Final Senate approval Wednesday (4/29) of SB 834 (as amended) sends the bill to Governor Henry for his approval or veto. The measure passed narrowly on a vote of 25-23 along party lines. Read stories from the Daily Oklahoman, the Tulsa World, the Oklahoma Education Association. Keep track of legislation from the Organization of Rural Oklahoma Schools bill status report.
The Oklahoma Aerospace Education and Training Day Committee is now accepting applications for the “Class of 2009 Oklahoma Aerospace Education Fellows” (Fellows). Oklahoma teachers Grades 3 -12 and school counselors from public, private and Careertech schools are eligible to apply. 100 applicants will be selected to be Fellows and invited to attend the Education and Training Day conference. The 2009 Fellows will receive a $100.00 stipend from the aerospace industry in the form of a Visa™ gift card for attending. Forty rooms at the Crown Plaza Hotel in downtown Tulsa will be available free of charge on a first-come first-served basis (determined by the date of application).
This conference will introduce the Fellows to Oklahoma’s aerospace industry with the purpose of achieving the following goals:
• Provide a clear picture of the magnitude of the Oklahoma Aerospace industry and the role it plays in the economic security now and in the future
• Educate teachers and counselors about the employment opportunities for their students in the aerospace industry
• Motivate teachers and students to engage in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education with aerospace applications
• Create partnerships among educators, industry, and government
• Provide teacher training sessions with aerospace STEM applications
• Provide teachers with an industry professional as a mentor to use as a resource throughout the school year
Registration will close on May 9th or when the number of chosen applicants reaches 100. Interested teachers and counselors need to apply now at www.okaero.com.
“Any collection of things that have some influence on one another can be thought of as a system. Thinking of a collection of things as a system draws our attention to what needs to be included among the parts to make sense of it, to how its parts interact with one another, and to how the system as a whole relates to other systems.”—American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1989, p. 166.
An essential component of higher-level thinking is the ability to think about systems—how parts relate to one another and to the whole. Systems thinking can help us see and understand science education in new ways. This is why one of the goals of my presidency, a goal also shared by President-Elect Pat Shane, is to take a K–12 system approach to supporting the need for high quality elementary science education in every school district.
Elementary science is a critical part of the K–12 science education system. Tragically, the enactment of No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has greatly diminished the time spent on teaching science in many elementary schools. In some schools that have not attained adequate yearly progress (AYP) status, science is not taught at all, and teachers are told point blank not to teach science so they can spend more time on reading and mathematics. The good intentions of NCLB eroded the fundamental foundation for science in our K–12 education system. One of the crucial parts for a fully functioning system is missing or damaged.
Learning in science begins in early childhood. This is a time when young minds are curious about science and ready to engage in the practices and language of science that form a foundation to be built upon and strengthened throughout a student’s K–12 education. Young children bring to science views of the natural world and ways of thinking that have a major impact on their learning as they progress from one grade level to the next. Ignoring these ideas and delaying the development of science language and practices until students formally encounter science in middle school certainly violates what we know about systems: If one part is missing, it affects the other parts of the system.
“Something may not work as well (or at all) if a part of it is missing, broken, worn out, mismatched, or misconnected.”—(AAAS 1994, p. 264).
We know science education is not working well for many students in the United States. We also know our system of education is strongly connected to our ability to compete in an increasingly global economy dependent on highly skilled workers in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. One solution in the past few years has been to funnel more funds into Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses in high schools, undergraduate and graduate education, recruiting qualified secondary science teachers, and increasing the rigor of middle level classes. These strategies might work if they match well with the other parts of the system. However, we can’t expect students who have missed six years of science to suddenly be prepared to take on more demanding opportunities to learn science in middle and high school. All the parts of the system that should include the K–6 years of knowledge and skill building are not there to support the cumulative steps that contribute to high levels of learning.
When we look at the progression of learning over time, starting with fundamental ideas and skills developed in preK–2 and built throughout the elementary years, teachers are often surprised to find middle school and high school students have major misconceptions about fundamental ideas developed early on that went unchallenged through school. They are also dismayed to find there are often large gaps in students’ conceptual understanding of even basic ideas in science. Is it reasonable for a school district to eliminate science for six years and then expect students to fill in the blanks in middle and high school? Science learning is a cumulative process. It is time to give science a foothold equal to that of reading and mathematics in the K–6 curriculum.
We all have a responsibility to advocate for high quality elementary science programs, increased time spent on teaching elementary science, and opportunities for elementary teachers to get the professional development they need to teach science well. The burden for elementary science advocacy can’t be placed solely on the elementary teachers who like to teach science. Middle school and high school teachers, I implore you to speak out to your administrators and help them understand the ripple effect the demise of elementary science has had on student learning in your grades. Your teaching is affected significantly by the loss of elementary science!
You can also push for more elementary science professional development. Bring a team including elementary, middle, and high school teachers from your district to an NSTA conference. Stay tuned for more information about an upcoming NSTA Research Dissemination Conference (RDC) on linking research to practice in elementary science, to be held at the 2010 NSTA National Conference in Philadelphia. Encourage the formation of elementary science professional learning communities to learn how to best restore science to the curriculum and advance K–6 science learning. Encourage a K–6 team to attend NSTA’s August 2009 summer institute on Professional Learning Communities in Science.
Public support for early science education is important as well. Parental involvement is key to increasing the public’s understanding of why science education must begin in the early grades. The new NSTA Science Matters website is a great a source of material for helping parents understand the importance of elementary science.
Even though not all of us teach elementary science, we have a collective responsibility to ensure every student in every grade has the best possible science education. That is why we as individuals must act as a system. A simple K–2 systems learning goal says, “When parts are put together, they can do things that they couldn’t do by themselves” (AAAS 1994, p. 264). Imagine what the output could be at the end of grade 12 if we all band together to strengthen our K–12 science education system to include six years of rigorous, high quality elementary science. After all, each part of the system, including elementary science, contributes to the whole. We can’t continue assuming we will increase our schools’ output of students who will become our next generation of scientists and engineers without ensuring an input of elementary science learning into the K–12 system.
AAAS. 1989. Science for all Americans. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
AAAS. 1994. Benchmarks for science literacy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
Are you looking for a high-quality professional development program that goes beyond traditional summer institutes?
Are you seeking an experience that reinvigorates your passion for science and teaching?
If so, the BSCS Science Institutes (BSCS SI) are for you! The institutes, hosted in beautiful Colorado Springs, Colorado, focus on science content and pedagogy for teachers of science. The result: Improved teaching and learning of science in participants’ schools.
Each BSCS Science Institute provides a professional development component, consisting of
These combined experiences provide rich learning environments that create a professional learning community among you and your fellow BSCS SI participants to further your professional development and support for inquiry-based science. See pricing structure and course offerings here.
Using hands-on experiences and focused refl ection, the Science Institute for Inquiry workshop gives teachers an opportunity to explore the practice of science inquiry. Participants will examine different ways of teaching hands-on science, explore the process skills of inquiry, engage in a full scientifi c inquiry, and consider ways to include inquiry in the Middle School Science Classroom.
Based on the Institute for Inquiry materials from the Exploratorium Science Museum in San Francisco, teachers will have the opportunity to incorporate inquiry methods into current classroom curriculum.
July 20–22, 2009
Science Museum Oklahoma
2100 Northeast 52nd Street
Oklahoma City, OK 73111
July 27–29, 2009
Tulsa Air and Space Museum
3624 North 74th East Avenue
Tulsa, OK 74115
Institute Details
5th – 8th Grade Science Teachers
8:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. with a fi nal activity to be completed in the Fall 2009.
Participants will receive a $400 stipend if they attend all four days of the institute and complete a final activity ($300 at end-of-summer institute and $100 upon receipt of fi nal activity from classroom).
There is no registration fee to attend the Institute.
Participants will be selected based on demonstration of need and geographic representation.
Confirmation of participation will be sent electronically.
Applications must be received no later than Monday, May 11, 2009
There’s no better time for teachers to “green” their curriculum than Earth Day. (Ok, do we do Earth Day activities before or after the Land Run on the playground. Earth Day in Oklahoma is sooooo different). Earth Day Network’s Educators’ Network helps teachers accomplish this by providing more than 300 standards-based lesson plans in several subjects and all grade levels, along with interactive activities, such as Environmental Jeopardy. “Things to Do to Green Your School” flyers suggest strategies such as avoiding the use of screen savers on computers; having students perform an energy audit (instructions provided); and as a class project, measuring how much junk mail the school receives, then asking those companies to remove the school from their mailing lists and measuring the effect of that request. New video curriculum highlighting green makeovers and the animated adventures of Gorilla in the Greenhouse also appears on Earth Day TV.
For more lesson plans, activities, and information, check Education World’s Earth Day Archives page; the U.S. Government’s Take Action in Your Classroom site; and theWilderness Society’s Teachers Lounge. The American Chemical Society’s Chemists Celebrate Earth Day site showcases chemistry’s contributions to sustaining a healthy planet and environment. This year’s topic is the atmosphere, and the theme is “Air—The Sky’s the Limit.” Celebration ideas and details about K–12 and college contests can be found at chemistry.org/earthday. (from NSTA Express. Are you a member of NSTA? You should be… www.nsta.org)
ConocoPhillips and NEED (The National Energy Education and Development Project) have partnered for the
second year to provide teachers in 25 cities across 21 states with curriculum and training opportunities, and are pleased to announce the upcoming one-day energy classroom workshop to be held April 28, 2009 in Tulsa.
This workshop presents a unique opportunity for classroom teachers (K-12) to learn about energy in a fun and exciting way! The seminars will create awareness of today’s energy challenges and the importance of using energy wisely. Why participate in this workshop? Learning about energy — and teaching about energy — is vital to the future. This workshop provides valuable resources and training to teach energy in the classroom while meeting state and national education standards. NEED materials are designed to provide educators with the background and hands-on lessons needed to educate and energize students, encouraging an understanding of energy that is shared with their peers and their families.
Participation provides educators with a NEED Science of Energy Kit with hands-on equipment for teaching about energy transformations; a class-set of Energy Infobooks for student use; and a set of NEED curriculum materials for the classroom.
Thanks to the support of ConocoPhillips, there is no cost to attend the workshop. Breakfast, lunch and parking will be provided.
Substitute reimbursement forms will be available at the workshop and substitute costs will be reimbursed to school districts. If your district has a question about reimbursement, contact NEED at 1-800-875-5029. To register follow this link http://www.need.org/conocophillips/TulsaRegistration.pdf.
Now available at the Stafford Air & Space Camp website, www.staffordmuseum.com, is the flyer and enrollment form for the 2nd annual Air & Space Camp! Camps are available for those entering 3rd ‑ 8th grade in August 2009. The camps are held the first three weeks of June at the Stafford Air and Space Museum in Weatherford, OK. For more information please look at the flier and enrollment. Limited seats available!
SB 834, now called the ”School District Empowerment Program” passed the Oklahoma House of Representatives on April 15th and now goes back to the Senate for consideration of added amendments. The current text of the bill, which has added teacher certification requirements as well as state curriculum and testing requirements since introduction, is found here.
You may click the links to view news coverage from the Tulsa World, The Daily Oklahoman, The Oklahoma Education Association, and the Oklahoma Observer.
