March 2004 -- At the recent National Science Teachers Association national convention in Atlanta, GA (March 31 - April 4), NSDL delivered its first NSTA Short Course. Approximately forty K-12 and Post-Secondary educators participated in the four-hour course which featured lecture, discussion, and online investigation of NSDL resources. Presenters represented NSDL as well as several of its partner libraries including the Eisenhower National Clearinghouse, WGBH Teachers' Domain, the Digital Library for Earth System Education (DLESE), and the Alsos Digital Library for Nuclear Issues.

Through illustrative examples from NSDL collections and services, the course introduced the range of resources available via digital libraries, and explored strategies for effective discovery and selection of multimedia resources that support educational standards and meet the needs of different instructional settings. To obtain copies of workshop materials or for information about upcoming workshops, contact Susan Van Gundy at 303-497-2946 / vangundy@ucar.edu.
Related Link: http://www.nsta.org/

April 2004 -- NSDL is co-sponsoring the 2004 NSELA Summer Leadership Institute, July 18-21 in Colorado Springs, CO. The institute will provide an opportunity to learn about the practice of professional learning communities and explore what the model offers science educators. The institute will be held July 18-21 on the campus of Colorado College in Colorado Springs and will feature the theme Reaching Our Peak: Creating Communities to Inspire Student Learning. Interactive workshops, field trips, and guest speakers will center on the daily questions: What are students learning?, How do we assess student learning?, and What if students aren't learning? Session leaders from K-12 schools, higher education, museums, and other education providers will share successful strategies, demonstrate useful tools, and facilitate discussion about critical issues. Keynote speakers include Robert Eaker, co-author with Richard DuFour of Professional Learning Communities at Work; BSCS Executive Director, Rodger Bybee; Paul Keurbis, Principal Investigator for the STEP-uP Program; and Nobel Laureate and Physicist, Carl Wieman. Full-day pre-conference workshops from the National Science Digital Library, the Colorado Division of Wildlife, and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory will also be offered. Registration forms and other information are available at the NSELA website (http://nsela.org/coloradosli.htm). Registration deadline is June 1.
Related Link: http://nsela.org/coloradosli.htm

April 2004 -- In an effort to grow the MicrobeLibrary curriculum resources collection, participants in the American Society for Microbiology Conference for Undergraduate Educators (ASMCUE) were invited to submit innovative microbiology laboratory exercises to be discussed in small groups at the upcoming meeting. "Facilitating Student Learning in Diverse Environments" is the theme of the 11th Annual ASMCUE meeting, to be held May 21-23, 2004 at Xavier University of Louisiana. Over 200 educators are expected to attend. Authors of the laboratory exercise and a faculty facilitator will work with assigned groups in order to prepare these "Blue Ribbon" exercises for the submission and review processes of the MicrobeLibrary.
Related Link: http://www.MicrobeLibrary.org

April 2004 -- Physical Science and Engineering collections are now complete and live on http://www.teachersdomain.org/. TEACHERS' DOMAIN brings WGBH's programming and media material into K-12 classrooms via the Internet. The site provides teachers with new and archival video, primary documents, still photographs, interactive activities and lesson plans with embedded media - all of which they can use to augment their existing curriculum. TEACHERS' DOMAIN resources are aligned with the national and state standards for K-12. Teachers Domain currently has about 10,000 people registered across the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, the Armed Forces overseas, and the Armed Forces Pacific region.
Related Link: http://www.teachersdomain.org/