Hands On! - TERC

Hands On!

(continued on page 4)

Test Scores:

You have your end-of-year testdata for grades 3, 6, and 10; youhave sorted the data by povertylevels, race, ethnicity, disability,and limited English proficiency to determine whether you areleaving some students behind.

Now what do you do?Inside...

On the RoadWith Math

Storyline

Darwin’sJournals, and

Yours

Spring 2004 Volume 27, Number 1

By Diana Nunnaley

A publication for mathematics and science educators

What Can They Tell Us?

??

HOW MANY MORE TORNADOES

DOES TEXAS HAVE THAN

CALIFORNIA?

?

TERC’s newest math game,

GeoQuest USA provides hours of

challenging fun with five exciting facts-and-

figures games about USA geography. The

beautifully designed Satellite Map and deck of

fact-filled State Cards will test players’ knowledge

of “stats and facts” about the fifty states. From

borders to capitals, tornadoes to statehood,

GeoQuest USA will sharpen players’ math skills and

power up their geographical knowledge.

Grades 3 and up.

Available from

Educational Insights:

educationalinsights.com

800.995.4436

fax 800.995.0506

?WHAT STATES

BORDER ON IOWA?

Hands On! Spring 2004, volume 27, number 1 3

departments

features

Edi

tor’

s N

ote

ContentsThe satisfaction, sense of achievement, and joy of solv-

ing a problem is often so apparent on the face of a young child

who has just made a discovery. Children are eager to ask ques-

tions, investigate, and offer their own unique explanations for

why things are the way they appear to be. It would seem that

the desire to reason and make sense of the world is basic. The

researchers and developers at TERC seek to build on that basic

need and encourage students to reason and think mathematically

and scientifically.

For TERC this might mean providing greater access to the

science that is part of the exploration of Mars (page 16) or giving

students tools to examine the mathematics of motion (page 12).

It influences our math curriculum and professional develop-

ment work, which seeks to foster a generation of students who

view math as useful and doable (page 8). It also affects the way

we reexamine the benefits of an “ancient cognitive tool,” the

journal (page 18).

Our cover article discusses new tools that are helping

schools compile comparative data for analyzing what is being

taught and how. It is an effort to go beyond just identifying the

students who are not achieving and examining why.

No child should lose the desire to inquire and figure things

out; rather, every child should be able to develop the mathe-

matical and scientific skills to help him or her make sense of

the world in meaningful ways.

3

Hands On! is published semi-annually by TERC, a not-for-profit educationresearch and development organization dedicated to improving mathematics,science, and technology teaching and learning. A contribution is requested to helpdefray costs of publication.

Copyright © 2004 by TERC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication maybe reproduced without written permission. Contact Peggy Kapisovsky, TERC,2067 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02140, [email protected]. Hands On! is available at www.terc.edu.

All opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the funding agencies.

ISSN 0743-0221

Executive EditorPeggy M. Kapisovsky

EditorKenneth Mayer

Assistant EditorDavid Shepard

Editorial AssistantZoe Keller

Designer, IllustratorJane Sherrill

1 Test Scores: What Can They Tell Us?Diana NunnaleyData reporting system helps teachersanalyze instructional content and practices

8 On the Road With MathMyriam SteinbackProfessional development program sup-ports teachers working to help studentsachieve mathematical proficiency

12 StorylineMuseum exhibit allows children to expe-rience the math in motion

18 Darwin’s Journals, and YoursBrian DraytonWhen refined, reflective writing can bean important part of a teacher’s practice

in focus16 MarsQuest Online:

Creating Explorers in and out of ClassroomsDavid Shepard

21 In Print

21 New Projects

22 Get Involved

—Kenneth Mayer, Editor

A s educators seek to raise student scores onannual assessments mandated by the No Child Left Behind(NCLB) Act of 2001, they have access to data on who isstruggling, but they often lack data to help explain why.Under NCLB, states conduct annual reading and mathassessments between grades 3–8, and at least one assessmentbetween grades 10–12. The law requires that assessmentresults be disaggregated, that is, results are to be sorted andreported by poverty levels, race, ethnicity, disability, and lim-ited English proficiency. The process aims to identify who ishaving trouble and what content areas are problematic butoffers little insight into what causes low scores. In a searchfor answers, many schools and districts begin by examiningtheir curriculum: Is it aligned with the standards? With thestate test? Their search can only take them so far sinceimportant information is missing: data on what is actuallybeing taught in the classroom.

Seeing what is taught through data

A new set of tools, the Surveys of Enacted Curriculum(SEC), is helping to fill this data gap by providing a way toidentify and visually represent the content taught and theinstructional approaches used in classrooms and across gradelevels. The survey system and its reporting and analysis toolsdisplay these data and data gathered from state standards andassessments in a way that allows educators to compare whatthey are teaching with what they should be teaching, what isbeing tested, and how students perform on the tests.

The survey system allows educators to compare fourareas of curriculum data: intended curriculum, enacted cur-riculum, learned curriculum, and assessed curriculum. (SeeFigure 1.) Intended curriculum encompasses what is to betaught as defined in state curriculum framework contentstandards. Enacted curriculum refers to the content actuallypresented in the classroom. Assessed curriculum is the con-tent that is tested, and the learned curriculum is measured bythe scores students receive on the tests.

Teachers provide the data for the enacted curriculum. Theycomplete a survey (either online or with paper and pencil)that takes about an hour to complete. They provide input onthe curriculum topics they teach, how much time is spent oneach topic, and the variety of instructional approaches they

use, such as time devoted to whole class instruction, hands-on activities, or small group work. They also identify whatstudents are expected to do in a lesson. For example, to whatextent does the lesson ask students to memorize, performprocedures, reason and analyze, communicate understand-ings, or solve problems.

The researchers who developed the tool code theteachers’ data as well as data gathered from the content stan-dards, assessment items, and assessment results for each gradein order to generate content and instructional maps. Figure 2shows examples of content maps: three are generated fromteacher data and one from content standards. The maps plotthe amount of time spent on a subject area (listed on the ver-tical axis) and the amount of time the students are requiredto engage in specific cognitive activities (listed on the hori-zontal axis). The amount of time is indicated by color withred showing the highest percentage of classroom time andgreen, brown, beige, and white indicating decreasingamounts of time. With these maps, teachers and administra-tors get a snapshot of what is happening in the classroomand can compare their enacted curriculum maps with theintended, assessed, and learned maps and charts.

4 Hands On! Spring 2004, volume 27, number 1

The intendedcurriculum: state content stan-dards—whatstudents shouldlearn

Test Scores:What Can They Tell Us? (continued from page 1)

The assessedcurriculum: state (and other)assessments—tested learning

The enactedcurriculum:what teachersteach

The learnedcurriculum:student outcomesbased on schoollearning

Figure 1: Surveys of Enacted Curriculum


Number Sense/Properties/Relationships

Measurement

Data Analysis,Probability Statistics

Algebraic Concepts

Geometric Concepts

Instructional Technology

Grade 6 Teacher Reports Grade 7 Teacher Reports

Grade 8 Teacher Reports

A B C D E

A=Memorize • B=Perform Procedures • C=Communicate Understandings • D=Reason/Analyze • E=Solve Novel Problems

Sunshine State StandardsGrades 6–8

A B C D E

A B C D E A B C D E

Number Sense/Properties/Relationships

Measurement

Data Analysis,Probability Statistics

Algebraic Concepts

Geometric Concepts

Instructional Technology

9+%

7–8.99%

5–6.99%

3–4.99%

1–2.99%

Less than 1%

9+%

7–8.99%

5–6.99%

3–4.99%

1–2.99%

Less than 1%

Percent of Standards Emphasis

Percent ofInstruction

1% of instr.= approx.

2 class periods

These content maps were some of the first maps Homestead MiddleSchool teachers in Florida viewed during their professional developmentsessions on using data. They eventually studied many more charts and

graphs representing their survey data, including data on assessment prac-tices, teacher preparation, use of technology and homework, and beliefsabout student learning and professional collegiality.

Content Maps

Figure 2:

Using data to improve teaching

Homestead Middle School in Florida is one of severalschools using the SEC tools. Like many schools working toestablish their systems for demonstrating adequate yearlyprogress under NCLB, Homestead uses annual test scores todetermine which topics in the curriculum are most troublingfor students and to identify which students are having themost difficulty. Unlike many schools that get stuck guessingat the root causes for low student achievement, Homestead isinvolved in a research program that is helping the teacherswork together to analyze their SEC data, generate questions

for further investigation, and take action to improvestudent learning based on their findings.

The maps in Figure 2 are some of the first mapsthat Homestead teachers viewed during their profes-sional development sessions on using data. There wereseveral observations the teachers made just from thesemaps. They saw that overall the sixth grade mathteachers were devoting most of their time to teachingnumber sense, properties, and relationships, with thebulk of instruction calling for students to performprocedures. This emphasis seemed to repeat in grades7 and 8. Looking at their learned curriculum maps(not shown) they saw that their students performedbetter than the state average for this strand, promptingthe group to ask if there was a connection. They alsocould see from their learned curriculum maps thatstudents were having the most difficulty with dataanalysis and probability. They asked if that was directlylinked to instruction time. When the teachers com-pared the intended curriculum map with the enactedcurriculum map they saw that the maps were notaligned. The teachers observed that most of the con-tent strands in the enacted maps are sketched in widebands of beige across all three grades. Some teacherswondered whether this was a visual representation ofthe “mile-wide, inch-deep phenomenon” in whichteachers cover a wide range of topics in little depth.

Equally revealing and as provocative to the teamas their content charts were the SEC data about

instructional practices. Data charts highlighting the type anddegree of instructional practices applied by all math teachersindicated wide variation in the approaches teachers wereusing. They also observed that more whole-class lectureoccurred in classrooms with higher percentages of lower-achieving students. They began to question why this wasoccurring and whether they needed to change some of theirpractices, asking themselves whether they were making anyassumptions about why standard-level classes should getmore whole-class instruction.


Tools for Aligning Instruction, Standards, and Assessments The Surveys of Enacted Curriculum (SEC) offer a practical methodfor collecting, reporting, and using consistent data on instructionalpractices and subject content taught in classrooms. The surveyinstruments and reporting tools provide an objective approach forschools, districts, and states to analyze instruction in relation tocontent standards.The surveys were developed by a collaborative of state educationspecialists and researchers led by Rolf Blank, director of educationindicators at the Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO). Thesurvey instruments and data reporting designs are based on researchconducted by Andrew Porter of Vanderbilt University (former direc-tor of the Wisconsin Center for Education Research [WCER]) andJohn Smithson, senior associate at WCER.Data on Enacted Curriculum ProjectTERC and Learning Point Associates (formerly NCREL), working withCCSSO and WCER, have developed resources to help states, districts,and schools administer and interpret the survey. Forty schools fromfive urban areas are participating in a research program designedto help teachers and administrators use the SEC data to improveinstruction. In the program, teachers learn how to collectivelyexamine and analyze the data as a way to set a course of action toimprove student learning. In the process, teachers and administra-tors discover the types of data they need to monitor progress andexamine practice. The collaborative approach allows teachers tolook reflectively at their own practices as well as share and learnfrom colleagues.For more information see www.SECsurvey.org andwww.ra.terc.edu/DEC.

Surveys of Enacted Curriculum

Together, assessment results, content alignment maps, andinstructional practices data shed new light on the teachers’root-cause analysis of student achievement. Working withtheir administrative support team—Homestead assistantprincipal Deborah Montilla, instructional specialist CeceliaMagrath, and science department chair Kelly Gibson—Homestead’s teachers designed their professional develop-ment release days to dig further into their data to comparecurriculum across the grade levels and to examine best prac-tices in math instruction. Curriculum mapping activitiesdetermined that across the three grades, teachers were usingalmost identical materials. Their findings validated the SECdata. This was an important realization for the teachers, whohad believed that they were following the curriculum andallowing students to build on previous knowledge.

During the summer break, following Homestead’s initialforay into a collaborative inquiry process for using schooldata, grade-level teams gathered to identify critical unmetstandards and strengthen curriculum content and teachingpractices to meet these standards. After two years of basingchanges in practice on their continued analysis of data,including monthly Saturday sessions where teachers visitedone another’s classrooms to examine materials and talk aboutteaching strategies, Homestead teachers are seeing results.Their students have made significant achievement gains, rais-ing the school’s standing on the state report card system.

Teachers at the Hanes Middle School in Winston-Salem,North Carolina, are also gathering to analyze their SEC data.In reviewing what the system calls “fine grain” maps whichfurther divide content topics into smaller categories, they dis-covered their teaching of geometry was not very well alignedwith their math standards and their end-of-year assessment.One math teacher said to his colleagues in the data analysisgroup, “I thought I knew what was in middle grades geome-try. I’m not sure I believe that now. I want to take a closerlook at the standards and see just what the content is.” Thecollaborative process for examining the data created a safeenvironment for the math teacher to voice his doubts andconcerns about his own teaching. At the high school inWinston-Salem, science teachers noted wide variations inwhat was being taught and how. No two biology classes were

covering the same content in the same way. Specifically, honorscourses covered a different scope of content than standardclasses. The finding prompted a teacher to cover the samecontent with the standard-level class as he covered with honors-level students. The standard-level class went on to ace theirquarterly assessments.

The teachers involved in using a collaborative inquiryprocess to examine the SEC data are moving beyond simplisticexplanations for low student achievement. They begin withthe data, looking for clues and generating questions to inves-tigate. In the process, the teachers grapple with philosophicaland pedagogical issues. They go beyond reviewing the lists oftopics in their standards and ask what students are requiredto do to demonstrate their understanding of those topics.They seek additional data as a way to monitor their efforts tochange instruction, including analyzing student work.

Many schools around the country are learning that gain-ing access to useful data is only one part of the challenge.How to use the data—how to engage an entire staff in theanalysis of the data and how to act on the results of theiranalysis collectively—is more challenging and also more pro-ductive. The Surveys of Enacted Curriculum are somewhatlike having infrared glasses to make things visible in the dark.Graphically displaying data about their enacted or taughtcurriculum and being able to compare that to standards andto the assessed curriculum offers teachers the ability to scruti-nize their assumptions about how and what they are teaching.The process can allow teachers to collectively address inequitiesin their schools and to ensure that all students are gettingwhat they need to achieve.

Diana Nunnaley is project director for the Data on Enacted Curriculum [email protected]

The Data on Enacted Curriculum project is funded by the Council of ChiefState School Officers through a grant from the National Science Foundation#REC0087562.

Photo page 4: Molly Singsen Richter


Each summer for the last seven years mycolleagues and I have packed up boxes of Investigations cur-riculum units, samples of student work, snap cubes, patternblocks, and hundreds of participant manuals and traveledacross the United States to big cities and small remote towns.During this time we have met thousands of math teachers,who take time away from friends, families, and summer funto reexamine the mathematics they know and teach. Asworkshop leaders and developers, we offer these teachers anintensive week of study designed to help them transform theway they think about and teach mathematics.

Investigations Workshops for Transforming Mathematicsis a professional development program that began in 1997 witha five-day workshop to assist schools and districts implementingthe Investigations in Number, Data, and Space elementarymathematics curriculum developed at TERC. Since then, ourprogram has expanded to meet the needs of a growing numberof schools seeking to improve their mathematics instructionwith Investigations. In addition to our Level 1 workshop, wenow offer Level 2 and Leadership workshops. While partici-pants come for help with implementation, the long-rangegoal is to help them improve mathematics teaching andlearning so that their students become mathematically profi-cient. To date, nearly 12,000 educators have participated,and we have been to 59 cities in 23 states.

Only one week?We say the workshops are for transforming mathematics,

but can we really do that in just one week? Our experience tellsus that one week of professional development provides a foun-dation on which teachers within a school system can continueto build their content knowledge of mathematics and teaching.

When a school or district chooses Investigations, they aremaking a choice to transform the way teachers teach and chil-dren learn mathematics. They have chosen the curriculumbecause they want their students to become mathematicallyproficient. They want students to understand mathematicalconcepts, demonstrate skill in computation and procedures,reason and apply their understandings and skills to solving

problems, and see math as useful and doable. It is reasonable toexpect that any curriculum that aims to do that will requiretime and professional development. Transitioning to a curricu-lum like Investigations is not just a change to a new textbook.It is not a matter of learning a new sequence of topics orspending an extra week on fractions or division. Teaching formathematical proficiency affects the role of the teacher and theclassroom community she builds, in which mathematical dis-course is central—students share and defend their strategies forsolving problems and they challenge peers to explain theirs. Forteachers to feel grounded in their own mathematical contentknowledge and build a classroom environment that allows forlearning mathematics in depth, they need ongoing support.

So what can we truly accomplish in just one week? Wetry to be explicit about what the workshops can do and whatthey cannot do. They are not a crash course in teaching thecurriculum. Our Level 1 workshops offer a starting point, aplace to experience the teaching strategies the curriculumrequires and to examine math content in ways that may beunfamiliar. Level 2 workshops help teachers who have experi-ence with the curriculum deepen their understanding of thedevelopment of number and computational fluency throughthe grades. Educators who are supporting the implementationof Investigations attend our Leadership workshops to considerimplementation issues while becoming familiar with profes-sional development materials they can use in their districts.

Because they happen during the summer, away from theimmediate demands of the classroom, our workshops offeran opportunity for teachers to focus on just one part of theirjob as elementary school educators—teaching mathematics.


3By Myriam Steinback

Math

On the Road With

The workshops are a time for participantsto examine their own mathematicallearning and to experience and questionthe kind of environment and teachingthat supports mathematics learning. Asone district leader said, “We want all ourteachers to have the opportunity to havethe same experience, to learn togetherabout the mathematics, the curriculum,and children’s reasoning as they get startedimplementing Investigations.”

What happens at the workshop?

The workshops model the teachingstrategies used in the Investigations class-room. We want participants to seethemselves as mathematical learners inthe same way their students are learners.This begins with respecting the learnerand that includes everything from listeningcarefully to understand others’ thinkingto paying attention to the physical class-room environment and providing all thenecessary materials. We have learnedthat comfortable participants and awareleaders make for better learning.Comments like “Too much sitting” and “The room was hot”are taken very seriously. When we arrive in a new location onSunday mornings, our first task is to get to know our schoolspace and the people there who can help us make it the bestenvironment for engaging with and learning mathematics.

Time to do mathematics is central to the week, as it shouldbe for the elementary school mathematics classroom. Ourworkshops always begin with a mathematics problem. InLevel 1 workshops the leader welcomes participants and thenimmediately poses a problem for them to think about andsolve in their head. Participants are asked to share how theysolved the problem and to identify the math they knew thathelped them solve the problem. This process begins to modela way to talk about mathematics and underscores the impor-tance of being able to communicate strategies and thinking.

Following the discussion, participants areasked to remember their mathematical experi-ences in elementary school and to articulatewhat they want their students to experience inmathematics today. We believe this reflectionis important because it respects the perspec-tives of each participant. We know that peoplecome to the workshops for different reasons.Some teachers and administrators are veryfamiliar with Investigations because they justwent through a thorough curriculum selectionprocess or have used it in their classrooms;they are eager for more experience. Othersmay have limited exposure to the curriculumand its goals. They have concerns about howit will affect their students and want a chanceto question and test the curriculum’s approachto teaching mathematics.

The workshop leaders expect this range ofexperience. Their aim is to inspire and educate.The single most important expectation is thatparticipants actively engage with mathematicsand think about their own mathematicallearning process and how it informs what theywant for their students.

Who are the leaders?The leaders of the Investigations Workshops come from

many states across the country. They have used Investigationsin their classrooms for at least five years, have been involvedin professional development activities both in and outsidetheir schools, and have national recognition. Among ourleaders are Investigations authors, staff developers, coaches,and six Presidential Awardees for Excellence in Mathematicsand Science Teaching. We gather once a year for a retreatwhere we plan for summer workshops, learn mathematicstogether, and reflect on the work we do.

The leaders are focused on making sure all students (andworkshop participants) have access to quality instruction andthe opportunity to learn. We developed a set of guidingquestions that we ask participants to reflect on throughoutthe workshop week. We know that when teachers are in theirown classrooms they have goals for what they want their


ArizonaPhoenixTucson

ArkansasSearcy

CaliforniaRiversideThousand OaksVentura

ColoradoBoulderCherry CreekCliftonLoveland

ConnecticutRedding

DelawareLewes

IowaCedar RapidsMarshalltown

MaineFarmingtonGardinerLivermoreScarborough

MassachusettsArlingtonAttleboroBostonBerkshireCambridgeDedhamDeerfieldMarshfieldNantucketNorthampton

MichiganDetroitDexterFlintHowellLansing

MinnesotaShakopee

MissouriSt. Louis

NebraskaOmaha

New JerseyEast OrangePlainfield

New MexicoAlbuquerqueLas Cruces

New YorkFairportNew York City

North CarolinaCharlotteDurham

OhioClevelandColumbus

OklahomaStillwater

PennsylvaniaPerkasiePhiladelphia

TexasArlingtonElginKilleenSan AntonioUvalde

UtahAmerican Fork

WashingtonBellinghamEverettRedmondSedro-Wooley

Workshop Sites1997–2003

students to learn and goals for the ways in which the learningis to occur. We believe these goals are informed by their expe-riences and by the ways in which the classroom environmentand community impact learning. We present the followingguiding questions so that the teachers can think about whatis influencing the goals they set.

1.How is learning the mathematics in this way differentfrom the way you learned mathematics in school? Inwhat ways does this affect how you think about math-ematics, teaching, and learning?

2.How do you participate? How does this affect the par-ticipation of others around you? What promotes orinterferes with students’ participation in the mathe-matics classroom?

3.What is it like for you to work with people who havedifferent ideas, experiences, and learning styles thanyou do? What are the implications for working withstudents with different experiences and backgrounds(e.g., ethnicity, gender, socioeconomic class, language)?

Workshop leaders refer to these questions throughout theweek to help participants consider the depth and complexityof learning new things in addition to the actual content theyare teaching students. As the teachers work, they think aboutthe times that they feel energized and excited, or confusedand distracted. When do they want to think by themselvesand when do they want to be thinking and working with oth-ers? By reflecting on their own learning, they can relate totheir students’ experiences and varying needs.

What is the experience like?The structure of the workshops combines time for doing

mathematics (e.g., multiplication and division, 2-D and 3-Dgeometry) and time for examining how topics and mathe-matical activities are developed in the curriculum. Morning

sessions are spent in mixed grade-level groups where thefocus is on the mathematical strands of number, data, andgeometry. In the afternoons, participants move into gradelevel groups to focus on one unit.

Workshop leaders note that Mondays are like the first dayof school, when everything is new. By Wednesday, people canfeel overwhelmed, yet as participants move into Thursday,they regain their equilibrium and begin to think about how

they will take what they have learned back to their classroom.By the end of the week, many participants have establishedintense bonds with their colleagues and have begun to thinkmore deeply about facilitating mathematics learning.

The experience is of course different for each participant,which brings us back to the question: Can these workshopsreally transform how mathematics is taught? We know fromthe feedback we receive at the end of the workshops thatmany feel they have deepened their content knowledge andhave come away with some new strategies for teaching mathand for examining their own practice. One participant com-mented, “I learned that I enjoy math…it isn’t laborious andboring.” Many of the teachers’ comments reflect what theyexperience as learners and how they connect that to what theirstudents need. “I learned that I truly want to understand why.I realized how the children want to know the same thing. Ithink this will help me to guide my students in their learning.”“I need some time to chew on an idea or problem before I amready to talk about it. I need to allow my students to do that.”

We often hear participants talk about their increasedconfidence and comfort with teaching certain topics after theworkshop. “I learned most about feeling more confident aboutgeometry and fractions. I felt I learned a new and more excit-ing way of understanding it better because each person sharestheir own way of doing it. I will have to do that with my kids.”

We also know that for some districts the workshops leadto plans for more professional development and an ongoingrelationship with those experienced in implementing the cur-riculum. Many participants return for Level 2 and Leadershipworkshops and districts seek additional assistance during theyear. Some districts offer Level 1 workshops more than once,in an effort to get their newly hired teachers on board (e.g.,Detroit, MI, and New York City, NY, six years; Scarborough,ME, seven years).


We have been for-tunate to work withthe Durham PublicSchools in Durham,North Carolina, forthe last four years.Durham serves adiverse population of30,821 students ingrades K–12 at 44schools, 27 of them elementary schools. The student popula-tion is 56.3% African American, 29.2% white, 8.9%Hispanic, 2.4% Asian, 2.9% multiracial, and 0.3% NativeAmerican. The number of students has steadily increased

over the last four years; but Hispanic enrollment has nearlydoubled in the same period. Approximately 40% of thestudents qualify for free/reduced priced lunch, though at theelementary level the rate ranges from 11% at one school to95% at another elementary school.

Durham, which began using the curriculum in 1999, hasseen a substantial rise in its students’ scores on the NorthCarolina end-of-grade test in mathematics, given in grades3–5 (see Figure 1). Durham teachers and administrators havecommented that their continued participation in our summerworkshops has been a critical component of their strategy to

raise achievement in mathematics for all students. In addition tothe Investigations Workshops, Durham Public Schools offersone-day workshops, after-school study groups, and in-classcoaching to assist teachers in implementing Investigations.

Clearly there has been a transformation in Durham. Whathas contributed to that change? What has been the role ofthe workshops? The ongoing professional development? Thecurriculum? These are questions we and others continue toresearch and study in the hope of improving mathematicslearning in every district.

The workshops are most effective when they are part of amore comprehensive professional development program. As welook to meet the needs of districts implementing Investigations,we are exploring ways to connect with and support existingschool-based professional development programs. On-siteschool year support, which we also provide, and face-to-faceintensive sessions are two strategies. Technology offers us newopportunities, and we will investigate these avenues in orderto provide greater access to professional development for allteachers and schools.

Myriam Steinback is project director for Investigations Workshops forTransforming Mathematics. [email protected]

For more about the workshops including registration information, see GetInvolved page 22 or visit investigations-workshops.terc.edu

Photos: Lee Kilpatrick


Grade 98-99 99–00 00–01 01–02 02–03 4 year change

Grade 3 61.3% 67.5% 69.4% 70.4% 83.2% +21.9%Grade 4 73.7% 75.1% 87.1% 86.1% 92.8% +19.1%Grade 5 77.0% 78.5% 81.9% 88.1% 92.0% +15%

Percent of Durham Students Proficient on the North Carolina End-of-Grade Test in Mathematics

Figure 1: Durham, North Carolina, began using Investigations in 1999.


STORYTERC reached another milestone

this past winter when the organization celebrated its first museum exhibition. TERC partnered with the ScienceMuseum of Minnesota to create several interactivedevices that allow visitors to explore kinesthetically certain math concepts and ideas that are fundamentalto calculus. The devices are featured in exhibits at theScience Museum of Minnesota and the Charles RiverMuseum of Industry in Waltham, Massachusetts.

The photos on the right feature one of the devices, the Storyline.The series of photos suggests some of the ways that visitors can go backand forth between carrying out a physical motion (moving the cars alongthe track) and seeing or creating a graphical representation of the move-ment (distance versus time graphs).

Below is an interview with two members of the exhibit developmentteam from TERC: Ricardo Nemirovsky and Tracey Wright. The editor ofHands On! had the opportunity to sit down and talk with them at the open-ing of the Math in Motion exhibit at the Charles River Museum of Industry.

I just finished playing with the Storyline and wondered how you would describe thisexhibit to someone who had never seen it.

TW: It is tricky to describe, especially since so much of the experience is aboutthe connection you make when you actually go back and forth betweenmoving the cars and seeing the graph of that movement, or drawing a graphand then watching the cars move according to how you drew the graph.


When you walk up to the Storyline, you see two ten-foot tracks, a red car and a blue car and some other

colorful props—a train station, a farm,stores, and a post office.

Usually it is the bright red and blue cars thatcapture people’s attention. As you movethem back and forth along the track, youmay begin to notice a graph changing onthe projection screen. It is providing feed-back in real time of the cars’ actual positionson a distance versus time graph.

LINE

“I’m going to make it go back and forth really fast!”

RN: Yes, it is difficult to describe it briefly. There are manythings you could say, but the one thing that occurs tome is that these exhibits present a certain, maybe analternative, way of approaching a mathematical situa-tion. We often see mathematics as distant or separatefrom us. It is not something we experience with ourbodies or feelings the way we do with so many otherthings in our lives. The exhibits are trying to bridge thatdistance.

Are you trying to make mathematics and its symbols less abstract?

RN: I wouldn’t say that. Mathematical symbols are abstractand there is a whole interplay of rules involved. Wewant to preserve that but change the relationship of howwe work with and relate to the abstractions. You know,in a way chess is very abstract, but it makes a big dif-ference that there are pieces that you move and touch.

TW: In our math of change research, we tend to talk a lotabout fusion, combining the symbols or abstractions withthe physical experience or phenomena. Right now I amthinking of the research paper by Elinor Ochs (1996),“When I come down I’m in the domain state.” The titlerefers to a conversation scientists working in a high-energy physics laboratory are having about some prettyheady stuff around matter and magnetic properties. Theyare working with a graph showing magnetic-field strengthas a function of temperature. The laboratory directorpoints to the line on the graph and says, “When I comedown…” as if somehow he was identifying with thesubstance and was inhabiting the graph. This kind oflanguage, according to the researchers, was used whenthe scientists were trying to understand a new hypoth-esis. If you didn’t know these were very bright peopleyou might think that they were very confused or silly.

The Storyline exhibit invites visitors to exploremotion in one dimension—a straight line path.

We find children using similar phrases when they areworking with devices like the Storyline, and this helpsus understand how the children are building connec-tions between the graph and their actions. We can seehow their understanding of distance and time and speedare shaped by their physical engagement in the move-ment and by the way they enter the world of the graph.

RN: Like the scientists, we find that children, when giventhe right tools, can have similar conversations aboutphysical phenomena they are trying to understand, sayacceleration. Unfortunately, people tend not to look atthese conversations as very sophisticated.

TW: Sometimes in schools I think we ask students to talkformally in the way scientists talk when they are givingtheir final report. We ask them to do this before theyhave had a chance to really work with the symbols in away that allows them to connect the symbols with thephysical actions they are trying to understand.

What do children take away from theseexhibits? What are they learning?

TW: Like almost everything else in life, what people takeaway is very much related to their prior experience. Wehave noticed particularly in Minnesota, where theexhibit has been open for a while, that people arespending a significant amount of time with the devices.This is true for children and adults. We are obviouslypleased about this since a museum exhibit has to becompelling for visitors with very different backgroundsand experience. People may not come away with a for-mal definition of an integral, but that is not the goalof the exhibit. The aim is that people see that mathe-matics and graphs have meaning and are related totheir everyday lives.

RN: Hopefully, by bridging the distance between thesesymbolic representations and actual physical events, wegive children, really all visitors, a different way ofapproaching math, one that they can build on.

The computer remembers the movements or trip youjust took with the cars. When you press play, the carsreenact the trip while the screen redraws the graph.This allows you to step back and see your trip fromanother point of view.

Racing the cars and creating stories on your own arefavorite activities for many visitors. The Storyline alsolets you and a friend enact one of four made-up stories:Post Office Demo, Picnic, Race, and Grandma’s Farm.


If you are familiar with distance versus timegraphs you may already be able say somethingabout the relationship between the cars’ motionand the shape of the graph. If not, the computerlets you add labels like “stop” or “going forward”to help you focus on the relationship.

The Storyline also allows you to choose from sev-eral predefined graphs or draw your own graphand watch how the cars respond.

“What trip should we take?”

TW: Part of our aim is to see how these devices can supportschool learning through field trips or traveling exhibitsto schools. The classroom conversations that result asstudents and teachers reflect on what they are doingand seeing while using something like the Storylinecan help reveal what the students are really under-standing about acceleration or rate of change. Asresearchers, we are interested in studying those conver-sations, examining how kinesthetic experiences con-tribute to students’ understanding of the underlyingmathematical concepts.

RN: The ongoing research will help us find appropriateapplications of these devices in different environments,whether in a museum, a school, or as part of an after-school program.

ReferencesOchs, E., Gonzales, P., & Jacoby, S. (1996). “‘When I come down I’m inthe domain state’: Grammar and graphic representation in the interpretiveactivity of physicists.” In E. Ochs, A. Schegloff, & S. A. Thompson (Eds.),Interaction and grammar (pp. 328–369). New York: Cambridge UniversityPress.

For more information about the mathematics of change research at TERC,contact [email protected] or [email protected]; or visitwww.terc.edu/mathofchange/CM/home.html.

The Handling Calculus exhibit at the Science Museum of Minnesota will runthrough the summer of 2004. Several devices in the exhibit will become part ofthe permanent collection.The Math in Motion exhibit at the Charles RiverMuseum of Industry runs through the summer of 2004.

The Storyline development team includes Ricardo Nemirovsky and J. Newlin(co-principal investigators for the Handling Calculus project), Tracey Wright,Curt Newton, Matthew Peterson, and Philip Fitzsimons.

This work is funded by the Science Museum of Minnesota through a grantfrom the National Science Foundation #ESI0087912.

Photos: Ken Porter


Whether moving the cars and reading a trip from theshape of the graph, or seeing the cars move in responseto your drawing a graph, you can discover powerfulconnections between graphing and motion.

“Hey, the graph shows how fast it’s going.”

“I wonder if I can make it write my name?”


Creating Explorers in and out of Classrooms

The great adventure that is NASA’s Marsexploration program has captivated many adults and chil-dren, including students at the Tesseract School in ParadiseValley, Arizona. Students there are embarking on their ownremote exploration of Mars—proposing launch times, select-ing landing sites, and exploring questions similar to thoseraised by adult scientists.

Guiding the students’ explorations is MarsQuest Online,a collaboratively developed web site that broadcasts imagesfrom NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory within minutes oftheir arrival from Mars. The site also makes Mars imagesmore accessible by placing them in a scientific context.

Jamie Larsen and Kim Boehne at Tesseract usedMarsQuest Online as one way to make connections betweenschool and everyday science like NASA’s Mars explorationprogram. Explained Larsen, “I projected the MarsQuest siteonto a smartboard [so that the entire class could view it]. Iexplained that the site contains the same images NASA scien-tists are getting and showed them the tools that allow usersto navigate images.” Larsen walked his students through abrief tour of the site and put to them the question of whichfeatures of the landing sites were most interesting.

“The students were able to identify places for exploration—an interesting looking rock, a place that looked like it mayhave contained water. Many students went home and cameback to school with lots of questions we could use the siteand other materials to answer.”

The ability of resources like MarsQuest Online to engagestudents is something Larsen’s school relies upon in its integratedthematic approach to student learning. Said Larsen, “Theschool tries to break down barriers between disciplines as muchas possible. Our fourth grade class has been doing work allyear on rainforests and the importance of decomposition andmicrobes. This year, we looked at certain microbes responsible

for many types of decomposition. We were able to tie thatdirectly into a discussion about the types of life we mightfind on Mars.”

Speaking about the benefits of working with theMarsQuest site, Larsen added “What resulted is an ongoingdialogue. Once kids learn the tool, they explore on their own,ask their own questions, seek their own answers, then sharetheir discoveries with you. It’s great as a teacher to have kidsapproach you and talk science with you without being asked.MarsQuest let me use science as a bridge to engage studentson many levels beyond the confines of a class period.”

Kim Boehne used the MarsQuest Online site with herseventh grade astronomy class at the Tesseract School toachieve slightly different objectives.

As part of an assignment on the history of space explo-ration throughout our solar system, Boehne asked her studentsto design a museum exhibit and present it to the class.Several of her students chose to do an exhibit about Mars.

The rover Spirit blazes a trail away from its landing site as it begins itsexploration of the Martian surface.

“That was when I dis-covered the site,” Boehnesaid. She decided to use thesite to highlight specificcontent about Mars that thestudents hadn’t covered intheir presentations. SaidBoehne, “I realized that thesite was so much fun that thekids would get too excitedto do a lesson immediately.Once they had a chance to see and explore the site them-selves, I began to develop some pointed questions that helpedthem realize some of the science content.”

Boehne developed a worksheet containing questionsabout basic Mars facts the students should have been able tolearn from the site. From there she directed students to thearea of the site that challenges visitors to find launch win-dows and travel times to get a spacecraft to Mars.

The students had three chances for launch and had torecord whether or not they landed. Once they were able toidentify what launch times worked, they began to makeguesses for shorter travel times based on the data the site wasreturning. Boehne then led her students in an exploration ofthe different geological features of the planet.

“I don’t think students realized Mars had so many geolog-ical features. The kids were interested because [the investigations

on the site] let them see all the different types of terrain. Theysaw that some of it resembled Arizona and started makingconnections between the geography of Mars and Arizona—

their plains and large canyons.“When I was using the site with

my seventh graders, I really wanted toexpose students to information thatwasn’t in the textbooks. Even brandnew, the information in a textbook isalready many months old. The timeli-ness and amount of new informationreturned as the rovers explore Marsmade the site invaluable to me as aneducator,” Boehne said. “The kids werehaving a lot of fun, but at the sametime they were learning.”

That ability to entertain and edifyeducators and the general public alikelies at the heart of what the site’s

designers set out to accomplish. Explained Dan Barstow,director of the Center for Science Teaching and Learning atTERC and one of the TERC staff involved in the site’s devel-opment, “MarsQuest Online enables students to do science,explore and discover and ask questions just as scientists do.This is an essential element of great science education. Andwith MarsQuest Online, every teacher can do this.”

David Shepard is assistant editor of Hands On!. [email protected]

MarsQuest Online is funded by the National Science Foundation#ESI0104589

MarsQuest Online was developed through a partnership among the SpaceScience Institute, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and TERC.www.marsquestonline.org

Photos: Courtesy NASA/JPL/Caltech


By David Shepard

One investigation on the MarsQuest Online site challengesusers to successfully launch a spacecraft from Earth to Mars.

What do educators stand to gain from keeping ajournal? A journal has long been seen as a key tool for teachers(or anyone else) seeking to reflect upon their practice anddirect and deepen their own learning. Because reflective writ-ing in science is something that we increasingly value forstudents, it’s important for educators to understand it fromthe inside out, by practicing it ourselves.

There are several reasons a journal ishelpful: When you revisitsomething, or even when youcopy it from a reference intoyour notebook, you are focusingattention on it, and each time youdo so, you may notice differentaspects than you did before. Second,when you paraphrase or rewordsomething, you have to transform it,and therefore reexamine your under-standing in light of other associationsor thoughts triggered by the changefrom, and contrast between, the “origi-nal” and your new version. Third, keepinga journal may push you to try to betterdistill or outline a thought, or put it intopictorial, numerical, or graphical form. This is also a powerfulway to test and strengthen your understanding of the point athand. Finally, if you are working actively with some question,your cross-references to other entries, intermediate statements,and tentative formulations (“What I think is going on hereis…”) are a way to stimulate increasing depth and precisionof your thinking, and also are opportunities to ask, “Do Ireally believe this? What’s my evidence? What would reallyclinch it—or send me back to the drawing board?”

For some people, keeping such a notebook comes natu-rally, but others are put off by the idea. My own up-and-downexperience with journal keeping suggests that sometimes theproblem is that, like any new good habit, it’s hard to fit journalkeeping into your already full schedule. Perhaps you, like me,have found it difficult to figure out what to put in such a

journal, and how it really helps deepen and broaden thinking.How can I move beyond pure introspection, or pure stenog-raphy, and really use this text as a thinking workshop? Forstarters, perhaps a good comparison to have in mind is not thekind of journal that is used for personal or spiritual growth,

but rather a scientist’s lab or sketch book. While pondering this some years

ago, I found myself reading a lot aboutCharles Darwin and his creative process.In the midst of this Darwin hobby,my wife gave me an edition ofDarwin’s notebooks covering theyears 1836–1844 (Barrett et al.1989). From his notebooks I beganto learn some lessons that helpedme think more freely about howto use a journal as a tool for dia-logue—not just with myself,but with my colleagues, myreading, and the subjects I was

trying to understand—both inmy work with science teachers, and in my scien-

tific research in conservation biology. Between 1836 and 1844, Darwin was reading, experiment-

ing, and imagining ways to make sense of his field experiences;he was working from the very detailed notes of his investiga-tions toward a theory that would encompass the developmentof all life, including Homo sapiens (Gruber 1981). In thisgrand endeavor, Darwin’s notebooks played an essential role.In them, he entered his reading notes; observations of curiousphenomena he saw in his walks or visits to the zoo; interestingcomments from friends or correspondents; and reflections,daydreams, hypotheses, and many questions.

Three qualities of Darwin’s notebooks have helped meimagine how to make my own notebooks more creative andsupportive of reflection and learning. I have labeled thesethree qualities diversity, freedom, and cultivation.


Darwin’s Journals, and

Because reflecti

ve

writing in science

is

something we increa

s-

ingly value for

students, it's important

for educators to

understand it fr

om

the inside out, b

y

practicing it ours

elves.

DiversityDarwin took in and wrote

down things from many differentsources—learned treatises, scientificjournals, word-of-mouth from croniesand colleagues, personal observations, his father’s opinions, folkwisdom, etc. In this sense, his notebook serves as a kind ofthematic memory, keeping the manifold strands of his scientificimagining and reasoning alive and available. A key feature ofthis memory is that it’s a jumble, with lots of different kindsof facts, ideas, gossip, notes, reflections, jostling each other inno clear order, but just as they came over the course of thedays. Here are a few examples [page numbers in brackets]:

[468] Saw Humble [bumblebee] go from great ScarletPoppy to Rhododendron—[…]. Humble alighted onbase of filaments & reached nectar =again= betweenthem, hence quite below stigma. & so avoided it.On certain days Humble seem to frequent certainflowers, to day early, the great scarlet Poppy—

[551] Sept. 4th. Lyell in his Principles talks of it aswonderful that Elephants understand contracts.—butW. Fox’s dog that shut the door evidently did, for itdid with far more alacrity when something good wasshown him, than when merely ordered to do it.—

[463] Waterhouse showed me the component verte-brae of the head of Snake wonderful!! distinct!!—Hewould not allow such series showed passages—yet intalking, constantly said as the spinal marrowexpands, so do the bones expand—instead of sayingas the brain is created &c &c

FreedomDon’t think about what “ought” to be in a journal or

notebook. Make it legible to yourself for future reference, butthen include anything that helps you work on the ideas youhave in mind. Darwin’s notebooks contain solid facts, wild

speculations, large and small questions, lists, dates, and crudedrawings that convey little to any other reader, but weregood enough for him. This is a reasonably good reflection ofany person’s mind at work, and is just right for the workingjournal. Here we find his ideas jammed together, feeding oneach other, and co-existing for reasons that may or may notbe apparent.

Very often, journal writers imagine someone reading overtheir shoulder and discovering just how confused and tritetheir thoughts really are. Darwin seems to have overcomethat constraint pretty thoroughly! Your journal is yours, it isan extension of your own thinking in the same way a hammerextends the power of your hand. Write for yourself only.

[466] My view of character being inherited at corre-sponding age & sex, opposed by cantering horseshaving colts which can canter—& DOGS trained topursuit having PUPPIES with the same powersinstinctive & doubtless not confined to sex.—Is notcantering a congenital peculiarity improved. Probablyevery such new quality becomes associated withsome other, as pointing with smell.= These qualitieshave been given to foetus from before sex devel-oped—Double flowers & colours breaking onlyhereditary characters wh. come on in after life ofPlants—also goodness of flavour in fruit—allaffected by cultivation during life of individual.

[551] Plato (Erasmus) says in Phaedo that our “nec-essary ideas” arise from the preexistence of the soul,are not derivable from experience.—read monkeysfor preexistence—

[234] Thomas Carlyle, saw with his own eyes. newgate. Opening towards pig.—latch on other side.—Pigs put legs over, & then snout lift up latch & back.—


by Brian Drayton

Yours

CultivationA journal requires cultivation, as with a garden—visit,

weed, move, plant, churn, fuss. A notebook really onlybecomes a tool for thinking if you revisit it in manyways—if you write for yourself, you alsoneed to be a reader of yourwriting. Here is where thediversity and freedom of thecollection become most valu-able—when you revisit it withquestions or concerns in mind.

Furthermore, it is importantnot to treat entries as sacrosanct.Argue with yourself, add betterwording, raise questions, put incross-references to later pages. In anarea where you’re actively thinking, ithelps to keep track somehow of the lay-ers of thinking—dating later comments,or using different ink, anything to helpkeep track of the twists and turns of theinner conversation. Darwin reread his notes, added to them,corrected his own mistakes, added references and wisecracks,and later ripped out pages to use in other notebooks. In theexamples below (and above), text in boldface was added at alater date, usually in a different pen or pencil.

[466] Rhododendrum—nectary marked by orangefreckles on a upper petal; bees & flies seen directedto it—The Humbles in crawling out brush overanther & pistil & one I SAW IMPREGNATE bypollen with which a bee was dusted over. [rudesketch of this] Stamens & pistils curve upwards, sothat anthers & stigma lie in fairway to nectary.—Isnot this so in Kidney Bean. How is it generally.—InAzalea it is so.—In yellow day lily, the Bees visitbase of upper petal, though not differentlycoloured—& stamens bend up a little.

[463] Bats are a great difficulty not only are no ani-mals known with an intermediate structure, but it isnot possible to imagine what habits an animal couldhave had with such structure. Could anyone. haveforeseen, sailing, climbing, & mud-walking fish?

[578] one carries on, by association, the question,“one [or what] will anyone, especially a women think

of my face,”? to one [or one’s] moral conduct.—eithergood or bad. either giving a beggar, & expectingadmiration or an act of cowardice, or cheating.—one

does not blush before utter stranger,—or habit-ual friends.—but half & half. Miss F.A. saidto Mrs. B.A. how nice it would be if yourson would marry Miss. O.B.—Mrs, B.A.blushed. analyse this:—

Darwin used his journal not just forrecording, but also for interior dialogue—asa way of coming to understand his ownthoughts and learning patterns. Darwin’snotebooks are especially powerful, notonly because of the quality of the minddisplayed before us, but also because weknow that for much of the time thatDarwin struggled with his ideas, hecould not confide in anyone else.

Darwin’s journals are a great source ofinsight about how to manage one’s learning—as friends’

or colleagues’ journals may be, too. Ask around about howpeople keep their journals. For a wider perspective abouthow people use journals in many fields, see Fulwiler (1987).For a fascinating story by a teacher-researcher, which givessome idea of how she uses her notes and journals to reflecton her students’ learning, see Ballenger (1999).

I encourage you to return with your own current burningquestions to your neglected journal with diversity, freedom,and cultivation in mind, and find your own way to make thisancient, simple, and reliable cognitive tool work for you.

References

Ballenger, C. (1999). Teaching other people’s children: Literacy and learningin a bilingual classroom. New York: Teachers College Press.

Barrett, P.H., Gautrey P.J., Herbert, S., Kohn, D., & Smith, S. (1987).Charles Darwin’s notebooks 1836–1844: Geology, transmutation of species,metaphysical enquiries. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press.

Fulwiler, T. (1987). The journal book. Portsmouth, NH: Boyton/CookPublishers, Heinemann.

Gruber, H.E. (1981). Darwin on man: A psychological study of creativity.Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

Brian Drayton is co-director of the Center for School Reform at [email protected]

Excerpts from Darwin’s journals from Charles Darwin’s notebooks1836–1844. Reprinted courtesy of Cornell University Press.


Darwin used his

journal not ju

st

for recording

, but

also for inter

ior

dialogue—as a

way of coming to

understand h

is

own thoughts a

nd

learning patt

erns.


In Print The following is a sampling of recently published research and academic worksauthored or co-authored by TERC staff.

Book Chapters

“How to Focus the Mathematics Curriculum on SolvingProblems”Susan Jo Russell (TERC), Rebeka Eston, Jan Rook, MaliaScott, and Liz Sweeneyin Teaching Mathematics through Problem Solving,Prekindergarten–Grade 6Frank K. Lester Jr. and Randall I. Charles (Eds.)National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, 2003

Journals and Periodicals

“Making Math Meaningful Outside of School”Marlene Kliman (TERC) ENC Focus, Vol. 12, No. 4, Ideas!, 2004

“Teacher Quality: From Policy to Practice”Joyce Tugel (TERC)Science and Children, Vol. 41, No. 5, pp. 22–25, 2004

New ProjectsCommunities of Practice for Teachers in PeruThe Communities of Practice for Teachersin Peru project will create a program forteacher professional development amongteachers in rural areas of Peru. Teacherswill videotape some of their own classes,and will use these videos to foster bothonline and face-to-face conversationsabout classroom practices and interactionsamong students. Funded by ConcordConsortium through a grant from U.S.Agency for International Development.

Enhancing Math in AfterschoolTERC will produce a white paper focusedon recommendations for the role of mathin afterschool programs in Boston. Therecommendations will be based on inter-views with afterschool teachers and matheducators who develop out-of-schoolprograms, reviews of math curricula andstaff development programs, and researchon math out of school. The project will

include a focus group with afterschoolleaders and policy makers. Funded byMassachusetts 2020 Foundation andBoston Centers for Youth and Families.

Investigating AstronomyTERC, in partnership with the NationalOptical Astronomy Observatory and theAstronomical Society of the Pacific, isdeveloping Investigating Astronomy, a setof instructional materials for high schoolstudents studying astronomy. The sixmodules will include teacher guides, ateacher professional development website, and family resources in both Englishand Spanish. Each module is built around aChallenge—an investigation that providesreal-life, data-driven application to theastronomical and physical science contentof the activities. Funded by the NationalScience Foundation.

New Web sitesEarth Exposed

earthscienceart.orgEarth Exposed uses the beauty of ourplanet as seen from space to promoteEarth systems science, geography, and art.The site contains compelling satelliteimages of Earth and asks visitors to considerthem from the perspective of a scientist,geographer, and artist. In this integratedcontext, site visitors deepen their appreci-ation for Earth, increase their contentknowledge, and develop technical andimage interpretation skills. Site includesimages, tools, and resources.

Mission: Algebraneirtec.terc.edu/ma

Mission: Algebra provides guidance todistrict and school leaders in addressingthe question, How can technology supportteachers preparing middle school studentsfor Algebra I? Based on standards andcurrent research, the site is informed bythe experiences of practitioners. Mission:Algebra addresses the topics of teacherprofessional development, the use of tech-nology, and the new federal priority ofpreparing students for challenging mathe-matical content in high school.

Earth Exploration ToolbookParticipate in a two-hour distance-learningprofessional development seminar forscience and technology teachers of grades6–12. Participants will walk through onechapter of the Earth Exploration Toolbook(EET) and discuss ways to use Earth sciencedata sets and tools with their students. EETis a collection in the National ScienceDigital Library and the Digital Library forEarth System Education. Requires use of theInternet and a phone at the same time.Attendees will receive a $60 stipend forcompleting the seminar and an onlinesurvey. For more information about EET, tosee the current schedule, and to register,visit serc.carleton.edu/eet.

Investigations Workshops for Transforming MathematicsInvestigations Workshops for TransformingMathematics offer support for teachers,math specialists, and administrators imple-menting the Investigations in Number, Data,and Space curriculum. Level 1 workshopsengage educators in exploration of Investi-gations content and assessment whilepreparing them to use one unit. Level 2workshops allow more experienced educa-tors to focus on computation and number.Leadership Workshops assist educators insupporting implementation in their schoolsand districts. Workshops are offeredthroughout the U.S. Visit investigations-workshops.terc.edu, or phone 617.873.9785.See also article on page 8.

ISS EarthKAMMiddle School Students can take photos ofEarth from Space! Through ISS EarthKAM, aNASA-sponsored education program,students control a camera mounted on theInternational Space Station and study theresulting images to enhance their learningof science, geography, mathematics, andtechnology. There are four or more missionseach year, generally in January, April, July,and November. All images and educationalmaterials are available on the Web. Registerto join the program atwww.earthkam.ucsd.edu.

Lesley/TERC Try ScienceRegister for online graduate-level coursesdesigned by TERC and Lesley University forK–8 educators who would like tostrengthen their science background, learnmore about inquiry-based science, andalign their classrooms with the NationalScience Education Standards. Try Science isthe prerequisite course for the onlinemaster’s degree program in science educa-tion at Lesley University. For information,contact Lesley University atwww.lesley.edu/soe/science, [email protected], or call800.999.1959 x8938.

Math Momentum in Science CentersThe Math Momentum in Science Centersproject invites science center staff nation-wide to a set of one-day workshops focusedon data and measurement. The workshopsprovide science center staff an opportunityto learn and do math, exploring how to makethe math in their exhibits and programmingmore explicit and accessible. For more infor-mation, including workshop dates, topics, andlocations, contact [email protected],or visit mathmomentum.terc.edu,available June 2004.

Regional Leaders Network TERC is field-testing the Regional LeadersNetwork (RLN) in several western US states.RLN provides teachers, administrators, andparents professional development opportu-nities focused on effective teaching andlearning in schools implementing the Investigations in Number, Data, and Spacecurriculum. Long-term partnership with theRLN builds leadership within the schooland/or district. Learn more atinvestigations-rln.terc.edu.

Signing ScienceTeachers of deaf or hard-of-hearingstudents in grades 3–8 are needed to fieldtest signed versions of the web-based unitIs Our Tap Water Just Water? Visitsignsci.terc.edu or [email protected].

Relearning to Teach Arithmetic Leadership WorkshopThe Relearning to Teach Arithmetic (RTA)Leadership Workshop will provide supportfor teachers and administrators planning tofacilitate study groups using the RTAprofessional development curricula. Partici-pants will examine video of studentssharing their thinking as they solve arith-metic problems and the mathematicalideas central to understanding the fouroperations and number relations. TERC isseeking participants and a district sponsorin eastern Massachusetts for a field test inAugust. For more information, [email protected].

Science for Today and TomorrowScience for Today and Tomorrow is seekingfield test teachers for two Life Science unitsfor grade 6 or 7; one unit focuses on regula-tion of our internal environment; a secondunit focuses on ecosystem interactions.Each unit encourages students to buildideas of science content and processthrough hands-on and web-enhancedinvestigation of a central focus question. Indoing so, students develop understandingsthat serve as the basis for more molecular-based studies in high school and beyond.For more information and to apply, [email protected].

TabletopBring the new Tabletop to your classroom.The Tabletop Project is seeking teachers topilot test revisions of Tabletop, the popularsoftware tool for graphing and organizingdata. Participants will test the data tooland web-based curriculum in their grades3–12 classrooms. Field test teachers mayattend a training session, including brieflesson plans and extended projects. Partici-pants will receive access to the softwareand web curriculum. For more information,email [email protected].


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The TERC 2001 Annual Report has won an AmericanGraphic Design Award. TERC won in the AnnualReport category, competing against both corporateand nonprofit annual reports. Congratulations todesigner Jane Sherrill.

TERC wins graphic design award

TERC and eClassroom(SM), the K–12 division of eCollege(SM), have enteredinto a partnership that will advance research efforts in K–12 onlineeducation and increase the flexibility, reach, and effectiveness ofTERC's online programs. The partnership takes advantage of eCol-lege's expertise as one of the pioneers of eLearning to allow TERC todeliver applications that support the use of inquiry as a learning toolfor the millions of distance learners in the U.S.

Collaboration efforts will focus on topics that enhance the onlinelearning experience, such as student collection and analysis of real-world data, data visualization for exploratory data analysis, andgreater course accessibility for students from every background. TERCis looking to deliver many of its existing and future online materials,as well as the master's program for middle school science teachers,through the eClassroom System.

“We look forward to working with eClassroom on several levels tocontinue to advance the online learning experience for teachers andstudents,” said TERC President Dennis Bartels. “eClassroom is one ofthe pioneers of eLearning, with one of the most flexible platforms foradvanced developers. eCollege's leadership position will further allowTERC to increase its reach and to explore more effective ways todeliver inquiry-based math, technology, and science education online.”

TERC to Deliver Online Courses Through eCollege (SM)

TERC researcher Mary Jane Schmitt received theprestigious Kenneth J. Mattran Award from theCommission on Adult Basic Education, which annu-ally honors an individual with a distinguished recordfor achievement in adult literacy. Ms. Schmitt hasmade significant contributions to mathematicslearning for adults and out-of-school youth duringher thirty-year career in the field. She is currentlyCo-Director of the EMPower project (ExtendingMathematical Power), a mathematics curriculumfor adult learners.

Mary Jane Schmitt Honored for Work with Adult Learners

Growing

2067 Massachusetts AvenueCambridge, MA 02140phone (617) 547-0430fax (617) 349-3535www.terc.edu

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Nashua, NH

Science Online, the science education master's degree

program developed by TERC and Lesley University, has

expanded its reach. Through a new partnership with

Walden University and Canter & Associates, the innova-

tive program for K–8 teachers is now available at both

Lesley University and Walden University. Science Online

helps K–8 teachers strengthen their science knowledge,

learn more about inquiry-based science, and align their

classrooms with the National Science Education Standards.

Funded by the U.S. Department of Education and the

National Science Foundation, Science Online combines a

unique approach to online study with convenience of

scheduling for the busy teacher. The first course in the

program, Try Science, will be offered through Walden

University in the fall starting on September 7. For more

information, contact Victor Bruno, 800.733.1711, x 4841.

For more information on Lesley University, see page 22.

Science Education Master's Program Growing

Photo: Lee Kilpatrick

Photo: Gail Matthews-DeNatale

Photo: Gail Matthews-DeNatale

Hands On! - TERC

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