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.

FEV Tutor Named 2022 Winner in Best of STEM Awards in the Bridging the Gap: Tutoring Programs for STEM Category

WOBURN, Mass. – July 27, 2022 – FEV Tutor, the most comprehensive virtual tutoring solution in K-12, was selected as a 2022 Educators Pick Best of STEM Award winner in the “Bridging the Gap: Tutoring Programs for STEM” category. The 2022 Best of STEM Award provides EdTech companies with a fresh twist—an awards program judged by STEM educators for STEM educators: “The Educators Pick Best of STEM Awards.” Winners were announced on July 21 at the NSTA National Conference on Science Education.

The awards program is run by market and product development company Catapult X in partnership with the Teich Group, the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA) and MCH Strategic Data. “Three years ago, we created the awards program EdTech was missing—Educators Pick Best of STEM,” said Daylene Long, CEO and Founder of  Catapult X. “The needs of educators are rapidly transforming as new teachers enter the field, administrators address learning loss, and educators search for modern solutions to engage students born as digital natives. This program is truly about creating connections between EdTech and the teachers they serve.”

The Bridging the Gap series of awards acknowledges products and services that enable educators to help accelerate student learning. The evaluating judges stated, “FEV Tutor is what districts have been asking for—individualized tutoring plans that address all students’ needs. What sets it apart? FEV Tutors gives students access to 1:1 tutoring with individualized plans available 24:7. For districts, data are provided to measure that the program works!”…Read More

IRIS Wins ‘Educators Pick Best of STEM 2021’ Award for Earth Science

WASHINGTON, D.C. (November 30, 2021) — The Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS) was recently named a winner in the ‘Educators Pick Best of STEM 2021’ Awards in the Earth Science category. The awards, which are a combined effort of Catapult X, the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA), and MCH Strategic Data, are the only awards judged by STEM educators for STEM educators. IRIS was selected for its positive impact on student learning and STEM education in today’s schools.

IRIS entered three of its hundreds of educational resources for judging by STEM educators: the Station Monitor, an app where students can examine up-to-the-minute ground motion recorded by  local, regional, or global seismographs; the Layered Earth activity where students compare observed seismic data to predictions they make from a model to determine that the Earth must have a layered internal structure and to estimate the size of Earth’s core; and the IRIS Earthquake Browser, which lets students examine patterns of global, regional, and local seismicity by exploring millions of earthquake epicenters on an interactive map of the world.

Winners of the awards were chosen based on reviews by the educator judges, as well as by a popular vote by more than 2,500 educators. One educator judge said, “The IRIS Consortium offers comprehensive resources for Earth Science students from middle school all the way through University. It gives teachers access to seismological data students can analyze at home or in the classroom. And they are FREE!”…Read More

In an Extremely Challenging Year, Innovative STEM Educators Shine to Win 2021 Vernier/NSTA Technology Awards

Each winning high school and college-level educator awarded cash and technology prizes valued at $5,500 for their creative use of data-collection technology

BEAVERTON, Oregon, May 18, 2021 — In what has been an extremely challenging year for educators nationwide, many educators have worked hard to engage students in hands-on science activities under unusual circumstances. Four of these educators are being honored with the 2021 Vernier/NSTA Technology Awards from Vernier Software & Technology and the National Science Teaching Association (NSTA). Chosen by a panel of NSTA-appointed experts, this year’s winning educators—three high school teachers and one college professor—demonstrated how they innovatively use data-collection technology to engage students in science and STEM learning.

“All of this year’s winning educators have done a terrific job at increasing students’ interest and awareness of STEM through real-world applications,” said John Wheeler, CEO of Vernier Software & Technology. “We applaud their innovation and look forward to supporting their ongoing work as they engage students in new and innovative ways through data collection and hands-on learning.”…Read More

7 grants for STEM and technology

School leaders consistently identify high costs and shrinking budgets as a top barrier to implementing new technology tools and programs.

And while budget woes won’t improve overnight, schools and districts can boost their available funds with grants that are targeted to different areas of need.

Want to support science teachers or encourage engineering? Do you need to promote STEM learning opportunities? Or maybe you want to extend opportunities for partnerships between K-12 and the science community.…Read More

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DuPont Pioneer Excellence in Agricultural Science Education Award

A partnership with DuPont Pioneer and the National Science Teachers Association, this award is to recognize excellence and innovation in the field of agricultural science education. Two awards, one middle level and one high school level, will be awarded annually. The awardee will receive a $2,500 grant for their classroom/program, up to $1,000 paid travel expenses to attend the NSTA national conference on science education, mentoring with a DuPont Pioneer scientist, classroom resources from DuPont Pioneer, and access to a DuPont Pioneer product plant or research facility. The awardees will be presented the award at the Teacher Awards Banquet at the National Conference.

 

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Sylvia Shugrue Award for Elementary School Teachers

This award honors one elementary school teacher who has established (or is establishing) an interdisciplinary, inquiry-based lesson plan. The lesson plan will fully reference sources of information and any relevant National Science Education Standards and benchmarks found in the Atlas of Science Literacy. The award consists of $1,000 and up to $500 to attend the NSTA National Conference on Science Education; the recipient of the award will be honored during the Awards Banquet at the NSTA Conference.

 

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Maitland P. Simmons Memorial Award for New Teachers

The Maitland P. Simmons Memorial Award for New Teachers provides selected K–12 teachers (up to 25) in their first five years of teaching with funds to attend the annual National Conference on Science Education. Award recipients will be mentored, tracked, and provided with continuing opportunities for meaningful involvement with NSTA and its activities.

 

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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

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Helping students learn the language of science

Science students at all grade levels often struggle with the vocabulary, according to the NSTA blog. It’s as if we’re all SLLs—Science Language Learners. Textbooks and websites are full of specialized words that challenge our students. Some are technical and relate specifically to science (e.g., photosynthesis, thermodynamics, plate tectonics) while others have meanings in science that differ from common usage (e.g., theory, hypothesis, matter). Sometimes we think that students understand a word, only to find out on an assessment that they are confused. For example, my middle school students often interchanged the words medium and median, and they didn’t realize that media was the plural of medium. No wonder the room was full of puzzled looks sometimes…

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