January 27, 2017
In this month's blog, Richard Byrne, author of "Free Technology for Teachers," highlights free resources from the Smithsonian designed for elementary school students and teachers. Three of the five resources are from the Smithsonian Science Education Center. Check it out!
January 29, 2017
How do we prepare our K-12 students for the workforce of tomorrow? Listen to Dr. Carol O'Donnell, Director of the Smithsonian Science Education Center, at the 2017 Global Talent Summit as she discusses our role as educators in working with both the public and private sector to prepare our students for the unprecedented changes they face in tomorrow's STEM workforce.
Juan Carlos Andrade has been Project Manager at INNOVEC (Innovation for Science Education) a nonprofit organization since 2005 which, under the support of the National Secretary of Education, the U.S.–Mexico Foundation for Science, and other business and community organizations, promotes and applies Inquiry Based Science Education in elementary public schools. Mr. Andrade´s background is in Biology and has a MBA on Environmental Sciences. Since 1995 Mr.
February 1, 2017
The Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC)--in collaboration with scientists from the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP), Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI), and the US Department of Agriculture (USDA)--has received a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation to develop "Zika!", an online, inquiry-based science education (IBSE) curriculum module for K-8 teachers and students to address the challenges and mitigation of mosquito-borne diseases, with a particular focus on the dengue and Zika viruses.
February 2, 2017
KDSL Global Founder Kevin Simpson has been selected to serve as a mentor at the Smithsonian Science Education Center and Shell Oil Company’s Teacher Leadership Summit: Attracting, Retaining, and Developing a Diverse STEM Teaching Workforce this February 2017 at Howard University in Washington, D.C. At this summit, teams of educators will create a plan for attracting, retaining, and developing a diverse STEM teaching workforce in their districts to become catalysts for systemic change.
February 15, 2017
Dow and the engineering firm CH2M have partnered with the Smithsonian Science Education Center to bring the Smithsonian STEM Education Forum to Baton Rouge on February 18th. According to a news release, the forum provides 50 local teachers the training to incorporate engineering into their classrooms to advance science, technology, engineering and math education, also known as STEM. The forum will feature experts from the Smithsonian Science Education Center, a unit of the Smithsonian Institution, Dow and CH2M volunteers and two Louisiana Tech professors. Dow STEM Ambassador volunteers and CH2M employee volunteers also will provide continued support to teachers in their classrooms.
February 15, 2017
Committed supporters of STEM education, Dow and CH2M partnered with the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC) to bring the Smithsonian STEM Education Forum to Baton Rouge. The Forum provided 50 local teachers with a day of hands-on training that will empower them to incorporate engineering into their classrooms, benefiting hundreds of local students for years to come. The Forum featured experts from SSEC, two professors from Louisiana Tech University, along with Dow and CH2M employee volunteers.
February 17, 2017
The InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) Science Education Progamme (SEP) convened a series of meetings recently in Khartoum, Sudan (5-9 February 2017), including a two-day Inquiry-based Science Education (IBSE) Policy Forum (7-8 February). With the establishment of the IAP in 2016, ongoing projects and programmes, including across health and science education, are now starting to integrate. One example of this is a new project being led by IAP SEP Global Council member, Dr. Carol O’Donnell of the Smithsonian Science Education Center, which will focus on Zika and other Mosquito Borne Diseases. The project, which has just kicked off, aims to develop curricula for primary and middle-school-aged children so that they develop an awareness of the dangers of mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit, and how they can reduce the risks of becoming infected.
February 21, 2017
On February 5-9th, 2017, some 80 participants gathered in Khartoum along with the Sudanese National Commission for Education, Science and Culture; the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences (SNAS); and the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP). At the meeting, IAP coordinator, Peter McGrath, introduced a new project being led by the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC). The project, which will focus on Zika and other mosquito-borne diseases, aims to develop curricula for primary and middle-school-aged children so that they develop an awareness of the dangers of mosquitoes and the diseases they transmit, and how they can reduce the risks of becoming infected. During the one-year project, funded by the Moore Foundation, the curricula developed will be tested, refined, and then also translated into Spanish before being made freely available for download.
February 21, 2017
The Howard University School of Education, in partnership with the Smithsonian Science Education Center, will co-sponsor a national STEM Teacher Leadership Summit to be held at Howard University to promote increased diversification of the STEM teaching field. Preparing a diverse teacher workforce is tied to the early mission of Howard University, noting that the university opened its doors 150 years ago to prepare teachers. This program continues that tradition and further works to prepare a diverse teaching force to create a more diverse population within the STEM disciplines. STEM teachers and leaders from around the nation from underrepresented groups will be in attendance at this event.
Have you ever heard someone say, “Clouds are just water vapor”? Next time, you’ll be able to correct them.
While it’s true that clouds contain water, they actually aren’t made of water vapor. If they were, you wouldn’t be able to see them. The water that makes up clouds is in liquid or ice form. The air around us is partially made up of invisible water vapor. It’s only when that water vapor cools and condenses into liquid water droplets or solid ice crystals that visible clouds form.
March 2, 2017
Alexis Daniels who teaches science at Port Allen High School won a $1,000 scholarship to attend the National Science Teacher conference in Los Angeles, March 30 through April 2. Last year Daniels attended the Smithsonian Science Education Academy for Teachers (SSEAT) where she met with scientists who study earth history and climate change. Daniels was asked to help present information to local teachers by SSEAT as the program travels to different states.
March 6, 2017
On Wednesday evening, a new relationship between the Smithsonian Science Education Center and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences (NCNS) was introduced by Dr. Sam Houston, SSEC Advisory Board member, during the State-of-the-NCMNS function. See particularly minutes 13:30 - 24:00. The NCMNS is a Smithsonian Affiliate museum and its mission is to illuminate the interdependence of nature and humanity.
March 10, 2017
STEM leaders came together from September 26-28, 2016 for a 3-day Next Steps Institute jointly hosted by the Smithsonian Science Education Center, South Carolina Coalition for Mathematics and Science, and South Carolina Afterschool Alliance. During that time, attendees participated in one of seven themed pathway programs on topics ranging from STEM in the after school to the nuts and bolts of instructional materials support. See the institute in review via the video below.
Teach for America & Smithsonian Science Education Center
March 13, 2017
The Smithsonian reflects the diversity of the American people and the world today and strives to maximize its effectiveness, cultural inclusion and internal diversity by welcoming people of all backgrounds. Diversity and inclusion are also integral are also key components in the Smithsonian Strategic Plan. To assist the Smithsonian in its diversity and inclusion goals, OEEMA developed and published the Diversity and Inclusion Initiatives Report (DIIR) in an effort to capture and report on the multiplicity of diversity and inclusion related activities around the Institution, including data from the Smithsonian Science Education Center, which meets the criteria of the Smithsonian's diversity and inclusion initiatives.
March 13, 2017
The Smithsonian participated on the Executive Office of the President – Office of Science and Technology Policy and Office of Personnel Management’s taskforce that looked at increasing diversity in the STEM workforce by reducing the impact of bias. This interagency group focused on sharing best practices for increasing diversity in STEM. The Smithsonian shared initiatives such as the Smithsonian Science Education Center’s partnership with Shell Oil Foundation that addresses stereotypes about gender and ethnicity. To view the full report go to Reducing the Impact of Bias in the STEM Workforce: Strengthening Excellence and Innovation or to view the Report's digest go to Report Digest: Reducing the Impact of Bias in the STEM Workforce
March 14, 2017
The Smithsonian Science Education Center was invited to lead part of the "Master Trainer Professional Learning" at the Educational Service District (ESD) 105 in Yakima, Washington. Science Master Trainers are classroom teachers, leaders, and advocates for science education, and "agents of change" for the region. They work with ESD 105 Staff to prepare K-5 teachers for the first use of their instructional materials. ESD 105 is one of the LASER alliances of Washington State LASER.
The Smithsonian Science Education Center Helps to Lead Master STEM Teaching Training in Yakima, Washington
March 17, 2017
The Director of the Smithsonian Science Education Center, Dr. Carol O'Donnell, has been invited to give a TEDx talk at TEDxFoggyBottom on April 22, 2017 to be hosted at the George Washington University Campus at the Lisner Auditorium. The 2017 event, whose theme is "Metamorphisis," and will bring together the world's innovators, thinkers, and doers to connect with and empower the Foggy Bottom community. To learn more see: #TEDxFoBo or tedxfoggybottom.com.
March 21, 2017
Read more at http://eepurl.com/cGbz3H
The Director of the Smithsonian Science Education Center, Dr. Carol O'Donnell, has been invited to give a TEDx talk at TEDxFoggyBottom on April 22, 2017 to be hosted at the George Washington University Campus at the Lisner Auditorium. The 2017 event, whose theme is "Metamorphisis," and will bring together the world's innovators, thinkers, and doers to connect with and empower the Foggy Bottom community.
A thunderstorm is a disturbance in the atmosphere that is characterized by lightning and thunder. Lightning is an electrical discharge in the air generated by charged particles in moving air masses. Because lightning is a phenomenon of moving, charged particles, not rain, we see lightning in violent forest fires and volcanoes as well as thunderstorms. Thunder is the sound produced by the shock wave lightning generates. The air immediately around lightning is suddenly heated to high temperatures—up to 30,000°C (54,000°F)—and subjected to high pressure; it expands rapidly.
March 26, 2017
The Dow Chemical Company announced that Andrew Liveris, Dow's chairman and CEO, will receive the U.S. News Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Leadership Hall of Fame Award at the publication's upcoming STEM Solutions National Leadership Conference in San Diego, California. Through its support of the Smithsonian Science Education Academy for Teachers (SSEATs) since 2007, Dow has been helping ignite teachers' and students' excitement for STEM education by exposing teachers to careers in STEM fields.
March 27, 2017
President ECOSF Dr. Manzoor Soomro of Bonn, Germany visited the German "TuWaS!" (Technik und Naturwissenschaften an Schulen, Technology and Science in Schools) in Cologne on March 8, 2017. "TuWaS!" promotes inquiry-based science education (IBSE) in primary schools in Germany. It was founded in 2007 as a cooperation between the Freie University Berlin, led by Professor Petra Skiand, the Berlin Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and is based on the five pillars of the Smithsonian Science Education Center's LASER model: 1) professional development of teachers, (2) providing teaching material, which is (3) curriculum based, (4) the involvement of the community and (5) assessment. TuWaS! has trained over 1000 teachers and serves over 170 primary schools in four different German states.
March 27, 2017
Many schools across the country are trying to appeal to women and minority students by focusing on projects with strong real-world connections – biomedical engineers building health care devices for low-income communities, for instance, or computer science students addressing environmental concerns through innovative software or apps. Dr. Carol O'Donnell, Director of the Smithsonian Education Center, will moderate the panel "Making STEM Matter: The Value of Experiential Learning and Grand Challenges," in which several schools will discuss the success they have found in enrolling and engaging more underrepresented students by integrating service and hands-on inquiry-based learning into their curricula. To register for the event, go to: usnewsstemsolutions.com/2017-conference-registration/
Many schools across the country are trying to appeal to women and minority students by focusing on projects with strong real-world connections – biomedical engineers building health care devices for low-income communities, for instance, or computer science students addressing environmental concerns through innovative software or apps.