Modules

=Modular Resources for Promoting Research-informed Actions on STSE Issues =

Directory: Introduction || STEPWISE Resources

Introduction
We have developed resources for helping students to conduct science research projects that may generate findings that may motivate and direct actions they could take to address 'STSE' issues.

The resources are based on the 'STEPWISE ' theoretical framework. Teachers often have implemented that tetrahedral framework in a linear time sequence much like that depicted in the pedagogical framework show below:



Generally, to get students to self-direct research-informed action (RiA) projects, teachers often need - as shown in the figure above - to take them through one or more 'apprenticeship' activities. These apprenticeships are based on the 4-phase constructivism-informed learning cycle, depicted here. Briefly, because we believe students do not arrive in learning situations 'empty-headed' about many things teacher intend to cover, it can be helpful to first have students 'express' (e.g. say, write, draw, etc.) their initial ASK (attitudes, skills & knowledge) about STSE issues, research & actions. Shortly afterwards, teachers can then teach them (e.g., via case methods) about some STSE issues (and, hopefully, about the general nature of STSE issues). This will, then, set them up for being taught about research-informed actions on STSE issues - via a 2-stage cycle of demonstrating examples of RiA and guiding them through small-scale examples of RiA projects. Again, teachers may need to take students through at least one or two of these demonstrations and guided mini-projects before students develop confidence and expertise for moving to 'student-led research-informed action projects on STSE issues' of their choice.

The above model is a guide for resources we provide here (also found in the 'Backgrounder,' linked below).

= Educational Resources for RiA Apprenticeships =

Backgrounder
Before using the research-informed STSE action resources below, teachers should first read the '[|**Backgrounder**] .' This provides rationale for and approaches to implementation of research-informed STSE action projects.

Again, apprenticeships should involve 3 stages, leading to the 4th stage (when students run their own projects). The 3 apprenticeships stages are: i) Students 'express their STSE issues,' ii) Teacher teaches students about others' RiA projects, and iii) Teacher guides students in short RiA projects.

i) Encouraging Students to Express Their Ideas about STSE Issues
Based on constructivist learning theory, it can be helpful to encourage students to 'express' (e.g. say, write, draw, etc.) their pre-instructional ideas about STSE issues. Often these are subconscious, and making them conscious can make them available for re-consideration in light of alternative ideas presented by others (e.g., other students and the teacher). There are many ways to do this, but they generally involve providing students with some sort of 'stimulus' to which to react. Students can, for instance, be taken to a place where potential problems for individuals, societies &/or environments may be evident. A trip to a Tim Horton's™ outlet may, for instance, reveal the extensive garbage generated by their packing materials and containers. If a trip is not so feasible, showing them pictures of typical scenes around such fast-food outlets may be sufficient to get students reflecting on their views.

We have had some success with use of cards containing various pictures and statement to which students might react. Some of these, with brief descriptions about how teachers might use them, are provided below: <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Note: Teachers are advised to develop activities for students using the above cards in ways that best suite the students, the school context, etc.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[file:STSEed_Technologies-sm.pdf|Evaluating Technologies]]: This is a series of (32) cards, each containing the name of a commercial product or service and associated images. You can distribute these to kids (1 or more cards per kid) and ask them to brainstorm both ways in which the product/service is good for the wellbeing of individuals, societies and/or environments (WISE) and ways in which the product/service may be harmful to WISE. For benefits and harms, they could also be asked to brainstorm individuals and/or groups who would be supportive of their claims. For example, they might suggest that food manufacturing companies will be supportive of fast foods, while advocacy groups like the Centre of Science in the Public Interest would be opposed to them. After such brainstorming (which kids could record on paper or in an online environment), students could be asked to share their responses with peers and, perhaps, collaborate with them in representing their ideas in some visual form - such as posters displayed in the school hall or PowerPoint™ displays shown to peers or displayed on a school monitor.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Evaluating the Nature of Science: This is a series of cards that each contain a claim about the nature of science. In sum, there are statements that span a broad spectrum of views, such as those depicted in the 'Scientific Theory Profile.' Exploring these views can be played as a game, with the following steps: i) give each students about 6 cards; ii) ask each student to independently rank the statement on the cards from those statement to which they most agree down to those statements to which they least agree; iii) after all students have done their ranking, they should then be encouraged to move around the classroom to try to convince individual classmates to exchange cards (each person tries to trade away cards containing statements to which they least agree). Eventually, each student will, hopefully, have 6 cards mostly containing statements to which the most agree; iv) students could then be encouraged to find 1 or 2 other students in the class whose cards have statements quite similar to theirs. They should form a group and be asked to collaboratively write a general statement about how science works and how successful it can be. An alternative version of this game is published in the attached article.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[[file:STSEed_ExpressPositions_CardXchange.doc|Evaluating Action Possibilities]]: Each of these cards contains a recommendation for addressing a particular STSE issue. In sum, the cards contain statements that represent opposing suggestions - to emphasize that each recommendation is an debatable. Students could be given 1 or more cards and asked to evaluate each recommendation and give at least one reason for their decision. They could then present their decision about the issue(s) to peers and have their peers provide feedback on their decision and reasons. Such feedback could be recorded by the students. Students could be asked to find peers who would support their views and, collectively, they could produce a form of representation - such as a poster of PowerPoint™ slideshow to illustrate their views about the recommendations.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ii) Teaching About Others' RiA Projects
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">As part of RiA apprenticeships, teachers should 'model' or demonstrate to students examples of RiA taken by others (including other students).

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In concert with modelling RiA projects, teachers may need - especially when introducing this to students - to teach students about the nature of STSE issues, with examples. Although there are various approaches for teaching students about STSE issues, we suggest using case methods; that is, documentaries about controversies regarding STSE relationships and activities to engage students in exploring the issues. We have developed several case methods', which are available through the link at left and here: Case Methods. Most of these relate to STSE Education, although a few relate to NoST Education.
 * Teaching About STSE Issues**

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When teaching students about research-informed actions that others have taken about such issues, these kinds of methods could be used:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Modelling RiA Projects **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">YouTube™ Videos: There are many examples of actions people have taken, often as educational videos, on YouTube™.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Videos on This Wiki: I have embedded some videos from various sources here; and, I hope these help. Teachers can engage students in interacting with such videos by developing instructions and questions across the range of Bloom's Taxonomy.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teachers can show students examples of RiA projects conducted by students in other classes and years. Examples include: a) Health Pamphlets; b) Transportation and Climate Change Video; c) Perceptions of Beauty Video; d) Laser Eye Surgery Video; e) Coffee & Child Labour (French); f) Fair Trade & Bananas (French); g) Soccer Balls & Child Labour (French); h) Bottled vs. Tap Water Video; i) Town Hall Debate Video.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Help students to realize that actions should be based on solid research, such as by showing them the DHMO Hoax Scenario.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In modelling/demonstrating STSE issues, research and actions, there are some key teaching points that may be helpful.


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">STSE Issues **
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A simple way of identifying STSE issues is to think of them as controversies about relationships between [[file:STSE-Issues_S&T-S&E.jpg|Science & Technology and Societies & Environments]].
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Often, STSE issues amount to differences of opinion about the causes and/or seriousness of effects of products and services of fields of science and technology on societies and environments; e.g., STSE problems.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">People have opposing positions for various reasons; e.g. lack of science evidence; or perceptions of flawed nature of science (e.g., see Merchants of Doubt); and, of course, differences in values…e.g. Political Compass.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In thinking about different positions that people hold about STSE issues, we can identify various 'stakeholders' (e.g., here).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Often, the power that different stakeholders have over decisions in STSE relationships is uneven; ie some individuals and groups have much more power than others.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Often, in capitalist societies, it seems that many STSE decisions are strongly influences by corporations, economic organizations (e.g., World Trade Organization) and financiers.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The integrity of science and technology often seem to be compromised by partnerships with corporations and financiers, etc.; e.g., Corrupted Science.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Others?

When modelling RiA projects, teachers should indicate/demonstrate to students that investigators, activists, etc. have conducted secondary and primary research. Some points to consider when illustrating research are (NOTE: Many of these ideas can be taught or reinforced in stage iii):
 * Research**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Refer to my pages about research, here.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Help students to realize that good secondary research is 'triangulated' (agreement among at least 3 sources);
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students should see that fair research gains information from various stakeholders.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students should be taught that primary research is: valid (range of values of independent variable; qualitative and quantitative; control of variables) and reliable (repeated)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students should be taught that various practices of science and technology are 'sophisticated' (e.g., proper graphs, reports, etc.)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Others?

When modelling RiA projects, teachers should demonstrate for students various kinds of actions people have taken.
 * Actions**
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students should be shown that people use varied types of actions; e.g., Activism.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A key consideration in taken actions seems to be to decide where to direct them. They could be aimed directly at power-brokers/decision-makers (e.g., government, CEOs of companies, etc.) or at the masses of citizens (to perhaps develop mass concern about the issues).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students can be taught that actions may use various media types; refer to various types here: Action WebLinks.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Teach students that actions are 'effective' if people use effective communication skills; e.g., good balance of graphics and text in posters, websites, etc.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Others?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">iii) Guiding Students Through Small-scale RiA Projects
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Generally, it is important to help students to develop confidence and expertise for conducting correlational studies, as well as experiments, to develop further understanding of STSE issues of their choice (in addition to what they have been taught and found out through their secondary research). Using findings from their studies or experiments (and secondary research), students could then be encouraged to produce various forms of actions (about which they would have learned in the modeling stage, above). Mainly, we have been focusing on helping students to conduct correlational studies, as I mentioned above, as partial bases for their actions. So, some suggested steps in guiding students through small-scale RiA projects are, as follows:
 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students should first understand the nature of and rationale for correlational studies as a source of findings to inform actions. Some suggestions for this are provided above, under Skills Apprenticeship. This may involve guiding students through a relatively quick study, results of which they could use to suggest some actions for improving the wellbeing of individuals, societies and/or environments.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Tell students that you would like to guide them through a study that could, along with secondary research they conduct, help inform decisions they take on an STSE issue of your choice.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Guidance could range from being very teacher-directed (always open-ended) through to being very student-directed.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A more teacher-guided study would be to provide students with some cause-result variables relating to STSE issues in the unit. A list of cause-result variables is provided here. Some simple studies involve effects of age and/or gender on possible problematic outcomes, such as: the numbers of teens who smoke cigarettes; the number of teens who play violent video games; etc. The dependent variables here would depend on the topic of the unit.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Students could be given a series of brief descriptions or topics that would point to some STSE issues; such as these for grade 10 Biology, developed by Mirjan Krstovic. Students could get into small groups, each choosing a topic, and be asked to develop a cause-result correlational study to learn more about the issue. The teacher would help them design and implement the study. When students get results, along with their secondary research findings, they could then be guided to produce some form of actions, such as posters or petitions, etc.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Skills Apprenticeship <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">If you feel your students could benefit from lessons and activities that are aimed at helping them develop skills for science inquiry, technology design and related communications, then you might find the 100-page [|Skills Apprenticeship] resource helpful. These resources help students to develop expertise for skills like: question-asking; experiment design; correlational study design; technology design; graphing; graph interpretation; project evaluation; reporting; STSE actions. Many of these resources are also explained, with downloadable examples, at Skills Ed. Because STSE issues often involve potentially harmful effects on living things, including humans, correlational studies often are better forms of inquiry than experiments - because, unlike with experiments, the investigator does not purposely change the independent variable. Mirjan Krstovic, who has made great uses of STEPWISE resources, has produced a very helpful activity for helping students to develop expertise for conducting correlational studies,.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Overall <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">UNDER CONSTRUCTION....SORRY...

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">: Student-teachers enrolled in my elective pre-service course at OISE produced these resources for supporting teachers with RiA Apprenticeships. These may be useful as ideas for teachers.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Helping students to increase their expertise and motivation for research-informed actions on STSE issues.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The goal of the apprenticeships in the pedagogical model above is to help students to develop expertise and motivation for self-directing research-informed action (RiA) projects. We are still conducting educational research to learn more about how to help students do this. We generally know that teachers need to conduct at least one apprenticeship, but often at least two before they will feel that students can self-direct their own projects. Generally, the older the students, the fewer apprenticeships that need to be provided.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In thinking about helping students to improve their expertise for RiA, we can imagine that first we need to think about what it means to have well-developed expertise and confidence for such projects. Some suggestions for this - for each of STSE issues, Research and Actions - are:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">To help students to improve their expertise and confidence for RiA projects from across two or more apprenticeships, some things teachers might do include:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Modelling (showing them what others have done)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Apprenticeship…guided practice…and immediate feedback, if possible
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Deadlines (e.g., see those posted by Mirjan Krstovic for grade 11 chemistry)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Reflection (meta-talk around Nature of RiA)
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Collaboration
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">More 'advanced' means more 'personalized' and that, by its very nature, can come from SD/OE
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Others?

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">iv) Student-led RiA Projects
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Once the teacher feels students are ready, perhaps after at least one set of apprenticeship activities, they should be given a 'culminating' assignment to self-direct their own research-informed action projects to address an STSE issue of their concern/interest. Attached please find a. In giving such assignments, it is good to set a series of deadlines for students, to keep them 'on task'...; e.g., see those posted by Mirjan Krstovic for grade 11 chemistry.

=<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> <span style="color: #0000ff; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Modules for Apprenticeships in Research-informed Actions on STSE Issues =

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL DIVISION
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Grade 7 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Grade 8 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Grade 9 || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Grade 10 ||
 * * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Interactions in the Environment.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Form & Function.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Pure Substances & Mixtures.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Heat in the Environment. || * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Cells.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Systems in Action.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Fluids.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Water Systems. || * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sustainability.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Electricity: [|PDF]; Wiki.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chemistry.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Astronomy. || * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Physiology.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Optics.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chemistry ([|PDF]); Water Quality ([|PDF]).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Climate Change: [|PDF]; Wiki. ||

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">SENIOR SCHOOL DIVISION
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Grade || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">BIOLOGY || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">CHEMISTRY || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">EARTH & SPACE || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">ENVIRONMENT || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">PHYSICS || <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">SCIENCE ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">11 || * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Internal Systems & Regulation. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">12 || * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Homeostasis. ||  ||   ||   ||   ||   ||