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  • Ed News: Helping Parents Understand The Next Generation Science Standards

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    This week in education news, Achieve releases a series of parent guides that explain how science instruction is changing and why; California administers pilot test for new science standards; science funding spared…

  • STEM Sims: Data Visualization

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    STEM Sims: Data Visualization Introduction STEM Sims provides over 100 simulations of laboratory experiments and engineering design products for integration into STEM classroom instruction. One particular…

  • Teaching About Science in the News

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    Tenth graders in Kathryn Kennedy’s science class at Prairie Seeds Academy in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, discuss current events related to a Bioethics unit. Photo credit: Kathryn Kennedy “To be a good science teacher, it’…

  • Focus on Physics: The Delightful Catenary Curve

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    Figure 1. A. Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris. B. St. Paul’s Cathedral, London. When teaching how tension and compression relate to geometrical structures such as bridges, arches, and domes, I show a picture of the Notre…

  • Early Childhood and Lower Elementary Teachers Need to Attend the 6th Annual STEM Forum & Expo

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    Come join us at the 6th Annual STEM Forum & Expo. It is the event where early childhood and lower elementary teachers need to be. It is a unique event where you will find a great deal of focused ideas on how to…

  • FY2017 Funding, Vouchers and More

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    First up—guidance you do not want to miss: Last week, the U.S. Department of Education issued a seven page memo detailing possible uses of federal funding through ESSA to support STEM education. The must-see…

  • Keep PD sessions focused

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    Recently, there was a question about what to do when students were off-task. I conduct many professional development programs, and I could use some ideas to keep adult participants on-task! —T., Virginia As a presenter…

  • Ed News: What The Latest Assaults on Science Education Look Like

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    This week in education news, Bill Nye thinks Pruitt and DeVos are the least qualified people for their agencies; science advocates double down on their outreach attempts; some teachers may be misleading students about…

  • Commentary: Going Beyond the Textbook

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    It has been said that science began “whenever and wherever [people] tried to solve the innumerable problems of life” (Sarton 1952). The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States 2013) call for the pursuit of…

  • Ideas and inspiration from NSTA’s April 2017 K-12 journals

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    Two articles of interest to all K-12 teachers: Commentary: The Importance of Cultivating Empathy in STEM from Science Scope, discusses how students can understand how STEM-related issues can affect people and society…

  • Planning Three-Dimensional Instruction

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    Knowing that content material is most engaging when students can relate to it, I always begin my year with a student survey. The questions are designed to help me design lessons to be as student-focused as possible.…

  • How I Came to Understand the Three Dimensions

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    When I first started teaching science, I taught the facts. I taught the nine planets (before Pluto got demoted; sorry, Pluto!), the steps of mitosis, and the workings of plate tectonics, for example. I was proud that I…

  • Classroom atmosphere

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    I recently took a teaching position, after several years in a different job. I thought I could create a calm, focused atmosphere in my middle school science classes, but some of my students have really annoying and off-…

  • Ed News: Can Grade-Skipping Close The STEM Gender Gap?

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    This week in education news, the March for Science has special relevance for K-12 science teachers; survey results show that parents generally rank math and science lower than reading and writing in terms of importance…

  • Sylvia Shugrue award winner 2017

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    2017 Shugrue Award winner Gary Koppelman believes that the development of community relationships and making positive decisions impacting the world begins in the classroom where students learn truths as owners of…

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