Enhanced Science Helper
K-8 CD-ROM

for

American Sponsored
Overseas Schools



Overseas Schools Advisory Council
Department of State
Washington, D.C. 20520
1999


Overseas Schools Advisory Council
Public Members 1999

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The Development of Enhanced Science Helper K-8 CD ROM

In 1990, the original Science Helper K-8 was developed and published by the University of Florida with a generous grant from the Carnegie Corporation, as a single disc CD-ROM that provided approximately 1,000 science lessons for elementary school science instruction. The project employed a conceptually oriented search system for locating lessons.

In 1996, the University of Florida proposed an enhancement of the original Science Helper K-8 to take advantage of advances in CD-ROM technology, multimedia programing software, and the capabilities of computers available to schools. This technological enhancement included: (1) significantly improving the quality of the materials being delivered by the software; (2) developing an improved search system; (3) providing support for Windows, Windows 95, and Macintosh computer platforms; and (4) including video illustrations of scientific principles and procedures. In addition, the technological upgrade included features that could eventually lead to electronic posting on the World Wide Web of project information, as well as other substantive and cosmetic changes. The University of Florida, the Carnegie Corporation, The Learning Team, and the Florida Higher Education Consortium provided the funding for this technological enhancement of the original project.

In 1995, the National Research Council, an arm of the National Academy of Science, published National Science Standards to help the nation’s schools improve and modernize their science curricula from kindergarten through twelfth grade. In addition, many states prescribed new science curriculum frameworks compatible with the new standards. The technological upgrade of Science Helper K-8 initiated in 1996 did not address the integration of the new national science standards into the search mechanisms of the project.

American-sponsored overseas schools faced a particularly difficult challenge as they attempted to align their curricula with the new U.S. science standards. Therefore, the Overseas Schools Advisory Council provided a grant to the East Asia Council of Overseas Schools (EARCOS) in 1997 to add an additional enhancement to the upgraded Science Helper K-8. This project, which was fully funded by the GE Fund of the General Electric Company, upgrades the search mechanism of the technologically enhanced Science Helper K-8 so that teachers can use the search system to link the science lesson materials on the CD-ROM with the new U.S. science standards. These powerful. structured search capabilities of the final product, renamed Enhanced Science Helper K-8 CD ROM, will provide teachers in American-sponsored overseas schools the ability to integrate over 1,000 lessons, activities, and other resources into the schools’ curricula in a manner closely correlated with the U.S. national science standards.

Acknowledgments

The development of the components of the Enhanced Science Helper K-8 CD-ROM that link elementary school science curricula to U.S. science standards for the purpose of improving science instruction in American-sponsored overseas schools was made possible thanks to a grant from the Overseas Schools Advisory Council. The grant was fully funded by the GE Fund of the General Electric Company. The National Association of Elementary School Principals administered all activities connected with the grant. The Office of Overseas Schools also played a key role in supporting this project.

The technological enhancements of the original Science Helper K-8 were made possible through funding from the Carnegie Corporation, the University of Florida, The Learning Team, and the Florida Higher Education Consortium.

We wish to thank them all for their support.

Funding