Presentations and Publications

Neal, T., Herder, S., Malek, A., Miller, Z., Spak, S., and Stanier, C. 8th Grade Iowa Science Phenomenon Bundles (DRAFT for teacher comment), 2017. 

Iowa teachers will are now following new science education standards in K-12 classrooms.

The Iowa Core Science Standards are a set of science and engineering standards for grades K-12 that shift students' focus from rote memorization to participating in the scientific process. Within the new system, cross-disciplinary learning and self-taught exploration are encouraged. For example, one high school standard asks students to "design, evaluate and refine a solution for reducing the impacts of human activities on the environment and biodiversity." Iowa led the development of NGSS along with 25 other states. The standards are the result of a collaborative effort between states and stakeholders in science, science education, higher education, and industry. 

Within the four major scientific domains of physical science, life science, earth and space science, and engineering, students will engage in investigational learning about climate change.

A cross-disciplinary team of content experts and teacher/educators from the Colleges of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Engineering, and Education are developing an online book of curriculum and activities aligned with the Iowa Core.  

Eventually, when fully built out and tested, the online book will include 6 bundles, addressing all of the performance goals (things kids should be able to do) in the 8th grade.  The bundles are:

Story of Things
Collisions
Communications
Changing Life
Changing Land Use
Climate

Charles Stanier and Scott Spak are contributing to bundles 5 and 6 (land use and climate change) as content experts and co-editors as part of a larger team.