Prior to the new school year, most science teachers select and order their lab chemicals. Before placing an order, however, teachers should consider the health risks associated with using hazardous chemicals in the classroom laboratory.

Making the right purchase

To purchase the least chemically hazardous material possible, science teachers should first determine whether the hazard is health, physical, or environmental by running a hazards analysis. This involves:

• securing and reviewing the Safety Data Sheet (i.e., Section 2: Hazard(s) Identification, Section 7: Handling and Storage, Section 8: Exposure Controls/Personal Protection, and Section 11: Toxicological Information),

• checking the appropriateness of the chemical’s use on Rehab the Lab’s school chemical list,

• reaching out to the chemical supplier for additional information on the chemical’s potential hazards,

• reading professional publications such as the Journal of Chemical Health and Safety for health and safety information on chemical hazards, and

• checking out the chemistry listserv on NSTA’s listservs.

Next, complete a risks assessment. Some risks related to chemicals might include:

• breathing in vapors, gases, and particulates;

• exposure to skin by splashing, dipping, and airborne dust;

• exposure to chemicals by sticking fingers in the mouth or eating or drinking;

• exposure to eyes from vapor, gasses, particulates, or splashes; or

• puncture of the skin.

Depending on the chemical, further safety actions might need to be taken. Check out the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Hierarchy of Controls (see image below) to take the appropriate action.

Additional considerations

Science teachers also need to consider several issues that may arise from using hazardous chemicals. First, they need to be aware of long-term exposure to hazardous chemicals, which can cause health complications. Appropriate ventilation in the lab, reading information in the Safety Data Sheet (SDS), and using personal protective equipment (e.g., particulate respirator) can help prevent long-term exposure. Employees usually have a right to be tested for exposure to hazardous chemicals and may ask their employer to have a worksite tested by a licensed industrial hygienist. If female employees or students who are pregnant will be working in your lab, be sure to read the SDS for information about reproductive toxins, harm to the fetus, and more.

Additionally: If you or a student is accidentally exposed to a hazardous chemical, read sections 3 (Hazards Identification Section), 5 (Fire and Explosion Data), 6 (Accidental Release Measures), and 10 (Stability and Reactivity Data) of the SDS. Finally, consider the storage and disposal of hazardous chemicals. The SDS Section 7 (Handling and Storage), local school policies, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the University of Iowa, and the National Fire Protection Association all have recommendations for storing hazardous chemicals. Before disposing of the chemicals, read section 13 (Disposal Considerations) of the SDS and check with the school facilities manager for information on how the chemical should be appropriately disposed of.

Submit questions regarding safety in K–12 to Ken Roy at safesci@sbcglobal.net, or leave him a comment below. Follow Ken Roy on Twitter: @drroysafersci.

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Last week in education news, DeVos’s signals hard-line approach on new federal education law; emergency effort to address teacher shortages in Wisconsin reflects larger education issues; teacher development model shows promising results; STEM education has well over 99 problems—but, for now, a lack of funding isn’t one; and physicist John Holdren is troubled by what has happened to the OSTP and to science policy under President Trump.

DeVos’s Hard Line On New Education Law Surprises States

Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who made a career of promoting local control of education, has signaled a surprisingly hard-line approach to carrying out an expansive new federal education law, issuing critical feedback that has rattled state school chiefs and conservative education experts alike. Click here to read the article featured in The New York Times.

New Teachers Need A Master’s Support

Teaching is a craft and, as with any craft, neophytes should ideally work alongside the experts and artisans to soak up knowledge and experience along the path to mastery. David Krulwich, principal of the Urban Assembly School for Applied Math and Science, a college preparatory school serving grades 6 through 12 in the Bronx, says new teachers are too often left to fend for themselves, without the benefit of an artisan-apprentice relationship. Click here to read the article featured in District Administration.

Borsuk: ‘Emergency’ Effort To Address Teacher Shortages Reflects Larger Education Issues

Underlying the legal language lie questions that are causing big concern in perhaps every school district and independent school in Wisconsin this summer: Who’s going to fill the remaining open teaching jobs we have? How are we going to put together a staff when some specific positions are proving hard to fill? Are we really getting the best people we feasibly could to work in our classrooms? Click here to read the article featured in USA Today.

Teacher Development Model Shows Promising Results As Advocates Fear Funding Cuts

In 2012, the New Teacher Center received federal funding in order to pilot a teacher induction model program, hoping to work with educators in a range of school districts to offer substantive mentoring and professional development. The center expanded its model to three districts, including Chicago Public Schools, Broward County Public Schools in Broward, FL, and Grant Wood Area Education Agency in eastern Iowa. Late last month, an assessment of the NTC model showed some promising results, indicating that model offered students in grades 4-8 learning gains of as much as two to four months in English language arts and two to five months in mathematics over a three-year span. Click here to read the article featured in Education DIVE.

STEM Education Is Facing Over 100 Challenges. Can $28 Million Solve Them?

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education has well over 99 problems—but, for now at least, a lack of funding isn’t one. 100Kin10, the national nonprofit seeking to recruit, prepare, and support 100,000 STEM teachers by 2021, has mapped out over 100 “grand challenges” facing STEM education. And today, the organization announced that Google, Chevron, and other funders have committed over $28 million to help. Click here to read the article featured in Education Week.

Science Is A Team Sport; Showing Students That May Boost Interest In STEM

Hollywood’s version of science—the lone genius toiling in the basement, the socially awkward computer engineer—stands in stark contrast to the real life, increasingly team-oriented work in science and engineering fields. A new study suggests correcting that misconception could encourage more American students to engage in science. Click here to read the article featured in Education Week.

Q&A: Former Obama Science Adviser John Holdren On The White House Science Office And Trump’s Science Policy

Physicist John Holdren, who for 8 years was Obama’s top aide on science and technology issues and also led the White House’s Office of Science and Technology (OSTP), is now back at Harvard University, where he is a professor of environmental policy in both the John F. Kennedy School of Government and the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences. He says he is troubled by what has happened to his office, and to science policy, under Trump. Holdren spoke with ScienceInsider about those concerns and about the role OSTP plays in supporting the president’s agenda. Click here to read the article featured in Science.

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.

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Get ready for the total eclipse visible in parts of the US:

• Scope on the Skies: Vocabulary of the Skies
• Why, How, and Where to View Totality

Science & Children – The Science and Math Connection

Editor’s Note: The “Fundamental Tools” of Science: As they [students] investigate, we can move them beyond play by emphasizing the use of mathematics to develop scientific understanding, make predictions, record observations, create models, communicate information, and defend arguments through data.

• Many of the lessons this month incorporate data collection, graphing, and simple statistical analysis. The lessons described in the articles include connections with the NGSS.
• Toad-ally Cool Math and Science Integration describes a summer program in which students do field studies of frogs and toads. The photos show these girls in action.
• With the 5E lesson described in Bubble Babies, students investigate (using experimental design and data collection) the connection between parental care and survival rate in animals.
• Gaining Traction integrates a variety of strategies (including basic statistics) in a study of beetle behavior.
• Integrating Math in a Sea of Science is a variation of the lesson on birds’ beaks. Students study the relationship between the structure of a fish’s mouth and the type of food it eats using data they collect.
• Blending In uses colorful candies to simulate how living things that blend in with their surroundings have a higher survival rate.
• In The Early Years: Taking Math Outside, students collect objects to connect nature with skills such as classifying, sorting, counting, and comparing.
• Teaching Through Trade Books: Becoming a Citizen Scientist has two 5E lessons (K-2, 3-5) that illustrate the data collecting aspect of citizen science projects.
• Perhaps some students would enjoy describing their data as a poem — The Poetry of Science: The Math of Science.

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and useful classroom ideas:

• Science 101: Q: How Do Self-Driving Cars Work?
• Methods and Strategies: Ask the Right Question
• Engineering Encounters: The Internet of Things for Kids

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Adaptations, Amphibians, Animal Camouflage, Animal Reproduction, Bats, Classification, Ecosystems, Forces and Motion, Fishes, Friction, Insects, Math and Science, Plant Growth

 Continue for Science Scope and The Science Teacher

Science Scope – Inventive Teaching

From the Editor’s Desk: Innovative Teaching = Learning: Innovative teachers are risk takers who are willing to accept failure. They model for others how to turn the traditional teaching model into one in which they facilitate learning by tapping into their students’ curiosity and capturing their imagination. They teach in every possible venue, often reaching out to partners with resources both within and outside their geographical area.

Articles in this issue that describe lessons include a helpful sidebar (“At a Glance”) documenting the big idea, essential pre-knowledge, time, and cost. The lessons also include connections with the NGSS.

• Moving Beyond STEAM describes how integrating the arts with traditional STEM topics adds another level of student engagement to a study of ecosystems.
• For many teachers, Unit Planning Using the Crosscutting Concepts is a new challenge. This article provides an example of the process.
• Exploring Terrestrial Isopods: How Terrestrial Isopods’ Behavior Can Influence Survival and Reproduction uses arthropods that are easily available to help students connect these concepts.
• NGSS on the farm? Incorporating a Farm Into Our Science Curriculum: An Innovative Twist shows middle school students connecting science with raising chickens and bees.
• Take your classroom word wall to the next level with Teacher’s Toolkit: Interactive word walls: Visual Scaffolds That Transform Vocabulary Instruction. The terms in Scope on the Skies: Vocabulary of the Skies could be a start.
• Integrating Technology: Innovative Youth: An Engineering and Literacy Integrated Approach includes innovative strategies to incorporate reading and science/engineering.
• Citizen Science: Summer Night Sky Citizen Science With Globe at Night describes a nighttime project collecting data to raise awareness of light pollution.
• Get students moving to improve their learning. Science for All: Kinesthetic Learning in Science has examples of tapping into students’ energy.
• Teacher to Teacher: Transitioning to Three-Dimensional Learning With Evidence Statements includes an authentic context for incorporating NGSS evidence statements.

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Disequilibrium: How Heat Affects the Density of Water
• Listserv Roundup: Four Effective Ways to Improve Laboratory Management

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Arthropods, Astronomy, Coastal Changes, Constellations, Density, Electric Circuits, Honeybees, Laboratory Safety, Populations/Communities/Ecosystems, Safety in the Science Classroom, Water Cycle, Water Erosion

Continue for The Science Teacher

The Science Teacher – Engineering: The “E” in STEM

Editor’s Corner: Engineering for the Future: Engineering is the “E” that can integrate the other STEM subjects (science, technology, and mathematics). It encourages creative problem-solving and critical thinking while developing technological literacy.

The lessons described in the articles include connections with the NGSS.

• Is It Engineering or Not? has several questions and examples to change traditional activities into engineering tasks.
• Modeling a Membrane describes how students designed and created a model of a plasma membrane using readily available materials.
• Consider these Myths About the Nature of Technology and Engineering and how to deal with these misconceptions in the classroom.
• The Stories of Inventions, a four-phase PBL unit, integrates inventions into a social context.
• Troubleshooting Portfolios are documentation of student design work and an example of formative evaluation.
• Focus on Physics: Sailing Into the Wind: A Vector Explanation uses vectors to show how boats are designed and engineered to sail with and against the wind.

These monthly columns continue to provide background knowledge and classroom ideas:

• Career of the Month: Civil Engineer
• Health Wise: Getting Their Names Right
• Science 2.0: Align Your Curriculum With the ISTE Standards
• Right to the Source: View From the Top

For more on the content that provides a context for projects and strategies described in this issue, see the SciLinks topics Active Transport, Biomedical Engineer, Inventors, Cell Membrane, Diffusion, Engineer, Vectors, Winds

The House Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) marked up their FY2018 education budget on Thursday; despite a lower funding level overall from last year, lawmakers seek to cut the Department of Education by $2.4 billion, or 3.5 percent. President Trump proposed cutting the Department’s budget by 13 percent (about $9.2 billion). Highlights:

• Provides $500 million funding to the Title IV block created by the Every Student Succeeds Act. The current funding level is $400m, and the authorized level for this program is $1.6 billion. President Trump eliminated funding for this program in his budget.
• The bill does not fund the Title II program under ESSA as Title II, Part A. Trump’s budget also calls for eliminating this program.
• Funds the 21st Century Learning Centers Program at $1 billion — down from $1.2 billion in funding this year. The President eliminated this program in his budget proposal.
• The bill funds Title I at $15.9 billion, similar to its funding for the current year. The House did not allocate $1 billion in Title I money to a new grant program that would allow students to attend the public school of their choice, and they did not include $250 million that the Trump administration wanted to expand and study vouchers.
• Provides $12.2 billion in funding for special education under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, a $200 million increase from the current level of funding.
• Increases funding for charter schools by $28 million, bringing it to a total of $370 million
• The legislation also calls for a $1.1 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health (the President had proposed reducing funding for NIH by $5.8 billion)

The full Appropriations Committee is expected to take action on this bill later this week.

Science Teachers Speak Out on Science Testing in Every Student Succeeds Act 

In late June, NSTA and the STEM Education Coalition sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Education, stating our concerns that their feedback to Delaware and other states about their state plans to implement ESSA was widely viewed in education policy circles as discouraging states from including science in their state accountability systems under the new federal education law. These concerns were covered in numerous press stories over the past two weeks and got national attention, including coverage in the Washington Post and New York Times.

The Department of Education responded to our letter, reaffirming that they support state usage of science testing in compliance with the ESSA requirements and further clarified the Department’s intent was not to discourage the use of science scores.  Read the letter from NSTA and the STEM Ed Coalition here and the Department of Education letter here.

STEM in ESSA Detailed in New Achieve Brief

On Wednesday, Achieve released a new brief examining ways in which the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) supports STEM education.  The brief outlines states’ current goals and approaches to science inclusion in their accountability plans under ESSA, as well as how they can leverage funding opportunities in ESSA to support science. (The brief limits its scope to only those 16 states and the District of Columbia who submitted plans to the U.S. Department of Education (USED) in the first round of ESSA state submissions this past May.) From the report, “Of the 16 states and the District of Columbia that have submitted ESSA plans to date, ten states (see table, below) are including science in their accountability system. All ten of these states are including science assessment as part of an academic achievement or proficiency indicator.

States Proposing to Include Science in Their Accountability Systems Under ESSA

The report also looks at how often, and in which grades, states administered science assessments for school year 2016–17, how federal funding can be used for STEM education, and how states intend to leverage ESSA to support STEM.

Stay tuned, and watch for more updates in future issues of NSTA Express.

Jodi Peterson is the Assistant Executive Director of Communication, Legislative & Public Affairs for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Chair of the STEM Education Coalition. Reach her via e-mail at jpeterson@nsta.org or via Twitter at @stemedadvocate.

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

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For the past seven years, my district has held an enrichment opportunity for students in grades fifth through ninth grade called STEM Summer Institute. This unique program has been funded by a Department of Defense Education Activity Grant.  Manhattan, Kansas is next to Fort Riley Army Base and the district strives to support the distinctive needs of our military children. With that in mind, this STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) summer program allows students to practice hands-on STEM activities in a relaxed environment.  Local students select one class for each week in June (our school year ends by Memorial Day).

 Offerings vary each year, but grades 5 and 6 have different options than grades 7 through 9. This year our 317 learners are enrolled in twenty-three different classes; thirteen choices for the younger students and ten choices for the middle school students. Each course is held in the mornings, Mondays through Thursdays. For example, if a child is enrolled in all four weeks, they would have the opportunity to experience a wide range of hands-on STEM activities in four different classes.  Since the sessions are held on campus at Kansas State University, students ride a bus from several pick up sites around town.

Our June classes are limited to fifteen students if instructed by one local teacher, whereas eighteen students are allowed in classes co-taught by two adults.  The second adult is either a college professor, STARBASE or area technical college instructor.

This is a collaborative project with my district and Kansas State University’s College of Education. During the summer, traditional field placement of pre-service teachers is difficult to locate. With STEM Summer Institute, these college students gain quality contact time within a real classroom with real students. They observe the experienced teacher each week, and by the fourth week are able to conduct the instruction. Since classes only meet Mondays through Thursdays, the KSU teaching teams meet with the local cooperating teacher each Friday to plan and reflect on the week.

Having the opportunity to hold classes in a number of Kansas State University buildings allows students to visit college laboratories. Teachers also invite professors to share their knowledge through demonstrations or activities. Some examples include: the state climatologist talking to the weather classes about the formation of tornadoes and producing a tornado in her special box; a physics professor providing hands-on experiences for the K’Nex roller coaster groups; the assistant college soccer coach sharing how to maneuver a ball for the science of sports crowd. Some of our offerings have co-instructors that are college professors and thus classes meet in their departments (City of Mine craft is in Construction Science, Vet Med is held in the Veterinary College of Medicine, both Mighty Micro Controllers and Simulating The Martian in Department of Computer Science, Passive Solar Architecture  and Grain Science). Advantages are extensive, but most notably our students are able to access the same equipment as college students.

STEM Summer Institute is not only a collaborative project with the local university, but with the community as well. Our local D.o.D. STARBASE instructors share their knowledge with fifth graders during the schoolyear and offer a robotics class to summer students. Manhattan Area Technical College opens their doors to our seventh and eighth graders to explore career paths offered at the site. Riley County Police Department stages a crime scene for the C.S.I. groups every week.  Soldiers from Fort Riley Army Base share STEM options within the Army at the end of June.

As technology changes, so does our offerings.  We have added an indoor drone technology and electronics textile classes. This June, we added programs focused on arts to allow the pre-service teachers more chances to practice in their field. Students will explore science fiction writing, build in a maker space, and learn how music and science are connected.

I have assumed an administrative position in my high school. Although I’m sad to leave the classroom, I’m looking forward to this challenge. I have the credentials but not much experience, so I need insights on making the transition. —C., New York

Congratulations on your new professional adventure! If you have not formally been assigned a mentor, find an informal one in your school district or through social media. Networking is an important part of being a leader, and social media provides many ways to work with and learn from others.

The best leaders I’ve worked with spent a lot of time communicating with both students and teachers: listening attentitively (even if you’ve heard the same comment or complaint before), explaining the rationale for decisions, celebrating the achievements of students and teachers, and being approachable in the hallways and classrooms. They also had a sense of humor and the ability to differentiate between the trivial and the important.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed with events and commitments before, during, and after school. One of my administrative mentors would come to school early to check the calendar and plan out his day of classroom visits, meetings, and other duties (in pencil, since unanticipated events would occur). Keep a log or journal of what you do and reflect often on what you’re learning.

You can be a resource for the science faculty. You have experienced a teacher’s responsibility for safety in the labs and security in the storage areas. You know how much behind-the-scenes work science teachers do and are aware of the hazards (and possible liabilities) of scheduling non-science classes or study halls in lab classrooms.

It’s eye-opening to go beyond your own classroom to viewing the school as a larger system. Ask questions and be willing to observe, listen, and learn.

Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/spcummings/361167519/

By definition, one’s own name is the most personal of all words. When a teacher mispronounces a student’s name, the experience can be painful and even harmful to the student’s emotional and educational well-being.

Mispronounced names can add to the difficulties that English-language learners experience in classrooms, according to an Education Week article (Mitchell 2016). The article quoted Rita Kohli of the University of California, Riverside:

“If [ELLs] are encountering teachers who are not taking the time to learn their name or don’t validate who they are, it starts to create this wall.” The article went on: “[Name mispronunciation] can also hinder academic progress. Despite a national increase in the overall graduation rate, the dropout rate for foreign-born and immigrant students remains above 30 percent, three times that of U.S.-born white students.”

In addition, white teachers mispronouncing the names of students of color can represent “subtle daily insults that … support a racial and cultural hierarchy of minority inferiority,” according to a study published in Race, Ethnicity and Education (Kohli and Solórzano 2012). Regardless of why a teacher mispronounces a student’s name, such experiences can affect the child’s worldview and self-worth, the study found.

“It can result in children believing that their culture or aspects of their identity are an inconvenience or are inferior. Many participants shared that the issues they experienced with their names in school caused them a great deal of anxiety [and] shame,” Kohli and Solórzano wrote (2012). “The consequences of these subtle racial experiences are real and can have a lasting impact.”

Aggravating a lack of diversity
Part of the issue may be a lack of diversity among teachers. As a group, U.S. teachers are 82% white, according to the Department of Education (2016), but at least 350 languages are spoken in U.S. homes, according to the Census Bureau (2015). Breaking that down, more than 190 languages are spoken in New York City homes alone, the bureau reports, and 54% of Los Angeles residents ages 5 and older speak a language other than English at home.

“More than 4.8 million English learners are enrolled in America’s public schools, where currently they make up approximately 10% of the nation’s total student population,” wrote Yee Wan, an education administrator and former president of the National Association for Bilingual Education (Wan 2017).

To make your classroom welcoming, Wan wrote, “create a community where everyone is learning and saying each other’s names correctly. Simply asking the question, ‘Did I say your name correctly?’ sends the message that names and people matter.”

By mispronouncing a name, “whether you intend to or not, what you’re communicating is this: ‘Your name is different. Foreign. Weird. It’s not worth my time to get it right,’” wrote education blogger and former college instructor Jennifer Gonzalez (2014). “The best way to get students’ names right is to just ask them.”

Michael E. Bratsis is a former senior editor for KidsHealth in the Classroom (kidshealth.org/classroom).

On the web
For students: Social and emotional well-being: www.teenshealth.org/en/teens/your-mind

Pronunciation guides:
Naming conventions in Arabic, Chinese, Hindi, Korean, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese: http://bit.ly/2nT4qJK
Pronunciation dictionary: www.forvo.com
Voice of America Pro-Nounce: http://pronounce.voanews.com
Related video: http://bit.ly/PBS-names

References
Gonzalez, J. 2014. How we pronounce student names, and why it matters. Cult of Pedagogy. www.cultofpedagogy.com/gift-of-pronunciation
Kohli, D., and G. Solórzano. 2012. Teachers, please learn our names! Racial microagressions and the K–12 classroom. Race, Ethnicity and Education 15 (4): 441–462. http://bit.ly/2nmj549
Mitchell, C. 2016. Education Week. Mispronouncing Students’ Names: A Slight That Can Cut Deep. May 10. http://bit.ly/24NZIQy
U.S. Census Bureau. 2015. Census Bureau reports at least 350 languages spoken in U.S. homes. http://bit.ly/2nLN6pl
U.S. Department of Education. 2016. The state of racial diversity in the educator workforce. http://bit.ly/1Oh5gWQ
Wan, Y. 2017. Did I say your name correctly? Strategies for creating a culture of respect. Perspectives 40 (1): 6–7. http://bit.ly/2oRmZz8

Editor’s Note

This article was originally published in the Summer 2017 issue of The 
Science Teacher journal from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).

Get Involved With NSTA!

Join NSTA today and receive The Science Teacher, the peer-reviewed journal just for high school teachers; to write for the journal, see our Author Guidelines, Call for Papers, and annotated sample manuscript; connect on the high school level science teaching list (members can sign up on the list server); or consider joining your peers at future NSTA conferences.

Although a small majority of students still hold stereotypical views of scientists, many students have a growing awareness that anyone can be a scientist, according to science educators participating in an informal NSTA Reports poll. Fifty-five percent said their students see scientists as most likely to be white males. However, when asked to compare the prevalence of this belief to that of 10 years ago, 60% said more students are aware that scientists can come from any demographic group. But students don’t always connect those opportunities with their own demographic group, according to 25% of respondents.
 Half of respondents noted that minority and/or female students pursuing advanced or elective science courses in their school or district were underrepresented compared to overall enrollment, while 37.5% said the percentage of minority and/or female students taking these courses correlated to overall enrollment. Only 12.5% said a higher percentage of minority and/or female students take advanced or elective science courses compared to overall enrollment.
More than half (59%) reported their school or district did not offer programs targeted toward increasing the diversity of the students in science programs. Most (82.5%) said they incorporate lessons or use other teaching materials that encourage students of color and/or girls to study science and pursue science careers.

Here’s what science teachers are saying about how they encourage students of color and/or girls to study science and pursue science careers:

[We practice] [s]tudent-driven, research- based learning [in which] the dreams of the student are allowed to be explored and achieved.—Educator, High School, Washington
All of my lessons are for everyone in every demographic. They should all be able to do all lessons no matter their gender, race, or nationality.—Educator, Middle School, High School, Minnesota
[One example is l]earning about Rosalind Franklin.—Educator, Middle School, Kansas
Teenage girls still feel pressure to identify as being squeamish about invertebrates and bodily fluids.—Educator, High School, New York
I don’t really have specific lessons. I am constantly talking about women and people of color in science throughout the year.—Educator, High School, Minnesota
[We expose students to] SciGirls at [third- through fifth-grade] level. —Educator, Elementary, New York
[It’s] important to consider what we explicitly teach, implicitly teach, and what we teach by omission, particularly when thinking about how to encourage girls to see themselves as scientists. —Educator, High School, Colorado
[I] preview instructional materials to [ensure they] show diversity. —Administrator, High School, Nevada
I desire to break the gender and racial stereotypes by asking my students often about gender and racial roles. —Educator, Elementary, Minnesota
I teach second grade. We have a Super Scientists and Inventors board in the classroom, and each week, I introduce a new person. I have picture cards that [I] put up on the board, along with picture cards with information on the back of them [that I place] in a center for them to write about them and how they impact their lives right now.—Educator, Elementary, Minnesota
[I] push all students equally.—Educator, High School, Minnesota
We use resource books that include multiple perspectives. We are also trying a biography unit [in which] students of color can read about scientists like themselves.—Educator, Middle School, Minnesota
[My class] did a study on women astronauts.— Educator, Elementary, Oklahoma
[I use v]aried [resources], e.g., NASA’s Modern Figures.—Educator, Institution of Higher Learning, North Carolina
All students are treated equally, and an even cross-section [is] invited to attend outside programs.—Educator, High School, Connecticut
Women [s]cientists’ biographies; science articles; current scientists of color; and especially women of all ethnicities’ work is integrated into lessons [and] daily discussions, and related to labs we do.—Educator, High School, Institution of Higher Learning, Colorado
[I give] examples of non-white scientists. —Educator, High School, Tennessee
[I do v]arious STEM activities both in and outside of the classroom. —Educator, Florida
[I use b]ell-ringers on women in science. —Educator, Elementary, Middle School, High School, Oklahoma
I always encourage my female students to consider the fields of math and science. We are a predomina[n]tly Native [American] school, so they are exposed to opportunities; however, our school is small and underfunded.—Educator, High School, Oklahoma
Science careers are discussed, with a variety of people featured. I don’t single out female or male, or minorities.—Educator, Elementary, Connecticut
I use myself as [an example of] a minority woman!—Educator, High School, Oklahoma
[I hold m]onthly STEM challenges and shar[e] biographies of diverse scientists. —Educator, Elementary, Georgia
[I] [c]onnect science to as many of their interests as possible.—Educator, High School, Wisconsin
I try to make sure my kids know that scientists are more than just the “Dead White Guys.” (I’m white.)—Educator, Middle School, California
[I increase awareness t]hrough discussion, classroom resources, projects that increase familiarity of female and minority scientists and their work, and activities that help students identify their own biases in these areas. —Administrator, Institution of Higher Learning, Arkansas

This article originally appeared in the Summer 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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Our previous seven columns have been devoted to integrating the International Society for Technology in Education’s (ISTE) standards into the science classroom. Yet, knowing which activities align with the standards and determining where they fit within the curriculum can be challenging. This month, we provide some scaffolding to help teachers align the ISTE standards to the example activities in our previous columns.

There’s a common misconception that curriculum documents explain when material connected to a content standard would most benefit from using technology-based tools. A simple exercise shows this is untrue. Searching the word technology in a PDF version of the Next Generation Science Standards yields dozens of occurrences. In most of those cases, however, technology is connected solely to the crosscutting concept of “Connections to Engineering, Technology, and Applications of Science,” so the search isn’t very helpful.

Even where the term technology appears within a standard, the focus remains more on tool use instead of how students can choose tools that will best help them demonstrate understanding of content. An example of this in the NGSS is actually a connection to the Common Core State Standards and relates to a student’s ability to graph. Even here, the use of technology serves only to carry out a specific function and is not used in a higher-order way.

Search for key action verbs instead
What, then, would be a better way to mine the NGSS for the use of technology in classroom activities? Instead of searching for the word technology, let’s search for key action verbs (e.g., collaborate, communicate, organize) that support the seven ISTE standards. Searching for collaborate, for example, yields nearly 20 pages of results, many of which are directly cited within the science and engineering practices (SEP) and describe the student actions that should be seen in the science classroom. Just one example indicates that students should be able to “Plan and conduct an investigation collaboratively to produce data to serve as the basis for evidence to answer a question.” Now, we can call upon the resources provided in our column about global collaborators (Smith and Mader 2017), in which students use digital tools to collaborate with their peers.

To most effectively make use of this strategy, begin with the four indicators that accompany each ISTE standard and search for the action verbs that will evidence student learning. The search leads us to words such as communicate, which can be found in another SEP that encourages students to “communicate solutions with others in oral and/or written forms using models and/or drawings that provide detail about scientific ideas.” Now, you can draw upon some of the tools that we connected to the Creative Communicator standard (Smith and Mader 2017) to strengthen students’ skills in this SEP.

Conclusion
Once we understand that content, the NGSS, and ISTE standards are complementary, we will begin to see how technology can most appropriately support and transform student learning activities.

Ben Smith (ben@edtechinnovators.com) is an educational technology program specialist, and Jared Mader (jared@edtechinnovators.com) is the director of educational technology, for the Lincoln Intermediate Unit in New Oxford, Pennsylvania. They conduct teacher workshops on technology in the classroom nationwide.

References
International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE). 2016. The 2016 ISTE standards for students. Arlington, VA: ISTE. http://bit.ly/ISTE-standards

Smith, B., and J. Mader. 2017. Communicating science creatively. The Science Teacher 84 (4): 10. http://bit.ly/TST-communicate

Smith, B., and J. Mader. 2017. Help students become global collaborators. The Science Teacher 84 (3): 9. http://bit.ly/TST-collaborate

Editor’s Note

This article was originally published in the Summer 2017 issue of The 
Science Teacher journal from the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA).

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