4/30/2013 - NSTA Reports—Joseph Procaccini, PhD
Editorial: Bioethics plays an important role in the medical sciences and research on humans. It should also have a role in high school science courses.
4/30/2013 - Discovery News
The speed of light is constant, or so textbooks say. But some scientists are exploring the possibility that this cosmic speed limit changes, a consequence of the nature of the vacuum of space.
4/29/2013 - Los Angeles Times
British billionaire Richard Branson’s commercial space venture Virgin Galactic got one step closer to carrying tourists into space when a test pilot cracked the sound barrier over the Mojave Desert. For the first time, the company's SpaceShipTwo engaged its rocket motor and sped to Mach 1.2 and reached 56,000 feet in altitude.
4/29/2013 - Education Week
A panel of reviewers convened by the National Research Council has concluded that the final Next Generation Science Standards issued this month are consistent with an NRC framework document that sought to guide their development.
4/27/2013 - NSTA Reports—Lynn Petrinjak
A former first lady is developing plans to make insect royalty feel right at home, and hoping to inspire others to follow her example. Rosalyn Carter is planning a series of butterfly gardens that will be known as The Carter Butterfly Trail at the Jimmy Carter National Historic Site in Plains, Georgia.
4/26/2013 - NSTA Reports—Ted Willard and Cindy Workosky
The final version of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) was released on April 9. The new standards establish learning expectations in science for K–12 students combining three important dimensions: science and engineering practices, disciplinary core ideas, and crosscutting concepts. NGSS provides a cohesive approach to science instruction that will significantly change the way science is taught and learned.
4/23/2013 - The New York Times
Praising the work of young scientists and inventors at the third White House Science Fair, President Obama on Monday announced a broad plan to create and expand federal and private-sector initiatives designed to encourage children to study science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.
4/22/2013 - The Ashbury Park Press
The “Fantastic Four” proudly stood around an experiment they had been working on for months. They were among five other groups in the school’s media center showcasing their final projects they had submitted to judges for the eCYBERMISSION challenge, a Web-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) competition, sponsored by the Army and partnered with the National Science Teachers Association, for sixth- through ninth-graders.
4/22/2013 - The Washington Post
Last week, a bipartisan Senate panel unveiled an 844-page bill that would give U.S. immigration policies their biggest makeover in a generation. Included in the massive proposal: much higher limits on the number of “high-tech visas,” officially called H-1B visas.
4/22/2013 - Senguin Gazette
Science Teachers' Paradise: Science teachers from across the country recently attended the annual meeting of the National Science Teachers Association in San Antonio.
4/19/2013 - ScienceInsider
A proposed reshuffling of federal STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) education programs in the United States would move the Department of Education (ED) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to the head of the class. Their new status would be a major change for the federal government, which now spends nearly $3 billion on 226 STEM education programs run by a dozen agencies.
4/19/2013 - The New York Times
Astronomers working with NASA’s Kepler mission said Thursday that a pair of newly discovered planets in the constellation Lyra appear capable of supporting life.
4/19/2013 - Scientific American
As part of a national contest, teams of high school students argue adaptation is the only viable response to global warming whereas another team calls for geoengineering.
4/18/2013 - THE Journal
Maryland's Prince George's County Public Schools is expanding its relationship with global security and aerospace company Lockheed Martin to tackle the STEM gap among its high school students. In this latest chapter the county's Division of Academics and Office of Information Technology (OIT) have teamed up with Lockheed Martin to test out a cloud-based STEM Innovation system with a small group of students in three high schools.
4/17/2013 - Education Week (requires registration)
The final version of standards aimed at reshaping the focus and delivery of science instruction in U.S. schools was publicly unveiled last week , setting the stage for states—many of which helped craft the standards—to take the next step and consider adopting them as their own.
4/13/2013 - NSTA Reports—Lynn Petrinjak
There’s no excuse for anyone interested in science to echo Sam Cooke’s classic lyrics, “don’t know much biology, don’t know much about a science book,” particularly when world-renowned universities are offering free online courses like Introduction to Biology: The Secret of Life,a massive open online course from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
4/12/2013 - NSTA Reports—Debra Shapiro
Educators, administrators, and community stakeholders do not want to miss this year’s NSTA STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] Forum and Expo, taking place May 15–18. TheNSTA STEM Forum and Expo is being held in the beautiful Gateway City, St. Louis, Missouri, and “the Forum will highlight application and partnership of K–12 STEM instructional models and activities.
4/11/2013 - NSTA Reports—Lynn Petrinjak
Education budgets are often tight, leading educators to be highly selective—and often creative—about the hands-on, off-campus experiences they integrate into their curriculum. In response to a recent informal NSTA survey, science educators said they limited field trips, identified destinations close to their schools (often within walking distance), and sought grant funding to provide opportunities to expand student learning outside the classroom.
4/10/2013 - The New York Times
Educators unveiled new guidelines on Tuesday that call for sweeping changes in the way science is taught in the United States. The guidelines, known as the Next Generation Science Standards, are the first broad national recommendations for science instruction since 1996. They were developed by a consortium of 26 state governments and several groups representing scientists and teachers.
4/10/2013 - NSTA Reports—Debra Shapiro
Teachers around the country are demonstrating their creativity by designing imaginative projects for their students. Noreen Nsereko, environmental science teacher at Theodore Roosevelt High School in Des Moines, Iowa, is one of them. After reading the article “Who’s in the Zoo” by Amy Slack—which appeared in the March 2010 issue of The Science Teacher, NSTA’s peer-reviewed journal for high school teachers (see http://bit.ly/VLJQKz)—Nsereko was intrigued. She found a way to modify the zoo exhibit design project described in the article to fit her class objectives.
4/9/2013 - Education Week
More than three years in the making, the Next Generation Science Standards are designed to provide a greater emphasis on depth over breadth in studying the subject. They seek not only to provide students with a foundation of essential knowledge, but also to lead young people to apply their learning through scientific inquiry and the engineering-design process to deepen understanding.
4/9/2013 - The New York Times
The New York Times invites readers to share their thoughts on the Next Generation Science Standards, released today.
4/9/2013 - NSTA Reports—James A. Kaufman, PhD
Dr. James A. Kaufman is concerned that scientists, science educators, lab workers, and lab supervisors do not understand the “language of safety.” In conversations with people throughout the world, he has found that many lack comprehension of some of the most basic lab safety vocabulary.
4/8/2013 - NSTA Reports—Lynn Petrinjak
NSTA members recently elected Juliana Texley as 2014–2015 NSTA president. A former grades 7–12 science teacher and school superintendent, Texley is now a college professor and curriculum developer.
4/8/2013 - NBC News
Researchers at the University of Washington say they've built all the pieces for a fusion-powered rocket system that could get a crew to Mars in 30 days. Now they just have to put the pieces together and see if they work.