Washington State is lucky to have a wealth of organizations who support and advocate for effective science instruction. Today I had a meeting with some of the wonderful people from The Pacific Education Institute and I wanted to share their site with you all.

PEI supports teachers and students in conducting field investigations by applying skills in math, science, social studies and the arts. PEI promotes the model of “learning by doing” and they have a set of downloadable resources on their site.

My favorite resource is the downloadable guide to Field Investigations. The guide supports K-12 teachers and learners in conducting and making sense of field investigations.

Applications for Science Teachers: In Washington State our new science standards contain the following content standards at grades 4-5:

Scientists plan and conduct different kinds of investigations, depending on the questions they are trying to answer. Types of investigations include systematic observations and descriptions, field studies, models, and open-ended explorations as well as controlled experiments.

The Washington State Science Standards do not provide much support as to what a Field Study looks like. That is where the PEI Field Investigation Guide could be a valuable resource. I’m sure that other states will find this useful for K-12 science instruction as well.