Below is the latest news and announcements for science and science teachers. 

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One of our own, honored at the Literacy Design Collaborative Celebration

You may remember The Literacy Design Collaborative, or LDC which is sponsored by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.  LDC was designed to incorporate literacy into middle and high school content areas. Teachers use the LDC framework as a common chassis to create LDC tasks, modules, and courses designed to teach students to meet the new Common Core Literacy Standards (CCSS) while also enabling students to meet content demands at high levels of performance. In the spring of 2011, area science and social studies teachers from local schools (including science teachers from Wattsburg) attended a 3 day LDC Training at IU5, instructed by Erin Eighmy and Laura Yaeger.  Teachers developed a plug and play task formulated around the Common Core State Standards for Literacy in History/Social Studies, Science, and Technical Subjects that fit into their spring content area.  The task required students to read items from multiple sources and create a written product after a rigorous, engaging classroom experience. You may remember our discussion about LDC from our 2011 STEM Math and Science Academy where Erin Eighmy shared with us the design of the LDC task to help ready our students for college and career-ready writing.  Some of our group’s teachers chose to design a task as an artifact for last years MSP requirements.

 

All of the tasks produced from that roll-out group across Pennsylvania were reviewed, edited, and vetted by a team of educators that included PDE representatives, content area teachers, English/reading teachers, and a librarian. During the review process, science teachers worked with science tasks; social studies teachers worked with social studies tasks. A librarian representative reviewed all materials and resources while recommending additional resources, where appropriate.  Each task was analyzed for standards alignment, rigor, appropriateness of sources, etc.

On October 17th our own Julie Canter was invited to participate in the Literacy Design Collaborative Celebration during the Fall session of the Secondary Literacy Council (SLC) at IU5.  There, she showcased her efforts with LDC and the selection of her task,Importance of Wetlands asaSAS portal exemplar.  Julie shared with the group about writing the LDC task, presenting and preparing students to complete the task and her students’ work.  If you get a chance, please congratulate Julie on her prestigious recognition by the Pennsylvania Department of Education as well as her dedication to literacy in the science classroom.  Below is a photo at the event. Cristian Chappa from the Perseus House Charter School of Excellence was also honored for his exemplarQuantum Physics: The Uncertainty Principle. 

 

Wattsburg students speak with astronaut in space

 McCracken, S. (2012, October 20). Wattsburg students speak with astronaut in space. Erie Times-News

 

 

WATTSBURG -- Astronaut Sunita Williams might have been more than 200 miles away from the surface of the Earth on Friday, but that didn't mean she couldn't answer questions from students at Seneca High School. A dozen Wattsburg Area School District students had the chance to talk directly to Williams for just over 10 minutes Friday through the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station -- or ARISS -- program.  The event was organized locally by Paul Semrau, an English and biology teacher at Seneca. The 12 students chosen to ask questions were from Seneca, Wattsburg Area Middle School and Wattsburg Area Elementary Center.  Those students were picked from a pool of almost 60 who applied to ask questions based on their questions and a project they completed.  Those projects could be essays, collages or some other way of representing why their question was important.

 

Third-grader Maya Morrison, 8, was the first to ask a question Friday. She wondered what an astronaut might pack for a trip into space.  "I wanted to ask that because I couldn't find it on the Internet," Maya said.  Williams answered that she didn't pack much, mostly small things like jewelry and a photo of her family.  Maya's project was a suitcase filled with what she thought an astronaut needs.  Her younger brother Corey Morrison, a 7-year-old in first grade, asked what astronauts are learning from a new fish habitat.  Williams told him, along with a crowd of 500 students in Seneca's Elwin Rose Auditorium, that the fish will help us understand the physical effects of going into space because they are transparent.

 

Semrau said he found out about the ARISS program through the Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit.  He said it was worth pursuing because he saw it as a "real project with real meaning" for students.  "Many of our students didn't believe it could really happen," Semrau said.  Less than 100 schools and organizations across the globe have participated in the radio question-and-answer sessions. The program is sponsored by NASA, the American Radio Relay League and the Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation.  Williams is the commander of International Space Station Expedition 33.  She is a native of Euclid, Ohio, and a graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., and has logged more than 3,000 flight hours in 30 different aircraft.

 

One of the students asking questions, Seneca senior Samantha Shofestall, 17, is hoping to follow in Williams' footsteps.  Shofestall has applied to the U.S. Naval Academy. She said she hopes to eventually be a pilot and engineer and could see herself pursuing a career as an astronaut.  Shofestall asked Williams how space travel has affected her worldview.  "When you look down on the planet, it's so beautiful and peaceful," Williams replied. "It makes you wonder what people are even fighting about because we have such a nice planet down there."  Shofestall said she hopes Friday's program teaches the younger students to love science like she does.  "That's something they can share for the rest of their life," Shofestall said. "Hopefully it sparks an interest in science for them."  Shofestall might be right. After Friday's program, Maya Morrison said she'd like to one day travel to space.  Semrau agreed that it would help spur interest for younger students.  "Today is all about planting seeds," Semrau said.

 

  

I have also included a few links that have helped keep me up to date over the years in the ever expanding knowledge of science.

Check these out...