Katie Van Horne

National Academy of Sciences Report Features Give High Praise to Inquiry Hub Research and Curricula

Anonymous — Sat, 17 Nov 2018 07:00:00 +0000

National Academy of Sciences Report Features Give High Praise to Inquiry Hub Research and Curricula Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 11/17/2018 - 00:00

The National Academies of Sciences Engineering Medicine has published the report "Science and Engineering for Grades 6 - 12: Investigation and Design at the Center (2018)" which includes multiple mentions of the Institute of Cognitive Science research program, Inquiry Hub.

Chapter 4: "How Students Engage with Investigation and Design" prominently features the work of Profs. Tamara Sumner, Jennifer Jacobs, William Penuel, and Katie Van Horne's Inquiry Hub research program. Inquiry Hub's Biology course curriculum's Evolution unit was presented as the primary example of how to integrate three-dimensional science and engineering performances for student engagement.

According to a NAS press release,"Centering science instruction around investigation and design can improve learning in middle and high schools and help students make sense of phenomena in the world around them. Current approaches to science in many classrooms do not reflect this approach and constrain the opportunities afforded to students, says a new report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Changing instructional approaches will require significant and sustained work by teachers, administrators, and policy makers, the report says.

“Students learn by doing, and science investigations provide an opportunity to do,” says Brett Moulding, co-chair of the committee that wrote the report and director of the Partnership for Effective Science Teaching and Learning. “Our report provides guidance on how teaching can shift toward investigations in a way that piques students’ curiosity and leads to greater interest in science.”

Inquiry Hub Research + Practice Partnership began in 2008 as a joint research venture between Denver Public Schools and the University of Colorado Boulder. The mission of this partnership is to design, test, and implement tools and strategies for supporting all teachers in developing rigorous and responsive instruction that can help all students achieve at high levels in mathematics and science.

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2 New Inquiry Hub Grants Support Deeper Learning and Equity in STEM

Anonymous — Fri, 23 Mar 2018 06:00:00 +0000

2 New Inquiry Hub Grants Support Deeper Learning and Equity in STEM Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 03/23/2018 - 00:00

In an effort to promote equity in mathematics and science education, two foundations have awarded funding to the University of Colorado Boulder and its partners to enhance research in deeper learning among students.

The William & Flora Hewlett Foundation $1 million grant supports the Inquiry Hub’s work in encouraging deeper learning in students by giving support to teachers to engage in culturally relevant, phenomenon-based science teaching. Northwestern University, the Tidemark Institute and now Project VOYCEhave joined as partners in this project.

The Spencer Foundation grant of $399,960 supports the Inquiry Hub’s work in improving curriculum coherence and creating tools in which teachers can measure their success.

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Jennifer Jacobs and Katie Van Horne Now ICS Research Professors

Anonymous — Fri, 01 Sep 2017 15:13:50 +0000

Jennifer Jacobs and Katie Van Horne Now ICS Research Professors Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 09/01/2017 - 09:13

Dr. Jennifer Jacobs (left) and Dr. Katie Van Horne (right).

The Institute is happy to announce two new Research Professors at ICS.

Dr. Jennifer Jacobs has been promoted Associate Research Professor. Dr. Jacobs has been been a research faculty in ICS since 2003, focusing on classroom teaching, teacher and student learning, and teacher professional development. She is a prolific and well-cited scholar, publishing 33 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, and over 40 conference presentations and publications. Dr. Jacobs has also contributed to numerous national and international reports published by the U.S. Department of Education. Her publications include articles in top educational research journals and one of her articles is among the top 10 most-cited articles published in Teaching and Teacher Education. Dr. Jacobs’ has extended her research to create new collaborations across the Institute, including working with science education researchers (Prof. Bill Penuel in the School of Education), working with computer scientists engaged in automatic speech recognition and natural language processing (Profs. Wayne Ward and Tamara Sumner in ICS/Computer Science), and partnering with cognitive neuroscientists (Prof. Christine Brennan in Speech, Language, and Hearing Science).

Dr. Katie Van Horne has been hired by ICS as an Assistant Research Professor. Dr. Van Horne has been a valuable colleague in the Institute of Cognitive Science and the School of Education since her appointment as a Research Associate in 2015. She is the first faculty member within the Institute to have a joint appointment with the School of Education. Dr. Van Horne has served as senior research personnel on numerous externally funded grants and she has been a critical leader in our university’s Research + Practice Partnership with Denver Public Schools as well as our partnership with the Chicago City of Learning. Dr. Van Horne has authored or co-authored six journal publications, two book chapters, three peer-reviewed conference proceedings, and over 30 paper presentations. She is quickly establishing herself as a national expert in the study of connected learning where she is contributing to learning sciences theory and developing new methodologies for studying how youth pursue interest-related activities and learning during out-of-school time. She is partnering with other researchers to develop new computational methods for studying connected learning at scale.

Please join the Institute in congratulating Dr. Jacobs and Dr. Van Horne!

Dr. Jennifer Jacobs and Dr. Katie Van Horne were recently promoted to ICS Research Professors.

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�� Boulder Researchers Win Recognition in Effort to Prepare the Next Generation of Scientists

Anonymous — Wed, 28 Jun 2017 19:29:07 +0000

�� Boulder Researchers Win Recognition in Effort to Prepare the Next Generation of Scientists Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/28/2017 - 13:29

“How or why did this happen?”

This is the question �� researchers want budding high school scientists to be asking. Rather than lecturing to students, a partnership at �� is creating a new way of teaching science concepts that prepares young scientists to tackle the problems of our 21^st century world.

For nearly 10 years, the Inquiry Hub, or iHub, has been developing and testing a new model for helping school districts effectively implement student-centered curricula in mathematics and science. Their latest digital unit in biology, “Why Don't Antibiotics Work Like They Used To?,“ was recently recognized by Achieve, Inc., a nonprofit education organization that helped to develop the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS).

The curriculum was awarded the highest quality rating given to date to NGSS-aligned curricula, an “image of the possible” for 21^st century science teaching. Reviewers noted that it was “ambitious, comprehensive, and purposefully designed. Students are repeatedly challenged with rigorous content and expected to make important connections between and across storylines. Students also are exposed to and engage in authentic scientific research.” The unit will be released to schools and districts in the coming years for adoption into their curriculums.

To design and test the curriculum, iHub partnered with Denver Public Schools and Northwestern University to coordinate with high school teachers and teacher educators in Colorado, Michigan, and Illinois. After collaborating on the design, biology teachers took the lessons back to their students for “stress testing.” The teachers brought back their insights into what did and did not work about the lessons, and researchers used the data to further improve the unit.

The unit design revolves around a new “storylining process,” where a single storyline ties together different lessons to help students solidify connections between ideas. Using a narrative to learn about the natural phenomena of antibiotic resistance helps high school students understand the broader functions of evolution.

To support the NGSS standards, the unit incorporates a student design challenge and local community engagement. For example, this spring during pilot testing of the curriculum by Denver Public Schools, students in 22 local high school biology classes took part in a design challenge to create infographics that warned and informed the public about the increased prevalence of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The students’ colorful infographics were later meant to be displayed in health clinics to help patients understand the science behind antibiotic-resistant bacteria and how they can change their behaviors to prevent the problem.

The long-standing Inquiry Hub project is funded through the National Science Foundation and the Moore Foundation. The partnership joins researchers from ��’s Institute of Cognitive Science (ICS) and School of Education with Denver Public Schools (DPS) and the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR). ICS's Dr. Tamara Sumner is the Principal Investigator and the School of Education's Dr. Bill Penuel is Co-Principal Investigator.

A partnership at �� is creating a new way of teaching science concepts that prepares young scientists to tackle the problems of our 21st century world.

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Katie Van Horne

National Academy of Sciences Report Features Give High Praise to Inquiry Hub Research and Curricula

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2 New Inquiry Hub Grants Support Deeper Learning and Equity in STEM

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Jennifer Jacobs and Katie Van Horne Now ICS Research Professors

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���������� Boulder Researchers Win Recognition in Effort to Prepare the Next Generation of Scientists

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�� Boulder Researchers Win Recognition in Effort to Prepare the Next Generation of Scientists