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Summer vacation is often filled with fun activities but did you know that, on average, students lose two months worth of academic progress over the break? This is referred to as the “Summer Slide,” or the tendency for students to lose some of the achievement gains they made during the previous school year. In order to combat this, we have provided a list of free educational games to keep your student engaged and excited about learning all summer long! 

Editor’s Note: This post was written about the National Week of Making. This year’s event in Washington, D.C. was hosted by the Nation of Makers and the U.S. Office of Educational Technology. Learn more about how you can get involved here.

Yes, you read that right. As 21st century humans, we get to enjoy all the perks of modern technology. That includes digital money, music in your pocket, intercontinental travel, and now, possibly, de-extinct species. Last month, a team from Germany considered the legal implications that such species-level innovation might have in a perspective from the journal Science. The discussion comes at an important time, as recent advances in the field have made the idea of de-extinction increasingly feasible.

July 19, 2017

Education Dive reported that former federal accountability measures under No Child Left Behind, as well as Common Core standards derived from them, primarily emphasized reading and math, which left many schools pushing science education to the background. However, this created serious gaps in learning for students and a general lack of interest in science education overall. Education Dive also reports that in considering the K-12 to workforce pipeline, employers are increasingly concerned that students will not be able to fill jobs and cites this page from the Smithsonian Science Education Center, which shows that STEM jobs are not only growing, but that many STEM jobs will go unfilled due to lack of qualified candidates.

July 24, 2017

One of the most expedient methods for making STEM matter in schools is through the value of experiential learning and grand challenges. What does that mean? It means creating programs in schools that help girls and minority students engage in real-world problems. Having a student identify an issue or problem in their school, their community, their country or their world and devise a way to solve it is real life learning, the kind that leaves a lasting impression. Blogger Jennifer Wolfe, who reports on education issues of our times, discusses examples of academic institutions--including the Smithsonian Science Education Center--that are striving to make STEM matter in schools in creative, exciting and innovative ways.

Digital technology is quickly becoming a central part of our lives. But in our digital world, we cannot lose sight of the importance of tactile experiences in a science classroom. Dr. Carol O’Donnell argues that it’s not about resisting the shift to digital, instead, it is about finding ways for object-driven learning and digital learning to complement one another.

August 1, 2017

SEATTLE, WA (August 1, 2017) – The International Astronomical Union named Asteroid 25232 Asteroid Schatz to honor Dennis Schatz, Senior Advisor at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, for his distinguished career in and dedication to science education.

The asteroid was discovered by the Lowell Observatory Near-Earth Object Search (LONEOS) in 1998.  Astronomer Larry Wasserman, a planetary scientist at Lowell, suggested the designation to the IAU.

Asteroid Schatz is located in the main belt of asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, and orbits about 269 million miles from the Sun (for contrast, the Earth is only 93 million miles from our star.)

Schatz is perhaps best known in the area of astronomy education for creating a host of inquiry-based, hands-on astronomy activities which are in use in many thousands of schools, science museums, and other educational settings around the world.  Among these are: “The ‘Make-Your-Own Comet’ Recipe,” “Create an Alien,” “The Reasons for the Seasons Symposium,” and “Making a Pocket Sun-clock.”

August 2, 2017

The second It’s Go Time Conference will occur on November 7, 2017 in Syracuse, NY. This conference will have a dual focus on the New York State P-12 Science Learning Standards (NYSSLS) and the professional development practice of lesson study (a collaborative process for planning, analyzing, and continuously improving instructional practices, see www.lessonresearch.net). The focus of the conference will be science for all students, which will be supported by examining how lesson study can support teacher learning and instructional practices that facilitate equitable and rigorous content learning opportunities for all students. Dr. Brian Mandell will host a workshop on SSEC curriculum materials at the conference.

What an experience! I recently participated in the Smithsonian Science Education Academy for Teachers on Biodiversity,  a week-long professional development program, and all I can say is “WOW!”  Once I arrived in Washington, D.C. I realized that I was in for an unbelievable educational and personal experience.

August 8, 2017

Students and teachers at Rocky Mountain Prep Creekside help the SSEC celebrate their acceptance into the Colorado STEMworks database with a football from Colorado Technology Association and the Denver Broncos. Rocky Mountain Prep Creekside is one of 21 schools participating in the SSEC’s Colorado LASER Initiative.

August 11, 2017 

Dr. Brian Mandell, Division Director of SSEC's Curriculum & Communications Division and Adjunct Professor at George Mason University, was among a cast of experts interviewed by Sinclair Broadcast Group regarding the recent solar eclipse viewing event. Other interviewees included Dr. David Evans, Executive Director of the National Science Teachers Association, and Rebecca Ljungren, astronomy educator at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (NASM).

August 17, 2017 

Carol O'Donnell, Director of the Smithsonian Science Education Center (SSEC), was interviewed live by the early morning Aspen show "The Lift" to discuss the SSEC's new Colorado initiative to help students "Always Think Like a Scientist" (ATLAS) and to engage scientists and science educators across the globe in the new "Network for Emergent Scientific Thinking" (NEST), an initiative started by Physicist Dr. David Pines and recently transferred to the SSEC through an Memorandum of Understanding between the Global Partnership for Science Education through Engagement (GSEE) and the SSEC. The Lift is Aspen, Colorado's live, local morning show airing 7 days per week on TV channel 82 and streamed live on aspen82.com.

Carol O'Donnell Unterview from The Lift on Vimeo.

NASA/ The Exploratorium

On August 21, 2017, day will appear as night, temperatures will drop, and birds will fly home to roost. This may sound like something out of fiction, but it’s all very real.  For the first time in decades, North America will experience a total solar eclipse stretching from coast to coast and even including Hawaii and Alaska. More than likely, if you’ve had access to TV, radio, Internet, or really exposure to any type of media in the past year, the total solar eclipse is not new news. This is something both amateur and professional eclipse chasers have been looking forward to and talking about for years. You may be wondering, is the hype worth it? Does the lining up of three celestial bodies all traveling on different orbital planes actually deserve this much attention? The simples answer, YES!

August 20, 2017

On July 28, the Smithsonian, through its Smithsonian Science Education Center, formalized its alliance with Global Partnership for Science Education Through Engagement's (GSEE's) Think Like a Scientist initiative. That came to fruition by entering a memorandum of understanding with GSEE, in which the Smithsonian Science Education Center would establish the Network for Emergent Scientific Thinking (NEST) with Aspen's "Always Thinking Like a Scientist" (ATLAS) after school program–an experimental pilot program that would test a collaborative new approach between scientists and science educators to reach a middle school audience through high school and scientist mentorship.

Houston Business Leaders Breakfast

August 22, 2017 

A new alliance between the Smithsonian Science Education Center and TLS/Aspen begins in earnest this fall, when Aspen High School students will mentor middle school students in a program titled “Always Thinking Like a Scientist,” or ATLAS. The Aspen ATLAS sessions will be under the umbrella of the Smithsonian as a proof-of-concept program which, if successful, could be implemented in other after-school clubs throughout the country.

August 22, 2017

Katherine Blanchard, a program specialist at the Smithsonian Science Education Center with a Masters Degree in International Education, interviewed the Founder President of the ECO Science Foundation (ECOSF). The Foundation was established in Islamabad-Pakistan on 20 December 2011 as a Specialized Agency of the ECO. It is mandated to promote scientific and technological research collaboration and other relevant activities among the member states, leading to socioeconomic development in the region. In addition, to strengthen the science base of future generations and the region's economy, the Foundation is promoting science education at school level, using an Inquiry Based Science Education (IBSE) approach. The IBSE pedagogy for teaching Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) encourages and motivates students in science through the hands-on, minds-on activities. 

Margaret Mead once said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.” During the week of July 24-28th at the 2017 K–12 Science Education Institute for Leadership Development and Strategic Planning, seven teams consisting of district and school administrators, teachers, and community members became the pilots of change. Committed to implementing Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) into their school communities, each team had the task of devising a 5-year strategic plan using the Smithsonian Science Education Center’s Leadership and Assistance for Science Education Reform (LASER) model. With sessions led by both Smithsonian Science Education Center staff and experienced faculty from around the country and beyond, these schools and districts became equipped to change the lives of their students.

From June 18th through the 23rd, 18 teachers from across the country gathered in Washington, DC, to learn about biodiversity at this year’s Biodiversity Smithsonian Science Education Academy for Teachers, or SSEAT. The participants went behind the scenes at the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, spent time in the museum’s Q?rius Lab, and traveled to Edgewater, Maryland, to visit the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center. Throughout the week, teachers were able to explore fields such an entomology, paleobiology, ecology, scientific illustration, and ornithology with Smithsonian scientists and researchers as well as experts from  the U.S. Department of Energy, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center.

An important theme throughout the Biodiversity SSEAT was how numerous fields of study are interrelated with the sciences. In particular, there was a focus on the integration of the arts with STEM (the fields of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics), which creates the concept of STEAM. Although the concept of STEAM was present throughout the week, it was most prevalent during Sally Bensusen’s session called “Integrating STEM and the Arts.” Working as a scientific illustrator for over 30 years, Ms. Bensusen had a variety of techniques and activities to share with the teachers.  

Sally Bensusen instructs a participant on how to use a microscope for scientific illustration.