Education

Editor’s Note: The following is a transcript of an interview conducted with Kim Van Eaton. Some answers have been lightly edited for clarity. 

Here at the Smithsonian Science Education Center, we’re passionate about science communication and creating an infectious love of science. As part of this mission, our director, Dr. Carol O’Donnell, met with science teachers in Washington State this June to talk about the importance of science education. While there she meet 6th grade teacher Kim Van Eaton from Marie Curie STEM Elementary School. Kim had nothing but kind words to say about STC^TM and how the kit had changed her teaching of science! It’s always heartwarming to hear that your work has impacted someone’s life in a positive way. We wanted to know a little more about how Kim has been affected by STC and SSEC, so we got in touch to hear more of her thoughts.

Hebrew University 

International Conference on Improving the Learning of Biology 

During April 13^th through 16^th Dr. Carol O’Donnell and the Director of Professional Services Dr. Amy D’Amico attended an International Conference on Improving the Learning of Biology and Other Related Science in the K-12 School Year in Santiago, Chile. The conference focused on inquiry based science education, and Dr. O’Donnell presented the results of the Smithsonian Science Education Center’S 5-year research trial of the LASER model.

100Kin10 New Partners’ Unconference

 O'Donnell addresses the "unconference" attendees

Lindsey Nickerson, science teacher at Eaton Middle School and one of SSEC’s Colorado LASER site coordinators, was selected as the Denver Broncos Tackle STEM Coach of the month for January. This award provided an opportunity of a lifetime: a STEM-based tour of the Broncos’ stadium for her and her students. After nominating Lindsey for this award, I was thrilled to be included as a chaperone on the trip to the stadium.

Do you want to teach engineering in your classroom? Go for it; it’s not as hard as you might think. This is just the subject that Pamela Lottero-Purdue and I presented at the 2015 Smithsonian Science Education Forum. Throughout the day, attendees from all education backgrounds were able to see and participate in activities that bring engineering to life in any educational setting.

Metacognition is one of those terms thrown around education circles like tryptophan during Thanksgiving. It sounds good, and makes us seem smart, but we aren’t really sure what’s happening below the surface.

I’ve always believed that one of the best ways to understand something is to compare it with something it’s not. Turkey is NOT chicken. Hitting the snooze button is NOT getting out of bed. Metacognition is NOT cognition.

Cognition is the way we organize and store new information. It’s how we think and process information.

The following blog was written by first-grade North Carolina teacher Tiffany Kramer. Tiffany provides some time-saving strategies and insight that may help other LASER i3 teachers. Thank you, Tiffany, for sharing with us!

After attending our first week of LASER i3 training in 2011, my 1st grade team was very excited about the engaging lessons the kit provided, but we also wondered how much time it would take. It seems like every teacher's schedule gets tighter every year. We wondered how we would find time to set up, teach the lesson, clean up, and make use of student notebooks. 

Lab Out Loud started as an experiment.  Could we bring a conversation about science education to a wider audience by delivering it through a new medium? After eight years, our audio podcast has developed into a passion that we've been fortunate to share with our listeners; every episode continues to teach us new things.

According to scientists, you’re probably neither.

Many of us have asked ourselves this question at least once. The idea that people are either “left brained” (more concrete and analytical), or “right brained” (more abstract and creative), has been circulating in popular culture for decades. The lasting influence of this concept may be due to the natural human inclination to categorize everything —including the people around us.