Science Instructional Videos Online Review Group Beginning Soon

Submitted by David Rosen on Tue, 03/04/2014 - 09:16
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Colleagues who teach science to adults, or who work with or provide professional development for them,

We are going to begin a science instructional video review project soon. You don't have to be a Science Teacher to participate, that is, not many people in our field teach science as the only thing they do. More commonly they teach ABE or HSE (GED, TASC or HiSET exam) preparation, or Transition to College classes. If you are interested in reviewing science instruction videos suitable for adults, please send me an email this week. If you work with or provide professional development for those who teach science to adults, please let them know about this opportunity, and ask them to email me. (If they are not already members, they will have to join LINCS to participate.) The project will not entail a lot of work. Participants will be expected to review two-five (generally short) science instruction videos, using a very quick and easy-to-use online review form. They may also participate in our LINCS online discussion group set up for this purpose.

Thanks,

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com

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Science teaching colleagues, program administrators and professional development staff,

If you have experience teaching science, please read the announcement below. If you work with teachers who have interest and experience in teaching science, please share the announcement, and also encourage teachers to join the LINCS Science Community of Practice.

We are looking for adult education teachers with experience in teaching science to work in a private LINCS online science group to 1) create a list of free, online science instructional videos for adult and out-of-school youth learners, and 2) review and discuss some of the videos. The goal is to create reviews of videos that have engaging science content and good science instruction. The video list would be used to help adult learners, including those with little science content knowledge, and it might also include science professional development videos for teachers. We would select videos from the list, and review them using a simple online form. In the online group we also might discuss how to use science instruction videos with students.   

The project’s purpose is to enhance face-to-face science teaching with good videos to use in class, for classes that have access to a computer and multimedia projector. Many of the videos can be downloaded and saved to a portable drive, so that teachers can use them even if they don’t have Internet access in their classroom.  Students can also watch the videos on their own, outside class, from wherever they might access the web. 

This is a volunteer effort. It will not require a great deal of time for each person to review two-five videos (some of which are quite short.) Each video will be reviewed by at least two teachers. The group’s goal might be to review a total of 10-20 videos. If we get at least six people who want to do this, we’ll begin in March, 2014. 

If you want to join the project, or if you have questions, please email David at djrosen123@gmail.com. We hope from time to time to post reports here on its progress.

David J. Rosen, djrosen123@gmail.com

Susan Cowles,  skcowles@comcast.net

Comments

I am a science teacher with an adult education program in Connecticut. 

This is a great opportunity to get more involved with the curriculum available for this unique population. 

I am looking forward to contributing and having access to other educators that work in the area of adult education.

To those of you who have not yet signed on... perhaps this is a way for you to get more involved and give back to the field.

 

 

I am very interested in reviewing Science Videos.  This opportunity would be advantageous for me -- as I am currently the Science teacher for our program (HALO) in Holyoke, MA.  Please count me in!  Thank you.

Since you folks teach science in adult education settings, I would love to hear what you can say about the kind of science you teach, and how it is framed within the ABE curriculum. This would help us all to understand what kinds of resources would be helpful.

Thanks!

Julie,

I teach in an adult education program and therefore, have to teach Science for the GED 2014 test.  Being involved in the STEM OER project has helped me with a new approach to teaching Science.  I made a copy of the Science Content Topics and Subtopics from the new information about the 2014 GED test.  I then began searching for OER's that contained information from each of the Content Topic areas (Life Science, Physical Science, and Earth and Space Science).  I found five OER's which contain most of the material covered on the GED test.  I am a little short on the Earth and Space Science and will now search for more specific information regarding this Content Topic.  The five I found cover Climate Change/Electromagnetic Spectrum, Waterford's Energy Flow Through Ecosystems, Introduction to Anatomy and Physiology, Nerves, Hormones & Homeostasis, and Dominant & Recessive Traits: Curriculum:CTE Online.  There is a wealth of information in these five OER's and there is overlapping information about most of the subtopics listed for the new GED.  I have students creating mind maps to track the connections and areas they are studying.  I find that I can teach Reading Comprehension, Writing, Critical Thinking, and some Math from these Science lessons.

Deb

 

Thanks to all who have responded with such enthusiasm to this project!  It will be an exciting collaboration.  David, have you decided upon a start date for the project, and a cut-off date for those considering joining the group? 

Susan

Susan and others,

I am getting inquiries almost every day so I think the deadline for signing up will be extended to March 22nd and the project will begin the following week.

For those who haven't signed up yet, but want to, send an email to me at djrosen123@gmail.com . Although you don't have to be a full-time adult education science teacher (there aren't many of those in our field) you do have to have experience teaching adults science, and ideally are doing so now. For more information about the project, see my earlier posts.

David J. Rosen

djrosen123@gmail.com