How can a teacher promote deep understanding across science disciplines while also attending to national content standards, inquiry standards and goals for science literacy? And how can that teacher concurrently engage students in activities that are challenging and meaningful, and then assess their learning in authentic ways?

The Investigating and Questioning our World through Science and Technology (IQWST; pronounced I-quest) project is developing the next generation of middle school curricula designed to enable teachers with diverse knowledge and experiences to teach science effectively to students with a variety of backgrounds and strengths.

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IQWST is looking for middle schools to enact  the IQWST curriculum.

Is your school interested in joining IQWST?

Please contact
Joseph Krajcik

 

 

 

 

IQWST materials align with national standards, are rooted in principles of project-based scientific inquiry, focus on science’s “big ideas,” and employ research-based practices shown to promote students’ science and science literacy learning. This coordinated curriculum for grades 6-8 sequences physics, earth science, biology and chemistry instruction to build upon students’ prior knowledge and experiences in the real world, and to build understanding from unit to unit both within and across the middle school years. Students learn complex scientific ideas by engaging in practices that include working with models, constructing scientific explanations, engaging in argumentation and debate, analyzing data gathered either from students' own investigations or captured within complex datasets, and presenting ideas to peers.

The interdisciplinary team of science teachers, scientists, literacy experts, curriculum designers, and university researchers works collaboratively to ensure that the units provide the best possible support both for teachers and their students in urban, suburban, and rural school contexts.

IQWST is funded by the National Science Foundation. The collaborative initiative is led by the University of Michigan's Center for Highly Interactive Classrooms, Curricula and Computing in Education (hic3e) and Northwestern University, in partnership with Michigan State University, Columbia University, the University of Illinois, and Project 2061.