I know this is a really busy time for teachers, but before we slide further into the fall, I wanted to focus on an exciting new competition we announced earlier this summer. NSTA has partnered with the Department of Energy and is challenging students in grades 3–8, together with their teachers and parents, to compete [...]
On an appropriately blustery morning in Kansas City, the short course “Wind Energy for the Science Classroom,” led by Joe Rand of The KidWind Project in St. Paul, MN, supplied participants with background information and sample classroom lessons on the rapidly growing field of wind energy. Joe began with an overview of where the industry [...]
I wonder how teachers include the “E” in this acronym when designing or selecting class activities. And yet, the play that children do can be the foundation for future interest in engineering. This issue has several articles that describe how to capitalize on children’s curiosity and problem-solving abilities with engaging and purposeful activities, from race [...]
The average wind speed in Minneapolis is 10 miles per hour (mph), equal to the Windy City of Chicago, according to worldfactsandfigures.com. While that makes Minneapolis a less-than-ideal location for a wind turbine, it is still good setting for a wind turbine workshop! Michael Arquin of the KidWind Project will offer his insight into a [...]
In a presentation I attended last year, Dr. Rita Colwell, the former director of the National Science Foundation, described 21st century science as “international and interdisciplinary.” Interdisciplinary is one of those words that is hard to define, but we “know it when we see it.” The article Thinking, Teaching, and Learning Science Outside the Boxes [...]
