By Kate Falk
Posted on 2017-10-13
This week in education news, early exposure to robotics helps break gender stereotypes; the next generation of science education means more doing; dance programs help students develop skills such as creativity and persistence that benefit them in the classroom and beyond; Iowa employers are having trouble filling high-tech jobs with below-average STEM pay; a new report finds time, planning, support and professional development as critical to success; rural schools face unique challenges, including teacher recruitment and retention; and ‘Strong Start, Strong Finish’ is vital to Alabama’s future.
Educators Gain Valuable Tech Experience Through Industry Certifications
All 138 teachers in Chagrin Falls Exempted Village Schools are Level 1 Google Certified Educators. Earning those certifications in 2016 did not come cheaply: Teachers devoted precious time to prepare for the three-hour exam, and the Ohio school district footed the bill for training, support and test fees. But when the entire teaching staff understands how to use the arsenal of Google tools to support learning in their classrooms, the benefits far outweigh the cost, says Mike Daugherty, the district’s director of technology and information systems. Read the article featured in Ed Tech Magazine.
Breaking Gender Stereotypes Through Early Exposure To Robotics
Over the past two decades, women in the U.S. have made notable progress in historically male-dominated fields, such as law and business. However, when it comes to technology and engineering, they are progressing at a much slower rate. STEM educational interventions aimed at addressing the gender disparity between men and women have generally focused on increasing the interest of girls and women during high school and college. For many girls, though, interventions that begin during adolescence may be coming too late. Read the article featured in Education Week.
Adapting To And Mitigating Climate Change
Climate change did not cause Harvey, Irma, or Jose, but it is a huge part of the story. Whether you believe in climate change or not, you are likely thinking that we need to adapt and mitigate to reduce damages and death. Veronica dug deep into the subject with Dr. David Evans, executive director of the National Science Teachers Association; Franklin W. Nutter, president of Reinsurance Association of America; and Gerald E. Galloway, professor of engineering at Glenn L. Martin Institute. Watch the panel discussion, hosted by WJLA’s Good Morning Washington.
The Next Generation Of Science Education Means More Doing
Five groups of high school students worked around tables in Vielca Anglin’s science classroom on a recent afternoon at City-As-School in New York City. They had half-liter water bottles in front of them and a range of materials including pebbles, soil, rice, marbles, scouring pads and gauze. Their task: create a gravity-driven water filtration system that gets dirty water as clean as possible. It was up to them to decide what materials to use and in what order. This type of project reflects the best intentions of the Next Generation Science Standards, which encourage teachers to enable students to learn science by doing. Read the article featured in The Hechinger Report.
How Dance Can Help Students In STEM Disciplines
A proof-of-concept study at North Carolina State University finds participation in dance programs helps students – including those in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines – develop skills such as creativity and persistence that benefited them in the classroom and beyond. Read the article featured on Phys.org.
Iowa Struggles To Fill High-Tech Jobs With Below-Average STEM Pay
Iowa employers are reporting trouble filling jobs requiring education in science, technology, engineering and math, while the state’s average pay for high-tech positions is 15 percent below the national average, federal statistics show. Read the article featured in the Iowa City Press-Citizen.
DeVos Wants To Steer Grant Money To School Choice, STEM, And More
Want a better shot of getting federal grant money out of U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos’ department? You may want to consider pitching a project with a STEM, workforce development, competency-based education, or literacy focus—or one that embraces school choice, including for disadvantaged groups of students. And you should find a way to show how you are giving taxpayers good bang for their buck. Read the article featured in Education Week.
Report: Time, Planning, Support, PD Necessary For Blended Learning Success
The latest report from the Foundation for Blended and Online Learning (FBOL) and the Evergreen Education Group, “Teaching with Technology: Educators’ Perspectives and Recommendations for Successful Blended Instructional Strategies,” based on a survey of teachers from a variety of school models in 38 states, identifies time, thoughtful planning, support and relevant professional development as critical to success. Read the brief featured in Education DIVE.
The Geography Of Teacher Shortages
When most of us hear about struggling schools, we probably picture poor inner-city neighborhoods and school buildings filled with graffiti, drugs and violence. While many struggling schools are located in urban centers, just as many can be found in rural areas or small towns – especially in the South. Rural schools face a number of unique obstacles. Approaches to improving education that make sense in urban contexts do not always work for them, particularly when it comes to teacher recruitment and retention. Read the article featured in U.S. News & World Report.
High School Kids Need Good Teachers, Not Good Lecturers
Teaching means helping students wrestle with concepts, make deep connections, and act to improve their world. Ineffective lecturing, on the other hand, is about the futile attempt to fill what the lecturer views are the empty buckets of students’ minds. Students then go through the motions of learning, hold on to their preconceptions, and don’t deeply change their understanding of the concepts and the world. Read the article featured in the Huffington Post.
‘Strong Start, Strong Finish’ Is Vital To Alabama’s Future
For far too long, Alabama has ranked nearly last in the country in education. Our children are our most valuable resources, and they deserve nothing less than the absolute best. It is well past time that we turn things around and compete for number one instead of settling for forty-eighth. We need an educational renaissance in our state. We must ensure that our children are equipped with a top-notch education so that they can compete in a modern, global economy and prepare them to secure good, high-paying jobs. Read the article featured on Al.com.
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.
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By Carole Hayward
Posted on 2017-10-12
Creating a STEM Culture for Teaching and Learning by Jeff Weld offers insight for educators, policy makers, and business leaders about why STEM education matters and where it’s headed next. This new NSTA Press book includes case studies and real life vignettes from people invested in bringing meaningful STEM curricula to K-12 classrooms.
Weld, who directs the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, was formerly an award-winning high school science teacher.
In Creating a STEM Culture, Weld argues for a holistic approach to STEM education. “Anything short of the cultivation of a culture for STEM is insufficient. Success requires a systemic rather than a piecemeal approach to STEM education. All dimensions of schooling must be on the table—teacher preparation, scheduling, school-parent relations, professional development, curriculum, assessment, the disciplines, physical space, administrator support, business and community engagement, and of course budgets. STEM is ushering an invigorating evolution of education,” Weld states in the opening chapter.
Weld notes that in the U.S., 47 states have launched Science-Technology-Engineering-Mathematics initiatives; globally, STEM has been an educational priority in many countries. In this book, Weld makes the argument for why STEM matters both inside and outside of school walls.
For school leaders, the book offers a road map for building community support and understanding to help them bring their districts and individual schools to the forefront of the nation’s STEM initiatives. For K-12 educators, the book offers practical tips and strategies for creating a classroom culture that includes effective and well-integrated STEM education.
For policy makers, Creating a STEM Culture makes the case for integrating STEM-related policies at the local, regional, state, and national policy levels. Also, for business leaders, the book explains why it is important to collaborate with the K-12 education system to create a future workforce that is prepared for careers that might not even yet exist.
Creating a STEM Culture is meant to create conversation. In fact, the book compiles a range of opinions from different sectors addressing two central questions: what scares people about adopting STEM education, and what excites them about adopting STEM education.
“The one thing that worries me most about America’s STEM movement that we need to get right is the opportunity for all students (not just the best and brightest) to become STEM literate. By this, I am referring to their ability to not only be able to know and understand basic science and mathematical facts and concepts as they apply to the natural and known world, but to also have the capacity to observe real-world situations and apply their STEM knowledge in a way that embraces and employs the technological problem-solving and engineering design processes to effectively create viable solutions,” says Steven Barbato, executive director and CEO, International Technology and Engineering Educators Association (ITEEA).
Read the free sample chapter, “Community Buy-in for STEM”, to learn about authentic examples of public awareness strategies that have been used to promote STEM in local communities.
This book is also available as an e-book.
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Creating a STEM Culture for Teaching and Learning by Jeff Weld offers insight for educators, policy makers, and business leaders about why STEM education matters and where it’s headed next. This new NSTA Press book includes case studies and real life vignettes from people invested in bringing meaningful STEM curricula to K-12 classrooms.
Weld, who directs the Iowa Governor’s STEM Advisory Council, was formerly an award-winning high school science teacher.
By Peggy Ashbrook
Posted on 2017-10-11
Do seeds need soil to sprout? Many people would say yes. Preschool children may know, or at least are able to recite, that plants need “dirt,” water, and sunshine to grow. Left out is plants’ need for air—a developmentally appropriate omission. Although young children feel and use air, it isn’t until 5th grade that they are expected to be able to infer that air, a gas, is made of many small pieces of matter (PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter). Experiencing air through their breaths, feeling the wind, and filling balloons or making bubbles helps children build their understanding of the properties of a gas.
As a solid, soil is much easier for children and adults to see in relationship to plants. As a solid it is often misdescribed as the “food” plants need to grow. Amazingly, plants build their bodies from carbon dioxide in the air using energy in sunlight.
The properties of solids, liquids, and gases can be explored when children plant seeds in systems they design themselves to hold seeds and support their sprouting. Children make interesting choices when they are given an opportunity to create a system for growing plants from seeds. In the October 2017 Early Years column in Science and Children describes how green beans on the lunch menu prompted a closer look at other kinds of beans. The children designed planting systems that reflected their beginning knowledge of seed sprouting and their personal aesthetics. Some used soil, convinced that without it the seeds would not sprout. Others choose the kitchen sink approach, using soil, cotton balls, and lots of water. Seeds were buried under soil and laid on top of it. Water was the one material that all children chose. Yes, every seed sprouting system had some success.
Children later noted that the seeds they planted outside in the garden looked better, stronger, and eventually produced beans while those indoors soon grew tall and fell over.
As changes to the plants happened more slowly, children lost interest and stopped watering. With repeated seed sprouting experiences and discussion to reflect on the changes they observed, children may build an understanding of (most) seeds’ ability to sprout when kept damp, and identify other needs of plants.
What kinds of materials do you think your children would choose for their seed sprouting system?
Do seeds need soil to sprout? Many people would say yes. Preschool children may know, or at least are able to recite, that plants need “dirt,” water, and sunshine to grow.
By Korei Martin
Posted on 2017-10-10
In the world of Twitter we use 140 characters to tell wonderful and informative stories. And, in the world of NSTA, stories about excellence and innovations in science teaching are abounding. When joining the two worlds we make #NSTAchat—an answer to those who utilize social media to inform them about science teaching stories.
#NSTAchat began as a means to introduce “first timers” to NSTA area and national conferences. It has grown to be a bi-monthly chat to not only learn about upcoming conferences but also to meet NSTA leadership, NSTA Press authors, NSTA award winners, and committees that are working to make science teaching better. #NSTAchat enables “tweeters” to ask questions of those featured as well as provide resources found within the NSTA website.
Stories and resources from NSTA are featured every second and fourth Thursday of each month at 9 PM ET to enrich the teaching of science. #NSTAchat is one way to support the NSTA mission of promoting excellence and innovation in science teaching. “Tweeters” to the #NSTAchat not only learn about NSTA but they also build a network of science educators who are also striving to enrich the lives of their students.
Just as those who attend NSTA conferences can participate at different levels, #NSTAchat “tweeters” participate at different levels. Tweeters can actively engage the guests through questions,“retweet” new knowledge to their followers or just follow along the Tweet thread. The ultimate goal of #NSTAchat is to inform science educators about NSTA, it’s role in science education, and current issues in science education.
So why should one participate in #NSTAchat? #NSTAchat provides a direct link to what is happening in NSTA and the science education community. It provides resources and contacts that “tweeters” can utilize. It also supports those teachers who may teach in remote areas and do not have other science colleagues to consult. So join us the second and fourth Thursday of every month and be part of #NSTAchat.
Dr. Carolyn Hayes is a retired NSTA president (2015-2016). Dr. Hayes is a retired high school biology teacher from Greenwood, Indiana. Hayes earned a B.S. degree in biology from Indiana University in 1973, a M.S. degree in secondary education from Indiana University in 1976, and an Ed.D. in secondary education and biology from Indiana University in 2005. Follow Carolyn on Twitter @caahayes.
The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.
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In the world of Twitter we use 140 characters to tell wonderful and informative stories. And, in the world of NSTA, stories about excellence and innovations in science teaching are abounding. When joining the two worlds we make #NSTAchat—an answer to those who utilize social media to inform them about science teaching stories.
By Gabe Kraljevic
Posted on 2017-10-09
Students prepare to launch a high-altitude balloon with science payload.
I would like to contribute to the extra-curricular activities in my school, but I’m not sure what I can do. Do you have any suggestions? —T., Pennsylvania
Some of my most rewarding teaching experiences often centered around extra-curricular science clubs. The appeal of a club (for the teacher and students) is that it is not a formal class with the burden of marked assignments, reports, and so on. In general, you will get a natural grouping of people who at least are interested in the same thing. It is also a place that, if students do not want to participate, they don’t have to.
Clubs can have specific goals: robotics; high-altitude ballooning; science fairs. Others can be more open-ended and allow the students to choose their directions: “Science Olympics” or “Enquiring Minds” for example.
I think the trick to a successful club is to pick something that you are truly interested in. Second, don’t feel that you have to be the expert! Let the students have a say and help run things. I ran robotics clubs for years and when students came up to me and asked how to do something I would say, “I don’t know, I’ve never built a robot before! Where do you think we can go to find out?” Use the club as a shared learning experience where students will see you as a learner and can feel that they can make significant contributions. A club is also a low-risk environment for making mistakes during the learning process.
Hope this helps!
Photo: Own work
Students prepare to launch a high-altitude balloon with science payload.
By Kate Falk
Posted on 2017-10-06
This week in education news, top White House science adviser job still vacant; U.S. Department of Education awards $253 million in grants to expand charter schools; flipped learning still going strong 10 years later; Education Week conducted a preliminary review of states’ ESSA plans and finds a wide variation on a range of key requirements under the new federal law; grades in first year of high school can predict later academic success; the Santa Fe school board opposes New Mexico’s new science education standards; and for students with disabilities, tech tools can help provide new and engaging ways to access content in STEM.
A ‘New Normal’ in STEM Teaching?
Science instructors increasingly are moving beyond the lecture to more innovative — and effective — teaching methods. But professors with a taste for change often enact it alone, as their colleagues continue to lecture. The Association of American Universities wants to change that. In 2011, it launched its Undergraduate STEM Initiative to encourage systemic reforms to science education to improve teaching and learning, especially in first- and second-year courses. Read the article featured in Inside Higher Ed.
Trump’s Top Science Adviser Job Vacant Eight Months After Inauguration
President Donald Trump and his daughter-adviser have been going all out to tout the administration’s commitment to “high-quality STEM and computer science education” as a means of boosting the U.S. economy. But Trump has yet to choose a top science adviser, who would play a crucial role in turning the White House horn-tooting into reality. Read the article featured in Newsweek.
U.S. Department of Education Awards $253 Million in Grants to Expand Charter Schools
U.S. Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos announced that The Expanding Opportunity through Quality Charter Schools Program (Charter Schools Program or CSP) has awarded new grants to fund the creation and expansion of public charter schools across the nation, totaling approximately $253 million. Read the press release issued by the U.S. Department of Education.
Why Flipped Learning Is Still Going Strong 10 Years Later
Ten years ago two Colorado chemistry teachers unleashed a brash concept on a K-12 landscape where few questioned the age-old formula of lecture, homework, assess, repeat. It was the early days of YouTube (then two-years old), and it was getting cheap and easy to make and post videos, so the two teachers—Jon Bergmann and Aaron Sams—proposed shifting lectures to videos students would watch at home, and asking students to come to class prepared to problem solve with their peers. It became known as the flipped classroom—a modern, video-based version of a model pioneered by a handful of higher ed professors during the 1990s. Read the article featured in Ed Surge.
Can Gamification Solve The STEM Talent Gap?
The global movement to increase access to STEM educational opportunities, and ultimately increase the flow of talent into the pipeline for professions in the STEM field, is continuing to grow. Countries across the world are devoting resources and strategic thought to create meaningful plans for implementation, which, in some cases, means a total overhaul of how schools have traditionally approached science and mathematics education. Read the article featured in the Silicon Republic.
A Guide To State ESSA Plans: Goals, Teacher Quality, and More
After more than a year of preparation, the Every Student Succeeds Act is on the verge of hitting classrooms nationwide. And nearly all states have now laid out their blueprints for how they intend to hold schools and districts accountable for requirements of the new federal K-12 law. So what’s inside those ESSA plans, and just what do states intend to do in key policy areas, from school quality to testing and teacher issues? Education Week conducted a preliminary review of the plans, submitted and approved, and found wide variation on a range of key requirements under ESSA. Read the article featured in Education Week.
Grades In First Year Of High School Can Predict Later Academic Success
While test scores are often used as indicators of student achievement, a new report shows that, a student’s grade point average (GPA) in 9th grade may be the most important predictor of later academic success. Read the brief featured in Education DIVE.
Santa Fe School Board Opposes New State Science Education Standards
The Santa Fe school board has decided in a unanimous vote to oppose the state’s proposed new science education standards and is asking the New Mexico Public Education Department to adopt, instead, an already established set of guidelines created by a coalition of science teachers. Read the article featured in The Santa Fe New Mexican.
Arts Integration Is A Sucker’s Game
Arts advocates are earnest in their support of arts integration through science, technology, engineering, art, and math instruction. But as a strategy for promoting arts education, STEAM is almost certainly counterproductive as well as pedagogically unsound. Read the commentary featured in Education Week.
How Tech Can Help Students with Disabilities Thrive In STEM Education
When Stephanie Talalai began as the technology coordinator at A. Harry Moore School 26 years ago, nonverbal students communicated using pieces of paper with “yes” and “no” on them. Today, students can control computers using their eyes. “In terms of providing access,” Talalai says, “the technology has come a long way.” For students with disabilities, tech tools can help provide new and engaging ways to access content in science, technology, engineering and math. Read the article featured in Ed Tech Magazine.
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
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By Debra Shapiro
Posted on 2017-10-06
Building race cars made of food and powered by potential energy stored in a rubber band is one of the hands-on, inquiry-based activities in the Roads, Rails, and Race Cars after-school program, held in schools around Nebraska. Photo credit: Mid-America Transportation Center
When students build race cars and compete in races, they can learn science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts, are more likely to retain what they learned, and have fun in the process, educators have found. Building and racing CO2-powered dragsters— miniature race cars propelled by a carbon dioxide cartridge—“creates a lot of excitement and anticipation in students. When I tell students that [there] is going to be a competition, that sparks a lot of students to want to try and make the best car possible,” says Matt Hall, a fifth-grade teacher at Manchester Middle School in Manchester, Michigan.
The project began two years ago when Amcor, a global supplier of plastic packaging that has a local office, gave the school a $2,500 grant to fund a science project. Hall and the other fifthgrade teachers “decided to do CO2 cars. It lined up with what I was teaching in fifth-grade science, in a forces and motion unit,” Hall explains. “When I was in high school, we built CO2-powered dragsters, and it was a memorable project for me. I liked designing something and building it and seeing it in 3D.”
The grant paid for “consumables, car parts, a starting gate and finish line with a sensor, equipment, and paint,” Hall relates. The following year, another Amcor grant of “$800 or $900” funded paint and other consumables, he notes.
During the design phase, “we looked at car designs: what made cars faster and more aerodynamic,” he reports. “There was a relationship between what we discussed and building the cars. It was force and motion principles in action.” Before designing the cars, he says many students had trouble understanding the effects of mass on acceleration. Afterward, “I was very surprised to see some students who were special education or not the best academically come up with some interesting designs,” he observes.
Next, Hall and co-teacher Cindy Karapas “set up different stations [for activities like] prototyping, cutting [car bodies from balsa wood], drilling, sanding, and painting,” he explains. They ensured safety by having students wear eye protection and aprons to protect their clothes, roll up long sleeves, and tie back long hair. In addition, “I spent most of the time supervising [the cutting and drilling stations],” he asserts. Parent volunteers also staffed the stations to prevent injuries.
Students then raced their cars in the tournament. About 100 fifth graders participated in the race each year, Hall recalls. Excitement about the event has made students “more likely to talk about the project and the science,” he contends.
“Some students do worry that if their car loses in the first round of racing, is that going to affect their grade? I tell [them] their grade on their car project is not dependent on how well they do in the race. They are graded on thoughtful design of their car, taking into consideration all that we have learned about forces and motion,” he points out.
For 10 years, Kara Gelinas—grades 5–6 science teacher at Edgartown School in Edgartown, Massachusetts— has run annual solar car races for fifth and sixth graders at schools on Martha’s Vineyard. Energy services organization Cape Light Compact sponsors the races, providing materials and race day volunteers. The main challenge with this event is the weather: “We need the sun. If it rains, we have to hold the race in the gym with battery packs,” Gelinas explains.
Teachers “realize how [the race] ties in with STEM and STEAM [STEM plus art] and meets standards. The push for STEAM is great because it’s about figuring things out, not just doing activities,” she maintains.
“Students have to use only one particular solar panel and motor, the cars have to have at least three wheels and carry an empty can, and they have to use the same track,” Gelinas explains. When building them, students learn about energy transfer, gears, torque, electricity, engineering, and sustainable energy. “Students’ choices of design have tangible results on the racetrack… The engineering design process—evaluating, sharing, and retooling—makes it really clear what is wrong with their cars. For example, lots of students gear [their cars] for speed, but don’t have enough torque. They [learn that they] have to gear for torque for the car to work,” Gelinas notes.
While some teachers don’t count building the car as part of students’ grades, Gelinas says she has a rubric for group work: “teamwork, collaboration, being careful with materials… Students also have classroom assessments of the content—solar panel operation, gear ratios, energy transfer, kinetic and potential energy, conservation of energy—and technology and engineering standards, including use of tools and materials.”
She recruits 25 community volunteers to judge the race, which typically has about 200 student contestants. Students answer judges’ questions about how their cars work, why they chose their design, and how they had to modify their design. Judges award prizes for design, technical merit, and knowledge.
“I don’t grade the outcome of the [race] because some of the cars don’t even move on the track. We run 12 heats, but some cars don’t make every heat,” she notes. Students learn “when they make mistakes, it’s not a failure, not a crisis. It’s just a mistake.”
Building race cars from food and powering them with the potential energy stored in a rubber band is just one of the hands-on, inquiry-based activities in the Roads, Rails and Race Cars (RRRC) after-school program in Nebraska, which features a transportation- based curriculum for grades 4–12 and is funded by the U.S. Department of Transportation, State Farm Insurance, and Union Pacific Railroad Company. Students from groups historically underrepresented in STEM-related fields are especially encouraged to join a weekly RRRC club. “Our focus is on middle school,…[when] some students begin to lose interest in math and science,” says Laurence Rilett, Keith W. Klaasmeyer Chair in Engineering and Technology at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln (UNL) and director of the Nebraska Transportation Center and the Mid-America Transportation Center (MATC). MATC has offered RRRC since 2010.
Professional and industry partners inform students about careers in engineering and transportation, while showing them “you need math and science to do these jobs,” Rilett relates. University student mentors majoring in STEM subjects also lead activities related to transportation engineering. “[A]ny mentoring helps reinforce what students learn in class,” he asserts.
Building the cars teaches students about “friction, force, resistance, and gravity,” Rilett explains, and they learn about impact and momentum in a lesson about what happens when race car drivers crash into a barrier. UNL engineers developed the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction Barrier system, which has saved drivers’ lives, he notes.
For STEM lesson plans developed by teachers who attended RRRC’s Summer Institute, see http://goo.gl/gAECsW.
This article originally appeared in the October 2017 issue of NSTA Reports, the member newspaper of the National Science Teachers Association. Each month, NSTA members receive NSTA Reports, featuring news on science education, the association, and more. Not a member? Learn how NSTA can help you become the best science teacher you can be.
The mission of NSTA is to promote excellence and innovation in science teaching and learning for all.
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Building race cars made of food and powered by potential energy stored in a rubber band is one of the hands-on, inquiry-based activities in the Roads, Rails, and Race Cars after-school program, held in schools around Nebraska.
By Gabe Kraljevic
Posted on 2017-10-05
Photo Credit By dotmatchbox at flickr
I’m starting to plan some formal assessments but, because it’s my first time, I’m not exactly sure if I’m creating a test correctly. Do you have any advice? —L., Nebraska
The notion of a fair test is an important tenet in science and we strive to teach our students how to develop unbiased data collection for the purpose of making sound conclusions about phenomena. This should also extend to the science teacher—developing fair, unbiased assessments that allow you to make a sound conclusion of what your students have learned. Here are just a few ideas on formal assessments that I have used and a few suggestions to help you along:
Try to build some success for all your students. Work from easy to hard questions.
Hope this helps!
Photo: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/A-kid-drawing-or-writing.jpg
Photo Credit By dotmatchbox at flickr
I’m starting to plan some formal assessments but, because it’s my first time, I’m not exactly sure if I’m creating a test correctly. Do you have any advice? —L., Nebraska
By Gabe Kraljevic
Posted on 2017-10-04
Wow, do I have big shoes to fill! Mary Bigelow is stepping down as NSTA’s original Ms. Mentor after years of advising teachers across the globe. She has demonstrated a noteworthy commitment to helping the science teaching community with thoughtful, sage advice on a vast array of topics. And now I’m taking over. Wow.
As I started writing my initial blogs, I was reminded of my first day of teaching. The head of the science department (and my former biology teacher!) put his arm around my shoulders and said, “Now that you’re here, you’ll really learn how to teach.” In my guided tour of the inner workings of the school he pointed out everyone’s filing cabinets in the science prep area. “In here, you’ll find everything you need—tests, labs, assignments, diagrams, notes. If you can’t find something—just ask! We’re here to help.” I immediately got the sense of community as I embarked on my career. From this initial exchange I took up the torch and committed myself to sharing, mentoring, running workshops and supporting my colleagues in any way I can.
Now that I have retired, writing an advice column feels like a natural progression in my journey as a science educator. I just hope that I can reach the standard set by Mary and provide you with advice that will be helpful on your own journey in our teaching community.
Kindest regards and…just ask! I’m here to help.
Gabe Kraljevic
Wow, do I have big shoes to fill! Mary Bigelow is stepping down as NSTA’s original Ms. Mentor after years of advising teachers across the globe. She has demonstrated a noteworthy commitment to helping the science teaching community with thoughtful, sage advice on a vast array of topics. And now I’m taking over. Wow.
By Korei Martin
Posted on 2017-10-03
Although I encourage all of my students to consider a career in the sciences, I know it is probable that only the most persistent, passionate, and brightest will chose such a career path. I’ve been fortunate to teach many such students. This past May, a former student of mine earned the Best in Mathematics Award at the prestigious INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair. Such students are present in all of our classes and thus it is incumbent upon us to foster, nurture, and sustain student interest in engineering and the sciences. Many of these students are gifted; they are the kids who ‘get it’ after one explanation, who don’t need to review in to order pass tests with stellar grades, and who probably don’t need to do the majority of the drill and practice activities designed to develop comprehension of course content. These are the kids who finish everything early. While some may quietly read a book until the class catches up, others may drive you crazy with their antics and off-task behavior. Although you may be tempted to utilize these students as tutors, I caution you against this practice. All students have a right to learn, but tutoring does little extend or enrich learning; it merely reinforces what the student already knows.
Something that I’ve had success with in the past is requiring these students to participate in our school’s science fair. Although this can be a daunting prospect (for both the teacher and the student), tremendous growth can occur when students are scaffolded through the process. Probably the most difficult aspect of the science fair project is selecting the topic—but this is critical if we are to challenge our brightest thinkers. Choice allows our students to pursue a topic that they may otherwise not be able to study as part of the standard curriculum—especially critical when dealing with those students who have a focused and specific interest. Once the topic is selected, students need to engage in researching their topic so that they fully understand the real-world implication of their results. Designing a fair test, collecting and analyzing data, and drawing valid conclusions based on data are rigorous processes that will challenge most students while deepening their understanding of the nature of science—and of the disciplinary core content they investigated. There are numerous websites and materials available to help you guide your students through the steps involved in planning and carrying out a project.
Another vehicle for encouraging your students’ passion for science and engineering is to involve them in a competition (you’ll find the mention of monetary and other awards to be highly motivating for many students). NSTA competitions for middle school students include Toshiba Exploravision and eCybermission. Toshiba Exploravision challenges students to research a technology of interest and explain how that technology may change over the next 20 years. eCybermssion involves teams of students who work to identify a problem in their community and use scientific practices or the engineering design process to develop a solution to the identified problem. If you want the inside scoop on how these competitions run, consider volunteering to be a judge (for more information on how to volunteer, send an email to competitions@nsta.org).
I know some readers out there may be wondering if regular education and special education students can also participate in science fairs and science competitions. The answer is a resounding “YES!” I hope I’ve inspired you to reflect on how you plan to nurture and support the future scientists and engineers who are sitting in your classroom today. Who knows where such encouragement will lead? Perhaps one day you will be able to proudly say that you taught a student whose project was declared best in the world.
Get more involved with NSTA! 
Join today and receive Science Scope, the peer-reviewed journal just for middle school teachers; connect on the middle level science teaching list (members can sign up on the list server). Patty McGinnis teaches at Arcola Intermediate School in Eagleville, PA and is the editor of Science Scope.
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Although I encourage all of my students to consider a career in the sciences, I know it is probable that only the most persistent, passionate, and brightest will chose such a career path. I’ve been fortunate to teach many such students. This past May, a former student of mine earned the Best in Mathematics Award at the prestigious INTEL International Science and Engineering Fair. Such students are present in all of our classes and thus it is incumbent upon us to foster, nurture, and sustain student interest in engineering and the sciences.
Join