Creating Collaborations across Communities: A central role for curriculum

In this talk, I will share preliminary project findings that show the emergence of overlapping communities of practice during the first three years of an NIH Science Education Partnership Award project. This project, PAGES (Progressing through the Ages: Global change, Evolution, and Societal well-being) is a 5-year curriculum and professional development project working across K-12. As science teachers begin to implement the Next Generation Science Standards, they are being asked to engage in wide-ranging pedagogical shifts in their classroom. Through work done in PAGES, teachers are beginning to use NGSS-aligned PAGES curriculum units in their classrooms and implement many of the necessary shifts. In addition to meeting this classroom based goal of the project, multiple communities of practice have formed around the development and implementation of the PAGES materials. Certain characteristics of these communities allow them to be successful and beneficial at multiple levels. Different aspects of the project(curriculum, professional development and project personnel) have played important roles in allowing these communities to develop and benefit both the individuals and the larger PAGES project.