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About Us - STEMSS
At the Alice Hagar Curriculum Center (AHCRC), our focus has been to improve
(1) STEMSS holdings in AHCRC by purchasing reviewed, high quality STEMSS trade
books; (2) build a companion website by using Project 2061’s
Resources
For Science Literacy as a template; and (3) to provide these resources to
our pre-service and local in-service PK-12 teachers for developing quality
lesson and unit plans (see Gerber et al., 2007 [
http://www.uwlax.edu/murphylibrary/departments/curriculum/stem/sbf-article.pdf
and
http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/newinnsdl/2007/11/26/hagar-curriculum-resource-center/
] for more details)..
STEMSS Holdings: To improve the CRC STEMSS physical materials, we have
developed a selection procedure based primarily on:
- reviewed books from SB&F’s
Best List, NSTA’s Outstanding science
trade books list, and other relevant book reviews;
- local expertise (e.g., Department of Natural Resources publications,
specialized museum publications books and pamphlets);
- professional society educational material and reviews (e.g., AAAS’ Project
2061, Science, and Advances Newsletter; National Council of Teachers of
Mathematics and National Science Teachers Association recommended books);
- materials which accompany nationally recognized days/weeks/months (e.g.,
Engineering Week, Math Awareness Month, Earth Day);
- expertise from university content faculty; and
- professional judgment.
Additional STEMSS trade book purchases for the CRC are also based on lessons built
around topics needed in local school district PK-12 classrooms.
STEMSS Website: This STEMSS section website is built using the online
version of Project 2061’s “Resources
for Science Literacy (see resources by
topic).” Project 2061 <http://www.project2061.org/>, AAAS
<http://www.aaas.org/ >, and other
related resources were added to
build a website which provides pre-service teachers with access to quality
content grade-level books, websites, and other materials. Within each website
topic, we organized
- STEMSS standards;
- reviewed, grade-level STEMSS trade books (see SB&F and NSTA websites above
for grade level designations; Lexile (
http://www.lexile.com/EntrancePageFlash.html?1 ) scores are also included
for trade books) )
based on the Dewey Decimal system(http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/deweysummaries.pdf
) per SB&F;
- teacher trade books based on ‘Resources’ topics; and/or
- STEMSS content website links based on AAAS’ NetWatch. As with book purchases,
we have developed a selection procedure for website materials based on
professional STEMSS society educational sites, content area faculty knowledge,
local governmental agencies (e.g., Department of Natural resources), and
professional experience.
Because the vast majority of our pre-service teachers are employed in school
districts around four major areas (La Crosse, WI; Madison, WI; Milwaukee, WI;
and Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN), we have tailored our site to include regional
information resources. In addition to these resources, other Project 2061,
AAAS’, National Academy of Science, and NSTA resources are referenced throughout
the website providing both pre- and in-service teachers the STEM resources they
need to provide high quality information to their students.
Funding: Purchases of STEMSS holdings and website development have been
funded through Murphy Library Foundation endowment and Paul Stry
Foundation grants.
Reference: Gerber, T., J. Jax, K. Lange, and S. Smith. 2007. Improving
PK-12 Curriculum Resource Centers. Science Books & Films (SB&F) 43 (3): 98.
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