-
NASA
Science
Opportunity
for
Students
Ages
13-18:
Learn
about
the Moon
through
Engaging
Gameplay
-
As part
of a
NASA
initiative
to study
videogame
learning,
the
NASA-sponsored
Classroom
of the
Future
located
on the
campus
of
Wheeling
Jesuit
University
developed
Selene:
A Lunar
Creation
GaME.
Players
form the
early
Moon and
then
pepper
the
surface
with
impact
craters
and
flood it
with
lava.
Along
the way,
Chuck
Wood
guides
players
through
the
history
of the
Moon.
Wood, an
internationally
known
lunar
geologist,
writes a
monthly
column
on the
moon for
Sky and
Telescope
and
authored
the
inspiring
book:
The
Modern
Moon: A
Personal
View.
The
National
Science
Foundation
and the
journal
Science
awarded
Selene
semi-finalist
honors
in their
2007
International
Science
and
Engineering
Visualization
Challenge.
Selene
research
is
funded
by NASA
eEducation.
-
-
Massachusetts
State
Coordinator
Caroline
Goode
supports
the
Selene
research
project
and
invites
you to
join her
in an
effort
to
recruit
players.
The game
is free
and
accessed
over the
internet
24/7. I
am sure
your
science
classroom
teachers
and
their
students
would
appreciate
your
passing
along
this
science
learning
and
teaching
resource.
http://selene.cet.edu
From Lesson
Plans to Life
Lessons
To help provide teachers
around the country with
support for their
innovative work to bring
environmental education
into the classroom, the
National Environmental
Education Foundation is
launching the Classroom
Earth National High
School Challenge - an
opportunity for up to 25
teachers to secure as
much as $5,000 to
$10,000 in funding to
bring innovative
environmental themes
into their coursework.
Through this program,
teachers around the
country can continue to
inspire students about
environmental issues so
that they will have the
knowledge to live by to
protect our planet.
Philippe Cousteau,
President,
EarthEcho International
-
Bring the Solar System to Your
Community - Become a MESSENGER
Fellow
-
Take part in the current golden
era of Solar System exploration
by becoming a MESSENGER Educator
Fellow! As
-
an integral part of NASA's
MESSENGER mission to Mercury,
the Fellows will help bring the
excitement of this
-
daring mission to classrooms
across the nation.
-
What is MESSENGER?
-
Humankind is sending a
spacecraft back to Mercury!
Launched in 2004, the robotic
spacecraft completed its first
-
flyby of its target in January
2008, sending back the first
pictures of the previously
unseen side of Mercury. After
-
two more flybys, MESSENGER will
go into orbit around Mercury in
2011 and begin a year-long,
comprehensive
-
study of the planet. Visit
http://MESSENGER.jhuapl.edu
for
more information.
-
High School Curriculum on Climate
Change Available
-
WASHINGTON-World Wildlife Fund
and the Allianz Foundation for North
America today announced a new
opportunity for high school students
displaced by Katrina and now residing in
nine U.S. cities to assess the climate
change vulnerability of the Southeastern
United States.
The project
will give college-bound youth displaced
by Hurricane Katrina
an opportunity
this spring to learn more about the
science of climate change by working
closely with scientists, use scientific
tools for exploring and explaining
regional vulnerability, and address
decision-makers.
Through
this project, 25 students will be chosen
from public schools in Alabama, Georgia,
Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee to
assess the vulnerability of the
Southeastern United States to climate
change. Participants will receive a
$1500 stipend and an HP laptop computer
for their college studies. Selected
students will also attend Climate Camp
in June 2008 as well as a Youth Summit
in Washington D.C. July 7-11, 2008.
This fall, teachers in these cities can
send a letter to
seclimatewitness@wwfus.org to
nominate students for the program.
Nationally, teachers can use a
curriculum on climate change designed
for high school students to integrate
climate change into their lessons and
equip students for future responsibility
and leadership. It is now available from
World Wildlife Fund online at
www.worldwildlife.org/seclimatewitness
or via email at
seclimatewitness@wwfus.org by
request.
-
A new website sponsored by the
U.S. Department of Energy's Office
of Energy Efficiency and Renewable
Energy offers 350 lessons and
activities on energy efficiency and
renewable energy. The site, "K-12
Energy Lesson Plans and Activities"
organizes the materials by grade
level and topic. A wide range of
topics are available, including
biomass, geothermal, hydrogen and
fuel cells, ocean energy, solar
power, transportation fuels, wind
energy, and energy efficiency and
conservation. Site visitors can
learn about passive solar buildings,
advanced photovoltaics, or basic
wind turbines. They can also take an
energy awareness quiz, estimate
their carbon footprint, and then
find ways to reduce it.
-
-
-
-
Tell
your students and ask which they
would choose as their own "top
three" favorites! As always, to see
all of the NOAA Ocean Exploration
expeditions, videos, daily logs from
sea, educational resources, and
more, check out the website at
oceanexplorer.noaa.gov.
-
-
TAKING THE "PULSE" OF EARTH
SCIENCE EDUCATION
"The
Pulse of Earth Science" was not only
the theme of Earth Science Week
2007, but also is the name of the
American Geological Institute's (AGI)
website that tracks Earth science
education nationwide. The site
offers detailed, up-to-date
information on the status of
geoscience education in every state,
as well as guidance for advocates.
For each state, AGI provides the
most recent available data on:
* teacher certification
requirements and numbers teaching
related subjects;
* relevant
courses that middle and high school
students must take;
* K-12
enrollment levels in Earth science
and related subjects;
* coverage
of Earth science within state
science standards;
* state
assessment of students in Earth
science;
* textbooks adopted and
relevance of relevance to Earth
science; and
* contact
information for state education
agencies.
The website
features findings that many are
likely to find surprising. While
every state but Iowa includes Earth
science in education standards, this
priority seldom carries through to
curriculum requirements or high
school exit exams, for example. Only
about one in five states offers
Earth science as an elective within
overall science requirements, and
North Carolina is the only state
requiring an Earth science course
for graduation. "The Pulse of Earth
Science" Advocacy Guide, includes
recommendations for taking action
within state and local school
systems. Ideas are provided for
partnerships with other Earth
science supporters, suggestions for
contacting decision-makers, and tips
to ensure that your students get the
Earth science education they
deserve. Triangle Coalition member,
the American Geological Institute,
is a nonprofit federation of 44
geoscientific and professional
associations that represents more
than 100,000 geologists,
geophysicists, and other earth
scientists. Founded in 1948, AGI
provides information services to
geoscientists, serves as a voice of
shared interests in our profession,
plays a major role in strengthening
geoscience education, and strives to
increase public awareness of the
vital role the geosciences play in
society's use of resources and
interaction with the environment.
Find out more at
www.agiweb.org.
-
-
Many
people have contributed in producing
the Chemistry Comes Alive! video
site. Over a dozen demonstrations
are ready to be incorporated into
your class instruction. Partial
funding for Chemistry Comes Alive!
was contributed by the National
Science Foundation.
New publication
available:
Drugs, Brains, and Behavior - The
Science of Addiction
The
National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA),
part of the National Institutes of
Health in the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, is
pleased to feature Drugs, Brains,
and Behavior - The Science of
Addiction. This 30-page
full-color booklet, available
FREE OF
CHARGE, uses plain language
to explain how science has
revolutionized the understanding of
drug addiction as a brain disease
that affects behavior. NIDA hopes
this new publication will help
reduce the stigma associated with
addictive disorders. Because of its
breadth and clarity, this
FREE
booklet will be useful for a wide
variety of audiences, including
educators, school health
professionals, students, psychiatric
caregivers, treatment professionals,
and criminal justice workers.
To order
FREE
copies of Drugs, Brains, and
Behavior - The Science of Addiction,
visit the
NIDA Web Site. You may also call
the National Clearinghouse for
Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI)
at (800) 729-6686, (800) 487-4889 (TDD),
or (877) 767-8432 (Español).
To order
this publication in bulk, please
e-mail us at
nidanews@iqsolutions.com with
your full name, mailing address, and
the number of copies you would like
to receive.
EarthCaching for Educators
The
exciting virtual adventure that
helps you learn about the Earth
while using your Global Positioning
System (GPS) receiver, EarthCaching,
has just been updated for use by
teachers! On the EarthCache
site there is now a link for
educator pages that allow teachers
to upload and download lesson plans
based on one EarthCache or a general
type of EarthCaches (for example,
glaciers). This exciting
development coincides with the
release of an educators’ guide to
using EarthCaching in the classroom.
The Guide is now available online
(main page, scroll down) and you can
download for free the entire
document or just the chapters you
need. Learn how to teach a unit
using GPS units and EarthCaching!
Thanks to the National Geographic
Education Foundation for their
generous support in developing this
new resource.
www.earthcache.org
National Science Digital Library and
Digital Library for Earth System
Education Offer Free Professional
Development for Teachers Impacted by
Hurricane Katrina
The
National Science Digital Library (NSDL),
in partnership with the Digital
Library for Earth System Education (DLESE)
will offer free online professional
development workshops for K-12
science and math teachers in
hurricane-impacted schools and those
teaching hurricane-displaced
students.
-
United
Nations Atlas of the Oceans
-
The Atlas
is an information system designed for
use by policy makers who need to become
familiar with ocean issues and by
scientists, students and resource
managers who need access to underlying
data bases and approaches to
sustainability.
http://www.oceansatlas.org/
-
Have you
ever considered how fast you are really
moving when it seems you are not moving
at all? How fast does the Earth move in
its daily rotation and in its yearly
revolution around the Sun? How fast do
we travel together with the Sun through
the Milky Way Galaxy and how quickly
does the galaxy move through the
universe? Find out more in this issue.
-
Topics
include:
-
* Daily and yearly motion
-
* The Sun's motion within the Milky Way
Galaxy
-
* The galaxy's motion through the
universe
-
* The Big Bang
-
* Cosmic Background Radiation
-
* Two classroom activities about our
place in space and time
"Women are Scientists" is a
series of FREE videos and posters
that showcases successful female
scientists in their specialty, and
is intended to inform students about
the available options, educational
requirements, rewards and challenges
of a career in the biomedical
sciences.
-
Newton's Classroom,
the online math tutorial, has a new
lesson on DECIMALS AND PERCENTS
for students who need to polish
their skills. Available through the
PASS Web site at
www.louisianapass.org
, this lesson is the sixth of what
will be a total of eight mathematics
lessons to be available on Newton's
Classroom.
If you
should have any comments or
questions about the lessons, feel
free to email the PASS Help Desk at
help@LouisianaPASS.org or
telephone at 1-877-453-2721.
-
Storm That Drowned a City
Hurricane Katrina precipitated the greatest
natural disaster in U.S. history, killing
more than 1,000 people, leaving 100,000
homeless, and causing damage in the hundreds
of billions of dollars. In "Storm That
Drowned a City," NOVA offers a
minute-by-minute reconstruction of the
disaster told through gripping eyewitness
testimony. What made Katrina so destructive?
How accurately did scientists predict its
impact? Why did flood defenses and relief
planning fail to match the storm's fury? And
why are powerful hurricanes like Katrina
likely to strike more often? In this
one-hour documentary, find the answers—at
least as far as they're currently known.
-
Our Changing
Climate" is a full-colour, wonderfully
illustrated 24 page booklet about climate
change, with chapters about Earth's dynamic
climate system, how and why climate changes,
the greenhouse effect, how climate models
work and what the future holds. Written by
Dennis Hartmann from the University of
Washington with the input of a panel of
scientific advisors, "Our Changing Climate"
is suitable for ages 13 up. For your free
copy, send a request to
John.kermond@noaa.gov
.
|
Richard C. Bartlett Award
Do you know a teacher who stands out among the
rest? Someone who takes their
passion for the environment and
brings it into the classroom,
inspiring students to learn and
engage in environmental issues?
Consider nominating the
outstanding teacher that you
know for the 2008 Richard C.
Bartlett Award.The Richard C.
Bartlett Award was established
in 2007 by the National
Environmental Education
Foundation to distinguish the
teachers who best represent
Richard C. Bartlett's passion
for and leadership in
environmental education. For
more than 40 years, Richard C.
Bartlett has been inspiring
environmental educators
nationwide.
This year, the award will be given to an educator
who can serve as an inspiration
and model for others. A $5,000
cash award will be provided for
the recipient to continue their
work in environmental education.
Nominations are due June 30,
2008.
More information and the nomination form can be
found at the
Richard C. Bartlett Award page.
-
-
THE HACH FOUNDATION OUTREACH
PROGRAM FOR CHEMISTRY TEACHERS
-
The
Hach Scientific Foundation is
offering funding to chemistry
teachers through its Outreach
Program. Grants up to
$1500 will be awarded to support
high school chemistry teachers
who have creative ideas of
transforming the learning in
their classrooms. The
application is a fairly straight
forward, one page document that
is due May 31, 2008. This
opportunity was fostered through
the relationship between the
University of Rhode Island and
The Hach Foundation but is
available to all HS Chemistry
teachers from around the
country.
-
Great
Online Resources
-
Provides
facts, flags, and maps including
every continent, country,
dependency, island, major city,
ocean, province, state, and
territory on the planet!
-
More
than just maps, MapMachine Student
Edition also has photos, facts, and
fun. Here you can find the place
you're looking for - or get lost in
the cultures, sights, and sounds of
the world.
-
These
world maps may be printed and copied
for personal or classroom use.
-
Features
lessons to teach all students about
landforms, the global economy, maps
from space, more!
-
Federal
source for national maps and
geographic information that contains
an online map maker, dynamic maps,
printable maps, articles, free
geographic data, and more. (Take
your time to go through this one,
there is a lot of good information
here.)
-
Contains
several activities are presented to
assist in teaching the concepts of
reading maps. Includes a Teacher's
Guide.
-
The USGS
publishes more than 57,000 topographic
maps covering the USA. Ideas to teach
with them maps are presented by grade
level with a listing of other USGS
resources related to the topic.
-
SHOCKWAVES:
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AFTER THE 1906
EARTHQUAKE,
The
catastrophe of the great 1906 San
Francisco earthquake spurred a century
of progress in earthquake science and
engineering. This 46-minute
award-winning film (and nominated for an
Emmy) includes dramatic historical
footage, colorful animations, and
interviews with earthquake experts.
-
WATER
SCIENCE FOR SCHOOLS, USGS, the site
is ideal for student reports, offering
sections on the amount and location of
water, water use, water questions and
activities, and images.
-
PREDICTING VOLCANO ERUPTIONS, USGS
This presentation uses data from several
eruptive episodes of Mount St. Helens in
the 1980's to show the way in which a
series of eruptions were accurately
predicted by USGS scientists as far as 3
weeks before eruptive activity occurred.
Several modules demonstrate the use of
earthquakes and deformation of a volcano
for predicting eruptions and allow you
to predict an actual eruption of Mount
St. Helens using data collected by
scientists of the USGS Cascades Volcano
Observatory. Several activities are
designed especially for kids.
-
WATER-A
WORLDWIDE PANORAMA University of
California, Berkeley, This site provides
remarkable 360 degree views of rivers,
lakes, and oceans throughout the world
(a kind of on-the-ground Google Earth
for water). Click on each dot from the
world map and it will bring up one or
more panoramas that can be enlarged to
full screen size (requires Quick Time
plug in).
-
WEATHERWORLD 2010, UIUC, This
site is one of the premier sites for
reliable, easy to read weather
resources with a large “collection
of multimedia instructional modules
in meteorology and remote sensing,
plus curriculum projects and
classroom activities.” The
Archive section contains “data and
descriptions for memorable weather
events.”
-
Sunspot Activity,
NOAA,
, find resources relating to sunspot
maximum and minimum activity
1610-present; annual numbers
1700-present; monthly numbers
1749-present; daily values
1818-present; and sunspot numbers by
north and south hemisphere. The
McNish-Lincoln sunspot prediction is
also included.
-
SPACE
MATH PROBLEM NUMBER
109-SCIENTIFIC NOTATION
Students will convert very large
and small decimal numbers into
SN format, using some
interesting astronomical numbers
as examples. There is not a
whole lot of 'inquiry' in this
activity, but it will lay the
ground work for upcoming
activities that will be quite a
bit more exploratory! The site
also has problems relating to
addition and subtraction
problems in SN format.
-
POLAR
BEAR RESEARCH, Polar bears are
one of four marine mammal species
managed by the U.S. Department of
Interior. The USGS conducts research
on polar bears to better inform
Departmental policy makers regarding
conservation of the species and its
habitat. Ongoing studies since 1985
are focused on population dynamics
and habitat use.
-
INTERACTIVES:
DYNAMIC EARTH Here visitors
will learn about what happens at
different types of plate boundaries
through the use of colorful graphics and
explanations that are easy to
understand. Overall, the site is a great
overview of some basic principles of
geology, and one that can be used with
students of different ages.
-
On
Line StopWatch, Set it to buzz
every minute or other interval. Your
students can all make their observations
(temp. change for example) at the same
time, when the buzzer sounds.
-
The
Polar-Palooza website has
some "cool" resources to use
when teaching about the poles,
climate, and the
International Polar Year
(IPY). The Polar-Palooza
page leads to some interesting
audio files that provide the
sounds of various polar animals
(Adelie penguins, Elephant
Seals, Emperor Penguins, and
Weddell Seals) as well as the
sounds of calving glacier ice.
The
About the Poles link at the
bottom of the page leads to
interesting
misconceptions about the poles,
amazing but true facts, and
web-cams from the
South Pole,
Barrow Alaska, and
North Pole (note that
because the North Pole is now in
darkness, the camera will not be
up again until spring). There is
also information about
researchers visiting the Poles
as part of IPY and an
Educator's Corner where you
can find classroom activities
related to the poles and
climate. An assortment of media
types are available on the
Media Palooza page,
including podcasts, blogs, and
vlogs. Check it out!
-
Have you
seen your shadow today? You might not
always notice it, but when you're in the
sun your shadow is often nearby. Shadows
exist in space, too.
-
They can
help keep spacecraft from getting too
hot. Young students can read more about
shadows, on Earth and in space, in a
NASA portal article specially written
for K-4 students.
-
The
Marsh Mission team of CC Lockwood
and Rhea Gary has just released
a CD that contains very useful
information for teachers about
Louisiana's vanishing wetlands. Free
copies are available to teachers and
schools. The CD was made in
cooperation with Louisiana Sea Grant
College.
-
To
receive a copy of the CD at no
charge, email Roy Kron at
rkron@lsu.edu
-
Is your
school, district, or group
interested in building a model that
demonstrates meanders, sandbars,
oxbow lakes, delta formation, marsh
formation, wetland loss, effects of
levees on both flooding and flood
protection, hurricane damage to the
marshes, and much more? Albert E.
Hindrichs, Environmental Scientist
Staff, Water Quality Assessment
Division has developed a model
o demonstrate stream morphology and
dynamics. This has been demonstrated
at
LSU SeaGrant’s Ocean Commotion.
More information can
be found at the
DEQ website including the
PowerPoint instructions of the
project.
-
The purpose of the
Near-Earth Object Program is to
coordinate NASA-sponsored efforts to
detect, track and characterize
potentially hazardous asteroids and
comets that could approach the Earth.
The NEO Program will focus on the goal
of locating at least 90 percent of the
estimated 1,000 asteroids and comets
that approach the Earth and are larger
than 1 kilometer (about 2/3-mile) in
diameter, by the end of the next decade.
The NASA
NEAR Tool
will show the orbit of
any asteroid you feed into it. By using
the buttons at the bottom left you can
get it to play at different speeds, and
see the asteroids and planets moving in
their orbits. You can also zoom in and
out with the slider at the bottom right
to get the solar system perspective or
just the inner planets.
-
NASA
Education's Act Now
-
The Act
Now for Educators section features
information about upcoming workshops,
grants, online activities, faculty
fellowships and conferences in one
location, making it easy for educators
to find opportunities that interest
them.
NASA has also created a new
Act Now section just for students. “NASA
and You” will inform students about
upcoming NASA events, contests,
internship opportunities, webcasts and
much more.
The information in the
Act Now sections is listed by the
expiration date and is posted in an
easy-to-follow format. Targeted grade
levels are highlighted along with a
brief description and a link for more
information. Act Now is updated on a
regular basis as new items are added
when opportunities become available.
Act Now for Educators
Act Now for K-4 Students
Act Now for 5-8 Students
Act Now for 9-12 Students
-
Science
Safety Network
-
The
Laboratory Safety Institute (LSI) has
created a "Science Safety Network"
to help answer school science teachers'
questions about science safety. The LSI
"Science Safety Network" consists of
volunteer environmental health & safety
professionals at colleges and
universities throughout the United
States. They have agreed to assist LSI
with questions related to regulations
for their State and local area.
In addition, as part of the Science
Safety Network, LSI has identified the
Federal, State and Local programs,
resources, and contacts to assist school
science teachers with creating safer,
healthier and more environmentally
friendly school science, art and
technology programs. "Now, we can help
direct science teachers to the free
programs and services in their State",
notes Christina Dillard, LSI Assistant
Director.
Science teacher
concerns often include: the safe
handling, storage, and disposal of
chemicals; liability and negligence
issues; biological and animal hazards,
electrical safety; facilities issues;
ventilation; labeling; compressed gases;
field trips; regulatory compliance, and
much more. Answers to questions,
information about resources with support
from "Science Safety Network" are just
an email away....write to
AskLSI@labsafety.org.
SOAR and
The Virtual Museum: Technology Enhanced
Professional Development for K-8 Science
Teachers
The LSU Scope-On-A-Rope
Program has partnered with the LSU
Museum of Natural Science and the French
Education Project to bring teachers a
one-of-a-kind professional development
opportunity. Through funding by a SELECT
grant from the Board of Regents, we are
hosting six videoconferencing sessions
featuring classroom-ready activities,
content material, and online resources
(provided in French and English). Each
workshop will feature a different
research collection at the LSUMNS and
focus on Louisiana resources and
environment through hands-on science
activities and lessons utilizing the
Scope-On-A-Rope. Session titles are:
Birds and Tracks, Life in the Bayou,
Hunting for Fossils, Louisiana Rocks and
Minerals, Gulf Coast Sea Life, and
Louisiana Indians. For information on
how to participate, please contact
Sophie Warny, Education Director of
LSUMNS,
swarny@lsu.edu, 225-578-5089.
SOAR Partners Everywhere!
The list of
SOAR lending sites is growing every
year! If you would like to borrow a
SOAR, you can now do so from the
following ten institutions:
1)
Adrienne Lopez, LSU SOAR Coordinator,
(225) 578-7780 or
alopez@lsu.edu
2)
Louisiana Resource Center for Educators
(LRCE), (225) 924-7600 or
www.lrce.org (LRCE
members only)
3) Sheila
Fleming, Science Resource Center, (225)
273-1319 or
yorkseven@aol.com (East Baton Rouge
Parish teachers only)
4)
Audubon Aquarium of the Americas, (504)
378-2675 or
tleblanc@auduboninstitute.org
5)
Martha Garber, Louisiana Tech CATALyST
Program, Ruston, (318) 257-4772 or
mgarber@cans.latech.edu
6)
Cathy Williamson, Sci-Port Discovery
Center, Shreveport, (318) 424-8683 or
cwilliamson@sciport.org
7)
Elaine Beck, LSU at Alexandria, (318)
427-4429,
ebeck@lsua.edu
8) Nan
Stephens, Region 7 TLTC, Minden, (318)
377-5434,
nstephens@websterpsb.org
9)
Frank Bobo, Region 8 TLTC, UL Monroe,
(318) 342-1258,
frank.bobo@mcschools.net
10)
Arlene Cain, Region 5 TLTC, Lake
Charles, (337) 437-8366,
arlene.cain@cpsb.org
|
