Hearing from teachers who use Inside Science products in their classroom and from students who are inspired by the content has encouraged Inside Science to explore repurposing and developing its news and information content for the classroom. With tight school budgets limiting the purchase of textbooks that quickly become out of date, teachers have told us our online stories can show their students what’s new and what’s really happening in science. Seeing the opportunities my son has in an engineering academic track in high school has made me more aware of the need to support teachers and motivate students to pursue science and technology careers.
One of the first attempts at repurposing Inside Science TV (ISTV) videos for educational purposes was with Infobase Learning, a provider of supplemental educational materials to schools and libraries. Through our relationship with them, ISTV videos have been viewed 24,755 times by students and faculty in 2014 and 2015.
The National Science Foundation has also taken an interest in Inside Science and has posted our content on their Science360 and Knowledge Network platforms. They also introduced us to contacts at the National Science Teachers Association, who expressed interest in our efforts.
When Inside Science first teamed up with PBS LearningMedia, the online K–12 education resource from public television, we had no idea what to expect. We were pleasantly surprised by the enthusiasm and interest from PBS to continue to provide Inside Science TV videos to our own dedicated channel on their website, with over 4,700 views of the content thus far. Last September, PBS LearningMedia invited us to their annual summit at their headquarters at WGBH in Boston. Being around all of these creative minds who were passionate about education really ignited a spark in me to learn more about how Inside Science could be utilized. PBS sees Inside Science as a valuable contributor, and we are currently talking with them about new ways that we can work together to help explain physical science concepts at the K–12 level.
Because of all these positive experiences, Inside Science decided to take two existing ISTV videos and develop lesson plans around those segments. The lesson plans contain teacher questions and student activities, and tie concepts in the videos to the Next Generation Science Standards and the Common Core State Standards for ELA & Literacy in Science and Technical Subjects. With the help of an educational content expert to develop the materials and AAPT staff and members to help us review the lesson plans, Inside Science is happy to announce that the first two STEM lesson plans are currently available on our website:
Ping Pong Balls Break the Sound Barrier
Bottles, Bubbles and Breakages
Inside Science will keep a close eye on the use of the materials and will explore developing more educational materials in the future. The AIP Statistical Research Center helped us to develop a survey for teachers to get their feedback. This is an exciting extension of Inside Science’s strengths, and I am looking forward to growing the educational use of Inside Science content and the opportunities that lie ahead.