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Resources for School Administrators
Improving science instruction is not just for the teachers in the classroom, but also the administrators who are charged with leading them. The new science standards are changing the way we teach. A classroom may be noisy or appear chaotic, until you look closer and see that kids are actually DOING science. These resources are designed to help administrative staff understand how to promote and effectively evaluate Framework-inspired lessons and Three Dimensions of Learning.
"Administrators' understanding of and support for the changes in science instruction and learning goals is essential, particularly at the elementary level. Teachers need ongoing support beyond the first year of implementation to integrate the changes into their teaching style and instructional decision making."
- Guide to Implementing Next Gen Science Standards"Professional development focused on students' thinking and analysis of instruction is more effective than professional development focused only on improving teachers' content knowledge in science."
- Guide to Implementing Next Gen Science Standards
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Administrator Online Professional Development
A Focus on Why We Should Teach Elementary Science
The video and resources listed below walk you through some learning tools centered around why elementary science, what does good science instruction look like, and how building leadership teams can best implement changes to what science instruction looks like in your school. From the partnerships of DASL (Delaware Academy for School Leadership) and DDOE (Delaware Department of Education).
Why Teach Elementary Science?
- Closed captioning is available. When viewing the video, click on "CC" and the closed captions appear.
- For closed captioning in Spanish, click the settings gear button, click auto translate, and select Spanish.
In this workshop, Tonyea Mead, Science Education Associate at DDOE, and Dr. Jackie Wilson, Director of Professional Learning at DASL, walk you through some learning tools centered around why elementary science, what does good science instruction look like, and how building leadership teams can best implement changes to what science instruction looks like in your school.
The 22-minute video is broken up into several chapters. As you watch with your leadership team, you’ll pause the video to take time to reflect, discuss, and assess. The whole process will likely take around 90 minutes if you do it all at once.
Before you start the video, be sure to take the two-question self-assessment survey. All the documents and learning tools you'll need can be downloaded in the sidebar. You can also find the teaching video embedded below.
Please take our Surveys - Pre-Survey For Principals & Post-Survey for Principals
After watching the video, select Will elementary science be the forgotten stepchild of school reform? to see National Statistics on how often elementary students are doing Science across the nation.
Workshop Links & Resources
- Download all files at once (.zip)
- Download the Resource Guide
- Elementary Science Implementation Self-Assessment
- Learning Tool #1: Why Do We Need to Teach Science in Elementary School (web, PDF)
- Learning Tool #2: NGSS Overview for Principals
- Learning Tool #3: What School Building Administrators Should Know About the New Vision for K-12 Science Education (web, PDF)
- Learning Tool #4: A New Vision for Science Education
- Learning Tool #5: Science Practices Continuum - Supervision
- Science Practices Video Lesson (watch 2:29 - 5:30)
- School Improvement Planning Tool
- 5 Year Planning Tool
