North Carolina DEN

The Fall Science Supervisors Meeting was held in Charlotte, NC, October 29, 2008, in conjunction with the North Carolina Science Leadership Association (NCSLA) meeting and the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) regional meeting.  The purpose of these meetings were to update districts on current North Carolina issues and national initiatives in science education.

• Elementary, Middle and High School Science and Graduation Project- An effort is being made by districts in our state to share what I would call: “tips and tricks”.
• New Units aligned to Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy- CD containing the science curriculum units in K-12 Science are ready. Participants received three CDs. One K-5, one 6-8, and high school. This resource will be available online soon. It was announced that the resource will be password protected for copyright reasons. Also, the units have include SIOP strategies for ELL students. My teachers will like that. Thanks NCDPI!
• Standard Course of Study Revision- is currently slated for June 2009! That is right, not a draft, the final version. Science textbook adpotion will follow for the coming school year (’10-’11).
• Two Science Competitions- Science Fair and Science Olympiad.
• CCSSO STEM education initiative update- I must have been checking my BlackBerry’s email or Twittering when this topic was discussed. Sorry!
• Testing updates- One thing that I did not know about EOG test schools in Science for grades 5 and 8, is a push to make the test scores a part of the ABC Performance Composite, which would not effect ABC Bonus Money. I am not going to say what I want about that pot of money, it would not be politically correct- wink wink. Oh, and this appears to not be “writing in stone” at this point in time. So, stay tuned middle school folks.
• Presidential awards (PAEMST)- packet contains a flyer. Interesting point here was a we are encouraged to nominate a middle school science teacher.
• Professional Development Opportunities- Teacher Academy
• MSP Project updates
• Exemplary Science programs- opps, must have been looking in my bag os swag…If you are reading this post and you were there please add your snap shot.
• Future Meetings and Institutes- lots of dates or ideas about possible future dates for meetings. One proposed meeting is a Spring Science Supervisors Meeting. Hey that would be cool. IMHO, we need to have it at Wrightsville Beach. Like the week after school ends.
• Ready, Set, SCIENCE! - Thanks to Bev Vance for a great overview of this great resource.

Edd Dunlap, Science Section Chief, Ragan, Spain, and Benita Tipton, you guys rock! Ok, enough brown-nosing. Oh, one more thing- As much as the Westin charges for rooms, it is hard to believe they wanted to charge for WiFi in the rooms. Capitalists!!!   [Maybe I could have left that out]

Have you heard that “inquiry” is now referred to as “Science as Practice”?

From Janice VanCleave’s Guide to the Best Science Fair Projects, Janice VanCleave (John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1997)

I can’t begin to count the number of times I have heard this question.  If you are like me, let me introduce you to Science Buddies

http://www.sciencebuddies.org 

This website has over 700 science fair projects, but it is more than just a list.  Steer your students to the Topic Selection Wizard.  After filling out some basic information, the wizard will ask all sorts of questions to figure out their interests.  I answered the questions as a middle school student interested in the environment and technology.  I was please with my results.

The Point of a Parabola: Focusing Signals for a Better Wireless Network 

Rooftop Gardens:  Are they a Cool Idea?

Image Compression vs Image Quality: Finding the Best Tradeoff

Digital Voice Analysis

Once your student has picked a topic, there is a great how to guide and reference material.  And if you still need help there is an Ask the Expert Section.  This forum is a team of volunteer scientists answering questions from students.  Be sure to do a search before asking a question.

Don’t forget about Discovery Edcation Streaming.  They have a “How to Prepare a Science Fair Project” video for middle school and a Magic School Bus video on science fair projects for elementary school. 

Discovery Education also has a great site called Science Fair Central. 

http://school.discoveryeducation.com/sciencefaircentral/

Lastly, what do you do when your project is due in a few days?  Go to Easy Science Fair Projects. 

http://www.easy-science-fair-projects.net/index.html 

Here you will find detailed instructions on how to complete a science fair project in a short amount of time with limited resources.  Don’t expect to win any ribbons with these projects, but they can be handy in a pinch.  

Here’s a cross-post from the National DEN Blog …

DEN Virtual Conference: Registration is Now Open!

Join us in-person, online or both, on Saturday, October 25th for the DEN Virtual Conference.

Registration is now open!

The DEN Virtual Conference features an incredible lineup of online presentations including “Power Up Your Professional Learning Network” by STAR Discovery Educator Jennifer Dorman. Check out all of the sessions here.

You can register to attend virtually or join us at one of 17 in-person events hosted by the DEN Leadership Councils. Either way, you will learn powerful ways to integrate digital media and Web 2.0 tools into your instruction as well as discover an abundance of resources to expand your own personal learning network.

Share the news with your colleagues by sending them the DEN Virtual Conference Flyer. For more information, visit: http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/fall-virtual-conference

Hi Stars…..This is my first blog for DEN and I am thrilled to be a part of the DEN LC.  Maybe I will be able to share a few  new sites with you this month. As a classroom teacher…I am always looking for interactive sites for my students that relate to our area of study. Sooooo…..

With Election Day 2008 just around the corner, we have found this interactive site interesting.

http://adomatic.us/   

The site allows students to upload a photo and produce their own presidential advertisements.

 http://www.pppst.com/government.html

provides powerpoints that covers topics from government to the election process. 

Don’t forget NC Wise Owl also has some wonderful resources. Please share with us any great sites you have found lately.

Discovery has posted the vast majority of the 2008 DE streamathon presentations as archives!  If you visit the streamathon page you’ll see that most of the presentations are now hyperlinked.  Click on a hyperlink and you will begin to download a high resolution archive of that presentation.  Each archive is about 100-200 MB so the downloads may take a little while.  DE wanted to make sure they provided the streamathon archives to you in high resolution so you’d be able to see all the live demonstrations just as they happened the day of.

If  you learned something from a session, be sure to share it with your colleagues!  The more people that learn from these presentations, the better – share the knowledge…pay it forward!!!!Don’t forget! 

If you enjoyed the streamathon, you’ll love the other webinars that Discovery has to offer.  Visit DE’s webinar registration page and see what suits your needs.  Hundreds of webinars are listed there, all of which are FREE and open to all educators!