WSTA

Approaches to Inquiry: professional development for teachers

Inquiry is an important content topic in science education. But inquiry is also a way of teaching and learning. In this 4-day training, teachers explore the nature of inquiry and its potential to boost students’ understanding of science content and their self-motivation as learners. Held at the Fort Worden Conference Center on the Olympic Peninsula this workshop combines methods and materials developed at the Exploratorium’s Institute for Inquiry with activities developed at the Port Townsend Marine Science Center. Learning sessions take place in classrooms, the marine lab and the natural environment.

Dates: August 17-21, 2010
For Teachers, grades 5-10
$200 tuition covers instruction, instructional materials, and room & board at Fort Worden ConferenceCenter.

Credit and clock hours are available at additional cost. A fall follow-up session is planned.

Workshop components include:

An activity comparing 3 approaches to hands-on science from a learner’s perspective, looking at how each approach affects learners and the learning process.
Clarification of scientific process skills used by scientists and by students, with tools for assessing and improving student proficiency in those skills.
Approaches that get students asking their own science-related questions and shifting questions that aren’t investigable into those that lead to investigations.
A full day inquiry session focusing on natural environments of Fort Worden State Park.
Strategies for shifting existing lessons in small ways that move responsibility from the teacher to the learner and boost acquisition of science process skills.

Enrollment is limited to 24 participants. For information go to http://www.ptmsc.org/education/teacher.html or contact the Port Townsend Marine Science Center at 800-566-3932, 360-385-5582, or info@ptmsc.org.

Workshop Flyer

ASA Statistics Workshop for Middle and High School Math and Science Teachers - A

Dear Washington Science Teachers Association,

The American Statistical Association’s (ASA) Meeting Within a Meeting (MWM) Statistics Workshop for Mathematics and Science teachers will be held on Wednesday, August 4 and Thursday, August 5 in Vancouver, B.C, Canada in conjunction with the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM). Because prominent statistics educators will be in town for the meetings, ASA takes the opportunity to arrange a statistics workshop for teachers. The MWM statistics workshop will provide an opportunity for middle and high school teachers to enhance their knowledge and teaching of data analysis and statistics within the mathematics and science curriculum and receive hands-on activities they can use in their own classrooms.

The registration fee is $35, which includes materials and refreshments. The American Statistical Association is also going to provide lodging reimbursement assistance to help U.S. teachers attend the workshop in Vancouver, Canada. The MWM program will also include a one-day pass to attend the Statistics Education Sessions at the Joint Statistical Meetings. Optional graduate credit is also available.

More information and registration is available at www.amstat.org/education/mwm. We hope you will encourage your mathematics and science teacher colleagues to register for this unique professional development opportunity. Because space is limited, we recommend that interested teachers register as soon as possible. If you have suggestions on how I can best reach out to mathematics and science teachers in Washington with this information, please let me know.

Thank you,

Rebecca

Rebecca Nichols
K-16 Education Manager | American Statistical Association
732 N. Washington Street, Alexandria, Virginia 22314
(703) 684-1221, ext. 1877 | rebecca@amstat.org | www.amstat.org/education

Medieval Trebuchet Competition for Students

Medieval Trebuchet Competition for Students
at The Snohomish Pumpkin Hurl

Saturday, September 18
Snohomish, WA

The Snohomish Pumpkin Hurl is now in its 3rd year and we are so excited to add a student activity to the event.

What is it?
--Teams pit their skills against other regional student teams, by hand calibrating (or fully constructing) tabletop trebuchets to hurl objects the furthest distance. Afterward students keep trebuchets in their classrooms for future demonstrations and science experiments.

--5th, 6th, 7th and 8th graders in teams of two compete for First, Second, and Third Place prizes.

--Retired Science teacher Bill Gruner of the Yakima School District will coordinate and run the competition...a demonstration of kinetic energy.

--FREE event entry for pre-registered teams. Entry requirement: 3 paragraph essay and diagram explaining how trebuchets operate.

For more information and to register your team, contact:
Debbie Carlson-Gould, Event Manager
Snohomish Festival of Pumpkins
425-308-8363
manager@FestivalofPumpkins.org
www.FestivalofPumpkins.org

CONGRATULATIONS 2010 IMAGINE TOMORROW AWARD RECIPIENTS

Congratulations to Heritage High School, Vancouver, on winning the grand prize award at Imagine Tomorrow 2010 as well as first prize in the Multidisciplinary Collaboration challenge! Other first place award recipients include Lake Roosevelt High School (Coulee Dam), Bellingham High School, and Tacoma School of the Arts. For a complete list of award recipients and to see a recap of this year’s event, please go to http://imagine.wsu.edu/!

Plan now to join us in Pullman, May 20-22, for Imagine Tomorrow 2011, and ask your students to begin thinking of ways to ENERGIZE THE PLANET!

Tena Old
Imagine Tomorrow
Washington State University
skeen@wsu.edu

OSPI Recruiting for Science Director - Teaching & Learning

OSPI is hiring a Teaching & Learning Science Director! See the links below for more information and please pass this notice along. http://www.k12.wa.us/Employment/ScienceTLDirector.doc or http://www.k12.wa.us/Employment/default.aspx

Middle School Science Field-Test Opportunity

	MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE FIELD-TEST OPPORTUNITY

MAY 2010 • www.BSCS.org


	I am pleased to announce an exciting field-test opportunity for eighth-grade middle school science teachers! BSCS seeks teacher-collaborators for an important research project funded by the US Department of Education. The overall goal of the project is to improve learning in science for all students. Teacher-collaborators will field test a standards- and inquiry-based unit (4-5 chapters) for eighth grade from a multidisciplinary science program currently under development. Teacher and student feedback will play a key role in informing the revision of the materials. Field test teachers will choose one major content area (Life Science, Physical Science, Earth Science, or Science and Society) and will teach a unit on that content area to their students between September and December, 2010. As a former classroom teacher, I can assure you that BSCS is developing this program with the best approaches to student learning in mind. These approaches are based on current research in learning and teaching for conceptual understanding and include literacy strategies, sense-making strategies, and a constructivist approach to teaching and learning science. Each unit addresses standards that closely align with state and national standards for eighth grade science. The following concepts are addressed in each unit: Physical Science • Energy has many forms; it is not created or used up • Heat is transferred in predictable ways and is involved in most energy transformations • Light is a form of energy and interacts with matter in various ways • Electrical energy is produced by and can transform into other forms of energy Life Science • Populations are shaped by the things individuals need (including energy) and other living things • Energy transformations shape patterns and relationships in ecosystems • Energy stored by living systems is used in human societies • Understanding the role of energy in living systems helps societies make environmental decisions Science & Society • Understanding health requires knowledge of energy and systems • Humans require energy to function • Energy balance relates to human health • The systems of the body respond to exercise • The body does not function correctly when systems are disrupted Earth/Space Science • Planetary systems have objects (stars, planets, moons, asteroids, comets) whose motion is controlled by the force of gravity • Energy flows and changes within and among Earth systems • Radiant energy moves from the Sun to the Earth and back to space • Energy is transferred from the tropics to the poles and back to space, causing climate and weather patterns on Earth • Energy is transferred and converted from Earth systems to humans for use as electricity and to power cars, houses, etc., then is transferred back out to space In addition, units in all disciplines address key standards in critical analysis, scientific thinking, and the history and nature of science. Each unit will ultimately be part of the multidisciplinary curriculum BSCS Science: An Inquiry Approach, Grade 8. BSCS will select collaboration sites and teachers using a variety of criteria to ensure a diverse group of field test teachers and students, including geographic location, student diversity, and the teacher’s professional experience. Field test teachers will attend a two- or three-day orientation August 4-6, 2010, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. BSCS will provide travel, lodging, and meals for the field test orientation. In addition, BSCS will provide field-test teachers with a $700 stipend: $350 the orientation, and $350 after receipt of evaluation materials. BSCS is unable to provide funds for substitute teachers. After completing orientation, teachers will field test the 4-5 chapter unit in their classrooms. Each chapter is scheduled to last approximately two weeks on a traditional (50-55 minute) schedule. The field test process involves • administering pre- and post-tests • teaching all chapters of the unit to the same class or group of students • having BSCS writers visit classrooms during the field test to see how the materials are performing • providing BSCS writers with artifacts of student work • answering questions about each activity in online surveys (one survey per activity) Field testing will begin at the start of the 2010 school year and will continue through December, 2010, or until teachers complete the unit. We are excited about working with classroom teachers around the country to develop leadership in teaching multidisciplinary science. If you are interested in field testing an eighth grade science unit, please click here to download and complete the application. Teachers serving high minority populations are especially encouraged to apply. If you have questions, please contact me (Sue Kowalski) at skowalski@bscs.org or 719.219.4148. The deadline for submitting the application is 4 June 2010. Please feel free to pass on this information to any of your colleagues who might be interested. We look forward to hearing from you! Thank you, Sue Kowalski BSCS Science Educator, Field Test Coordinator 719.219.4148 skowalski@bscs.org
5415 Mark Dabling Blvd., Colorado Springs, CO 80918 • phone: 719.531.5550 • info@bscs.org • www.BSCS.org You are receiving this email because you have attended a BSCS event in the past or have been involved with BSCS in some way. Forward this email to a Friend

Free podcast

I am promoting a free podcast to help spark interest in students in science and microbiology.
Called Bacteriofiles the reports on exciting news about bacteria, microbes and viruses.
It explains the connections between the research and how it may affect our lives.
It is designed to be interesting and entertaining.

For example, the most recent episode reports on four exciting stories: interesting organisms found living in acid, purple bacteria's efficiency in capturing light, a cocaine overdose treatment from bacteria, and comparing E. coli to the Linux computer software.

You can visit the podcast and down load the recent episode at: http://bacteriofiles.blogspot.com/

Scott Noar, PhD

Rock Doc column for June 1

A Threat to the World’s Wheat

By Dr. E. Kirsten Peters

If you like eating hotcakes or bread (or my own personal favorite, huckleberry muffins), you might want to pay attention to a problem that’s looming over wheat worldwide. It’s a new type of “stem rust” caused by a fungus that cripples wheat plants.

Throughout history, stem rusts have created major famines. Even in the United States, wheat harvests in parts of the country were hit hard by stem rust in 1903, 1905 and 1950-1954. Localized outbreaks affected American wheat as recently as 1985-1986.

Throughout the 20th century, agronomists bred better wheat to be more resistant to a variety of fungal threats. They were successful – score a big one for science.

But out there in the wheat fields, there’s always an arms race afoot. As the agronomists did their job, fungus was shaped by random mutations and natural selection. When those two natural forces combined to create a fungus that could successfully live on the new wheat varieties, then the fungus came roaring back in the fields. Score one for natural evolutionary forces and stem rust.

In Ethiopia and Uganda in 1998 and 1999, a new type of stem rust was identified, one we can informally call Ug99 although its technical name is a tad longer. The new rust can live on most varieties of wheat grown in the world, and it can bring up to 100 percent crop loss. (That’s not a typo.)

The rust has spread on the winds to Yemen, north to Sudan, and now quite possibly to Iran. There’s some evidence it’s becoming more virulent as it spreads. Next it’s likely to move to Pakistan and Afghanistan, and from there onwards to China. In time it will cross the Pacific, perhaps on the clothes and shoes of people, perhaps via air currents.

“The good news is that in the developed world farmers can afford to spray fungicide to combat rusts like Ug99,” Dr. Tim Murray of Washington State University said to me recently. “But that’s not true in other parts of the world where farmers rely solely on resistance in the variety of wheat they plant.”

To put it another way, in the developing world, there’s a real risk of famine. Major breadbaskets and population centers of the world, including Pakistan, India and China, could be hit hard.

Breeding in resistance to Ug99 in wheat is, in the long run, the cheapest way to give wheat the upper hand in the current arms race. Scientific crop breeders do exactly that sort of work all the time, working to understand plant disease and improve crop plants. Depending on a variety of factors, crops can be improved via simple selection, hybridization, or through genetic engineering. The total effect of scientific breeding on crop plants is one of the reasons that global agricultural productivity skyrocketed in the 20th century and is still doing so today.

But Ug99 has some advantages over science. Part of its life cycle occurs each year in a bush called barberry –an “alternate host” for the rust. That gives the Ug99 a place to survive and flourish, quite apart from wheat.

And on barberry leaves, the rust spores reproduce sexually, which means they become more varied than in their non-sexual reproduction on wheat. Being more varied is an advantage if you are a population of rust in a life-and-death arms race and a single spore that’s virulent to a strain of wheat will allow your next generation to survive and flourish.

Also to the advantage of the fungus is that, in warm weather, it grows quickly and creates a new generation every ten days or so. That gives the fungus a chance for a new set of mutations, on which natural selection can work.

But scientific wheat breeders have one enormous advantage – their smarts. And they are working diligently to try to resist the rising tide of Ug99 in the fields half way around the world from where I write.

We must hope they will be successful, not for the sake of my own personal huckleberry muffins – but for the very lives of the poor of the world.

Dr. E. Kirsten Peters, a native of the rural Northwest, was trained as a geologist at Princeton and Harvard. Follow her on the web at rockdoc.wsu.edu and on Twitter @RockDocWSU. This column is a service of the College of Agricultural, Human and Natural Resource Sciences at Washington State University.

Natural Science Field School

Your Students Can Earn Credit...Outdoors!

This summer, students entering grades 9-12 will have a hands-on opportunity to earn a semester lab science credit. AWSP's Natural Science Field School, taking place July 7-11 at the Chewelah Peak Learning Center, features intensive curriculum with lessons using the natural environment. It's ideal for students seeking credit advancement or credit retrieval

For more information go to www.chewelahpeak.org and look for the "EVENTS" box.

Martin E. Fortin, Jr.

Director of Outdoor Learning Centers

Association of Washington School Principals

2142 Cispus Rd

Randle WA 98377

(w) 360-497-7131 (h) 360-497-2068

Middle School Science Field-Test Opportunity

We are pleased to announce an exciting field-test opportunity for eighth-grade middle school science teachers! BSCS seeks teacher-collaborators for an important research project funded by the US Department of Education. The overall goal of the project is to improve learning in science for all students. Teacher-collaborators will field test a standards- and inquiry-based unit (4-5 chapters) for eighth grade from a multidisciplinary science program currently under development. Teacher and student feedback will play a key role in informing the revision of the materials. Field test teachers will choose one major content area (Life Science, Physical Science, Earth Science, or Science and Society) and will teach a unit on that content area to their students between September and December, 2010.

As a former classroom teacher, I can assure you that BSCS is developing this program with the best approaches to student learning in mind. These approaches are based on current research in learning and teaching for conceptual understanding and include literacy strategies, sense-making strategies, and a constructivist approach to teaching and learning science. Each unit addresses standards that closely align with state and national standards for eighth grade science. The following concepts are addressed in each unit:

Physical Science
• Energy has many forms; it is not created or used up
• Heat is transferred in predictable ways and is involved in most energy transformations
• Light is a form of energy and interacts with matter in various ways
• Electrical energy is produced by and can transform into other forms of energy

Life Science
• Populations are shaped by the things individuals need (including energy) and other living things
• Energy transformations shape patterns and relationships in ecosystems
• Energy stored by living systems is used in human societies
• Understanding the role of energy in living systems helps societies make environmental decisions

Science & Society
• Understanding health requires knowledge of energy and systems
• Humans require energy to function
• Energy balance relates to human health
• The systems of the body respond to exercise
• The body does not function correctly when systems are disrupted

Earth/Space Science
• Planetary systems have objects (stars, planets, moons, asteroids, comets) whose motion is controlled by the force of gravity
• Energy flows and changes within and among Earth systems
• Radiant energy moves from the Sun to the Earth and back to space
• Energy is transferred from the tropics to the poles and back to space, causing climate and weather patterns on Earth
• Energy is transferred and converted from Earth systems to humans for use as electricity and to power cars, houses, etc., then is transferred back out to space

In addition, units in all disciplines address key standards in critical analysis, scientific thinking, and the history and nature of science. Each unit will ultimately be part of the multidisciplinary curriculum BSCS Science: An Inquiry Approach, Grade 8.

BSCS will select collaboration sites and teachers using a variety of criteria to ensure a diverse group of field test teachers and students, including geographic location, student diversity, and the teacher’s professional experience. Field test teachers will attend a two- or three-day orientation August 4-6, 2010, in Colorado Springs, Colorado. BSCS will provide travel, lodging, and meals for the field test orientation. In addition, BSCS will provide field-test teachers with a $700 stipend: $350 the orientation, and $350 after receipt of evaluation materials. BSCS is unable to provide funds for substitute teachers. After completing orientation, teachers will field test the 4-5 chapter unit in their classrooms. Each chapter is scheduled to last approximately two weeks on a traditional (50-55 minute) schedule. The field test process involves

• administering pre- and post-tests
• teaching all chapters of the unit to the same class or group of students
• having BSCS writers visit classrooms during the field test to see how the materials are performing
• providing BSCS writers with artifacts of student work
• answering questions about each activity in online surveys (one survey per activity)

Field testing will begin at the start of the 2010 school year and will continue through December, 2010, or until teachers complete the unit.

We are excited about working with classroom teachers around the country to develop leadership in teaching multidisciplinary science. If you are interested in field testing an eighth grade science unit, please click here to download and complete the application. Teachers serving high minority populations are especially encouraged to apply. If you have questions, please contact me (Sue Kowalski) at skowalski@bscs.org or 719.219.4148.

The deadline for submitting the application is 4 June 2010.

Please feel free to pass on this information to any of your colleagues who might be interested. We look forward to hearing from you!

Thank you,

Sue Kowalski
BSCS Science Educator, Field Test Coordinator
719.219.4148
skowalski@bscs.org