OTTER EU Project’s Post

This important piece in student voice and quality WIL is finally published! Go team! David Drewery, PhD Monica Burney Wincy Li 李頴施 and in memory of Kimberley Livingstone 🌷 #WIL #StudentVoice Read our article here: https://lnkd.in/gG8zcbtz

🔍 Inquiry and the Nature of Science: Cornerstones of the NGSS 🌟 The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) represent a bold shift in how we teach science, encouraging students to actively engage in learning by doing and developing deeper conceptual understanding. Watching Norman Lederman’s C-SPAN presentation on science education reminded me of his lifelong commitment to teaching the nature of science. His work emphasizes that science is not a set of static facts but an evolving, collaborative process. Scientists constantly refine and revise their ideas through inquiry and consensus. 🧠 By encouraging students to explore-before-explain, we help them mirror how scientists actually work—asking questions, experimenting, and making sense of phenomena. This active engagement helps students meet the NGSS standards and builds a deeper understanding of how science impacts our everyday lives. Incorporating the nature of science and inquiry into the classroom equips students to be critical thinkers and problem solvers—skills they’ll need no matter where their futures take them. When we engage students in inquiry-based learning, we honor Norm’s vision by allowing them to experience that same authentic investigation process, mirroring the work of scientists. #NGSS #ScienceEducation #InquiryLearning #STEM #exploreb4explain #FutureScientists

✈ Collaborative minds at work: A delegation of scientists from the Tübingen Hector Research Institute visit the University of California, Irvine 🌎 Nine scientists from Tübingen ventured to California to visit fellow scientists at the UCI this month. The visit aimed to foster collaboration, exchange innovative ideas, and collectively advance our understanding of #educational #research. The discussions covered a spectrum of topics from digital education, teacher professional development, and students' learning processes from elementary school to higher education. Plans are underway for continued collaboration, joint research projects, and establishing networks that transcend the borders. #EducationalResearch #GlobalCollaboration #ScienceAndEducation #UCI #KnowledgeExchange #InnovationInEducation

Annual Report Time!: Encouraging the pursuit of science .... that's The Oxford Trust's mission set down by Sir Martin and Audrey (Lady) Wood nearly 40 years ago and we have been doing it ever since, adapting, innovating and adjusting the methods but the same goals. How are we doing, what are we delivering, what is the impact ... all good questions! Check out the new report below and find out about the dozens of STEM companies, hundreds of schools and thousands of people we serve & support. Highlights will be shared but the full report is in the link - enjoy and feed back!

Did you know that it's British Science Week? This celebration of science, technology, engineering, and maths is a fantastic opportunity to focus on all things science from smashing stereotypes and raising expectations within the young people we work with, to having an excuse to do some fun experiments in the woods! You already know that we use a project-based learning approach at The Outdoors School and we would argue that this is a particularly good vehicle for encouraging the curious mindset that is essential to those exploring different scientific avenues. Our approach joins the dots between different subjects and encourages a holistic approach to education. Take a project on trains for example. You could look at engineering and design, mathematics, history, literature, geography and perhaps even film and TV. Rather than covering one subject at a time and trying to ignore any blurred lines with others, it encourages a broad all encompassing approach that actually makes sense to young minds. It encourages questions to be asked, answers to be discovered, connections to be made. Therefore, science is incorporated into every element of learning. Science is defined as the study ‘of the structure and behaviour of the physical and natural world through observation and experiment.’  Which is pretty much everything our young people do, without even thinking about it, particularly in an outdoor learning environment. Our learners are constantly asking questions, making observations and experimenting with their surroundings. They are scientists already and we're so proud of them and curious to see where their enquiring minds take them! #BritishScienceWeek #ScienceEducation #TheOutdoorsSchool #OfstedGoodSchool #ProjectBasedLearning #HandsOnLearning #ForestSchool #OutdoorEducation #OutdoorLearning #LearnerLedEducation #EnquiringMinds

Below is a reflection on my work in K-5 science instruction over the decades and my goals for 2024. https://lnkd.in/gkHA3Eqd

ICYMI: Latest in the Ottawa News of Science Schools in Canada: The latest Ottawa Citizen science school news is actually about the closure of a science program, not an opening. Here’s the relevant part: While it’s not positive news, it is the most recent development about science schools in the Ottawa Citizen. You can find the article by searching “Ontario Science Centre’s school cancelled” [CTV News]. http://dlvr.it/T9dmSt #CanadaOttawaSchools #CanadaSchools #OttawaSchoolNews

Higher Eductation World Building bridges: The University of Oxford has launched a cross-disciplinary course that aims to bridge the “divide” between science and humanities students. Oxford v-c’s course seeks to bridge science-humanities ‘divide’ Professors from different disciplines will join forces to tackle big societal questions

This blog provides a brief overview of the role of phenomena in science classrooms—along with free resources to help your team strengthen science teaching and learning: https://hubs.ly/Q02BzJHl0 #ScienceChat #NGSS

Please share this survey about the Science and Engineering Practices widely with K-12 science teachers!