Join Us in Salt Lake City for Hands-On Professional Development!
On February 25th & 26th at the Utah Coalition for Educational Technology conference, come explore how Research Quest can boost your students' data literacy, scientific reasoning, and critical thinking skills. Learn strategies for using digitized specimens and digital collections to foster collaboration and citizenship in your classroom. The Natural History Museum of Utah, along with teacher partners, will share practical tips to help you elevate learning in new, exciting ways. Don't miss this chance to connect and grow your teaching toolkit!
Got curious students? Challenge them to crack the case of the dying trees in the Uinta Mountains! In this investigation, students will use aerial images, analyze tree samples, and dig into historical weather data to uncover what's happening to the Lodgepole pine trees in this montane system.
They'll compare current and past tree death rates, explore what trees need to survive, and figure out what resources might be missing.
It's hands-on, real-world science that will have your students thinking like environmental detectives. Ready to let them solve the mystery? Let's get started! LEARN MORE HERE.
LEARN MORE HERE.
"We live in a semi-rural area, but most of my students do not live near forests. It was great to see them get interested in the investigation and begin to think and learn about aspects of the forest ecosystem that are different than the small patches of woods they're used to in order to really understand the data and think critically about what was happening."
Albuquerque, NM
This month we are excited to share the story of Kartika Aposhian, a 7th grade science teacher at Utah Virtual Academy, who has found Research Quest to be an essential component of her curriculum.
Despite the challenges of online education, Ms. Aposhian has found a unique way to connect her students with their local environment. "Instead of going unit to unit, we go place to place in Utah and use what we see in Utah to teach the7.2 Utah SEEd/NGSS MS-LS4 & ES1 curriculum," she explains.
One of the standout features of Research Quest for Ms. Aposhian's class is the Cleveland-Lloyd Dinosaur Quarry exploration. She uses this module to guide students in creating a CER (Claim, Evidence, Reasoning)–a crucial skill in scientific thinking. (To read more, please go here.)
Curious how scientists study ecosystem change? Watch this brief overview of the What's Killing These Trees? investigation.
TO LEARN MORE GO HERE AND LOGIN.
"Build background beforehand. I had a lot of students that didn't know where the Uinta Mountains were." Elementary School Teacher, Bountiful, UT
Research Quest is a program of the Natural History Museum of Utah in partnership with The Utah Education Network
