What makes a good driving question? What can we realistically expect of students doing inquiry? How can technology support students do inquiry? What kind of scaffolds can teachers provide to support inquiry? What are all the tools in the Investigators' Workshop and what is the theory behind their design? How do you design a curriculum that has a project-based science structure? How can you promote professional development? What is the role of collaboration, enactment, reflection and adaptation in professional development?
ED 737, Understanding Project-based Science, will allow us to explore these questions and many more.
Designed for everyone involved in one of the projects that has project-based science as the foundation -- the Investigators' WorkShop, MYDL, CSC and SLiC -- ED 737 will allow us to explore key ideas at the foundation of project-based science.
We have made great progress in working with teachers and students in classrooms, in tool development, and in curriculum development. However, because of these successful efforts, we have not explored together the basic ideas underlying project-based science. We have used terms like "driving question, CERA, inquiry, collaboration, artifacts, and learner centered design" too loosely without examining what each of these important constructs mean. ED 737 is designed to help us build our understanding of the concepts behind our work.
Readings for Understanding Project based Science.