Monday, April 23, 2018

Exploring Iowa’s Natural Resources (Online)-- Project Based Learning connection!

@KeystoneAEA #aea1sci @jmartinhiner  @bbaxter @JordanMenning @tjyoungers 

Exploring Iowa’s Natural Resources will be offered online September 4 - December 30, 2018. Participants will build a project-based learning unit for their personal teaching situation, so you can immediately incorporate the course resources and tactics into your teaching. It is offered for 3 license renewal or graduate credits, and also qualifies for credit for the STEM endorsement through Drake University.
This course guides the participant through several resources that utilize a STEM-based approach to explore natural resources including:


Outdoor Observation Skills
Field Investigations
Schoolyard Biodiversity
Project Based Learning Model
Project WILD
Aquatic WILD
For more information, or to register: https://prodev.aeapdonline.org/home


Activity #: 22007499991602
Activity Title: Exploring Iowa's Natural Resources (Online)
Target Audience: STEM, Science, Social Studies, Ag. and Natural Resources; Grades K-12
Dates: online September 4 - December 30, 2018
Times: n/a
Location: online
Instructor: Linette Bernard, Barb Gigar
Cost: $305 – Materials, 3 License Renewal Credits; $455 – Materials, 3 Drake Graduate Credits

Registration Deadline: August 31, 2018

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

@KeystoneAEA @jmartinhiner #aea1sci

Linked here is information about Quarknet which is a program associated with high-energy particle physics experiments across the globe. The program's goal is to advance the study of particle physics by training and offering unique research experiences to high school teachers and their students.
For more information see the attached document. Questions should be directed to

Chris Like
christopher.like@gmail.com
Christopher Like
STEAM Coordinator
Planetarium Director
Bettendorf Community Schools
@KeystoneAEA @jmartinhiner #aea1sci

Calling all teachers!!
The Blank Park Zoo in DesMoines has summer learning opportunities just for you! Visit their website for workshop descriptions and registration information.
https://www.blankparkzoo.com/education/just-for-teachers/


Summer 2018
Summer workshops are held over two full days at various locations around Iowa
  • June 25/26, 2018 - Climate Change. FW Kent Park, Oxford, Iowa
  • July 10/11, 2018 - Pollinators: Birds Do It; Bees Do It...and so do Lemurs and Lizards! Swan Lake State Park, Carroll, Iowa
  • July 24/25, 2018 - Pollinators: Birds Do It; Bees Do It...and so do Lemurs and Lizards! FW Kent Park, Oxford, Iowa
Academic Year 2018/2019 
All academic year workshops are held at Blank Park Zoo Friday evenings and all day Saturdays.

  • September 28/29, 2018 - Ecosystems
  • November 2/3, 2018 - Zoo Structure and Design
  • November 30/December 1, 2018 - Biomimicry and Inspiration
  • January 25/26, 2019 - Habitats and Adaptations
  • February 22/23, 2019 - Nature-centered Science for PreK-2 (new workshop[!)
  • April 5/6, 2019 - Lamarck, and Wallace, and Darwin..Oh, My! Evolution for Educators (new workshop!)
  • June 12/13, 2018 - Climate Change. Swan Lake State Park, Carroll, Iowa


Friday, March 30, 2018

Check out Discovery Education's STEM Community's 2018 Reading list!

@KeystoneAEA @jmartinhiner #aea1sci

Celebrate National Reading Month by checking out Discovery Education's STEM Community's Reading list! Featured are books for professional learning in STEM thinking and content focused choices. STEM book connections for young readers are also included.

Learn more at http://blog.discoveryeducation.com/blog/2018/03/19/2018-discovery-education-stem-community-reading-lists/


Tuesday, March 27, 2018

2018 Physics Competition!

@KeystoneAEA @jmartinhiner #aea1sci


On March 20th, eighty-five students across Keystone AEA participated in the Physics Competition hosted by MFLMarMac High School.

Below is a list of the top finishing teams and individual event winners. The top two school teams and all the individual event team winners are invited to the State Physics Competition on April 10, 2018, at the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) McLeod Center in Cedar Falls.

Top Finishing Teams:
Grand Champion School Team: Decorah High School -- 3.00x108
First Runner-Up School Team: Decorah High School -- 6.67x10-11
Second Runner-Up School Team: Turkey Valley High School --Physics 5

Top Finishers- Individual Events
Catapult: Andrew Kephart and Kaitlyn Rooney from team 3.00x108 (Decorah)
Mousetrap Car: Cael Wickham and Jordan Messler from team Au1(Turkey Valley)
Bridge Building: Klara Thompson and Isabel de la Cruz Hexom from team 6.67x10-11 (Decorah)
Soda Straw Arm: Katie Nimrod and Rylea Ranum from team 6.67x10-11 (Decorah)
Challenge Problem: Emily Franzen and Cameron Delong from team 6.67x10-11 (Decorah)
* These event teams are part of a state-qualifying team


Wednesday, March 21, 2018

Update from the Regents regarding Science Entrance Requirements

@KeystoneAEA #aea1sci

Iowa State has approved a change to the science portion of their minimum high school course requirements.  This change will go into effect for freshmen entering Iowa State beginning 2020.
Below is the change:

Current language
Three years, including one year each from any two of the following: biology, chemistry, and physics.
New language
Three years, including at least two years of laboratory science courses which emphasize elements of biology, chemistry, or physics.

Saturday, March 17, 2018

NSTA Atlanta 2018 - Day 3

Another full day of learning has wrapped up here in Atlanta at the NSTA conference.  It has been filled with quite a few interesting sessions, new people and new ideas.  Here is the summary from today:

Featured Presentation: 3-D Science Assessment: How Do You Still Make Construction a Priority?:  Dr. Stephen Pruitt let off the morning with a session around how the commonwealth of Kentucky is tackling their state assessment system - note the emphasis on system.  From classroom embedded assessments to what are called TCTs (Through Course Tasks) to the state assessment that will be given in 5th grade, 8th grade and high school, all three levels are meant to work together to produce evidence of three dimensional learning from students.  They are also supposed to be focused on sense making and phenomena.  Dr. Pruitt also emphasized that they all will revolve around the performance expectations (or for the larger tasks, a bundle of them).  I was able to snap a quick picture of one of the examples of a TCT, which includes graphical data to go along with it.

Another interesting comment from Dr. Pruitt was that he hopes he will not find himself writing a book sometime in the next 30 years entitled "The Lost Dimension", referencing the cross cutting concepts in our standards, since these continue to be the most challenging to both teach and assess.  This was definitely a reoccurring theme throughout the conference.

Assessing 3-D Learning with Instructionally Supportive Tasks and Rubrics:  In this session we had a chance to evaluate both some tasks and some student responses using rubrics.  I think I can summarize the work with three points:
  • Scoring 3D assessment tasks is very challenging, even with a rubric
  • The value of working with a group cannot be overemphasized when evaluating student work, especially the first time using a rubric
  • It is very challenging to have a robust two or three dimensional assessment that is also fast/easy to score.  Make sure the time you spend on more formal assessments will get the information you need.
You can find the presenter's slides and other resources here, including a link to the portal hosted by the Concord Consortium where they are working to get these assessments online.

Integrating Engineering Design and 3D Printers into your Current Lessons and Activities:  I always try to attend at least one session on 3D printing when I'm at a conference in order to make sure I know what others are doing around the country and see if there are any additional tools I should be aware of.  The presenters made use of Tinkercad, which is that same design software I've been recommending to schools as well.  I had a chance to share some of the work we've been doing at the AEA and in schools with 3D printing and even made a possible contact that might be able to provide funding for schools interested in getting their own 3D printers.  I also learned about another 3D design tool called Onshape that might be another good option for schools.  The big takeaway was that no matter what the lesson or project was, the printer played a role as a means to an end (a design solution) rather than an end in and of itself, just like any tech tool should be.

The presenters haven't put their presentation up as of this writing, but I'll keep an eye out for it soon.

Classroom-Embedded Assessments (CEAs): 3-D Assessments for Learning in Elementary and Middle School Classrooms:  The presenters have been working in Kentucky and we had a chance to go through one of the tasks the teacher cohort had created to be used at the classroom level as a 3D formative assessment.  It was challenging to really get a good handle on the quality of the assessment when it was completely isolated from the instruction, but they were willing to share all the work that the group had done - you can find them here.  The link to the presentation is here.

Designing and Using Equitable 3-D Formative Assessments to Support Meaningful NGSS Investigations:  The final session of the day was with Dr. Phillip Bell and focused on tools and resources to address equity issues in science teaching and assessment.  A few bullet point takeaways:

  • There are "playlists" on STEM Teaching Tools site around topics that make it a little easier to navigate all the tools, which are great for organizing shorter PD session.  You can find them here.
  • Formative assessment as a verb, not a noun
  • There was much discussion when developing the framework for FIVE dimensions, with the additional two including interest and identity, two key components in addressing equity.
The nuts and bolts for most of the session can be found here as part of Resource C from the ACESSE group.

I hope you've found these summaries interesting and I'm looking forward to getting back to Iowa to continuing our work on moving implementation of the Iowa science standards forward, especially around assessment and making the crosscutting concepts explicit in teaching and assessment.  Please let me know if any of the topics from these posts have sparked additional interest or questions about how they can be used by you or others at your school and I'd be happy to provide some additional details.