JoinStudents teaching teachers and rethinking education at the college level
By Lynn Petrinjak
Posted on 2010-03-19
Linda Colon
I just watched a group from Science After School squeeze in one last practice session before their presentation, What We Want Science Teachers to Know. These Manhattan students seem very eager to share the student perspective on learning science. It’s a bit a role reversal with students teaching the teachers.
I also spoke with Linda Colon, program manager with Educational Equity Center at AED in New York, New York. She’ll be presenting two sessions on informal science education this weekend. “We want to communicate to the science community how important it is for children to have opportunities after school, to do fun, engaging, hands-on activities that really make the connection between what they’re doing during the day and what they can do after school,” she says. “Just finding the fun.”
I moved from elementary/middle school to college with just a few steps. Next door to the Science After School group, the SCST Marjorie Gardner Lecture posed a question to college educators and offered a possible solution: Too Much Content to Cover? Teach Using Competencies Instead. Dee Silverthorn, who teaches integrative biology at the University of Texas–Austin, noted some disciplines, such as nursing, have a history of using outcome-driven competency based education.
Silverthorn says chemists are the best at competency-based teaching, due in part to the American Chemist Society’s guidelines for undergraduate programs. Those guidelines include
- In-depth content coverage
- Laboratory experience
- Student research is encouraged
- Skills
- Problem solving
- Chemical literature
- Safety
- Communication
- Team work
- Ethics
She outlined some goals for implementing competency-based education for biology problem and offered suggestions for how to do it.
Linda Colon
Getting ideas
By Lynn Petrinjak
Posted on 2010-03-19
I was in an interesting session yesterday and have overheard bits and pieces of a lot of different conference attendees talking about presentations they’ve liked. I’m wondering: What presenters would you like to hear more from?
I was in an interesting session yesterday and have overheard bits and pieces of a lot of different conference attendees talking about presentations they’ve liked. I’m wondering: What presenters would you like to hear more from?
What attendees are saying
By Lynn Petrinjak
Posted on 2010-03-19
I talked to a few teachers this morning between sessions. Here’s what they’re saying about attending the conference:
Daniel Welker
Daniel Welker, a 9th grade Earth science teacher in central Pennsylvania: “I always get good materials .. I always hear very good speakers that give me good ideas…things I need to do.”
He notes the size of the conference can be a challenge, with sessions occuring in the convention center was well as a few hotels, particularly when he finds a session he planned to attend doesn’t fit his needs, which he describes as a bit unusual. He explains, “I can usually tell in five minutes if[a session] is for me or not…I teach 9th grade Earth science. I’ve got to present at a high school level; a lot of the curricula is at the middle school level.”
Amy Hawkins
Amy Hawkins of Anderson, South Carolina, has attended five NSTA conferences including regional conferences. She has some specific goals in mind for this meeting : “I wanted to learn more about scien movement toward core standards and the 21st century initiative going on. I’m looking for ideas to take back to my district.”
She also has some a more general objective. She adds, “This is where you go to get revitalized. You need it for refreshing your ideas. A lot of it is informal [talking to fellow educators]. I come up with a lot of ideas to take home.”
Steven Thedford
“I’m looking forward to getting a lot of information on astronomy,” says Steven Thedford a chemistry, physics, and physical sciences teacher from the Atlanta, Georgia area. A member of the National Nanotechnology Infrastructure Network, he was a presenter at a Research Experience for Teachers program yesterday morning. Thedford also planned to attend a few exhibitor workshops in the hope of working out a few problems he’s had with some technology in his classroom.
I talked to a few teachers this morning between sessions. Here’s what they’re saying about attending the conference:
Daniel Welker
Where else but Philadelphia?
By Mary Bigelow
Posted on 2010-03-18
People were doing double-takes in the exhibit hall as Ben Franklin himself was strolling around. I wonder what he thought of all the displays and events—just a few blocks from Independence Hall. I suspect that most teachers are abiding by his advice in Poor Richard’s Almanack: “early to bed and early to rise…” considering that the sessions start at 8:00 AM with standing-room-only audiences.
Franklin started out as a printer. He must be marveling at the electronic media that are on display.
Perhaps we’ll see some other famous Philadelphians as we walk around?
People were doing double-takes in the exhibit hall as Ben Franklin himself was strolling around. I wonder what he thought of all the displays and events—just a few blocks from Independence Hall.
You know your session is successful when…
By Mary Bigelow
Posted on 2010-03-18
Equity and Excellence
…audience members are hanging around, talking with each other and the presenters for 20+ minutes after the session is over. That’s what happened when three teachers from Denver CO described their efforts to “de-track” their science classes. Bonnie LaFleur, Matthew Anthes-Washburn, and Nathan Glover noted that a key component is differentiated instruction. They’re collecting data to determine the results of their efforts this year.
They also used Prezi rather than PowerPoint for their presentation. I had dabbled with this, but this was the first time I have seen anyone use it at a conference or meeting. I’ll have to dabble some more.
Equity and Excellence
Young investigators
By Mary Bigelow
Posted on 2010-03-18
Inquiry Projects in the Elementary Classroom
I thought I’d start off the conference with a session by a Philadelphia-ite. Stephen Wade, a Board-certified teacher, is a science specialist for the younger grades at William Penn Charter School. He shared several ideas for helping students design, conduct, and share the results of their science investigations. These ideas include modeling inquiry behaviors, providing some sample topics for projects (especially for the primary grades), and completing most of the work in class. He recommended not only providing a rubric, but having students score projects from previous years using the rubric to show they understand it. He showed examples of how students summarized their work in posters and wikis. Note in the picture that some of the students used manilla folders instead of the large (and expensive) tri-fold poster boards.
Rather than a competitive science fair, his school holds “symposia.” Younger students are the audience as their colleagues describe their investigations. And this year, fourth graders from several other schools are joining their symposium on “mold.”
Inquiry Projects in the Elementary Classroom
Best conference ever!
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Posted on 2010-03-18
This is my favorite conference so far, and that’s saying a lot since I’ve worked at NSTA for 12 years! Even the weather is cooperating—it couldn’t be a more beautiful time to be in Philly. Yesterday I walked around downtown, and when I wasn’t dodging revelers in green, I took in quite a bit of history. It seems like the whole city is ready for NSTA. Even the Philosophical Society is having a special Darwin exhibit. And how fun are the trolleys? (Although a word of caution is in order—don’t wear a slippery coat or you’ll slide right off the seat as the driver rounds a corner…) I’m already hoping I get to go to San Francisco next year!
This is my favorite conference so far, and that’s saying a lot since I’ve worked at NSTA for 12 years! Even the weather is cooperating—it couldn’t be a more beautiful time to be in Philly. Yesterday I walked around downtown, and when I wasn’t dodging revelers in green, I took in quite a bit of history. It seems like the whole city is ready for NSTA. Even the Philosophical Society is having a special Darwin exhibit. And how fun are the trolleys?
The scoop on science notebooks
By Debra Shapiro
Posted on 2010-03-18
Karen Wood
I’ve been hearing a lot about science notebooks lately, so I went to the Education Development Center’s Pathway Session on Establishing Science Notebook Habits and Skills. It was interesting to hear each presenter’s unique take on the science notebook and see all of the student examples they displayed.
Fifth-grade teacher Karen Wood said structured journals work best with her fifth graders, who typically don’t have a lot of exposure to science. I was shocked to hear that only a handful of her students each year have had any science at all.
Dean Martin
Dean Martin, science specialist for grades 3-5 in the Boston Public Schools, uses a “dual notebook structure” combining free writing with specific questions to explore. With students who have difficulty expressing themselves in writing, he adapts the notebook by letting them take digital photos and write captions. To help kids who think they can’t draw, he provides a few simple drawing lessons to build their confidence, while assuring them that their drawings need not be perfect.
Lori Fulton
Lori Fulton of Jay Jeffers Elementary School in Las Vegas, Nevada, says many of her kindergarteners are English Language Learners, so writing is hard for them. So they work on creating pictures for their notebooks first, then learn how to label the pictures. With older students, she advises not overemphasizing conclusions and encouraging students to describe their observations.
Audience members asked the presenters about how they helped their students make real-world connections using their notebooks and how to determine whether what students put in the notebook represented accurate understanding.
Karen Wood
Philly Soul
By Debra Shapiro
Posted on 2010-03-18
NSTA conferences offer so much more than what you see on the program. Between sessions, I stopped to watch and listen to this young man, who was performing outside of the Philadelphia Convention Center this afternoon. Not only did he dance up a storm, but he also sang some dynamite covers of Motown classics by Marvin Gaye and the Temptations.
Anyone know his name? Leave a comment if you do.
NSTA conferences offer so much more than what you see on the program. Between sessions, I stopped to watch and listen to this young man, who was performing outside of the Philadelphia Convention Center this afternoon.
Did you bring your kids?
By Lauren Jonas, NSTA Assistant Executive Director
Posted on 2010-03-18
I didn’t bring my son, but after walking around the Exhibit Hall, I regretted it. Who knew that Curious George would be here? When I saw him, I started thinking, and when I saw the penguins and petted the wallaby, I started making phone calls. Surely a day at the Exhibit Hall is worth my husband taking a day off work and taking my son out of school for the day? When he shows his teachers a picture of himself with the skeleton and brings them books on building a classroom garden, they’ll consider it time well spent. Hmmm… and while hubby and son are playing with the robots, maybe I’ll sneak off to the most wonderful booth of all—to get a free foot massage!
I didn’t bring my son, but after walking around the Exhibit Hall, I regretted it. Who knew that Curious George would be here? When I saw him, I started thinking, and when I saw the penguins and petted the wallaby, I started making phone calls. Surely a day at the Exhibit Hall is worth my husband taking a day off work and taking my son out of school for the day? When he shows his teachers a picture of himself with the skeleton and brings them books on building a classroom garden, they’ll consider it time well spent.