The American Association for the Advancement of Science today announced that it’s launching a three-year effort to design and test classroom and teacher-support materials for chemistry and biochemistry in the middle grades.
The undertaking is a collaboration between the AAAS’ Project 2061, a science-literacy initiative, and the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study. It’s being supported with a $2.4 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.
In a press release, the AAAS emphasized that the initiative has important value in a variety of scientific disciplines.
“An understanding of core chemistry and biochemistry concepts prepares middle school students for important and interesting high school biology topics,” such as human-body functions and the functioning of cells and proteins, said Project 2061 director Jo Ellen Roseman in a press release. “In addition to their significance for the study of biology, these same chemistry ideas are critical to other aspects of science literacy, such as understanding factors affecting climate change, alternative energy sources, and uses of nanotechnology.”