It is a photo of:

“SOL Grotto, 2012. 1368 glass tubes, paint. Fabrication: Matarozzi Pelsinger, Rael San Fratello Architects. SOL Grotto is a contemporary take on a grotto or Throeau’s cabin – a spartan retreat that is a space of solitude and close to nature – where one is presented with a mediated experience of water, coolness and light. The SOL Grotto also explores Solyndra’s role as a company S#@t Out of Luck. 1,368 of the 24 million high tech glass tubes destined to be destroyed as a casualty of their bankruptcy, are used in the installation. The tube’s original role as a light concentrating element is extended to transmit cool air into the space via the Venturi effect, to amplify sounds from the adjacent waterfall via the vibrations of the tubes cantilevering over the creek, and to create distorted views of the garden. The form of the electric blue array evokes Plato’s Allegory of the Cave where shadows, light and sounds can call reality into question.”

http://botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu/whatsnew/NaturalDiscourse/artists.shtml

Responses from Readers:

Peter A’Hearn:  Rush hour in little blue circle land.

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Video courtesy of Infinite Thinking Machine www.infinitethinking.org 

by Philip Hudec

Who says a conference has to be all about work?

Join us for the 2013 California Science Education Conference on October 25-27 in Palm Spring to learn, grow, and have a lot of fun.  Workshops and Short Courses will give you the opportunity to collaborate with colleagues and to build your knowledge base, while Field Courses will get you outdoors to investigate all that the beautiful Sonoran desert has to offer. (more…)

Have an idea for Photo of the Month?  Submit your photo for a future Photo of the Month.

Please submit your photo via email along with permission to use the photo to admin@cascience.org.  Be sure to include a description of the image in your email.

Click here for answer to last month’s photo

New Embarcadero Gem to Feature 150 New Exhibits, Bay Observatory, Outdoor Gallery and Free Civic Space

On April 17, 2013, the Exploratorium will open at Pier 15 at the heart of the revitalized San Francisco waterfront radically improving access to visitors from all over the world and dramatically enhancing the size and scope of the museum. With three times more space overall than its previous home, the new Exploratorium will engage the curiosity and creativity of visitors of any age as they explore 150 brand ­new exhibits amongst more than 600 that will be on view. For the first time, the Exploratorium expands its investigations into the bay, city, and outdoor landscape. (more…)

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It is a close-up of some gemmae on a Pygmy Sundew plant. Gemmae are modified leaf structures that can detach, form roots, and grow into a new plant. This is a type of asexual reproduction called “fragmentation.”

Responses from readers:

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The slate of candidates for the 2013 – 2015 CSTA Board of Directors election was approved by the CSTA Board of Directors at its March board meeting. The elections will open on April 16, 2013. CSTA members who have a membership valid as of April 1, 2013 are eligible to vote in the election. An email will be sent to those members with an email address on file to vote online. For those members who have opt-ed out of email or don’t have an address on file, they will be sent a ballot in the mail.

Please take a moment to learn more about the candidates for the positions of President-Elect, Two-Year College Director, Middle/Jr. High Director, Primary Director, Region 1 Director, Region 3 Director, and Informal Science Director.

Please be sure to participate in the elections, every vote counts!

by Robert Victor and Robert D. Miller

We invite you and your students to use the accompanying evening twilight sky chart for April 2013 to identify Jupiter and the brighter stars as they first appear after sunset. Begin observing no later than one-half hour after sunset, or even earlier when the Moon is visible.  (more…)

The American Nuclear Society, Northern California Section is announcing our annual scholarship for graduating high school seniors in the Northern California Area. The award of this scholarship is $1000.00 which will be applied toward the student’s first year of study at a four year accredited college or university of the student’s choice. In order to be eligible for this scholarship, the student applicant must enroll in a technical course of study in the field of engineering, physical science, or mathematics and must submit the following documents along with the completed application: (more…)

Zovig Minassian, a teacher at Herbert Hoover High School in Glendale, and CSTA member, will serve at the Department of Energy’s Office of Science under the guidance of Patricia Dehmer. The complete press release and information regarding the Einstein Fellowship is below. CSTA congratulates Zovig on this incredible accomplishment!

Triangle Coalition Announces 2013-2014 Einstein Fellowships

Twenty-seven distinguished STEM educators selected to serve next school-year at four federal agencies
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The 2013 Award Season is now open! One of the benefits of being a CSTA member is your eligibility for awards as well as your eligibility to nominate someone for an award. CSTA offers two awards the Future Science Teacher Award and the prestigious Margaret Nicholson Distinguished Service Award. May 16 is the deadline for nominations for these two awards. CSTA believes that the importance of science education cannot be overstated. Given the essential presence of the sciences in understanding the past and planning for the future, science education remains, and will increasingly be one of the most important disciplines in education. CSTA is committed to recognizing and encouraging excellence in science teaching through the presentation of awards to science educators who have made outstanding contributions in science education in the state and who are poised to continue the momentum of providing high quality, relevant science education into the future. (more…)

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by Jessica Sawko

The date for legislators to introduce legislation for this year has passed and this year’s legislative agenda and several bills are on CSTA’s list of bills to watch.

Leading the list is SB 300 (Hancock). Existing law prohibits the State Board of Education from adopting instructional materials until the 2015–16 school year. This bill would require the state board to consider the adoption of a revised curriculum framework and evaluation criteria for instructional materials in science on or before November 30, 2015, and would require the revised curriculum framework to be based on specified science content standards. This bill is the key next step that will need to take place after the anticipated adoption of new science standards by the State Board of Education this November. (more…)

This weekend is your last opportunity to submit a workshop proposal to present at the 2013 California Science Education Conference in Pam Springs this October. One of the benefits of being a CSTA member is that as a member presenting a workshop, your conference registration fees are waived (an over $100 value). Presenting a workshop at the California Science Education Conference can be a rewarding experience and looks great on  your resume! This year CSTA will be providing Wi-Fi access for attendees and presenters, allowing you to enhance your presentation. There will also be a limited number of workshops accepted to be presented in the technology rooms at the Palm Springs USD. These rooms are equipped with laptops and internet access for every user. (For more information on the Wi-Fi and technology rooms click here). (more…)

Dr. Lawrence C. Smith, climate scientist, professor, and author of The World in 2050 will be the closing keynote speaker at the 2013 California Science Education Conference in Palm Springs.

How will the combination of a booming global population and global warming change the world? Which countries will struggle, and which will prosper? Laurence Smith believes the North is set for major gains. In his talk, Smith will outline the changes that our world will face in the next 50 years, both geologically and societally.

Laurence Smith is one of the world’s most respected climate scientists, whose work envisions the future of a warmed planet. His debut book, The World in 2050: Four Forces Shaping Civilizations Northern Future, is a work of enormous scope, cross-cutting themes of population demographics, globalization, natural resource demand, and climate change. It’s science fiction without the fiction. Smith is the Professor and Vice-Chair of Geography and Professor of Earth & Space Sciences at UCLA and has published more than sixty research papers. (more…)

Join KQED and CSTA for one of three area specific science webinars and learn the ropes around PBS LearningMedia, a collection of thousands of digital media resources from KQED and other public media stations for the K-12 science classroom. Experienced science educators give an example of a media-rich lesson and present strategies for successfully incorporating multimedia into the classroom.

NOTE: Each webinar is subject area specific (Environmental Science, K-5, Physics, Biology). Click on webinar titles to register for a free online training session.

Thursday, March 7th from 4-5pm
Science in K-5 Classroom with PBS LearningMedia

Thursday, March 28th from 4-5pm
PBS LearningMedia for the Physics Classroom

Thursday, April 18th from 4-5pm
Multimedia for the Biology Classroom with PBS LearningMedia

Click here for more information.

by Carolyn Holcroft and Gregory Potter

In recent months we’ve had many occasions to talk about the NGSS with our college faculty colleagues and without exception, reactions have been overwhelmingly positive. The vision set forth in the “Framework for K-12 Science Education” for integrating scientific practices, crosscutting concepts and disciplinary core ideas makes good sense. The “Conceptual Shifts” and the draft “Definition of College and Career Readiness in Science” seem promising and ambitious, and once the NGSS are successfully implemented we can expect to see a drastically different level of preparedness in the students arriving at our colleges. (more…)

It is the eye of young Mediterranean horse mackerel, Trachurus mediterraneus, prepared using standard clearing-and-staining techniques. Cartilage is stained blue via alcian blue, tissues are cleared via trypsin, and bone is stained red via alizarin red. One of ten specimens in the University of Kansas collection. Image taken using an Alexis Scientific Clearshot 600 SLR-to-microscope eyepiece camera adapter on my Leica S8 APO dissecting microscope.

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Photo Credit: Nancy Holcroft-Benson

Responses from readers:

Cynthia Cudaback: giant eyeball, probably from a squid. It washed ashore a few months ago. I think it was in Florida.

Lorraine Buckley: cetacean eye

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Source: Infinite Thinking Machine – CUE

Volunteers still very much needed!

We’re still in need of  a great many volunteers to make this year’s event the very best ever. More than 60,000 students, parents and teachers will be various Festival events as well as the ever popular EXPO Day on March 23 at PETCO Park. They will see first hand how Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics impact our everyday lives. It will certainly engage and excite young people to consider pursuing studies and even a career in these fields!

But it can’t happen without you. Sign up to assist for the Festival at http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/614055956061and for EXPO day at http://www.volunteerspot.com/login/entry/1094224722026.

Thank you so much for making a difference to so many!

by Jessica Sawko

On January 8, State Superintendent of Public Instruction (SSPI) Tom Torlakson released his long-awaited Recommendations Report for Transitioning to a Future Assessment System. This report was mandated by legislation (AB 250) and will be used to guide the state legislature in their deliberations as they embark on the process of reauthorizing and revamping California’s statewide assessment system. During its January 16 meeting, the State Board of Education (SBE) received a formal presentation of the report by CDE staff. It is important to note here that this presentation was an information item. The State Board of Education does not have a formal role to play at this point in the assessment discussion. The discussion around the statewide assessment system will take place this year in the state legislature. It has been reported that Assemblywoman Susan Bonilla (D-Concord) will introduce the legislation. (more…)

eCYBERMISSION is a web-based Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) competition free for students in grades six through nine (more…)

It’s your turn to change the world.

The Google Science Fair 2013 has now launched. In partnership with CERN, National Geographic, LEGO and Scientific American, the third annual Google Science Fair is an international competition which encourages students between the ages of 13 to 18 from all over the world to perform science experiments or create engineering projects to submit online in order to compete for prizes, scholarships and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Previous winners have tackled cancer diagnosis and treatment, figured out more efficient ways to farm and explored the natural world around them.

The competition is accepting entries from now until April 30 2013. In early June, 90 regional winners will be announced, representing the best projects from the Americas, Europe/Middle East/Africa and Asia/pacific. From this pool, 15 global finalists will be chosen in late June to come to Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, in September to present their projects in front of a panel of esteemed judges. From these 15 finalists, we will select a winner in each category (13-14, 15-16, 17-18), as well as a grand-prize winner. (more…)

Contest Now Underway For Students to Guess When She Will Emerge!

PALM DESERT/INDIAN WELLS, CA (Jan. 29, 2013) …  It’s that time of year again when the desert tortoise Mojave Maxine, sleeping in her underground burrow at The Living Desert, begins to stir in anticipation of desert springtime and fresh flowers to eat. This also means it’s time for students to enter the annual Mojave Maxine emergence contest and guess when she will emerge!

The east coast has Punxsutawney Phil and Groundhog Day to let them know when they can expect spring. The Living Desert has Mojave Maxine to signify that warmer weather is on the way!

Mojave Maxine is a 35-year old desert tortoise who lives at The Living Desert.  Each year, she retires for the winter to her underground burrow. She stays there in a state of “brumation” (reptilian hibernation) for several months. (more…)

by Michelle French, Lisa Hegdahl, Jeff Orlinsky, and Sean Timmons

“Scientists think of science both as a process for discovering properties of nature and as the resulting body of knowledge, whereas most people seem to think of science, or perhaps scientists, as an authority that provides some information — just one more story among the many that they use to help make sense of their world.” – Helen Quinn

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) provide educators with an important opportunity to improve science education, student engagement, and student achievement. Based on the Framework for K–12 Science Education, the NGSS are intended to reflect a new vision and will shift the way science education is delivered in America.  The emphasis on application will require students to understand science concepts more deeply since the focus of the NGSS has been placed on “students doing” rather than “students knowing”. (more…)

Photo Credit: Nancy Holcroft-Benson

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Photo Credit: Berenice Abbott, Courtesy of the MIT Museum, Cambridge, MA

http://web.mit.edu/museum/exhibitions/abbott.html

The title of this photo is Interference Pattern.

About Berenice Abbott:  In 1939 Abbott began her most ambitious photographic project. Believing scientific phenomena to be as valid a subject for artistic statements as man and his works, she undertook to prove that photography was the medium uniquely qualified to unite art with science. She labored alone for nearly twenty years with little or no encouragement until finally, in 1958, her work was recognized by the Physical Science Study Committee and she was hired to work with that group at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for three years. In this period, spanning twenty-two years, Abbott produced thousands of photographs in formats ranging from 8″ x 10″ to 16″ x 20″ and designed and patented a good deal of scientific equipment, including two cameras. Abbott’s scientific photographs are her most significant and in years to come they will perhaps be recognized as her outstanding accomplishment. Source:  http://www.commercegraphics.com/Science.html.

Responses from readers:

Damone Tighe:  Looks like an old wave and flash image from a darkroom. Place an emulsion in the bottom of developer or water, cause a wave patttern by dipping something in the solution and hit the paper with a flash from above the solution.

Peter A’Hearn:  the interference pattern of waves when a vibrating tuning fork is touched to the surface of water- beautifully lit!

Scott Hays:  either the antenna of a water crawler touching the surface of a pond OR a back entrance into the Twilight Zone …

Video Source:  TED-Ed