One of the main participants in the Investigate the State program is the group of 100 or so educators in the Greater Proficiency in Science program in northern Michigan. Rather than try to include all of their project information within this site, especially considering the massive curriculum development project that these teachers have been involved in, we are just creating a new site. During July and early August 2011, we will be adding significant content to the new site, which can be found at http://gps3.org. The site will include all of the teacher-created curriculum units, plus some of the model curriculum materials from Investigate the State.
While this is going on, this site will also be revised and reconstructed. We are adding some new content relative to the place-based investigations that Investigate the State was originally designed for, and will also be restructuring the site to become more community oriented, and to give users more of a reason to use the site more regularly. These changes will also be taking place through August, so expect to see “a site in transition” for a while, since we don’t really have a team of educators, webmasters, etc. It is not really a “we” operation – more of a “me” operation working with others to get content to support teachers. So, pardon the dust, clutter, and a few missing links or photos – they’ll be here soon.
In the meantime, if we have new content that we really want to highlight, you will find it right here on the front page of this site. Have a great summer, and we’ll look forward to having you visit us when construction is done.
2011 is moving quickly, and if you are working with us on the Greater Proficiency in Science project, you are hopefully well-entrenched in research for your inquiry-unit lessons and mapping out your initial ideas for these lessons to share with colleagues. If you have already doing this, that’s great. Otherwise, it is time to start pushing yourself to get these materials ready, so that your team can come to the March workshops prepared to share your plans with your colleagues.
Here are some upcoming deadlines to consider for your curriculum development:
- Assessment questions for the pre/post student assessment – due NOW (so that we can give you a final formatted assessment by the end of February)
- Post Draft lessons to your group – February 18
- Revise and post draft lessons for general review on Moodle site – March 4
The next workshops will be March 8 (for grade 3-5 teachers) or March 9 (for grade 6-9 teachers) at your local Math/Science Center, starting at 9:30am Eastern Standard Time. We’ll be connecting with you live from the Eastern UP ISD via ITV for the day. If you would like to schedule a team online meeting or conference call before that time, check with Steve or your Math/Science Center mentor for your team to set this up. Otherwise, at the workshop, please bring some of the research materials you have for your unit, and if possible, an example of a reading or writing task that you are considering for your lessons in the unit. We’ll take some time to address literacy strategies in science amid our other collaboration and technology topics.
The Investigate the State/Greater Proficiency in Science web site is undergoing some pretty dramatic changes over the next few weeks. Unfortunately, since our webmaster is also our workshop leader, conference presenter, and janitor, among other duties, they won’t occur overnight, but will take a couple weeks to make all of the changes effective and remove any broken links, irrelevant posts, or content typos that might linger during the transition. So, figure on a few foibles over the next fortnight, but, by the final days of February, we will have a fantastic foundation for the future. And a new site.
For the participants in the Greater Proficiency in Science project, the course site is still having new information added, but will not otherwise change in address or functionality during the remainder of the 2010-11 school year. For those of you checking out information or resources, we will soon have a new set of technology tutorials, mini-topic presentations, links, and structure to better accommodate current and future efforts for the program.
So, if you see a broken link, or have a question, please CONTACT US, but otherwise, figure on seeing something completely new here by the end of February, if not sooner (ideally, before the MSTA conference).