Biological Sciences Curriculum Study Research Articles

Using of 5E Model in Teaching Reading Comprehension for Preparatory School Students

Bybee (1997) defines 5E instructional model as an approach that allows students redefine,)reorganize, elaborate, and change their initial concepts through self-reflection and interaction with their peers and their environment. The 5 E's Instructional Model Origin is one of the most practical recommended models in the application of constructivist learning theory. It is built around a structured sequence and designed as a tangible and practical way for teachers to implement the constructivist theory. In other words, the model is based on constructivism which confirms that learners build or construct new ideas on top of their old ones. The origin of the model refers to 1980s when Biological Science Curriculum Study (BSCS) Team, whose leader was Rodger Bybee designed a model based on constructivist thinking. They named the model the 5E's to represent all the stages and their numbers. The 5E instructional model is predicated on inquiry based learning. In this model, instructors must work with their students, who will feel more motivated to learn when they feel supported by their instructors to generate thought-provoking questions and create hypotheses. The instructional model also promotes rational discussions as well as collaborative problem solving, which ultimately lead to understanding (Gillies etal, 2012).

Why We Must Teach Our Students about Race

Editorial| March 01 2023 Why We Must Teach Our Students about Race Joseph L. Graves, Jr. Joseph L. Graves, Jr. Joseph L. Graves Jr. Professor of Biological Sciences North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University gravesjl@ncat.edu Search for other works by this author on: This Site PubMed Google Scholar gravesjl@ncat.edu The American Biology Teacher (2023) 85 (3): 133. https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2023.85.3.133 Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Tools Icon Tools Get Permissions Cite Icon Cite Search Site Citation Joseph L. Graves; Why We Must Teach Our Students about Race. The American Biology Teacher 1 March 2023; 85 (3): 133. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/abt.2023.85.3.133 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentThe American Biology Teacher Search Twenty years ago, I wrote a piece for the newsletter of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study explaining how important it was to teach high school students about human biological variation and conceptions of race. The issue of variation within species has been of interest to naturalists beginning in the eighteenth century. Unfortunately, when Linnaeus published the tenth edition of Systema Naturae in 1758, he included a description of human varieties ranked hierarchically, with Europeans at the top and Africans at the bottom, as influenced by the colonialism and racism of the time. Thus began the sad history of Europeans deploying pseudoscientific schemes to classify and rank human beings. Fortunately, using concepts from the neo-Darwinian synthesis of the twentieth century based on genetic variation and phylogenetic methods, we know that modern humans do not display biological races, but earlier views are frustratingly long-lasting. Despite our modern understanding of biological variation, race... You do not currently have access to this content.

How Might We Raise Interest in Robotics, Coding, Artificial Intelligence, STEAM and Sustainable Development in University and On-the-Job Teacher Training?

Schools are searching for strategies to foster 4C competencies (Creativity, Cooperation, Communication and Critical Thinking) in children. Scientific Reasoning, Critical Thinking, and the ability to debunk myths are already important competencies that can be fostered with science education. How can we approach the majority of seventh grade students in a given school to create innovative approaches for the future, and leverage their skills in science, art and (digital) technology along the path? And are the teachers ready to guide them on this path? This article focuses on the questions: how did the teachers adopt both the STEAM approach, and the use of digital tools while being supervised by researchers and student teachers and how did this change their beliefs about technology in education. As a pathway, we aimed to connect Robotics, Coding, Artificial Intelligence (AI) with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations. To end poverty, protect the environment, and ensure that all people enjoy peace and prosperity by 2030, the SDGs are incorporated into national policies and school curricula. With this, citizens, teachers, and governments alike struggle with strategies on how these goals can be reached by 2030, facing the growing challenges in an ever increasingly complex and insecure world. It is clear that technology will take a dominant role in this development. Based on the STEAM paradigm and the 5E approach of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), we have developed a pedagogical concept that encompasses both the technological aspects, AI and the SDGs. We tested this concept as part of an on-the-job teacher training project with 60 education science student teachers and 8 teachers in their classrooms, together with their 116 7th grade students and found out that STEAM-based projects with a sixth phase in addition to the 5E approach can be carried out promisingly with the help of digital creativity tools. We found that the 5E model with an additional sixth phase is well suited for bringing STEAM into the classroom.

Development of INoSIT (Integration Nature of Science in Inquiry with Technology) Learning Models to Improve Science Literacy: A Preliminary studies

Has successfully created the INoSIT learning paradigm to increase students' science literacy competency. This design aims to integrate information and communication technology (ICT) with inquiry and nature of science (NoS) models to teach scientific literacy to junior high school students using a multi-representation method. The BSCS 5E model (Involvement of Biological Science Curriculum Study, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation) and the IBL model (Investigation-based learning) have many phases whose implementation requires many processes. So, the INoSIT model is designed to simplify multiple phases or sub-phases. As a result, IBL (inquiry-based learning) is ineffective and inefficient in terms of learning time. It is also challenging to teach scientific literacy of abstract concepts using this method. The study employs a descriptive analysis method in conjunction with a literature review pattern. The INoSIT model with the syntax Eliciting, Hypothesis, Testing Hypothesis, Elucidation, and Reflection was created from the results of the investigation of the weaknesses of the BSCS 5E (Biological Science Curriculum Study Engagement, Exploration, Explanation, Elaboration, and Evaluation) and the IBL (Inquiry-based learning) models. To construct students' knowledge of literacy and the study is anticipated to contribute to creativity, originality, and the development of a proclivity for inquiry and research

Mobile App for Science Education: Designing the Learning Approach

This paper reports research work related to a wider study, aimed at developing a mobile app for Science Education in primary-school. Several studies reveal that Science Education can be improved by using technology, namely educational software. However, to promote a structured use of technology, innovative learning approaches must be designed for educational software. This paper aims to answer how the interaction between students and a mobile app for Science Education can promote students’ scientific competences development and self-regulated learning. To achieve this, a learning approach was designed, combining the Universal Design for Learning principles, Inquiry-Based Science Education and the BSCS 5E – teaching model for Science Education designed by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, which results in the acronym of the model. The 5E is related to each phase of the model: Engagement; Exploration; Explanation; Elaboration; Evaluation. The proposed was based on a grounded, participatory, and user-centred approach, crossing literature contributions with data collected among primary-school teachers through the application of a questionnaire (n = 118). Data collected allowed deductions about the expected adequacy of the learning approach, according to Nieveen’s criteria for high quality educational interventions. This adequacy was revealed through the teachers’ conceptions about the potential impact of the conceptualized mobile app (i) to provide a comprehensive and practical Science Education learning; and (ii) to enhance students’ scientific competences development and self-regulated learning. The paper aims to contribute to the design of an innovative learning approach in Science Education and to share it with other researchers since it can be expanded to other educational software.

Pivot to online in a post-COVID-19 world: critically applying BSCS 5E to enhance plagiarism awareness of accounting students

ABSTRACT Teaching and assessment practices rapidly moved online as a result of the global coronavirus pandemic. Academic integrity is paramount for the credibility and reputation of educational institutions regardless of their teaching modality. Students commit plagiarism when they copy, borrow, or steal others’ work, without properly acknowledging their source(s). Especially in online environments, accounting students frequently fall prey to plagiarism and, as a result, transgress the fundamental values of integrity and honesty that should be deep-rooted in accountants. It is, therefore, critical that educators increase their students’ plagiarism awareness and understanding. Drawing on the findings of conceptual, literature review-based research, the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study 5E (BSCS 5E) instructional model is applied as a frame of reference for accounting educators to promote their students’ awareness of plagiarism while concomitantly enhancing their twenty-first-century skills. Both theoretical and practical contributions are envisaged through the application of this constructivist, student-centred approach.

Building an authentic cultural curriculum through tertiary cultural dance

This study identified a range of pedagogies developed to promote global citizenship within a university Latin American dance unit. It implemented changes to teaching and learning approaches in the unit using the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) 5E Instructional Model, supporting learning that privileges transcultural connections to Latin America. The action research used a range of dance teaching pedagogies that were adapted, and evaluated, using the Structure of Observed Learning Outcomes (SOLO)Taxonomy, to support a culturally enriched student learning experience. The findings challenge traditional dance teaching pedagogies through meaningful engagements with the local Latin American dance community and a range of student and teacher reflective approaches.

Science Teacher Educators’ Engagement with Pedagogical Content Knowledge and Scientific Inquiry in Predominantly Paper-Based Distance Learning Programs

This article focuses on the dilemmas science educators face when having to introduce Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK) to science student teachers in a predominantly paper-based distance learning environment. It draws on the premise that science education is bound by the Nature of Science (NOS), and by the Nature of Scientific Inquiry (NOSI). Furthermore, science educators’ own PCK, and the limitations of a predominantly paper-based distance education (DE) model of delivery are challenges that they have to face when introducing PCK and authentic inquiry-based learning experiences. It deprives them and their students from optimal engagement in a science-oriented community of practice, and leaves little opportunity to establish flourishing communities of inquiry. This study carried out a contextual analysis of the tutorial material to assess the PCK that the student teachers had been exposed to. This comprised the ideas of a community of inquiry, a community of science, the conceptualization of PCK, scientific inquiry, and the 5E Instructional Model of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study. The analysis confirmed that the lecturers had a good understanding of NOS, NOSI and science process skills, but found it difficult to design interventions to optimize the PCK development of students through communities of inquiry. Paper-based tutorials are ideal to share theory, policies and practices, but fail to monitor the engagement of learners in communities of inquiry. The article concludes with a number of suggestions to address the apparent lack of impact power of the paper-based mode of delivery, specifically in relation to inquiry-based teaching and learning (IBTL).

The College Science Learning Cycle: An Instructional Model for Reformed Teaching.

Finding the time for developing or locating new class materials is one of the biggest barriers for instructors reforming their teaching approaches. Even instructors who have taken part in training workshops may feel overwhelmed by the task of transforming passive lecture content to engaging learning activities. Learning cycles have been instrumental in helping K-12 science teachers design effective instruction for decades. This paper introduces the College Science Learning Cycle adapted from the popular Biological Sciences Curriculum Study 5E to help science, technology, engineering, and mathematics faculty develop course materials to support active, student-centered teaching approaches in their classrooms. The learning cycle is embedded in backward design, a learning outcomes-oriented instructional design approach, and is accompanied by resources and examples to help faculty transform their teaching in a time-efficient manner.

Taking an Attention‐Grabbing “Headlines First!” Approach to Engage Students in a Lecture Setting

AbstractLet's face it. Traditional lectures do not consistently capture our students’ attention, especially when they are PowerPoint‐driven and lack student/instructor interaction. Most of us have had the unfortunate feeling that our students were not fully engaged in our lectures, despite hours of preparation on our part. This sense of “wasted” investment of time can be especially frustrating for pretenure faculty, who must balance teaching, research, extension and administrative (as well as personal) responsibilities in order to be successful. How can we engage students in our course content, given limited time and resources to prepare lecture material and demonstrations? Active learning strategies are a possibility, but shifting courses from a lecture format to problem‐based learning or a flipped format requires a significant time and effort investment from the instructor. Why not start by making lecture more fun and engaging for our students? Storytelling is an effective and efficient means of getting and maintaining our students’ attention and interest during lecture to drive home key points. The BSCS (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study) 5E Instructional Model provides a conceptual framework that emphasizes the primacy of student engagement in science education (Bybee). Our goal here is to provide practical examples and external references to show how “Headlines First!” storytelling can be used effectively to engage students in the science classroom.

Connecting the Hands-on to the Minds-On: A Video Case Analysis of South African Physical Sciences Lessons for Student Thinking

Background:In South Africa, there is a strong curriculum imperative for school science teachers to not only involve learners in practical inquiry activities but also to support students in making a connection between the construction of substantive scientific knowledge to these activities. The research reported in this article investigated the extent to which South African teachers at historically disadvantaged township schools engaged students in the construction of science ideas in inquiry lessons.Materials and methods:To this end, video transcripts of thirty two lessons were analysed and coded using a framework of student thinking lens developed by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) for the Science Teachers Learning from Lesson Analysis (STeLLA) project. The trends on the teaching features are explicated in the presentation of an in-depth analysis of a chemistry lesson.Results:The findings on the analysis of the thirty two lessons reveal that these teaching features are poorly manifested in the lessons, and it is concluded that teachers only weakly make visible student thinking in inquiry lessons.Conclusions:This research suggests the need for a re-alignment of inquiry-based science education with the development of science ideas.

Low Marks for Education Funding Priorities

Anyone involved substantively in science education during the past five decades will see the irony in the decision by the Office and Management and Budget (OMB) to trim the federal government's science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs on the grounds that many of them lack evaluation data on efficacy (“An invisible hand behind plan to realign U.S. science education,” J. Mervis, News Focus, 26 July, p. [338][1]). Although federal funding often supported formative evaluation (assessment in the pilot phase to improve the program itself) during the development of new curricula, it was virtually impossible to secure funding for summative evaluation (assessment of effectiveness after implementation) because of the costs and time frames involved. At the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study ([ 1 ][2]), where the value of summative evaluation always has been self-evident, we often lamented that the federal government funded a series of 90-meter dashes, supporting development of new instructional materials but not their evaluation. Funding from the Institute for Education Sciences for efficacy trials ([ 2 ][3]) that provide one type of summative evaluation constitutes some progress, but it is not enough. It is perverse for OMB to blame STEM projects for deficiencies that were inherent in the government's funding priorities. Perhaps an evaluation of those priorities is in order. 1. [↵][4]Biological Sciences Curriculum Study ([www.bscs.org][5]). 2. [↵][6]1. J. K. Spybrook, 2. S. W. Raudenbush , Educ. Eval. Pol. Anal. 31, 298 (2009). [OpenUrl][7][CrossRef][8] [1]: pending:yes [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [5]: http://www.bscs.org [6]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text [7]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DEduc.%2BEval.%2BPol.%2BAnal.%26rft.volume%253D31%26rft.spage%253D298%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.3102%252F0162373709339524%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [8]: /lookup/external-ref?access_num=10.3102/0162373709339524&link_type=DOI

Teaching Materials and the Fate of Dynamic Biology in American Classrooms after Sputnik

The technologies of classroom instruction have received scant attention from historians of technology. Yet schools, in particular science classrooms, abound with laboratory and instructional apparatus that play an important role in how students (and ultimately members of the public at large) learn about how science and scientists generate knowledge in a given disciplinary field. This article uses the post-Sputnik reforms in United States high school biology education as a case study to examine the way that the materials and technologies of biology teaching shaped ideas about the epistemology of life-science research during the cold war. It compares the experimental vision and materials produced by the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study, a National Science Foundation-funded, scientist-led reform project, with the materials developed by Ward’s Natural Science Establishment, a longstanding scientific supply company with deep roots in the more established, natural history epistemological tradition.

Evolution and Medicine: An Inquiry-Based High School Curriculum Supplement

Evolution and Medicine is a curriculum supplement designed by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) for high school students. The supplement is freely available from NIH’s Office of Science Education (OSE) as a part of the NIH curriculum supplement series. Development of the supplement was a collaborative effort that included input from a panel of experts in medicine, evolution, education, and educational technology. In total, the curriculum supplement includes five inquiry-based lessons that are integrated into the BSCS 5E instructional model (based on constructivist learning theory). The goal was to develop a 2-week curriculum to help students understand major concepts of evolution using the dynamic, modern, and relevant context of medicine. A diverse group of students and teachers across the US participated in a formative evaluation of a field test version of the curriculum. High school students made significant learning gains from pretest to posttest, with a relatively large effect size for student understanding of common ancestry and a relatively small effect size for student understanding of natural selection. There was no statistically significant difference in achievement gains between white students and all other racial/ethnic categories. Overall, the evaluation suggests that a curriculum that emphasizes the role of evolution in medicine, uses a constructivist instructional model, and is grounded in inquiry is relatively well-received by teachers and students and shows promise for increasing student learning in evolution.

Order Matters: Using the 5E Model to Align Teaching with How People Learn

“I have to teach someone to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. How am I supposed to do that? What should I start with? How can this be so hard?” I have found that teaching anything to another person is rife with far more decisions and dilemmas than I could have ever imagined at first. Years ago, I had a college roommate who wanted to participate in a summer teaching program. For her interview, she had to develop a lesson plan to teach someone else how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Have you ever thought about teaching someone else how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? She had asked for my input, and once we started to really consider the possibilities, our minds reeled. How would you start? What would you do first? Next? After that? Who was the learner anyway? And had they made a sandwich before? Were they allergic to peanuts? How old were they? Should we let them have a knife? Should we show them how first? Talk them through it? Let them have a go at it on their own? Should we first teach them the names of all the tools and things we were going to use? Should we ask them why they needed to learn how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in the first place? What were the critical issues in teaching someone how to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Much like in the “PBJ Dilemma” as we came to call it, there are many decisions to be made in designing effective learning experiences in undergraduate biology classes—and instructors are making these decisions constantly. It can seem overwhelming, yet the research literatures from cognitive science, psychology, and science education about how people learn suggest guidelines about constructing effective learning experiences (National Research Council [NRC], 1999 ). Much like the PBJ Dilemma, the order in which we decide to do things with students when we teach is critical, yet the order of things happening in a class session often goes undiscussed and unexamined. At first glance, the most pressing teaching dilemmas in our biology classrooms—student motivation, student retention of information, student understanding of difficult concepts—may seem unrelated to the order in which things are happening; however, what we do first, second, third, and so on can have many ramifications. For many instructors who have primarily learned from and used a lecture-based teaching approach, considerations of order have been primarily about the order of ideas. With the increasing use of active-learning strategies, class sessions are moving from having a single component—a lecture—to having many components over the course of even 50 minutes (e.g., a video clip, a pair discussion on a biology-based problem, a clicker question, a mini-lecture, and a final index card reflection). So, what is the optimal order for sequencing these elements to maximize student learning of biology?

G. Ledyard Stebbins. The ladyslipper and I

G. Ledyard Stebbins. The ladyslipper and I

Immunology Investigators: Why the Lyme Disease Vaccine Didn't Work

The goal of this curriculum is to help students solve a fictional medical case. Using the current immunological understanding of vaccination and information concerning the role of Toll‐like receptors (TLRs) in vaccination, students will work collaboratively in groups to analyze a written case study concerning patients who have received a Lyme disease vaccine. Next, students will be provided with the background information of the fictional patients, including medical records, biographical data, and simulated serum samples. Background information concerning Lyme disease and the Lyme disease vaccine (LYMErix) will also be provided. Following an introductory discussion and comparison of these patients, students will conduct simulated ELISA tests on the serum samples of the patients and discover that one of the patients has contracted Lyme disease despite their vaccine. The collaborative student groups will then attempt to explain the surprising test result by learning about the current immunological understanding of vaccination, including the role that TLRs may play in vaccination. Students will conclude through their own research and provided materials that this particular case of reduced responsiveness to vaccination is attributed to a decreased expression of particular TLRs. In particular, the patient who contracted Lyme disease had a decreased expression of particular TLRs and a corresponding decreased recognition of a cell surface protein on the Lyme disease‐causing Borrelia spirochete. Finally, students will apply their new knowledge to current topics in vaccination, including possible connections with the development of an HIV vaccine. The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) 5E instructional model will be used throughout this instructional unit.

Three Lives In Biology

Recently, I was searching for information on Bentley Glass, a distinguished geneticist and a founding member of the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS), which celebrated its 50th anniversary in 2007. When I looked in a biographical index for January 2005, when Glass died, I discovered that two other important biologists also died the same month--Maclyn McCarty, one of the discovers of DNA as the genetic material, and Miriam Rothschild, a British entomologist and environmental activist. They were all over 90, with Glass dying one day short of his 99th birthday. I've decided to celebrate this coincidence by looking at the lives of all three biologists since each represents a different and significant tradition in biology. In addition, they were all just plain interesting people. Maclyn McCarty I'll begin with Maclyn McCarty (1911-2005) as the youngest of the group, dying at the age of 93. Along with Oswald Avery and Colin MacLeod, he published the 1944 paper which gave clear evidence that DNA was responsible for genetic change in pneumococcus. Until that time, biologists had not come to any conclusions about the identity of the genetic material, though many assumed it was protein. By this time it was clear that chromosomes were the site of the genes; many lines of evidence indicated this including the work of Thomas Hunt Morgan and his group on Drosophila genetics that linked mutations to chromosomal changes. However, chromosomes were known to contain both nucleic acid and protein, and because of protein's greater complexity, it seemed to be the more likely carrier of information, with nucleic acid merely providing structural support. Oswald Avery was the senior microbiologist who, in 1928, began the hunt for the principle which caused change in pneumococcus, the bacterium that is responsible for one of the scourges of the time, bacterial pneumonia. Specifically, he was studying how a noninfectious strain, without a polysaccharide coat, became a virulent strain with the coat: in other words, what contained the information to produce the polysaccharide. It had been known for some time that when virulent and nonvirulent strains were grown together, the nonvirulent strain sometimes became virulent, presumably because of the transfer of information from the virulent strain. But what was the chemical nature of this information? Avery began with a methodical approach attempting to separate out the chemical components of the bacterium and test each for its ability to transform the nonvirulent strain into a virulent one. The polysaccharide itself was eliminated from consideration fairly early in the investigation, but then the going got difficult. Experimental results tended to be either inconclusive or contradictory. One time an experiment would work well and give clear results; the next time the same experiment was run, things would turn out differently. It was difficult to tell which set of evidence was significant. Only repeatedly getting the same results would lead the way, but this just didn't seem be possible to achieve. There were several reasons for the inconsistency as McCarty recounts in his chronicle of this 16-year adventure, The Transforming Principle, published in 1985. He does a great job of describing what microbiological research was like in the years between the World Wars. Purification techniques were in their infancy, and researchers were only just becoming aware of how low levels of contamination could ruin experiments. One reason for the inconsistent results that Avery and his collaborators encountered was the presence of enzymes which destroyed nucleic acid. In some preparations these enzymes were sufficiently denatured to avoid problems, in others they were active enough to break down the transforming principle, yielding negative results. In 1934, Colin MacLeod arrived in Avery's laboratory as a young doctor primed to do research on pneumococcus. …

Do We Need Another Sputnik

This October 4th marks the 50th anniversary of Sputnik. Soviet satellite amplified America's Cold War fears and stimulated a public and political response. Sputnik culminated years of criticism centering on Progressive education and expanded the role of scientists in educational reform. Although the Physical Science Study Committee (PSSC) curriculum lead by Jerrold Zacharias was already underway, Sputnik brought the reform efforts to fruition. America hoped to recover international leadership in science and mathematics education. Accelerating, broadening, and deepening educational reform that had already been initiated. One of the first, largest, and longest-lasting of the post-Sputnik projects was the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) which will celebrate 50 years of leadership in 2008. Does the United States need another Sputnik? Clearly, there will not be another Sputnik, but we need what Sputnik has come to symbolize-an era of significant reform of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. In 2007 one can identify similar concerns about national security and the need for scientists, engineers, and scientifically literate citizens. 50th anniversary of Sputnik presents an opportunity to pause and reflect on that period in science education and offers potential insights for our contemporary era. Here are several insights about Sputnik. competitor and venue were clear--the Soviet Union and a race to space. President Kennedy challenged the nation to respond by setting a clear goal: Send a man to the moon and return him safely. President also set a timeline--by the end of the decade. This goal had a clear and visible symbol that every American could see on a regular basis-the moon. Accomplishing the ultimate goal included approximations of success that the public could see and understand--suborbital flights, orbital flights, a flight around the moon and back, and ultimately landing a man on the moon. One component of the U.S. response involved curriculum reform lead by the scientific community. One final insight centers on the use of curriculum materials and science teacher institutes as the primary methods of reform. Both of these methods center on the core of teachers' effective interaction with students. This was a positive and productive way the federal government facilitated educational reform. United States now confronts new challenges associated with the economy; and I would add the environment, and natural resources. National Research Council report, Rising Above Gathering Storm (NRC, 2007), has become one of several major reports signaling the need for a national response. Thomas Friedman has sustained public attention for a new reform in his book, World Is Flat (Friedman, 2005). Friedman has an interesting if not compelling premise: international economic playing field is level, hence the metaphor --hence the world is flat. flattening that Friedman refers to is a result of information technologies and associated innovations that have made it technically possible and economically feasible for U.S. companies to locate work offshore, for example, call centers in India. revolution of informational technologies has developed a generation of digital natives and left many of us as digital immigrants. implications for STEM education are significant, to say the least. On balance, Friedman argues that a flatter world will benefit all of us, those in developed and developing countries. Friedman does address education questions in a chapter entitled The Quiet Crisis. According to Friedman, The American education system from kindergarten through twelfth grade just is not stimulating enough for young people to want to go into science, math, and (p. 270). Friedman continues: Because it takes fifteen years to create a scientist or advanced engineer, starting from when that young man or woman first gets hooked on science and math in elementary school, we should be embarking on an all-hands-on-deck, no-holds-barred, crash program for science and engineering education immediately. …

Development and Evaluation of an Online, Inquiry‐Based Food Safety Education Program for Secondary Teachers and Their Students

ABSTRACT: Secondary science teachers who integrate food safety (FS) into curricula can provide FS knowledge and skills to youth while reinforcing science skills and concepts. National science education standards and the Biological Science Curriculum Study 5E Inquiry‐based Learning Model were used to design an online training, Food Safety FIRST. The training has 3 modules, each with 15 h of web‐based instruction, interactive discussion, and tools to conduct experiments or critical evaluation projects. A CD‐ROM, web site (http://foodsafetyfirst.org), and lab kit were developed to accompany module activities. Seventy‐one teachers registered for the program; 38 matched pretest/posttest evaluations were analyzed. When asked their intention to teach FS in the next year, enrollees responded “definitely” (60.5%) or “possibly” (34.2%), reaching potentially 3570 students. Participants found the training very valuable (71.1%) and were significantly more comfortable teaching FS at posttest (3.6 ± 0.5 on a 4‐point Likert scale) than at pretest (2.8 ± 1.0; P < 0.0001, n= 35). Self‐reported FS practices also improved from pretest (24.8 ± 5.7 out of a possible 35) to posttest (27.7 ± 4.8; P < 0.001, n= 32). On 4‐point Likert scales, teachers were confident answering FS questions (3.4); confident that if they did a good job teaching this topic, students would be interested in FS (3.4); and confident FS concepts taught would meet national science standards (3.4). They found the program satisfactory for demonstrating inquiry‐based learning (3.8). Most agreed that they would change FS habits (3.2). Using 5‐point scales, participants agreed that they felt more able to critically evaluate FS information on the Internet (4.2) and that the training was enjoyable in an online format (4.3).