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From: MalFraser@xxxxxxx
Date: Mon, 7 Apr 2008 15:50:44 EDT
Subject: FWD:MassBaP K-12 week ending April 4, 2008
To: "Massachusetts Association of Science Teachers" <mast@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Look for more information at http://www.MassScienceTeach.org
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
MassBaP K-12 week ending April 4, 2008
MassBaP Coordinator has new e-mail address:
<mailto:good783@xxxxxxxxxxx>good783@xxxxxxxxxxx
IGES Announces Earth Day Photo Contest for Middle School Students:
The Institute for Global Environmental Strategies is sponsoring an
Earth Day photo contest for middle school students. Interested
students are asked to photograph something that is changing in their
local environment. They are to take the photo between Tuesday, April
22, and Tuesday, April 29. The change could be occurring in the
student's backyard, outside the student's school, in a local park or
even off in the distance. Participants must research and write an
explanation of the change documented in the photograph.
The contest is open to all U.S. students in grades 5-8.
Entries must be received by e-mail or postmarked by May 9, 2008.
For more information about the contest and how teachers can use it
in the classroom, visit
<http://www.strategies.org/EarthDayPhoto>http://www.strategies.org/EarthDayPhoto.
If you have questions about the contest, please e-mail your
inquiries to <mailto:info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>info@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
NASA Langley-Virginia Space Grant GIS internships:
The Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) in partnership with NASA Langley
Research Center is offering the NASA Langley-VSGC Geographic Information
Systems (GIS) Internship program. This program will place student interns
at NASA Langley to support the NASA GIS team. Positions are open to high
school, undergraduate and graduate students and are available in summer and
fall 2008 and spring 2009.
This is a great opportunity for any student majoring in civil engineering,
technology, geography or other major and interested in developing and
improving their skills and experience in GIS. Prior experience in GIS is
not required as training will be provided. Students will work 20 hours per
week and be paid a stipend based on their academic level. Deadline for
summer applications is March 24 and the deadline for fall internships is
July 1. Please view the attached flyer and visit
<http://www.vsgc.odu.edu/gisintern/>http://www.vsgc.odu.edu/gisintern/
for more information and to apply. The
NASA Langley GIS team site can be viewed at
<http://gis.larc.nasa.gov/>http://gis.larc.nasa.gov/
If you have any questions or concerns, please contact Chris Carter
(cxcarter@xxxxxxx), Assistant Director of VSGC, at 757-766-5210. Thank you
for considering!
SPEAK UP RESULTS ARE IN! The Speak Up 2007 results are in and the
release of the national findings at the Congressional Briefing
sponsored by Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard on April 8, 2008 - 12:00noon
- 1:30pm. Nearly 370,000 students, teachers, administrators and
parents from all 50 states shared their ideas on science, math,
technology and 21st century skills through Speak Up 2007. Selected
findings include:
54% of students are interested in STEM careers
One-third of teachers say they would like to teach an online class
84% of administrators say educational technology enhances student achievement
63% of parents say they know more about child's schoolwork and
grades because of school technology
Don't be left out in 2008, your input is important-watch your
MassBaP weekly news updates for 2008 sign-ups!
Call for entries for the 2008 Discovery Education/3M Young Scientist
Challenge: Discovery Education and 3M are proud to partner with
NASA for the 2008 Young Scientist Challenge. Currently in its 10th
year, the YSC encourages the exploration of science among America's
youth and promotes the importance of science communication at a
critical age when interest in science begins to decline.
The challenge sponsors are looking for a few great students and
teachers who can inspire others with their enthusiasm for science
and their ability to communicate. What does it take to be America's
Top Young Scientist or America's Top Science Teacher? Students in
grades 5-8 and teachers of grades K-12 are being asked to create a
short (1-2 minute) video about one of this year's scientific topics,
which all relate to this year's theme, "The Science of Space."
Participants should enter their videos online and will become
eligible to win a trip to Washington, D.C., in the fall to compete
in the YSC finals at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center.
Science teachers who are interested in participating must be members
of the Discovery Educator Network. Becoming a member is easy and
registration is free. To become a member, visit
<http://community.discoveryeducation.com/about/become_discovery_educator>http://community.discoveryeducation.com/about/become_discovery_educator.
Video topics and registration information can be found online at
<http://www.discoveryeducation.com/youngscientist>http://www.discoveryeducation.com/youngscientist.
Videos will be accepted through June 15, 2008. Finalists will be
announced this summer, and the competition finals will take place
Oct. 4-7, 2008. For more information, log-on to
<http://www.discoveryeducation.com/youngscientist>http://www.discoveryeducation.com/youngscientist.
Questions about the competition may be sent to
<mailto:YSC@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>YSC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
COMPLETE A RENEWABLE ENERGY PROJECT WITH K-12 YOUTH
FOR EARTH DAY or ANY DAY! Teachers, parents, & group leaders can
help youth complete these self-paced, flexible projects. Youth earn
patches, pins or certificates for their work -
FREE for Massachusetts residents.
1. CLEAN GREEN POWER Ages 5 & up.
Introduce youth to renewable energy and let them take action!
*Warm up to clean, renewable energy through simple activities & surveys.
*Interview someone who uses clean energy and see it at work firsthand.
*Complete a project of choice for display at school, library, etc.
*Wear the Clean Green Power Champion patch and spread the word about
clean energy and energy conservation solutions to global warming and other
fossil fuel pollution.
2. WIND WISDOM Age 11 & up
Introduce youth to wind energy through activities of choice.
* Complete four of the eight multifaceted activities. These varied activities
involve field trips, wind turbine experiments, career explorations, personal
actions, electricity generation and more, and are based on real experiences
with youth ages 11 to 17.
*Download a certificate and request pins to wear.
In both programs, Girl Scouts earn beautiful patches for their work.
Visit www.nesea.org/education/ycleanenergy
to get started.
REGISTRATION OPEN FOR ANTARCTIC RESEARCH CHALLENGE:
Calling all students who would like to become scientists and propose
Antarctic research! The Landsat Image Mosaic of Antarctica (LIMA) is
the first true-color, high-resolution satellite view of the
Antarctic continent. Using this view of Antarctica, students are
asked to develop a research question surrounding a chosen feature of
Antarctica and to debate the value of studying that area.
Registration is now open to educators and club or program leaders
wishing to have their students participate in the LIMA Quest
Challenge.
Further instructions will be sent upon receiving your registration.
Visit the challenge page at:
<http://quest.nasa.gov/challenges/lima>http://quest.nasa.gov/challenges/lima.
GET YOUR GUMMY GREENHOUSE GASES!
Making science edible--and sweet--is a reliable way to attract kids'
interest. The new "Gummy Greenhouse Gases" activity on The Space
Place Website makes it fun and easy to learn a bit of chemistry and
to find out why too many of these kinds of molecules in the air are
likely to cause Earth to get warmer. At
<http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/tes/gumdrops>http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/tes/gumdrops,
kids use gumdrops and toothpicks to make simple molecules of ozone,
nitrous oxide, carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane. The curious
can go on to
<http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/tes/gases>http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/tes/gases
to learn more about the greenhouse effect and about the "good and
bad" roles of ozone. A short video shows how new space technology
can literally paint a 3-D picture of these gases all around the
globe. Afterwards, the ghastly gases can be consumed (mind the
toothpicks!), thus helping the environment.
SUN-EARTH DAY 2008: SPACE WEATHER AROUND THE WORLD:
<http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/sun-earth-day-2008.html>http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/sun-earth-day-2008.html
What does the sun have to do with everyday life on Earth? Quite a
lot, as it turns out. This year's theme for NASA's Sun-Earth Day,
which annually highlights the connections between the sun and Earth,
is "Space Weather Around the World." NASA has a variety of resources
to help educators introduce and explain space weather and the
sun-Earth connection to students. Read more about these resources on
the NASA portal.
ARCTIC IMPRESSIONS - MIDDLE SCHOOL TEACHER'S PODCAST JOURNAL:
<http://sunearthday.gsfc.nasa.gov/2008/multimedia/arctic.php>http://sunearthday.gsfc.nasa.gov/2008/multimedia/arctic.php
Arctic Impressions is the audio journal of Dorian Janney, a middle
school teacher from Rockville, Md. Dorian joined NASA's Sun-Earth
Day team in Barrow, Alaska, for the "Polar Gateways Arctic Circle
Sunrise 2008." One of the main goals of this conference was to share
information about changes in the Earth's Polar Regions due to global
climate change. Other topics included our Sun's influence on the
solar system as well as our future exploration of other planets.
Dorian joined in on a variety of educational activities including
school visits, cultural excursions, Webcasts and podcasts. She also
kept a written journal of her entire experience complete with
descriptive text and imagery that she emailed back to her students
in Maryland at the end of each day. In these podcasts you will hear
from Dorian as she reads directly from her journal. The podcasts
also included a variety of interviews with scientists and residents
of Barrow as conducted by student reporter, Cara.
In The News:
NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF STATE SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS COALITIONS
News Brief #4187 Category: Curriculum Materials
TITLE: "New Tools in Science Labs"
In an effort to keep up with the equipment scientists are actually
using, school science labs are adding new resources to the
traditional arsenal of stopwatches, alcohol thermometers, balances,
and others. Thanks to the marketing of high tech companies, schools
can now outfit their labs with tools such as probes, sensors and
data loggers, which are all collectively known as "probeware."
According to Carolyn Staudt, a researcher at the Concord Consortium,
a nonprofit educational research group, "A data collector is a
doorway to understanding for students; it allows them to see
real-time data so that can actually remember it." The Concord
Consortium has been studying the use of probeware in schools for
more than six years. Thus far the studies indicate that students who
are in science labs where they have the opportunity to use the
probeware may be learning more science.
SOURCE: Education Week, 26 March 2008
WEBSITE:
<http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/03/26/29tech_ep.h27.html>http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/03/26/29tech_ep.h27.html
NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF STATE SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS COALITIONS News
Brief #4191 Category: Content Standards
TITLE: "The Push to Improve STEM Education"
In its Technology Counts review for 2008, Education Week notes that
the pressure on states by business, education and policy leaders to
strengthen student performance in science, technology, engineeering
and mathematics continues and has been increasing of late. Results,
however, are somewhat disappointing.
In math, while 4th graders' performance on the federally sponsored
NAEP tests has climbed appreciably this decade, six in 10 students
still fall short of the proficiency bar. For 8th graders, the trend
has also been up in math-albeit more modestly-but fewer than a third
of students scored as proficient or advanced in the latest testing.
In science, 4th and 8th grade scores have changed only slightly
since 2000, and in the most recent testing, only 27 percent of
students in both grades scored at the proficient level or above in
the subject. Among 12th graders, the proportions of students'
reaching proficiency on NAEP are lower, and largely stagnant, in
both math and science.
SOURCE: Education Week, 27 March 2008
WEBSITE:
<http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2008/03/05/26sciliteracy_ep.h27.html>http://www.edweek.org/ew/toc/2008/03/27/index.html
Caroline Goode, Coordinator
MA Building a Presence for Science
Christa McAuliffe Center at Framingham State College
100 State Street
Framingham, MA 01701
508-626-4050
Planning your summer road trip? Check out
<http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016>AOL
Travel Guides.
Planning your summer road trip? Check out
<http://travel.aol.com/travel-guide/united-states?ncid=aoltrv00030000000016>AOL
Travel Guides.
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