The Board on Agriculture organized a Forum on Agriculture's Role in K-12 Education to provide an opportunity for agricultural professional societies to explore ways in which examples from agriculture, food, and environment systems can be used to enhance inquiry-based science education. Participants discussed how professional societies could enhance the continued education of K-12 teachers, improve school science programs, and increase collaboration with other professional societies and science teachers. This booklet presents the proceedings of this forum. Chapters include: (1) A Scientist's Role in K-12 Education; (2) Scientist and Teacher Partnerships; (3) Sustaining Support for Science Education; and (4) Future Roles for Professional Societies and Scientists. (ASK)
This book responds to the widespread recognition among experts that our educational system needs to change in order to provide the skills and knowledge necessary to ensure the future vitality of U.S. agriculture. Understanding Agriculture focuses on agricultural literacy (education about agriculture) and vocational agricultural education (education in agriculture). The section on agricultural literacy addresses the teaching of science through agriculture, teacher education and training, model educational programs, community support, and agricultural career exploration programs. Vocational agricultural education is examined in terms of program enrollment, availability and content, supervised occupational experiences, the Future Farmers of America program, and teacher education and supply.
During the next ten years, colleges of agriculture will be challenged to transform their role in higher education and their relationship to the evolving global food and agricultural enterprise. If successful, agriculture colleges will emerge as an important venue for scholars and stakeholders to address some of the most complex and urgent problems facing society. Such a transformation could reestablish and sustain the historical position of the college of agriculture as a cornerstone institution in academe, but for that to occur, a rapid and concerted effort by our higher education system is needed to shape their academic focus around the reality of issues that define the world's systems of food and agriculture and to refashion the way in which they foster knowledge of those complex systems in their students. Although there is no single approach to transforming agricultural education, a commitment to change is imperative.
Agriculture to Zoology: Information Literacy in the Life Sciences sets the stage for purposefully integrating information literacy activities within the subject-specific content of the life sciences. The book is written for librarians and other professionals who teach information literacy skills, especially those in the science disciplines, and most especially the life sciences. It is also intended to be helpful to secondary school teachers, college faculty who teach life science-related subjects, library school students, and others interested in information literacy and science education. Anyone wanting to learn more about the Earth's life sciences, from citizen to scientist, will benefit as well. The book's seven chapters fill a gap with varying perspectives of literacy instruction in the life sciences and include resources identified by academic librarians as important for use in subject-specific research in higher education. Contributors are longtime specialists in the fields of the life sciences, science and information literacy, scientific and electronic communication, assessment, and more, including Arctic and Antarctic information. - Specialized focus on information literacy in the life science disciplines, rather than information literacy in general - Discussion of library instruction, featuring methods, tools, and assignments to engage students in different areas of the life sciences - Chapters on specific life science subjects highlight traditional as well as non-traditional sources
Achieving science literacy for every student is the common goal of all science educators. It requires leaders from a broad specturm of the science educaiton field to band together and clearly define how to achieve this goal and provide the tools for getting there. The authors of the essays in Science Education leadership: Best Practices for the New Centruy make a compelling case for the importance of these leaders to forge a coalition and address issues of science education. They outline practical approaches needed for laying the foundation on which science education leaders at all levels can work together to develop a more science literate world. As such, this book will be invaluable to those who want to broaden the scope of their leadership roles. The book shares the research, ideas, insights, and experiences of individuals representing a wide array of consistent groups, ranging from science teachers to science supervisors to university personnel to those who work for agencies representing the science education field. The chapters are organized around five themes: The Science Education Challenge; School and District Science Leadership for Building Instructional Capacity; Science Education Leadership; School Improvement Processes and Practices; and Leadership that Engages the Public Understanding of Science. Science Education Leadership captures the best thinking and best practices for sicence education leaders. Science educators can use it to vitalize their work.
The global food industry has the largest number of demanding and knowledgeable consumers: the world population of seven billion inhabitants, since every person eats! This population requires food products that fulfill the high quality standards established by the food industry organizations. Food shortages threaten human health and are aggravated by the disastrous, extreme climatic events such as floods, droughts, fires, storms connected to climate change, global warming and greenhouse gas emissions that modify the environment and, consequently, the production of foods in the agriculture and husbandry sectors. This collection of articles is a timely contribution to issues relating to the food industry. They were selected for use as a primer, an investigation guide and documentation based on modern, scientific and technical references. This volume is therefore appropriate for use by university researchers and practicing food developers and producers. The control of food processing and production is not only discussed in scientific terms; engineering, economic and financial aspects are also considered for the advantage of food industry managers.
Currently, many states are adopting the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) or are revising their own state standards in ways that reflect the NGSS. For students and schools, the implementation of any science standards rests with teachers. For those teachers, an evolving understanding about how best to teach science represents a significant transition in the way science is currently taught in most classrooms and it will require most science teachers to change how they teach. That change will require learning opportunities for teachers that reinforce and expand their knowledge of the major ideas and concepts in science, their familiarity with a range of instructional strategies, and the skills to implement those strategies in the classroom. Providing these kinds of learning opportunities in turn will require profound changes to current approaches to supporting teachers' learning across their careers, from their initial training to continuing professional development. A teacher's capability to improve students' scientific understanding is heavily influenced by the school and district in which they work, the community in which the school is located, and the larger professional communities to which they belong. Science Teachers' Learning provides guidance for schools and districts on how best to support teachers' learning and how to implement successful programs for professional development. This report makes actionable recommendations for science teachers' learning that take a broad view of what is known about science education, how and when teachers learn, and education policies that directly and indirectly shape what teachers are able to learn and teach. The challenge of developing the expertise teachers need to implement the NGSS presents an opportunity to rethink professional learning for science teachers. Science Teachers' Learning will be a valuable resource for classrooms, departments, schools, districts, and professional organizations as they move to new ways to teach science.
