JoinBits and pieces
By Mary Bigelow
Posted on 2009-03-14
Happy pi day (3.14)! I’m clearing out my mailbox and “to do” lists before heading to the NSTA Conference in New Orleans.
Here are some items of interest:
Here are some items of interest:
- Teachers’ Domain announces a new new Adolescent Literacy Special Collection: Inspiring Middle School Literacy: Reading and Writing in Science and History. According to the information sent by WGBH, “These self-paced classroom activities are designed to enhance the literacy skills of struggling readers in grades 5-8. Each activity uses videos, interactive activities, notetaking, reading, and writing to present students with an engaging science or history topic. All 15 activities promote a range of literacy skills including monitoring comprehension, synthesizing, asking questions, developing vocabulary, connecting prior knowledge to new learning, and developing a topic in writing.” I’ve found that Teachers’ Domain is a wonderful resource for a variety of topics in science (and other content areas), and the science topics in this literacy collection include Continental Drift: From Idea to Theory, Exploring the Everglades Environment, Newton’s Third Law: Action-Reaction, Reproductive Strategies, Snake Jaws: A Lesson in Evolution, Surviving Winter, and Transitional Fossils.
- I’ve heard about a new documentary called Naturally Obsessed: The Making of a Scientist. According to the website, this film follows the research of a group of graduate students and addresses the reasons people become scientists and the challenges they face. I haven’t seen this yet, but I understand that it is showing at various film festivals.
It’s hard to get away for a conference. But here’s an offer you can’t refuse: Since I am a free agent, I can plan my own conference schedule. If you can’t make the conference, but there are hot topics you’d like to suggest, let me know and I’ll focus my energies on a few of them and report back through the conference blog site, with session summaries and resources. Just add your suggestions through a comment below!