It’s too time-consuming… We haven’t been properly trained… Assessment is too difficult… Subject integrity may be relaxed… There are many reasons teachers find it challenging to make cross-curricular connections. But the benefits far outweigh them—curricula can be more relevant, more diverse voices can be shared, learning time and space can be more flexible, and so many more.

For science teachers who enjoy this type of collaboration (or want to be able to enjoy it), we’re pleased to invite you to take a closer look at a special strand “Jazzing Up Science with Cross-Curricular Connections” being featured at our 2019 National Conference on Science Education, in St. Louis, April 11–14. Our conference organizers know that Integration within the sciences or among other disciplines leads to deeper learning and understanding for all students. This strand will focus on ways that science and other subject areas can be integrated, including the best way to bundle disciplinary core ideas. This strand will be targeted by level: novice, intermediate, or advanced attendees.

Sessions organized around this strand include a featured presentation on Saturday, April 13, 2:00 to 3:00 PM (“Hulahula and Learn Something…Expressing Science Through Culture and Dance”) by Kiana Frank, Assistant Professor, Pacific Biosciences Research Center. Weaving stories from traditional and contemporary scientific observations to explain the world around her—from micro to macro scales—Frank hopes to advance our understanding of how we fit into and influence our place. The expression of these stories through movement, as was done traditionally in Hawaii through the art of hula (dance), enables the expression of emotion and spirituality that is vital to perpetuating indigenous science and increasing comprehension, engagement, and enthusiasm of science in our students and communities. Expressing science in a cultural context through dance, not only better connects us to a concept or a place, but also engages the imagination by developing connections to that which we cannot see—the multiple layers of meaning and levels of knowledge that cross disciplines to achieve deeper learning.

And there will be hundreds more sessions in St. Louis that explore the use of phenomena in the science classroom; below is a small sampling:

• Crosscutting Concepts and Using Your Science “Eye”
• Physics Is a Story: Weaving History and Diversity into Physics Education
• Do It, Talk It, Write It: Incorporating Literacy and Digital Media to Promote Meaning Making for Young Learners
• Not Enough Time? Fill Your Day with Nature!
• Serving Up Science Through Independent Learning Menus
• The Flight of the Bumblebee: A New Multimodal STEM Text Set and Related Activities for Diverse Middle School Learners
• Learn Physics, Not Equations
• SC-5: Blending the E and the S in STEM (ticket required)
• Providing Real-World Relevance to Students of All Abilities Using CDC Public Health Lessons
• Place-Based Projects Making a Difference on Your School Campus
• STEAM on the Street: Surprising Everyday STEAM Encounters!
• Maker Movement: Building Bridges Between Science and English Language Arts
• Busy Beavers: Engineering Excitement in the Classroom
• STEM All Day Long…and Still Cover the Standards!
• Integrating Science and Literacy Instruction with Struggling Readers
• Science Stated Clearly: Teaching Chemistry and Biology with Animation
• The Young Artist as Scientist: What Can Leonardo da Vinci Teach Us?
• Blocks and Beyond: The Importance of Spatial Understandings in STEM
• Engaging Early Learners Through Cross-Curricular Integrated STEM Experiences
• STEM and NGSS No Longer Separate, But Still Equal
• Learning from Nature: STEAM Investigations for the Elementary Classroom

Some of the connections teachers make happen outside of the classroom. Attendees thinking of working across the curriculum, or even to expand their students’ horizons further, can join their peers on Saturday, April 13, for the Community Connections Share-a-Thon. The organizers invite you to come and engage with organizations that bring you exciting resources, programs, and opportunities available to you from museums, after-school, media, and other informal science education providers! At the share-a-thon, you’ll find:

• Interactive hands-on activities
• New and engaging ways to connect with your students
• FREE programs and resources

Pro Tips

Check out more sessions and other events with the St. Louis Session Browser. Follow all our conference tweets using #NSTA19, and if you tweet, please feel free to tag us @NSTA so we see it!

Need help requesting funding or time off from your principal or supervisor? Download a letter of support and bring it with you.

And don’t forget, NSTA members save up to $90 off the price of registration. Not a member? Join here.

Future NSTA Conferences

2019 National Conference
St. Louis, April 11–14

2019 STEM Forum & Expo
San Francisco, July 24–26

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Follow NSTA

Merriam-Webster has several definitions for phenomenon—among them are “an observable fact or event” and “an object or aspect known through the senses rather than by thought or intuition.” And just as they find varied ways to look at the word, so too do science teachers find varied ways to use phenomena in their classrooms. Join your peers this spring in St. Louis to hear creative ideas for doing just that.

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Phenomena: Gateway to Learning” at our 2019 National Conference on Science Education, in St. Louis, April 11–14. Our conference organizers recognize that using phenomena in science experiences expands learning. Inclusion of multiple disciplines or subject areas in three-dimensional learning aids in deepening student thinking, learning, and reflecting. This strand will show how teachers can use structures such as the 5E instructional model, Claims-Evidence-Reasoning (CER), Problem-Based Learning, Place-Based Learning, or Project-Based Learning as viable approaches to facilitate student understanding. This strand will be targeted by level: novice, intermediate, or advanced attendees.

Sessions organized around this strand include a featured panel on Friday, April 12, 3:30 to 4:30 PM (“Place-Based Phenomena for Extraordinary Learning”) by Leslie Cook, Senior Director, Teacher Learning Center, Teton Science Schools; Kevin Krasnow, Graduate Faculty and Research Specialist, Teton Science Schools; and Joe Petrick, Vice President of Field Education, Teton Science Schools. Teton Science Schools (TSS) has practiced place-based science learning in the Greater Yellowstone Geo-ecosystem for the past 51 years.  This panel discussion will focus on how TSS is practicing place-based education and offer new ideas for teachers to take back to their classrooms.

And there will be hundreds more sessions in St. Louis that explore the use of phenomena in the science classroom; below is a small sampling:

• Student Engineers Build on Foundations
• NASA’s Educator Tool Kit: Framing Phenomena-Based Student Investigations
• Daytime Astronomy: Elementary Celestial Navigation
• NOS Naturally
• Harry Potter and the Science of Invisibility
• Do Your Students Really Understand Chemical Equilibrium?
• Students Collecting Data for the GLOBE Urban Heat Island Effect Campaign
• It’s All About Connections: Antarctic Ice to Local Climate
• The Saint Louis Box Turtle Project: Using Local Species to Understand World Issues
• SC-7: Promoting Children’s Science Inquiry and Thinking About Living Things in Preschool and Kindergarten (ticket required)
• Invigorate Your Classroom Through Science Literacy
• What Happened Here? Using the 5Es to Explore Phenomena Outdoors
• Phenomenon-“Mah na mah na:” How to Use a Local Anchoring Phenomena to Drive a Lesson Series
• SC-11: The World Ender: A NASA Cross-Disciplinary PBL Unit (ticket required)
• Place-Based Curricula and Project-Based Learning Units Address a Real-World Problem of Marine Debris in the U.S. Virgin Islands
• CER…CERtainly a Way to Help Students Become Scientists
• Wild Spiders in Three Dimensions
• Climate Science and Stewardship Project: Plants as Bioindicators and Solutions
• After an Earthquake: Real-Time Earthquake Data as a Hook to Encourage Answer-Seeking About the Geologic and Societal Context of the Event
• Science Curriculum from the Grassroots
• Jurassic Mystery: Using Real Research to Teach Critical-Thinking Skills
• Phenomenon-Based Learning: The Other PBL Approach to STEM Instruction
• Biophilia and Young Scientists

Need some off-campus inspiration? Consider this special offer for St. Louis conference registrants: Show your NSTA St. Louis Conference Badge and receive complimentary admission to the Butterfly House for a self-guided tour, courtesy of the Missouri Botanical Garden. Great care was taken in the design and engineering of the 8,000-square-foot glass conservatory garden to assure a natural and safe habitat for the butterflies. As many as 80 butterfly species and 150 tropical plant species are exhibited. The Butterfly House is located at Faust Park, 15193 Olive Blvd., Chesterfield, MO (a 40-minute drive from America’s Center).

Pro Tips

Check out more sessions and other events with the St. Louis Session Browser. Follow all our conference tweets using #NSTA19, and if you tweet, please feel free to tag us @NSTA so we see it!

Need help requesting funding or time off from your principal or supervisor? Download a letter of support and bring it with you.

And don’t forget, NSTA members save up to $90 off the price of registration. Not a member? Join here.

Future NSTA Conferences

2019 National Conference
St. Louis, April 11–14

2019 STEM Forum & Expo
San Francisco, July 24–26

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Follow NSTA

Explorers Lewis and Clark began their westward trip from the St. Louis area in 1804, trying to find a better way to the west coast; as they made their way to the Pacific Ocean, they mapped the area and cataloged its natural resources. If you’re feeling like an explorer making your way through unchartered territory as you navigate three-dimensional teaching or the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), join us this April to get your own road map.

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) will feature a special strand “Three-Dimensional Grand Slam” at our 2019 National Conference on Science Education, in St. Louis, April 11–14. Our conference organizers really understand that shifting science educators’ focus from simply teaching science ideas to helping students figure out solutions is exciting. But it’s not just about changing the way you teach; in their learning, students must use all three dimensions of the NGSS or NRC Framework in an integrated fashion in order to make sense of phenomena or design solutions to problems. This strand will focus on implementing three-dimensional learning to increase student understanding and will be targeted by level: novice, intermediate, or advanced attendees.

Sessions organized around this strand include a featured presentation on Friday, April 12, 11:00 AM–12 Noon (“Unlocking the Power of the NGSS”) by Paul Andersen (Educational Consultant and Creator of the wildly popular YouTube channel, Bozeman Science). Not familiar with Andersen? Check out one of his most popular videos, below, explainig CRISPR.

And there will be hundreds more sessions in St. Louis to help teachers explore 3-D teaching and the NGSS; below is a small sampling so you see what’s in store:

• Case Studies: Compelling and Engaging 3-D Instructional Tools
• Using Energy, Engineering, and Explanations in Elementary ML-PBL Science Classrooms
• Implementing Three-Dimensional Assessment Practices in High School Science
• Merging Three-Dimensional Assessments with Standards-Based Grading
• SC-4: Developing and Using Models for Better Conceptual Understanding (ticket required)
• Formative Processes in the NGSS Classroom
• Where Does Our Clean Water Come From and Where Does It Go After We Make It Dirty? A Grade 5 NGSS Storyline
• Transforming Elementary Classrooms with Engineering Challenges: Three-Dimensional Planning Tools for Teachers
• Student Drivers: Driving Question Boards Empower Students to Figure Out What They Really Need to Know and How They Will Get There
• States of Matter…Where Did They Go? Transforming Existing Elementary and Middle Grades Lessons to Meet NGSS Matter and Its Interactions
• SC-8: Designing and Using Three-Dimensional Assessments in Your Classroom (ticket required)
• Engaging Students in Scientific Arguments from Evidence
• What About the Crosscutting Concepts? How to Make Them Explicit in Your Science Lessons
• Developing Models Through Peer Critique and Feedback
• Cultivating the Scientific Practice of Asking Questions: Tools for Teachers and Students
• Engaging Students: Using Crosscutting Concepts to Prompt Student Sensemaking of Phenomena
• Integrating Content in a 3-D World
• The Trifecta: Driving Question Boards, Anchor Models, Anchor Charts
• Writing Three-Dimensional Storylines
• Assessing 3-D Learning: You Can Do It!
• When the Performance Expectations Aren’t Enough: Unpacking the NGSS Evidence Statements to Plan for Three-Dimensional Science Instruction
• Raising the Bar: Developing Effective Three-Dimensional Lessons

Not enough? Take a really deep dive and attend these:

• The NGSS@NSTA Forum | Friday, April 12 | 226, America’s Center
  This year’s NGSS@NSTA Forum focuses on instructional materials. The opening session describes tools you can use to evaluate resources and then five additional sessions highlight instructional units designed to address three-dimensional standards. Click here for a list of the sessions.

• NGSS@NSTA Share-a-Thon | Saturday, April 13 | 9:30–10:30 AM | Hall 1, America’s Center
  At the NGSS@NSTA Share-a-Thon, meet education experts from around the country, and get tips and tools to help implement three-dimensional instruction. Leave with plenty of handouts and ideas you can use in your classroom right away.

Pro Tips

Check out more sessions and other events with the St. Louis Session Browser. Follow all our conference tweets using #NSTA19, and if you tweet, please feel free to tag us @NSTA so we see it!

Need help requesting funding or time off from your principal or supervisor? Download a letter of support and bring it with you.

And don’t forget, NSTA members save up to $90 off the price of registration. Not a member? Join here.

Future NSTA Conferences

2019 National Conference
St. Louis, April 11–14

2019 STEM Forum & Expo
San Francisco, July 24–26

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Follow NSTA

Introduction

The PowerUp X FPV allows users to view a video as their paper airplane flies. Subsequently, the PowerUp X FPV is designed for users in middle grades to high school and can offer opportunities to go outside to test the airplane. Moreover, students can use their cellular phone to view images of the flight at it is compatible with both Android and Apple products. Hence, a free “app” allows users to control their airplane’s flight from their cell phone. Moreover, the “app” contains tips for getting started with a pre-flight tutorial video and a pre-flight checklist to better prepare for the flight. Within the “app,” there is also an alarm users can sound to locate their plane if the flight goes into an area where it is hard to find.

Image 1: PoweUP X

Before flying the plane, to get the most out of the experience, make sure the battery is fully charged. To charge the battery, a USB cord is needed and will take about 90 minutes. Next, users can follow the simple folding instructions on the PowerUp X FPV website to construct their plane. The instructions can be found under the “How to Fold” section of the PowerUp website. The instructions were easy to follow and can be found at https://flightdeck.poweruptoys.com/cwists/preview/959x. Finally, when the battery is fully charged (as indicated by a green charging light) users can “convert from paper plane to paper drone.” This can be done by following the diagram included in the instructions for connecting the paper plane to the PowerUp FPV Module.

When it is time to fly the plane, users must connect to the PowerUp WiFi network and then launch the PowerUp FPV App. Users must then go through the pre-flight checklist to ensure that their plane is ready for takeoff. Once the pre-flight checklist is complete, users are ready for takeoff. To begin the takeoff, users need to double-tap in the region indicated on the screen of their cell phone to unlock the throttle. Once this is done, an automated voice will say, “You are cleared for takeoff.” Image 2 shows the area that must be double tapped and is circled in yellow.

Users must then move the sliding bar on the left side of their screen to turn the throttle up (the throttle can be turned up anywhere from 0-100%). Moving the sliding bar is what allows the motors to activate the propellers to move the plane. Image 3 shows the sliding bar which controls the throttle and is circled in yellow. Thus, to fly the place, the user simply releases the plane into the wind and the plane will take off! A nice feature is that the plane is equipped with crash detection. Therefore, when the plane lands or crashes, an alarm sounds from the plane to help users locate their plane.

Image 2: The area users must tap to unlock is circled in yellow.

Image 3: The throttle bar is circled in yellow.

What’s Included:
-4 sheets of paper with lines to guide students in folding their paper airplanes
-1 PowerUp FPV Module
-2 extra blades
-1 instruction manual
-1 battery

What Needs Purchased Separately:
-Micro USB cord for charging
-Micro SD card- If you want to save your flight videos

Classroom Uses:

The PowerUp website provides an assortment of resources for teachers to select kits their classrooms. As you will find, ther are a variety of different models for teachers to choose from, and classroom sets can be purchased at reasonable prices with academic discounts available. In addition, the website provides a free “Teacher Guide” in PDF format with lesson plan ideas for teachers. From what we found, the lesson plans are good and aligned with primary, middle, and high school NGSS standards. The lessons are focused on aeronautic related concepts and are will suited to the physical sciences. The following is a link to the free Teacher Guide PDF https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0165/4322/files/PowerUp_Teacher_Guide_21.06.2018.pdf?5564353080247095108.

Tips for Getting Started:

To begin, take a look at the PowerUp website and review the resources, guides, and answers to frequently asked questions. Once there, you will find video tutorials to help get you started can be found at https://www.poweruptoys.com/pages/powerup-fpv-lp. From our experience, the PowerUp X offers students a meaningful learning experience that is motivating and enjoyable!

Specifications:
-Video: Swivel wide angle VGA camera
-Video latency: 80-120ms
-Video frame rate: 30 fps
-Camera lens: 100×130 wide angle
-Battery size: Hot swap 550 mAh Lithium polymer
-Battery life: 10 Minutes flight per charge
-High Intensity Buzzer- perfect for finding a lost drone
-Charging time- 90 minutes
-Max speed: 20 mph/32 km/h/ 9m per second (depending on the airplane design)
-Airplane gross weight: 2.8 oz/ 80 grams/ 3 ounces

Video 1: Auto Pilot Test

Cost:
$139.99

About the Authors:

Edwin P. Christmann is a professor and chairman of the secondary education department and graduate coordinator of the mathematics and science teaching program at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania. Emily Ferraro is a graduate student in the mathematics and science teaching program at Slippery Rock University in Slippery Rock, Pennsylvania.

This week in education news, more state governments should take necessary steps to ensure they can provide public support for paid professional development for teachers of STEM subjects; new study finds programs with strong organization structures are the key to effective early-childhood education; L.A. public school teachers reach a deal to end weeklong strike; elementary schools are introducing their students to engineering principles, hoping to inspire a life-long interest in STEM fields; DonorsChoose analysis shows that demand for STEM education continues to rise; 2019 National Teacher of the Year finalists announced; and programs that focus on content creation and extended classroom accessibility will help K–12 teachers get the most out of their AR and VR investments.

Paid Professional Development Key to Teaching STEM Effectively

The foundation upon which science teachers base their curricula is shifting in many states, but in too many districts across the country, this shifting ground has not been accompanied by practical — and paid — opportunities for teachers to catch themselves up to where science instruction is headed. Read the article posted in The Hill.

New Gene-Editing Kit Puts the Power of Frog Growth into Citizen Scientists’ Hands

Since founding his company, The Odin, in 2006, Josiah Zayner and his team have been striving to give the public the education and tools to safely edit organisms’ genes. So far, they have sold thousands of gene-editing kits and brought in around $500,000 in revenue just last year. With these inexpensive devices, individuals can practice feats of science once contained to a lab, such as making glow-in-the-dark yeast and precise gene mutations in bacteria. Read the article featured in the Mercury News.

New Study Finds Strong School Climate Key to Effective Early Learning

A new study says programs with strong organizational structures hold the key to effective early-childhood education, and lists exceptional administrators and collaborative teachers as the two most important components of those structures. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Los Angeles Teachers’ Strike to End as Deal Is Reached

Los Angeles public school teachers reached a deal with officials on Tuesday to end a weeklong strike that had affected more than half a million students, winning an array of supplementary services after an era in education marked by attacks on traditional public schools and their teachers. Read the article featured in The New York Times.

How Arizona Is Building Its Own Talent Pipeline to Solve the Stubborn Teacher Shortages Hitting State’s Low-Income Schools

The Vail school district in southern Arizona has grown from a few hundred to more than 12,000 students over the past two decades. The district’s expansion has been managed by a respected and resourceful district leader who credits much of the success of its schools, which rank among Arizona’s best, to its selection of teachers. Teachers who have earned credentials through traditional programs “remain our meat and potatoes,” said Calvin Baker, the superintendent who has run Vail schools for 30 years. But the district also serves as its own school of education, training non-certified staff — as well parents and community volunteers — to become educators. Read the article featured in The 74.

How to Build An Engineer: Start Young

A few years ago, a young female engineer named Isis Anchalee was featured on one of her company’s recruiting posters only to be subjected to a barrage of digital feedback questioning whether she was really an engineer. People posting on Facebook and Twitter said Anchalee was too attractive to be an actual software engineer and must be a model. Anchalee responded like the techie she is. She wrote a blog post about her experience and added a photo of herself with the hashtag #ILookLikeAnEngineer. Read the article featured in The Hechinger Report.

Crowdfunding Data Shows Rise in STEM, Rural Requests

An analysis of 274,000 projects funded through DonorsChoose shows that demand for STEM education continued to rise in classrooms in 2018, and that rural educators are becoming more comfortable with the crowdfunding website. Read the article featured in EdScoop.

How to Get Teachers to Believe in a New School Program? Ask Them to Help Design It.

A veteran teacher in any school district will likely be able to tell the same story: A faddish new initiative comes sweeping in, perhaps promoted by the just-hired superintendent. Grand promises are made, and teachers get a few days of training (if they’re lucky). Then, it slowly fades away, as teachers ignore mandates they see as unhelpful or impractical. A new study looks closely at that phenomenon and its flip side — when teachers are bought in to programs designed to help their schools. Read the article featured in Chalkbeat.

These Are the Four Top Teachers in America

An environmental leader, a champion of student activism, a culturally responsive educator, and an advocate for students’ civic empowerment—these are the four educators who were announced today as finalists for the 2019 National Teacher of the Year Award. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Here Is What the Right Tools for Mixed Reality in the Classroom Look Like

In K–12, educators have found ways to use augmented and virtual reality to enhance and support deeper learning in the classroom. However, evaluating the best immersive technology resources requires an understanding of current technology limitations and offerings. Read the article featured in Ed Tech.

Problem-Solving in Elementary School

In a school district in New Jersey, beginning in kindergarten each child is seen as a future problem solver with creative ideas that can help the world. Vince Caputo, superintendent of the Metuchen School District, explained that what drew him to the position was “a shared value for whole child education.” Caputo’s first hire as superintendent was Rick Cohen, who works as both the district’s K–12 director of curriculum and principal of Moss Elementary School. Cohen is committed to integrating social and emotional learning (SEL) into academic curriculum and instruction by linking cognitive processes and guided self-talk. Cohen’s first focus was kindergarten students. “I recommended Moss teachers teach just one problem-solving process to our 6-year-olds across all academic content areas and challenge students to use the same process for social problem-solving,” he explained. Read the article featured in edutopia.

Stay tuned for next week’s top education news stories.

The Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs (CLPA) team strives to keep NSTA members, teachers, science education leaders, and the general public informed about NSTA programs, products, and services and key science education issues and legislation. In the association’s role as the national voice for science education, its CLPA team actively promotes NSTA’s positions on science education issues and communicates key NSTA messages to essential audiences.

The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.

Follow NSTA

Engaging students in crosscutting STEM concepts is made so much easier when talented storytellers and gifted illustrators produce the kinds of books that young readers immediately want to open up and explore.

The Beaks of Birds

In Richard Konicek-Moran’s and Kathleen Konicek-Moran’s latest NSTA Kids’ book, The Beaks of Birds, readers are encouraged to accompany Mr. and Mrs. Hernandez on a journey, one that takes them from the back yard, into the park, past a pond, and through the pages of a photo album, to understand how birds use their beaks to find and capture their food, survive, and even defend themselves.

This book will surely help encourage a whole new generation of birders and future biologists as readers are introduced to nearly 20 different birds from house finches, to Eastern wood pewees, black skimmers, glossy ibises and roseate spoonbills, just to name a few. The Hernandezes make this learning fun by issuing the following challenge to readers: Figure out what each bird eats by the shape of its beak, which is also a great way to introduce students to the crosscutting concept of structure and function.

Eight kid-friendly activities as well as lots of fascinating background information are included at the end of the book to supplement learning, both in the classroom and at home. Students are encouraged to do things like examine the shape of a kitchen tool to understand how it helps it do the job for which it was intended; put up a backyard bird feeder and keep track of the different types of birds that frequent it throughout the year and what they like to eat; research an organization that helps protect birds and determine what they can do to help; and draw a picture of a tool they would like to have that would help them do something they want to do.

Exemplary Evidence: Scientists and Their Data

Jessica Fries-Gaither uses rhymes in her latest NSTA Kids book, Exemplary Evidence: Scientists and Their Data, to get her young readers to think of science as puzzles to be solved. Illustrator Linda Olliver’s wonderful drawings help bring Fries-Gaither’s whimsical rhymes to life as well as help introduce readers to the work of a diverse group of scientists spanning history to present day. Students learn about the work of Maria Sibylla Merian, Carlos Juan Finlay, and Russell Stands-Over Bull, for example. They are also encouraged to extend their learning beyond the pages of this book by understanding how to collect their own data/find their own answers to how the world works using four easily understood steps.

Exemplary Evidence makes the collecting, organizing, comparing, sharing, interpreting, visualizing, analyzing, and mapping of data fun! In the words of Fries-Gaither:

“The importance of data is shown rather well
by the work of scientists—too many to tell!
Throughout all of history, data’s been key
In the making of every great discovery.”

Learn more about the NSTA Kids series, which are trade books dedicated to nurturing the wonder and curiosity inherent in young minds.

Follow NSTA

I consistently see a variety of forms of plagiarism occurring in the classroom. How can I combat this?
– O., Ohio

In real life, group projects do not require individual final products from each team member. So, you could deter cheating on group projects by accepting one work product from each group. Employ a jigsaw approach and require different members complete different sections of the project or lab report.

Try to determine if the cheaters are bullying coercing other students into giving up the answers. This situation requires involvement of the teacher and perhaps administration. Students can easily copy fill-in-the-blank, matching, and multiple-choice assignments. Use them for review or have students complete reflection slips to promote individual thinking. If you have only one or two students cheat on an assignment, you could give them a second chance with different, perhaps more difficult, worksheets.

No matter what strategies you use, make sure to inform your students what the consequences for plagiarizing and other forms of cheating will be. When you receive plagiarized work, you could:

• Return the copied assignments to be done again and designate different questions on returned assignments for each student to elaborate on.
• Call the students’ parents or guardians.
• Record a zero grade for the assignment.
• Select one member out of a group who cheated to receive a grade on the work and mark the others as incomplete. If you select the one who didn’t do the work, the author will likely howl in protest.
• Grade one submission, deduct a 20% “cheating penalty,” and then divide the result evenly among the group.

Keep sharing the message that plagiarism is serious and not tolerated.

Hope this helps!

Of all the cool things invented by the universe, light is one of the most amazing. It solves all kinds of problems, can travel great distances with little effort, and its very existence has become possibly the greatest metaphor ever. And on the science education side, light is a critical feature of wave science yet has properties of a particle. And its use is instrumental in the study of just about everything else.

One of the surprising educational contradictions about light is that although we use it to measure, to photograph, to communicate, and of course to see, understanding light requires a disproportionate amount of imagination. One tool that can make the transition from imagination to conceptualization to concrete application is the spectrometer. And I won’t ignore the irony that using a sensor to measure aspects of light that in turn transmits that data with light (Bluetooth radio) to a screen that emits light. A wired USB connection is also possible. And for those students who don’t know what a wire is, there is a fascinating history of the wire on Wikipedia. After reading it, I look at the humble wire with renewed appreciation across time and technology.

The Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer is a tabletop solution for measuring wavelength spectrum in absorbance, percent transmission and intensity. While contemplating the various features of the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer, consider the mental gymnastics to have a graphical display of the wavelength absorbance of a material like spinach leaves. Essentially absorbance is what doesn’t reach the sensor in the Spectrophotometer. You can do the math.

 The Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer talks via Bluetooth with a screen device through a free app called Vernier Spectral Analysis available across the five major platforms of Windows, Mac, Chrome, iOS, and Google Play. The option to run spectrometry analysis with Logger Pro is also possible.

The wavelength range of the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer is from 380-950 nanometers (a range of 570 nanometers hence the article title), and has fluorescence capabilities with excitation at 405 and 500 nm.

Vernier uses this graphic to illustrate the operation of the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer. Basically a known light source heads towards a prism-like diffraction grating then onto a detector chip. A sample is placed in the pathway where light is either absorbed or transmitted. Since the initial light source is known, any wavelengths that don’t make it to the chip are considered absorbed, and any that do make it to the chip are transmitted.

Adding to the reach of the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer is a compatible fiber optic cable that gives up to near point-of-contact readings on all kinds of light sources. The fiber optic cable has a false curvette with an indexing rail for proper alignment. Once the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer is warmed up and calibrated, the cable is inserted and measurements with the open end can be made. 

I found management of the cable across general tabletop measurements was helped by a cable holder. I just used one of my many phone cradles with a bit of soft foam to secure the fiber optic under the variable pressure of the tripod mount.


While the uses of the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer seem near limitless, there are some very basic activities that can get the science class started, and quickly, like all phenomenal educational technology, the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer literally disappears as the excitement and wonder of some of the most interesting and insightful science applications literally revolutionize the way we understand and teach about light.

As a classroom teacher, I could draw the simplified electromagnetic spectrum on the whiteboard with my eyes closed. As the squiggly line of wavelengths went from long to short, a special cutout was made magnifying the ROY G BIV the students were already familiar with. From there I would stress what is just above and below Roy, and provide a few hard-to-memorize numbers that quantify what I was drawing. 

With special attention to the IR and UV portions of the spectrum, we will actually see those extensions while working with the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer and various light sources. Rarely do light sources stay within the confines of visible light. And some seem to play well far outside the Red and Violet. 

At this point I would take a psychophysical detour into how the human eye sees, and sees color in particular. Where I can now use the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer, a new dimension of teaching is possible. I call it Predictive Perceived Color Identification. It all starts with that popular science question of under what color light will plants grow the worst. Of course the inverse is what color light do plants absorb the best, but that is for later since all we have to work with at the moment is a green leaf. 

Invarably, a student will suggest that green light is the best because plants are green. Of course in reality, the reason the plant is green to our eye is because the plant reflects the green light rather than absorbing it. Once that mental gymnastic is complete, and the students are clear that green is the worst color, we can move on to other examples such as what color will you see when something red is bathed in red light? Or green light? With the volume turned up on mental modeling of perceived color, we can then warm up the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer and get some values for half of the equation for use in predicting what we will see when we run the experiment.

A great starting point, beyond having the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer on hand of course, is a flashlight with multiple different color outputs. I picked up on from the hardware store for about $20. Colored filter material and a bright white light flashlight will work as well. The next step is to find objects of roughly the same color as the light that spills from the flashlight. I use plastic beads and wires, both often at the hardware store as well. 

Wire and Beads under white light

To make this realistic, I generate a backstory grounded in fact. For the beads, I string mostly green ones with the occasional red mixed in. This color sequence represents blood from a wounded animal dripping onto green leaves. It’s actually a more-common-than-not situation for archery hunters, and is the tracking half of the hunting equation. While I skip the physiological implications of an arrow wound, the blood on the leaves is one of the more mild applications for this CSI-like science.

The wires, on the other hand, are to mimic what happens when someone needs to work with electrical wiring in the dark using only a flashlight or headlamp. Since wires are often identified by color, perceiving the color is essential. The problem is that in order to see the color, the wavelengths of that color must be present in the light source in order to bounce off the object and into the electrician’s eye. If you point a colored light or even a white-looking but incomplete spectrum light at colored wires, you may not be able to tell the wires apart. So critical is this that many work lights for the handyman and electrician are near-full spectrum LEDs to provide color wavelengths across the visible spectrum and advertised as such. A lightly scientific but ad heavy explanation for Milwaukee Tool’s TRUEVIEW LED technology can be found here at toolguyd.com’s website.

So here is an example. Study the images and make an educated guess as to what is happening.

Pretty easy, right? So now lets do the same with the spectrum produced by the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer as presented with the Spectral Analysis App. Note that there might be a combinations of colored lights.

Another interesting exploration was with spectrum-specific light bulbs. For instance, on the shelf of a local health food store were some lightbulbs marketed as “Blue Buster!” and the boxes contained diagrams of the light spectrum. I guess we’ll have do our own truth-in-advertising test.


There were two version each at different wattages; frosted and clear, and 60 and 75 watts. The image immediately below is the 60w frosted bulb, and the one below that is the 75w clear bulb.

One think I noticed is that the clear bulb has sharper distinctions between peaks and valleys. Something that should be expected compared to a frosted bulb. Maybe? In reality, it could be argued that the presence or absence of any particular wavelength of visible light is unaffected by a diffusion coating. Perhaps the frosting is just smoothing the line in the graph. Something important to notice, however, is just how far the Blue Buster bulbs reach out into the infrared spectrum. In fact they easily went beyond the capabilities of the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer as noted by the non-zero line at 950 nanometers. And even worse, there appears to be something happening out at the sub-400 nm UV spectrum. So much so that I’m going to pull out my Vernier UV sensor and get back to work.

As expected with a bulb producing plenty of IR, the Blue Buster got hot rapidly. But there was another bulb that heated up even faster, a bulb marketed as a Bug Light.
The Bug Light produced a yellow light and is designed to avoid those wavelengths that night-flying bugs are more sensitive to. In other words, a bug light should be more sunny or daylight and less evening or nightlight. But the real surprise was confirmed by Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer. I discovered it on my own, and that was the Bug Light got very hot very fast. I can see some more probeware research is needed to measure the temperature of these bulbs over time. 

The Bug Light has plenty of juice when it comes to the IR spectrum, and also a very strong UV signature. A quick look at that spectral curve and I suspect that bug lights should also repel humans.

To explore the IR and UV spectrum along with what reflects and absorbs UV and IR, well, there are flashlights for that. With dedicated UV and IR flashlights, the only way to measure the “brightness” of the flashlights was with the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer since light is invisible to our eyes the moment you step outside the visible spectrum property line. Here are those flashlight spectrums:

Care must be exercised when using UV and IR-only light sources. Unlike a regular flashlight, you cannot easily tell if the UV or IR light is on. And further, you don’t notice how bright it is because it can never appear bright. Or dim for that matter. So a strong UV or IR light source can cause eye strain, headaches, and disorientation, if not permanent eye damage.

So now when I see interesting light bulbs and light sources, I try to imagine what the wavelength spectrum looks like. And given the rapid evolution of LED lights and light applications, I cannot easily think of a limit to the educational applications of the Vernier Go Direct SpectroVis Plus Spectrophotometer. And we haven’t even started chemistry class yet.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

This week in education news, educators want Pennsylvania to adopt science standards that help students recognize that science is part of everyday life; low-income students are much less likely than high-income students to complete four years of high school science; new proposed Florida bill would allow school districts to adopt their own academic standards, as long as they are more “rigorous” than the state minimum standards; a bill proposal in Connecticut would mandate instruction on climate change in public schools statewide, beginning in elementary school; today’s mentoring programs in teacher professional development go beyond the basics of helping educators acclimate to the classroom; carefully planned and executed adventures outdoors can give students a positive perspective on learning outside; and new report takes a critical view of fully online courses and competency-based education.

Pa. Educators Want Science Standards to do More Than Teach Students to Win on Jeopardy

Jeff Remington and other educators want students across Pennsylvania to see science as a way to fulfill their dreams. Educators said the state needs to adopt a new set of science standards that helps public school students recognize that science is part of everyday life. Read the article featured on Pennlive.com.

An Overlooked Solution for Diversifying STEM

Colleges can dramatically improve success rates of low-income, first-generation students by working across units, argue Adrianna Kezar and Elizabeth Holcombe. Read the article featured in Inside Higher Ed.

Easing Test Anxiety Boosts Low-Income Students’ Biology Grades

Psychological interventions that improve grades could ultimately help keep more low-income students in the sciences, says Christopher Rozek, a psychologist at Stanford University and lead author of the study, which appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read the article featured in Science News.

Education Bills Continue to Mount as Florida Legislative Session Nears

Every year, Florida lawmakers create their legislative wish list of things they’d like to see happening in the state’s public schools. Most never get passed. But it doesn’t stop them from trying. (An effort to require a financial literacy graduation requirement, for instance, is on its sixth go-round.) And this year appears no exception. With committee meetings already under way, several senators and representatives have filed their bills seeking to do anything from increase the minimum teacher salary to $50,000 (SB 152), to require public schools to offer elective Bible courses (HB 195). Read the article featured in the Tampa Bay Times.

Is It Time to Kill Annual Testing?

Ask anyone from a school accountability expert to a parent of a school-age child, and you will get near universal agreement that we have a dysfunctional standardized-testing system in the United States. Educators do not like the annual statewide tests: They inform school penalties, not learning, because the results come so late in the school year. They fail to match any specific curriculum, and generally don’t deeply measure students’ analytical capabilities or the dispositions employers and colleges value. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Teach Kids About Climate Change? This State Might Require It

A legislative proposal in Connecticut would mandate instruction on climate change in public schools statewide, beginning in elementary school. Connecticut already has adopted science standards that call for teaching of climate change, but if the bill passes it is believed that it would be the country’s first to write such a requirement into law. Read the article by the Associated Press.

Why Are You a Teacher?’ Your Answer Should Change Over Time

It’s not uncommon for teachers to find themselves in professional-development sessions being asked: ”What is your philosophy of education?” or ”Why are you a teacher?” We often shrug off this question and give generic run-of-the-mill answers like “I want students to learn” or “To inspire the youth.” But reflecting on your philosophy of education is an essential piece of becoming an effective educator. Read the article featured in Education Week.

Coach Approach to K12 Teacher Professional Development

Today’s mentoring programs in teacher professional development go beyond the basics of helping educators acclimate to the classroom. Mentors must differentiate coaching based on a mentee’s needs, such as help with lesson planning, instructional strategies or classroom management. New teachers credit the programs for boosting morale, while the veterans benefit when programs result in their growth as well. Read the article featured in District Administration.

Outdoor Adventures With Students

For teachers who love nature, hiking a trail, canoeing a local lake, or birdwatching in the woods are peaceful and rejuvenating ways to escape civilization. As a teacher, I want to share my passion for the outdoors with my students. Many students (and the parents or guardians who sign the permission slips) have reservations about experiences outdoors. While students spend time outside at ball fields, playgrounds, and backyards, many have little experience in more natural settings, and this inexperience can create fear. Carefully planned and executed adventures outdoors can give students a positive perspective on learning outside. Read the article featured in edutopia.

Report: Online Learning Should ‘Supplement’ – Not Replace – Face-to-Face Instruction

A new report takes a critical view of fully online courses and competency-based education (CBE) as regulators and stakeholders discuss the topics during the negotiated rulemaking session that kicked off this week. Critics of the report said its outcomes were colored by data from when the for-profit sector was much larger, meaning newer online learning success stories weren’t given enough weight. Read the article featured in Education DIVE.

Stay tuned for next week’s top education news stories.

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