Elementary Science Education is Enhanced by the GEES Project
The Friday Institute for Education Innovation was pleased to be the location of the second annual Graphic Enhanced Elementary Science (GEES) teacher workshops. The workshops are part of ongoing research into ways to enhance learning for elementary science students. The participants were 2nd-4th grade elementary teachers from four Wake County elementary schools, Bugg, Olds, Jeffereys Grove, and Hunter.
The project team spent the previous school year in these schools working with teachers and observing their science instruction. Based on this work with the teachers and their students and ongoing research and development, a comprehensive strategy for enhancing science instruction through the use of standardized but flexible graphic elements was introduced. These graphic elements, representing core science concepts, can be used by teachers and students to explain phenomena being observed in science experiments conducted in the classroom and combined with written explanations and data as part of their work in their science notebooks.
The GEES team plans to conduct follow-up work in each teacher’s classroom this year along with building an online professional development web site to communicate elementary science instruction strategies.
For more information about this project visit this site.