Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia) is managed and operated by the Lockheed Martin for the US. Department of Energy.
Although Sandia's missions have evolved to meet challenges created by a changing world, its main responsibility remains national security programs in defense and energy. Sandia is one of the DOE's most diverse laboratories and one of the nation's largest research and development facilities. The national laboratory has a long-standing tradition of community outreach and, along with the DOE and Lockheed Martin, is committed to improving the quality of life in the nationand local communities.
At Sandia's main facilities located in Albuquerque, New Mexico, volunteers and the Community Involvement and Issues Mangement (CIIM) office are working to develop a web-based text for K-5 called, "Internet Sciences Adventures (ISA)." ISA is an online component of a broader CIIM educational outreach effort called Adventures in Science and Knowledge (ASK).
For this pilot project, we have selected the fifth grade. The program will be volunteer driven and result in an electronic textbook that will eventually be available to a wide audience of teachers and students with Internet access. The web-based text will not replace existing classroom instruction but will provide a supplemental means of teaching consistent with the fifth grade science curriculum.
The three content areas to be covered are:
1. Life Science (APS Standard 1)
2. Earth and Space Science (APS Standard 2)
3. Physical Science (APS Standard 3)
There are also two fifth grade Science Process Skills and Scope Areas in the Standards:
1. Science, Technology, Individuals (Society-APS Standard 4)
2. Science Inquiry (APS Standard 5)
The pilot consists of 10 lessons that relate to the three content areas and two process skill.
Our mission is to produce an online "textbook" to promote online
teaching via an internet homepage to 5th grade children.
The volunteer work involves reviewing web sites, developing web-based lesson plans and organized information on a web page. The group meets with school officials to confirm our approach, map progress, and receive feedback.
The effort is customer focused. The customers are teachers and school
children. We obtain teacher involvement to produce a useful product that is consistent with National Science Education Content Standards and the "APS Core Curriculum and Scope Sequence." This ISA project will demonstrate how teachers can use internet resources effectively to supplement classroom teaching.
