Breakthroughs in Science
SCIED-GE 2018
New York University
The Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development
The Department of Teaching and Learning
Science Education Program
Meeting in room East Building, 4th Floor, 1/2 hour after the Recent
Advances in Science Seminar (the session runs for approximately 2
hours). This course meets approximately once a month throughout the year
2014 - 2015
Instructor: Robert J. Wallace, Ph.D.
Office: Room 410 East Building (239 Greene Street)
Phone: 917 885-7916 email (best method): [email protected]
Office Hours: by appointment
Network website:
http://bit.ly/NYUScienceEducation
"Breakthroughs in Science" is a course that is offered as a companion to
the "Recent Advances in Science Seminar" program, an on-going,
interactive series of Saturday morning seminars on current research topics
and recent progress in the burgeoning field of biological and biomedical
sciences. The program is designed for high school and middle school
science teachers. It offers teachers the opportunity to meet with leading
scientists working at the frontier of scientific fields, who are also
outstanding teachers.
The "Breakthroughs in Science" course offers participants to delve further
into the educational and pedagogical concepts that are the focus of the
"Recent Advances in Science Seminar."
Course Requirements
1. Attend the "Recent Advances in Science" Seminars
2. Each meeting, a small group of the participants will present an analysis
of the previous month's seminar. This analysis will include, but not be
limited to
a. A brief summary of the essential advances in science presented in
the seminar –what are the recent advances in science, or the
breakthroughs that were presented in the seminar;
b. Describe the role of questioning as a way of guiding the research.
c. How were models used in the study (what are the strengths and
limitations of the models selected)?
d. What are some of the next steps that the researcher plans to take?
e. How can the work of this researcher be integrated into the science
program in schools.
3. Each Group will develop a portfolio of lesson plans inspired by the
seminars.
a. Using the overview of “NY State Regents Science” (the NGSS or
other appropriate high school/middle school standards/curriculum), choose
a thematic unit of study and develop a series of classroom investigations
(provide a detailed description of “3” of them - this number is based on the
number of people in the group) that will allow students to gain an insight
into the recent advances that are occurring in the selected field. The theme
should have some guiding questions that shape the student inquiry. The
activities should include the collection of data (real or simulated) that can
be analyzed by the students in a way that will model the actual approach
that is used by scientists in that discipline. The ideal activities will have
more than one possible result. **Note-these lessons should not be
duplicates of any NY State Regents required laboratories.
b. Provide an overall context for the problem(s) investigated (why is
this an important topic to study?)
c. What should the student have studied prior to conducting the
investigation (site recent literature in scientific journals)?
d. Provide some biographical information about a current scientist
who has contributed to the field that you are investigating.
e. How will you assess whether students have learned the important
concepts?
4. The other participants are asked to provide written feedback to the
presenter(s) - approximately 500 words. This feedback should include your
thoughts about how easily you think that these ideas can be integrated into
a secondary school science program. All of this work will be posted online.
Any student attending NYU who needs an accommodation due to a
chronic, psychological, visual, mobility and/or learning disability, or is Deaf
or Hard of Hearing should register with the Moses Center for Students with
Disabilities at 212 998-4980, 240 Greene Street, www.nyu.edu/csd.