Santa Ana Discovery Science Center is hosting an "Educators' Evening of Science" on January 27th, which is a free event for teachers and great opportunity to experience the Science Center while learning about program opportunities in SoCal, enjoying food/drinks and mingling with other educators.
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FREE TEACHER WORKSHOP from Population Connection at the Environmental Nature Center
February 26, 2010 from 10:00 to 1:00 PM
Population Education's lesson plans are all about people-how the human race has grown and shaped the world around us. World population has quadrupled in the past century, changing the way we use natural resources and function as societies. Population education is the ultimate multidisciplinary field; it is ecology, human geography, anthropology, economics, biology, public health, sociology, environmental studies, history and civics all rolled into one.
All of Population Connection curriculum materials are classroom-tested, rigorously evaluated and frequently updated to be leaders in their content and approach. All lessons are interdisciplinary and well suited for a cooperative learning environment. Population Connection has correlated their lessons with California's standards which can be found on their website at www.populationeducation.org under "Content Standards by State". RSVP by emailing lori@encenter.org. The Environmental Nature Center is located at 1601 16th Street., Newport Beach, CA 92663
Population Connection's Education Program is the only national, population education program with a strong emphasis on teacher training for educators of grades pre-K through 12. Since 1975, the program has developed age-appropriate curricula to complement students' instruction about human population trends and their impacts on natural resources, environmental quality and human well-being.
Teachers are introducing important population concepts to their students using these outstanding resources and students are benefitting from them. With an emphasis on hands-on learning and balanced discussion of different viewpoints, this program has earned a reputation for educational excellence.
Innovative students in grades 5-8 are invited to demonstrate their
rubber bands in the SECOND ANNUAL RUBBER BAND CONTEST FOR YOUNG
INVENTORS!
This exciting contest encourages engineering design, creative
thinking and problem-solving, while incorporating national and state
academic content standards. There is more than $15,000 in prizes for
students and their mentoring teachers so start their imaginations
s-t-r-e-t-c-h-i-n-g right away!
We encourage you to share the competition information with your
colleagues and members through your web site, publications and
correspondence. The deadline is February 10, 2010 and applications
may be received via hard copy mail, email or FAX.
The details for the competition are available online at
www.rubberbandcontest.org. If you have questions, or if would like
to discuss the contest with us, please feel free to email us at
info@nmoe.org, or to call us at 330-376-8300.
Good Luck!
Hosted by the Rubber Division of the American Chemical Society, The
Akron Global Polymer Academy and The University of Akron.
National Museum of Education, Inc.
80 W. Bowery Street, Suite 305
Akron, Ohio 44308
330.376.8300
info@nmoe.org | www.nmoe.org
Science Coordinator
Riverside County Office of Education
District and School Success Center
3939 Thirteenth Street
P.O. Box 868
Riverside, CA 92502-0868
(951) 826-6729
[951] 826-6937 FAX
mhorton@rcoe.us
Please forward to teachers and leaders:
To Teachers and Educators,
Giant African snails are being used increasingly in science lessons in
schools. These snails are illegal in the continental United States because
they are highly invasive, and can cause extensive damage to important food
crops and other agricultural and natural resources. These snails can also
pose a risk to human health (for information, see http://www.cdc.gov<
http://www.cdc.gov/>, or call your state health department). The U.S.
Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is
interested in finding these snails, and encourages those using these
snails in classrooms, nature facilities or keeping them as pets to turn
them in voluntarily without fear of penalty.
If you have a giant African land snail, PLEASE DO NOT RELEASE IT INTO THE
ENVIRONMENT OR GIVE IT AWAY. Instead, report it to your State Department
of Agriculture (you will find this office listed under State government in
your phone book, or on the web at:
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/npb/npbmemb.html#Members), or to the US
Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
office in your state (you will find this office in your state listed under
Federal or U.S. government in your phone book, or on the web at:
http://www.ceris.purdue.edu/napis/names/sphdXstate.html).
"Giant African land snail" is the common name used to describe any of
three snail species native to Africa and considered serious agricultural
pests in the United States. The giant African snail (Achatina fulica), the
giant Ghana tiger snail (Achatina achatina), and margies (Archachatina
marginata) are large, terrestrial snails that reach up to 20 cm (8 inches)
in length and 10 cm (4 inches) in maximum diameter. These snails are about
the size of an average-size adult fist. The brownish shell with darker
brown vertical stripes covers at least half the length of the snail.
Giant African snails have a voracious appetite. They are known to eat at
least 500 different types of plants, including peanut, beans, peas,
cucumbers, and melons. If fruits or vegetables are not available, the
snails will eat a wide variety of ornamental plants, tree bark, and even
paint and stucco on houses.
These snails also reproduce rapidly, laying as many as 100 to 400 eggs in
a single session. Snails contain both male and female reproductive organs,
and can lay up to 1,200 eggs per year.
There are alternative snail species that may be used with your science
curricula. Ideally, snails that you collect locally can be used to teach
about native fauna, and these can be used without a permit. Currently the
U.S. Department of Agriculture is reviewing permit procedures for exotic
mollusks for educational purposes on a state by state basis. For more
information on obtaining a permit, please visit
http://www.aphis.usda.gov/ppq/permits/plantpest/snails_slugs.html
The California Coastal Commission invites California students in kindergarten through 12th grade to submit artwork or poetry with a California coastal or marine theme to the annual Coastal Art & Poetry Contest. Up to eight winners will be selected to win $100 gift certificates to an art supply or book store, and each winner's sponsoring teacher will receive a $40 gift certificate for educational supplies. All winners and honorable mentions will receive tickets for their families to visit the Aquarium of the Pacific, courtesy of the Aquarium. Students may have their work featured on Commission web pages and materials, and winning entries will be exhibited throughout the state, including at the Ford House Museum in Mendocino and the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium in San Pedro. Entries must be postmarked by January 30, 2010 to be eligible for the upcoming contest. For rules and entry form (and helpful links and tips for teachers and students), visit www.coastal.ca.gov/publiced/poster/poster.html (or follow the links from www.coastforyou.org), email coast4u@coastal.ca.gov, or call (800) Coast-4U. Contest flyers (PDF or hard copy) are available upon request.
Annie Kohut Frankel
Public Education Program
California Coastal Commission
45 Fremont Street, Suite 2000
San Francisco, CA 94105
www.coastforyou.org
(415) 597-5888
(800) COAST4U
fax: (415) 904-5216
afrankel@coastal.ca.gov
CSTA wishes you a very happy Thanksgiving. We hope that you will enjoy the break
with family and friends and take advantage of the long weekend to submit a
proposal to present at the 2010 California Science Education Conference and/or
complete a nomination for the 2010-2012 CSTA Board of Directors.
We are actively seeking classroom science teachers to present one-hour workshops
and three- or six-hour Short Courses at the 2010 California Science Education
Conference, October 21-24 in Sacramento, CA.
Visit
http://www.cascience.org/csta/conf_home.asp for more information about
proposals. There you will find submission guidelines, links to the standards,
and links to the on-line proposal system. Presenting at the conference can be
fun and earn you a complimentary registration (please see the website for
details regarding complimentary registration).
Deadlines for Proposals:
Short Courses: December 18, 2009
Workshops: February 1, 2009
While you're at the CSTA website, consider running for a position on the CSTA
Board of Directors. Nominations for the following positions on the CSTA Board of
Directors are now being accepted:
Treasurer
4-Year College Director
High School Director
Intermediate (3-5) Director
Region 2 Director
Region 4 Director
Directors will serve a two-year term beginning July 1, 2010, and ending June 30,
2012. All current members of CSTA are encouraged to participate
in the nomination process. Nominations must be postmarked or e-mailed no
later than January 29, 2010. For more information and a nomination form,
please visit
http://www.cascience.org/csta/aboutNominations.asp.
Happy Thanksgiving,
California Science Teachers Association
3800 Watt Ave., Suite 100
Sacramento, CA 95821
(916) 979-7004
Fax: (916) 979-7023
www.cascience.org
What Should You and Your Students Know about the "Green Economy?
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The future that your students will be living and working in will present challenges and opportunities that few of us could envision even 10 years ago. What do you need to know to make sure they are prepared?
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By the year 2020, the world’s green economy will be worth roughly $3 trillion, according to the United Nations Environmental Program. But what, exactly, IS the "green economy"?
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The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act includes $50 billion for green jobs. What makes a job "green", and how can you make sure your students have the knowledge and skills needed to get one?
You'll find the answers to these questions and more, along with a comprehensive collection of curriculum resources that make it easy to translate those answers into standards-based instruction, at our "Green Pathways to the Future" Teacher Institute.
Green Technology's
"Green Pathways to the Future"
Teacher Institutes
If you have any science news for members of IASTA or the science teaching community-at-large, please send them to info@iasta.org for posting.