CoMPASS: Concept Mapped Project-based Activity Scafolding System

2009-2010 School Year

Welcome Parents and Guardians
Learn how CoMPASS can help your children with key 21st century skills.

Teachers and students in select classes across the nation are continuing with cutting edge science instruction by using the CoMPASS project’s instructional activities and materials. Collaborating schools and teachers work in partnership with the CoMPASS project learning scientists at the University of Wisconsin- Madison to develop high quality experiences for students to learn important standards-based science along with key 21st Century thinking and computer skills.

The CoMPASS project integrates two modes of learning science: integrating the use of digitally linked online text with inquiry-based, design challenge activities. As an example, one of the design challenges in the CoMPASS Work and Energy unit asks students to design the best inclined plane to move a pool table into their friend’s house.

Because we will be learning about simple machines, which are frequently used in everyday experiences, you can help your child discover where simple machines are used at home (for example, levers, pulleys, wheel and axle, and wedges).

In order to solve the design challenge students are encouraged to brainstorm, make predictions, conduct research using the CoMPASS website, experiment, make models, and collect and analyze data. Several CoMPASS units have been developed, covering a range of topics in physics, enabling students to learn about key concepts such as work, energy, force, acceleration, and mechanical advantage

The goal of the CoMPASS materials is to help students to understand relationships between key standards-aligned science concepts and principles. Their understanding of these relationships are fostered through the use of dynamic concept maps embedded within the online text, which students examine and navigate through as they read. The design challenges provide students with a context for their hands-on and computer simulated investigations. This enables them to see the interconnections between the concepts, such as how applied force and mechanical advantage are related.

CoMPASS Hypertext System :
www.compassproject.net
Login information :
Your child will receive a user name and password for his or her group that they can use in class or at home.
System Requirements:
Your computer must have access to the internet and have Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 6 installed to use the CoMPASS hypertext system from home.

Dr. Sadhana Puntambekar, Principle Investigator on CoMPASS for over ten years, works with other physics experts and learning-scientists to design, develop, and study student learning with the CoMPASS approach. She is a professor in the Educational Psychology Department, at the Wisconsin Center for Education Research. Her work in this field is internationally recognized for its success and contribution to science education. The National Science Foundation and The Institute of Educational Sciences (IES) of the US Department of Education support CoMPASS research.

We invite you, as parents or guardians to join our partnership and participate in supporting your student to learn with CoMPASS. The hypertext software is free to your school and for home use. You and your child can access CoMPASS hypertext from a home or library computer to reinforce what they have learned in class. During the CoMPASS unit, this online software will be your child’s primary text-based resource.

In the pages that follow, we have provided an overview of the key teaching and learning strategies that are used with the CoMPASS units. You may also wish to reference the Partnership for 21st Century Skills website at www.21stcenturyskills.org for additional information about how your child’s experiences in this CoMPASS unit will support development of important skills and abilities in addition to key science content learning.