monitor progress, and help sustain continuous improvement. (Data-Driven)
• Uses multiple sources of information to guide improvement and demonstrate its impact. (Evaluation)
• Prepares educators to apply research to decision making. (Research-Based)
• Uses learning strategies appropriate to the intended goal. (Design)
• Applies knowledge about human learning and change. (Learning)
• Provides educators with the knowledge and skills to collaborate. (Collaboration)

Content Standards

Staff development that improves the learning of all students:

• Prepares educators to understand and appreciate all students, create safe, orderly and supportive learning environments, and hold high expectations for their academic achievement. (Equity)
• Deepens educators' content knowledge, provides them with research-based instructional strategies to assist students in meeting rigorous academic standards, and prepares them to use various types of classroom assessments appropriately. (Quality Teaching)
• Provides educators with knowledge and skills to involve families and other stakeholders appropriately. (Family Involvement)

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