Page 34 - Gateways_2018_FALL

students to push their desks up against the An exciting new collaboration with perspective data surveys. The Society also
windows to make their own observations the Illinois Science Teachers Association elicits feedback from its advisory board
and collect data. Together, they record (ISTA) means that Brookfield Zoo will of principals and other community
their findings on student-created data serve as the hub for all training conducted representatives. This wealth of input helps
collection sheets and share their by ISTA. ISTA members will receive a the Society’s education team to plan future
observations with both their teacher and discount on all zoo-offered classes. program directions.
fellow students.

“Prior to the new standards, it was
common for science teaching to rely
heavily on rote memorization,” said
Angela Sullivan, vice president of the
Society’s Education and Community
Engagement Programs. “But then, if
you asked children what they learned 30
days after the information was presented,
they already had forgotten. Now, we are
seeing critical thinking, problem-solving
from evidence, and much deeper and
greater understanding and retention.”

A Bright Future

To grow and improve the Science
Fellows program, the Society strives to
enroll multiple teachers from “Fellow
Schools” so they can foster peer-to-peer
support and guide science learning
advances across grade levels. Future
plans also include additional teacher
support, such as more offerings at
their schools.
“It’s exciting to see how teachers
Learning real-world applications for science is a focus of NGSS and ISTE training.

change throughout the training,”
Kovacs said. “They arrive tentative, a bit
nervous, skeptical. They are being asked to Continuing Education And the Society is always looking to
unlearn much of what they know about further its reach—if you have school-aged
teaching. Throughout the program, we see The Society is committed to making sure children in your life who live in the
“a-ha’s” happen—enthusiasm and ISTE programs provide teachers with the Chicago area, make sure their school
excitement about using real-world skills and savviness to facilitate science knows about the Society’s ISTE program.
examples in the classroom, inviting learning in exciting new ways, and in turn, Know a teacher who may be interested
students to lead discussions and pursue excite students about science and improve and eligible to become a Science Fellow?
topics interesting to them.” their performance and preparedness. Have them email marjorie.baker@czs.org. █
One way to achieve this is to evaluate the
Teachers who wish to gain skills to program, and to use the findings to
teach in alignment with NGSS, but are not continuously improve.
eligible to become Fellows, are invited to All teachers who attend Society
participate in a variety of one- and three- professional development classes complete
credit workshops throughout the year. an evaluation form that measures the class
Additionally, they may earn graduate credit experience and their own learning.
through the Society’s partnership with For Fellows, evaluators collect student
Dominican University.

34 GATEWAYS | INSTITUTE