Kentucky Teacher

The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education, the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education, and NanoRacks announce Mission 5 to the International Space Station – part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP).

This STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) education opportunity immerses grade 5-14 students in authentic, high visibility research, with the ability to design and propose real experiments to fly in low Earth orbit on the International Space Station.

Each participating school or district will be provided a real microgravity research mini-laboratory capable of supporting a single experiment, and all launch services to fly it to the Space Station in Spring 2014.  A nine week experiment design competition will be held September 9 through November 11, 2013 for student teams to design and formally propose real experiments vying for their community’s reserved mini-lab on Space Station. Content resources for teachers and students support foundational instruction on science in microgravity and experimental design.

SSEP is not designed for an individual class or a small number of students. All interested schools or districts are asked to assess interest with their staff and submit a letter of inquiry by June 30, 2013.

For more information go to ssep@ncesse.org or call contact: 301-395-0770.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is offering free training for up to 500 high school science teachers in July 2013. The training will be conducted fully online over the first three weeks of July. Teacher may work at their own time and pace, supplemented by optional live events to earn a NOAA teacher badge.

When finished, teachers then can bring students into the platform to earn more than 15 NOAA Career Pathway badges, all aligned to NGSS standards. Up to two professional development credits will be made available through Boise State University for an extra fee of $60 per credit, includes transcript.

Click here to sign up.

Karen Kidwell, left, director of Program Standards for the Kentucky Department of Education, and Office of Next-Generation Learners Associate Commissioner Felicia Cumings Smith address the Kentucky Board of Education regarding the new science standards. 
Photo by Amy Wallot, April 10, 2013

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

The Kentucky Board of Education reviewed  at its meeting last week  proposed  Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) one day after they were released.

Kentucky was one of 26 states that partnered in developing the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) as part of a collaborative state-led process. About 40 Kentuckians, including P-12 science teachers, state science and policy staff, higher education faculty, scientists and engineers were involved. Two drafts of the standards were released for public comment.

Karen Kidwell, director of the Kentucky Department of Education’s Division of Program Standards, said the Kentucky team gave detailed and descriptive feedback on the early drafts.

“Our feedback was very well received, and much of our feedback was incorporated in the standards,” she said.

The new standards, which have been in development for two years, meet the mandate for new standards in Senate Bill 1 (2009). They are internationally benchmarked, rigorous, research-based and aligned with expectations for college and careers; and they provide for deeper understanding of content and application. Read the full story

Holly Pitts teaches prepositions to her 7th-grade language arts class at Beechwood High School (Beechwood Independent). Pitts flips her classroom and has students watch short videos at home to aid in instruction. Photo by Amy Wallot, Feb. 13, 2013

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Parents are routinely joking with teacher Holly Pitts about how they hear her voice in their homes all the time.

“The feedback I get from parents is actually great,” said Pitts, a 7th grade language arts teacher at Beechwood High School. “I love knowing that students are learning some concepts before I really go over them in class.”

Pitts is one of several Kentucky teachers who have flipped their classroom. In a flipped classroom, students are introduced to concepts at home prior to classroom work on the topic.

“I love teaching this way,” Pitts said. “Kids are so social media driven these days, it makes perfect sense to me.” Read the full story

Science teachers interested in connecting STEM curriculum to real world applications can attend a sustainable schools workshop March 13-14 in Covington.

Participants who attend will learn how one northern Kentucky district has developed innovative methods for using the school building to provide hands-on explorations and investigations connected to Kentucky core content. Teachers will find out how their students can:

• apply core mathematics and science content in new ways
• mathematically and scientifically analyze solutions to problems
• evaluate solutions to problems and create new ways of thinking

For the full agenda and more information go to http://www.regonline.com/HPSS2013or contact Pam Proctor at (859) 547-8008. Early bird registration ends March 1.

Student Energy Team members Mikayla Elverson, Madison Woods and Natalie Fowler pass out samples of kale chips during lunch at Rosa Parks Elementary School (Fayette County). Team members also shared information about the kale plant and informed students the kale was grown in Bourbon County as part of the Farm to School program.
Photo by Amy Wallot, Jan. 17, 2013

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Early in 2012, Rosa Parks Elementary School (Fayette County) was named a Green Ribbon School for being an energy-efficient campus.

A few months later, the school earned a ribbon of a different color.

Boosted by a number of efforts and improvements in test scores – particularly science scores – the K-5 school was named a National Blue Ribbon School.

The Blue Ribbon School program rewards schools that score in the top 10 percent statewide in reading and mathematics on state assessments.

Trapp Elementary (Clark County) and Porter Elementary (Johnson County) schools were the other state public schools to earn the Blue Ribbon honor in 2012. Both schools will be profiled in Kentucky Teacher in March and April.

Rosa Parks Principal Leslie Thomas said her school’s Green and Blue Ribbon recognitions go hand in hand. When the school moved to its current location in 1997, mathematics and science already were highly-targeted areas of instruction.

The school council, six years later, added a science lab teacher to its staff.

“We put this in our special class rotation for students to augment their classroom science lessons with additional lab time,” Thomas said. “As we grew and changed over time, our science lab started to promote activities to improve the environment of our campus and surrounding areas.” Read the full story

Heath Middle School (McCracken County) students Conner Kelly, Hayden Faughn, Garrett Childress and Katelyn Woodard make biosoap at the Emerging Technology Center at West Kentucky Community & Technical College.
Photo by U.S. Department of Energy

By Matthew Tungate
matthew.tungate@education.ky.gov

When an official with the U.S. Department of Energy offered 6th-grade science teacher Brandy Roberts a chance to take her high-achieving students from Heath Middle School (HMS) (McCracken County) to the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant for some mock water sampling experiments, she jumped at the chance.

“This partnership was an opportunity for HMS to really engage our gifted science students, so as a science department we took the idea and ran with it,” Roberts said.

Heath Middle is now in the third year of a partnership with the Department of Energy and other organizations — DOE environmental contractors, the Kentucky Department of Waste Management and the University of Kentucky College of Engineering at Paducah – that exposes students to hands-on problem solving.

Tammy Weitlauf, an 8th-grade science teacher at Heath Middle who helps coordinate the program, said working with scientists and engineers from the various partners fits schools’ mission.

“As a Kentucky school our focus has shifted so much to college- and career-readiness. These are the children that are going to be filling the jobs of the future that may not have even been created yet. So we’re trying to facilitate to stop looking at us for answers and to be problem solvers, because that’s what it’s going to take for the future,” she said. “We’re trying to nurture these students so they will be able to adapt to new situations and to be those future industry leaders.” Read the full story

The deadline has been extended to Feb. 15 for mini-grants to increase girls’ interest in science, engineering and technology.

The Kentucky Girls STEM Collaborative, a statewide initiative to encourage girls to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM), is currently offering mini-grants of up to $1,000. Teachers, community groups and other organizations committed to collaborating, informing and motivating girls are encouraged to apply. Grants are funded in collaboration with the Kentucky National Science Foundation (NSF) Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration Kentucky Space Grant Consortium (NASA KY). Priority will be given to programs reaching out to underrepresented girls in STEM, such as girls with disabilities and girls from diverse populations.

For more information or applications see the National Girls Collaborative Project website http://www.ngcproject.org/mini-grants.

For more information, contact Nancy C. Martin, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of Louisville, via e-mail at Nancymartin@louisville.edu, or phone (502) 852-5226.

Nominations are now being accepted for the 2013 Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) — the nation’s highest honors for K-12 mathematics and science teachers.

The awards alternate annually between K-6 teachers and those in grades 7-12. The 2013 awards honor 7-12 mathematics and science teachers. Nominations can be made here.

The nomination deadline is April 1, 2013.

By Susan Riddell
susan.riddell@education.ky.gov

Julie Bunnell explains the procedure for a science experiment testing pH levels of local water sources to 4th-grade students at the CELTIC Academy (Glasgow Independent). Photo by Amy Wallot, Sept. 18, 2012

They miss out on regular class time, but students attending the Creating Enriched Learning Through Innovative Curriculum (CELTIC) Academy say the out of class time is  worth it:

“We learned ahead of our grade level.”

“Here, we listen and do.”

“It helped me learn more about things we only studied for a short time.”

“It teaches you like (regular) school, but with higher-level questions.”

“It enhanced our content areas.”

“You got to learn things in a different way than you would in (regular) school.”

Enhancing learning and giving higher-achieving students an opportunity to dig deeper into content were key motivators in the creation of the academy, according to director Tina Steen. Read the full story