Helping teachers and students learn to engage in science authentically

What Is Idealized
Science?

Idealized Science is a framework that enables students to participate in authentic scientific practice. We believe that all students, regardless of their demographic, can develop the habits and dispositions of scientists through this framework.

Historical
Origins

The above image pays homage to Dialogo, Galileo’s seminal work showing how science progresses through dialogue. Critique through discourse is a core tenet of the Idealized Science framework.

The Problem

Despite broad consensus in educational research communities, modern science education remains:

Overly-dependent upon sanitized resources (textbooks, simulations, cookie-cutter labs)
Convinced that quality education requires sophisticated and expensive materials
Primarily teacher-led, failing to sufficiently engage students in authentic science practices

Our Solution

While there is no singular solution to these problems, the Idealized Science Institute aims to transform education through our offerings (summarized to the left), including:

Enabling teachers to attend, or run, authentic science conferences at the high school level
Providing detailed training videos designed to foster productive scientific dialogue
Free or low-cost teacher-friendly educational materials
The Idealized Science podcast, which distills educational research for high school teachers

The Key

“Long-terms” are original research projects carried out by students in which they:

Conceive of an original idea and formulate claims
Design and build experimental apparatuses
Collect, analyze, and represent data
Present their work and receive critiques from the instructor and, more importantly, their scientific peers

All in an iterative fashion culminating in a presentation at a Science Conference at High School