By Mary Bigelow
Posted on 2010-03-20
After the last session today was over at 6:00 PM, I went out for dinner. I didn’t try to eavesdrop on the nearby table, but when I heard science notebook, nature study, and rubric, I knew I was sitting near some teachers. They were from Montgomery County, Maryland, and an earlier session had them so excited, they were working right through dinner (on a Saturday night!). By the time they invited me to join them, they had a multi-page to-do list and preliminary sketches for a student notebook. I hope their colleagues and administrators appreciate their dedication and enthusiasm! I also hope they share their results at a future conference or in Science & Children.
By Mary Bigelow
Posted on 2010-03-20
By Mary Bigelow
Posted on 2010-03-20
Losing your marbles over data
By Mary Bigelow Posted on 2010-03-20 Tony Bartley (from Thunder Bay, Ontario) and Mike Bowen (from Halifax, Nova Scotia) discussed how to improve students’ data literacy. They reviewed types of data (nominal, ordinal, and integer/ratio) and the type of graph that would be appropriate for each. Using simple materials such as marbles, paper cups, and a ruler, they engaged the participants in an activity that incorporated concepts such as data types, graphing, variables, line of fit, and interpreting data. By the end of our marble-rolling trials, we had the beginnings of a great bar graph. They noted that “science is a probabilistic endeavor. It doesn’t make absolute deterministic statements; it makes statements of probability.” They also shared a booket they created on data literacy for students (and teachers). Science and social studies
By Mary Bigelow Posted on 2010-03-20 Ellis Island Ambassadors Barbara DeSantis, Cindy Jenkins, and Beth Topinka are interested in investigating how government policy and science are intertwined and in the historical context of innovations and discoveries. They participated in a summer project at Ellis Island on the science of historical restorations, in which teachers studied topics such as the chemistry of paint chips and floor coverings and the biology behind the medical screenings that took place at Ellis Island during the 20th century. They shared some of the projects in which elementary students researched some of the diseases and other physical conditions for which immigrants were screened. They also shared some poignant photographs of Ellis Island, how they also integrated language arts with the projects, and anecdotes about their studies. They encourage teachers to use the historical places and artifacts in our own locations as a basis for scientific inquiry. Barbara, who is doing a Web 2.0 session on Sunday, also demonstrated several web-based tools that students and teachers use to organize and display their work. Creating tomorrow's STEM workforce
By Debra Shapiro Posted on 2010-03-20 Have you ever heard of Katherine Johnson, an African American woman who helped calculate the orbits that put Neil Armstrong on the Moon? Chances are you haven’t, says Garland Thompson, news correspondent for the Philadelphia Tribune, who is one of the first African Americans to join the editorial board of a major daily newspaper. He told the audience at his Shell Science Seminar today that while “talent is widely distributed among the human family,” Johnson and other minority and female STEM pioneers remain virtually unknown to today’s students. These are the people to point to as role models, he urged teachers.
In the 21st century, our country will have “so many things we need that we don’t have a workforce for,” said Thompson. “We need to train up a new crew to do that work.” Not all of these workers will be scientists and engineers: Many technical workers with associate’s degrees will be needed to make it all happen. Instead of focusing on the nation’s 52% dropout rate, he suggests turning to the students who aren’t dropping out and who just need some support on their road to a place in the STEM workforce. “Let’s not always talk about deficits,” he urged. To create the new technical workforce, Thompson says teachers and curriculum writers should develop applied science and math lessons. He informs teachers that they and their students can attend–at no charge–conferences such as the Black Engineers of the Year Awards and Career Conference, to be held in Washington, D.C., next February. He calls this “an Oscar program for people in science and technology” and adds that companies often send recruiters to these events who are looking for bright students to hire. “A lot of people like that will help you” by sending representatives to your school to talk to your students–or even “loaning” you an executive for the whole school year who can help you teach, observes Thompson. Lots of help is out there; “you just have to reach out and ask for it,” he points out. CSI Philadelphia
By Debra Shapiro Posted on 2010-03-20 Full disclosure–NSTA got me hooked on the CSI programs. Ordinarily I would have ignored them, but when I heard that these shows excite students about science, I had to see at least one episode. Eventually I was watching all of them regularly. (I have weaned myself off of CSI on Thursdays, but not the New York and Miami ones.) So when given a chance to attend a session called “The Dead T-Shirt Contest” that promised to enlighten us about teaching forensic science, I had to go there, of course. Presenters Michael Lazaroff and David Rollison of Staples High School in Westport, Connecticut, have created a unit in which students serve as both “murder victims” and pathologists. ![]() ![]() bruises, and bullet and puncture wounds. (Doesn’t the teacher on the right look like a real murder victim with her eyes closed?) Groups of teachers then became students who had to examine the evidence and determine COD (that’s cause of death for all you non-CSI viewers). As teachers debated which injuries might have caused the fatality, Michael offered teaching tips, such as not allowing students to list COD as “undetermined” unless they can justify it … giving each group of students a different COD to prevent cheating…and when students are reciting the Pledge of Allegiance, making sure they place their hands over their hearts, not their lungs. Handouts contained diagrams like these that teachers can use in the classroom. Michael concludes his forensic science unit by dressing a mannequin (a discard from a local department store) in a white t-shirt and white pants, all marked with wounds. He asks students to solve the crime. Next, they take part in a courtroom trial and present the evidence, with half the class serving as prosecutors and the other half as defense attorneys. Well, I’ve had my CSI fix for today, so on to other sessions! Full disclosure–NSTA got me hooked on the CSI programs. Ordinarily I would have ignored them, but when I heard that these shows excite students about science, I had to see at least one episode. Eventually I was watching all of them regularly. (I have weaned myself off of CSI on Thursdays, but not the New York and Miami ones.) Meet the author
By Mary Bigelow Posted on 2010-03-20
Learn, share, re-engergize
By Lynn Petrinjak Posted on 2010-03-20 I headed over to the exhibit hall just before it opened. I was surprised to see so many eager educators waiting for the doors to open, even on the third day! Since they had still had a few minutes before the doors opened, I was able to talk to a few. Dottie Hartman of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, is attending her second NSTA national conference. “I went last year to the one in New Orleans and had so much fun and learned so much that I came here to the one in Philadelphia. I’m presenting this year. Last year, I went and had a wonderful time and got the idea maybe I should submit a lesson and present. So here I am, a first-year presenter.” Hartman did a presentation on the physics of kite flying. She explains, “I teach high school biology and chemistry, but I’ve done formal education and informal education; this is actually an informal lesson.” Her personal goals for the conference? Simple: “Learn, learn, and learn. Learn and share,” she says. Wendell Badertscher and Mike Eier, both from Glenwood Middle School in Findlay, Ohio, had found a spot near the doors while they waited. Badertscher, who teaches seventh grade life science, says, “I came to get additional resources, some specific ones as well as some general, ideology, and all the exhibitors’ booths are a good thing too. I’ve got lots of ideas, very practical, hands-on stuff I can take back.” “I came to get kind of re-energized and renewed, learn new things, see some old friends. I met with some colleagues,” says Eier, who teaches eighth grade Earth science. “I am involved with the ACTS program through the Department of Energy, so we had a meeting and some time together. Again seeing new products, new ideas in teaching. It’s always a good boost in energy, especially at the end of the year.” I headed over to the exhibit hall just before it opened. I was surprised to see so many eager educators waiting for the doors to open, even on the third day! Since they had still had a few minutes before the doors opened, I was able to talk to a few. |