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Saturday, March 13, 2010

Local News | Gummy-bear fun offers a taste of science, engineering for girls | Seattle Times Newspaper

Local News | Gummy-bear fun offers a taste of science, engineering for girls | Seattle Times Newspaper

Gummy-bear fun offers a taste of science, engineering for girls

The conference at Seattle University encourages middle-school girls to explore science and engineering careers.
Seattle Times staff reporter
Perhaps they could get a job with Sound Transit.
The three-girl team spent just 25 "sweeties" to send their 10 gummy bears on a 24-foot adventure down a suspended fishing line.
Their design of a "mass transit system" for their thumbnail-size gummy riders was a huge success.
And no one minded if they ate some of the passengers.
"We just thought of it," said Gwen Hildebrandt, 12, a student at Islander Middle School on Mercer Island, of their successful design. "I don't think eating them affected the decision at all."
The exercise was "Gummy Bear Engineering," one of 42 sessions offered in a hands-on conference for middle-school girls from around the state, sponsored by Seattle Expanding Your Horizons.
On Saturday, 410 girls attended classes at Seattle University put on by scientists — biologists, botanists, engineers and veterinarians — from around the area.
Hildebrandt and fellow transit engineers Chloe LeComp, from St. John School in Seattle, and Eleanor Williams, from Portland, placed their gummy bears in a paper bag, leaving a window for them. The girls attached the bag to a straw threaded on the fishing line, and taped an inflated balloon to the back. When they released the balloon, the bag sailed down the line to what, at the time, was a record 24 feet.
That drew praise from Mary Margaret Callahan, with the Northwest Girls Coalition, who was leading the exercise. "This was an elegant and simple design. That's what I really like," she said.
Part of the exercise was to keep track of the design costs in the gummy-bear currency of sweeties. The balloon, for instance, cost 15 sweeties, the straw nine. (One crew spent 92 sweeties on their design, said Callahan.)
The conference, which was to encourage girls to explore the world of math, science and computer

Schools Matter: Obama's NCLB 2.0: Worse Than the Bush Version

Schools Matter: Obama's NCLB 2.0: Worse Than the Bush Version
by
If Obama did not doom his Party's chances with the bollixing of health reform, he seems intent on sealing fate of the Ineffectuals by adopting the Business Roundtable plan for school privatization, a future citizenry of non-thinking drones, and total segregation of the poor.


In NCLB 1.0 devised by Bush's public schools demolition experts, the triggering mechanism for blowing up schools was called Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), and it was based on formulae developed by states that set out each state's trajectory toward the mythical goal of 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2014. States could choose to take the steady step method to assured smithereens, or they could devise for themselves easy payments on the front end with huge balloon payments in the later years. The "ballooners" were counting on NCLB being dumped into the Potomac before the day of reckoning in 2014.


And that is exactly what is going to happen, according to the Prez. Sort of. What no one outside the Walton, Gates, and Broad camps could have imagined, however, is that NCLB 2.0 would be even more draconian than the torture of AYP under the original NCLB. At least with AYP, there was always some small chance that your low class school could cram, pray, or cheat its way to making the cut score for the never-ending annual tests.


Now with the Oligarchs' new plan, the bottom 5 percent of schools will be targeted each year for "turnaround," and it doesn't matter what the poorest schools do, because the poverty that assures them their status at the bottom of the barrel makes them sure targets for conversions of urban schools into apartheid charter chain gangs, either that or the second-most popular option of firing all the school staff.


Because the annual testing will continue unabated under the Oligarchs' plan that Obama will present, this new system will pit the poor against the poorer and the poorer against the poorest, because the only thing that will keep your school off the shutdown, er, turnaround list is some other school in your vicinity that is doing worse still. No targets, no impossible goals. AYP be gone, they don't need you anymore. Under NCLB 2.0, there will be a never-ending list of the "bottom five percent" of schools every year, and there is nothing any school can do except to hope there is some schmucky school further down the road that is even poorer.


It is the beauty of the capitalist, er, free

Schools Matter: Texas Becomes Laughingstock Once Again: State Board of Ed Determines History Is a Liberal Conspiracy

Schools Matter: Texas Becomes Laughingstock Once Again: State Board of Ed Determines History Is a Liberal Conspiracy

Texas Becomes Laughingstock Once Again: State Board of Ed Determines History Is a Liberal Conspiracy


If you can't find any reputable biologists teaching the creation myth as science, you are about to run into an even more prominent shortage: historians who will ignore the existence of the Establishment Clause, Thomas Jefferson, the word "democratic" next to "Republic," and even "capitalism" (now replaced by the less toxic "free enterprise system").

But then who needs historians in Texas, since the cranks in control of the State Board of Education have decided to make up their own historical "facts" and teach them to the next generation of Texans--thus assuring that stupidity will live on in Texas, at least until global warming makes the state with one of the largest percentages of climate change deniers finally uninhabitable.

Textbooks have had much too much influence on teaching for much too long. The actions this past week by the majority of wingnuts on the Texas School Board could signal the end to such hegemony, since it is clear that most the country will treat this bad joke for what it is: the pathetic thrashings by scared and angry white conservatives who "want their country back" (as in back to the pre-Civil Rights era). From the NYTimes:


AUSTIN, Tex. — After three days of turbulent meetings, the

Education Week: Administration Unveils ESEA Renewal Blueprint

Education Week: Administration Unveils ESEA Renewal Blueprint

Administration Unveils ESEA Renewal Blueprint


U.S. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has released broad principles for renewing the Elementary and Secondary Education Act that seek to address perennial complaints that the law’s current version—the No Child Left Behind Act—is inflexible and doesn’t set a high enough bar for academic achievement.
The Obama administration’s long-anticipated blueprint for overhauling the Bush-era NCLB law seeks to maintain the current statute’s focus on disaggregating data and improving the performance of particular student groups, such as students in special education.
But the administration would allow states and districts considerably more leeway to determine how to intervene in schools that are struggling to meet the law’s achievement targets, but aren’t among the lowest-performing schools. It would also permit states to expand the subjects tested beyond reading and mathematics. And it would ask schools to report on a broader range of factors, such as school climate.
“We’ve got to get accountability right this time so it actually drives improvement in student achievement,” Mr. Duncan said in a March 12 conference call with reporters. He added there were three overarching goals with the newly released blueprint: setting a high bar for students and schools, rewarding excellence and success, and maintaining local control and flexibility.
President Barack Obama added in his weekly Saturday radio address, "Through this plan, we are setting an ambitious goal: all students should graduate from high school prepared for college and a career—no matter who you are or where you come from."
New research probes a broad range of questions about Advanced Placement courses and tests, as expectations for them continue to climb. (March 12, 2010) | Comments (3)
In amendment after amendment, the board's ultra-conservative faction wielded their power to shape lessons on the civil rights movement and hundreds of other topics.

Education - Everything you need to know about the world of education.

Education- Everything you need to know about the world of education.


Lottery shows surge of interest in DC schools


D.C. Schools Chancellor Michelle A. Rhee (Benjamin J. Myers).














Obama’s contradictions on education

What do those groups -- each of which is receiving $125,000 of the total $1.4 million that he received -- have in common?
They all work to help underserved populations of young people get ready to attend and be successful in college.
Obama has said repeatedly that his education goal is to make sure that every child has a quality education and the opportunity to graduate from college -- and he displayed his commitment to that with his own award money.
Yet his education policies to this point cannot ever reach this goal. Nor can they do what he promised during the presidential campaign: Stop high-stakes standardized testing from driving our public education system.
Continue reading this post »

Hopkins: We will cut emissions by half

Johns Hopkins University yesterday announced one of the more ambitious sustainability initiatives in higher education, with a goal of cutting carbon dioxide emissions by more than half by 2025.
Hopkins says it will invest $73 million in conservation and efficiency measures estimated to cut emissions by 81,000 metric tons a year, which would take them a little over halfway to their goal. That goal is to cut 141,000 metric tons from the 276,000 tons in annual emissions the university projects it would generate 15 years hence.
hopkins.jpg
Dozens of colleges in the regionhave launched sustainability initiatives, driven partly by an impulse to practice what university researchers preach about the perils of global warming.
The Hopkins plan relies somewhat on technologies that don't yet exist: the university says it hopes to reduce its carbon footprint by "adopting new technologies that emerge between now and 2025," and also by "motivating members of the university community" to save energy on their own.
Continue reading this post »


Today's EducationNews 3.13.10 EducationNews.org

EducationNews.org

National
Bill Maher: New Rule: Let's Not Fire the Teachers When Students Don't Learn -- Let's Fire the Parents
3.13.10 - Last week, President Obama defended the firing of every...
Texas Conservatives Win Curriculum Change
3.13.10 - AUSTIN, Tex. — After three days of turbulent meetings, the Texas Board of Education on Friday approved a social studies curriculum that will put a
A step down: Federal education standards
3.13.10 - Ze’ev Wurman and Sandra Stotsky - High academic standards are the foundation of Massachusett's landmark education reform success. Let's not give them up for a...
Jay Mathews: Numbers hide a great high school
3.13.10 - I was astonished to see T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria labeled a "persistently lowest achieving school," as reported by my colleague Michael Alison Chandler.
Whitmire: New data on how far boys are falling behind
3.13.10 - Richard Whitmire looks at a new report to be released next week that shows that males are not doing as well on state tests as females...
Blogs
Public Education: The Real Fix
3.13.10 - Peter Stern - I have a simpler solution. It will save a ton of tax dollars and achieve better learning outcomes. Teach children the basic needs in learning and life: reading, writing, math along with some basic science and core history.
Dr. John, Your Program Isn’t Credible
3.12.10 - John Jensen, Ph.D. - A new principal with whom I’ve shared a number of ideas was shaking his head about several students in his small high school. “They sit there day after day and get nothing done,” he said. The school employs a computerized curriculum.
more blogs

Schools Matter: Bill Maher on the Central Falls Massacre

Schools Matter: Bill Maher on the Central Falls Massacre

Bill Maher on the Central Falls Massacre


A clip from Bill Maher's most recent New Rules segment (ht to Patricia Gutierrez):
. . . . Yes, America has found its new boogeyman to blame for our crumbling educational system. It's just too easy to blame the teachers, what with their cushy teachers' lounges, their fat-cat salaries, and their absolute authority in deciding who gets a hall pass. We all remember high school - canning the entire faculty is a nationwide revenge fantasy. Take that, Mrs. Crabtree! And guess what? We're chewing gum and no, we didn't bring enough for everybody.

But isn't it convenient that once again it turns out that the problem isn't us, and the fix is something that doesn't require us to change our behavior or spend any money. It's so simple: Fire the bad teachers, hire good ones from some undisclosed location, and hey, while we're at it let's cut taxes more. It's the kind of comprehensive educational solution that could only

Can't You See It? Teachers For Technology. Now, Not Tomorrow. - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Can't You See It? Teachers For Technology. Now, Not Tomorrow. - THE DAILY RIFF - Be Smarter. About Education.

Can't You See It? Teachers For Technology. Now, Not Tomorrow.

What Is Your School Doing About It?  Lip Service or The Real Deal?
A Vision of 21st Century Teachers

This 4 minute video below may give some of us a wake-up call about how we are (or more likely, aren't) using technology in our classrooms.  It's a vision by teachers.

  • The next time parents or teachers lament about the lack of writing skills in the classrooms, we should be asking:  Are the students writing daily blogs, contributing to a class wiki, or creating a multi-media presentation?
  • How are teachers being supported by the school to develop their tech competency?
  • Are teachers aware of the various ways of using Google Apps, Utube, Flickr, etc.?
  • Are teachers being trained to utilize these tech tools and being supported by the administration?  (ie.  blogs and/or wikis are not complicated - students can be often be the "source" of the training )  
  • Is technology deemed not part of the curriculum?  (ie. instead of being viewed as a tool, is it perceived to be another "subject" ??!!!)
  • Are teachers finding resources and sharing with others?
How can we help teachers do MORE with technology as a tool?



    Congressional Black Caucus Member Discusses Obama Meeting : NPR

    Congressional Black Caucus Member Discusses Obama Meeting : NPR



    Congressional Black Caucus Member Discusses Obama Meeting


    Members of the Congressional Black Caucus met with President Obama yesterday to clear the air over lingering tensions on how the Obama administration has handled minority issues. Host Michel Martin speaks with Congresswoman Yvette Clarke for her take on the meeting, what the President said, and the concerns the CBC has with the Obama administration.