by Bethany Dixon

The College Board has released seven science practices that will be shared through the disciplines. (Note: these are not to be confused with the NGSS “Science and Engineering Practices” from the Framework for K-12 Science Education.) The new Advanced Placement Curriculum Framework for AP Biology began this year, with plans for revamping AP Chemistry (2013-2014) and AP Physics (2014-2015) on the horizon. The new frameworks give students a chance to hone their skills at the lab bench, which is crucial for their success with the new AP Science Examinations and the upcoming transition to NGSS. Here is the third installment of the seven practices overview, with use-them-now tips for your classroom. The first six science practices can be found in our February issue of eCCS,  March issue of eCCS, and April issue of eCCS. (more…)

by Robert Victor and Robert D. Miller

May 2013 has some very special sights involving members of our solar system.

(1) Jupiter in W to WNW and Saturn in SE can be seen simultaneously almost 20° above opposite horizons in deep twilight in early May, providing good telescopic views of Jupiter’s cloud belts and Galilean moons, and Saturn’s rings, within a single session. This chance to catch Jupiter and Saturn conveniently in evening twilight occurs before the end of the current school year. Each year from now until Jupiter overtakes Saturn in December 2020, the range of dates for viewing the two giant planets simultaneously in evening twilight will widen, but shift later in the calendar. So, take advantage of this month’s fine opportunity to share views of Jupiter and Saturn with your students! (more…)

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…)

by Minda Berbeco

The Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) are scheduled for release this spring and already many teachers and administrators are abuzz with questions about the anticipated changes. How will core topics be addressed? Will teachers need to rethink their lesson plans? Are students going to be overwhelmed? Many folks were startled by the inclusion of human impacts on natural systems in the standards, even at younger ages – leading them to ask how we can address such issues without making children fearful and despondent? This last question is one I received long before drafts of the NGSS were even released, but now that it appears it will be a core component of several of the standards, the question has become all the more relevant. How, indeed, can we talk about human impacts on natural systems without frightening or depressing students?  (more…)

by Bethany Dixon

The College Board has released seven science practices that will be shared through the disciplines. (Note: these are not to be confused with the NGSS “Science and Engineering Practices” from the Framework for K-12 Science Education.) The new Advanced Placement Curriculum Framework for AP Biology began this year, with plans for revamping AP Chemistry (2013-2014) and AP Physics (2014-2015) on the horizon. The new frameworks give students a chance to hone their skills at the lab bench, which is crucial for their success with the new AP Science Examinations and the upcoming transition to NGSS. Here is the third installment of the seven practices overview, with use-them-now tips for your classroom. The first four science practices can be found in our February and March issues of eCCS. (more…)

by Bethany Dixon

The College Board has released seven science practices that will be shared through the disciplines. (Note: these are not to be confused with the NGSS “Science and Engineering Practices” from the Framework for K-12 Science Education.) The new Advanced Placement Curriculum Framework for AP Biology began this year, with plans for revamping AP Chemistry (2013-2014) and AP Physics (2014-2015) on the horizon. The new frameworks give students a chance to hone their skills at the lab bench, which is crucial for their success with the new AP Science Examinations and the upcoming transition to NGSS. Here is the second installment of the seven practices overview, with use-them-now tips for your classroom. The first three practices can be found in our February issue of eCCS. (more…)

by Robert Victor and Robert Miller

In planning a first sky watching session for your classes, you may want to begin your observations during evening twilight so students can experience the joy of discovering and identifying the brighter stars as they first appear. Begin no later than one-half hour after sunset, or even earlier when the Moon or bright planets are visible, and continue until you have the dark-sky time needed to observe the deep sky objects on your list. (more…)

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…)

By Bethany Dixon

The College Board has released seven science practices that describe the overarching skills and abilities that scientists use, and which will crucial for students to succeed with the new Advanced Placement (AP) Science Examinations and the upcoming Next Generation Science Standards. Intended to allow students more opportunities to build their inquiry-based reasoning skills, the practices will be implemented via revamped discipline-specific courses: AP Biology’s new Curriculum Framework began this year and plans for a revamped AP Chemistry (2013-2014) and AP Physics (2014-2015) are on the horizon. Here are the first three of the seven practices with use-them-now tips for your classroom.

Use REPRESENTATIONS and MODELS to communicate scientific phenomena and solve scientific problems.
Building models has been a mainstay of science education since the first “solar system” was made out of wire hangers. This type of kitschy, inaccurate model can be used to spark questions about how models can be improved, what scientists can learn from them, and how refining a model can help scientists (and students) to better understand complex systems. Allowing students to build and critique their own models of intricate scientific phenomena helps them to understand subtleties that might be missed in a traditional lecture. I use this strategy in groups: teams are given index cards, pipe cleaners, string, pennies, paperclips, Play-Doh, and masking tape. I use a giant “modeling toy box” filled with random donated items like packaging, plastic bottles, lids, colorful math counters, etc. Students select items from the box and model their system in partners and then share within a group of four, discussing benefits and drawbacks to each design. Critical thinking with models also extends to discussion of model organisms in science and bioethics. (more…)

by Robert Victor

Several of the sky events this month take place close to the horizon. During my years at Abrams Planetarium at Michigan State University, we were fortunate to have a four-level parking ramp directly behind our building. Serving as our ziggurat, it provided a wonderful panoramic view of the distant western horizon, including downtown Lansing and the Michigan State Capitol Building four miles away. We, and often our public audiences, would climb the stairs (or take the elevator) to the top level to watch for planetary gatherings, the first and last visibility of individual planets during their apparitions, heliacal settings (annual last dates of visibility) of first-magnitude stars, and lunar and solar eclipses. At one time we held the record for the youngest crescent Moon ever, a hairline-thin Moon, age 13 hours 28 minutes after New, seen through binoculars from our parking ramp on May 5, 1989 (reported in the following September’s issue of Sky & Telescope magazine). Our staff led memorable public viewing sessions atop the ramp for the transits of Venus at sunrise on June 8, 2004 and at sunset on June 5, 2012. Students from elementary schools in Palm Springs joined forces with the public at a city park to observe last June’s transit for over four hours until the Sun disappeared below the horizon. (more…)

Mornings during Feb. 25-Mar. 9, you can continue following the Moon by looking an hour before sunrise. On Feb. 25, find the Full Moon low in the west, with Regulus within 7° to its upper right. On Feb. 28, the waning gibbous Moon has Spica, the spike of grain in Virgo’s hand, 11° to its upper left. On March 1, Spica will appear 3° to the Moon’s lower right. On Mar. 2, Saturn will appear 4° above the Moon. On Mar. 3, the Moon will appear midway between Saturn to the west and Antares to the east, nearly 15° from each. On Mar. 4, Antares, the red supergiant star marking the heart of the Scorpion, will appear 5°-6° below the Moon, now just over half full and approaching Last Quarter (half moon) phase. If you look 4°-5° left of Antares, you’re facing the direction the Earth is headed in our revolution around the Sun. About 3-1/2 hours later, we’ll pass just east of the Moon’s position that morning, but fortunately, again, the Moon won’t be there. On Mar. 5, the fat crescent Moon will be to the east (left) of Antares, and on Mar. 6 above the Teapot of Sagittarius. On Mar. 8, the waning crescent will be within 4° below the pretty binocular double star Alpha in Capricornus, and on March 9, the 7 percent crescent Moon will appear very low in ESE. The last chance to catch the Moon in this cycle will come on the morning of Sunday, March 10, about 30 minutes before sunrise, when the 2 percent crescent will be no more than 5° above the horizon, some 10° south of due east. From southern California, your sighting will be about 30-31 hours before New Moon, which occurs on Monday, March 11 at 12:51 p.m. PDT. Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour when you settle in for the night on March 9 — Daylight saving time begins early Sunday morning, March 10.

Comet PanSTARRS will be at its best in evening twilight in second and third weeks of March. Discovered far beyond the distance of Jupiter in June 2011, its orbit was calculated and it was determined that the comet will approach to only 0.30 astronomical unit from the Sun (within 28 million miles, inside the orbit of Mercury), on the evening of March 9, 2013. Until recently, brightness was forecast to peak at about zero magnitude, but observations until just before this writing show the comet falling short of predictions, and may reach only third magnitude. In either case, we can tell you when and where to look for this Comet, and you can see for yourself.  (more…)

by Eric Lewis

The Next Generation Science Standards are coming soon.  They emphasize engineering solutions and communicating ideas, and this makes Science Fairs and scientific investigations all the more important to the education of our students.  So, I recently caught up with Tokiwa Smith, Founder and Executive Director of SEM Link – a non-profit organization that connects K-12 students with the STEM community to engage them in hands-on STEM activities and expose them to STEM careers.  (more…)

by Bethany Dixon

“They’re eating the berries!  The robins are eating the berries off the trees!”  My normally sleepy first-hour biology class was outside. “There are the cedar waxwings!” “ Shhh! You’re too loud -  you’re gonna scare them away! There they go!” Half a dozen waxwings flit across the parking lot from one clump of trees to another, attempting to avoid the 32 “researchers” during their ten-minute bird count.  Our students use Cornell University’s Celebrate Urban Birds Checklist to count how many of their 16 focal species are in and around our school parking lot. It’s this class’ first foray into citizen science, but those familiar with the Audubon Society’s 113-year-old Christmas Bird Count know that using laypeople to collect large amounts of data is not a new idea. What is exciting is that now anyone with internet access and fifteen minutes can tap into a huge network of citizen science projects; and it isn’t just birds. (more…)

by Robert C. Victor

Two difficult observations on Wednesday, December 12:

(1) Just over an hour before sunrise, try to see four planets simultaneously. It’s harder than it was two weeks earlier. Beginning with Venus, note Saturn 18° to its upper right, and Mercury just risen in ESE 6.5° to Venus’ lower left. When Mercury is 4° up, Jupiter is also 4° up, but in the opposite direction, WNW. If mountains don’t block your view, you might see all four of these planets at once. Note: Saturn-Venus-Mercury lie in a straight line. (2) Next, even more difficult, wait until about 30 minutes before sunrise, then extend the Mercury to Venus line 9° lower left of Mercury, and, using binoculars, there you may find a very thin crescent old Moon less than 3° above the horizon. From the Coachella Valley near Palm Springs, the Moon is just 18.5 hours before New. (New Moon occurs on Thursday, Dec. 13 at 12:42 a.m. PST).  (more…)

by Bethany Dixon

How do you use formative assessments to increase student achievement and drive curriculum pacing in your classroom? Assessment that informs instruction is critical for effective teaching, but time constraints and student engagement for an assessment that “doesn’t count” can be obstacles that are difficult to overcome. How can teachers possibly give timely, effective feedback on a daily basis while keeping their plans nimble and students engaged? At the AP Biology Leadership Academy this summer, Brooke Bourdelat-Parks from BSCS gave research-based, classroom-tested, and easy-to-implement strategies that can help you improve your formative assessments whether you teach 2^nd graders or 2^nd-year graduate students. (more…)

by Laura Henriques

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if schools were funded at levels that would allow us to do everything we wanted to in our classrooms to support student learning? Imagine if we had the resources to do quality hands-on science, with enough money for equipment and all the necessary consumables. Remember when schools had money for field trips? Don’t you long for the days when there was a budget for your science department? While schools should be cathedrals of learning, and funded at levels that enable us to teach with technology and do inquiry investigations, the reality of today’s fiscal environment is quite different.  With this in mind, I am hoping to inspire you to be proactive and look for grant funding resources to bolster your science classroom. Whether your dream is to plant a school garden, incorporate technology to engage your students, or buy materials for use in lab, the steps to obtaining a grant are the same. (more…)

by Robert C. Victor

Saturn emerges in morning twilight to the lower left of Venus and the star Spica by the second week of November. Venus will pass within 4 degrees north of Spica on Nov. 17, and will appear less than a degree from Saturn on the mornings of Nov. 26 and 27. These close pairings will be very interesting to follow for several consecutive mornings around those dates. Mercury will have a fine morning twilight apparition low in ESE to SE sky during Nov. 24-Dec. 28. Look for our solar system’s innermost planet to the lower left of Venus, within 10 degrees Nov. 29-Dec. 28, and within 6.5 degrees Dec. 5-12. During Mercury’s morning apparition, four of the five naked-eye planets will be visible simultaneously! (more…)

by Bethany Dixon

Google “genius,” and you’ll get pictures of Albert Einstein. However, to bring genius into your classroom, attend the CSTA Opening Session and listen to Dr. Helen Quinn speak at the Marriot San Jose on October 19, at 9:15 a.m. Dr. Quinn is one of the few to have shared Einstein’s job title: as a theoretical physicist she proposed the near-symmetry of the universe and explained quark-hadron duality. You might say she has a proclivity for solving both large and small problems. To our great fortune she has also channeled her energy into improving science education. Dr. Quinn served as the Chairperson of the 18-member super-team (equally split between science and education experts and including two Nobel Prize winners) responsible for developing, “A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Crosscutting Concepts, and Core Ideas.”  (more…)

CSTA is pleased to announce the winners of the 2012 Margaret Nicholson Distinguished Service Award, Dean Gilbert, and the 2012 Future Science Teacher Award, Josiah Jones.  The recipients of the awards will be honored at the Awards Breakfast during the 2012 California Science Education Conference in San Jose on October 20, 2012. To purchase tickets for the event, go online today.

Meet the winners:

Many of our readers are familiar with the passion and drive with which Dean Gilbert works for the improvement of science education in California. Not only does he work hard, he has been successful as well. The letters of recommendation for Dean were numerous and glowing. Here are a few excerpts:

Dean has been in the field of education for 38 years. He exemplifies the true meaning of the word “educator”. He served as president of CSTA and is, or has been, the guiding force behind most of the state’s growth in the field of science education. He was also instrumental in developing the state’s high school integrated science education curriculum. (more…)

by Bethany Dixon

With a new year, it’s easy for teachers to feel like they’re on Mars, but with the landing of the Curiosity, we now have the opportunity to show students what it’s actually like to be there! How long can you spend on Mars? Whether it’s 60 seconds or 16 lessons, integrating the landing of the Curiosity rover into your curriculum can be more than just an interesting lesson in current STEM events. Organized by approximate time needed, here are the latest resources to deliver an out-of-this-world classroom experience, with a preview that spans bell work, an Emmy-award winning short video series, standards-based, ready-to-go lesson plans, and resources for using Mars for interdisciplinary community involvement: (more…)

by Robert C. Victor

Evening sky gazing

In early September, two contrastingly colored stars are the brightest points of light in the deepening twilight one hour after sunset. Both of zero magnitude, they are blue-white Vega nearly overhead, and golden-orange Arcturus nearly due west about one-third of the way from horizon to overhead. Stars of lesser brightness, but still of first magnitude, are Altair to the SSE of Vega and Deneb to the ENE, completing the Summer Triangle with Vega; and reddish Antares, low in the south-southwest. Have your students keep track of these stars in twilight in coming months, and they’ll witness the effects of the Earth’s annual revolution around the Sun. (more…)

by Laura Henriques

You are standing at the front of the classroom, poised behind some apparatus. Students are watching expectantly. Something exciting is about to happen, but what? The tension in the room is palpable as students eagerly await the moment when you make the magic of science come alive. You make a motion to start the demo and then pause, pulling the students along with you to further build the anticipation. When you do the demonstration and it works you have their attention, you’ve piqued their interest and they are ready to learn. (more…)

by Bethany Dixon

“Put your hand into the tank, and they’ll eat off the dead skin.” NASA senior research scientist Dr. Bilal Bomani demonstrates and a swarm of mollies nibble his fingers.  Teachers look warily at the rows of massive saltwater tanks. Following Dr. Bomani’s example, we plunge our hands in. It tickles. Since its mission is to develop in-house capabilities to study biofuels as a renewable, alternative energy source for aviation fuel, the eXtreme GreenLab at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland is an unlikely place for hand treatments.  In May, the NASA Explorer Schools program selected 50 teachers out of the 2,800 registered NASA Explorer teachers for special recognition and the “Research Experience of a Lifetime:” an all-expenses-paid trip to work with NASA investigators in the field at one of four NASA sites (and get a free exfoliating hand treatment).  I was one of the twelve teachers who worked in the GreenLabthis summer, and here is how you can begin to implement “eXtreme Green” practices in your classroom this fall.

eXtreme Green Advisory Board Teachers (Bethany is kneeling in the front)

(more…)

by Robert C. Victor

Events for August 7, 13-14, and 20-21 are illustrated below. For illustrations of additional events, refer to the Abrams Planetarium Sky Calendar. Subscription information is available at www.pa.msu.edu/abrams/skycalendar. Here are the selected sky events for August, along with some questions to prompt discussions with students: 

• Wed. Aug. 1, one hour after sunset: Saturn and Spica are now within 4.5°, forming a nearly isosceles triangle with Mars, within 8° to their west. On Aug. 3, Saturn passes conjunction with Spica in celestial longitude for the third and last time during this apparition. They reach least separation of 4° 27’ apart on Aug. 6 and won’t appear that close again until 2041.  (more…)

by Laura Henriques and Meredith Ashbran

What is a flipped or inverted classroom?

Classrooms at the K-12 and college level normally include the direct instruction portion of the instructional sequence. Students listen to a lecture, take notes, and may participate in discussions. There might be some demonstrations or lab activities, but the bulk of classroom time is often spent with the teacher doing lots of work and the students passively receiving the information. Students then go home to solve problems, answer homework questions, and try to apply the information they “learned” during class. It is often at this point where the lessons, which seemed to make so much sense during school hours, seem confusing and the students need help from us. Sadly for them, we aren’t there to help! (more…)

by Robert C. Victor

We hope you enjoyed the annular or partial solar eclipse of May 20. Perhaps you’ll want to start planning to take in the next two total solar eclipses within the U.S.: On August 21, 2017 (seen as total within a narrow path from Oregon to South Carolina), and on April 8, 2024 (total from Texas to Maine).

Here are some fascinating events to close out the (traditional schedule) school year, and some very striking arrangements of planets, moon and stars to encourage your students to “keep looking up” during the summer months. (more…)

by Donna Ross

In the last installment of Technology for the Classroom, I considered the value of TED-Ed for classroom use.  This issue will examine several uses of YouTube.  Among people with computers and smart-phones, YouTube has become ubiquitous. Even late-night comics mine YouTube videos for humorous gems.  Most students, including those at the elementary grades, have searched for YouTube videos and many have posted their own creations.  However, as I watch those funny cat videos I inevitably seem to be bombarded with material that makes me question the appropriateness for a school setting.   For example, I searched for a video on DNA replication and I was faced with thousands of videos, many with comments that definitely were not school-friendly. Along with some reasonable choices, I also was presented with “popular videos” that, based on the content and the number of views, caused me to despair for the future of our society. But, before despair takes over, let me share some ways to make better use of YouTube for educational purposes. (more…)

by Laura Henriques, David Andrews, and Jaime Arvizu

This is the fifth in a series of articles related to using on-line resources to support student learning. Each article highlights a different National Science Digital Library (NSDL) resource used in the Building Locally, Linking Globally project (NSF DUE  0735011).

MERLOT is the Multimedia Educational Resources for Learning and Online Teaching. Highlighted in an earlier eCCS article, MERLOT (www.merlot.org)  is a free service. There are several things that MERLOT provides. The on-line library of peer reviewed teaching and learning materials (called “learning objects”) is searchable by grade, topic and type. The e-portfolio generator called Content Builder is a free, simple way to create professional portfolios and classroom based websites. Both of these features were highlighted in Jaime Arvizu and Sara Meadows’ article. The feature of MERLOT which we are highlighting in this article is MERLOT Voices.  (more…)

by Robert Victor

During the first week of April, Venus and the Pleiades star cluster (the Seven Sisters) appear in the same field of view of binoculars. The moon will appear close to Mars and the star Regulus on Monday and Tuesday evenings, April 2 and 3. On Friday, April 6 the moon, just past full, will appear close to the star Spica and the planet Saturn. After that, the moon rises later each night, and will return to the early evening sky in late April when it will appear as a crescent near Jupiter very low in the west-northwest at dusk on April 22, and near Venus on April 24. On April 30, the moon for the second time this month will appear near Mars and Regulus, and on May 3 and 4, the moon will appear near Saturn and Spica. The moon will be full on May 5.  (more…)

The Nominations Committee of the California Science Teachers Association presents the following individuals for election to the CSTA Board of Directors for the 2012-2014 term.

The election is being conducted electronically and will open April 16, 2012. CSTA members eligible to vote will be sent links to the online ballot. Members for whom we do not have current email addresses or who requested a paper ballot were mailed a ballot and candidate statements.

The 2012-2014 elections will include voting for the following positions: treasurer, high school director, 4-year college director, region 2 director, and region 4 director. (more…)