Editor’s Note
Find out what’s going on in your area—and farther afield—with NSTA’s District Dispatches. These reports, created by NSTA leadership, share regional news affecting science educators.

California

California is poised to release new curriculum materials to increase environmental literacy among K–12 students. The Education and the Environment Initiative (EEI) Curriculum will teach science and history/social science content standards in an environmentally-based context in which students learn about their relationship with the environment and how humans interact with natural systems. The curriculum contains 85 easily incorporated units aligned with adopted instructional materials under review. For more information, visit www.calepa.ca.gov/education/eei/curriculum.
—Denise Antrim, District XVI Director

Indiana

The Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore (IDNL) has launched a teacher-ranger-teacher program as part of a three-year plan to build relationships between IDNL and Indiana teachers, schools, and students. The program, which was pilot tested last year, offers teachers the opportunity to work as summer interpretive rangers and perform follow-up activities during the school year. The IDNL has offered internships for college students in Earth science and biology since 2004. For more information, e-mail Carrie Sanidas at district-one@hasti.org.
—Kate Baird, District X Director

Kentucky

The University of Louisville and the University of Southern Queensland in Australia are collaborating to develop remotely, robotically-operated astronomical facilities for research, teaching, and informal education. Telescopes in the southern and northern hemispheres with a longitude difference enabling students to observe the night sky during daytime classes are linked by internet to the campuses in Louisville, Kentucky, and Toowoomba, Queensland. The very dark sky at Mount Kent Observatory in Australia allows students to see the center of the Milky Way, the Magellanic Clouds, and transient events not visible from mid-latitudes in the northern hemisphere. Moore Observatory in Louisville, Kentucky, offers complementary remote services and the occasional northern comet and supernova to students in Queensland, Australia. Learn more at the Louisville Astronomy Project website at www.astro.louisville.edu/index.html.
—Bonnie C. Embry, District VIII Director

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania’s Department of Education has announced five universities statewide will share more than $2 million in federal grants this year to help more science teachers become highly qualified as defined by the No Child Left Behind Act. These Title II grants will be used by 657 mathematics, biology, chemistry, general science, and other science teachers in high-need districts to continue their education. Local school districts will participate in partnership with Arcadia University, Drexel University, Eastern University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Wilkes University. For more information about the grant program, visit the Pennsylvania Department of Education website at www.teaching.state.pa.us.
—Lynn Gatto, District IV Director

Utah

The Utah State Office of Education (USOE) is responding to tight school budgets by offering professional development, lessons, web links, and other resources to teachers across the state as well as nationally on its Science web page, www.schools.utah.gov/curr/sci/teacher/default.htm. USOE also provides “Sci-ber” texts for grades 3–8 and Earth science, all correlated to Utah’s science core standards. For use by teachers and students in the classroom or at home, the texts include scientific content, activities, and labs to supplement science content. For more information, visit http://utahscience.oremjr.alpine.k12.ut.us, or contact Glen Westbroek at gwestbroek@alpine.k12.ut.us. Follow Westbroek on Twitter as @gardenglen.
—Bev DeVore-Wedding, District XIV Director

Virginia

Mary Baldwin College received a 2009 National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Bay Watershed Education Training (B-WET) grant to integrate the Chesapeake Bay Interpretive Buoy System (CBIBS) into Meaningful Watershed Educational Experiences (MWEEs). The three-year program examines the relationships between the logging and farming cultures of western Virginia and the Bay’s fishing and boating cultures. It is designed to reach elementary and high school students as well as classroom teachers in a new and innovative way. “Helping teachers and students understand the Shenandoah Valley’s impact on the Bay may be a good step toward improvement of water quality in both locales,” notes Tamra Willis, assistant professor of education in Mary Baldwin College’s Master of Arts in Teaching Program. For more information, e-mail Willis at twillis@mbc.edu, or call 540-887-7135.
—Bonnie C. Embry, District VIII Director