Resources

This is a very well written science curriculum developed for adult education instructors without science background. The lessons are clear, appropriate, and interesting. Adult education instructors interested in teaching science could pick this up and start planning very easily. This is an excellent model for lesson planning and also an excellent curriculum itself. It has very comprehensive and clear scaffolding for teachers, who are presumed to not have extensive knowledge of scientific concepts. This seems as if would be very non-threatening to those who may feel unprepared to teach science, and provides good support to teach the concepts successfully. One support for teachers is an introduction to each lesson that explains the overall goals for not just the content in the lesson, but also for the ways in which it is meant to encourage student engagement and confidence. There are also very useful notes along the way to help with logistics of implementing the lesson plan and background knowledge to help respond to questions and discussions. There are also resources for learning more about the topics addressed in the curriculum. The style of teaching presented in the resource is very much in keeping with accepted best practices of adult education. The activities are designed to promote a lot of engagement, discussion and interaction of students, and focus on using their own questions and past experience to guide the learning. There is also an emphasis on synthesizing known and recently learned concepts with the new ones being presented along the way. This curriculum is very clear that it is “meant to connect the often abstract study of science with concrete, recognizable phenomena relevant to students’ lives.” And it presents a realistic and important view of what science is. The authors express the “….hope that this curriculum offers a more humane view of the field—that science is just the (often flawed and limited) current understanding of how things work in our world.”

This is an easy-to-follow lesson plan guide for teaching analogy phonics. The resource provides a brief rationale for using analogy phonics followed by short, explicit lesson plans and word lists. This can be a valuable instructional guide for ABE and ELL teachers and tutors. This a very simple instructional resource, with a basic description of how Analogy Phonics works, followed by very easy to replicate lesson plans, which are supported by student and teacher handouts designed for immendiate application.

This is such an interesting resource that targets discrete teaching/learning problems. While on the surface it appears to primarily for teaching/learning in postsecondary education, it addresses a wide range of problems that vex most adult educators: students who come late to class; students who don’t seek help when they need it; teaching in classrooms where there is wide variation in knowledge and skills; designing group work that really works; understanding why tests may be too hard for students, and on and on. Along with short statements and paragraphs that help frame problems and solution strategies are links to sample activities, examples of student work, original research papers, student success brochures throughout the website. This resource is a practical, how-to guide for college instructors. It could be a stimulus to useful conversation about student needs and instructor strategies to meet those needs, in a professional development context such as a study circle. Although it focuses on college, much of it would be relevant to the needs of adult education students.

Reaching Students: What Research Says About Effective Instruction in Undergraduate Science and Engineering contains a valuable message for those interested in refocusing instruction by experimenting with new ways to reach students. These approaches and strategies use research-based components for effective teaching and learning. Although written for a higher education audience, the examples and methodologies are applicable to adult education classes. With the interest in moving more adult learners on to postsecondary education and adult learner interest in STEM careers, it is important to help adult learners develop deeper conceptual and practical background in science. One major drawback is that the resource assumes that the instructor has the science knowledge needed to help students address misconceptions and areas of confusion.  This resource was not designed to directly develop adult educators’ science background, a need for many adult educators.  It does, however, answer another pressing concern:  helping adult learners prepare for high school equivalency tests.  The shift to student-centered strategies mirrors the most pressing concerns noted by groups, such as the GED Testing Service:  (1) pulling specific evidence from a written source to support a finding or conclusion; (2) expressing scientific information or findings in words; and (3) understand and apply scientific models, theories, and processes.

This is a tremendously helpful resource for educators and administrators across the globe. Even though the study originates from the European Union, the competencies identified in the profile and recommendations made are universally applicable and help, finally, to quantify the specific traits that enable an educator to succeed in classrooms behind bars. The profile presents an interesting take on how prison education professionals (including educators and others working in prison settings) can articulate the component pieces of their work, consider strengths and challenges and see how prison education both intersects with and is different to general adult education learning principles and practice around the world.