NGSS & STEM Formal and Informal Teacher Assessments: – The evaluation process for Year 2 with both informal and formal educators relied primarily on joint planning, teacher feedback in every classroom session, working with teachers in classrooms to be more a part of the teaching process with the Mobius staff, adjusting learning Units and tasks based on the needs of the teachers and the students. We frequently made improvements based on teacher suggestions, sometimes from one school to the next, and from one month to the next within the Units. We also worked individually with classroom teachers on taking some of the assignments for materials distribution, monitoring student teams, and assisting with student behavior management. Two formal educators became our testers” in new Units. In some cases we practiced with the “tasks teachers and made adjustments to tasks before using them with students. Our Informal Educator Workshop was not only developed in partnership with ESD 101 and with Greater Spokane Incorporated (GSI, regional Chamber of Commerce) it became, at the request of the participants, an ongoing network for regional informal educators for non-profit organizations, state and city agencies, and education related initiatives. The individual feedback gathered at the first workshop indicated that participants found the workshop valuable for creating more experiential versions of their own science lessons and curricula, better understanding of the interplay of STEM and NGSS, and that they wanted to continue learning with each other. Community & Partnership Engagement Assessments: We determined the degree of success with partners for the community science events by the number of partners who participated by bringing their science to the events and by the number of times they continued participating in the different school communities. Six of our seven consistent community event partners were new for us in Year 2 of the Project. Five of the partners worked with us at more than one community science events. This was particularly notable as some of our school communities were more than an hour’s drive from the partners’ locations. We believe that we were able to enlist more partners more often because we scheduled the community events with schools earlier in the year and because we entertained community schedules in the evening and during the day, as needed. Major challenges faced by the program in Year 2 (FY 2014-15):
NGSS & STEM – Formal and Informal Teacher Assessments: The evaluation process for Year 2 with both informal and formal educators relied primarily on joint planning, teacher feedback in every classroom session, working with teachers in classrooms to be more a part of the teaching process with the Mobius staff, adjusting learning Units and tasks based on the needs of the teachers and the students. We frequently made improvements based on teacher suggestions, sometimes from one school to the next, and from one month to the next within the Units. We also worked individually with classroom teachers on taking some of the assignments for materials distribution, monitoring student teams, and assisting with student behavior management. Two formal educators became our “tasks testers” in new Units. In some cases we practiced with the teachers and made adjustments to tasks before using them with students. Our Informal Educator Workshop was not only developed in partnership with ESD 101 and with Greater Spokane Incorporated (GSI, regional Chamber of Commerce) it became, at the request of the participants, an ongoing network for regional informal educators for non-profit organizations, state and city agencies, and education related initiatives. The individual feedback gathered at the first workshop indicated that participants found the workshop valuable for creating more experiential versions of their own science lessons and curricula, better understanding of the interplay of STEM and NGSS, and that they wanted to continue learning with each other. Community & Partnership Engagement Assessments: We determined the degree of success with partners for the community science events by the number of partners who participated by bringing their science to the events and by the number of times they continued participating in the different school communities. Six of our seven consistent community event partners were new for us in Year 2 of the Project. Five of the partners worked with us at more than one community science events. This was particularly notable as some of our school communities were more than an hour’s drive from the partners’ locations. We believe that we were able to enlist more partners more often because we scheduled the community events with schools earlier in the year and because we entertained community schedules in the evening and during the day, as needed. Major challenges faced by the program in Year 2 (FY 2014-15):
RZ2MobiusScienceCenterOutreach.docx