Podcast Series: Innovations in Education

Explore the full series of eSchool News podcasts hosted by Kevin Hogan—created to keep you on the cutting edge of innovations in education.

IRIS Offers Lessons to Help STEM Educators Teach About Recent Earthquakes

WASHINGTON, D.C. (September 8, 2021) — The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) is providing free resources to help STEM educators teach about recent earthquake events, such as the 7.0 magnitude earthquake in Mexico on September 8 and the 7.2 magnitude earthquake in Haiti on August 14. These Teachable Moments presentations contain an explanation of the science of why the earthquake occurred, and often also includes Associated Press photos, animations, and other resources to help educators link the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) to earthquake phenomena in a way that makes it relevant and engaging for students. 

“The Teachable Moments lessons help engage students in scientific inquiry and offer a critical connection to real-life events,” said Dr. Tammy Bravo, Seismology Outreach Specialist of IRIS. “By bringing knowledge, insight, and critical thinking to the classroom following a newsworthy earthquake, teachers are able to help students explore and analyze real event data, which helps to further spark their passion for science and STEM learning.”

Each Teachable Moment lesson consists of a downloadable and editable PowerPoint presentation, which is available in both Spanish and English and pertains to a specific earthquake. The lessons include interpreted U.S. Geological Survey earthquake information, plate tectonic and regional tectonic maps and summaries, concept animations, seismograms, damage photos, and other event-specific information and hazards.…Read More

Carolina Biological Launches Remote Learning Add-Ons to Award Winning K-8 Science Curriculum Kits with Teacher Planning Features

Leading school science supplier Carolina Biological launched three new sets of K-8 digital resources for remote teaching this fall: Smithsonian Science for the Classroom™@HOME, Smithsonian Science and Technology Concepts™ Middle School@HOME, and Building Blocks of Science™ 3D@HOME. Carolina updated its award-winning K-8 science programs to support essential remote instruction in elementary and middle schools this fall. All programs are available now and were designed to provide high-quality, Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) science instruction. Carolina enhanced Smithsonian curriculum and Building Blocks of Science 3D products with simplified digital teacher-planning features for robust remote science instruction, as well as a variety of live and online on-demand professional development called Get Ready! Professional Learning. Whether educators are teaching students from their classrooms or at home, they can maintain a high-quality science program, engage students online in three-dimensional learning, and continue to support English language arts and math.

Teachers can access these new digital components and share digital resources in English and Spanish with students online from home or anywhere they have Internet access. The new add-ons for remote learning cover all Smithsonian curriculum and Building Blocks of Science™ 3D programs, to complement the classroom teacher’s instruction. These new features are free and live in their accounts on Carolina Science Online®, the online portal where teachers can access digital components of all programs for schools that already own Smithsonian Science for the Classroom, Smithsonian Science Technology Concepts Middle School (STCMS) or Building Blocks of Science 3D. The new digital @HOME and Get Ready! professional development features are included automatically for new customers at no additional charge. The programs include access to a wealth of digital resources, including instructional videos, demonstrations and simulations.

Carolina created a lesson plan for every lesson in the @HOME programs, which includes a one-page summary with five steps to help teachers use it for a remote learning environment, as many will be doing when school begins this fall. Each summary includes a list of the included digital resources they need to share with students for the lesson. Each of the steps can be done in just five or 10 minutes. If teachers are not able to have live class time or video conferences, they can also create their own content through @HOME by recording videos of themselves talking to introduce and personalize the lessons. Being able to see their own teachers will help students to feel better connected with them.…Read More

New Science Kit Series for Educators

Carolina Biological introduced a new Next Generation Science Standards® (NGSS)-aligned science kit series for educators of elementary students in both formal and informal education settings. Carolina launched Phenomenal Explorations™ kits for grades 3 to 5, which each explore an interesting focus question about a phenomenon that can be completed in two weeks or less. Carolina’s new three-dimensional science kit series turns students into inquiring scientists during short investigations that easily fit into the busy elementary school day or informal settings, such as science clubs, afterschool sessions, or summer camps. The lessons are designed to complement any core science curriculum that teachers are using with concise, high-interest topics to help them explain the most difficult concepts that are challenging to present in an interesting way to students. Each lesson is broken into four student-driven investigations.

Available now, Phenomenal Explorations kit topics cover life science, Earth science, physical science and engineering. Designed for flexibility, educators can use the kits in many ways, such as for a two-week change of pace, after testing, before vacations or afterschool programs, museum programs, kids groups, or even camps to build their students’ hands-on experience, engagement, and excitement. The kit topics include: Why Can a Sloth’s Fur Be a Habitat?; How Can We Keep Pets Cool During Hot Weather?; What Can Fossils Tell Us About Past Environments?; How Do Airplanes Fly?; and How Does Matter Change When an Object Dries? These new kits provide supplemental science resources with hands-on materials and digital components that support teachers who need to fit science lessons into smaller 30-minute time slots and create high-interest engagement for their students. By giving students direct experience with phenomena, the kits help them learn about and make sense of the real world.

The kits support teachers as they teach science to strengthen NGSS three-dimensional connections. Each one emphasizes science and engineering skills within flexible 3D activities. They explore bite-sized topics using a combination of hands-on, print, and digital resources. The investigations challenge students to solve real-world problems and use claims, evidence, and reasoning to support their own explanations of phenomena.…Read More

App of the Week: Go virtual for NGSS

Ed. note: App of the Week picks are now being curated by the editors of Common Sense Education, which helps educators find the best ed-tech tools, learn best practices for teaching with tech, and equip students with the skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly. Click here to read the full app review.

Inq-ITS

What’s It Like? 

Inq-ITS is a collection of virtual labs for middle schoolers, including topics such as Plate Tectonics, Natural Selection, Forces & Motion, and Phase Changes. Students learn this content through virtual simulations that allow them to design and conduct their own investigations. The virtual labs are broken into four sections described as the Phases of Inquiry: Hypothesis, Collect Data, Analyze Data, and Explain Findings.…Read More

In the marketplace: Digital learning, NGSS resources, IT partnerships, and more

Remaining a tech-savvy educator means keeping on top of the myriad changes and trends in education, how technology can support those trends, and how teaching and learning can best benefit from near-constant change.

Below, we’ve gathered some of the latest and most relevant marketplace news to keep you up-to-date on product developments, teaching and learning initiatives, and new trends in education.

With an eye toward helping close the gap between schools and their local communities comes TrustED, a new content hub and media-rich website featuring news and practical solutions for America’s K12 school leaders. Powered by K12 Insight, the new online destination features daily original and curated stories, commentary and special features exploring critical issues facing America’s public schools, with a special focus on community engagement, innovative leadership, student safety and school technology. Read more.…Read More

The school that connects STEM, badging, and life beyond the classroom

As educators, we know that science is not just a body of knowledge, but it is a process that enables people to answer questions through scientific inquiry.  Scientists conduct inquiries using a specific toolbox of skills and knowledge that the Next Generations Science Standards (NGSS) has spelled out for emerging scientists as so-called “science and engineering practices,” or practices that increase in complexity and sophistication across grade levels.

These are important skills for students to master, not least because of the growing demand for science and STEM professionals. Here in California, like other states nationwide, the STEM job market is rapidly growing but students are still graduating without the skills and knowledge needed to fill these high-paying jobs. In fact, the Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that California will have the largest STEM workforce in the country by 2022.

The question is, how do you ensure students are graduating with these skills in a way that sets them up for future college and career success?…Read More

New science teaching tools shown at NSTA conference

Companies demonstrated products built around the Next Generation Science Standards and designed to engage students in science activities

science-products
Getting students interested in science was a key theme among conference exhibitors.

Integrating the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) into instruction, teaching science in the elementary grades, and getting students interested in science were key themes to emerge during the annual conference of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) April 3-6.

Nearly 10,000 science teachers and curriculum specialists gathered in Boston earlier this month for the organization’s National Conference on Science Education. In conference sessions and the exhibit hall, much of the talk focused on the NGSS and how to integrate these successfully into teaching.…Read More

Could these new standards work better than Common Core?

New science standards are free of time-crunches and high-stakes requirements

standards-science-NGSSImagine this ‘unicorn’ scenario in education: You take an entire subject–one whose mastery could push the country to the forefront of innovation–and spend years doing nothing but perfecting its standards and assessments with absolutely no looming deadlines or high-stakes requirements. Be prepared to believe, educators, because this scenario is real, and it’s happening with new science standards.

In a recent webinar hosted by the Alliance for Excellent Education, “Scientific Assessments: Innovations in the next generation of state assessments,” noted state education leaders described the enormous potential the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) could have for states and how assessments may be developed from these standards.

“This is truly a great opportunity for states, districts, and schools, because they don’t have the high-stakes national requirement breathing down their necks. States can really take the time they need for thoughtful, effective implementation and assessment development,” said Stephen L. Pruitt, PhD, senior vice president for Achieve, which helped developed the standards.…Read More