http://adoptaphysicist.org>
Why did you become a physicist?
Do you enjoy mac and cheese?
How does particle physics contribute to advances in the United States?
This is a small sample of questions that high school students asked physicists in the new Adopt-a-Physicist program, hosted by NSDL Physics and Astronomy Pathway comPADRE, and run by the American Physical Society. Classes participating in this first session "adopted" up to three physicists for a three-week period and used online discussion forums to talk with them about life, careers, research projects, and apparently mac and cheese. The program aims to expose students to the range of careers in physics, advance relations between the physics and education communities, and introduce physicists and teachers to the comPADRE network.

Nearly 100 physicists from across the United States and 45 high school classes from the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Philippines participated in the first session, exchanging over 3,450 posts. "I was just impressed with the overall exchange of information between the students and physicists," said one participating teacher. "I was quite moved at how much care so many folks were taking over their responses and how enthusiastic many of the students were," said another.
You can read these conversations by logging into http://www.adoptaphysicist.org
with a comPADRE login http://www.compadre.org/portal/
and clicking on "Forums."
Add your comments here:
http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/whiteboardtalkback/

http://www.education-world.com/awards/2007/r0107-17.shtml
Shodor, NSDL's Computational Science Pathway, received an A+ ("This site can't be beat! Perfect in its category.") in a January 2007 Education World site review for its "easy to use collection of science and math lessons for grades 3-5, 6-8, and 9-12."

"This well organized site can be navigated in a number of ways. From the front page users can click on the graphic links for learners or instructors within the main area of the page or use the pull down menus, "Jump To" and "Browse" at the top of the page. The site is also fully searchable from the search tool at the top of the page."

Related Link: http://www.education-world.com/awards/2007/r0107-17.shtml

http://needs.org/needs/?path=/public/premier/index.jhtml&>
NEEDS (National Engineering Education Digital library System), an NSDL Engineering Pathway partner, has announced that Web-CAT is the 2006 winner of the Premier Award for Excellence in Engineering Education Courseware. Web-CAT by Stephen H. Edwards of Virginia Tech is a flexible, automated grading system designed to process computer programming assignments. Web-CAT runs as a web application on a server and provides all of its capabilities via a web interface--all submission activity, feedback, viewing of results, and grading activities take place through a web browser. Its plug-in architecture makes Web-CAT highly customizable and extensible, allowing it to support virtually any model of program grading, assessment, and feedback generation. Many instructors use Web-CAT to grade students on how well they test their own code. For more about Web-CAT visit http://nsdl.org
Add your comments here: http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/whiteboardtalkback/

Related Link: http://needs.org/needs/?path=/public/premier/index.jhtml&

http://aste.chem.pitt.edu/
ASTE has roughly 800 members who are faculty-level science teacher educators with an emphasis on research in science teaching methodology and practice. ASTE is also a section of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) which is comprised of regional associations within ASTE. There are existing student chapters of NSTA for pre-service teachers at a number of teacher education programs--an area that NSTA (and NSDL) is interested in growing. Roughly 400 people attended the meeting held in Clearwater, Florida January 3-6, 2007.
This year the conference focused on research relating to inquiry-based teaching and learning, and the nature and practice of science and research. Sessions were presented that highlighted inquiry-based teaching that requires an understanding of the process of inquiry better through strong professional development efforts that give teachers practice with hands-on personal inquiry learning early in their training. As an example of this, an excellent workshop utilized a NASA interactive with participants creating inquiry-based investigations after a lively discussion about the components of inquiry learning. Presenters showed examples of inquiry-based projects that their pre-service teachers had developed. They explained that these experiences were valuable for students from both personal learning and professional development perspectives.
NSDL will continue to be involved with ASTE in the future. ASTE's standing committees include Professional Development and Technology Education committees which are also areas of focus for NSDL. Along with presenting an NSDL conference session, a keynote speaker session from NSDL would be an ideal way to let ASTE members know more about NSDL. Next year's meeting will be held in St. Louis January 10-12.
Add your comments here:http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/whiteboardtalkback/

Related Link: http://aste.chem.pitt.edu/

http://www.fabathome.org/wiki/
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article/dn10922-desktop-fabricator-may-kickstart-home-revolution.html
Fabbers are machines that can make almost anything, right on your desktop--including historic objects stored in digital libraries. "Two Cornell researchers, Professor Hod Lipson and PhD student Evan Malone, have designed an open source 3D printer that costs just $2,400. The self-assembly kit is part of what they call the Fab@Home project. They hope it will spark development of rapid prototyping for the consumer market in the same way the Altair 8800 did for personal computing in seventies."

The next generation of the Kinematic Models for Design Digital Library (KMODDL) http://kmoddl.library.cornell.edu/
will be integrated with fabbers that will make it possible for library visitors to print versions of historic models. Here is a video showing a completed machine constructing a silicone bulb (16-MB WMV). Add your comments here:http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/whiteboardtalkback/

Related Link: http://aste.chem.pitt.edu/

http://institute.nsta.org/webseminar_registration.asp
Physics Teaching Resource Agent Director Jan Mader and Science Education Research Scientist Dr. Cathy Ezrailson will demonstrate how charges behave and interact with each other using hands-on activities. AAPT is the lead organization for ComPADRE, the NSDL Pathway for Astronomy and Physics.
Register today!
Related Link: http://institute.nsta.org/webseminar_registration.asp

http://institute.nsta.org/webseminar_registration.asp

Physics Teaching Resource Agent Director Jan Mader and Science Education Research Scientist Dr. Cathy Ezrailson will demonstrate how charges behave and interact with each other using hands-on activities. AAPT is the lead organization for ComPADRE, the NSDL Pathway for Astronomy and Physics . Register today! Professional Development Opportunity for Science and Math Teachers--Spring 2007 The Digital Libraries go to School Workshop series continues this spring in upstate New York at the following times and places:

Session I: February 1, 2007, 5-8 pm, SUNY Cortland campus, Cortland, NY
Session I: February 3, 2007, 8:30-11:30 am, OCM BOCES training center, Syracuse, NY
 
Session II: March 8, 2007, 5-8 pm, SUNY Cortland campus, Cortland, NY
Session II: March 10, 2007, 8:30-11:30 am, OCM BOCES training center, Syracuse, NY

Register soon! Contact: Sarah Giersch, sgiersch@nsdl.ucar.edu. For a schedule of spring workshops conducted in Utah, contact Andrew Walker: andy.walker@usu.edu.
Related Link: http://institute.nsta.org/webseminar_registration.asp