This week, Dan and Sam unpack the Franklin Standards. These standards have been developed by the National Association of Scholars and Freedom in Education as an alternative to the NGSS. Unfortunately, they are on the road to adoption in at least one state. As we dug in, we found that these standards have very little to do with what we know science to be and show evidence of being politically motivated by forces on the right. Since this week's episode discusses partisan politics, we wanted to share a bit more about where each of us stands politically. You can find that below. As a reminder, everything we share through this podcast represents our own thoughts and opinions and does not reflect that of our employers or any other entities.

Dan places the highest value on good governance, support for democratic norms, and measures that strengthen communities. This has led him to supporting a variety of candidates, including writing in John McCain with a different running mate in 2008, voting for Barack Obama in 2012 and Hillary Clinton in 2016 (after earlier support for John Kasich in the primaries). In 2018, he supported a primary challenge to Iowa's GOP governor and served as a delegate at the Iowa Republican State Convention in a (failed) attempt to push the party in a more productive direction, accompanied by additional work advocating for ranked-choice voting and other measures to improve our political system. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Dan has generally voted straight-ticket for the Democratic Party, but would welcome other parties putting up candidates who propose their own, thoughtful solutions to our most urgent local and global problems.

Sam has been a Democratic voter since she was first able to vote in the 2012 election. She has aligned herself with candidates who stand for values she believes in, such as promoting green energy and reducing emissions, protecting access to and funding for public education, supporting common sense gun laws, and protecting women's reproductive rights. Since 2020, she has volunteered with Postcards to Swing States to write hundreds of postcards to rally voters across the country, from presidential swing states to competitive state legislative districts.

If you'd like to do your own digging into the Franklin Standards, these are the resources we consulted for this episode:

Resources:

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Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley released under CC BY 4.0.

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by elementary school teacher, Myra Lam, to talk about teaching science with attention to language needs. She discusses the strategies she uses in her classroom that have supported her multilingual students.

Resources:

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Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley released under CC BY 4.0.

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Dr. Enrique (Henry) Suarez to talk about language and the role it plays in science sensemaking. He discusses translanguaging and how it describes the process multilingual students undergo as they engage and interact with the world. He also shares some helpful steps we can take to better support students in this work.

Resources:

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Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley released under CC BY 4.0.

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Nina Hike, a Chicago Public Schools teacher who teaches with social justice science issues like we heard about in Transformative Science Teaching. She gives a lot of context and depth to what this can look like in the classroom.

Resources:

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Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley released under CC BY 4.0.

Sam and Dan are back with Season 3! This week, we are joined by the author of Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability, Dr. Daniel Morales-Doyle!! After our summer book club, we were so excited for the chance to chat with the author about the book and to unpack more about why we should teach with social justice science issues.

Resources:

Follow along and send us the questions YOU have about science education!

@SciEdPod on Instagram and Twitter

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Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley released under CC BY 4.0.

Season 3 of Unpack Everything: Science Education Reform in the Real World is coming soon!

Join us this season as we unpack what it means for a classroom to be student-centered and student-driven.

Follow along and send us the questions YOU have about science education!

@SciEdPod on Instagram and Twitter

[email protected]

Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley released under CC BY 4.0.

Our summer book club book is Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability by Daniel Morales-Doyle!!

Dr. Morales-Doyle and Harvard Education Press have kindly provided us with a discount code. When buying directly from Harvard Education Press, enter promo code TRSC24 at checkout to receive 20% off your book order.

Resources:

Let's keep the conversation going!

@SciEdPod on Instagram and Twitter

[email protected]

Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley released under CC BY 4.0.

Our summer book club book is Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability by Daniel Morales-Doyle!!

Dr. Morales-Doyle and Harvard Education Press have kindly provided us with a discount code. When buying directly from Harvard Education Press, enter the promo code TRSC24 at checkout to receive 20% off your book order.

We will discuss Chapters 4 through 6 on July 27.

Let's keep the conversation going!

@SciEdPod on Instagram and Twitter

[email protected]

Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley released under CC BY 4.0.

Our summer book club book is Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability by Daniel Morales-Doyle!!

Dr. Morales-Doyle and Harvard Education Press have kindly provided us with a discount code. When buying directly from Harvard Education Press, enter the promo code TRSC24 at checkout to receive 20% off your book order.

We will discuss Chapters 2 and 3 on July 13 and Chapters 4 through 6 on July 27.

Let's keep the conversation going!

@SciEdPod on Instagram and Twitter

[email protected]

Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley released under CC BY 4.0.

This week, Dan and Sam are joined by Will Baur to talk about scaling up science education reform at the ground level. Will shares what it's like working on various curriculum and professional development projects as a teacher and in support of other teachers in his state.

Resources:

Our summer book club book is Transformative Science Teaching: A Catalyst for Justice and Sustainability by Daniel Morales-Doyle!! If you want to read along with us, our planned discussion schedule is below:

Dr. Morales-Doyle and Harvard Education Press have kindly provided us with a discount code. When buying directly from Harvard Education Press, enter the promo code TRSC24 at checkout to receive 20% off your book order.

Follow along and send us the questions YOU have about science education!

@SciEdPod on Instagram and Twitter

[email protected]

Our music is 'Rainbows' by Scott Buckley released under CC BY 4.0.