INTRODUCTION

The interdisciplinary units that are found in this section of the STEEP Classroom Connections Kit are based on the findings of three major science projects developed in the 1990s: the National Science Education Standards, created by the National Research Council (NRC, 1996); Project 2061 from the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS, 1993); and the Scope and Sequence Project from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA, 1993). All of these projects identify similar lists of the most important scientific concepts, theories and attitudes that should form the core of the school science curriculum. The projects support an inquiry-based approach to learning, recognizing that students bring their own ideas to the classroom and that students construct new meaning from their prior knowledge (Loucks-Horsley, Hewson, Love, & Stiles, 1998).

In recent years, science educators have focused on the constructivist model of instruction, which is a dynamic and interactive conception of human learning, to incorporate the inquiry approach to science instruction and the recommendations of NRC, AAAS and NSTA. In the constructivist model, students reconstruct core concepts, or intellectual structures, through continuous interactions within their own selves and with their environments. Through these interactions, students redefine, reorganize, elaborate and change their initial concepts (Lantz, 1999).

The integrated units of study provided in this kit and on the CD incorporate the recommendations of the national organizations, including the constructivist approach and inquiry learning. Teams of teachers, representing the sciences, technology, mathematics, language arts and special education, developed the units during the spring and summer of 1999. The units integrate the Pennsylvania Academic Standards in mathematics and language arts with science, technology, environment and ecology in meaningful experiences and assess the standards addressed in each unit.

HOW TO USE

THIS SECTION OF THE KIT

On page four, you will find a matrix that contains the names of the integrated units created for this kit. Listed with the title is the suggested grade level(s), the standards assessed and a brief description of the unit. This information has been provided to assist teachers in selecting appropriate instructional materials for their grade level and/or content.

Three integrated units of study, representing elementary, middle and high school levels of instruction, have been included in this folder. All of the integrated units have been designed to supplement, enhance or possibly replace various components of pre-existing planned instruction. The CD contains the three units provided in the kit plus 13 additional units that span the K-12 organizational levels. There are 16 units spanning the various areas of the sciences, technology, environment and ecology.

Each unit presented is a comprehensive instructional tool, complete with student materials and scoring tools. The five sections of this document include the "Unit Overview," "Teacher’s Guide for Implementation," "Student Data and Answer Book," "Student Resource Book" and "Assessment and Evaluation Tools."  All five components are important for teachers using these materials and the pages have been numbered sequentially in each of the five sections for ease of use. The two student sections ("Student Data and Answer Book" and "Student Resource Book") are also to be used with the students.  It may be desirable to duplicate student sections with an independent numbering system. If you wish to have student sections numbered independently, download these sections from the CD and change the numbering system on your computer.  The assessment and evaluation tools are typically given to students singly as needed.

All units in this section and on the CD were developed using the 5-E Instructional Model of unit development. A description of each of the five "E's" follows:

Engagement -   An activity to establish the setting, goals and criteria for success in the unit. The engagement serves as the “hook” that creates interest in participating in the unit of study.

Exploration  -   Experiences for learning the concepts and skills utilizing a constructivist approach.

Explanation -    Activities designed to provide students with opportunities to construct meaning from the data collected and attach meaning to their observations.

Elaboration -    Application of student knowledge and skills to solve a problem and/or create products or performances as outlined in the engagement phase.

Evaluation  -     Formative assessments throughout the unit and a summative performance task at the end of the unit.

OVERVIEW OF THE CD

The CD that accompanies the STEEP Kit contains all the information found in this section of the kit, plus 13 additional integrated units, for a total of 16 units. The units on the CD span grade levels from primary through senior high school. They include many of the science, technology, environment and ecology standards integrated with the PA language arts and mathematics standards. All of the integrated units have been designed to supplement, enhance or possibly replace various components of pre-existing planned instruction in science.  It should be noted that, although the graphics were printed in black, they are in color on the CD and may be printed from the CD in color.

If teachers wish to modify any components of the units, they can download the units from the CD. Once downloaded onto the computer, teachers will be able to add, delete or change pagination as desired.

In addition, the CD provides the template used in the development of these integrated units of study. This blank template has been placed on the CD so users of the kit may create their own units electronically.

REFERENCES

Lantz, H, B. (1998). A design template and resources for developing performance units in science.

Loucks-Horsley, S., Hewson, P. W., Love, N., & Stiles, K. E. (1998). Designing professional development for teachers of science and mathematics. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin.