What’s New for May on NSTA’s various online outposts
Many of you are wanting to download the resources from the conference in Philadelphia. Here’s how.
On our listservs, flood relief efforts for a school in Tennessee are being arranged on our Chemistry list, and the brain and our senses is being discussed in the General Science listserv.
In NSTA’s online professional learning communities, make sure to check out all the presentation resources for our Philadelphia Conference.
On our “core site” (www.nsta.org): read about National Lab Day and get involved!
On Facebook, discussions abound about summer activities and the coming end of the school year..
On LinkedIn, lots of discussions about biology teaching.
And of course, on our Twitter stream, science educators are tweeting and re-tweeting about an opportunity to fly a microgravity flight!
Renew Your Membership!
Now is the time to insure that you don’t miss a single journal issue or one minute of the time you use to network and build professional connections here in these online communities. Click the link above to renew your membership and insure that NSTA stays in your corner for your science education career!

Recently, I was searching NSTA’s archives for membership quotes.  Resources was a prominent theme; “thanks for the resources”, “I didn’t know you had such great resources”, and “where can I find resources”.  It reminded me how valuable both resources and our peers are in the learning process.
One tremendous resource NSTA provides is the National Congress on Science Education.  Comprised of one voting delegate from each of NSTA’s Chapters and Associated Groups, this national conversation on science education provides an opportunity for chapters and associated groups, the NSTA Council, the NSTA Board of Directors, and NSTA staff to collaboratively address issues and work toward strategies that will support our mission, “to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.”  Participants are also afforded with an opportunity to network with their peers, attend leadership seminars, and attend “issue forums” which result in the drafting of resolutions about key science education issues.
NSTA knows that budgets are tight and we also know the value of learning and collaborating with your peers. That is why we have waived the registration fee.  This event is organized by science leaders for science leaders.  I urge every Chapter and Associated Group to participate.  For more information, please click here.
The success of this blog is dependent on your participation!  And remember, I’m only a few keystrokes away at aodonnell@nsta.org.

There are quite a few science topics included in the books on the Association for Library Service to Children’s Young Readers list of 2010 Notable Children’s Books. Selections on the Older Readers list may be useful as well for the photographs and the background information that teachers can read and tell about, such as, Almost Astronauts: 13 Women Who Dared to Dream by Tanya Lee Stone (Candlewick 2010).
I also use the NSTA Recommends archives to begin my searches for age appropriate books for science teaching.
Peggy

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

School budget challenges coupled with the general state of the national economy has resulted in the need for teachers to not only be prudent but also imaginative. Former NSTA president and current Science and Children editor Linda Froschauer outlines creative and inexpensive ways for sixth through ninth-grade science teachers to keep their expenses to a minimum. In her new book published by NSTA Press, The Frugal Science Teacher, 6–9: Strategies and Activities, Froschauer carefully selected NSTA Press book chapters and NSTA journal articles that suggest untapped resources for materials, ways to recycle items you already have on hand, inexpensive alternatives to costly classroom projects, and activities that require little to no funds. Until economic recovery takes a firmer hold for school districts and for us all, take a few tips from The Frugal Science Teacher, 6–9, to keep science students engaged.

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.

Click here for the Table of Contents

• Forecasting the Weather
• Collecting Weather Data
• What Causes Earth’s Seasons?
• Clouds and Fog
• Storms
• Tornadoes
• What Makes Up the Atmosphere?

At the 5–8 level, there are many keywords leading to websites on weather and climate. In SciLinks, use the basic keywords “weather” or “climate” to access them.
In this issue, all of the articles deal with the theme of weather. I’m going to continue reading and in the next post, I’ll share more resources on seasons, clouds, and instrumentation.
Check out the Connections for this issue. Even if the article does not quite fit with your lesson agenda, this resource has ideas for handouts, background information sheets, data sheets, rubrics, etc.