8+1 Science: A New Concept in Science Education

Some blog followers might be interested in a Michigan State University (MSU) press release titled “8+1 Science: A new concept in science education” at http://bit.ly/Hz898n.

An excerpt reads as follows [bracketed by lines “MSU-MSU-MSU-. . . . . .”; slightly edited] :

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American students need a dramatically new approach to improve how they learn science, says a national group of scientists and educators led by Michigan State University professor William Schmidt.

After six years of work, the group has proposed a solution. The “8+1 Science Concept” http://8plus1science.org/ calls for a radical overhaul in K-12 schools that moves away from memorizing scientific facts and instead focuses on helping students understand eight fundamental science concepts. The “plus one” represents the importance of inquiry, the practice of asking why things happen around us - and a fundamental part of science. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The 8+1 concepts were derived from two basic questions: what are things made of and how do systems interact and change? The eight concepts are: atoms, cells, radiation, systems change, forces, energy, conservation of mass and energy, and variation. . . . . . . . . . . .

Visit http://8plus1science.org for more information, including:

a. a research report “Towards Coherence in Science Instruction: A Framework for Science Literacy” [Schmidt et al. (2011) at http://bit.ly/y1EURF];

b. 8 + 1 Science video on U-Tube at http://bit.ly/I1B2Dy [149 views as of 11 April 07:22-0700 - to see views vs time click on the bar graph icon after “Views”];

c. Facebook page at http://on.fb.me/HxfLaM; and

d. related 8 + 1 classroom posters for elementary-, middle-, and high-school.
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Richard Hake, Emeritus Professor of Physics, Indiana University
rrhake@earthlink.net
Links to Articles: http://bit.ly/a6M5y0
Links to SDI Labs: http://bit.ly/9nGd3M
Blog: http://bit.ly/9yGsXh
Academia: http://iub.academia.edu/RichardHake
Twitter https://twitter.com/#!/rrhake


REFERENCES [URL shortened by http://bit.ly/ and accessed on 11 April 2012.]
Schmidt, W., G. Leroi, S. Billinge, L. Lederman, A. Champagne, R. Hake, P. Heron, L. McDermott, F. Myers, R. Otto, J. Pasachoff, C. Pennypacker, & P. Williams. 2011. “Towards Coherence in Science Instruction: A Framework for Science Literacy,” online as a 856 kB pdf at http://bit.ly/y1EURF.