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| Testy Lab Behavior | | How do you deal with students who test you in the lab, don't take care of materials, or don't follow directions? NSTA's Mr. Mentor has advice. | |
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| Model-making and Engineering in a PreK Program | | Early childhood science expert Peggy Ashbrook interviews preschool teacher Barbara Foster on the NSTA blog. Find out what Foster says about helping children deepen their understanding of natural phenomena through documentation of experiences and observations, making models, and reflecting on the documentation. | |
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| NSTA's New Engineering e-Mail List | | NSTA now has a member-only e-mail list focused on engineering-related topics. Members can sign up here. NSTA member David Vernot, curriculum consultant at Butler County Educational Service Center in Hamilton, Ohio, who initiated the creation of the list, says he did so because "engineering [is] explicitly included as a fourth discipline" in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and "STEM (in my mind) is more interdisciplinary in nature, [while] engineering focuses specifically on the 'E' in STEM." Not a member but want to be able to ask and answer questions on the list? Sign up for NSTA membership at http://www.nsta.org/membership/. | |
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| High School Teachers, Take the Bayer Survey | | Calling all NSTA members teaching high school: Bayer is interested in your opinions about science education overall, the topics you incorporate into your lesson plans, and your students' interests in and aptitudes for science. If you are a high school teacher, we invite you to respond to the survey by January 21. All responses will be completely anonymous and information will only be used in aggregate to support Bayer's communications efforts. | |
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| You Like It. You Really, Really Like It | | In a survey of readers last month, the Next Gen Navigator—NSTA's newest e-newsletter delivering information, resources, and professional learning opportunities on the NGSS and three-dimensional instruction—got rave reviews. When asked to rate both its quality and readability, readers gave it 4.2 stars out of 5. Favorite columns include teacher resources, improving practice, and individual teacher blogs. Read our collection of past issues and sign up to receive the e-newsletter. | |
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| Report: Coaching Is a Promising PD Strategy for Early Educators | | As school leaders plan professional learning for their teachers, a new report provides guidance on effective coaching models for teachers working with young children. Primetime for Coaching: Improving Instructional Coaching in Early Childhood Education, from Bellwether Education Partners, recommends that administrators choose coaching strategies that fit into an overall professional development approach, consider cost-effective options, such as virtual coaches; and include assistant teachers and other support personnel in coaching plans. Read the brief featured in Education DIVE. |
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| In Education, Perfect Must Not Become the Enemy of Good | | America's future, and the futures of our more than 50 million public school students, are one and the same. Essential to this future are the more than 3 million teachers who—more than anyone else besides parents and the students themselves—are responsible for our children's success. But our dedicated teachers are hamstrung by inadequate funding and a lack of other types of support that are critical to providing our children with high-quality education. That is why all of us must work together to make teacher success our top priority. Read the article featured in Education Week. |
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| Most Americans Say U.S. STEM Education Is Middling, New Poll Finds | | Many Americans harbor concerns about the quality of STEM education in the United States. and see it as "middling" compared with that of other advanced nations, according to a new poll released by the Pew Research Center. Of the nearly 5,000 people surveyed last summer, most said they thought K–12 public schools do a good job teaching basic reading, writing and math (61%) and preparing students for college (59%). But only one quarter of Americans (25%) said they thought KC12 STEM education was the best in the world or above average compared with other advanced countries. Just 13% of those with a postgraduate degree in STEM rated K–12 STEM education as above average. Read the article featured in the Hechinger Report. Check out the Education News Roundup for a selection of the week's top education news stories. |
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| | | U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad College Mentors | | The American Chemical Society (ACS) seeks college mentors to help high school chemistry students prepare for the International Chemistry Olympiad. The ACS pays an honorarium and most expenses for this three-year position. |
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| | | Project Orange Thumb Grants | | Fiskars awards grants to schools, youth groups, and other community groups in the United States and Canada with gardening projects that include horticultural education, community involvement, neighborhood beautification, or sustainable agriculture. Thirty recipients will be awarded $5,000 in cash and tools, and one applicant will receive a complete garden makeover. |
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| | | | McDonald Observatory Summer Workshops | | McDonald Observatory and Visitors Center in Texas provides scholarships for U.S. teachers to attend its workshops. Participants perform inquiry-based activities, meet astronomers and discuss current astronomical research, practice basic astronomy skills, and receive continuing education credits. Find more events and opportunities on NSTA's Calendar. |
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| | Sponsored by: Amplify Science | | Introducing Amplify Science, a New K–8, NGSS-Designed Core Curriculum Authored by U.C. Berkeley's Lawrence Hall of Science | | Amplify Science is a breakthrough K–8 core curriculum that is the Lawrence Hall of Science's only program designed from the ground up for the Next Generation Science Standards. Amplify Science empowers students to make the leap from "learning about" to "figuring out" science. In each Amplify Science unit, students inhabit the role of a scientist or engineer in order to investigate a real-world problem. These real-world problems provide relevant, 21st-century contexts through which students investigate different scientific phenomena. Amplify Science also empowers teachers to make the shift to three-dimensional teaching and learning through robust, embedded teacher support and professional development by the Lawrence Hall of Science. Get a look inside the program by checking out the online resources for an elementary school unit, Balancing Forces, and a middle school unit, Metabolism. Sample the program now. | |
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