Who Are We?
We are the “ASK Project”.
We (the original ASK project participants) teach in elementary schools of rural and small-town districts in Missouri and Iowa.
“Our “Adapting Science for Kids” project builds on 25 years of NSF-funded work by the “ASK” team as a K-6 professional development strategy in which we are using distance technologies to reach teachers whether located in rural, small-town, or urban centers. So far we have produced:
(1) a set of more than 130 ASK lessons with more than 70 accompanying classroom videos which are specific to using inquiry science to “teach more than science,”
(2) this ASK website for teachers to share their lessons and ideas with other teachers, including teachers experts in “Adapting Science for Kids,”
(3) for teachers who wish to share their lessons — a free system for recording science lessons at-a-distance by a videographer who will record, edit, give feedback, and post the lesson, and
(4) research evidence on the impact of ASK communities of practice on school districts’ programs, teachers, and students in nine school districts.”
Wherever you are, we invite you to join us. You may wish to merely chat with us via Email or join us online in Elluminate or Polycom “Community of Practice” sessions or share your notes and/or videos for lessons you have adapted to “teach more than science when you teach inquiry science.” We can help you create the notes as well as record and edit the videos for you — and perhaps offer you graduate credit for your participation with us.
The NSF-Funded “ASK” Project – A Brief History
When we wrote the proposal to the National Science Foundation, we were responding to the “Discovery Research K-12 (B2)” call for “full-scale projects that provide resources and tools for use with K-12 teachers that (1) are grounded in research on teaching and learning, (2) incorporate appropriate technologies, (3) provide ubiquitous access to resources, tools and methods, and (4) show their potential to impact student and teacher learning nation-wide.” Our submission proposed to build on 15 (now more than 25) years of our NSF-funded work by our “ASK” team of teachers. We had been adapting science lessons as a K-6 professional development strategy and using distance technologies to reach teachers in small, rural school districts.
We developed and tested a new generation of ASK resources and distance delivery strategies. The products include: (1) a validated set of ASK lessons and accompanying classroom videos, (2) a web-based community of practice facilitated by Polycom View Stations, and an “Elluminate Live” portal where asks activities and classroom videos can be accessed and posted and where teachers can interact with other teachers (including teachers who are expert in adapting lessons) nation-wide, and (3) research evidence on the impact of ASK on school districts programs, teachers and students in our field test school districts.
The ASK idea of helping other teachers “adapt” science inquiry activities to account for student ideas and interests and to enhance competence in reading, writing, math, and other curricular areas responded to the call for teacher education programs that “…prepare teachers to think about the enterprise of teaching as building on the existing knowledge base and preconceptions of students…[and that] …convey a model of teachers as a learner, who continually develops expertise that is flexible and adaptive.” (Donovan, Bransford & Pellegrino, 1999, p. 46).
More than building on teachers’ prior knowledge, our ASK approach utilizes and respects prior knowledge and recognizes that “much of what a teacher needs to know (and know how to do) is learned in the context of practice [from other teachers]” (Schlager & Fusco, 2004, p. 129). Our ASK approach builds “communities of practice” with colleagues within school buildings and districts and with colleagues and experts outside—both of which are critical to continued professional development (Darling-Hammond & Ball, 1998).
EmbroideryMoney.com developed and field-tested the new generation of ASK lessons and the website for building communities of practice in nine small, rural, and small-town school districts. Based on our success with the ASK lessons developed earlier in our FOCIS (1988-92), PALs (1994-98), and Science Co-op (2000-2007) for FOSS, STC, and Insights kits, we began a working library for use in these field tests. We are offering these “Teacher Lesson Adaptation Notes” (TLANs) and lesson videos on our “justaskateacher” website for teachers in the USA and beyond.
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