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The American Chemical Society (ACS) will be accepting applications for the 2018-2019 ACS-Hach Professional Development Grant starting October 15.
The grant supports high school chemistry teachers as they identify and pursue opportunities that can advance their professional development and enhance the teaching and learning of chemistry in the classroom. Teachers can request up to $1,500 to fund their professional development needs such as:
Website: www.acs.org/content/acs/en/funding-and-awards/hachprograms/acs-hach-professional-development-grant.html?_ga=2.129182604.1849019395.1539562095-576012347.1510774887
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The New Jersey Forest Fire Service invites students to create wildlife prevention messages and poster designs for Smokey Bear’s 75th Birthday Calendar Contest. The contest is being launched during Fire Prevention Week (October 7 – 13) and fire prevention season. School groups and home-schooled students can work on the posters through October. Logistics include:
WHO: Contest is open to New Jersey students in grades 1, 2 and 3. WHAT: A fire prevention-themed Smokey Bear Poster Coloring Contest that will produce winning posters for Smokey Bear’s 75th Birthday Calendar. WHEN: Contest is open through the month of October (Entry Deadline is October 31). WHERE: Contest rules are detailed in the attached flier (PDF) or by visiting: www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/fire/Smokey_bear_contest.html www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/fire/docs/FNL%20smokey%20bear%20calendar%20contest%20flyer.pdf HOW: Students must select one of the twelve monthly Wildfire Prevention Themes (listed on the contest flier) and design a poster for that theme. Teachers can submit up to three poster entries per classroom for the contest (one poster per student). Completed entries must be mailed to or dropped off at one of the Forest Fire Service’s Divisional Offices (for these locations visit www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/fire/contactus.html ) Winning posters will be included in a printed 2019 Smokey Bear Calendar with classrooms receiving a visit from Smokey Bear. For additional information about New Jersey’s Forest Fire Service, visit www.nj.gov/dep/parksandforests/fire/aboutus.html Download flyer: smokey_bear_calendar_contest_flyer.pdf This online course is for all educators from pre-K to 12th-grade, including teachers from all academic disciplines, administrators, curriculum specialists, and instructional coaches.
Teaching Students to Ask Their Own Questions: Best Practices in the Question Formulation Technique is suitable for all experience levels – whether you’ve used the Question Formulation Technique before or not. It features videos, readings, online discussions, individual learning experiences, and collaborative exercises with fellow educators. It requires 10 to 12 hours of work. Those who complete the course earn a certificate of completion from Professional Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. October 15 is the deadline to register for The Right Question Institute online course in partnership with the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Learn more and register: www.gse.harvard.edu/ppe/program/teaching-students-ask-their-own-questions-best-practices-question-formulation-technique?utm_campaign=Don%27t+Miss+Out+on+Your+Chance+to+Register+for+Online+Course+in+Partnership+with+Harvard+Graduate+School+of+Education+%28McE5Q8%29&utm_medium=email&_ke=eyJrbF9lbWFpbCI6ICJtcnNkekBzY2llbmNlY2xhc3Nyb29tLmNvbSIsICJrbF9jb21wYW55X2lkIjogImZtWEV4cyJ9&utm_source=HGSE+Opened+Email  Being a member of an NSTA Committee or Advisory Panels is a great way to connect with other science educators and give back to the profession. Applications are now being accepted through December 3rd. You can learn more about the responsibilities of each committee or advisory board by clicking on Standing Committees and Advisory Boards and Panels at https://www.nsta.org/about/governance/.
 The Knowles Teacher Initiative supports a national network of mathematics and science teachers who are collaborative, innovative leaders improving education for all students in the United States.
The Knowles Teaching Fellowship is an intensive and cohesive, five-year program that supports early-career, high school mathematics and science teachers in their efforts to develop teaching expertise and lead from the classroom. Application Deadline: November 25, 2018 For more information about the Teaching Fellows Program, visit: knowlesteachers.org/teaching-fellowship/teaching-fellows-program For application information, visit: knowlesteachers.org/teaching-fellowship/teaching-fellows-program/apply-for-a-fellowship News from STEMconnector
Food Rescuers, this year's National #DayOfDesign mission, tasks students with the mission to apply #STEM innovations to reduce food waste in their school cafeterias and communities. Click the link below to watch the #DayOfDesign2018 preview video and then sign up and download this free, easy-to-implement, NGSS-aligned, and fun design challenge for National STEM/STEAM Day this November! “This Mission reminds students that each of us has a role to play in solving complex global challenges at the local level,” said Erin White, Senior Director of Product Development & Research at STEMconnector. “It helps them to make the connection that what they learn in school can actually be applied in the world around them. That these are the skills adults use to solve actual problems. And hopefully that translates into lifelong interest in STEM and problem-solving.” Website: www.stemconnector.com/2018-national-day-of-design/
Grades 6–8
Save Fred! Students help Fred (a gummy worm) reach a life preserver (a gummy candy shaped like a life preserver) inside his capsized boat (an upside-down clear plastic cup) without falling off, using only four paper clips, and no hands! Grades K–8 FunScienceDemos—and Support Pages These short science demos depict core science ideas students need to know before high school and support the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). A companion site—FunScience Support—offers resources to help teachers extend learning and deepen students' science understandings. Grades 6–12 The Science of Baking This infographic offers simplified explanations of the science of how and why common baking ingredients transform into cookies, cakes, and other baked goods. Teachers can use this visual guide to help students understand what happens during the baking process. Find more free resources on NSTA's Freebies for Science Teachers page. As the science education community focuses on how to assess student learning under new science standards, the question of how to determine the quality of potential assessment tasks arises time and again. Today, Achieve is excited to release two new tools intended to assist educators in evaluating science assessment tasks to determine whether they are designed for three-dimensional science standards based on the Framework for K-12 Science Education, such as the Next Generation Science Standards.
The Science Task Prescreen is used to conduct a quick review of assessment tasks to identify any "red flags" - challenges commonly found in science assessment tasks - and determine whether a task is worth a more rigorous evaluation. The Science Task Screener is used to take a deeper dive into evaluating science assessment tasks. The Screener is organized around four key criteria, each with a set of indicators to help reviewers determine whether the criteria are met and a set of response forms for gathering and analyzing evidence, providing suggestions for improvement, and rating the task. The Screener builds off the criteria in the EQuIP Rubric for Science by more clearly specifying features for the assessment tasks embedded in lessons and units. If you have questions or are interested in professional development opportunities related to evaluating science assessment tasks, please contact ngss@achieve.org. You can also learn more about the broader science professional learning services that Achieve offers, including support for science tasks, here.  The Delaware Riverkeeper Network's Virtual Canoe Race is a fun and easy way for students to learn about watershed science, geography, and history and understand more about their own Delaware River Watershed. Classrooms sign up as a whole 'canoe' and students use teamwork to answer 10 questions a week for 6 weeks. Each right answer earns the team canoe miles that help them to virtually paddle down the length of the Delaware River on our live map. Boats that go the farthest wins prizes in the end!
Classrooms from all over the watershed participate, so this is a great way to demonstrate the vastness of our watershed and teach ecology. The race is designed so that you can easily add it in to an existing STEM curriculum as a quick supplemental exercise or as part of a larger unit. The Virtual Canoe Race is for classrooms with students aged 14 or younger. This is a great way for your young students to learn about their watershed in a fun and exciting way! If you cannot participate, please help us spread the word by sharing the race with others who would be interested. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network's annual Virtual Canoe Race to begins on October 1st and is a great learning tool for any classroom! Learn more and sign up today at http://bit.ly/VCR18! If you have any questions, please contact Connor Roth at canoerace@delawareriverkeeper.org. From NJDOE
The team at UW and CU Boulder is pleased to announce the publishing of a new ACESSE resource to support the process of selecting phenomena that can anchor units of instruction or be used in a scenario as part of a 3D assessment. Resource E: Selecting Anchoring Phenomena for Equitable Teaching http://stemteachingtools.org/pd/sessione This pair of workshops is designed to introduce you to the process of selecting phenomena that can anchor an entire unit that supports students’ 3D science learning or that can serve as a basis for a multi-component assessment task. This resource can also be used by individuals wanting to refine their teaching practice around phenomena based instruction. You may have heard a lot about phenomena, but you may also be wondering what exactly they are, and whether using phenomena is any different from how teachers teach today already. This learning experience will help you:
With respect to the assessment process, this resource supports the task of clarifying learning goals and eliciting evidence of student learning. Specifically, analyzing standards helps to clarify learning goals. In assessment, scenarios present phenomena to students, and then specific prompts are designed to elicit student understanding of core ideas, practices and crosscutting concepts. Once written as a scenario for an assessment, teachers can use the resources introduced in ACESSE Resource B to design specific prompts for their assessments (SEP Task Formats Tool, CCC Prompts Tool). This resource complements Resource C, in that it provides some ways to integrate tools to connect science instruction meaningfully to students’ everyday lives and cultural practices. This workshop has multiple segments, and it is broken into two sessions that last roughly three hours each, which can be organized as a full-day session or across multiple days. For those of you new to CSSS, ACESSE is a partnership between researchers at the University of Washington and the University of Colorado Boulder and the Council of State Science Supervisors. We are developing and testing resources to help create more coherent and equitable systems of state science education. The resources center on supporting equitable assessment practice and on development of state teams. There’s a link from the CSSS website, and all resources we have developed can be found here. You can follow us on Twitter at @ACESSE_Project. All of the resources are Creative Commons licensed and can be adapted and used by anyone to support the vision of equitable teaching and learning articulated in A Framework for K-12 Science Education. NJDOE Science Coordinator, Michael Heinz, created parent information pages about the science standards. Schools are welcome to use them as they are or even rebrand them as their own.
 October 21 – 27 "Chemistry is Out of This World."
The North Jersey Section, ACS, is hosting an Illustrated Poem Contest for NCW. Details are on the njacs.org website. The contest is for K – 12 students. There are cash prizes for winners and their teachers. The deadline is Thursday, November 1, 2018. Our outreach event celebrating NCW, ChemExpo 2018, will be held at Liberty Science Center on Saturday, October 20, from 10 am – 2 pm with lots of hands-on-activities. Cost is admission to the Center. Download Flier Download Entry Form AMTA acknowledges that summer Modeling Workshops may not work for all people who are interested in taking a workshop.
For the spring of 2019, we have scheduled 3 distance learning courses, based on the feedback of almost 500 members who recently completed a survey. The workshops start in January and costs are $825 for non-members (includes a one-year membership) or $750 for current members. Optional graduate credits from Dominican University is available ($100 each, up to 3 credits per workshop). Courses require a minimum number of registrants by December 21th in order to run. Enrollment is limited. Details on the courses is available in the registration forms:
New complimentary webinar from Science:
Deciphering aging: Linking senescence with DNA damage and the cell cycle You are invited to hear our panel of experts on September 19, 2018, in this live, online educational seminar. For more information and complimentary registration visit: webinar.sciencemag.org Date: Wednesday, September 19, 2018 Time: 12 noon Eastern, 9 a.m. Pacific, 5 p.m. UK, 6 p.m. Central Europe Duration: 1 hour About This Webinar Senescence describes the complex cellular response to stress that includes irreversible arrest of the cell cycle and thus prevention of the proliferation of defective or damaged cells. This effect makes senescence a key component in the body’s tumor suppression response and initialization of repair pathways, providing a health-promoting mechanism. Conversely, senescent cells can accumulate in the affected tissues of persons with age-related diseases such as dementias, arthritis, atherosclerosis, and others—such accumulation is considered a hallmark of aging that drives many age-related pathologies. These seemingly contradictory roles make cellular senescence an interesting research target for developing cancer suppression therapies as well as improving health maintenance and extending the human lifespan. During the webinar, the viewers will: • Gain insight into the processes by which senescent cells contribute to tumor suppression • Understand the impact of senescence on age-related dysfunction and chronic disease, and be introduced to potential therapies targeting senescent cells • Have the opportunity to ask questions during the live broadcast. Participants: Sheila A. Stewart, Ph.D. Washington University in St. Louis St. Louis, MO James L. Kirkland, M.D., Ph.D. Mayo Clinic Rochester, MN Register at: webinar.sciencemag.org Questions? E-mail: webinar@aaas.org. Produced by the Science/AAAS Custom Publishing Office and sponsored by Cell Signaling Technology. Supporting Students in Meaningful Engagement in Three-Dimensional Learning Through NGSS Storylines9/7/2018 From NJDOE
“Supporting Students in Meaningful Engagement in Three-Dimensional Learning Through NGSS Storylines” is a CSSS webinar Michael Novak (from Northwestern University) and Misty Richmond (from Chicago Public Schools). They shared the work they have done creating and implementing 3-Dimensional Storylines, discussed their overall process for planning and creating storylines, and shared two example storylines. Storylines are fundamental, but very complex, organizational structures necessary for creating coherent units of science instruction. http://cosss.org/CSSSWebinars The site offers two downloadable storylines:
OpenSciEd is working to create a complete set of open-source, K-12 science instructional materials designed for the Next Generation Science Standards. Phase two began last week, and the group is seeking teams to complete the middle school curricula. NSTA Executive Director David Evans serves on the Advisory Board. Learn more about the project here.
Request for Qualifications Download the RFQ OpenSciEd plans to offer an informational webinar about the Request for Qualifications on Friday, September 14, 2018 from 3:00-4:00pm EST. To register for the webinar, please click here. Miami University’s Project Dragonfly is accepting applications for 2019 Earth Expeditions graduate courses that offer extraordinary experiences in 16 countries throughout the world. http://EarthExpeditions.MiamiOH.edu/18-19_news
Earth Expeditions can build toward the Global Field Program (GFP), a master's degree that combines summer field courses worldwide with web learning communities so that students can complete the GFP master's part-time from anywhere in the United States or abroad. http://GFP.MiamiOH.edu/18-19_news Project Dragonfly also offers the Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) master's degree that combines web instruction from Miami University with experiential learning and field study through several AIP Master Institutions in the U.S. Applications for Miami's 2019 cohorts are being accepted now with place-based experiences provided at zoos in Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, New York, San Diego, Seattle, and St. Louis. http://AIP.MiamiOH.edu/18-19_news Graduate tuition for all programs is greatly reduced because of support from Miami University.  The Next Generation Science Standards turn science learning on its head—in a good way. Amplify Science is excited to share our new ebook, What's So Phenomenal About Phenomena?, an introduction to phenomenon-based learning and the NGSS.
The power of phenomena lies in their capacity to bring real life into the classroom. Amplify Science takes a closer look at the powerful role phenomenon-based teaching and learning play in the new standards—and how you can bring them into your classroom. Girls Who Code would like to start more new free after school Clubs in NJ. We are a leading national non-profit the mission of which is to close the gender gap in tech. Our free Clubs are for students in grades 3-12. To start a Club, you just need a sponsor (like a school or library), a facilitator (someone over 18 to run the Club, no CS experience required), computers and internet.  To apply, go to www.girlswhocode.com.
For more information, contact Eve Balick at eve.balick@girlswhocode.com. Download Flier  The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is pleased to announce that the application for the 2018 Governor’s Environmental Excellence Awards is available. Completed applications must be received at DEP by October 5.
The Governor's Environmental Excellence Awards Program is New Jersey’s premier awards program for recognizing outstanding environmental performance, programs and projects throughout the state. These awards recognize individuals, businesses, institutions, communities, organizations, educators, youth and others who have made significant contributions to environmental protection in New Jersey. Since the awards program was established in 2000, 170 winners have been recognized. Nominations can be submitted for the following categories: Clean Air; Healthy Ecosystems and Habitats; Water Resources; Land Conservation; Healthy and Sustainable Communities; Healthy and Sustainable Businesses; and Innovative Technology. In addition, the category for “Environmental Education” has been divided into two awards: one for educator-led initiatives and one for projects that are student-led or have succeeded due to a high level of student involvement. The Governor's Environmental Excellence Awards Program is sponsored by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the New Jersey Infrastructure Bank and the New Jersey Corporation for Advanced Technology, in partnership with the New Jersey State League of Municipalities. Award winners will be honored at a ceremony in December, to be held in or near Trenton. The 2018 application and awards information can be found at www.nj.gov/dep/awards. Completed applications must be received at DEP by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 5. For questions about the application or awards program call Tanya Oznowich at (609) 984-9802 or email Tanya.Oznowich@dep.nj.gov North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) is searching for another moderator for the E-STEM Education Group on eePRO. Moderators are responsible for posting relevant content, periodically writing blog posts, and initiating and engaging in discussions with Group members. Moderators are paid an honorarium of $700 per year. Contact Maxwell at maxwell@naaee.org if interested.
For more information, visit: www.stemconnector.com/love-e-stem-join-eepro-an-online-community-of-environmental-education-professionals-and-become-the-e-stem-group-moderator/ Washington, DC — On Augist 19,, 2018, the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) announced it is opening registration for the 2019 Aviation Design Challenge, an annual competition GAMA hosts to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education in U.S. high schools through aviation curriculum and a virtual fly-off.
“This will be our seventh consecutive year hosting this life-changing competition, and it will be our biggest one yet with our expansion of the school registration cap to 150 slots,” said GAMA President and CEO Pete Bunce. “This program is a valuable tool for us to not only help educate the nation’s students about the science of flight and airplane design, but also tell them about all the exciting career options that lie ahead for them in the general aviation industry.” GAMA will provide registered schools complimentary “Fly to Learn” curriculum that is developed in alignment with national STEM standards, along with free X-Plane software, which is the world’s most comprehensive and powerful flight simulator for personal computers. Teachers will guide students through the principles of the science and engineering of flight and airplane design, completing the curricula in approximately six weeks in the classroom or in four weeks through an accelerated program. The teams will then apply that knowledge to modify an airplane design and complete a mission in a virtual fly-off using the software, which GAMA judges will score based on application of what the team learned, and performance parameters. The winning team will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to experience general aviation manufacturing firsthand during the summer of 2019. The nationwide competition has attracted growing interest each year since its inception in 2013. In 2018, 130 schools across 39 states registered for the competition — a 37 percent increase in participation from 2017. Because of the competition, several past winners and entrants are now pursuing careers in aviation. To learn more about the competition or to register, please visit the GAMA Aviation Design Challenge webpage. For additional information, please contact Sarah McCann, GAMA Director of Communications, at +1 (315) 796-1560 or smccann@gama.aero. News from STEMconnector
Learning shouldn't stop after school ends, and the women of YouTube's STEM channels prove that. These aren't the boring science lessons that you had to sit through in stuffy high school classrooms or massive college lecture halls. There are no tests, no grades, and no assignments. You will, however, need a sense of curiosity and a love for all things science. Read now: mashable.com/article/stem-youtube/#zlg8EHxGYOq7 Register today for a web seminar focused on pre-service teachers. Science methods professors will learn how NSTA can help them enhance and extend their pre-service teachers' content and pedagogical knowledge.
Interested in joining Science Scope's Manuscript Review Panel? If so, please email a copy of your resume or a short note describing your background to managing editor Ken Roberts at kroberts@nsta.org.
Science Scope is NSTA's peer-reviewed journal for middle level and junior high school science teachers. |
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Adela Dziekanowski njstawebmaster@gmail.com Please submit your news about science education events through the Calendar page. To submit an article or new for the NJSTA Newsletter, contact our Editor, Megan Stamer. |
