Msta Spring 2009 Newsletter

Maine Science Newsletter of the Maine Science Teachers Association Visit us at www.mainescienceteachers.org June 2009

MSTA Members,

President’s Letter

It has been awhile since we have sent a newsletter. We have been busy updating our website at www.mainescienceteachers.org. It has a different look and we are working at making it a useful tool for you. Please provide our webmasters any feedback that you might have.

We welcome our new members who became MSTA members by attending the Klentschy Event at Falmouth HS. We hope to continue to offer additional professional development in conjunction with the Department of Education in the near future. The MSTA Board thanks Anita Bernhardt for her tireless efforts on behalf of the Maine Science Teachers Association.

I don’t know where the school year has gone. It certainly has been one of concerns and challenges for many including MSTA. Knowing the financial constraints that schools are facing, the MSTA Board of Directors has spent time looking at options to continue to provide professional development opportunities. We need to make financially sound decisions and have tightened our budget even more. Keeping these challenges in mind, MSTA is going to plan our fall conference. However, we will look closely at our early registrations and make a determination about holding or canceling the conference.

Dot Lamson named Outstanding Environmental Educator MSTA Congratulates Dot Lamson, a state leader in environmental education and director of Chewonki’s Center for Environmental Education. Lamson was presented with the 2009 MEEA award for Outstanding Leadership and Achievement by the Maine Environmental Education Association’s (MEEA) at their Annual Conference, held at Chewonki Center on March 27, 2009.

We have a responsibility to our membership not to lose money by holding the conference with few attendees

I want to close by wishing you a great end to the school year. Keep providing the students of Maine with great experiences in science.

Mary Mary Whitten MSTA President

SAVE THE DATE!! The MSTA 2009 Annual Conference October 9, 2009 Gardiner Area High School Please Visit www.mainescienceteachers.org for more information Inside this issue: MSTA and Maine State News NSTA and Other National News Professional Development Teacher & Student Resources

MSTA 2008 Annual Conference Highlights Dr Lee Lynd was the Keynote speaker at the 2008 MSTA Annual Conference. Dr Lynd is Associate Professor of Engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering at Dartmouth College and a leading expert 0n cellulosic biofuels. Dr. Lynd has provided testimony before Congress on the merits of biomass in energy production. At the MSTA conference, Dr Lynd talked about his own career pah. His research in biomass fuel production and the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) education in developing informed citizens. MSTA presented the Philip Marcous and Louis Lambert Awards at the Annual Meeting. Peter Zack, head of the Maine Energy Education Program received the Louis Lambert Award for is contributions to science education by a person who is not a formal educator. Betty Jameson, a teacher in the Bangor school system, received the Philip Marcoux Award for contribution to science education by a formal educator SAVE the DATE - Tess Gerritsen is Coming to MSTA! The award winning and New York Times Bestselling Science Mystery author is coming to the Maine Science Teachers Association’s annual conference Friday October 9, 2009 at Gardiner High School. Ms. Gerritsen is a graduate from Stanford University where she studied Anthropology. Tess then went on to medical school at the University of California San Francisco, where she was awarded her M.D. Ms. Gerritsen began writing fiction in 1987 while out on maternity leave from her work as a physician. In 1996 she wrote her first medical thriller, Harvest, which also marked her debut on the New York Times bestselling list. Her books include Gravity, The Surgeon, Vanish, The Bone Garden, and soon to be released The Keepsake as well as many others. Ms. Gerritsen is an internationally recognized author and has won both the Nero Wolfe Award for Vanish and the Rita Award for The Surgeon. To celebrate this event MSTA will host a “MSTA Summer Read with Tess Gerritsen” during the months of July, August, and September. MSTA will host a discussion blog each month at http://www.mainescienceteachers.org. Each month a blogging participant will be chosen at random to receive a free copy of the following month’s read. A free hardcovered and signed copy of The Keepsake will be given away at the October MSTA conference. In July the book read and blogging discussion will start with Ms. Gerritsen’s medical thriller Gravity. This will be followed with The Surgeon in August and The Bone Garden in September. For information on Gravity visit http://tessgerritsen.com/books_gravity.html. Please follow http://www.mainescienceteachers.org/ for more upcoming details about the Summer Read and our Annual Conference.

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Klentschy Event a Success Thanks to enthusiastic participation by more than 100 Maine Science teachers of all ages and demographics, Dr. Michael Klentschy's presentation on Tuesday May 12, 2009 was a great success! Dr. Klentschy spoke about the strong connection between science and literacy. He showed that the application of literacy strategies drawn from reading, writing, listening and speaking not only provide students with increased opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of science content, but also significantly strengthen student comprehension and writing proficiency. He explained research based-strategies in the use of science notebooks including ideas on how to get started, writing scaffolds for students and lesson planning formats. We wish to thank our co-sponsors: The Maine Department of Education, The MOVE Program

(ME Dept of Transportation and ME Turnpike Association), The Gulf of Maine Research Institute. The Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, and Carolina Biological Supply Company . We also want to extend special thanks to Falmouth High School for hosting this most successful event. 2008 Presidential Awards In January the Maine Department of Education honored the three 2008 State Science Finalists for the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) at a recognition dinner at the Senator Inn in Augusta. Jan Mokros, the Executive Director for the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance was the keynote speaker for the event. Ms. Mokros spoke about the importance of teacher leadership in advancing science education. The 2008 PAEMST recognizes teachers of science at the K-6 level. The three finalists for 2008 are Lauree Gott, a grade 6 teacher of science at Veazie Community School, Margaret Morton, a grade 4/5 teacher of science at the South Bristol School, and Pamela Thompson, a grade 4 teacher of science at Madison Elementary School. Each individual prepared a video tape of their teaching, completed a written analysis of their classroom instruction and student learning, and submitted letters of recommendation and a professional development/leadership resume. The finalists’ applications were submitted to a national panel for review. The Department of Education anticipates that the 2008 PAEMST Science Awardee will be announced sometime this spring. Maine has many exceptional teachers and we are pleased to be able acknowledge three of them as our state finalists for the PAEMST. We hope that you will take the opportunity to extend your congratulations to these individuals for their efforts on behalf of Maine students. Applications are currently being accepted for the 2009 PAEMST which recognizes 7-12 teachers of science. For more information please contact Anita Bernhardt at the Maine Department of Education at 624-6835 or [email protected]

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The Science Anchors The National Science Teachers Association, National Research Council, Project 2061 and Achieve will serve as the Inter-Agency Steering Committee for the development of the Science Anchors. The Science Anchors is intended to identify big ideas and their supporting ideas to provide clearer, more focused learning targets than are already identified in the NRC National Science Education Standards (NSES)and the AAAS Benchmarks for Science Literacy (BSL). In this way the Anchors Project is similar to the NCTM Focal Points which was published in the fall of 2007. NSTA President, Page Keeley and Cary Sneider of the Museum of Science (Boston), both members of the original Anchors Task Force, spoke about the Anchors work during an NSTA Conference workshop. During their presentation Keeley and Sneider indicated that they expected the Anchors work to take 12 -24 months to complete. They also indicated the Anchors work will update the NSES and AAAS Benchmarks only as needed. Many details about whether the document will focus on grade spans or grade levels or who the primary audience will be are yet to be decided. Feedback from the audience was collected during the session. Keeley and Sneider made it clear that opportunities for input from diverse stakeholder groups will be solicited throughout the development process. MSTA Welcomes Janice Mokros to Maine MSTA would like to welcome Dr. Janice Mokros, Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance’s new Executive Director, to Maine’s community of science educators! Jan is a developmental psychologist and mathematics educator, who was a long time staff member at TERC, where she was an author of the curriculum ‘Investigations in Number, Data, and Space’ as well as the director of research and a staff developer for this program. More recently, she has worked to bring math to out-of-school settings, including science centers, zoos, aquariums, and after-school programs. Jan has developed activities, games, and a book for parents to help them incorporate engaging math into their everyday family lives. She also has been involved in higher education as a professor and administrator. She launched San Francisco State University’s Center for Science and Mathematics Education, which focuses on recruiting and retaining K-12 science and math teachers. The Alliance is delighted to have her aboard. If you are ever in Augusta stop by MMSA to introduce yourself and say hello to our newest member.

Educators and scientists collaborate at a COSEE-OS workshop Ten K-5 teachers including MSTA Board Members Laurette Darling and Pamela Thompson will join marine scientists at the University of Maine Darling Marine Center in Walpole, ME for a three-day workshop entitled Enhance Meaningful Learning and Teaching through Phytoplankton Investigations. The workshop is designed to engage these elementary educators in examining their science teaching practices through scientist led and supported lab sessions investigating phytoplankton.

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First Maine Teacher Accepted to the NASA Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Program – The first cohort of teachers accepted into the NASA Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Program began their course work in applied sciences this winter. Joni Cooke of Turner, Maine represented Maine as a member of part of the first cohort group. The second Endeavor cohort will be open to inservice teachers of science, technology, engineering or mathematics as well as pre-service and alternative-route education professionals. The Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Project will select the next 40 Fellows, for Cohort 2 in late 2009. Cohort 2 will begin the program and coursework in January 2009. The Department is hopeful that Maine will have many more teachers represented in the second cohort. - Nancy Ibarguen and Anita Bernhardt, from the Maine Department of Education have worked with NASA to ensure that participating teachers participating in the program will receive recertification or certification credit for their successful participation. - NASA covers participant costs for for the 15 online graduate courses and is working in conjunction with Adams State College in Colorado which offers an accredited teacher education program. For more information go to http://www.us-satellite.net/endeavor/about.cfm or contact Anita Bernhardt at [email protected] The Maine Course Pathways Syllabus Review Six Maine schools are participating in the Maine Course Pathways High School Syllabus Review. The feedback these schools provide will help to inform the design of the syllabus review tools. The purpose of this work is to provide a syllabus review tool that will assist high schools in evaluating whether the programming offered provides opportunity for all students to learn the skills and knowledge outlined in the Maine Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction as they progress toward graduation. There will be a statewide conference for the Maine Course Pathways in the fall of 2009. Maine Environmental Education Benchmarks The Maine Environmental Education Association Conference was held on March 27, 2009 at Camp Chewonki. The keynote speaker discussed the development of state environmental education benchmarks. Rebecca Bell, the Environmental Education Consultant from the Maryland Department of Education, talked about the challenges and opportunities Maryland encountered in the development of their environmental education benchmarks. Maryland is the first state in the country to complete their state environmental literacy benchmarks. The eligibility of states to apply and be considered for grants which will be available from the federal government under the No Child Left Inside Act will be contingent on the completion of environmental literacy (EE) benchmarks. The Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) and the Maine Department of Education (MDOE) have begun preliminary work on these benchmarks. MEEA and MDOE hope the collaboration around EE benchmarks will become a regional effort including other states in the New England Area. For more information contact Kara Wooldrik at Maine Audubon, [email protected], or Anita Bernhardt at the Maine Department of Education, [email protected].

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Discover Education send me this recent announcement. During the National Science Teachers Association's National Conference in New Orleans, La., the United States Department of Energy, the X PRIZE Foundation and Discovery Education announced www.FuelOurFutureNow.com , a new dynamic, online knowledge center inspired by the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE. The Web site is designed to engage students in the science of alternative fuels and energy-efficient engineering. Featuring targeted curriculum and lesson plans for all grade levels, as well as high-quality video, dynamic interactives and additional resources from the United States Department of Energy, teachers can use the online knowledge center to achieve their science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) goals. To access the full news release, visit http://www.cblohm.com/news/DiscEd/DE_090323/. Maine DOE, Re-Inventing Schools Coalition (RISC) and Marzano Associates - The Maine Department of Education has been working with Bob Marzano and the Re-Inventing Schools Coalition (RISC). The purpose of this partnership is to develop tools to support a standards-based system of education. As part of this work we will be identifying and developing rubrics for developmental levels. The rubrics for these developmental levels (or learning benchmarks) will be developed for key ideas in each content area. More information about this work will be shared as it becomes available. Anita Bernhardt, State Science & Technology Specialist and Regional Representative Maine Department of Education (207)624-6835 [email protected] http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/scitech/

Challenger Learning Center Events 2009 - The International Year of Astronomy We began this International Year of Astronomy celebrating Galileo's birthday and unveiling our two new Hubble Images. We will continue to offer events throughout the year to encourage you to get out and look up! At the Challenger Learning Center of Maine, we have much to celebrate in 2009! In addition to taking part in the IYA, this year CLC celebrates our fifth year of engaging and inspiring students and teachers in the fields of space of earth science. We are pleased to offer a variety of events throughout 2009. We look forward to seeing you! June 19 Rockin' -Rocket Launchin' -Solstice Celebratin' ASTRONAUTS BALL July 30 (EYU series continues) STORIES IN THE SKY September 24 (EYU series continues) FAMILY CHALLENGE October 8 (annual movie night and rocket team kick-off event) OCTOBER SKY viewing October 23 (annual "Out of this World" family science night) BOO! Science Jennifer Therrien, Center Coordinator & Educational Liaison Challenger Learning Center of Maine (207) 990-2900 ext 3 www.clcofme.org “Through a diversity of programs we educate students and teachers in order to inspire an active lifelong passion for space and earth science.

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Children’s Book Council Review Nancy Chesley, the Elementary Science and Literacy Specialist at the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, is currently a member of NSTA’s Children’s Book Council Review Panel for Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K–12. This panel identifies the best in trade books for student explorations and presented some of these books at the NSTA Convention in New Orleans. Each member of the panel reviews over 200 selections submitted for consideration of this prestigious designation. One of the favorite book picks this year is Farmer George Plants A Nation by Peggy Thomas and illustrated by Layne Johnson. The annotation from CBC’s states “Readers meet George Washington, a thoughtful farmer who delighted in experiments with plants, tools, and new methods of farming at his home in Mt. Vernon, Virginia. Washington believed that many successful farmers would help America grow into a stronger nation. This picture book is rich in primary sources such as letters and diary entries; it provides accurate maps and paintings from a historical point of view. For information about the other selections for 2009, go to http://www.nsta.org/publications/ostb/ostb2009.aspx Innovation Sets 2009 NSTA/Vernier Technology Award Winners Apart from the Competition

Awardees win Vernier data-collection tools, cash, and professional development reimbursement Beaverton, OR –– March 23, 2009 – The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Vernier Software & Technology announce the seven winners of the 2009 NSTA/Vernier Technology Award, where innovation and scientific investigation are applauded. Ranging from elementary school teachers to college instructors, these seven science educators were selected as winners by an NSTA-appointed panel of experts for creating innovative data-collection lessons and programs in their classrooms. Each winner received $1,000 in Vernier products, $1,000 in cash, and up to $1,000 toward expenses to attend the 2009 NSTA National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, March 19-22, 2009. They are to be formally recognized during the convention’s NSTA Awards Banquet.

Sarah Southam, Chemistry/Physics Teacher, Telstar High School, Bethel, ME Energy in a Cord of Firewood Synopsis: You never enter Sarah's classroom without first donning your safety goggles. Sarah does lots of hands-on lab activities that keep her students engaged, active, and inquisitive. She finds that having her students do labs reinforces the material she is trying to teach. Sarah scours lab and demonstration books and the web to find the perfect activity to get across a point. Finding and setting up the labs really helps Sarah learn the material. Sarah created a spin off of the Chemistry with Vernier activity “Energy of Food” she calls “Heat Content in a Cord of Wood.” The wood pellet stove industry is really taking off in Maine, as many families burn wood to keep their homes warm in the winter. This lab was inspired by her student, Patrick Gallagher, who wanted to determine the relationship between type of wood and the amount of heat produced. The activity has students calculate the amount of heat a cord of different types of wood are likely to produce based on burning small samples of the wood. If you are interested in speaking with any of these innovative educators, please contact Brooke MacDonald at [email protected] or via phone at 410-975-9638. Vernier Software & Technology has been an innovator of data-collection technology for 28 years. Creating easyto-use and affordable science interfaces, sensors, and software, their products can be found in education from elementary school to college. Vernier helps teachers enhance their science curriculum, increase learning, and build students' critical thinking skills. For more information visit www.vernier.com.

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NSTA’s New Science Teacher Academy I’d like to introduce myself to you, share some information, and ask for your support—all in one fell swoop! I’m Joe Sciulli, director of professional development programs for the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA), and the information I’d like to share is about NSTA’s New Science Teacher Academy, http://www.nsta.org/academy/ In April, NSTA announced that it is accepting applications for the 2009 NSTA New Science Teacher Academy. The NSTA New Science Teacher Academy, co-founded by the Amgen Foundation, is a yearlong professional development program established to help reduce the high attrition rate among science teachers new to the teaching profession. Intened for science educators entering their second or third year of teaching, the Academy is designed to help promote quality science teaching, enhance teacher confidence and classroom excellence and improve teacher content knowledge. For this academic year, NSTA will select 185 teachers to participate as fellows in the 2009 Academy. NSTA Fellows chosen for the program receive a comprehensive membership package, online mentoring with trained mentors who teach in the same discipline, and the opportunity to participate in a variety of web-based professional development activities, including web seminars. In addition, each NSTA Fellow receives financial support to attend and participate in NSTA’s National Conference on Science Education, taking place in Philadelphia, March 17-21, 2010. Science teachers located throughout the country, who will be entering their second or third year of teaching and whose schedule is a minimum of 51 percent middle or high school science, are encouraged to apply for the program. Applications must be submitted no later than June 30, 2009 to be considered. Although we reach a large number of individuals involved in the science education community, there are still many science educators out there that don’t know about this program. I’m hoping that you’ll help spread the word and include the news about this exciting opportunity on your Web site and/or in your member newsletters and communications. The most comprehensive information to date can be found on the Academy Web site, link listed above. If you have any questions please let me know. Thank you for your efforts to get this important information out. " Cordially, Dr. Joe Sciulli Program Director Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy Building a Presence for Science - Science Matters NSTA New Science Teacher Academy NSF/eMSS PI 1840 Wilson Boulevard Arlington, Virginia 22201 703.312.9218 [email protected]

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MSTA 1st Annual Student Green Team Award

Teachers, principals, parents - do you have a team of “green” students in your school that has brought environmental awareness and change to your school? Do they deserve recognition? MSTA would like to announce the first Green Team Award. Winners of the award will be announced at the next annual MSTA conference on October 9th at Gardiner High School. If you have a team that you feel deserves recognition then send a description what the team is doing, as well as what school the team is from, and who the contact person is as well as contact information to Mary Dunn at [email protected] The adult who works with the winning team will be awarded the prize at the October 9th conference to bring back to the students. The adult will also get a free registration to the October conference and a year’s membership to MSTA. So if you work with a green team. take a few minutes to tell us something about them and their work by nominating them for this first MSTA Annual Green Team award! Nominations due by June 30, 2009. Your name: ___________________________________________________ Your email address: _____________________________________________ Your school: ___________________________________________________ Brief description of your green team’s work:

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Elementary Science Education in the K–12 System 4/22/2009 - Page Keeley “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.

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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. References AAAS. 1989. Science for all Americans. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. AAAS. 1994. Benchmarks for science literacy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Science Matters Web Site Here is an NSTA web site and new advocacy campaign for helping parents understand the importance of elementary science. With some teachers being told not to teach science in elementary school, the once a week science lesson that might get squeezed in on Friday afternoon, or the science lessons that primarily involve reading and little minds-on inquiry, it is critically important that we help parents understand why their child needs a full, rich high quality science education in the elementary grades. Parents can be our strongest advocates yet science is an area many parents don't understand well enough to advocate for in their schools. The ripple effect from NCLB's focus on reading and math that often eliminated or diminished opportunities to experience science as a core curriculum area in K-5 is being felt at the middle school and high school level as large gaps in understanding the content and practices of science are starting to show. On behalf of NSTA, I urge all elementary, middle, and high school teachers to use this web site to advocate for elementary science. Please share this with parent groups, put an article in your school's parent newsletter, and join us in bringing elementary science back on to the front burner in schools and districts in Maine. Please visit the site: http://www.nsta.org/sciencematters/?lid=hp Thank you, Page Keeley, NSTA President

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Apollo Upgrade The flight computer onboard the Lunar Excursion Module, which landed on the Moon during the Apollo program, had a whopping 4 kilobytes of RAM and a 74-kilobyte “hard drive.” In places, the craft’s outer skin was as thin as two sheets of aluminum foil. It worked well enough for Apollo. Back then, astronauts needed to stay on the Moon for only a few days at a time. But when NASA once again sends people to the Moon starting around 2020, the plan will be much more ambitious; and the hardware is going to need a major upgrade. ‘Doing all the things we want to do using systems from Apollo would be very risky and perhaps not even possible,” says Frank Peri, director of NASA’s Exploration Technology Development Program.

The Chariot Lunar Truck is one idea for a vehicle equal to the lunar terrain. Each of the six wheels pivot in any direction, and two turrets allow the astronauts to rotate 360°.

So the program is designing new, more capable hardware and software to meet the demands of NASA’s plan to return humans to the moon. Instead of staying for just a few days, astronauts will be living on the Moon¹s surface for months on end. Protecting astronauts from harsh radiation at the Moon’s surface for such a long time will require much better radiation shielding than just a few layers of foil. And rather than relying on food and water brought from Earth and jettisoning urine and other wastes, new life support systems will be needed that can recycle as much water as possible, scrub carbon dioxide from the air without depending on disposable filters, and perhaps grow a steady supply of food: far more than Apollo life-support systems could handle. Next-generation lunar explorers will perform a much wider variety of scientific research, so they¹ll need vehicles that can carry them farther across the lunar surface. ETDP is building a new lunar rover that outclasses the Apollo-era moon buggy by carrying two astronauts in a pressurized cabin. “This vehicle is like our SUV for the Moon,” Peri says. The Exploration Technology Development Program is also designing robots to help astronauts maintain their lunar outpost and perform science reconnaissance. Making the robots smart enough to take simple verbal orders from the astronauts and carry out their tasks semi-autonomously requires vastly more powerful computer brains than those on Apollo; four kilobytes of RAM just won’t cut it. The list goes on: New rockets to carry a larger lunar lander, spacesuits that can cope with abrasive moon dust, techniques for converting lunar soil into building materials or breathable oxygen. NASA¹s ambitions for the Moon have been upgraded. By tapping into 21st century technology, this program will ensure that astronauts have the tools they need to turn those ambitions into reality. Learn more about the Exploration Technology Development Program at www.nasa.gov/directorates/esmd/aboutesmd/acd/ technology_ dev.html. Kids can build their own Moon habitat at spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/exploration/habitat.

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Micro- and Nano-space Explorations of Health and Disease SUMMER PROGRAM FOR GRADE 3-8 TEACHERS “Where the telescope ends the microscope begins. Which of the two has the grander view?” – Victor Hugo July 6 – 17 at USM Portland Campus Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM Contact project coordinator, Gail Fletcher, [email protected] , (207) 780-4377 Participating Teachers Receive: • CEU credits and stipends • A light microscope for their school (with built-in digital camera & USB port) • Access to USM microscopy outreach support Join us this summer and together we will: •

develop new curriculum materials for literacy and numeracy in the context of scale, systems, and models in the natural world

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add the vast unseen microscopic world of micro- and nano-space to the cosmic dimensions explored in the sky dome of southworth planetarium using light and electron microscopy

Sponsored by National Institutes of Health, Science Education Partnership Award Project director, S. Monroe Duboise, USM Department of Applied Medical Sciences, [email protected]

\ Can molecular biology help us understand mental function ? Eric R. Kandel, M.D. and Thomas M. Jessell, Ph.D.of Columbia University will help us understand how the nervous system turns an idea into action—from the complex processing that takes place in the brain to the direct marching orders the spinal cord gives to the muscles. Modern neuroscience equates mind with the organ we call the brain, an astounding network more than 100 billion neurons connected in a vast complicated web. The presenters will help us puzzle out how the brain is organized and identify the seat of human memory. The question of understanding how the brain functions is rivaled by the question of how such a complex network of cells develops in the first place. A two-DVD set of lectures, animations, interactive features, and more is available free from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at www.biointeractive.org.

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The Cool Chemistry of Alien Life Alien life on distant worlds. What would it be like? For millennia people could only wonder, but now NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope is producing some hard data. It turns out that life around certain kinds of stars would likely be very different from life as we know it. Using Spitzer, astronomers have discovered the organic chemical acetylene in the planet-forming discs surrounding 17 M-dwarf stars. It’s the first time any chemical has been detected around one of these small, cool stars. However, scientists are more intrigued by what was not there: a chemical called hydrogen cyanide (HCN), an important building block for life as we know it. “The fact that we do not detect hydrogen cyanide around cool stars suggests that that prebiotic chemistry may unfold differently on planets orbiting cool stars,” says Ilaria Pascucci, lead scientist for the Spitzer observations and an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. That’s because HCN is the basic component for making adenine, one of the four information-carrying chemicals in DNA. All known life on Earth is based on DNA, but without adenine available, life in a dwarf-star solar system would have to make do without it. “You cannot make adenine in another way,” Pascucci explains. “You need hydrogen cyanide.” M-dwarf and brown dwarf stars emit far less ultraviolet light than larger, hotter stars such as our sun. Pascucci thinks this difference could explain the lack of HCN around dwarf stars. For HCN to form, molecules of nitrogen must first be split into individual nitrogen atoms. But the triple bond holding molecular nitrogen together is very strong. High-energy ultraviolet photons can break this bond, but the lower-energy photons from M-dwarf stars cannot. “Other nitrogen-bearing molecules are going to be affected by this same chemistry,” Pascucci says, possibly including the precursors to amino acids and thus proteins. To search for HCN, Pascucci’s team looked at data from Spitzer, which observes the universe at infrared wavelengths. Planet-forming discs around M-dwarf stars have very faint infrared emissions, but Spitzer is sensitive enough to detect them. HCN’s distinctive 14-micron emission band was absent in the infrared spectra of the M-dwarf stars, but Spitzer did detect HCN in the spectra of 44 hotter, sun-like stars. Infrared astronomy will be a powerful tool for studying other prebiotic chemicals in planet-forming discs, says Pascucci, and the Spitzer Space Telescope is at the forefront of the field. Spitzer can’t yet draw us a picture of alien life forms, but it¹s beginning to tell us what they could, and could not, be made of. “That’s pretty wonderful, too,” says Pascucci. For news of other discoveries based on Spitzer data, visit www.spitzer.caltech.edu
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SkiJinks Weather Laboratory Find answers to hard questions at the SciJinks Weather Laboratory. Now, students can find answers to tidal mysteries on our web site. What causes the tides? We might remember that it has something to do with the Moon. But then why do we have two high tides each day if the Moon only rises and sets once? And why don't the tides occur at the same time every day? All is revealed in a new "How & Why" page on the middle-schoollevel NOAA/NASA SciJinks Weather Laboratory website, http://scijinks.gov. Click on the "How & Why" button. Other how and why topics are listed at scijinks.gov/weather/howwhy. Additional weather-related resources for teachers are available at scijinks.gov/en/educators. Why is Earth’s core so hot? Blistering hot molten rock bursts through weak places in Earth's crust. So what is down there and why is it so hot? Earth's core may seem as mysterious and remote as outer space, but scientists actually have learned a great deal about it. Listen to a scientist explain. Visit http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/educators/podcast/ to subscribe to these Podcasts. Or listen now to this and the previous Podcasts on your computer or read the transcripts.

The Maine TREE Foundation and Maine Project Learning Tree Announces two 2009 Forests of Maine Teachers' Tours There are two tours available: July 14 to 17 at Leen's Lodge on West Grand Lake in Downeast Maine July 28 to 31 in the Rangeley Lakes & Western Mountains •

Each tour begins with a Project Learning Tree workshop

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Discover & discuss changes in Forestry & changes in education

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Each tour combines math, science, technology, language arts and Social Studies with current information about forest practices, up-to-date technology and promising research into new products

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3.0 CEU's available plus 30 contact hours

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Sign up for two graduate credits on Tour One by contacting Dr. Robert Kuech [email protected] Registration for the tour and for graduate credits much be taken care of separately.

The registration fee: $75/person. Visit www.mainetreefoundation.org to learn more and call or write today to register: 621-9872 or [email protected] Patricia Maloney, Maine PLT Coordinator 153 Hospital Street Augusta, Maine 04330 207 626-7990 www.mainetreefoundation.org or www.plt.org

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MAITCA Summer Institute - July 27 - 31, 2009 - University of Maine, Orono The focus this summer will include School Gardens, Aquaculture, Entomology, Dairy, Beef, Horses, Crops, and more! Tours will include the Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research, JF Witter Teaching and Research Center, Rogers Farm Gardens and many other sites. Presentations will include Sustainable Agriculture, Using My Pyramid and integrating agriculture across the elementary curriculum. At this Educator’s workshop, participants will receive 42 contact hours for re-certification credits. Thanks to grants issued by the ME Potato Board, The ME Department of Agriculture and other sponsors the cost of this training will be only $200 per participant before June 30th (a $400 value), and $225 after this date, which includes lodging, travel and meals for up to 25 educators for the 5 days. All participants will receive the 55-lesson Food, Land and People Resources for Learning, The Maine Teacher Resource Guide, Growing Potatoes in Northern Maine, Caretakers All and Choose Well (curricula from the National Cattleman’s Assn.) and The Wild Blueberry Curriculum as well as training in these hands-on materials and exposure to Maine Agriculture and Local Foods. All participants will receive a free copy of the USDA interactive CD “Growing a Nation - The Story of American Agriculture” and “Celebrate America” a social studies video and lessons using food to teach students about cultures. Willie Sawyer Grenier, Maine Agriculture in the Classroom 28 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333 (207) 287-5522, Fax 287-7548 [email protected] or www.maineagintheclassroom.org

Registration Form Conference Fee $200.00 before Deadline June 30, 2009 or $225 afterward (if space is available) Make checks payable to Maine Agriculture in the Classroom (MAITC) NAME_____________________________ SCHOOL__________________________________ HOME ADDRESS____________________ SCHOOL ADDRESS___________________________ HOME PHONE_____________________ SCHOOL PHONE

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GRADE LEVEL_________________________ SUBJECT(S) E-MAIL ADDRESS

___________________________

___________________________________________________________

WILL YOU BE STAYING OVERNIGHT? YES ( )

NO ( )

DO YOU HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS? (DIETARY OR OTHERWISE ) YES ( ) Explain

NO

( )

_________________________________________________________________

ARE YOU CURRENTLY USING AGRICULTURE IN YOUR CURRICULUM? YES ( )

NO ( )

HOW MANY STUDENTS WILL YOU HAVE IN 2009/2010? ___________________ Conference registration deadline 6/30/09 Mail to: MAITCA, 28 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333 For more information call (207) 287-5522 or E-mail [email protected] or visit www.maineagintheclassroom.org Registration includes overnight accommodations, transportation during the conference, and meals.

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SUMMER MODELING WORKSHOPS FOR HIGH SCHOOL AND MIDDLE SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHERS: Modeling Workshops in high school physics, chemistry, and/or physical science will be held in summer 2009 in Arizona, California, Miami FL, Chicago IL, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Philadelphia PA, Pittsburgh PA, Tennessee, Dallas TX, and Wisconsin. Pending funding, also in Georgia, New Orleans, and Missouri. For details, visit http://modeling.asu.edu . Click on "Modeling Instruction Workshops Nationwide in Summer 2009". At some sites, stipends and/or free tuition are available for in-state teachers. Teachers nationwide can apply for a stipend at Miami FL. Modeling Workshops are peer-led. Content is re-organized around basic models to increase its structural coherence. Participants are supplied with a complete set of course materials and work through activities alternately in the roles of student or teacher, as they practice techniques of guided inquiry and cooperative learning. For 17 years, the Modeling Instruction Program has been helping teachers attain knowledge and skills needed to benefit their students. Modeling Instruction is recognized as an Exemplary K-12 science program by the U.S. Department of Education Jane Jackson, Co-Director, Modeling Instruction Program Box 871504 Dept. of Physics ASU Tempe, AZ 85287 480-965-8438 http://modeling.asu.edu

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Are you an upper elementary or middle school teacher looking for new ways to engage your students in energy topics? Are you tired of putting together an instructional unit using pieces of lessons and activities from a variety of sources? Could you use a coherent set of inquiry-based materials to teach students about energy? Introducing PowerSleuth, a series of "energy neutral" standards-based curriculum units made up of 7-12 lessons that follow a conceptual storyline around energy topics. Developed by the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance in conjunction with the Maine Public Utilities Commission, PowerSleuth consists of themed instructional units for three grade spans: Energy Lights Maine! for Grades 4-5, Energy Heats Maine! for Grades 6-7, and Energy Powers Maine! (in development) for Grades 7-8. While the PowerSleuth materials are divided into themed grade level spans, the design of these units is meant to provide teachers flexibility and varied opportunities to use them in different grade levels. Energy Lights Maine! focuses on light and electrical circuits, how people get light, how it’s used, and what its link is to our environment. Energy Heats Maine! focuses on heat transfers and includes examination of various ways Maine people heat their homes and the pros and cons of those choices economically and environmentally. Energy Powers Maine! includes more sophisticated explorations of energy transfers and transformations and developing an understanding of where Maine gets its energy, how the use of these resources impact our daily lives and the health of our state, an introduction to energy resources, and the pros and cons of our energy decisions. A companion website, www.powersleuth.org provides multimedia support for the PowerSleuth materials. The site is designed for Maine students, teachers, and community members and includes activities, projects, video clips, links, lesson plans, and other resources for each of the PowerSleuth modules. The “Teacher Zone” portion of the site contains lesson plans for each of the units which teachers may download and use in their classrooms. Presently, the Energy Lights Maine! and Energy Heats Maine! draft lessons are available for use. Energy Powers Maine! is in development. In addition to lesson plans, teachers will find the accompanying support materials, a listing of activities and projects students can do at home, and websites and videos related to the various energy topics. The final versions of the PowerSleuth modules will be uploaded to this site and there will be upcoming curriculum training opportunities available for all three units soon. Visit the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance’s website www.mmsa.org for a complete listing of current opportunities. For more information contact Lynn Farrin at [email protected]

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MSTA 2009 Annual Convention Invitation to Presenters The Maine Science Teachers Association Annual conference will be Friday, October 9th at Gardiner Area High School. We are looking forward to the great networking opportunities of seeing old friends and making new ones. I hope you can all put this event on the calendar today, and make a commitment to your professional development and your students. It is time for interested presenters to submit their proposals. Feedback from our membership indicates that participants would like to attend more presentations by teachers. What would you like to share with other Maine teachers? The conference committee will review the proposals and make selections, if necessary, to insure a mix of grade levels and content offerings available. Science literacy will continue to be an important focus this year. We will continue to offer both one hour presentations/sessions and 2hour workshops. If you are interested in presenting at the conference this year please fill out the presenters form and submit it to Robin Kennedy at [email protected] or Challenger Center / Robin Kennedy 30 Venture Way Bangor, ME 04401. The form itself may be sent via the postal service or electronically. A description of your session MUST BE submitted ELECTRONICALLY to Robin. If more than one person is presenting each presenter must submit a form for contact information. Please submit these forms together. If there are more than two presenters in a group, the additional presenters will need to pay the cost of food. Science teachers in the state of Maine have great ideas. Please consider sharing yours with others at the conference. The experience is invaluable! Conference presenters will receive FREE conference registration and FREE MSTA membership! We hope you have a great summer! Presenter Forms are due June 30th!!! Robin Kennedy Challenger Learning Center 30 Venture Way Bangor, Maine 04401 207-990-2900 Fax 990-2040 Helping Maine students Reach for the stars!

MSTA 2009 Annual Convention Invitation to Exhibitors Anyone interested in having an Exhibit at the MSTA 2009 Annual Convention should contact: Laurette Darling PO Box 352 Kents Hill, ME 04349-0352 207-293-3847 (H) or 207-446-4987 (C) Or by email at [email protected]

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MSTA Annual Conference – Presenter Form

Teaching the Science of Tomorrow October 9th, 2009 at Gardiner Area High School **If you are accepted as a presenter, you do not need to register for the conference**

Name _______________________________________ Position_________________________________________ Home Address ________________________________________________________________________________ City/Town _______________________________________________ State _____________ Zip ______________ Home Phone _____________________ School/Organization ____________________________________________________________________________ Address ______________________________________________________________________________________ City/Town ________________________________________________ State _____________ Zip _____________ Work Phone ___________________ * Email______________________________________ Preferred mailing address: [ ] home [ ] organization (MSTA newsletters will be sent to you via email during the coming year.) Describe your organization: [ ] private school [ ] public school [ ] informal educational institution [ ] K-2 [ ] 3-4 [ ] 5-8 [ ] high school [ ] college [ ] pre-service

Type: [ ] Session - 1 hour

Presentation Information [ ] Workshop - 2 ½ hours

Target Audience/Grade Level(s): ________________________________ If the presentation is professional development, check the appropriate content area(s): [ ] Life Science [ ] Physical Science [ ] Earth/Space Science [ ] Any Title

____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________

Co – Presenter(s) _____________________________________________________________________________ (Attach a presenter form with contact information for each presenter. If more than two are presenting, food costs will need to be paid for the additional presenters at registration.) Needs: Requests should be an integral part of your presentation. [ ] Water [ ] Tables ***It would be helpful if you could bring your own AV equipment. However, if your presentation requires a computer lab (PC or MAC) or any other equipment, please contact us at least two weeks before the conference! 1. Electronically provide a brief (50 words or less) description of your presentation. This description will appear in the program. Please email your description to Robin Kennedy at [email protected]. 2. Send presenter form electronically or mail it to: Robin Kennedy 30 Venture Way Bangor, Maine 04401 Presentation Forms are due by June 30th!! Please fill out one form for each presentation!