posted by: Carrie
Hi all! I’ve included a plot of the Nitrate data from the 2010-2011 collection. It’s from the strip tests as the probes were not accurate probably due to poor calibration (see aren’t controls a lovely thing?)
white triangles (Nitrate < 2.5ppm) black triangles (2.5ppm < Nitrates < 5ppm) white ovals (5ppm < Nitrate < 10ppm) and black ovals (Nitrate > 10ppm)
posted by: Carrie
I received an email today from the American Geophysical Union education group which I felt others may be interested in seeing so I’ve copied it below.
“Dear AGU Members,
The first public draft of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) is now available at www.nextgenscience.org. Feedback on the standards is sought from individuals who have a stake in science education—including the K-12, higher education, and research communities.
There is no doubt that science—and, therefore, science education—is central to the lives of all Americans. To that end, we must ensure that all students have a solid education in science. The recent NAEP science scores show we have a long way to go to ensure all of our students have the science education they will need for college, careers and life. That’s why 26 states are working together to develop the NGSS—internationally-benchmarked and rigorous state science education standards. As part of that development process, there will be two public comment periods where all interested parties are invited to give feedback. The first one began 11 May 2012.
NGSS have been written as student performance expectations grouped by topics and can be viewed in the topical groupings or individually. The draft performance expectations are composed of the three dimensions from the NRC’s Framework for K–12 Science Education. These draft performance expectations describe how students will demonstrate their understanding.
To review the draft standards, go to www.nextgenscience.org. Comments can be provided by clicking on any of the links that say “Go to the NGSS Survey.” The deadline for comments is 1 June.
We hope that you will consider sending your feedback on these standards,
AGU Education Staff”
posted by: Carrie
For those you haven’t heard there is a nice website http://www.stemconnector.org/ which collects a lot of interesting STEM news and information from around the country. They have a daily email STEMdaily that I signed up for and so far it has had something interesting in it every day this week. You should check it out!
posted by: Carrie
Interesting NY times article/opinion: http://campaignstops.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/02/13/why-dont-americans-elect-scientists/
posted by: Carrie
While at AGU, I found myself standing next to another ex-GK-12 fellow from Arizona State Erin DiMaggio (as well as a Michigan alum!). Erin was presenting a poster about SciNews a monthly ‘publication’ in which she uses current news to develop short science lessons which use real data sets for teachers of multiple grade levels. I thought it was such a great project I just had to blog about it. On the SciNews website you can sign up for monthly emails containing a short one page newsletter about the new lesson. All of the previous lessons can be found on the website. http://sese.asu.edu/teacher-resources
The lessons cover a full range of science topics – some topics include:
posted by: Carrie
Interesting discussions going on at today’s ND Forum event. Like the comment in response to what would you change about American K-12 education regarding how we focus on details looking for the silver bullet (longer days, better teachers, more technology, involved parents) vs. how we need to view K-12 education as a whole when considering changing K-12 education.
Watch at http://forum2011.nd.edu/forum-events/the-conversation/
posted by: Carrie
posted by: Carrie
I just wanted to let the collaboration know, the American Geophysical Union has accepted an abstract regarding the Groundwater Sampling Activity. We’ve been given a poster on Dec 9th(presentations are hard to come by in this category and I sort of wanted a poster so I can share more information and have informal discussions) . All I know is everyone better have their coffee ready because I’m going to be doing some fast techno talk (wikis, google forms, mapalist, and online collaboration) as well as emphasizing how to utilize local communities for collection of scientific data bright and early at 8am.
I also received a presentation for my research connecting reliability, resilience, and vulnerability criteria to management of contaminated groundwater systems with the overall goal of reducing health risks on Dec 5th. Anyway, I’m off to finish my presentation – I’m in Stuttgart Germany next week and Tuesday I’m presenting an overview of my work.
posted by: Carrie
Interested in teaching your students about tsunamis (or any geoscience related issue)? I recently received an update from the K-12 group of the American Geophysical Union mentioning this new module for ~13-17 year old students. Here’s a description:
The COMET Program recently published a series of lessons on tsunamis for middle school/high school students called Tsunami Strike! Pacific Edition. Tsunami Strike! Pacific Edition is a scenario-based learning experience for kids from middle school through high school (approximate ages 13-17). The scenario tells the story of four main characters at different locations in the Pacific basin who are each impacted by a major tsunami that originates in Alaska’s Aleutian Islands. Over the course of the story, learners not only view the unfolding events and how each of the characters responds, but also observe how warning scientists analyze and communicate the tsunami threat. Fourteen short lessons provide interactive instruction focused on the science, safety, and history of tsunamis. In total, Tsunami Strike! Pacific Edition is more than 3 1/2 hours of interactive instructional content aligned to education standards. A Caribbean Edition will be published this fall. For more information, contact Dr. Pat Parrish (pparrish@comet.ucar.edu).
The site is available at https://www.meted.ucar.edu/training_module.php?id=813
This website also has many additional modules (something like 350!) many shorter that are connected to the geosciences.
posted by: Carrie
Here’s a local article about the sewer vs. septic debate in Granger. They’re trying to take care of some of the water quality issues due to septic byproducts and specifically mention our favorite little contaminant Nitrates (which 800 K-12 students in the area should know about!) While their monthly cost estimate seems high, it can’t be directly compared to the city because I would guess the waste has to pumped over to another city for treatment. To my knowledge Granger itself does not have the facilities and treatment plants aren’t cheap. However, as more and more septic tanks start to fail the water quality is only going to get worse – something should be done now before there are health risks associated with the contamination.
