Fulcrum Colloquia:

The Goal of the Fulcrum Colloquia is to offer those in the science and mathematics fields and the science and mathematics education fields an opportunity to learn from speakers from various scientific and educational research backgrounds. Anyone who is interested may attend.

Coming Up

Past Colloquia

Carol L. Smith

Thoughts on Designing Learning Progressions for the Particulate Theory of Matter

Thursday, December 7th, 2006
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Tufts University, Medford Campus
The Crane room at Paige Hall

Thursday, November 16th, 2006
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Tufts University, Medford Campus
The Crane room at Paige Hall

Tina Grotzer Ed.D.
Assistant Professor of Education, REsearch Associate, Harvard University
How Children's Notion of Causality Interact with Deep Understanding in Science: Puzzles and Possibilities.

Thursday, November 2nd, 2006
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Tufts University, Medford Campus
The Crane room at Paige Hall

Dr. Cary Sneider,
VP for Educator Programs at the MOS Boston
and Claudine Kavanagh,
Ph.D. student, Tufts MSTE Education Program
The Gravity of the Situation: an in-progress report of a five-year effort to summarize the results of astronomy education research for use by teachers and curriculum developers

Tuesday, October 3, 2006
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
At TERC in the Penrose room

Dr. Joan Thormann,
Professor, Technology in Education Division, School of Education, Lesley University
Facilitating Online Discussion: Walking a Pedagogic Tightrope

Tuesday June 13th, 2006
4:00-6:00 p.m.
Anderson 208, Tufts Medford Campus

Arthur Camins
Elementary Math and Science Director,
Hudson Public Schools
"Improving Mathematics and Science Learning for all Students"

Thursday, March 30th, 2006
5:30-7:15 p.m.
Terrace Room, Paige Hall, Tufts Medford Campus

Marianne Wiser
Associate Professor, Director of the Developmental Program, Department of Psychology, Clark University
"Science Teaching with and about Models: Conceptual and Metaconceptual issues."
Implications of Research on Children's Learning for Assessment: Matter and Atomic Molecular Theory

Saturday, January 21, 2006, noon-1:00 p.m.
Anderson Room 208, Tufts Medford Campus

Prof. William Moomaw, PhD,
The Fletcher School, Tufts University
Senior Director, Tufts Institute of the Environment; Co-Director, Global Development and Environment Institute
"Climate Science"

4:30 p.m.-6:00 p.m. Wednesday December 14th, 2005

Tamara Shapiro Ledley, PhD
Principal investigator and Senior Scientist at TERC, will give a talk and slide show on Climate Change, Polar Ice Caps and Greenhouse Gases as a systems approach earth science education.

For more information on Tamara S. Ledley:
Climate Change and Greenhouse Gases
http://www.ecd.bnl.gov/pubs/BNL66903.pdf
http://www.igsoc.org/annals/14/
http://www.igsoc.org/annals/25/
http://www.agu.org/eos_elec/99148e.html

Noon, Wednesday April 13th, 2005

Prof. Gérard Vergnaud
Emeritus Director of Research.at the CNRS (Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, France)

The Theory of Conceptual Fields in Mathematics and Science Education

The theory of conceptual fields is a developmental theory that relies upon three strong assumptions:
• There is no sense in studying the development of isolated concepts, because concepts always form systems, even in the early phase of the conceptualizing process;
• Concepts are formed by children and adults by dealing with different classes of situations. I call schemes the forms of organization of activity that are developed to deal with those situations;
• The development of a specific conceptual field is a long term process.
TERC: 2067, Massachusetts Avenue
Presented with The Early Algebra Project

Noon, Thursday February 3rd, 2005

Phil Sadler
Senior Lecturer in Astronomy and Director of the Science Education Department
Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics

http://mosart.mspnet.org/

MOSART: Misconception Oriented Standards-based Assessment Resource for Teachers

The MOSART is a set of comprehensive subject matter assessment tools that can function as diagnostic tools to identify teachers' strength and weaknesses across grade levels. The assessment items measure the extent to which teachers and students have mastery of the K-12 NRC Content Standards and the AAAS Benchmarks in Physical Science and Eartha nd Space Science. The application of psychometric models aligned with cognitive research findings are used to establish scales and substests that accurately guage scientific understanding needed for teaching pre-college science courses.

Penrose conference room, TERC
2067 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA

Marianne Wiser

Professor Bill Moomaw