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science teachers

3 strategies to support students during science instruction

While the start of the 2021 school year may not be as crazy as the beginning of the 2020 school year, it would be a mistake to pretend it is just like the Fall of 2019 or earlier.  As COVID-19 continues to linger across the country, educators are again demonstrating the “can do” attitude and the spirit of innovation they exhibited at the height of the pandemic.

However, the rise of the Delta variant and other complicating social and political factors have brought us to a new phase in the pandemic that will require a new level of flexibility from classroom teachers. 

In conversations with science educators across the country, I’ve identified three specific strategies science teachers are using to meet the needs of students in today’s uncertain environment.  Those strategies are:…Read More

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Actively Learn Digital Platform Offers Content Area Products

Actively Learn, Achieve3000’s research-based, standards-aligned curriculum platform, announces the release of new sequenced curricular units: Actively Learn ELA, Actively Learn Social Studies, and Actively Learn Science. Educators can now purchase these singular units instead of having to pay for access content they may not need. These subject area products make it possible to make tight budgets go further while addressing the specific needs of core content area teachers and facilitating an enhanced search experience.

“This new focus enables Actively Learn to better address the distinct needs of ELA, social studies, and science teachers. They can create interactive, multi-media assignments in each content area providing engagement and focus where needed.” said Jay Goyal, President at Actively Learn.

For each core content area, Actively Learn provides a full year of sequenced curricular units that leverage the breadth and depth of its catalog and allow for deeper knowledge in each subject.…Read More

5 AR & VR tools for social skills

Virtual and augmented reality, once far-off on the classroom horizon, have moved with relative speed into the realm of possible classroom technologies.

In fact, recent data indicates that while few teachers are using augmented and virtual reality, it does show some promise. Speak Up Survey data shows that 5 percent of teachers say they are using virtual or augmented reality in their classroom. Higher percentages of high school computer science and technology teachers (11 percent) and science teachers (9 percent) are using augmented or virtual reality.

Twenty-five percent of district administrators in small districts would like to see augmented reality apps in their schools, and 43 percent want virtual reality experiences and hardware in their schools.…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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K-12 science teachers in dire need of PD

Sustained professional learning opportunities are needed to help science teachers teach new science standards, according to a new report

K-12 science teachers are often left to deal with a lack of coherent and sustained professional learning opportunities that researchers say are needed to support science teachers inside and outside of the classroom, particularly as they strive to teach new science standards.

As researchers’ and teachers’ understanding of how best to learn and teach science evolves and curricula are redesigned, many teachers are left without the experience needed to enhance the science and engineering courses they teach, according to a Jan. 20 report from the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.

This issue is particularly pronounced in elementary schools and in schools that serve a high percentage of low-income students.…Read More

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TeachCS zeroes in on computer science

TeachCS addresses critical shortage of qualified computer science teachers by connecting high school educators with computer science curricula

computer-scienceAs the nation focuses on Computer Science Education Week, December 7-13th, computer science curricula developers and professional development providers joined forces to announce TeachCS, a platform for high school teachers looking to broaden their computer science training and curricula.

Funded by private sector philanthropy, the goal of TeachCS is to match in-service high school teachers with both computer science professional development and financial support to attend training from leading academic institutions, in order to better prepare their students for the lucrative computing jobs most in demand in the future.

In its pilot year, TeachCS will provide in-service high school teachers with funding for professional development in one of three areas – Exploring Computer Science (ECS), AP Computer Science Principles (AP CSP), or Bootstrap.…Read More

‘Weightless’ U.S. teachers eye giant science leap

“Excited,” “nervous,” “terrified”–just three emotions described by a group of US teachers about to take a dizzying “weightless” flight all for the cause of science, naturally, the AFP reports. The 30 classroom professionals donned blue “astronaut” jumpsuits to defy gravity in the skies above California, in a project designed to help them capture the imagination of young science students. On the back of her jumpsuit, teacher Michelle Luke taped a drawing made by her pupils at Manhattan Beach Middle School, southwest of Los Angeles, showing two figures taking a giant weightless leap into space. But with only a couple of hours to go before the flight, her smile was still a little tense…

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Math, science teachers get paid less than others

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports that lawmakers and other Washington state officials have talked a lot about focusing more on science and math education, but researchers at the University of Washington have found that despite this spoken commitment, teachers in those subjects earn less than other high school instructors. In a report, the Center on Reinventing Public Education found that 19 of the state’s 30 largest school districts pay math or science teachers less than they spend on teachers in other subjects. The way that Washington and many other states pay teachers–with more money going to those with more years of experience and graduate degrees–has led to the uneven salaries. Jobs that pay better at nearby high tech companies may also be a contributing factor in this state, because math and science teachers may be recruited away before they have a chance to reach the higher rungs on the pay ladder, said Jim Simpkins, a researcher on the report, with Marguerite Roza and Cristina Sepe…

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Teachers get a taste of real-world science—with impressive results

Students of teachers who participate in lab and field research tend to improve achievement in STEM fields.
Students of teachers who participate in lab and field research tend to show better achievement in STEM fields.

Giving teachers hands-on science experience not only helps improve student achievement, but also reduces teacher attrition, according to results from a Columbia University study.

Of the 145 teachers who completed Columbia University’s Summer Research Program (CUSRP) between 1994 and 2005, 32 New York teachers with similar backgrounds participated in a study to determine if taking part in hands-on science research enabled them to better teach their students.…Read More

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ENC links math and science for teachers and kids

The Eisenhower National Clearinghouse (ENC) site links math and science teachers to useful classroom resources. A page called Digital Dozen (apparently a digital baker’s) features 13 outstanding sites each month. January’s sites included Geologylink (http://www.geologylinks.com/), where students can take virtual field trips to a volcano in Indonesia or a copper mine in Peru; Sea and Sky (http://www.magicnet.net/~jdk/seasky.html), where students can learn about sharks or design an online fishtank; and InvestSmart, a site developed by students to teach investment basics using a stock market simulation.

The ENC site also links viewers to stories about math and science teachers who are charting new territory in education. A page called Innovator of the Month, for example, highlights the activities of one educator, such as December’s Dr. Shelia Strawn, who started a program to help teachers learn about scientific methods firsthand by conducting experiments in their own locales.

You can also find the latest CD-ROMs and software available to math and science teachers on the Focus page, and browse an archive of lesson ideas on the Lesson Activities page.…Read More