By Daniel Strain

Principal investigator
William Penuel

Funding
Carnegie Corporation of New York (CCNY); OpenSciEd

Collaboration + support
BSCS Science Learning; the Charles A. Dana Center at the University of Texas at Austin; Denver Public Schools; Institute of Cognitive Science; Northwestern University; Boulder School of Education

William Penuel, a professor in the Institute of CognitiveScience (ICS), imagines science classrooms where childrenare free to explore what makes them curious—askingthen answering their own questions on topics rangingfrom ocean acidification to antibioticresistancein hospitals.

Penuel and his colleagues are working to foster thosekinds of learning spaces through a new $7 million effortthat’s part of a national initiative called OpenSciEd. Theteam will develop three years’ worth of high schoolscience curriculum materials that are open access andfree for all. The researchers want to show young peoplethat science isn’t just about following directions in alab—it can be a whole new way of looking at the worldaround them.

“We’re really trying to help students understandthat science is not just a body of knowledge butpractices for developing, critiquing and defending thatknowledge,” Penuel said.


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