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Zoetic bringing learning to life
Grades 6-8 science
There are twelve point six million students attending u_s_ middle schools
four point two million of those students are not performing at the basic level in
eighth grade science according to NAEP
the nation's report card.
That means two out of every three students are performing at or below
proficient.
That's eight point four million students two out of three every year who are NOT
entering high school with an understanding of science.
The u_s_ is ranked twenty third internationally in science education
And at a time when twenty first century learning standards and workforce
Readiness require higher levels of proficiency in science than ever before,
only fifty percent of American 8th graders complete a hands-on activity or
scientific investigation once a week,
and thirty percent or one-third of all students only participate in active
scientific investigation or inquiry
once or twice a month.
Only once or twice a month! Sound familiar? earlier
There's a correlation between how poor we are doing at science education and the
amount of time we spend actively engaging students in the scientific
method.
Zoetic is going to change that by providing a better way to teach science.
Zoetic is an online learning platform that brings science to life through
universal design for learning,
a constructivist approach to instruction and real time assessment data.
Utilizing universal design for learning (or UDL)
as a framework
Zoetic's features directly address learner variability, provide supports
for all learners to comprehend content, engage with concepts, and multiple means of
action expression to explore and demonstrate understandings.
By providing multiple representations of information Zoetic helps students access
and comprehend material.
In the dashboard, students can customize settings for perception,
access supports,
and navigate the learning environment.
The layers feature lets students choose between visual and textual
representations
selecting the amount of media and also that representations they see on each
page,
minimizing threats and distractions.
Texthelp toolbar is available on all pages in a vertical bar on the left hand side,
providing text-to-speech,
a glossary, translation tools, and other supports.
Zoetic understands the relationship between engagement and acheivement.
Many american students in middle school lack the preparation needed to easily
access science concepts and form new understandings.
Prior negative experiences or lack of experience
create affective needs that Zoetic addresses through innovative features
designed to recruit interest, sustain motivation and persistence.
These features include activities to spur connection making,
utilize prior knowledge, inspire curiosity and model examples to help
students get started on tasks.
Each unit of Zoetic has four main features:
formative assessment,
knowledge drop, interactive widget, and construction junction to help students
explore concepts and demonstrate understanding.
These features provide multiple means of action and expression
including formative assessment that provides timely feedback to students and
real time data that helps inform instruction.
There's also interactive activities that follow the scientific method providing
students with the experience needed to take up a scientific perspective and
understanding.
Digital manipulate experiences like the interactive widget seen here
are aligned with Common Core standards and are universally designed to provide students
with multiple ways to actively explore scientific concepts.
In this unit on simple machines students are studying common levers and
pulleys.
In each unit, the student is provided with multiple objects and tools to
experiment with.
Instructions, assistance, models and supports are provided so students can vary
the challenge of each activity.
Digital manipulation allows students and teachers away to experiment and actively
investigate scientific concepts
constructing their own knowledge. This is especially important since many schools don't
have access to materials or time to set up experiments in the classroom.
Each active task concludes with the opportunity for reflection, feedback and
social sharing,
as well as next steps for students who want to continue to investigate these concepts
outside of the Zoetic platform.
Zoetic's approach can be used in multiple learning environments, including schools,
homeschooling, tutoring, and "flipped classrooms"
Real time data and support for educators
allow for easy implementation in any learning environment.
Zoetic is flexible and meets educators and schools where they are,
responding to the needs of both diverse classrooms and indivduals.
Beginning by creating a sound understanding of the universal design for learning framework
educators are provided with tools to extend Zoetic's impact in a
number of ways
ultimately leading to greater scientific achievement for all students.
Zoetic is universally designed to bring science to life.
For more information please navigate through our website where you'll find research
demos and tools for educators.
Zoetic
bringing learning to life.
grade six through eight,
science.