Editor's note: Each month we will bring you a practice brief, outlining a STEM Teaching Tool from the University of Washington's Institute for Science + Math Education, which is led by Dr. Philip Bell.
Research Brief #31:
How to launch STEM investigations that build on student and community interests and expertise
By Philip Bell, Deb Morrison and Angela DeBarger
Students are frequently asked to engage in prescribed science investigations that have already been fully designed in the curriculum. It can sometimes be very challenging for students to find those investigations personally meaningful. Ideally, the phenomena they study should be personally compelling. A formative assessment strategy called self-documentation can focus students’ science and engineering investigations on their personal and community interests in ways that make them more personally relevant.
Read more:
http://stemteachingtools.org/brief/31
STEM Teaching Tools content copyright 2014-16, UW Institute for Science + Math Education.