Integrated Science, Technology and Music

Thanks to well-known educator Beth Reese for the link to this exceptional example of STEM and the Arts:

Young Women in Computing Award

The NCWIT Award for Aspirations in Computing recognizes young women in high school for their computing-related achievements and interests and generates visibility for women’s participation in computing-related pursuits.  With one application, high school girls will be considered for the award on both the national and the affiliate levels.



https://www.aspirations.org/participate/high-school

Ways to get involved?

1.  Encourage high school girls to apply by distributing this email to your network.
2.  Volunteer to review applications.
3  Help organize an awards event.
4. Join our growing Aspirations in Computing Network of more than 10,000 high school girls interested in computing and technology.

Questions:  Elizabeth Vandenburg - Evandenburg@verizon.net

Digital Learning Day - Free Online Course

Have you heard about Digital Learning Day? It’s a nationwide celebration of innovative teachers and common-sense, effective applications of digital learning in America’s schools that support educators in the effective use of technology to improve student outcomes. No matter your comfort level or the amount of technology you use, Digital Learning Day offers ideas, lesson plans, and ways to celebrate the potential of digital learning. Add you name to the email list in support of digital learning in public schools. Signing up takes less than thirty seconds!   Join in the Digital Learning Day email list using this link (free, no commitment):  Digital Learning Day in Washington, DC on February 5, 2014. ============================ Free Online Course! Are you interested in connecting with colleagues around the country and world in the free, Massive Open Online Course for Educators (MOOC-Ed) designed to help district and school leaders plan for the effective use of technology? Planning for the K–12 Digital Learning Transition MOOC-Ed, offered by the Friday Institute at NC State University and the Alliance for Excellent Education, will begin on Monday, September 30 and continue for eight weeks. Sign up here to participate. Registration is open and FREE! This course is designed for busy district, school, and teacher leaders and teams. You will find the facilitation to be structured enough to help guide you through the content, but respectful of your demanding schedule. This MOOC-Ed will help you understand the potential of digital learning in K–12 schools; assess progress and set future goals for their schools or districts; and develop a plan to achieve those goals. Click here for details, a course outline, and registration information.   Friend on Facebook Follow on Twitter Add Your Event Tell us how you are celebrating Digital Learning Day. Whether it's trying a new lesson, creating a video, or hosting a showcase, we want to know. Share your event now!

Virginia Governor's STEM Summit

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GOVERNOR'S NEXT GENERATION
WORKFORCE AND EDUCATION WEEKEND

 
The Governor's Next Generation Weekend which includes:
 

Governor's STEM Summit: 
Friday September 27

Education Innovation Reception:
Friday evening September 27

High School of the Future Start Up weekend: 
Friday evening and
All day Saturday September 27&28

For information, prices and to register click here

For a description of the events click here

View flyer 
 

Great Resources for the GWM Parkway / C&O Canal

• Home 
• Parks as Classrooms 
• Professional Development 
• iDistance Learning

Come and experience your America in a new way

The National Park Service offers distance learning, field trips and curriculum materials in addition to accredited professional development opportunities for teachers.

The parks are America's greatest classroom, telling our stories, and conserving the best natural spaces the nation has to offer.

Operating big Caterpillar dozers

There's a surprise around 1:30.

Next Generation Science Standards

View the NGSS online HERE.

From the SmartBlog on Education:

How NGSS will revitalize science education

By Doug Haller on September 4th, 2013 | Comments(2)

If widely adopted, the Next Generation Science Standards should break the strangle hold standardized tests have had on current teaching and learning. The last decade of science education suffocated under the weight of standardized tests. Classrooms and their inhabitants stagnated as teachers taught to tests and students absorbed content without understanding the nature of and relationships between STEM disciplines. Built on three pillars — practices, crosscutting concepts and core ideas — the NGSS will breath new life into science education.

Two NGSS dimensions, practices and crosscutting concepts, provide educators and students the opportunity to engage in authentic learning. States and districts that adopt the NGSS free teachers to create and facilitate learning through engagements designed to integrate practices and concepts. By coupling these dimensions, the NGSS shift the vision of a classroom from a place to prepare for a test to a place to actively engage in science and engineering while applying core ideas from multiple disciplines.

Friday, September 20 SPARKFUN Bus Tour

Click HERE for a larger, printable document.

Young Students Against Bad Science

From the New York Times Education special issue:

Your parents may have had to walk uphill, both ways, to get to school. But as ideological warfare threatens the teaching of climate science and evolution in many schools, it is clear that today’s students face their own obstacles on the road to a respectable science education — and some are speaking out.

 For his high school senior project, Zack Kopplin started a campaign to repeal the Louisiana Science Education Act, a 2008 law passed in his home state that opens a “back door” to teaching creationism in public schools, he says. Currently taking a year off from Rice University to work and travel, Mr. Kopplin, 20, is widely recognized as the state’s leading voice against science denial education. He has expanded his campaign to fight similar laws across the country, as well as the use of public vouchers to send students to religious schools. He argues regularly, if unsuccessfully, before the Louisiana Senate to strike down the law, and his April appearance on “Real Time With Bill Maher,” in which he faced off against a conservative economist, Stephen Moore, went viral.

“I’m proud to be from Louisiana, but I don’t want people to laugh at me when I go out of state. ‘Oh that’s the guy from the stupid state with the creationism law,’ ” Mr. Kopplin said.