Have you ever taken your students to STEM education events at an amusement park? We’re working on a story about theme parks where students can learn while having fun, such as Ohio’s Kings Island, which holds Math and Science Days every spring. We invite you to share your experiences at these parks by leaving a comment here. We might include some comments in the story, which will be published in July.

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3. How can we make time to teach science in preK-2 classrooms?

As the revision of the national science education standards gets started, many educators, administrators, parents, and other community members will be concerned not just the final product, but how the final product will be decided.

Henry Kepner, Jr., president of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, shared his observations from the development of the Common Core Standards in Mathematics—and possible implications for science educators—in the May issue of NSTA Reports.

Read “A Math Perspective on the Common Core Standards Initiative” online now.

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More than 30 student teams from across Ontario were honored at a reception in April. The teams received honorable mention awards in the 2010 Toshiba ExploraVision competition.

Ralph Hyatt, president and CEO of Toshiba of Canada, presented each team with a $100.00 gift certificate, reports Melissa Moore of Toshiba of Canada Limited. A drawing was held for a flat-screen TV and a laptop that were awarded to the winners’ schools.

Click on the image to see a larger version

“Toshiba once again showed their commitment to the development of our youth through education,” says Chuck Cohen, NSTA District XVIII director.

For more information on ExploraVision, check out the website.

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1. Scenes from the exhibit hall

Jean May-Brett of the Louisiana Department of Education has passed on several websites that teachers may find useful in discussing the Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico:

• Gulf of Mexico Coastal Ocean Observing System (GCOOS)
• NASA: Earth Observatory
• NOAA: Office of Response and Restoration

Feel free to add more in a comment.

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1. More oil spill resources
2. More oil spill resources (again)
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The United States has long been called a “melting pot,” a place where diverse people mixing and mingling. Learning the dominate language is a challenging part of the process, particularly when a student is trying to learn a new language and expand their content knowledge. Okhee Lee and Cory Buxton shared their views on teaching science to English Language Learners in the April op-ed of NSTA Reports. They write:

English Language Learner (ELL) students can now be found in virtually every school in the nation. Currently, more than 20% of U.S. residents speak a language other than English at home. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, more than 5.5 million—11%—of public school students are currently categorized as ELL students. While Spanish speakers comprise approximately 80% of the ELL student population, U.S. students speak more than 400 different languages. Although the vast majority of U.S. ELL students attend schools in large urban districts, increasing numbers have spread into geographic regions that have not historically seen this linguistic diversity.

Read the rest of the article here.

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NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently attended the 2010 Intel Science Talent Search Awards in Washington, DC. He listened to student presentations (including one which he freely admits was out of his scope) and talked with science teachers. He wrote:

In today’s wired world, the most important economic competition is no longer between countries or companies. The most important economic competition is actually between you and your own imagination. Because what your kids imagine, they can now act on farther, faster, cheaper than ever before—as individuals. Today, just about everything is becoming a commodity, except imagination, except the ability to spark new ideas.

Read the article online.

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Sometimes during the publishing process, we find we must trim some of our Reports stories to fit the alloted space in print. This was the case for “NSTA Awardees: Creative, Committed, and Caring” from our March 2010 issue. The good news is our online outlets allow us to share everything with you—no trimming necessary!

With that in mind, meet three 2010 NSTA Teacher Awardees whose work we had wanted to highlight in the March piece. (And learn more about NSTA’s Teacher Awards here. You too could be in print or online in 2011!)

Robert H. Carleton Award

Arthur Eisenkraft, Distinguished Professor of Science Education
University of Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts

2000–2001 NSTA President Arthur Eisenkraft co-created three NSTA recognition programs: the Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision Awards, the Duracell Scholarship Competition, and the Toyota TAPESTRY Grants for Teachers. Not only have these programs “benefitted thousands of teachers and students,” but they also “brought recognition and financial gain to NSTA,” observes 2001–2002 NSTA President and nominator Harold Pratt.

Eisenkraft’s service to the profession includes helping to develop the National Science Education Standards, creating the Active Physics and Active Chemistry curricula, and working on the committee to develop the National Assessment of Educational Progress for the years 2009–2019.

Shell Science Teaching Award

Tamica Stubbs, Biology and Research Teacher
E.E. Waddell High School, Charlotte, North Carolina

One of Stubbs’s students says, “She has taught me biology, AP biology, nanotechnology, biotechnology, and biomolecular modeling via proteins—but more than that, she has taught me what it means to have a teacher [who] believes in her students and will do anything in her power to help them succeed.”

Stubbs has established science clubs and mentored students in projects that led to her school entering district, state, and county competitions. Her grant writing skills and community networking activities have brought a range of new equipment to her classroom, inspiring even students disinterested in science to become researchers and investigators.

Bio-Rad Biotechnology Explorer Award

(New Award for 2010)

Jennifer Hand, Science Teacher
Cairo High School, Cairo, Georgia

With funds from a local grant, Hand incorporated biotechnology into her classroom using Bio-Rad’s Crime Scene Investigator kits and DNA fingerprinting equipment. She enlisted the help of a molecular geneticist to train her and her colleagues in using the equipment and doing the fingerprinting. As a result, she says, more of her students at all levels are passing the science portion of the high school graduation exam, and they look forward to their science classes “instead of dreading the doldrums of yet another worksheet.”

One of her students remarked, “I see this kind of stuff on television, so to be able to do this in my 10th-grade biology class was awesome.”

Read about the other 2010 awardees.

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In the March issue of NSTA Reports,  Dr. Robert Yager shares his perspective on the six domains for teaching and assessing science learning in the Educated Opinions column.

“A View of the Importance of Six Domains for Teaching and Assessing Science Learning”

By Robert Yager

Four years ago, the National Science Education Standards (NSES) resulted from the collective brainpower of thousands of concerned science educators from around the world at a cost of $7 million. Sadly, little has changed since then. Alan McCormack, 2010–2011 NSTA President, and I have proposed six “domains” as a way to get the attention of teachers and students and to encourage them to experiment with school science programs as they try to move to the “more emphasis” conditions central to the NSES. These “domains” can be used to explain how the eight facets of science content (as defined by the standards) affect people’s everyday lives. Teachers, schools, and state departments of education rarely focus on all eight when considering the science curriculum and how it should look and what teachers need to do for the reforms to succeed. It is rare to find state standards that even mention these major changes. It is important for all science educators to identify the specific features that indicate real changes central to current reform efforts.  Read the full article here.

What do you think: Can the six domains improve science learning in your classroom/school/district? Why or why not?

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Wikis have been called ”the quintessential collaborative tool.” In this article from the February 2010 issue of NSTA Reports, you’ll find out how teachers around the country are using wikis to collaborate with colleagues around the world, as well as to communicate with students and parents.

Do you have a wiki? Tell us about yours, and how you use it to enhance your teaching.

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A new series for a major cable network is searching for college students who are always inventing things and building things. If you know any smart, creative, and talented students who have a flair for science and engineering, please share this announcement with them. Ideal candidates should be freshmen or sophomores and have a couple of  friends who also share their passion for inventing. “However, as long as you are a student and an inventor, we want to hear from you! Think along the lines of the movies Weird Science and Real Genius,” says the casting director.

If you or someone you know is interested, please answer the following questions and e-mail them to mb2casting@yahoo.com by February 14:

1. Name, age, and name of college/university you attend
2. What year are you in, and what are you studying?
3. What types of things have you invented or created or are currently working on?
4. Do you invent alone, or do you work with a partner or group of people?

Please send a picture along with contact info (phone and e-mail).

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1. Students teaching teachers and rethinking education at the college level
2. Getting to know your students
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