“Colony collapse disorder” or “mad bee disease” either of these topics
would make for an interesting read. There is a decline, rapid decline, in the
bee population worldwide. As we know, bees are essential in the food cycle. An
article appearing in the April 24, 2007 edition of The New York Times Science
section offers a glimpse into the world of insect toxicology. (It is CSI for
bugs.) The terminology is difficult because of the chemical terms, but the
vocabulary relating to bees and their environs can be fostered. I offer it for
consideration because it could be useful as an extension of a unit on plants or
the environment. Who knows, it might spark the interest of a child to want to
explore a science related career!  This e-Book suggests ways parents can interest their children from about 3 to 10 years old in science. It includes: some basic information about science; a sampling of activities for children to do – some alone, some with supervision – in both the home and the community; and an Appendix with practical tips on how to encourage schools to develop good science programs, a brief description of nine scientific concepts, and a list of recommended science books and magazines. Many of the activities cost little or nothing and require no special equipment.  In How People Learn, the authors summarize three key ideas about learning
based on an exhaustive study of the research. These three findings about student
learning have parrallel implications for classroom instruction, which then
suggest a translation of those implications into curriculum materials.  In this activity-laden resource book, the author outlines learning/literacy
strategies that require students to communicate using visual texts. Over one
hundred student examples illustrate how students can communicate some concepts
better with visual texts than with conventional, word-only texts. These
strategies will be espeically helpful for students who struggle with wirting and
who are visual learners.  Americans agree that our students urgently need better science education. The Standards offers a coherent vision of what it means to be scientifically literate, describing what all students should understand and be able to do in science. The volume reflects the principles that learning science is an inquiry-based process, that science in schools should reflect the intellectual traditions of contemporary science, and that all Americans have a role in science education reform.  This important tool for teachers and education professionals updates the
messages of NCTM's previous Standards and shows how students' learning should
grow across four grade bands–pre-K–2, 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12. It incorporates a
clear set of principles and a sharper focus on how students' knowledge grows as
shown by recent research. It also includes ways to incorporate the use of
technology to make mathematics instruction relevant and effective in a
technological world.  “Now is an exciting and pivotal time to be an educator” begins the text.
This little text (125 pages) shares strategies developed against research around
how the brain gathers, integrates, stores, and remembers information. The short,
stand-alone chapters are about memory and test taking, captivating student
attention, stress and emotion and their affect on learning, and assessment that
builds the brain’s capacity to integrate, retrieve and use information.  As a teacher, I was always struggling with ways to work effectively and
efficiently because time had a way of moving fast. Through the years my teaching
evolved ways to maximize time through integration of subjects. If I could have
my students write interesting stories incorporating the concepts while using the
vocabulary, I would feel that the transfer of information to learning was
occurring. One approach I used was notebooks, or journals. The text that helped
me develop the strategies and methods for incorporating notebooks as a thread
for subject integration is Science Notebooks. Mary Ibe and Rebecca Deutscher The Impact of Varying Levels of Science Inquiry Instruction on Student’s
Abilities and Understandings of the Nature of Science. What's Worth Fighting for Out There?  “Teaching has always been an emotional profession. The difference nowadays is
that it is transparently emotional, open for all to see and criticize. In the
short run, this new visibility can be destructive. In the long run, we believe
that it is both inevitable and desirable because it holds open the promise of
mobilizing resources, without which the job of teaching can no longer be done.” |
