Science Scope back issues from March 2007:
Great Brain Book: An Inside Look at the Inside of Your Head.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
Mar 01, 2007 ... Great Brain Book: An Inside Look at the Inside of Your Head by HP Newquist. 2005. 160pp. $18.95. Scholastic. New York. ISBN 0439458951. In the National Science Education Standards, the study of behavior has a strong emphasis. It is also an area of high interest for young people ....
Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold Self-Experimenters in Science and Medicine.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
Mar 01, 2007 ... Guinea Pig Scientists: Bold Self-Experimenters in Science and Medicine by Leslie Dendy and Mel Boring. 2005. 213pp. $19.95. Henry Holt and Company. New York. ISBN 0805073167. Our standard scientific methods don't take into account the rare and life-threatening situations that ...
Guts: Our Digestive System.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
Mar 01, 2007 ... Guts: Our Digestive System by Seymour Simon. 2005. 32pp. $15.99. Harper Collins Publishers. New York. ISBN 0060546514. If the title of this NSTA/CBC award-winning book doesn't intrigue readers from elementary through adult, the contents certainly will. Using outstanding ...
Honey in a Hive.(Brief article)(Children's review)(Book review)
Mar 01, 2007 ... Honey in a Hive by Anne Rockwell. 2005. 33pp. $15.99. Harper Collins Publishers. New York. ISBN 0060285664. The familiar taste of honey can lure young readers to a better understanding of insects with this NSTA/CBC award-winning book, which describes the complex social life of ...
Biology Inquiries: Standards-Based Labs, Assessments, and Discussion Lessons.(Brief article)(Book review)
Mar 01, 2007; ... Biology Inquiries: Standards-Based Labs, Assessments, and Discussion Lessons by Martin Shields. 2006. 282pp. $32.95. John Wiley and Sons. New York. ISBN 0787976520. Teachers of life science and biology will find this book useful for a number of reasons. Nearly 50 activities are ...
Educating Gifted Students in Middle School: A Practical Guide.(Brief article)(Book review)
Mar 01, 2007; ... Educating Gifted Students in Middle School: A Practical Guide by Susan Rakow. 2005. 272pp. $24.95. Prufrock Press. Austin, TX. ISBN 1593631642. Educating Gifted Students in Middle School provides teachers and administrators with a guide to planning and implementing a program for ...
Earthweek in the classroom: students monitoring a dynamic planet.(SCIENCE sampler)(www.earthweek.com)
Mar 01, 2007; ... Exploding frogs in Germany, new volcanic islands emerging in the Pacific Ocean, avian influenza spreading worldwide--these are just a few of the stories in Earthweek, an online log of natural events, that have engaged students in my classroom. The weekly report chronicles events around the ...
Studying storms to understand weather.(SCIENCE sampler)
Mar 01, 2007; ... Who isn't awed by the power, beauty, and destructive capabilities of a hurricane, tornado, or snowstorm? Storms are one of those topics that nearly all students are interested in, and by capitalizing on this interest and focusing on the big idea behind storms, educators can teach weather ...
Dihydrogen monoxide assignment.(SCIENCE sampler)
Mar 01, 2007; ... We all know that science can easily be used to persuade, for better or for worse. Neil Postman, in Technopoly--The Surrender of Culture to Technology, contends that "we believe in the authority of our science, no matter what" (1992). As educators, we also know that middle schoolers are ...
[Connecte.sup.2]d teaching: a comprehensive resource for teaching science using earthquakes.(SCIENCE sampler)
Mar 01, 2007; ... The [Connecte.sup.2]d Teaching website (http://mceer.buffalo. edu/infoservice/connected%20teaching/site/index.html) is an all-inclusive web resource linking the study of earthquakes and engineering design to middle school science, mathematics, and technology, and was created to help ...
Students learn best by teaching.(SCIENCE sampler)
Mar 01, 2007; ... Traditionally, science fair projects allow students to share their personal investigations about nature. In a science fair presentation, a student typically lectures, pointing out observations, data, analysis, and conclusions to a disinterested audience likely to be overwhelmed with all ...
Smithsonian's satellite imagery.(OPPORTUNITY Knocks)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2007 ... The Smithsonian Institution has launched a website presenting views of conditions and events on Earth that are nearly impossible to document from the surface of the planet. This interactive site explains how satellite imagery is gathered and how it is used to ...
Technology grants.(OPPORTUNITY Knocks)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2007 ... The 2007 K-12 HP Technology for Teaching Grant initiative supports efforts to improve student achievement through the innovative uses of technology in the classroom. Proposals will be accepted from all subject areas, but ...
Butler-Cooley Excellence in Teaching Awards.(OPPORTUNITY Knocks)
Mar 01, 2007 ... The Butler-Cooley Excellence in Teaching Awards, sponsored by the Turnaround Management Association (TMA), honor primary and secondary school teachers who have demonstrated exceptional dedication and skill in shaping the lives of students and the communities in which they live. The awards ...
Planet Plant website.(OPPORTUNITY Knocks)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2007 ... Botanic Gardens Conservation International's new Planet Plant site at www. planetplant.org is for students ages 9-12. Check out the online and offline science, outdoor, art, and ...
Data-collection workshops.(OPPORTUNITY Knocks)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2007 ... Starting this month, science and math educators across the country can take Vernier's hands-on workshops in data-collection technology. At each four-hour workshop, participants will learn how to integrate data-collection technology into their science curriculum using ...
Environmental inquiry website.(OPPORTUNITY Knocks)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2007 ... This site, located at http://ei.cornell. edu, offers ideas and downloadable resources for high school students doing projects in environmental science. Features include specific research protocols; forms that can help students design experiments and then analyze, ...
Journey North student project.(OPPORTUNITY Knocks)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2007 ... From February 2 through May, K-12 teachers and students can participate in Journey North's global study of wildlife migration and seasonal change. The program enables students in 11,000 schools to track the seasons on a real-time basis. This spring, students will follow and map the ...
Waves & tsunami project.
Mar 01, 2007; ... Demonstrating wave processes quantitatively in the classroom using standard classroom tools (such as Slinkys and wave tanks) can be difficult. For example, waves often travel too fast for students to actually measure amplitude or wavelength. Also, when teaching propagating waves, ...
The computational science education reference desk.(TEACHER'S toolkit)
Mar 01, 2007; ... Technology is often used in the classroom to deliver science content, but rarely to do science. One area with little penetration into the educational curriculum is computational science--the art of using computers to perform the mathematics behind modern science. Scientists today deal with ...
Using clay models to understand volcanic mudflows.
Mar 01, 2007; ... Gravity is a subtle but ubiquitous force that influences nearly all geologic processes from the formation of ores to the flow of glaciers and rivers. Gravity also determines the path some materials take as they flow down volcanoes. Lava flows, mudflows (also called lahars), and pyroclastic ...
Weather tamers.
Mar 01, 2007; ... Problem-based learning experiences that extend at least two weeks provide an opportunity for students to investigate a real-world problem while learning science content and skills in an exciting way. In an effort to ensure that students learn specific content and skills while giving them ...
Rock showdown: learning science through service with the community.(NATURAL DISASTERS)
Mar 01, 2007; ... In our experience, many middle school students often report that what they learn in school science has little meaning or relevance to their lives. This is not surprising, as schools and students are frequently separated from what is happening in their community. Service learning is a ...
Fires, floods, & hurricanes: is ENSO to blame?(NATURAL DISASTERS)(El Nino/Southern Oscillation)
Mar 01, 2007; ... From January 1 through October 5, 2006, over 84,000 wildfires occurred in the United States, burning over 9 million acres. In contrast, 50,000 wildfires burned slightly over 3.1 million acres during the same months in 2003. In April 2006, precipitation up to 8 inches above normal caused ...
Outstanding science trade books for students K-12: books published in 2006.(Young adult review)(Book review)
Mar 01, 2007 ... Apples and oranges ... and lychees and loquats--how can one compare? That's the challenge when a team of NSTA's best science educators attempt to select the best of each year's science trade books. It's been 34 years since NSTA joined forces with the Children's Book Council to ...
Encouraging balanced scientific research through formal debate.(TEACHING STRATEGIES)
Mar 01, 2007; ... Teacher: "Would you ever eat irradiated food?" Students: "No way! Yuck." Teacher: "Why not?" Students: "Because it's gross. Because it's x-rayed. It probably glows." Teacher: "Do you know why and how food is irradiated?" Students: ...
Stop avoiding your e-mails!(EDITOR'S roundtable)(Editorial)
Mar 01, 2007; ... I still know a few teachers who pretend parent, student, and administrative e-mails have not yet been invented. They make up excuses for not answering them, such as "I don't know what's wrong with our system. I never received your e-mail." Then there are those who see the "instant ...
When is a classroom a laboratory?(SCOPE ON safety)
Mar 01, 2007; ... A middle school teacher was told upon being hired by the principal that he would like her to develop a "laboratory-oriented" science course for the eighth-grade science program. The new teacher was all excited with this curriculum charge and quickly began planning for the start of school ....
Total lunar eclipse.(SCOPE on the skies)
Mar 01, 2007; ... On March 3, the Moon will be at its descending node, crossing the Earth's orbital plane, moving southward (see Table 1). The Moon will also be at 100% illumination, or at full Moon, during the node crossing. These are the requirements for a lunar eclipse to occur, and this year viewers ...
In the eye of all beholders.(TECH trek)
Mar 01, 2007; ... In James Thurber's 1934 classic My University Days, the author recounts his frustrating initial attempts at using a microscope. Desperate for a glimpse of anything, Thurber adjusted and repositioned as he stared down the barrel of the microscope until finally an image came into focus--the ...
Pond scum power.(SCOPE'S scoops)(Brief article)
Mar 01, 2007 ... Utah State University (USU) researchers are using an innovative approach that takes oil from algae and converts it to biodiesel fuel. USU is currently conducting research on algae and plans to produce an algae-biodiesel that is cost-competitive by 2009. Algae, plainly referred to as pond ...
Borrowed poison.(SCOPE'S scoops)
Mar 01, 2007 ... Most snakes are born with poisonous) bites they use for defense. But what can nonpoisonous snakes do to ward off predators? What if they could borrow a dose of poison by eating toxic toads, then recycling the toxins? That's exactly what happens in the relationship between an ...
Can you identify our mystery photo?(MYSTERY photo)
Mar 01, 2007 ... How to submit a guess In each issue of Science Scope, we will publish a science-related image for your students to identify. When an image is published, teachers can submit a guess on behalf of their class through our website (www.nsta. org/mysteryphoto), by e-mail ...