Greetings Science Educators!
(1)OKSci Virtual Professional Learning Network Begins Thursday
We will be hosting the first state-wide virtual professional learning network gather for science educators this Thursday, August 29th! This will be time for Oklahoma science educators to connect and collaborate through a virtual community.
The OKSci VPLN will last 45 minutes and is being offered and duplicated at numerous times throughout the day beginning at 8:15 am. I am hopeful that those interested will be able to join in during their plan period or after school to ensure that educators are not taken away from their instructional time with students.
The session will include an update on science assessments as well as the revision of the Oklahoma Academic Science Standards. Beyond that we will work as a group to develop a plan for such meetings throughout the school year. The layout and content of future meetings will be based on the needs identified by educators who attend the meeting on Thursday.
The virtual meetings are being offered at the following times:
· 8:15 – 9:00
· 9:15 – 10:00
· 10:15 – 11:00
· 1:15-2:00
· 2:15 – 3:00
· 3:15-4:00
To participate, you will need access to a telephone and access to Google Docs. Test your access by clicking here. If you don’t have access, contact your network administrator.
You can sign-up to attend one of the 45 minute sessions by clicking on the following link. https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/oksci . Please sign up by 3:00 pm on Wednesday. Access information for the meeting will be provided upon completion of the survey.
We hope to offer several of these opportunities throughout the year for science teachers to connect and collaborate. If you unable to attend Thursday’s meeting you can join us in September!
(2)Resources for Educators:
National Educators Workshop: November 3rd 2013
The National Educators Workshop (NEW) builds upon 26 years of annual workshops aimed at promoting science, engineering, and technology education. The workshop will be held November 3rd-6th at Tulsa Tech’s Riverside Campus, Tulsa, Oklahoma.
Find out more at http://materialseducation.org/events/new2013/
Latest Issue of the Environmentor Newsletter:
Please click on the link to access: http://www.okcu.edu/environmentor/issues/environmentor-v2i1.pdf
(3)Contests for Students:
America Recycles Day Contest for High School Students:
Oklahoma High School students are invited to create an audio-video public service announcement to promote awareness about recycling. This contest is a part of the Oklahoma Recycling Association’s (OKRA) America Recycles Day campaign. The purpose of America Recycles Day is to raise awareness of the importance of recycling across the state. The deadline for entry is November 1, 2013.
“Recycling is Everybody’s Business” is the theme for this year’s contest. This 30 to 60 second audio-video message should emphasize how recycling saves natural resources and energy and reduces pollution. Entries must contain all original material and may include real life experiences. Cash prizes will be awarded to the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place entries. Winning Entries will be announced on www.recycleok.org on America Recycles Day, Thursday, November 15th. For rules and entry forms, visit: http://recycleok.org/psa-contest.php. For further information contact: Chris Knight, Education Chairman at cknight@stillwater.org or call at 405-533-8453
OKRA is a non-profit volunteer group that supports communities, governments and individuals in recycling. In Oklahoma, America Recycles Day is co-sponsored by OGE Energy Corp, Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality, Keep Oklahoma Beautiful, and the Metropolitan Environmental Trust.
Oklahoma Arbor Week Poster Contest:
Oklahoma Forestry Services invites all Oklahoma 5th grade students to participate in the 2014 Oklahoma Arbor Week Poster Contest! The contest is designed to teach today’s children about the importance of trees in our lives as well as recognize their creativity and show them how they can help the environment. The curriculum component of the poster contest will help educators facilitate lesson plans related to the 2014 theme “Trees are Terrific…in all shapes and sizes!” Please see the entry form for official contest rules and eligibility. For more information please contact Jeri’ Irby at 405-522-6158.
Find at more at https://www.oklahomascienceteachersassociation.org/?p=5250
(4) Science Standards Update:
The writing team for the revision of the Oklahoma Academic Standards for Science has been working diligently to prepare a working draft of the science standards for review. The writing team would like to ensure that there are a variety of opportunities for stakeholder feedback throughout the revision process. With that in mind, I along with members of the writing team will be hosting several focus group meetings in late summer and early fall to showcase the draft version of the standards and to obtain feedback. The feedback received from the focus groups will be considered by the writing team prior to the public draft of the revised science standards that are expected out in late fall.
Focus groups for educators will be facilitated through the Regional Meetings being offered by the Oklahoma State Department of Education. If you are interested in being part of the educator feedback loop, please make plans to attend one of the regional meetings this fall. Link to Register
Below you will find an overview of the schedule for the revision of the science standards.
Timeline for the Revision of Oklahoma Academic Standards for Science 2013-2014
The Oklahoma Academic Standards for Science are being revised in 2013-2014. Committees comprised of K-12 science educators, professors of science education from Oklahoma universities, scientists, engineers, legislators, informal science educators, parents and community members.
The Oklahoma Academic Standards for Science Committees will meet from spring through fall of 2013 to revise the K-12 Oklahoma Academic Standards for Science.
Focus groups will be facilitated in late summer and early fall 2013 to provide opportunities for diverse groups of stakeholders to provide feedback on the initial draft of the Oklahoma Academic Standards.
A public draft of the revised standards will be available for public comment for 30 days in late 2013.
Soon after the public draft period the revised Oklahoma Academic Science Standards will be available for the Oklahoma State Board of Education to consider for adoption.
Upon adoption of the new Oklahoma Academic Standards for Science, schools will have access to the revised standards to become acquainted with the shifts and begin thinking about implementation.
However, assessments for the newly adopted standards are not expected to be operational in schools until 2015-2016.
(5 )Open Resource Science Project: Still Time to Sign-Up
There are numerous open educational resources available for science instruction. However, the volume of resources can be overwhelming to sort through by one individual. As such, I am working with a group of science educators this year who are interested in compiling a list of open-resource materials. Those materials, along with companion videos will be made available to all science teachers in Oklahoma as a support through this time.
The group will ensure that the list of open-resource materials accommodates a wide array of schools and considers technology and print capacities. The open-resource materials will include explanatory text (often found in textbooks) and argumentative text.
If you are interested in volunteering your time to assist with the Open Resource Science Project please complete the following survey: Open Resource Project
Stay Connected:
Follow me on Twitter: @tiffanyneill
Facebook: #OKSci
Hashtags: #oksde #OKSci #OKSTEM
Sign Up for a Twitter account: https://twitter.com/
OKSci Recources:
Classroom Strategies: http://www.scoop.it/t/oksci-classroom-strategies
Website Resources Elementary: http://bit.ly/OSDE-SciElemLinks
Website Resources Secondary: http://bit.ly/OSDE-SecScienceLinks
Accessing Archived Science Messages:
You can access Archived Science Messages I’ve sent out since March via the Oklahoma Science Teachers Association (OSTA) website. Scroll down to see previous posts.
Science Listserv:
Please encourage others to register for the science listserv and pass along the following registration link:
As always, please feel free to contact me with any questions you may have!
-Tiffany
Tiffany Neill, M.Ed. Director of Science Education Office of Instruction Oklahoma State Department of Education P: 405.522.3524 Tiffany.Neill@sde.ok.gov @tiffanyneill Science Webpage PE & Health Webpage