MITS
Museum Institute for Teaching Science
The MITS mission is to promote the teaching of participatory, inquiry-based, minds-on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) at the elementary and middle school levels (K-8), through collaboration among non-formal science education institutions.
MITS provides three programs to enhance inquiry-based, hands-on teaching of STEM:
- Summer Institutes for K-8 teachers. All educators and principals are welcome.
- Science is Elementary and other publications
- Professional Development Seminars for non-formal educators
What are MITS Summer Institutes?
The Summer Institutes are two-week professional development workshops that model, teach, and encourage K-8 teachers to use inquiry-based, hands-on methods of teaching STEM subjects in their classrooms. The Institutes are held in nine regions throughout Massachusetts providing greater access to teachers. Generally, there are four or more participating museums in each region with complementary programs according to the central theme for all the Institutes. Teachers:
- Develop inquiry-based, hands-on activities in lesson plans
- Engage their students
- Connect to the Massachusetts Frameworks
- Integrate inquiry-based methodology across their curriculum
- Develop and share memorable experiences participating with other teachers
- Experience fun and excitement teaching STEM subjects
Why is inquiry-based instruction so important?
Inquiry-based instruction allows students to develop knowledge and understanding of scientific ideas through directed, guided, and open-ended activities. This has been shown to be the most effective approach to learning STEM subjects by helping students become more engaged in activities. Inquiry-based learning allows students to ask questions, observe, discover, interpret, and theorize. Students are able to grasp a better understanding and have better retention of the principles being taught. The following are key points to the benefits of inquiry-based instruction.
1) Inquiry-based teaching allows students, most of whom have differentiated learning abilities, a variety of ways to show what they have learned through oral reports, diagrams, charts, etc. more clearly than a standardized test. It is an excellent method of teaching all children.
2) Through inquiry-based learning, skills are developed that have inter-disciplinary benefits. Students develop better reading, writing, and communication skills through the process of sharing ideas, observations, and findings. The use of data collection and analysis from the inquiry process strengthens students’ mathematical skills.
3) When science is taught as a process as well as with content, students learn how concepts and facts relate to each other. As they observe, collect data, interpret, and explain possible sources of error in their results, they are developing critical thinking skills. This allows children to be independent thinkers and question information in the world around them.
4) Lastly, the process of open-inquiry contributes to the ability of students to make informed choices in their lives. As students are taught concepts, they create explanations (hypotheses), make predictions, observe, and conclude. They learn from the outcome of their choices.