Sierra College STEM Collaborative launches new professional development program...

eileen — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 23:22:19 +0000

Rocklin, CA - The Sierra College Science, Technology, Engineering & Math (STEM) Collaborative assembled over 40 employers, teachers, principals and superintendents from Placer and Nevada counties to announce the new ACTivATE project on Feb. 13.

GLOBE at Night offers chances for citizen-scientists from January to May...

eileen — Thu, 03 Jan 2013 19:19:13 +0000

The GLOBE at Night program is an international campaign to raise public awareness of the impact of light pollution. Citizen scientists are invited to record the brightness of the night sky in their areas. Measurements are submitted by computer or smart phone. There are five campaigns in 2013:

Jan. 3-12
Jan 31-Feb 9
Mar 3-12
Mar 31-Apr 9
Apr 29-May 8.

Visit GlOBE at Night home page for more info...

Life Discovery - Doing Science conference - 20 days left for early bird registration...

eileen — Wed, 28 Nov 2012 21:41:22 +0000

Take advantage of Early Bird Registration - by December 15 - for the Life Discovery - Doing Science conference: Exploring Biology for a Changing World, in St. Paul, Minnesota, March 15-16, 2013.

This conference will highlight the leading science, curriculum design and implementation and data exploration in a research-rich biology education for grades 9-16.

Middle School Portal2 Bookclub: January 23, 2013...

eileen — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:24:17 +0000

Chronicle: Grades and Tests May Miss Measuring What Matters Most in Learning....

eileen — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 18:58:47 +0000

Interesting article from November 15 Teaching column: Grades and Tests May Miss Measuring What Matters Most in Learning, by Dan Barrett, as described by data on "deep learning" opportunities by the National Survey of Student Engagement.

Teaser Text:

"College students should be having experiences that call upon them to use more higher-order thinking, regardless of whether or not it connects to given tests. Students should have to do more analysis and synthesis than memorization."

AAAS 2013 Meeting update....

eileen — Thu, 15 Nov 2012 17:44:35 +0000

The 2013 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has full details for over 150 scientific sessions, careeer development workshops, and plenary and topical lectures: 14-18 February, Boston, Massachusetts

Help out the PhET Interactive Simulations project!

eileen — Tue, 13 Nov 2012 23:00:41 +0000

The PhET Interactive Simulations project (http://phet.colorado.edu) needs your help!

To help us secure future funding to advance our work and keep PhET free, and to make the site as useful as possible for YOU, we need to know more about how, where, and why you use PhET in your teaching, and how you see the simulations influencing your students’ learning. We also want your input on future directions for the PhET project.

NSF selects NCAR Director Roger Wakimoto to head up GEO Directorate...

eileen — Thu, 08 Nov 2012 17:00:41 +0000

The National Science Foundation announces the selection of Roger Wakimoto, director of the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado, as the new assistant director for the Directorate for Geosciences (GEO). Wakimoto was also prior associate director of NCAR's Earth Observing Laboratory. Dr. Wakimoto begins the position at NSF in February 2013.

NSF announcement

EdSurge: Potent Alphabet Soup: How SLI, LR and LRMI Will Shape Education Technology Content

eileen — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 19:03:31 +0000

Educational technology consultant Ed Catalano offers a useful summary of three important ed tech initiatives and their interplay: the Shared Learning Collaborative (SLC or SLI), the Learning Registry (LR), and the Learning Resource Metadata Initiative (LRMI).

And, NSDL offers crosswalking services that can help mediate between LRMI, LR, and SLC. Contact us to learn more!

Teaser Text:

"And all will demand at least some of your attention between now and next spring – whether you’re an established company or a wanna-change-the-classroom startup."

Chronicle: Pearson and Gooru join forces to combine open access resources with Pearson content....

eileen — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 22:10:19 +0000

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on a new service offered by Pearson that enables e-textbook creation by instructors using both open-access content and Pearson materials. Called Project Blue SKy (at least for now): Pearson Project Will Let Professors Mix Free and Paid Content in E-Textbooks

Teaser Text:

" Pearson, a major textbook publisher, continued its push into digital education on Monday.... "

PAARC releases RFP for testing of assessment elements....

eileen — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 16:30:03 +0000

PARCC - the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers - is a 24-state consortium led by non-profit Achieve - recently released a request for propoosals (RFP) through the Indiana Department of Administration (IDPA) for the item tryouts, field testing, embedded research, practice tests, and forms construction for the first operational year of the assessment in English language arts/literacy and mathematics. The RFP specifies the development of technical and cost options for administering and scoring PARCC operational assessments in 2014-2015.

Gamification in the Scientific Process...

eileen — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 21:01:05 +0000

Interesting article in Education Week's Reimagining K12 blog: Gamification in the Scientific Process, by Tom Segal. High points:

Teaser Text:

"Games encourage systemic understanding, the same as science does. Science is, after all, a process...Play can grant students a mental model of their subject, something which rote-and-repetition-based learning can't."

Upcoming NSF proposal deadlines....

eileen — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 19:17:44 +0000

DRK-12 - NSF 11-588

Life Discovery - Doing Science: Exploring Biology for a Changing World: March 15-16, 2013

eileen — Mon, 22 Oct 2012 16:26:24 +0000

Registration is open for the Life Discovery - Doing Science Conference, taking place March 15-16, 2013 in St. Paul, Minnesota. Focused on fostering communities of practice and encouraging the sharing and diffusion of best practices in biology education across grades, the conference features educational achievements and efforts in organismal and environmental biology.

Opinion: On the apparent horrors of requiring high school students to take chemistry

eileen — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 20:02:40 +0000

Scientific American's Doing Good Science Column offers this nicely done response from Janet D. Stemwedel to a Washington Post “Answer Sheet” blog by David Bernstein entitled Why are you forcing my son to take chemistry?

Teaser Text:

"Habits of mind are the intended long-term take-away from a high school science class. High school science classes that are taught well actually deliver some familiarity with those habits of mind."

2013 AAAS Annual Meeting Update...

eileen — Thu, 18 Oct 2012 18:19:33 +0000

The full program for the February 14-18 2013 annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (Boston) is available.

Ed Week: Bandwidth Demands Rise as Schools Move to Common Core

eileen — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 20:22:24 +0000

This Education Week article of October 15, 2012 (online) reports on the increasing demand for increasing Internet connectivity. Highlights:

Teaser Text:

"SETDA recommends that by the 2014-15 school year, schools have at least 100 megabits per second of connectivity to the external Internet for every 1,000 students and/or staff members, and 1 gigabit per second of connectivity for data transactions within a schoolwide or districtwide network."

Teaching Planner helps teachers plan math and science instruction...

eileen — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:56:05 +0000

Teaching Planner (www.teachingplanner.com) is a new site designed to help teachers both find high quality resources online, plan their lessons, and record grading. Teaching Planner is looking for feedback from math and science teachers on the site and its services:

How to help:

Teachers' Domain celebrates its 10th Anniversary....

eileen — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 17:34:07 +0000

Teachers' Domain 10th Anniversary newsletter issue is available. Congrats, Teachers' Domain on 10 years of excellent service!

Chronicle: Digital Library's Win in Court Continues Run of Rulings for Academic Fair Use...

eileen — Thu, 11 Oct 2012 21:26:47 +0000

The Chronicle of Higher Ed reports on a recent ruling by a federal judge in favor of HathiTrust Digital Library's practices, in a copyright infringement lawsuit case brought by the Authors Guild, and others.

Teaser Text:

"On the things that matter most, it basically says that academic libraries are free to be academic libraries if they take appropriate care, and that's good news..." Paul Courant...

Award for Aspirations in Computing...

eileen — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 13:50:41 +0000

The National Center for Women and Information Technology (NCWIT) is seeking applications from women in grades 9-12 for the NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing. Awardees are selected for their computing and IT aptitude, leadership ability, academic history, and plans for post-secondary education. National award winners will receive cash and prizes. Many states have local affiliates that also offer awards and recognitions.

Applications will be accepted online through October 31, 2012.

Speak Up 2012 survey open: Oct 3 - Dec 14, 2012

eileen — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 13:58:44 +0000

Teachers and education professionals have the opportunity to participate in one of the best education surveys going: the Speak Up! online research project by Project Tomorrow®, from now through December 14, 2012.

"Making sense of MOOCs: Musings in a maze of myth, paradox, and possibility"

eileen — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:52:15 +0000

Tony Bates' blog (of Contact North) on Online Learning and Distance Education Resources: Daniel's comprehensive review of MOOC developments makes available and comments on John Daniel's (2012) recent paper: Making sense of MOOCs: Musings in a maze of myth, paradox, and poss

Teaser Text:

"A first myth is that university brand is a surrogate for teaching quality. It isn't."

Challenges to scaling online learning....

eileen — Wed, 03 Oct 2012 17:39:39 +0000

The Chronicle of Higher Education reports on the University of California's experience with implementing UC Online: " UC Online Strives to Compete in an Era of Free Courses"

Nutshell:

Teaser Text:

"Our best defense will be quality" says dean....

IGNITE project at Sierra College infuses math skills in technical courses...

eileen — Tue, 02 Oct 2012 20:06:00 +0000

Sierra College in Rocklin, California reports positive outcomes from its Advanced Technological Education (ATE) project, funded by the National Science Foundation. Emphasizing the value of two-year college programs, the ATE focuses on improving and expanding the education of technicians in high technology and skills areas integral to the US economy.

Recent posts across whole site

Sierra College STEM Collaborative launches new professional development program...

GLOBE at Night offers chances for citizen-scientists from January to May...

Life Discovery - Doing Science conference - 20 days left for early bird registration...

Middle School Portal2 Bookclub: January 23, 2013...

Chronicle: Grades and Tests May Miss Measuring What Matters Most in Learning....

AAAS 2013 Meeting update....

Help out the PhET Interactive Simulations project!

NSF selects NCAR Director Roger Wakimoto to head up GEO Directorate...

EdSurge: Potent Alphabet Soup: How SLI, LR and LRMI Will Shape Education Technology Content

Chronicle: Pearson and Gooru join forces to combine open access resources with Pearson content....

PAARC releases RFP for testing of assessment elements....

Gamification in the Scientific Process...

Upcoming NSF proposal deadlines....

Life Discovery - Doing Science: Exploring Biology for a Changing World: March 15-16, 2013

Opinion: On the apparent horrors of requiring high school students to take chemistry

2013 AAAS Annual Meeting Update...

Ed Week: Bandwidth Demands Rise as Schools Move to Common Core

Teaching Planner helps teachers plan math and science instruction...

Teachers' Domain celebrates its 10th Anniversary....

Chronicle: Digital Library's Win in Court Continues Run of Rulings for Academic Fair Use...

Award for Aspirations in Computing...

Speak Up 2012 survey open: Oct 3 - Dec 14, 2012

"Making sense of MOOCs: Musings in a maze of myth, paradox, and possibility"

Challenges to scaling online learning....

IGNITE project at Sierra College infuses math skills in technical courses...