FYI,
Barbara Sandall
NSTA Regional Director
Subject:
NSTA & AAAS Release Atlas
Date:
Thu, 1 Feb 2001 12:24:43 -0500
From:
"Cindy Workosky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To:
"CAGS" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Council 2000"
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
"Board 2000" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
NEW TOOL MAPPING THE GROWTH OF K?12 SCIENCE UNDERSTANDING
RELEASED BY AAASS PROJECT 2061 AND NSTA
For immediate release
January 22, 2001
Contacts:
Cindy Workosky (NSTA) 703-312-9248
Catherine Tramontana (AAAS) 202-326-7004
Taking account of student learning from grade to grade is essential,
especially in science, where key concepts, like the structure of matter,
become more complex as students progress. Unfortunately, few tools exist
to
help educators visualize and plan for the growth of student
understanding.
In a first-ever joint publishing arrangement, Project 2061 of the
American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National
Science
Teachers Association (NSTA) provide educators with an innovative tool
that
graphically depicts connections among key learning goals for students in
kindergarten through 12th grade.
Atlas of Science Literacy presents a series of strand maps that
illustrate
how student understanding of key science, mathematics, and technology
topics
builds and grows from grade to grade. Each map displays the ideas,
skills,
and the connections among them that are part of achieving literacy in a
particular topic, showing where each step along the way comes from and
where
it leads. In addition, each map is accompanied by a summary of the
relevant
research on student learning. Topics mapped include gravity, plate
tectonics, flow of matter in ecosystems, natural selection, maintaining
good
health, communication technology, and statistical reasoning.
The maps clearly show how the ideas and skills that students learn in
different grades build on and support one another, states George
Nelson,
director of Project 2061. If our high school graduates are to be
science
literate, we must reform K?12 education at every level. Atlas should be
a
valuable tool for this type of comprehensive reform, supporting
classroom
teachers as well as those developing curriculum and assessment tools.
Atlas is one of a coordinated set of tools developed by Project 2061 to
help
educators understand and use specific goals for student learning. The
nearly
50 maps in Atlas show connections among the learning goals established
in
Project 2061s publication Benchmarks for Science Literacy (1993).
Content
standards from the National Science Education Standards (National
Research
Council, 1996) drew substantially on the goals in Benchmarks and overlap
with them nearly completely. The maps also continue the work of Project
2061
s landmark document, Science for All Americans (1989), which provides a
narrative account of the concepts and skills necessary for basic adult
science literacy. Atlas complements these earlier efforts by making
explicit
the connections among learning goals that were only implied before.
Both Project 2061 and NSTA see the publishing partnership as beneficial.
Arthur Eisenkraft, president of NSTA, states, We are pleased to be able
to
work with Project 2061 because the partnership is a perfect melding of
their
strength in research and NSTAs expertise in teaching. Science educators
are
the ultimate benefactors of this partnership because it gives them a new
tool to track and plan student learning from early grades all the way
through high school and to see how the lessons in their individual
classrooms relate to the K?12 curriculum as a whole.
Atlas fits into NSTAs publishing agenda to bring quality education
materials to science educators. NSTA Press, the book publishing arm of
NSTA,
develops more than a dozen books and other educational programs each
year.
Focused on the K?12 market and specifically aimed at teachers of
science,
NSTA Press titles offer a unique blend of accurate scientific content
and
sound teaching strategies.
Development of the maps has been a painstaking process, based on more
than a
decade of study by scientists and K?12 classroom teachers. Project 2061
is
at work on additional maps that will include learning goals from
Benchmarks
for Science Literacy not included in the current volume and illustrate
more
connections to already mapped learning goals.
Educators who have field-tested Atlas express resounding support. It is
an
excellent tool for educators to use because we can see all related
learning
goals for a given topic on one page, says David Martin, an earth
science
teacher at Gallagher Middle School in Smithfield, Rhode Island. In
addition
to using the maps and map commentaries to guide classroom teaching and
curriculum committee work, educators plan to use Atlas as a tool in
professional development and education reform efforts. Dorcas Metcalf,
program coordinator of the Rhode Island Space Grant Consortium at Brown
University, sees many potential uses for Atlas. I envision
incorporating
the use of strand maps in our teacher workshops on science education
. . .and using the maps as support for education reform at the state
government level.
Copies of Atlas of Science Literacy are available for $49.95 from both
AAAS
and NSTA. Contact AAAS (item #00-12S) at the AAAS Distribution Center,
P.O.
Box 521, Annapolis Junction, MD 20701, 1-800-222-7809, or use the
on-line
order form at www.project2061.org/order/AtlasOrder.pdf. Contact NSTA
(stock
#PA001X) at 1-800-722-NSTA or visit the NSTA on-line Science Store at
www.nsta.org/store/.
Funding for Atlas of Science Literacy and for Project 2061 is provided
by
the National Science Foundation, the Pew Charitable Trusts, Carnegie
Corporation of New York, Hewlett-Packard Company, the John D. and
Catherine
T. MacArthur Foundation, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The AAAS is a nonprofit organization dedicated to the publics
understanding
of science and technology and to responsible scientific advancement
across
all disciplines. Project 2061 (www.project2061.org) is AAASs long-term
nationwide initiative to help improve science, mathematics, and
technology
education for all students.
The National Science Teachers Association (www.nsta.org) is the worlds
largest organization dedicated to promoting excellence and innovation in
science teaching and learning for all. Its 53,000-plus members include
science teachers of all grade levels, science supervisors,
administrators,
scientists, business and industry representatives, and others involved
in
science education.
###
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