Next year there will be an opening in the high school science department. Although I love teaching middle school, I’m tempted by the opportunity to try something different and use more of what I majored in (chemistry). What advantages and disadvantages should I consider?—C., New Jersey

Taking on new subjects or grade levels can be exciting and professionally rejuvenating. It can also be a lot of work, almost like starting over.

I was in a similar circumstance with an opportunity to switch to a high school program. Reflecting on the experience, I think that being a middle school teacher is excellent preparation for high school. My middle school experience gave me a relaxed, off-beat sense of humor and helped me to deal with high schoolers who needed different instructional approaches or more time to learn a concept. Engaging with high schoolers in spirited discussions and in high-level investigations was intellectually exhilarating (although I still have a soft spot for middle schoolers). But I don’t regret taking on a rewarding challenge that enabled me to grow professionally.

You’ll notice some differences in the students. Even though they try hard to act like adults, most middle schoolers are still basically kids, with high levels of energy and enthusiasm. The challenge is channeling their energy and enthusiasm, and since most of them like science, this isn’t hard to do. High schoolers on the other hand often seem to be distracted by non-classroom issues, such as social media, their personal lives, extracurricular activities, and jobs. They have internalized what school is supposed to be like and may balk at doing something different. Generating energy and enthusiasm was often the challenge (I had to get used to eye-rolls and heavy sighs). But I did enjoy interacting with the older students and helping them become more independent learners.

Assuming you’re in the same district or attendance area, you’ll know many of your students from their middle years. When these students say they have never heard of atoms or never had to write a lab report, you can remind them that you were there. But you still may have to reteach skills you thought they had mastered such as organizing, notetaking, graphing, and technical writing.

There are also some practical considerations as you make your decision:

• Be sure you have the appropriate credentials for the science course and electives taught at the high school.
• Visit the high school ahead of time and look at the environment from the perspective of a teacher there. You should check out your potential classroom/lab, the technology, safety equipment, and other resources. If the classroom/lab is physically different from your middle school environment, you may need to modify some of your instructional and classroom management procedures.
• Ask if the district safety officer will be available to assist in inventorying and any cleanup of chemicals or other materials.
• Ask for a copy of the curriculum, textbook, online materials, and other resources to review ahead of time. Your collection of lessons, assessments, and materials may no longer be appropriate, so you’ll have to spend time creating or adapting materials and lab investigations.

Middle schools often have professional learning communities or teams with common planning time. However, the high school schedule might not allow opportunities for teacher collaboration during the school day.

As you change schools, you’ll have to get used to new schedules, a new culture, and a new group of colleagues. It would be helpful to have the student and faculty handbook ahead of time and a go-to person to answer questions and share resources and information. Try to find a colleague who also changed teaching positions and pick his or her brain about what to expect.

It’s a humbling experience as a veteran teacher to realize you may not have all of the answers right away in a new situation and that you’ll make some mistakes. Give yourself permission to learn along with the students.

But you already have a strong foundation in the subject, and you’ll be able to help students see the connections between chemistry and other subjects. You already have a repertoire of strategies for instruction, assessments, lab safety, and classroom management. And if you decide to make the switch, you’ll have the chance to clean out your file drawers!

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremywilburn/5229139935/

July 14, 2016: Congress is set to adjourn for the summer and will return after Labor Day. Before leaving town though there was a flurry of activity around appropriations for FY2017 programs and career and technical education. And the political drama continues as Education Secretary King answers questions from key Congressional Republicans over implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act.

The good news for STEM: The House of Representatives Appropriations Committee has approved a FY2017 Labor HHS and Education spending bill that includes $1 billion for the new Every Student Succeeds Act Title IV block grants.  This amount is $500 million above the President’s budget request and $700 million above the Senate funding ($300m).  The program is authorized at $1.65 billion in ESSA.

The ESSA Student Support and Academic Achievement State Grants would provide flexible funds to every school district to expand access to a well-rounded education, improve school conditions, and improve the use of technology. As reported in previous NSTA Legislative Updates, under Title IV districts can elect to use funds to provide students with a well-rounded education with programs that improve instruction and student engagement in STEM, expand STEM courses, pay for the participation of students in STEM nonprofit competitions,  provide hands-on learning opportunities in STEM, integrate other academic subjects into STEM subject programs, create STEM specialty schools, integrate classroom-based and afterschool and informal STEM instruction, and expand environmental education courses.

(Read more about the House funding for the ESSA Title IV block grant here and here.)

The House funding bill also reduces the State grants for ESSA teacher quality (Title II) by $400 million of the requested amount, bringing the program to about $1.9 billion. The Senate version reduces this program by about $200m.

Here’s the bad news. Although both the Senate and House have approved their separate funding bills for education, it is highly unlikely that any final appropriations bills for FY2017, which starts on Oct.1, will make it through both chambers.  There are more than 12 funding bills, including education, still in play and a limited Congressional calendar in September (before they adjourn again for the election). And let’s not forget election year politics.

With this in mind, talk is now turning to a possible spending stop gap measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), which would fund the government past Oct. 1 and also allow Congress to put together an omnibus bill that would roll the 12 separate funding bills into one package. Here’s the good news: the basis for an omnibus bill will likely be the 12 bills written by the House and Senate, which includes the $1 billion allocated for the aforementioned ESSA Title IV block grants.  

And even better news: Report language accompanying the House appropriations bill, which clarifies Congressional intent, clearly calls out STEM and Computer Science Education, with legislators noting that funds available under this program “may be used by States and school districts to provide or strengthen instruction in STEM fields, including computer science.” The Committee report also recommends no separate funding for the competitive Computer Science for All Development Grants, a priority for the Administration and a coalition of moderate Democrats.

Implementation of the Every Student Succeeds Act

In recent House and Senate hearings on ESSA implementation, Education Secretary John King faced serious questions from Republican lawmakers who believe the Department of Education is overstepping its authority in implementing the new law. Issues of concern include the Department proposal that would require states and schools to create a summative rating for accountability purposes and the timeline for transitioning to ESSA (the first full year of ESSA is 2017-18, and schools may have to rely on 2016-17 data to be used to identify and intervene with low performing schools).  

Proposed language that would ensure that federal Title I dollars supplement and do not supplant state and local dollars is also a huge issue.

Many Republicans and other critics (including the unions) have voiced concerns that the department is not following the intent of the law with draft supplement-not-supplant regulatory language that they believe would could require districts to use school-level expenditures tests to show equal spending and require monitoring teacher salaries, which could lead to teacher reassignment and changes in teacher hiring practices (and disruptions to collective bargaining).  King maintains the Department will be “vigilant” in ensuring that interventions continue in the lowest-performing schools, and that federal dollars are truly supplemental to state and local funding.

In other ESSA news, the Education Department has issued draft regulations for an innovative assessment pilot that will allow up to seven states to experiment with new tests (including science tests) that can eventually be used throughout the state for accountability purposes. Read more here about the tests and here about the draft regulations.

The Education Department also released proposed regulations on assessments.

House Passes Rewrite of Career and Technical Education Law (Perkins Act)

On July 7 the House Committee on Education and the Workforce unanimously approved H.R. 5587, the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, legislation that reauthorizes and reforms the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act and will help more Americans enter the workforce with the skills they need to compete for high-skilled, in-demand jobs.

The new law will give states more flexibility over how they spend federal money and allows states more control on measuring the success of their programs. It also aligns performance standards for Perkins programs with the Every Student Succeeds Act and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.  Senate education leaders have indicated they would like to see Perkins reauthorized soon, so a similar bill may be introduced later this year in the Senate.

Republicans and Democrats Party Platforms and Priorities for Education

Both parties have released drafts of their party platforms, which include a number of key priorities for K-12 education.

Here is an excerpt from the Democratic Platform on teaching and learning and STEM Education:

“Democrats will launch a nation
al campaign to recruit and retain high-quality teachers, and we will ensure that teachers receive the tools and ongoing professional development they need to succeed in the classroom and provide our children with a world-class education. We also must lift up and trust our educators, continually build their capacity, and ensure that our schools are safe, welcoming, collaborative, and well-resourced places for our students, educators, and communities. We will invest in high-quality STEM classes, community schools, computer science education, arts education, and expand linked learning models and career pathways.”

Here is an excerpt from the Republican Platform on teaching and learning and STEM Education:

We applaud America’s great teachers, who should be protected against frivolous litigation and should be able to take reasonable actions to maintain discipline and order in the classroom. We support legislation that will correct the current law provision which defines a “Highly Qualified Teacher” merely by his or her credentials, not results in the classroom. We urge school districts to make use of teaching talent in business, STEM fields, and in the military, especially among our returning veterans. Rigid tenure systems based on the “last in, first out” policy should be replaced with a merit-based approach that can attract fresh talent and dedication to the classroom. All personnel who interact with school children should pass background checks and be held to the highest standards of personal conduct.

And finally, the National Science Foundation’s Directorate for Education and Human Resources has launched a nationwide search for a Division Director of the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE). The Division Director of DUE oversees a substantial portfolio of research, development, and education programs related to undergraduate education, and works with other leaders at NSF and the community to advance STEM and STEM education.  Further information about the position can be found here: http://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2016/nsf16111/nsf16111.jsp?org=NSF

Jodi Peterson is Assistant Executive Director of Legislative Affairs for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Chair of the STEM Education Coalition. e-mail Peterson at jpeterson@nsta.org; follow her on Twitter at @stemedadvocate.

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Middle school children are inquisitive and enjoy classroom opportunities to learn visually. Subsequently, an option worth consideration is an application of technology known as 3D. It’s similar to the 3D technology that is used in movie theaters and is designed to enhance visualization of pairs of images and gives users a greater sense of depth perception.

For nearly 150 years, stereoscopes have been used for looking at images that depict left-eye and right-eye views of the same object; culminating into a single three-dimensional image.  Subsequently, when viewing the image with special projection hardware and eyewear, a typical stereoscope provides each eye with a lens that makes the image seen through it appear larger and more distant, resulting in the illusion of depth.

Recent Advances in technology have led to much more sophisticated ways of projecting the third dimension.  For example, Data Light Processing (DLP) technology creates a stunning picture and is used in contemporary projectors. DLP technology is extremely fast, and projects two images on the screen at the same time, i.e., one for each eye. As a tool for conceiving the image, 3D glasses are used to combine the two images into 3D and can be purchased from a variety of projector manufacturers, e.g., InFocus, Texas Instruments, etc.

In this age of technology, even with the most determined efforts to differentiate classroom instruction, it is common for teachers to face kids who are difficult to keep on task.  However,  with 3D technology and at a cost that most schools can afford, a sudden vision of a brain or a heart via 3D technology can motivate students with an authentic experience of the relationships between individual cell parts and the structures and function of the heart [http://www.theguardian.com/classroom-innovation/3d-lessons-in-schools].

By presenting students with problem-solving skills, using 3D technology can give students the opportunity to go beyond the “Knowledge-level,”and reach the “Analysis-level!” For example, students can take a virtual trip down through the crust of the earth and travel its inner core. Along the way, students can examine changes in density, mass, and temperature. With 3D technology, students can go beyond memorization and travel on an exciting journey  through nature, which can reveal folded mountains and massive sea trenches; almost as if it’s really happening before your eyes [https://sciencenode.org/feature/3d-tectonic-modeling-answers-age-old-geology-question.php]. So what do teachers need to get started?

Different Projectors and Software Packages

There are a variety of 3D software packages available for science teaching. Recently, projector manufacturers have begun rolling out 3D models targeting the needs of classrooms, while makers of 3D content and accessories are responding to schools by creating products to meet the needs of a growing market. For example, the 3D capability of the 2300-lumen projector from ViewSonic (www.viewsonic.com) is available for around $500. Here is a list of manufactures who carry 3D projectors:

www.ti.com

www.benq.us

www.mitsubishi-presentations.com

www.dell.com

www.sharpusa.com

www.optoma.com

www.vivitekcorp.com

Once a projector has been purchased, teachers can get software to integrate 3D software, e.g., [http://en.softonic.com/s/free-3d-science-animation-software].  An excellent website worth visiting is Cyber Science 3D, which offers content that spans science content areas. Teachers can use the content in a lecture environment to demonstrate terms, labels, and spatial relationships between objects in the 3D simulations [http://cyberscience3d.com/3d-content-library/]. If interested in giving 3D a try, Cyberscience3D offers a trial where you can dissect a cactus. Access this site and experience the benefits of 3D for classroom instruction, i.e., [http://cyberscience3d.com/free-trial/]. In addition, a variety of 3D  models are available for classroom use in the following areas:

• • Astronomy
  • Botany,
  • Chemistry
  • Earth Science
  • Human Anatomy
  • Mechanical
  • Microbiology
  • Paleontology
  • Zoology
  • Cyber Physiology

Once 3D software is selected, special 3D glasses are needed, which can range in price from around $7.99 to over $200. Depending on your budget and what you want to use, consider durability when purchasing glasses [ http://3d-tv-glasses-review.toptenreviews.com].

The integration of 3D technology into science instruction gives students an opportunity to visualize ideas and have these ideas serve as virtual models for real-life scenarios. In essence, 3D technology gives teachers an opportunity to bring the future to our students today!

Authors

Mervyn J. Wighting (mervwig@regent.edu) is a professor of education at Regent University in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Edwin P. Christmann (edwin.christmann@sru.edu) is a professor, chairman of the secondary education department, and graduate coordinator of the mathematics and science teaching program at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.