Community News
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Aug 16, 2012Call for Participation
Education Week offers a webinar on August 29, 2012 on effective use of social media in classroom settings....
Presenters include:
William Kist, a former language arts teacher, is an associate professor of English education at Kent State university in Ohio. He is the author of The Socially Networked Classroom: Teaching in the New Media Age and The Global School: Connecting Classrooms and Students Around the World.
Eric Sheninger is the principal at New Milford High School in Bergen County, N.J. He is the winner of the National Association of Secondary School Principals' 2012 Digital Principal Award and the co-author of Communicating and Connecting With Social Media: Essentials for Principals. In 2011, his blog, ”A Principal's Reflections, was selected as Best School Administrator Blog by Edublogs.
Moderator: Anthony Rebora, managing editor, Education Week Teacher
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Aug 14, 2012News
Through funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF), and partnered with the National Computational Science Institute (NCSI) Shodor is offering a series of international faculty engagement and professional development opportunities to participants in the Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program and NSF Teaching Fellowship.
In February 2012 Shodor took a group of pre-service teachers to Dublin, Ireland where they took part in a two-day workshop, located at Dublin City University, focused on inquiry based learning in the sciences. On June 30th 2012 Shodor again embarked on international travel with a group of pre-service educators, this time to Crete, Greece. Once in Crete trip participants attended The Best Practices in Inquiry-Based Science Education Pathway Summer School organized by the University of Crete Physics department. Workshop participant Amy Jacobson comments about her experience in Greece saying, “I am very thankful to have had the opportunity to 3connect with and learn from educators across the world. Just having experiences talking with foreign teachers has broadened my perspective about the significance of incorporating interesting, well-developed, and engaging lesson plans”.
Both of these workshops were designed to introduce participants to inquiry-based learning and educate them on how to implement such practices in the classroom, while also introducing American educators to international educational practices. Zach McCoy, workshop participant, spoke to this point, “I learned a lot in the workshops, I loved the food, touring the cities, and swimming in the Mediterranean, but I learned the most from the people”. By offering international opportunities to pre-service and in-service educators, Shodor, The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program, and the NSF Teaching Fellowship hope to foster both national and international collaboration between STEM educators and institutions.
Funding for this project is projected to continue throughout the next two years, during which Shodor hopes to continue to offer a variety of international experiences for Noyce scholars and fellows.
About Noyce
The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program is designed to encourage professionals in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics careers (as well as people interested in these fields) to become K-12 math and science educators. Similarly the NSF Teaching Fellowship provides support and funding to professionals that are pursing their teaching certification while also requiring them to fulfill a four-year teaching commitment after completion of their educational programs.
About Shodor
Shodor, a national resource for computational science education, is located in Durham, N.C., and serves students and educators nationwide. In addition to developing and deploying interactive models, simulations, and educational tools, Shodor serves students and educators directly through workshops and other hands-on experiences.
Shodor offers innovative workshops helping faculty and teachers incorporate computational science into their own curricula or programs. For students from middle school through undergraduate levels of education, Shodor offers workshops, apprenticeships, internships and off-site programs that explore new approaches to math and science education through computational science.
Time and time again, Shodor has been recognized as a national leader and a premier resource in the effective use of computers to improve both math and science education.
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Aug 14, 2012Call for Participation
Register NOW for AAAS Assessment workshop
AAAS Project 2061’s October 17-19 “Developing and Using Assessments Aligned to Science Learning Goals” workshop in Washington, DC, is filling up fast. Early Bird rates still apply. Don’t wait. Save $$$ and register now! -
Aug 02, 2012Call for Participation
PolarTREC (Teachers and Researchers Exploring and Collaborating) offers K12 teachers the opportunity to spend 2-6 weeks doing hands-on field research experiences in the polar regions. PolarTREC aims are to:
- Improve teacher content knowledge of multidisciplinary polar science.
- Improve teacher instructional practices, especially the use of inquiry-based learning to translate polar science to the classroom.
- Improve polar researchers' understanding of and engagement in K-12 education to strengthen and enrich the outreach and dissemination of their research.
- Increase students' understanding of and engagement in the polar regions and interest in polar science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM) careers.
Applications for the 2013-2014 program may be submitted betwee Monday, 1 August, 2012 and Monday, 3 September, 2012 (deadline).
More information, an informational webinar, and application instructions (web form) are available at the PolarTREC site: http://www.polartrec.com/teachers/application/2013
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Jul 27, 2012Call for Participation
The Climate Literacy and Energy Awareness Network (CLEAN) is looking for a few reviewers for the upcoming virtual review camp on August 22 (11 am - 3 pm ET).
The review camp takes place in a virtual environment using webinar software and a telecon line. Part of the CLEAN review process, the camp brings together educators and scientists to review resources for scientific accuracy and pedagogic effectiveness, much like during a National Science Foundation panel review.
Time commitment: There is a mandatory 45 min training about 1-2 weeks prior to the camp (only for new reviewers). Your group will have 12-15 resources assigned and you will be asked to present 3-4 resources to the group and be somewhat familiar with the other resources that will be discussed in your group (similar to panel review practice).
Contact Anne Gold, CIRES Education and Outreach Group, University of Colorado, to learn more or to volunteer.
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Jul 27, 2012News
President Obama recently named 96 researchers as the honored recipients of the Presidential Early Career Awards for Scientists and Engineers. Created by President Clinton in 1996, the awardees are selected for their pursuit of innovative research in science and technology and their commitment to community service through scientific leadership, public educagtion or community outreach.
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Jul 27, 2012Call for Participation
techJOYnT Robotics Academy is an after-school technology education program in Oklahoma City built around the concepts of STEM. Students in grades K-12 can learn robotics, engineering, iPhone/Android app development, digital graphic arts and video game design.
techJOYnT is partnering with LEGO education, involved with US FIRST Robotics, and working National Instruments to develop a physics curriculum for public schools using smartgrid applications. Students not only learn about STEM, but also teambuilding exercises, professionalism, presentations and public speaking skills. Each techJOYnT Robotics Academy course is associated with a national level competition with the potential for winning college scholarships or funding for other educational activities.
Course Outlines, Summer Camps, and free summer camp previews, plus information on membership, workshop registration and more are available at -
Jul 20, 2012Call for Participation
August 10, 2012 is the deadline for poster abstract submissions to the 2012 Conference on Intelligent Data Understanding (CIDU), which will be hosted at the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, on 24–26 October. CIDU is a selective, peer-reviewed conference that focuses on the application of data mining, statistical learning, and computational intelligence techniques to Earth and environmental science, space science, and aerospace and engineering systems.
The conference invites posters that describe how data mining and related approaches may be effectively applied to advance research in one of these applications areas. Posters that give perspectives on methods that bring data-driven and model-based methods together are particularly sought. Poster abstract submissions should be 2 pages in a 2-column format; LaTeX and MS Word templates are available on the conference website under Author Instructions.
Additional conference and registration information available at: CIDU 2012.
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Jul 16, 2012News
Congrats to our friends at Howtosmile.org are in order for being named a Best-of-AASL 2012 website!
The American Association of School Librarians annually selects Best Websites for Teaching and Learning - honoring "...websites, tools, and resources of exceptional value to inquiry-based teaching and learning as embodied in the American Association of School Librarians' Standards for the 21st-Century Learner."
See list of 2012 winners as well as past winners from 2009 - 2011 (NSDL received a Best Websites award from AASL in 2010).
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Jul 12, 2012News
Eight half-day workshops will be offered at the 3rd Annual VIVO Conference in Miami, Florida, August 22-24, 2012. Each workshop is designed as a stand-alone session that can be mixed and matched depending on your interest in VIVP or your role in a VIVO implementation.
Upcoming deadlines:
- Friday, July 13, Late Breaking Submission Deadline
- Friday, July 20, Intercontinental Hotel Room Block reservation deadline
- Tuesday, July 31: Apps Contest Deadline; Regular Registration deadline
The VIVO conference is an excellent opportunity to meet with VIVO team members from participating institutions, and offers an open and collaborative environment to share ideas and discuss topics related to adoption and implementation of VIVO, VIVO-based tools and the opportunities created by advancing data sharing and team science.