News at Concord Consortium
New Support for Learning Everywhere Initiative
The Concord Consortium is pleased to announce the second phase of a revolutionary $2 million initiative using technology to bridge informal and formal STEM learning experiences. The generous support of the William K. Bowes, Jr. Foundation and the JPB Foundation launches the next phase of our Learning Everywhere initiative and expands an existing partnership with the New York Hall of Science (NYSCI).
Technology has fundamentally changed our everyday life, and it offers great potential to help learning experiences transcend physical boundaries. One area especially primed for such transformation is the informal learning that takes place in museums. Museums provide access to phenomena on an inspirational scale, creating environments filled with powerful emotional and sensory experiences. However, museum experiences remain fragmented and solitary, suffering from the “Vegas problem”— what happens in the museum stays in the museum.
Our Learning Everywhere initiative is working to address this issue by bringing Concord Consortium researchers and developers together with the designers and researchers behind NYSCI’s groundbreaking Connected Worlds exhibit, which immerses visitors in a set of fantastical animated and interconnected worlds, from rainforests to deserts, in which their actions—gestures, movements, and decisions— affect how the worlds are kept in balance. We’ll forge new ground in creating learning experiences that span informal and formal learning settings, and use cutting-edge technology to track learners’ actions both within and across these settings, analyzing these actions to understand how to foster coherent, extended learning. We aim to connect museum and classroom experiences and make opportunities for such learning available to the wide diversity of learners and social groups who visit museums.
FathomTM Dynamic Data Software
Fathom is dynamic software that’s fun and effective for teaching data analysis and statistics. It’s also a powerful tool for high school students to use for modeling with mathematics, as required by the Common Core State Standards. In addition to helping students understand algebra, precalculus, and statistics, Fathom’s powerful data analysis capabilities make it an excellent tool for the physical and biological sciences, as well as for social science courses. Fathom is widely used for data exploration and analysis in grades 8–14. The award-winning Fathom is now available at reduced prices—from just $5.25 per copy (or less for multiple copies), a savings of up to 40%. Get your copy today at fathom.concord.org.
High-Adventure Science Partnership with National Geographic Education
We are excited to announce that our High-Adventure Science modules are now available as a collection on the National Geographic Education website, thanks to a National Science Foundation-funded partnership. We welcome the opportunity to share these modules with a wider audience of middle and high school teachers and students. All modules continue to be available on the High-Adventure Science website.
Each week-long module is built around an important unanswered question in Earth or environmental science, and includes interactive computer models and real-world data. Students attempt to answer the same questions as research scientists, though we don’t expect them to be able to arrive at definitive answers. The goal is to engage students in the process of doing science, building arguments from evidence and data, and realizing that uncertainty drives scientific progress. Our research has shown that, after using High-Adventure Science modules, students improve both their understanding of scientific content and argumentation skills.
Partnering with National Geographic Education allows us to provide more support for teachers. On their website, you’ll find in-depth teaching tips, background information, vocabulary definitions, links to standards, and links to related resources in the National Geographic catalog.
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