Date: TBD
How to promote inquiry and discovery in science and technology — with our kids and ourselves
By most accounts, science, technology, math and engineering currently have a great impact on our lives and will have an even greater impact on the lives of our children and grandchildren. How might young people develop enduring interests in various STEM fields? The talk will present how science fairs — based on student project work — have developed these student interests, both abroad and in Israel and it will include practical suggestions for parents and grandparents who want to encourage this approach in their families, schools and communities.
About the Speaker
Dr. Sherman Rosenfeld is a biologist and science educator who has designed, implemented and evaluated innovative science and technology educational programs, both inside and outside schools. Since 1982, shortly after he received his PhD from the SESAME Program at UC Berkeley, he has worked as a science educator at the Weizmann Institute of Science, throughout Israel and internationally. His work focuses on promoting constructive change with students, teachers, schools and learning communities. He directed an interactive science museum in California, designed award-winning educational software, developed curricula for pre-college students and prepared hundreds of Israeli middle school science teachers to guide their students to engage in research and development projects. Rosenfeld is involved in a national effort to integrate PBL into the Israeli educational system – across all grade levels and across all disciplines – by developing PBL curricula, implementing a long-term professional development model, conducting educational research and chairing a national committee (set up by the Pedagogical Secretariat) to write a manual for the Israeli educational system on “developing cultures of inquiry in schools.”
