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District IV Update – March 2008

District  IV reception in Boston

Saturday, March 29, 2008 - 8:00-10:00 AM

District IV Reception-Seaport Hotel, Lighthouse 1

This reception is for attendees from New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvia. It is graciously being supported by VWR-Sargent Welch-Science Kit.

Upcoming Conferences:

One of our associated groups is having their annual conference in the near future. Science Council of New York City will hold their conference at Stuyvesant High School in New York, NY on Saturday, April 12th, 2008. For information on this conference visit

http://www.sconyc-ny.org/WebPages/Conference08.html.

Kudos to ........ 

Exploravision Regional Winners

The following schools have been named Regional Winners in the 2008 Exploravision Competition. Designed for K-12 students of all interest, skill and ability levels, ExploraVision encourages kids to create and explore a vision of future technology by combining their imaginations with tools of science. All inventions and innovations results from creative thinking and problem solving. That's what ExploraVision is all about. For more information: http://www.exploravision .org

Grades: K-3

The Pet Dream Automatic Pet Door and Tattoo Pen - George L. Cooke School, Monticello, NY

Grades: 7-9

Synthetic Spider Silk Bulletproof Vests - Edgemont Jr. Sr. High School, Scarsdale, NY

Publications

The following District IV Members who had articles appear in NSTA Publications in March!

William David Burns from the Harrisburg, PA has his articel "Research Only Matters if You Do Research that Matters" appears in the Journal of College Science Teaching Point of View Column.

David M. Majerich, from Queens College - CUNY in Flishing, NY and Joseph S. Schmuckler, from Temple University in Philadelphia, PA authored their favorite demonstration "Demonstrating Indigo Carmine Oxidation-Reduction Reactions: A Choreography for Chemical Reactions" for the Journal of College Science Teaching.

"Independent Research Projects in General Chemical Classes as an Introduction to Peer-Reviewed Literature" was a feature article in the Journal of College Science Teaching and was written by Lorena Tribe from Penn State Perks, Reading, PA and Evan L. Cooper from the Analytical Laboratory Services in Middletown, PA.

Adrienne Alaie from Hunter College - CUNY authored "High Schieving Postbaccalaureate - Student Teaching Assistants" in Journal of College Science Teaching.

"If You Go Down to the Woods Today" appeared in the SCST Column in the Journal of College Science Teaching and was authored by Thomas Lord from Indiana University of PA, Indiana, PA.

The After the Bell Column in Science Scope included "Water harvesting II: Working Toward Being Green" written by Stephen J. Farenga and Daniel Ness from CERTA Research Center in New York and John A. Craven from Dowling College in Oakdale, NY.

Sharon Dotger from Syracuse University in Syracuse, NY had "Using Simple Machines to Levarge Learning" published in Science and Children.

NSTA News 

NSTA Launches $43 Million National Effort to Strengthen Science Education in the U. S.

The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) announced the launch of a $43 million, five-year effort to craete a national Center for Science Eductaion (CSE). CSE initiatives will promote science literacy, produce the next generation of science education standards, and create a state-of-the-art facility that will allow science educators nationwide to engage in leadership and content-based learning opportunities.

Senator John Glenn, former NASA astronaut and a lifelong champion of science education, will chair the $23 million external fundraising campaign. To date, more that $12 million has been pledged for the campaign highlighted by lead gifts from Agilent Technologies Foundation, Amgen Foundation, Bayer Corporation, Bechtel Jr. Foundation, Discovery Channel, GE Foundation, and Toyota Corporation. In addition, NSTA has committed to finance up to $20 million, nearly half of the funds needed, in support of this initiative.

The campaign will also fund CSE programs including:

  • The NSTA New Science Teacher Acadmy, designed to address science teacher attrition by providing professional development and mentoring support for early-career teachers;
  • The NSTA Learning Center, and internet portal created to provide science teachers with in-depth, science-content help, short courses, and quality face-toface web seminars and meetings;
  • The CSE Leadership Institute, offering workshops, seminars, and other high visible initiatives, including Sccience Matters, a public awareness and engagement campaign designed to rekindle a national sense of urgency about scinece education; and Science Anchors, a forward-thinking effort to identify core science concepts that will reflect a consensus on essential scince skills and knowledge necessary for twenty-first century learning.

NSTA will be celebrating the launch of the campaign next month during the NSTA National Conference on Science Education in Boston on March 29.

NSTA Board and Council Election Results

The 2008 NSTA election results are in and the following people have
been elected to serve on the NSTA Board or Council:

President-Elect: Pat Shane (formerly Pat Bowers) - Center for Math & Science Ed. UNC-Chapel Hill
Multicultural/Equity Division: Vanessa Westbrook - Science Program Coordinator, University of Texas at Austin
Preservice Division: David A. Wiley - Professor, University of Scranton
Research Division: Julie A. Luft - Professor, Arizona State University
District I Director: Marilyn A. Richardson
District VI Director: Gregory D. MacDougall
District VII Director: Melissa Miller
District XII Director: Hedi Baxter
District XIII Director: Pamela Christol
District XVIII Director: Charles (Chuck) Cohen

Did You Know?

NSTA Leadership Institute Goes Online

NSTA will be adopting a new and slightly different model for this year's Leadership Institute, normally held in early March here at NSTA headquarters. We'd like to help you build advocacy for vital science education issues over a longer period of time, and more continally, so we are going to provide the tools and resources you need for effective chapter management, leadership, and advocacy virtually instead of on-site at NSTA. We will be using a very effective tool called Elluminate Live!, which is completely web-based and includes voice features along with the standard web seminar tools, such as viewing presentations, chatting, asking questions of presenters, etc.

You will not need any additional technology other than a phone and a good Internet connection. Shortly, you will be provided with a link for the first Leadership Institute Web Seminar, to take place on March 19th, from 7:00 - 8:30 PM Eastern Time.

Membership Benefit

Are you a member of NSTA? Or thinking of joining? To see a listing of all the benefits of membership, download the following http://www.njsta.org/membership/individual.aspx 


All Members Are Invited

Executive Board and General Membership Meetings, contact Tom Smith

Upcoming Executive Board and General Membership Meetings

Executive board meetings are held on Wednesdays and will start promptly at 6:30 PM in Room 101 of the Waksman Institute Building on the Busch Campus of Rutgers University. Meetings end promptly at 8:45 PM (or earlier). Please contact us if you would like to attend an Executive Board meeting as a guest. All members are invited to become more involved.


Maitland P. Simmons Memorial Award - Summer 2008

Maitland P. Simmons Summer Workshops for Summer 2008 with a focus on Earth and Space Science

Brouchure for the Summer Workshops

Application form


October 2008

New Jersey Science Convention

10 Reasons You Should Attend the 2008 convention:

  1. great opportunity for PD hours  (9 hours per day)
  2. NJSTA/NSELA membership is included in the pre-registration fee
  3. over 250 vendor spaces full of the latest texts and materials for your classes
  4. over 200 workshops to select from over a two day period
  5. free materials offered at vendor/exhibitor booths
  6. door prize drawings at both the exhibit hall and the banquet
  7. learn about the latest techniques/technologies at our vendor and presenter sessions
  8. demonstration dens (demos) from both chemical and physical science teachers
  9. meet and greet your colleagues from around the state in a science friendly atmosphere
  10. find out more about what various state and professional agencies can do to help you in the classroom

Visit www.njsc-online.com


April 1 2008

NJSTA Nomination Form Due - if necessary, contact Nancy Miller or our President for an updated form
Click here to download the Nomination Form


REVISED STANDARDS

The New Jersey Core Curriculum Content Standards for Science. There are 10 standards, each of which has a number of identified strands.
Click here to see the Standards.
http://www.nj.gov/education/cccs/s5_science.htm

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