The SCIENCE IN A TECHNICAL WORLD Program Contact Your Sales Rep Units Goals Features Teacher's Edition State Correlations Lab Notebook Supplements: CD-ROM demo Video Availability, Packaging, Pricing Register here to learn more about SCIENCE IN A TECHNICAL WORLD Scientific American Explorations STW Home Page About Freeman   Freeman High School American Chemical Society

FEATURES "Virtual Workplace" Approach Science in a Technical World helps prepare students for the world of work. Workplace processes and interactions are simulated in the classroom as realistically as possible. In each unit, students replicate the problem-solving strategies practiced by industry technicians. Students also learn the science and technology concepts, and practice the laboratory skills, that technicians use in their jobs. Students work in teams to analyze and solve problems on a timeline. Teachers serve as "managers" or "supervisors" of the work, providing students with ongoing feedback. Unit-based (small book) Format Each module focuses on a different industry and specific scientific disciplines: biology, chemistry, earth science, physics. Teacher support and lists of prerequisite skills (in teacher's edition) allow units to be done in any order, so instructors can design their own sequence of topics. Focus on Knowledge and Skills Science in a Technical World units engage students in tasks that are meaningful and significant. Students are presented with realistic, open-ended problems and take on tasks that require them to integrate knowledge and skills. As they progress through the units, students review key science concepts, learn laboratory skills (including safety), develop problem-solving skills, and practice written and oral communication. They are required to access relevant information from a variety of sources (including the Internet). They use this information to design and carry out experiments; collect, organize, and analyze their experimental data; and arrive at and present conclusions that help to solve a particular work-related problem. Performance-based Assessment Assessments, both formative and summative, are an integral part of the Science in a Technical World program. Formative assessment is done throughout the unit, focusing on identifying student strengths, assessing broad competencies, and measuring proficiency. Summative assessment occurs at the end of the unit. The summative assessment is a presentation of data, data analyses, and conclusions that students make after they have solved the central problem in the unit. Both formative and summative assessment are evaluated by criteria defined in the module itself. Students are scored according to clearly stated performance standards. Educational and Skills Standards The concepts, processes, and skills on which each of the units are based are taken from the National Science Education Standards (NSES) the Voluntary Standards for Chemical Process Technicians, Benchmarks for Science Literacy (BSL) Skill Standards for the Bioscience Industry U.S. Dept. of Labor's What Work Requires of Schools (1991), and the National Council for the Teaching of Mathematics (NCTM) Standards. Units were developed in partnership with the appropriate industries.