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The historian of technology, Thomas Haigh , has written an interesting piece on the role of historians in an environment of blogs and speedy news production. He discusses his experience trying to bring the historian's perspective to the controversy surrounding the so-called "inventor of email," V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai. Mr. Ayyadurai Looking So Very Dapper   On the one hand, I am struck by the grimness of Haigh's experience, and the near nihilism of his hopes. We aren't talking about bringing "critical perspectives" or what have you to bear here; we're just talking about getting the facts right--even that is so hard. And, sure, facts are value-laden and norm-y, yada, yada. But can we hope for some minimalistic ethos of research? On the other hand, Haigh is fighting the good fight, and his experience, though frustrating for all, still encourages us to press on.  Link to Haigh's article: http://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2012/9/154586-seven-lessons-from-b

SSC SPECIAL EVENT DESTINATION ANTARCTICA! The Secret Science Club presents Antarctic explorer Stephen Pekar   and a mind-blowing screening of Encounters at the End of the World Wednesday, September 12, 8 pm @ the Bell House, $6 McMurdo Station is home to 1,000 scientists and staff during the Antarctic summer—and its inhabitants are as strange, dreamy, and fascinating as the icy continent itself. Documentary filmmaker Werner Herzog journeyed across a frozen ocean and off the margins of the map to meet  biologists searching for sci-fi extremophiles,  quantum physicists  on the hunt for neutrino particles,   glaciologists tracking nation-sized  icebergs, and  volcanologists exploring the intersection of fire and ice at Mt. Erebus, an active volcano that regularly hurls lava chunks their way. Scientist and explorer Stephen Pekar gets this cinema party started with a mini-lecture on his own Antarctic research. A veteran of four Antarctic expeditions , Dr. Pekar studies microfossi

Sentence starters are an important part of helping students learn how to write in science notebooks.  I use them in my science notebooks everyday. I have always written them on a chart or put them on cards in my pocket chart so I could carry them around the room when I am talking about the words. I was going to type these up this year with a "cute font", but while searching Pinterest I found that Frogs and Cupcakes had created a great resource for FREE  already!  So why recreate the wheel at this point in the summer?  Instead, why not use what she alread created? So I decided to share this resource with you all today....and go outside and enjoy one of the last days of summer!   Thanks Frogs and Cupcakes !    

In keeping with thinking about the start of the year, I thought I'd post a few of my favorite science books as well. Here are a few of my favorite books to start off the year - Monday with a Mad Genius by Mary Pope Osburn is a Jack and Annie tale where they travel back in time to meet Leonardo Da Vinci. That in itself is a cool idea - but what makes this book special is that they follow him throughout his day and see his ups and downs. The book shows that even Leonardo made mistakes and yet he kept on investigating and learning. The book also talks about combining drawing with science and even talks about his SCIENCE NOTEBOOKS. It is a wonderful story and a great start to the year. Boy Were We Wrong About Dinosaurs: This is another great book for the start of the year because it talks about how scientists have changed their thinking over the years. It talks about theories that were once univerally accepted that are no longer true! Great book! I love just about any book from

Today I am posting a little resource I put together on Exit cards. I am calling it "Exit Cards 101 " and it is geared to science classrooms...although it can be adapted for any subject.   This is not a new resource, some of you may have already seen it.  But for those of you who have not seen it...here it is. Why use exit cards? One of the biggest indicators as to whether students actually "got" what we taught can be determined by using a reflective piece at the end of a lesson.  Exit cards allow you to see if the students have any questions, misconceptions or have a solid understanding.  They allow you to spot teach, review or go on with no worries!  It is available for FREE for all you guys out there to use and share with your colleagues. Thanks guys!

     There are so many different approaches to science notebooking and my approach is based on the method developed by FOSS and the Lawrence Hall of Science. I have been to a week long training with them at the NSTA conference in Philly as well as a few other sessions in St. Louis. I have seen a sneak peek into the new 3rd Edition of the FOSS kits and know that notebooking will be embedded in each and every lesson! But, I also know that science notebooks can be used with any kind of inquiry approach to teaching science. Inquiry is all about questions...which is why we start with Focus Questions for each lesson. But what comes next? Science Notebooks should be broken into four main components: Planning the Investigation (includes Focus question, predictions, planning and procedures) Data Acquisition and Organization - narratives, drawings, charts and tables, artifacts, or graphs Making Sense of Data - frames and prompts, claims and evidence, conclusions and predictions, and I w

Okay, now we have our essential student supplies and teacher materials.  Now what??? Let's start thinking about centers. There are many ways to incorporate centers or stations into your classroom.      Rotations - where you set out five or six stations and the students rotate from station to station in one class period.  Many people incorporate this into the day on Fridays as a great way to end the week.  I like to do this occasionally throughout the year! Stationary Spot - I have a Science Spot in my classroom where I put out a center for students to go to during "free time" - like after school bus call, in the morning during "check in" or if they finish work early.  The activities that I include have a structured page with background/content information as well as step by step directions.   What should they look like?          No matter which structure you use for your centers ther are a few things that will help make these centers successful.  Trays or Tu

I need to ask for some support from my followers...I am nominated for a great award. This award is for the most fascinating blog of 2012 - Science Teacher.  The voting takes place Aug 13-Aug 20th (and actually includes a prize!)  If you like my blog, please take some time and vote for me this week!  Just click here and follow the directions! Now, on to the work at hand... Organization...has never been my strongest suit....However, I know that without a carefully crafted plan, my classroom will fall apart.  (The same is true for my home by the way...but with two boys and dog and a husband I can NOT keep it together to save my life. That's a whole 'nother story!) I talked about the need for TUBS and TRAYS .  So what do you do with those tubs and trays? At the end of school each day, I review my lessons for the next day.  I PREP the materials ahead of time (yes, I did just say ahead of time!) - putting the supplies they will need for the lesson in a plastic bag with their group

As I have blogged about earlier, Space is going to be my first big unit of instruction in my science class.  I promised you all some center based activities for space....and trust me they are coming. However, we still have a few weeks before school starts and as I start to think about the beginning of the year, I know that I can't just head straight into instruction.  Can you imagine starting the first day of school with a lesson on moon phases? No way.... So instead I want to walk you through the thinking processes in my mind as I start to plan for the year. What will my students need for science education this year? 1. My students each need a composition notebook ...that will be transformed into a world class science notebook. I will make each student a label to put on the cover that says "Science Notebook".  We will also write in a sharpie on the side the words: Science. That makes it easier to find when it is inside the desk!  2.  My students will also need pencils, g

Shark researcher Hans Walters of the New York Aquarium discusses his wet-and-wild work tagging and tracking sharks and curates a live-screening of Great White Highway , a documentary debuting on the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week that follows intrepid marine scientists as they pursue the mysterious migrations of great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias). Before & After --Sample our toothsome cocktail of the night, the Land Shark --Sway to fintastic grooves --Stick around for the salty Q&A --Win sharky door prizes This cartilaginous edition of the Secret Science Club meets Thursday, August 16, 8 pm @ the Bell House , 149 7th St. (between 2nd and 3rd avenues) in Gowanus, Brooklyn. Subway: F or G to 4th Ave; R to 9th St Doors open at 7:30 pm. Please bring ID: 21+.  No cover. Just bring your smart self! * Photo courtesy of the New York Times .

All summer I have been working on science centers based on animals.  I have created or tweaked ideas using owls, eagles, bears, raccoons, as well as deer.   Now I am ready to switch gears and start getting ready for the school year.  This year I am starting with SPACE!  Why? It is engaging, it is interesting and it is in the NEWS.  Last night, the NASA Curiosity mission made a successful landing of a Mars Rover on Mars.  How cool is that?? Real scientists using real tools to learn something new....Wow...  Truthfully...I had no idea this was going on.  However, my friends at FOSS put an update on their facebook status.   With a little research, I was able to find out a few things.  Looking for a great clip to show your students about the landing?  Here it is.... Now looking for a fun clip?  Here's one to "Call me Maybe....".  Yes..everyone is doing it!  Even NASA! And then if you are looking for uptodate and real photographs, you can always check out NASA's website! T

Ben Schmidt at Sapping Attention  has a beautiful post up (with many pretty pictures) and exactly the sort of smart analysis one expects from his blog. Among the most interesting---albeit very tentative--- conclusions he comes to: The 'while/whilst' result is suggestive, in that it indicates we can track cultural phenomena completely independent of science in the data. (India looks more like America, while Australia and South Africa look more like Britain: that's interesting to me.) The university and city stuff can be interesting as well if we look in the right places. Obviously no one cares that "Harvard" is used more than "Stanford" in Cambridge; but the higher results for Stanford near CERN, and for Harvard--to stretch--in Australia may be telling us interesting things about the way that a project like the SLAC can get international recognition. In Schmidt's hands, the ArXiv becomes a tool for seeing scientific connections inside and across natio

I was having trouble when I posted my bear PDF yesterday...I have gotten many "requests to share" from my Google Doc.  I think I have now switched it to a public account so that now anyone can download it.  So sorry for the mess up!!  In other news....I found a great YouTube video about Black Bears.  This video clip is from the BBC (they always do a great job with wild life videos)!  This clip is quiet (which is always nice) and shows what the black bears do before hibernation. Living with Black Bears in Virginia is a great clip put out by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries about what to do when black bears end up in your neighborhood.  For my area, this is a real thing that happens every year in the late summer / early fal.  This clip is great to use as a real world problem - great connections to our real life  Hope you enjoy and use these in your classroom!

  There is something about black bears that makes me happy.  Maybe it is the many hours spent reading Blueberries for Sal as a child with my Grandmother and Mom...Maybe it is the story of the Three Bears (although I think they were Grizzlies) or the  Little Bear I Can Read stories... I created another Science Center for exploring the effects of Cold Temperatures and how body coverings can help keep animals warm.  This one I "tweaked" from National Geographic's Inquiry book (comes with their new science text book).  This science center is a great one because it allows for students to choose which type of covering they would like to test! Unfortunately, I have had some trouble with my PDF changeover.   I used a font that changed when converting to PDF and for some reason, I can't fix it!  Please feel free to copy it and change it if you like! You can get it for FREE here...