NGSS Framework Video Series

This is the first video in a new video series explaining the Framework of the Next Generation Science Standards. From what I've seen so far it looks like it will provide a great introduction to the framework.

New Framework for K-12 Science Education

The National Research Council (NRC) just released a new report of a framework for future K-12 science education in the United States. Check out the press release.
http://www8.nationalacademies.org/onpinews/newsitem.aspx?RecordID=13165

Assembly Tie In to National and State Science Standards

Exciting, fun and informative standards-based science education is very important to our mission and purpose. We have been working hard to provide you with information about how this year's assembly, "Our World in Motion", connects to both the National Science Education Standards as well as state standards where we plan on marketing our programs this year (Michigan, Hawaii and Utah). Please click on the links above to see how our show can help your students have fun learning National and State Science Standards.

Tie in to Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations

Our World in Motion, the science assembly we are offering this year, addresses Michigan Grade Level Content Expectations for Inquiry Process, Inquiry Analysis and Communication, and Reflection and Social Implications for K-5 grade levels. Since this year’s show mainly addresses the Force and Motion area of The Physical Science Discipline of the Content Expectations, most of the specific content expectations covered by this show are for Kindergarten, 3^rd grade and 5^th grade, the years when Force and Motion are more prominently placed in the curriculum. However, the standards in the show will either be a refresher of what they have already covered and/or an exciting look at what is ahead for your 1^st, 2^nd and 4^th grade students. Either way this show is one that will be relevant to your entire student body and fun and exciting for all. Additionally, if you would prefer two shows (one for your older students and one for your younger students) we can accommodate that request and tailor each show more specifically to the younger or older students. In coming years our shows, including "The Magical World of Science" "What's the Matter?!?" and "Energy: It's All About Change" will cover different Elementary Grade Level Content Expectations.

Education Nation Summit

This week the Education Nation summit, sponsored by NBC News, has been underway in New York City. Monday morning, Matt Lauer interviewed President Obama on the Today Show about the state of the U.S. Education system. Watch the video and read the article at this link. Of particular note to Jr. Science World was Pres. Obama's comment on where our Nation ranks in science and math scores.

He said: "But one of the things that everybody needs to understand is, is that across the board... you are still seeing a decline in terms... of math and science performance. And one of the things that we are very excited about -- because we need to focus on math and science -- my administration is announcing that we are going to specifically focus on training 10,000 new math and science teachers . We've got to boost performance in that area. We used to rank at the top; we are now 21st in science, 25th in math. That is a sign of long-term decline that has to be reversed. And so we're going to be putting a big emphasis on math and science education , and part of that means getting better teachers . But part of it also means parents understanding, yeah, their kids need to excel in those subjects in particular." (emphasis/highlighting added)

Education Nation has a link so you can see how your school measures up. Click on the link below, type in your school or district and see how it measures up with the rest of the Nation and how the nation measures up with the rest of the world. You'll notice that we're ranked among the mid-performing countries for reading, math and science! School score card

Now more than ever, we are committed to helping our nation get back on top by providing fun and exciting standards-based science programs and curriculum. Check us out and book a show for your school this year.

Our World in Motion Assembly Kickoff

We've been putting everything together to do science assemblies at schools here in Southwest Michigan and other select locations in the United States. The assembly for this year is called "Our World in Motion" and we hope it will be a huge success. Here is a jpeg image of the flier we just finished.

If you're interested in having this show at your school please let me know and I'll see if I can schedule multiple shows in your area to make the travel worth it. We're very excited about getting this off the ground, and we believe it will be very well received.

Welcome to the Junior Science World blog

My name is Brian Kinghorn, and I am a doctoral candidate in Educational Psychology and Educational Technology with an emphasis on science teacher knowledge at Michigan State University. At Michigan State I have taught undergraduate courses in Educational Psychology and Elementary Science Methods. I also worked on a research project developing an online elementary heredity curriculum and teacher professional development using UC Berkeley's WISE program. Additionally I spent three years working on an NSF funded grant that involved observing and interviewing early-career secondary science teachers from across the nation to assess their needs. For my own research I have focused on how elementary and middle school teachers learn science content as they teach.

I am also an experienced extracurricular elementary science instructor. Starting in 2002 I worked for Science Adventures in many different capacities. I started as a summer science camp instructor and moved on to teaching after-school science clubs, presenting science assemblies at schools and teaching and training other instructors. I also traveled across the United States presenting week-long Science Adventures camps at US Air Force bases and traveled to Hong Kong to do the first Science Adventures camps there. The program was so well received that I was hired in late 2004 as the founding general manager of Science Adventures programs in Hong Kong, a position I held until entering graduate school.

As part of a graduate fellowship I developed the business plan for Junior Science World. The focus is to provide inquiry based elementary science programs, curriculum and professional development to an international market, with particular emphasis on underprivileged populations.

When people learn of my background they often ask me about where they can find good resources for science curriculum or good ideas for science projects or lessons. Such was the case today. A friend called me and said his sister home schools her kids and wanted to know where she could find good resources and science curriculum for teaching. I sent him a couple of links that I thought might be helpful in the few minutes I had available. On my own web browser I have quite a few very useful websites bookmarked, but I did not have the time to look through them all (or even copy and paste them all) to help my friend.

As I was talking with my wife this evening, she suggested that I develop and market curriculum and teacher development/training for parents who home school their children. That is a great idea but will take a lot of time and effort. Hopefully that will come in the near future and you'll hear about it on this blog. However, while I was thinking about that possibility, the idea for this blog came to my mind. It will hopefully become a resource that I can send to people that not only has links to sites I have found useful, but also provides a forum for me to promote inquiry science education, write about current issues in science education and have useful discussions about science education.

I hope this helps my friend's sister and and anyone else who might be interested. Please keep in mind that this is a work in progress and I will be working on it in my spare time as I work on my dissertation and search for jobs. I look forward to seeing where it will go.