National
and State Learning Standards with The Private Eye
"It's
very user friendly. Every reason teachers give
for not doing hands-on science is answered by The Private
Eye. It's just wonderful."
Carol Cleveland,
Teacher, South Elementary, Bellingham, Massachusetts
"...exceptionally
ingenious and effective program for science teaching.
... I am very conscious of the importance of thoughtful,
lively innovations that substantially raise the students'
interest and thus raise the educational results. The
Private Eye Project is the most promising such innovation
I have ever seen."
Charles
L. Remington,
Professor of Biology and Environmental Studies, Yale University
Curator, Yale Natural History Museum
"This is a gold mine. It's what
I've been waiting for my entire teaching career [29 years].
For meeting the new NY State standards, this is an
ideal tool—integration
is the catch phrase, and this is a great place to start."
Christine
Danese, Teacher, Norfolk Elementary, NY
Overview
AAAS
Meeting the Standards: California, Oregon, Washington, & Your State
Are
you in the process of adopting curriculum/materials to
meet the new standards? Or designing lesson plans to meet
the new standards? Or modifying existing curriculum to
meet the new standards... ? The Private Eye provides one
of the easiest tools and most complete means for addressing
this need.
Some
of the many ways The Private Eye meets National and State
Standards:
- by making it
easy and thrilling for students to look more closely
at the world around them, it allows students to observe
the substance and structure of life with fresh eyes (via
the loupe, loupe-drawing and loupe writing)
- by having students
connect the observation process and subject matter of
any discipline to their own personal experience of the
world (via the process of self-questioning and thinking
by analogy) - subject matter becomes individualized,
meaningful, memorable and scholarly. Students form multiple
links to the subject matter using The Private Eye approach.
- by training
teachers to help students of all ages learn to self-analyze
and think and work collaboratively. (As students share "what
else their object reminds them of", or loupe-drawings,
each person in a group becomes a magnifier for the rest
of the group.) In the theorizing step of The Private
Eye teams of students typically work together "like
a giant brain" to create, from analogy lists, hypotheses
that they then test.
- by mirroring
the steps of the Scientific Method, The Private Eye process
provides one of the most coherent, cohesive and integrated
sets of educational tools available today.
- by addressing
the need teachers and students have for a hands-on curriculum
and philosophy which is holistically engaging.
- by motivating
students to find the personal connection to observable
data, through the process of thinking by analogy, student
independence grows; students connect to real life and
its lovely variety, giving them a sense of the richness
of life. Learning to care for their own thinking allows
students to care for the thinking of others: this connects
them to what others in the classroom, and the world,
are doing.
- Thinking
by analogy is seeing patterns and relationships between
facts /events/ experiences. The Private Eye curriculum
provides hands-on training in analytical yet creative
thinking skills in a graceful and interdisciplinary way,
building bridges between subjects and enriching all core
disciplines.
"Scientists,
mathematicians, and engineers prize the creative use of
imagination. The science classroom ought to be a place
where creativity and invention.... are recognized and encouraged.
In
the science classroom, wondering should be as highly valued
as knowing.
Inventing
hypotheses or theories to imagine how the world works and
then figuring out how they can be put to the test of reality
is as creative as writing poetry, composing music, or designing
skyscrapers."
-
from Science for All Americans, by F. James
Rutherford, Chief Education Officer, The American Association
for the Advancement of Science & Andrew Ahlgren
(Associate Director Project 2061). Oxford University
Press, 1990.
Here
is the real delight: The Private Eye process develops
The Scientific Method, The Poet's/Writer's Method, The
Artist's method, The Mathematician's Method, The Humorist's
Method, and The Inventor's Method - all at once:
1.
Close observation (becomes a habit using loupe-power
and analogy-power);
2. Recording of observations (analogy-based observations
are so specific!: sharp as a needle? or sharp as a knife?
You also get bones-for-poems, stories, essays and more.
Loupe-drawing is an act of close observation. In grad
school in science, for example, they say "Draw!
Draw! Draw!");
3. Hypothesize/ theorize (analogy lists provide
options for hypotheses: "If x reminds me of y, I
wonder if it might function or act like y in some way
that would help a critter or plant survive?"
E.g., if the surface of the plant reminds me of "fur",
I wonder if it might function like fur in some way for the
survival of that plant? How does fur function to help a dog
or a beaver or a bear? In similar ways might the "furry" surface
of the plant help it survive - in summer? in winter? in wet?
etc.);
4. Testing of guesses / research (students, like
professionals, now design tests for their guesses, for
their hypotheses. They carry out the tests. They check
other texts and experts on the subject. If a pattern
holds up, particularly across subjects and categories,
it's more and more likely to be "true" or "useful").
California:
grades 1-6
California:
grades 7-12
| The
Private Eye program fosters the kind of intellectual training
which builds in students the abilities called for elsewhere
in the stated goals of The Commission on Student Learning,
namely:
"the ability to be independent thinkers who can solve
real-life problems and keep up with the latest breakthroughs,
... [the ability] to see patterns and relationships between
facts and ideas, and to use facts as tools for understanding
and organizing concepts and principles." (p.5, Intro.)
Sherry
Schaaf, Science Coordinator for the Quillayute Valley School
District, Forks, Washington, writes in the November 1996 Washington
Science Teachers' Journal:
"These
activities tie in wonderfully with the Essential Learnings
in Science. For example, using the loupe to observe, write,
draw and collect data about mushrooms and yeast granules
during a Non-Green plant study, these Goals and Components
were covered:
- Goal 1: The
student understands and uses scientific concepts and
principles.
Component: The
student uses characteristics to identify, describe,
and categorize living things.
- Goal 2: The
student conducts scientific investigations.
Component: The
student will practice the principles of scientific
inquiry (e.g.., Record and report data accurately.)
- Goal 3: The
student uses effective communication skills and tools
to build and demonstrate understanding of science.
Component: Students
use effective communication strategies and tools to
collect, organize, and present scientific information.
By
continuing to frequently use loupes [with The Private Eye
process] to facilitate your teaching, these Goals and Components
will not just be taught by you, but learned by your students.
And when this happens, you have changed forever the way
they view the world around them." |
Take
a closer look at your states guidelines and you'll see for
yourself the connections with The Private Eye. You can download
summary statements or full documents.
(http://edstandards.org/Standards.html) |
