the network for middle school math and science teachers

All Blog Posts (91)

NC Middle School Association Conference Notes

Hi folks,
The North Carolina Middle School Association had their annual conference earlier this week in Greensboro, NC. I was lucky enough to attend and took notes on the sessions I attended. There were some really good sessions and a few that received a "Not Yet" :) Would love any comments or thoughts on the notes and if you have any questions I'll be glad to answer them if I can! The notes can be found here:

ht… Continue

Added by Todd Williamson on March 19, 2010 at 12:58pm — No Comments

Getting Grants - Several new opportunities

Have you checked out the Getting Grants section of the MSP2 Resources box recently? We're always adding new grant opportunities for teache… Continue

Added by Sarita Pillai on March 19, 2010 at 10:16am — No Comments

Gender, Reading and Math

One part of the gender gap closes
From the PEN Weekly Newsblast - A new report from the Center on Education P… Continue

Added by Sarita Pillai on March 19, 2010 at 9:59am — No Comments

High Schoolers Give Hot Dog a DNA Test

...and also discovered a new species of cockroach! This short video tells the story of two high school students (in their own words) who decided to test the DNA of 200 everyday items. Direct Link: http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp4?http://media.libsyn.com/media/sciencefriday/brendamatt-012210.mp4
Link in Science Friday website:… Continue

Added by Kim Lightle on March 19, 2010 at 9:30am — No Comments

Use MSP To Network Your Classroom

Okay......Let's say person "A" is in Dayton, Ohio and person "B" in Bakersfield, California. Person "A" is teaching their class about the San Andreas Fault. Person "B" about the invention of flight. Assuming that both of these people are on MSP2- Why not have the classes work together and share their area of expertise/local interests? Contact folks in our on-line community and make the world a smaller, more interesting place. I've done this several times and its something that is fun for the

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Added by Tom Jenkins on March 11, 2010 at 1:32pm — 8 Comments

Iceberg Rams Glacier and the Glacier Loses

In 1992, a 60 miles long iceberg in the Southern Ocean, named B-9B, which had calved from an even larger iceberg -- B9 – ran aground off the coast of Antarctica, not far in nautical miles from the Mertz Glacier Tongue. In February of this year, B-9B was back at sea and rammed into the glacier tongue. The result is a new iceberg named C-28, measuring 50 miles long and 25 miles wide, and weighing in at 860 billion tons. The collision is show… Continue

Added by Kim Lightle on March 11, 2010 at 10:30am — No Comments

All About Me!

Aloha from Maui! Hopefully, this blog will answer some of the questions you may have about me. Yes, Davilla is my first name. It rhymes with "vanilla".

I was born and raised in Texas. I graduated from Texas A&M University with a B.S. in Zoology and M.S. in Natural Resources Development. After graduating, I worked as a biologist and then as an environmental consultant before moving to Hawaii.

When I was younger, I came to Maui on vacation. I f… Continue

Added by Davilla Riddle on March 9, 2010 at 10:00pm — 2 Comments

3rd National EdTech Plan - Draft Just Released

The Office Educational Technology has just released the draft of the 3rd National EdTech Plan “Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology" which promotes a vision of technology as being integral to teaching, learning, assessment, infrastruc… Continue

Added by Kim Lightle on March 9, 2010 at 12:43pm — No Comments

Engineering Barbie?

Alice Agogino has an interesting blog post about the history and evolution of the Barbie doll, women inventors, and resources for women in computing and information science. Mattel, Barbie's maker, plans to release a computer engineer version of Barbie in the near future. Continue

Added by Kim Lightle on March 8, 2010 at 11:10am — 2 Comments

The trail from Glogster to drawing and mapping tools

The following is cross-posted to a discussion on the Integrating Technology Group

I was exploring Glogster this morning, wondering, "How can Glogster help in a learning and teaching setting?" My search for "education" on the Glogster site turned up a glog about Web 2… Continue

Added by Mary Henton on February 18, 2010 at 10:30am — 3 Comments

YouthTouch system

Has anyone had expereince with Goldenrod Research Corp's YouthTouch system for STEM curriculum? Continue

Added by John Cohen on November 19, 2009 at 12:10pm — 4 Comments

Citizen Science, Real Data, and Web 2.0 Combine in Snowtweets Project

Real data and citizen science projects are wonderful ways to engage students, but they often are best conducted during the fall and spring. What’s a teacher to do in the colder months of winter? The new Snowtweets Project from the University of Waterloo has one answer. The Snowtweets Project provides a way for people interested in snow measurements to quickly broadcast their own snow depth measurements to the web. These data are then picked up by our database and mapped in near real time. The p… Continue

Added by Jessica Fries-Gaither on November 12, 2009 at 12:16pm — No Comments

accelerated math

Kids in Middle school are going through a lot right now. While all the guys need Height Increase Shoes to hang with the girls and each classroom needs a Filtrete filter to hold back the body odor. Somehow the guys have not discovered that they need to wear deodorant. You would think their par… Continue

Added by Cindy Fallsen on November 8, 2009 at 8:30pm — 1 Comment

Science Activities for Halloween

Here is a great blog post from sciencegeekgirl - Science Activities for Halloween - slime, fake blood, and exploding pumpkins! Don't forget your safety glasses! Continue

Added by Kim Lightle on October 27, 2009 at 8:46am — No Comments

What does autism "look" like?

Just as every person is different and has her own set of strengths and weaknesses, every person on the autism spectrum is different, as well. Too often we think "autism" and we have a preconceived notion of what that "looks like." I attended a conference not long ago, and a bright educator named Paula Kluth gave a moving presentation about how most autistic behavior is nothing more than human behavior. The difference for those on the autism spectrum is... they don't always have the communicatio… Continue

Added by Mary Calhoun Brown on October 19, 2009 at 11:53am — No Comments

Autism: 1 in 91?

I've been absent from blogging the past couple of weeks. The press copies of my book arrived, and I have been happily sending them to the most receptive and caring people, plus staying on top of the educators' web ring and all the other marketing activities that come along with a newly published book. During my blogging hiatus, new autism numbers have been released by several sources. Parents report that the number affected by autism is 1 in 91; old CDC figures show 1 in 150; newer CDC figures… Continue

Added by Mary Calhoun Brown on October 14, 2009 at 11:45am — 1 Comment

STEM PBL-

I have been asked about STEM PBL books and information. At the risk of self-promotion I am posting the references to two books that deal with the current state of issue. I wrote them both so I am biased but both books were the result of working with teachers for the last four years. The second book is a compilation of lessons by teachers for teachers who have participated in the work. 1. Capraro, R. M., Capraro, M. M., Morgan, J., & Scheurich, J. (Eds.) (2010 -available now from the publish… Continue

Added by Robert on October 13, 2009 at 2:53pm — 2 Comments

Anyone Teaching About H1N1?

Terry Herrera, math resource specialist for MSP2, just wrote a great blog post - Pandemics and Their Numbers. Any other ideas for integrating the study of H1N1 into your science or mathematics teaching? What are students asking? Continue

Added by Kim Lightle on October 12, 2009 at 10:36am — No Comments

Chemistry Nobel goes to ribosomes, the protein manufacturer

Ribosomes are the manufacturing machines for proteins, which participate in almost every chemical reaction key to life. To study the chemistry of life, it is essential to know the functions and structure of the ribosome. The Nobel Prize in Chemistry goes to three researchers who mapped the positions of atoms in ribosomes, which could lead to more efficient antibiotics.

The 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry has been awarded to Venkatraman Ramakrishnan, Thomas A. Steitz, and Ada E. Yo

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Added by genium on October 7, 2009 at 5:53pm — No Comments

Literacy in Math Class

Do you ever wonder about the reading skills of your students? See the archived version of the Reading Mathematics is Different webinar held on September 30. The webinar focused on the current interest in adolescent literacy and how literacy impacts mathematics education. We examined how mathematics symbols, vocabulary, and content presentation can create roadblocks to students’ mathematics understanding. Go to… Continue

Added by Judy Spicer on October 2, 2009 at 4:57pm — 3 Comments