We are at approximately the midterm point in school, and I feel I have used the STC (Science and Technology for Children) system enough now I can make some informed and relevant comments about it. Some of our students have more experience with it than others, due to class time being used for completion of science fair projects, and the science fair itself. My first point would be that as with any new curriculum or system there is a period of adjustment, both on the part of the teachers as well as the students. I could sense right away it will be so much more effective in subsequent years of use, for two main reasons; familiarity on the part of the teachers, and also because students have used different STC units in previous years. There is an emphasis on evaluation in smaller, but more frequent, increments. It will be interesting to see the overall standardized test scores over a period of five to ten years if the school continues to utilize it. There has been some of the (unfortunately) expected negativity from teachers who are "too busy teaching the three R's", especially in the lower grades. In my opinion it is a lack of motivation, and even a certain degree of squeamishness about working with live specimens, for instance, that this springs from. I am trying to help them get past that. This system is supposed to be based on the Learning Cycle, and in some units this is obvious, and in other units not so much. Overall I feel our students are embracing this method of learning science, and I even have reports of third graders clamoring for more science, and verbalizing how much they look forward to science time now.
Bibliographic Note:
http://www.carolina.com/carolina_curriculum/stc/index.asp
1 comment:
Okay, I will look them up. Some of the lower grade teachers are really coming around, also.
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