Naomi Bradley's Portfolio Page

About me

My name is Naomi Bradley and I am a K-5 Science teacher. I work at a STEM-based school, so science is a special area class. I teach using the Next Generation Science Standards and am passionate about hands-on, scientific inquiry learning. I pursued my undergraduate studies at SUNY Brockport and received a Bachelor's in Inclusive Multidisciplinary Childhood Education. Currently, I am working towards my Master's degree in Curriculum Design and Instructional Technology and the University at Albany.

My Topic and Purpose

My mini-course is about teaching with scientific inquiry in K-5 education. This course will describe methods that can be used to teach scientific inquiry across multiple learning environments. I chose this topic because scientific inquiry is one of the best ways for students to learn. It allows students to engage in their own learning and create meaning by having hands-on experiences. Learning is done best by doing, therefore in science education it is imperative to provide students with these opportunities. Today science education requires teachers to move away from cookbook-style labs and allow students to dive deep into scientific inquiry learning.

Scope of Learning Outcomes and Content

Through this mini-course, the learner will learn what scientific inquiry is and how to apply it in the classroom, lab-style environments, and online. They will then work to design their own inquiry-based lesson plan in the setting that best matches their learning needs. Learners will gain an understanding of how to utilize the knowledge they gain in this course into their own individual classrooms and feel confident in implementing scientific inquiry in the classroom.

Learning Outcomes:

• The learner will be able to explain what scientific inquiry is and why it is important.
• The learner will be able to create an inquiry-based lesson plan.
• The learner will be able to utilize the skills in this mini-course within their own individual classroom setting (lab, traditional, or online).

Needs Assessment

(MOD 5) Report findings from your needs analysis to clarify the gap of knowledge/skills that exists related to your mini-course topic. See the chapter of Shambaugh & Magliaro (1997) Needs Assessment provided in Mod 5. You may use a literature review or/and survey to inform your analysis of the current reality, the "ideal," and the gap in between.

You may use the following subheadings to organize your report in this section (feel free to adjust as you need).

• The educational problem or opportunity
• The learners/participants involved (be brief here; more detailed analysis to be added in the following section)
• Analysis of gaps in term of know vs. need to know (reality vs. ideal)
• Existing efforts to address this gap
• Intent statement: how will this mini-course help your participants address their needs?

Analysis of the Learner and Context

(MOD 5) Write here your more detailed analysis of your learner and the context in which they will learn using this mini-course. Who are the participants (learners)? Prior personal/cultural experiences, knowledge and skills, or interests they have? In what settings will they use this mini-course to learn? How much time will they spend? What resources will they need?

Performance Objectives

(MOD 6) Define course-level target objective (not the learning units yet). The objectives need to describe what the learner will be able to perform/do as the result of learning with this course. Consider the important learning gains and consider how the participants may demonstrate it or use it to do something authentic. Communicate the objectives using clear, performance-based terms, such as:

After completing this mini-course, learners will be able to:

• ...

Task Analysis

(MOD 7-8) For each course-level target objective, consider 1) what the participants need to know in order to achieve this objective (e.g. the prerequisites that enable or support the objective); 2) what specific learning content and activities may address the prerequisites and target objectives. Then consider how the learning contents and activities will be organized into a process of learning through several learning units (e.g. 3-5). See example Task Analysis).

Curriculum Map

(MOD 7-8) Upload a visual map to show the sequence of learning units, each with its own objectives and activities. The units should work coherently to support the achievement of the ultimate objectives of the whole mini-course. Use this map to guide the creation of the actual learning units while adapting it when needed. The key idea is to fine-tune the objective-content/process-assessment alignment.