President Obama on Computer Science Week

Downloadable version of NGSS

Download the NGSS for free at NAP.edu

Since its release in 2013, the print edition of Next Generation Science Standards: For States, By States has been used by tens of thousands of educators and curriculum planners in school districts across the country.  Today, it was announced that you can download a PDF of the complete book – containing all the official standards, connections, and appendixes – as a complement to the print edition. Furthermore,

NASA's Pathways Intern Employment Program

Job Title: NASA's Pathways Intern Employment Program

Department: National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Agency: Langley Research Center

Job Announcement Number: LA15I0002

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/388590400

SALARY RANGE:	$44,615.00 to $67,161.00 / Per Year
OPEN PERIOD:	Tuesday, December 9, 2014 to Tuesday, December 16, 2014
SERIES & GRADE:	GS-0899-7/9
POSITION INFORMATION:	Multiple Schedules - Internships
PROMOTION POTENTIAL: 9
DUTY LOCATIONS:	1 vacancy in the following location: Hampton, VA View Map
WHO MAY APPLY:	U.S. citizens who are enrolled or accepted for enrollment pursuing a Master's or PhD in Aerospace Engineering, Chemical Engineering, Materials Engineering, Chemistry, Applied Sciences or Physics on at least a half-time basis in accredited educational institutions.
SECURITY CLEARANCE:	Not Applicable
SUPERVISORY STATUS:	No

JOB SUMMARY:

The NASA Pathways Intern Program provides students with the opportunity to explore NASA careers and

Tree planting help needed in Arlington

A message from Vincent Verweij:

The Arlington Tree Stewards has had a great response for the planting this weekend, but they still have some slots open. Here are the details and the link:

http://caseytrees.org/event/volunteer-penrose-civic-association-community-tree-planting/


Join Casey Trees and the City of Arlington as we add 27 trees to Butler Holmes Park (101 S Barton St).

Requirements:

Summer opportunity for current 8th and 9th graders

Building Leaders for Advancing Science and Technology

BLAST Web Page 

Fun, Excitement, Innovation

The Building Leaders for Advancing Science and Technology (BLAST) is a partnership between the Virginia Space Grant Consortium, Virginia Tech, the University of Virginia (UVA), and the Commonwealth of Virginia.  BLAST will offer an exciting, on-campus, summer STEM experience for current 8th and 9th grade students from Virginia middle and high schools, private schools and homeschooled.  Offered FREE to students, BLAST will bring STEM alive through a series of innovative experiences led by faculty and staff, and designed to spark interest in STEM opportunities.  Faculty demonstrations will showcase some out-of-the-ordinary science and engineering results with the goal to increase student curiosity.

Students will have an opportunity to choose from a session at Virginia Tech, July 12-15, 2015 or one of two sessions at the University of Virginia, July 26-29 or August 2-5. 

Transportation to and from Virginia Tech and the University of Virginia is the responsibility of each family.

Make your own micro-crossbow

Inspired by the Mockingjay?  Make your own micro-crossbow that shoots flaming projectiles.





Image from the video:

Four Arlington Robotics Teams going to State Championship

Four Arlington robotics teams will be going to the First Lego League (FLL) State Championship in Harrisonburg on Dec 6-7.

• Jefferson Middle School
• Williamsburg Middle School
• Arlington Science Focus Elementary School; and 
• a local family team   

FLL is for students in grades 4-8 using the Lego NXT platform.  Learn more at http://www.va-dcfll.org/

Some teams need sponsors to help with travel.  To start a robotics team at your school or facility, or sponsor a team, contact Jim.Egenrieder or go here

will i. am promoting STEM

from Eric Iverson in a LinkedIn discussion:

Good stuff: pop culture icon delivering a strong message, with no "geek" or "pipeline" references... Eric Iversen Learning and Communications for STEM Outreach Programs will.i.am Sings the Praises of STEM - The pop music heavyweight is challenging America’s students... will.i.am Sings the Praises of STEM - STEM Education News will.i.am Sings the Praises of STEM - The pop music heavyweight is challenging America’s students to get excited about science, technology, engineering and math.

READ MORE HERE.

Strategies for Increasing Diversity in STEM Learning Environments

DESCRIPTION

The ITEST program supports projects that provide technology-rich environments that help prepare youth, particularly from groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM, to enter the STEM workforce. A challenge to successfully delivering STEM education programming is the continued participation of diverse program participants, who may face social or external pressures or barriers in their immediate environment that may limit their attendance. During this webinar we will hear from ITEST projects that are developing innovative program models to successfully recruit, retain, and engage youth from underrepresented communities in authentic STEM learning experiences. 

Presenters: 

• Sally Stevens with the iSTEM Project will share strategies for engaging Hispanic youth in STEM including (1) an innovative mentoring program, (2) culturally themed STEM topics, and (3) a hybrid model of “flash” STEM activities paired with fieldtrips.
• Michael Evans with Studio STEM will share how their project is using fundamental concepts in energy conservation and sustainability through an informal design-based studio to engage middle grade students in STEM.
• Anika Ward and Joseph Adamji with Bits-2-Bites will share strategies for recruiting youth from diverse backgrounds and how to keep them engaged.  They used computational thinking to address nutrition and food justice issues.

Register for this Event

You must have an account to register for events.

• Log In  or   Create an Account

Data Literacy in Elementary Schools

from the Washington Post's On I.T. blog:

By Mohana Ravindranath November 16 at 12:24 PM

Elementary school teacher Lisa Parisi is trying to teach her students a new kind of literacy.

By the time fifth-graders enter her class at Denton Avenue School in New Hyde Park, NY., they are about 10 years old and have developed basic reading, writing, and math skills. They are less comfortable, Parisi found, handling data.

Parisi is part of a growing movement of educators creating lesson plans to teach students to collect and analyze data — even in subjects outside numbers-intensive math and science. She hopes to prepare them to eventually fill the shortage of qualified science, technology, engineering and math professionals, but also to derive opinions from measurable, real-world data.

The United States faces a shortage of between 140,000 and 190,000 professionals with analytical expertise, and 1.5 million managers and analysts who can make decisions based on big data analysis, according to research by McKinsey, the management consultancy. Although the number of data-related graduate and undergraduate programs in the United States has grown rapidly in the past couple of years, there has been less interest in data programs in schools, said Michael Chui, a McKinsey Global Institute partner.

Last year, 361,000 high school seniors in the United States took the Advanced Placement calculus exam; less than half that number took the AP statistics exam, Chui and McKinsey Global Institute Director James Manyika noted in a report.

“It makes sense for us to be thinking about education, starting in early childhood, about concepts such as the difference between correlation and causation, what it means to have a bias as you think about data, conditional probability. These are things we as humans don’t naturally do . . . these are learned [concepts],” Chui said in an interview. He added that curricula should teach students about the realistic limitations of data sets — extraneous information, or sampling error, for instance.

Parisi’s class is studying governments, so she asks students to analyze data sets reflecting state and national policy, she said. For the past few weeks they have

Reminder - STEM Bridge Scholarship

Community College
STEM Bridge Scholarship Opportunity  2015 – 2016

As part of the STEM Takes Flight at Virginia’s Community Colleges initiative, Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) is offering a competitive scholarship opportunity for community college students majoring in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) disciplines at any campus in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). These $5,000 scholarships are competitive awards based on academic merit.

The Community College STEM Bridge Scholar (CCBS) award will provide students with $2,000 in their freshman year (spring semester 2015) and then an additional $3,000 in their sophomore year as long as the student maintains at least a 2.7 GPA and meets other requirements of the award. This scholarship is based on academic merit and potential for a successful career in a STEM field. CCBS will help bridge students to next steps in higher education or employment through coaching and mentoring by VSGC staff, four-year college faculty, and by upper classmen. A series of virtual meetings and attendance at the Consortium’s annual Student Research Conference in April are also

Imagine how this could work for government and schools!

How Google Works from Eric Schmidt

Noblis Internships for undergrads

Noblis is now accepting applications for our Summer Internship Program!

from Jessica Thigpen, PHRLead Employee Relations, EEO and Diversity Strategist at Noblis, VP, Diversity at NOVA SHRM

Summer Internship Program 

Summer Internship Program

Join Us

A summer at Noblis is a summer well spent. If you are a student who is looking for good pay, valuable real-world experience, and the ability to apply your coursework, Noblis is the place for you.

Arlington and Falls Church make top 100 school districts nationwide

WASHINGTON (WJLA) – Two school districts in Virginia have made Niche’s 2015 list of 100 Best School Districts in America.

(Full List of 100 Best School Districts in America)

Arlington County Public Schools was ranked 38th while Falls Church City Public Schools came in at 90th on the list.





The top two school districts came from New York, Edgemont Union Free School District in Greenburgh Town and Jericho Union Free School District. Tredyffrin-Easttown School District in Tredyffrin Township, Pennsylvania rounded out the top three.

Niche looked at over 8,000 school districts to compile the list and evaluated them using student survey responses about everything from academics to extracurriculars to resources.
The top five districts in the Washington, D.C. area, according to Niche's rankings, are: Arlington County, Falls Church City, Loudoun County, Fairfax County and Montgomery County Public Schools.

Life Sciences Salary Survey 2014

Good life science jobs may pay less than physical sciences and engineering, but the work is fascinating, the salaries are still okay, there are more jobs (although more competition) and the demand will continue to grow as baby boomers get older and feeding the world gets more challenging.  More (full-size) graphs here.  

More (full-size) here.  

Arlington Tech discussions go public

from INSIDENOVA Education section:

Arlington school officials start to roll out concept of tech academy

Posted: Wednesday, October 29, 2014 12:00 pm

by SCOTT McCAFFREY, Staff Writer | 0 comments

Sun Gazette: Arlington School Board member Abby Raphael.

With so many plates spinning in the air simultaneously, the last thing School Board members may need at the moment is another contentious community controversy.

So they’re trying to get the word out – now – about the possibilities that exist to create a “tech academy” at the Arlington Career Center starting with a class of 40 freshmen in the 2016-17 school year.

“There are many of us who are champing at the bit to get this going,” said School Board member Nancy Van Doren, but she voiced concern that the idea, which has received extensive internal discussion, needs to get out to the broader community.

It’s time to “begin to get people to understand where we’re going,” Van Doren said. “Let’s show people what the vision is, let’s show them what kind of money we’re talking about.”

The issue came before the School Board Oct. 22 not for action, but as part of a plan to include a description it in the school system’s 2015-16 program of studies. School officials also are asking for permission to add a counselor who would be responsible for promoting the program to middle-school students and their parents.

TandemNSI Challenge - 3D printable robots

from ARLnow's Arlington Agenda:

Competitive Briefing Event for  CTTSO 3D Printable Small Robot Challenge Category: Forum / Lecture

November 05, 2014

6:00 pm - 9:00 pm

1000 Wilson Blvd., 31st Floor, Arlington, VA 22209

Arlington , Virginia 22209

Maps/Directions | Website | Email

The Combating Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO) uses technology challenges to meet qualified non-traditional performers who can help solve national security problems. The current CTTSO challenge is seeking “solvers” to develop a written proposal and experimental proof-of-concept for a 3D printable, small robot to assist in bomb disposal. TandemNSI is creating this opportunity for “solvers” to meet CTTSO decision makers and get their questions answered before materials are due on November 27th. The CTTSO panel will outline their innovation strategy and clarify what they look for in a written proposal. Attending this event will put your company at a competitive advantage.

A little push-back in New York

from the Huffington Post:

Alan Singer  Social studies educator, Hofstra University, my opinions, of course, are my own

Common Core and the End of History

Posted: 10/27/2014 1:50 pm EDT    

The End of History and the Last Man is a book by Francis Fukuyama based on a 1989 essay called "The End of History?" Fukuyama argued that the end of the Cold War, the collapse of Communism, and what he perceived of as the triumph of Western liberal democracy and capitalism, signaled the end of human cultural transformation. It signaled the end of history and the process of historical change. 

Since then, in the face of emerging conflict between the West and the Islamic world and global economic stagnation, Fukuyama, a neo-conservative commentator, has backtracked. Among other things, he challenged the Bush administration's idea that the U.S. could somehow export democracy and American values to the rest of the world.

Fukuyama's shift, however, does not seem to have affected the New York State Board of Regents. The governing body regulating education in the state recently voted once again to de-emphasize the study of history in the state curriculum. On Monday October 20, 2014, the Regents, as part of their effort to promote new national Common Core standards and mystically prepare students for non-existing 21st century technological careers, voted unanimously that students did not have to pass both United States and Global History exams in order to graduate from high school and maintained that they were actually raising academic standards.

GIT: Sharing our Success Event

Sharing Our Success - NoVa

Update:  This event is filled to capacity, and no longer taking registrations.

Driving Distance: Maryland Outdoor Education Training

Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education Green Schools Training

November 5, 6, or 10

Interested in learning about Sustainable Schools in Maryland? Are you applying to be a green school? Would you like to strengthen environmental education in your local community? The Maryland Association for Environmental and Outdoor Education (MAEOE) is hosting a FREE Fall Green Leader/Green School Training.

This workshop will review the Maryland Green Schools 2014­-2015 Application and the connection with Environmental Literacy. This is a workshop for those who are interested in becoming a Green Leader or getting a detailed understanding of the Green School Application.

DATES:

November 5, 2014 (Wed. 4:30PM ­ 7:30PM )­ MAEOE Office, Jessup, MD,
November 6, 2014 (Thu. 4:30PM ­ 7:30PM )­ Chesapeake College, Wye Mills, MD, or
November 10, 2014 (Mon. 4:30PM ­ 7:30PM )­ Pearlstone Center,  Reisterstown, MD. PLEASE NOTE: No outside food is allowed at the Pearlstone Center, but snacks will be provided.

Click here to sign up or for more information. Space is limited.

The Hour of Code is Coming

Open-heart surgery

Our hospital partners provide many opportunities for students to witness procedures, but can usually accommodate only 15 students at a time. Here's a video for sharing with everyone.

Drawing circles

Inherit the Wind - Georgetown University

Short notice, there's a student production of Inherit the Wind, the Lawrence and Lee play inspired by the Scopes trial of 1925, at Georgetown University.

Performances are taking place at October 16-18, 2:00 p.m., October 19, and 8:00 p.m. October 22-25, at Stage III of Poulton Hall.  1421 37th St. NW in Washington DC. 

Tickets are $12 for the general public, $8 for students. For further
information, visit:
http://georgetownvoice.com/2014/10/16/mask-bauble-calls-inherit-the-wind-to-the-stand-delivers-expert-testimony/

http://performingarts.georgetown.edu/

New Report: STEM Education Supporting Food & Agriculture

A new report released today identifies a growing gap between the supply of new graduates trained in agriculture-related STEM fields and the demand for young professionals in related roles by global food and agriculture employers. 

The report recommends that the food and agriculture industries work closely with educational institutions on closing the employment gap necessary to sustainably feed an expected global population of nine billion people by 2050. The report, released today at the World Food Prize 2014 Borlaug Dialogue, includes a detailed analysis of university enrollment and workforce trends in six agriculture fields: agricultural business and management, agriculture mechanization and engineering, animal sciences, plant and soil science, food science and technology and other life sciences. 

2015-2016 VCCS STEM Scholarships

Community College STEM Bridge Scholarship Opportunity  2015 – 2016

As part of the STEM Takes Flight at Virginia’s Community Colleges initiative, Virginia Space Grant Consortium (VSGC) is offering a competitive scholarship opportunity for community college students majoring in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) disciplines at any campus in the Virginia Community College System (VCCS). These $5,000 scholarships are competitive awards based on academic merit.

The Community College STEM Bridge Scholar (CCBS) award will provide students with $2,000 in their freshman year (spring semester 2015) and then an additional $3,000 in their sophomore year as long as the student maintains at least a 2.7 GPA and meets other requirements of the award. This scholarship is based on academic merit and potential for a successful career in a STEM field. CCBS will help bridge students to next steps in higher education or employment through coaching and mentoring by VSGC staff, four-year college faculty, and by upper classmen. A series of virtual meetings and attendance at the Consortium’s annual Student Research Conference in April are also award requirements.

The VSGC strongly supports students engaged in scientific and technical career pathways who are seeking associates’ degrees as well as those preparing to transfer to four-year institutions of higher learning while developing the essential skills for a competitive global workforce.

Underrepresented minorities, females, and students with disabilities are encouraged to apply.

Google Sheets - Smart Autofill

Smart Autofill - Harnessing the predictive power of Machine Learning in Google Sheets

Much of Google’s work on language, speech, translation, and visual processing relies on machine learning, where we construct and apply learning algorithms that make use of labeled data in order to make predictions for new data. What if you could leverage machine learning algorithms to learn patterns in your spreadsheet data, automatically build a model, and infer unknown values?

You can now use machine learning to make predictions in Google Sheets with the newly launched Smart Autofill Add-on (http://goo.gl/dghCQs). Smart Autofill uses Google's cloud-based machine learning service Prediction API (http://goo.gl/WmHyAa), which trains several linear as well as non-linear classification and regression models to predict the missing values of a partially filled column in your spreadsheet by using the data of other related columns.

For more information and a tutorial, head over to the Google Research Blog.

Smart Autofill - Harnessing the Predictive Power of Machine Learning in Google Sheets

googleresearch.blogspot.com

SumBlox - Math Building Blocks

Is anyone else troubled by the size of the 4 ?

MaKey MaKey

Buy Direct: http://shop.makeymakey.com/products/makey-makey-kit
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/MaKey-The-Original-Invention-Everyone/dp/B008SFLEPE

Digital Badging

Click here or on the image below for more information:

Biology Teacher Halloween Activity

Here' s Photoshop trick in which students merge three photos (front plus each side), print it, insert it in the jar with a pickle color, and have a permanent place on a shelf in your classroom or elsewhere.

Make it a reward for anyone who competes in the science fair.
Details: www.instructables.com/id/head-in-a-jar-prank/

Let the student pick the jar size and pay for it:  www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DDVN7/



STEM extensions:

• Estimate the volume of their head;
• Chemistry of pickling;
• History of food preservation;
• History of preserving human remains.

Free Autodesk Software for Teachers and Students

Autodesk® Education Community: Free Software for Students and Teachers

Teachers and students can download free educational software for personal/noncommercial use at students.autodesk.com. More than 60 Autodesk titles are available at no charge, including Autodesk® Inventor®, Autodesk® Revit®, Autodesk® AutoCAD®, Autodesk® 3DsMax®, Autodesk® Maya®, and more.  Software downloads include:  A 3-year license  No watermark on 2014 & 2015 software  Gallery showcase  Software learning materials  Visit students.autodesk.com to learn more.

I know the Girl Scouts are making an effort to promote STEM, but apparently that's not happening everywhere. - Jim



Here is the U.K. version:

New STEM scholarships, research experiences, internships and courses

from Mary Sandy of the Virginia Space Grant Consortium:

Please help us spread the word to community college students and faculty on this exciting opportunity!  The attached flier provides background and a link to the initiative’s website.

Virginia’s community college students pursuing studies in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM) fields statewide have access to new scholarships, research experiences, internships and courses thanks to a two-year NASA grant to the Virginia Space Grant Consortium.  The new program, STEM Takes Flight at Virginia’s Community Colleges, provides $5,000 mentored scholarships, paid industry internships, paid NASA research experiences and new courses to foster STEM awareness and workplace skills.  Community college faculty in STEM fields will have access to professional development at NASA.  The program’s overarching goal is to foster community college retention in STEM academic tracks through graduation with an associate degree or transfer to a four-year institution. 

The STEM Takes Flight website at www.vsgc.odu.edu/stemtakesflightprovides detailed information and applications for program components.     Application deadlines are as early as November 17.

NYAS Report on the STEM Paradox: Graduates are Missing Essential Skills

Meghan Groome of the New York Academy of Sciences (and former NGA staffer and advisor to Arlington STEM programs), presented the NYAS report that reveals a twist on the STEM paradox.

From the Washington Post's, She the People blog:

WP: Meghan Groome of the New York Academy of Sciences

The STEM paradoxes: Graduates’ lack of non-technical skills, and not enough women

By Joann Weiner September 26

Read the blog post HERE.

How Einstein Saw the World

From the 2014 PBS TV Special,
How Einstein Saw the World


“School failed me, and I failed the school. It bored me. The teachers behaved like Feldwebel (sergeants). I wanted to learn what I wanted to know, but they wanted me to learn for the exam. What I hated most was the competitive system there, and especially sports. Because of this, I wasn’t worth anything, and several times they suggested I leave.

This was a Catholic School in Munich. I felt that my thirst for knowledge was being strangled by my teachers; grades were their only measurement. How can a teacher understand youth with such a system?

From the age of twelve I began to suspect authority and distrust teachers. I learned mostly at home, first from my uncle and then from a student who came to eat with us once a week. He would give me books on physics and astronomy.

The more I read, the more puzzled I was by the order of the universe and the disorder of the human mind, by the scientists who didn’t agree on the how, the when, or the why of creation.

Then one day this student brought me Kant’s Critique of Pure Reason. Reading Kant, I began to suspect everything I was taught. I no longer believed in the known God of the Bible, but rather in the mysterious God expressed in nature.

Need Science Lab Equipment?

You’re Invited To a Free Web Seminar
Are you teaching science with minimal lab equipment? The Shell Science Lab Challenge gives you an opportunity to share your exemplary approach for a chance to win a school science lab makeover support package valued at $20,000! Log on to this interactive web seminar to learn more and get tips for submitting an application.
		Event Name:	Developing a Competitive Application for the Shell Science Lab Challenge
		When:	Thursday, October 2, 2014 at 6:30 pm Eastern Time
		Where:	Online
		Cost:	Free!
You will need to be logged-in to the NSTA Learning Center to register. Contact webseminars@nsta.org if you have questions. See you online!
Stephanie Erickson e-Learning Coordinator National Science Teachers Association
				Register Now
Learn More