Links

Website: EcoScienceWorks

EcoScienceWorks is an NSF ITEST project for seventh and eighth grade science teachers and students in Maine. Its major goal is to develop computer-based curriculum for the Maine laptop program that will spur student interest in computer modeling in science while learning ecology.

EcoBeaker: Maine Explorer™, the software portion of EcoScienceWorks, can be found in the Applications folder of all Maine Learning Technology Initiative (MLTI) middle school student and teacher laptops in Fall 2008. The software is at the heart of the new EcoScienceWorks curriculum, which was written by Maine middle school science teachers. EcoBeaker: Maine Explorer™ has been developed and thoroughly field-tested in Maine classrooms over the past 3 years.

The EcoScienceWorks curriculum includes unit and lesson plans for each EcoBeaker: Maine Explorer™ lab as well as an accompanying field exercise. The units include assessments that align with the new Maine learning standards and are designed for use "right out of the box." In addition, students are given a "look under the hood" of their ecology labs through a Code Blocks programming challenge called Program a Bunny.

The EcoScienceWorks curriculum is in a NoteShare notebook that can be downloaded from the software developer's site following a simple registration. Registering will allow teachers to be advised of any updates to the software and curriculum and allow the project to collect usage data. More information and links to podcasts that describe each of the labs can be found on the EcoScienceWorks web page.

February 10, 2009 20:07 UTC