The characteristics that you will find in our Illinois State Science Standards
aligned, inquiry-based, minds on, hands on, science classroom are as follows:
1. The focus is on important concepts and principles, skills, and dispositions.
2. A context is provided that is meaningful (real world application) and
interesting for students.
3. We are a classroom that is rich with investigations and firsthand experiences
that follow a learning-cycle model, addresses misconceptions, and uses a
variety of tools and technologies to engage students.
4. Opportunities are provided for students to collect and record data,
reflect on their experiences, make sense of data they collect,
and frame their knowledge through scaffolding.
5. The frequent interactions between students and teacher helps them
to develop critical and creative thinking, formulate thoughts, and
develop a deep understanding of concepts.
6. Learning is linked to the lives of students, technology, careers in science,
community, state, national, and world issues, and other subject areas.
7. A variety of formative and summative assessments are used to provide
feedback to students and guide learning.
I look forward to another wonderful year of "Way Cool Science!"
If you would like to contact me my email address is kfowler@molineschools.org