Science Matters in Wisconsin 1(36)

Welcome to this week’s issue of Science Matters in Wisconsin.  Please share this with a colleague!

– Professional Development

LEAF Day: June 13 10-3, LEAF’s Annual field day provides an opportunity to get together with others that share your commitment to environmental education.  Visits to school sites, networking, and resources!

http://campaign.r20.constantcontact.com/render?llr=ac77avfab&v=001Udjluc4seekmNUgETWH7Ak0TcwfklgW_8WbCgzdfKv27CbqyOrkFsNdG3DpWOoTuGetYiQDpssrxwJQJGBvWgOtxWAObZSOO0urE2xa31yw%3D

Unleash Your Inner Scientist!

Employing and Enjoying Inquiry in the Classroom and Lab

A Workshop on Biological Inquiry

Join BEACON and BioQUEST for a five day, residential workshop at the Kellogg Biological Station for biology teachers interested in increasing inquiry in the classroom and lab.  The workshop is appropriate for all biology teachers, and AP biology teachers interested in inquiry with the new AP lab manual are encouraged to attend.

August 6-10, 2012

Kellogg Biological Station, MI

Registration deadline: July 6, 2012

More information and registration: http://bioquest.org/beacon2012/

NGSS PREVIEW MEETINGS

A list of preview meetings for the Next Generation Science Standards is located here:

http://www.sciencematterswi.org/ngsspreview.html

– Science Spotlight

Foundations of complex language have been found in colonies of unusual furry animals called hyraxes.

Hyraxes, which resemble rodents but are more closely related to elephants or manatees, often cluck, snort, squeak, tweet and wail songs from the perches of their rocky colonies. By recording hundreds of the animals’ songs and applying clever mathematics, researchers discovered that differences in note arrangement, or syntax, in hyrax songs vary as the distance increases between colonies — a surprising occurrence of dialect.

 http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/hyrax-song-complexity/

– Website of the Week

International Science Benchmarking Report

Achieve conducted a comparative analysis of 10 countries’ science standards, selecting countries based on their strong performance on international assessments and/or their economic, political, or cultural importance to the United States. Achieve’s report is based on patterns of special interest that emerged from analyzing the coding of more than 25,000 standards statements across the 10 selected countries.

http://www.achieve.org/international-science-benchmarking-report

– Video of the Week

YouTube Space Lab: http://www.youtube.com/user/spacelab/

YouTube Space Lab is about space. We believe that space is more exciting and accessible than ever. On this channel, you can discover space by watching the amazing videos we find from across YouTube.

– Contact

To subscribe to Science Matters in Wisconsin, please visit - http://bap.nsta.org/Content/Home/BecomeAContact/Default.aspx

For questions about Science Matters in Wisconsin, please contact me:

Eric Brunsell, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh  brunsele@uwosh.edu

Posted via email from Science Matters in Wisconsin

Welcome to this week’s issue of Science Matters in Wisconsin.  Please share this with a colleague! 

– Next Generation Science Standards Update

The public draft of the Next Generation Science Standards will be released Friday afternoon (2:00).  They will be available for download or online access at http://www.nextgenscience.org/ 

The review period for the draft will be open until June 1.  I will send a “special addition” of Science Matters In Wisconsin Friday afternoon with additional NGSS resources.  Science Matters will return to its normal format next week!

– NGSS Preview Meetings

Over the next few weeks, the Wisconsin DPI Science Leadership team will be hosting “Preview Meetings” throughout the state.  The purpose of these meetings is to provide an overview of the NGSS process and time for a facilitated exploration of the draft standards.  Please RSVP directly to the facilitator listed for the meeting you wish to attend. Additional meetings may be scheduled and will be sent out in future newsletters.

The list:

Preview Meeting @ UW Oshkosh

Date: May 16

Time: 5:30 – 7:30

Location: Room 2212 Sage Hall, UWO

Facilitators: Eric Brunsell (UWO) & John Whitsett (Fond du Lac School District)

RSVP: Please RSVP by May 11 to Eric Brunsell brunsele@uwosh.edu

NOTE: This meeting is already almost at capacity!

Preview Meeting @ CESA 10

Date: May 14

Time: 5:00 – 7:00

Location: CESA 10 Main Conference Center

Facilitator: Thersea Buzynski

Preview Meetings @ Milwaukee

Date:  May 9

Audience: High School Department Chairs

Date: May 16

Audience: K-8 Science Teachers, workshop

Date:  May 21

Audience: K-12 Science Cohort

Date: May 25

Audience: Milwaukee Science Education Coalition

Facilitators: District science leadership team, Mary Staten, Coordinator, statenme@milwaukee.k12.wi.us

Preview Meeting @ CESA 8

Date: May 18

Time: 8:30 – 11:30

Location: CESA 8

Facilitators: JoAnn Miller (Oconto Falls) &Eric Larsen (CESA 8), elarsen@cesa8.k12.wi.us]

Preview Meeting @ Kenosha and Racine Counties

Date: May 17

Time: 4:30 -6:30

Location: Starbuck Middle School Auditorium, Racine

Facilitator: John Surendonk Racine School District, john.surendonk@racine.k12.wi.us

Preview Meeting @ UW Stout

Date: May 29

Time 5:00 – 7:00

Location: UW Stout

Facilitator: Kevin Mason, (UWS) masonk@uwstout.edu

Preview Meeting @ Sun Prairie (CESA 2)

Date: May 23

Time 5:00 – 7:00

Location: Sun Prairie District Office

Facilitators:  Kris Miller (SPSD) kamuell@spasd.k12.wi.us  & Tim Peterson (MMSD) tpeterson2@madison.k12.wi.us

Preview Meeting @ CESA 3

Date: May 24

Time:  9:00 am

Location: CESA 3 office

Facilitator: Patti Schaefer, Patricia.Schaefer@mp.k12.wi.us, Jerry Redman, jerry.redman@teaching2learning.com

Preview Meeting @ Lake Geneva

Date: May 21

Time: 4:00 - 6:00

Location: Lake Geneva

Facilitators: Karen Nesbit, karen.nesbit@franklin.k12.wi.us, Vince Kluth, kluth@twinlakes.k12.wi.us

Preview Meeting @ CESA 4

Date:  May 23

Time: TBD

Location: CESA 4 Office

Facilitators: Mike LeDocq, ledocqm@westerntc.edu, Billie Finco, bfinco@cesa4.k12.wi.us

– Contact

To subscribe to Science Matters in Wisconsin, please visit - http://bap.nsta.org/Content/Home/BecomeAContact/Default.aspx  and sign up as a “Point of Contact”

For questions about Science Matters in Wisconsin, please contact me:

Eric Brunsell, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh  brunsele@uwosh.edu

Posted via email from Science Matters in Wisconsin

The public draft of the Next Generation Science Standards will be released at 2:00 on Friday May 11.  You will be able to download them from http://www.nextgenscience.org/.  The public will be able to provide feedback on this initial draft through June 1.  NSTA has created a guide to help individuals or small groups participate in this feedback phase.  The Guide for Leading Study Groups is located here: http://www.nsta.org/about/standardsupdate/default.aspx

The writing of the Next Generation Science Standards is being led by Achieve.  The National Academies of Science, National Science Teachers Association, and the American Association for the Advancement of Science are heavily involved in the development.  This process has been enabled through a grant from the Carnegie Foundation.  Wisconsin science educators have also been actively engaged in this process.  We have a colleague on the writing team.  NSTA also held a meeting on the UWO campus to bring together a group of classroom teachers from across the state to critique the initial draft of the standards. Additional information on the NGSS development is located here: http://www.edutopia.org/blog/science-standard-common-core-education-eric-brunsell

NGSS is an exciting “step up” for science standards.  Not only do the standards describe the content that students should be learning about, they also clearly articulate what students should be able to do in order to show their understanding (clear performance expectations!).  These performance expectations merge disciplinary content, cross-cutting concepts (like energy), and the practices of science and engineering.  Additionally, NGSS is focused on a coherent set of core ideas that clearly outline age-appropriate content.  Careful curriculum and course alignment to these standards will help all of us unburden our curriculum so that we can focus on depth of understanding and high-quality thinking.

NGSS Preview Meetings

The Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction has established a Science Leadership Team composed of representatives from throughout Wisconsin.  This team has met several times over the past year and will continue to meet as it works to establish and communicate a “roll out plan” to assist districts throughout the state.  As part of this effort, the team is planning “Preview Nights” for late May.  The goal of these meetings is to provide an overview of NGSS as it is related to Wisconsin, to give small groups a chance to “dig in” to the standards, and to collect feedback on issues specific to NGSS efforts in Wisconsin.

Two meetings have been formally set.  I will send an update later this week with additional locations.

Preview Meeting @ UW Oshkosh

Date: May 16

Time: 5:30 – 7:30

Location: Room 2212 Sage Hall, UWO

Facilitators: Eric Brunsell (UWO) & John Whitsett (Fond du Lac School District)

RSVP:  Please RSVP by May 11 to Eric Brunsell brunsele@uwosh.edu  

Preview Meeting @ CESA 10

Date: May 14

Time: 5:00 – 7:00

Location: CESA 10 Main Conference Center

Facilitator: Thersea Buzynski

RSVP: Please RSVP by May 11 to Thersea Burzynski (tburzynski@cesa10.k12.wi.us)

Posted via email from Science Matters in Wisconsin

Science Matters in Wisconsin 1(34)

Welcome to this week’s issue of Science Matters in Wisconsin.  Please share this with a colleague!

– Next Generation Science Standards Update

Coming sooner!  It seems nearly certain that the public draft of the Next Generation Science Standards will be released sometime next week.  As soon as they come out, I will it out on this list.  I will also include information about how you can provide feedback to the writing team.  The DPI Science Leadership Team is currently organizing “Preview” meetings around the state.  I will send out that information when it is available!  This may mean that you might get more frequent e-mails from me over the next couple of weeks.  I know you don’t need an overflowing inbox, so I promise I won’t turn into a spammer…

– Professional Development

The BTC Institute, located in Madison, WI is  pleased to be able to offer summer teacher courses, Biotechnology: The Basics (July 16-20, 2012)  and Biotechnology: Beyond the Basics (July 23-27, 2012).   Please see our website: http://www.btci.org/k12/twc/twc.html for details.  Optional graduate education credits from Viterbo University and Edgewood College will be available. Some scholarships will be available, scholarship information will be posted on the website by May 25, 2012. 

– Science Spotlight

Bats & Wind Turbines: n the push to develop new forms of sustainable energy, the wind power industry is at the forefront. Turbines that harness the power of wind already serve as effective power sources across the globe, and this proven effectiveness has led to vast increases in the number of turbines currently under construction. The general impact of wind turbines on the environment is likely far less than that of conventional power sources. However, recent evidence shows that certain species of bats are particularly susceptible to mortality from wind turbines. Bats are beneficial consumers of harmful insect pests, and migratory species of bats cross international and interstate boundaries. http://paper.li/scimatters_wi/1313980410#

– Website of the Week

Check out The Evolution of Life website.  It provides animations, simulations and other teaching materials. http://www.evolution-of-life.com/en/home.html

– Video of the Week

Check out these “Beyond Tomorrow” clips of futuristic products from the Science Channel’s YouTube channel.

– Contact

To subscribe to Science Matters in Wisconsin, please visit - http://bap.nsta.org/Content/Home/BecomeAContact/Default.aspx

For questions about Science Matters in Wisconsin, please contact me:

Eric Brunsell, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh  brunsele@uwosh.edu

Posted via email from Science Matters in Wisconsin

Science Matters in Wisconsin 1(30)

Welcome to this week’s issue of Science Matters in Wisconsin.  Please share this with a colleague!

– Professional Development

>IMPORTANT:  The April 16^th Next Gen Standards meeting at UW Oshkosh has been canceled.  If you registered, you should have received an e-mail from me.  The release of the public draft has been delayed to early May.  I will provide an update when they are released!

>TWO DAYS LEFT:  Apply for Science Futures before April 6! http://www.wsst.org/sciencefutures/

>Join producers and scientists from Discovery Channel's groundbreaking series Frozen Planet for a free LIVE classroom webinar: Earth Day: What the Ice and Penguins Tell Us About Our Changing Planet Thursday, April 12, 2012, 1:00pm ET REGISTER TODAY  (http://siemensstemacademy.com/index.cfm?event=showResource&resourceId=edcbfc4e-1438-bbfa-6024-cecf51636fce )    NSTA’s book, Climate Change: Pole to Pole, has a FREE chapter (and activity) focused on penguins, ice cover, and climate change: http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781933531236

>The Agriculture-based Renewable Energy Professional Development Workshop will provide 20 community college and high school agriculture and science teachers from the Midwest with the opportunity to learn ways to bring research on ag-based renewable energy technologies to the classroom. This hands-on workshop will be held from June 11‒14, 2012 at Iowa State University in Ames, IA. Lodging and meals are provided, as well as $200 for travel costs and a $200 stipend. Additionally, there will be an option to receive either graduate credits or continuing education credits from Iowa State University. Please see the website for a flier with more information and an application: http://ateec.org/ag-workshop. Application deadline is April 16, 2012. If you have any questions, please e-mail Nick Ohde at ohde@iastate.edu

– Science Headline

Great Blue Herons lay between two and six 2-inch-long eggs per clutch, and they can have up to two broods in a single year. The stars of the Heron cam, run by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, have laid four eggs every year for the past three years, and all of them have fledged.  HERON CAM: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/04/great-blue-heron-cam/

– Video of the Week

New videography techniques have opened up the oceans' microscopic ecosystem, revealing it to be both mesmerizingly beautiful and astoundingly complex. Explore this hidden world that underpins our own food chain — in the first-ever TEDTalk given by a fish … http://www.ted.com/talks/the_secret_life_of_plankton.html

– Website of the Week

(via Shelley Lee, DPI) An invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us—energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future. http://hint.fm/wind/

– Resource

The Role of Informal Education in STEM Education

Hot off the wire is a new National Governors Association policy brief for governors that focuses on why states should include informal science in their STEM education policies and councils.  http://www.nga.org/cms/home/nga-center-for-best-practices/center-publications/page-edu-publications/col2-content/main-content-list/the-role-of-informal-science-in.html

– Video of the Week

– Contact

To subscribe to Science Matters in Wisconsin, please visit - http://bap.nsta.org/Content/Home/BecomeAContact/Default.aspx

For questions about Science Matters in Wisconsin, please contact me:

Eric Brunsell, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh  brunsele@uwosh.edu

Posted via email from Science Matters in Wisconsin

Welcome to this week’s issue of Science Matters in Wisconsin.  Please share this with a colleague!

This week is all summer professional development opportunities!

Science Futures http://www.wsst.org/sciencefutures/

Seeking twenty-four K-12 teachers of science with 1+ years of classroom experience who want to improve their own professional development and leadership potential in science education.
Dates: July 22-July 27 (Begins Sunday at 3 PM & Concludes Friday at 12 PM)
Location: Pigeon Lake Field Station, Drummond, WI
Credit: 3 FREE Graduate Credits Available
Full Year Commitment - 1 Credit Summer (Face to Face), 1 Credit each Fall & Spring (Online)
Registration Fee: $50 (Included meals & lodging)
Application Deadline: April 6, 2012

Wisconsin Land Legacy Report (http://dnr.wi.gov/master_planning/land_legacy/)

There are additional copies of the Wisconsin Land legacy Report by DNR is available for science teachers to use in their classrooms with students. The hyperlink is for the poster that accompanies the publication. Teachers can receive classroom sets of the publication, in lots of 24 by sending an email: Shelley.lee@dpi.wi.gov

Physics Content Courses for Secondary School Teachers

This summer, the Physics department at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls will continue its decades-long tradition of offering high quality, in-person physics courses for practicing teachers.   Our courses have proven valuable both for teachers who are new to physics and are working toward getting licensed to teach physics, as well as those who have been teaching the subject for many years.  Dorm housing is available.

The courses typically feature a large variety of laboratory and hands-on activities that can be brought back to your own classrooms.

This summer, UWRF is offering three courses:

Electricity and Magnetism for Secondary School Teachers,     4 credits,    June 18 - July 6

Using Videos to Teach Physics,      2 credits,    July 9 -13

Parallels in Physics and Art,      2 credits,    July 16 – 20

Contact us for course descriptions, tuition rates and online applications.

715-425-3560

Eileen.Korenic@uwrf.edu

www.uwrf.edu/PHYS/Summer.cfm

2nd Annual Teacher Educators Networking for Environmental Education Summit in Marshfield on July 9-10

We will be holding the 2nd Annual Teacher Educators Networking for Environmental Education (TENFEE) Summit in Marshfield on July 9-10 thanks to generous funding from the Wisconsin Environmental Education Board. Teacher Educators who teach environmental education methods for pre-service teachers are invited to join us for this event (travel mileage reimbursed, lodging provided, and $175 stipend provided). Space is limited, so register early! If you have questions, contact the Department of Public Instruction’s EE Consultant, Victoria Rydberg: victoria.rydberg@dpi.wi.gov or 608-266-0419.

Gr 9-12:  Across the Sciences (ATS), an online resource from BSCS

http://www.bscs.org/ats

This practical and innovative resource is designed specifically to support high school teachers who are teaching out of their field of endorsement to enhance their content knowledge, identify and address common misconceptions of students for major concepts, and improve their practice of research-based pedagogy.

Teachers can choose from 10 multimedia units and work through any unit independently on their own or with a team of teachers learning together.  Each unit is structured using the BSCS 5E Instructional Model, includes activities, inquiry-based interactives, and authentic classroom videos modeling constructivist teaching.

This BSCS program is non-facilitated, was funded by NSF, and is available free-of-charge for a limited time! ATS will also be available on a rolling basis through the National Teachers Enhancement Network (NTEN) out of Montana State University for teachers who would like to take the course for credit.

Self-register online at http://online.bscs.org to access the resources.

Posted via email from Science Matters in Wisconsin

Posted via email from Science Matters in Wisconsin

Welcome to this week’s issue of Science Matters in Wisconsin.  Please share this with a colleague!

– Professional Development

Plan Ahead:  Outstanding professional development courses to be held in June and July 2012 in Madison and Wisconsin Dells.  UW-Madison is partnering with WestEd to offer four 1-week Making Sense of SCIENCE (MSS) courses for middle school science teachers and district science leaders.  MSS courses feature best practices in science professional development and are designed to help participants:  learn major concepts of science, examine how children make sense of those concepts, analyze and improve teaching practice, and learn ways to support science learning through literacy.  To find out more about these opportunities and to register for the courses, visit the MSS website:  http://we-mss.weebly.com/

– Science Spotlight

Bad Astronomy: The Moon’s history of violence.  The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is a NASA space probe that’s been orbiting the Moon since June 23, 2009. On March 19 it will mark its 1000th day in orbit! To celebrate, NASA released this cool animation showing the history of the Moon.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/03/14/the-moons-history-of-violence/

– Website of the Week

March 23: Energy Education Day
Attack the energy problem, or at least the worst of its by-products, by playing “Greenhouse Gas Attack” at http://spaceplace.nasa.gov/greenhouse-gas-attack.

– Contact

To subscribe to Science Matters in Wisconsin, please visit - http://bap.nsta.org/Content/Home/BecomeAContact/Default.aspx

For questions about Science Matters in Wisconsin, please contact me:

Eric Brunsell, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh  brunsele@uwosh.edu

Posted via email from Science Matters in Wisconsin

Welcome to this week’s issue of Science Matters in Wisconsin.  Please share this with a colleague!

– Professional Development

Science Futures 2012

Seeking twenty-four K-12 teachers of science with 1+ years of classroom experience who want to improve their own professional development and leadership potential in science education.
Dates: July 22-July 27 (Begins Sunday at 3 PM & Concludes Friday at 12 PM)
Location: Pigeon Lake Field Station, Drummond, WI
Application Deadline: April 6, 2012

http://www.wsst.org/sciencefutures/

Unveiling the Next Generation Science Standards

Date: April 16

Time: 5:00 – 7:00

Location: 227A Reeve Union, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh

The purpose of this meeting is to bring together teachers, administrators, and other educators to explore the initial public draft of the Next Generation of Science Standards.  The meeting will begin with a brief overview comments from John Whitsett, Fond du Lac School District and former NSTA President, Shelley Lee, Wisconsin DPI Science Consultant and former NSTA President, and Eric Brunsell, UWO Science Education Faculty and NSTA District 12 Director.  The remainder of the meeting will be devoted to a facilitated examination of the standards draft.

Snacks and refreshments will be available.  The meeting is hosted by the UWO Student NSTA Chapter with support from WSST and UWO College of Education and Human Services.

Please RSVP by April 8^th to Eric Brunsell (brunsele@uwosh.edu).  Include the following information:  Name, e-mail, district / organization, grade level, content area.

– Science Spotlight

Stem Cells Therapy:  Restoring Sight to the Blind

Researchers in January released the results of a groundbreaking study that showed human embryonic stem cells can safely help reverse eye disease. The study, conducted at the Jules Stein Eye Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), used retinal cells created from embryonic stem cells supplied by a biotechnology company.  The retinal cells were injected into the eyes of two patients suffering from two different forms of progressive blindness and, in time, significantly improved their vision.

http://blog.chron.com/bakerblog/2012/02/stem-cell-therapy-restoring-sight-to-the-blind/

– Video of the Week

James Hansen: Why I Must Speak Out About Climate Change

Top climate scientist James Hansen tells the story of his involvement in the science of and debate over global climate change. In doing so he outlines the overwhelming evidence that change is happening and why that makes him deeply worried about the future.

http://www.ted.com/talks/james_hansen_why_i_must_speak_out_about_climate_change.html

– Contact

To subscribe to Science Matters in Wisconsin, please visit - http://bap.nsta.org/Content/Home/BecomeAContact/Default.aspx

For questions about Science Matters in Wisconsin, please contact me:

Eric Brunsell, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh  brunsele@uwosh.edu

Posted via email from Science Matters in Wisconsin

brunsell_framework_shared.pdf Download this file

Here is the slide deck for my presentation at the Wisconsin Society of Science Teachers conference on 03/09/2012 in Madison, WI.

Posted via email from Science Matters in Wisconsin