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Events at the Museum of Flight
Winter Educator Open House Saturday, February 2, 2008 10 am - 3 pm K-12 educators, administrators, and their families can enjoy The Museum of Flight free of charge. Come explore our exhibits, learn about our educational programs, and discover air and space resources, products, and activities. For a complete schedule of events, please visit here. For more information call 206-768-7216 or email clc@museumofflight.org. Women Fly! 2008 Friday, March 7, 2008 Women Fly! brings professional women in aviation to the Museum to share their career stories and life experiences with young women who are interested in aviation and aerospace careers. For information, visit here, or call 206-768-7141. From Melanie Kwong, Challenger Learning Center Coordinator, The Museum of Flight
Science Contests for Students
ALLIANCE FOR SCIENCE ESSAY CONTEST (Grades 9-12) Throughout the ages, the earth has undergone major climate change and the human race has struggled to feed itself. For The Alliance for Science's second annual high school essay contest, students are invited to tackle the topics of either climate and evolution or agriculture and evolution. The first place student receives $300; the winner's sponsoring teacher will receive an incentive award of $150 for teaching materials and classroom supplies. The contest deadline is February 29. For more information, click here.From NASA Space Grant newsletter
LIMIT THE SUN, NOT THE FUN POSTER CONTEST (Grades K-8) The SHADE Foundation's National Poster Contest is a fun activity for elementary and middle school students. Register your school here and receive a Free SunWise Tool Kit containing over 50 cross-curricular, standards-based activities. Did you know that one American dies every hour from skin cancer and half of all cancers in the U.S. are skin cancers? From the SHADE Foundation
Penguin Biologists, Glaciologists, and More!
VENTURE TO THE BOTTOM OF THE WORLD!On January 25, the Exploratorium will be talking live with scientists at McMurdo Station and the South Pole. The Ice Stories: Dispatches from Polar Scientists site lets students meet penguin biologists, glaciologists, cosmologists, geologists, and marine scientists working in Antarctica and the Arctic. In celebration of the International Polar Year, the researchers were given cameras and asked them to document their adventures, in real time, so the public can follow their research, ask questions, and share in their discoveries as they occur. Photos, live feeds, archived video, and blogs are available here.From the NASA Space Grant newsletter
New K-4 Curriculum on Global Sustainability
Facing the Future Releases K-4 Curriculum on Global Sustainability
Facing the Future is pleased to announce the release of Teaching Global Sustainability in the Primary Grades: A K-4 Curriculum Guide, a standards-aligned resource that addresses core concepts related to sustainability while encouraging critical thinking and a systems perspective among young students. The curriculum guide includes four lessons that explore topics including identity and culture, food, biodiversity, and systems. This curriculum features hands-on activities, teacher background reading, vocabulary, service learning projects, and assessment rubrics.
All lessons included in this book have been reviewed and field tested by content experts, teachers, and students. To learn more about this brand new curriculum and to download a lesson for FREE, click here. For questions or comments, contact Kim Rakow Bernier at kim@facingthefuture.org or (206) 264-1503. From Facing the Future
Bald Eagle Festival Jan. 26-27
ATTENTION TEACHERS!
21st Annual UPPER SKAGIT RIVER BALD EAGLE FESTIVAL
Wind, Water & Wisdom
January 26-27, 2008
Every year the people of the Upper Skagit welcome the magnificent Bald Eagles back to their winter feeding grounds with a festival celebrating their return to this special habitat. Many times teachers want to learn new information to add additional content to what they teach in the areas of watersheds, the life cycle of the salmon/eagles or ecosystems/habitat education. This special inservice opportunity offers educators a chance to do just that by attending this informative and exciting weekend in at the end of January
Teachers can sign up and pay for 10 clock hours by attending the Bald Eagle Festival and attending the numerous educational presentations and/or the field trips, as well as the other special events on Saturday and Sunday, January 26-27, 2008. The clock hours are being arranged for by Puget Sound Energy in cooperation with Washington Science Teachers Association (WSTA). The cost to teachers is just $15.00. You must attend both Saturday/Sunday to receive the maximum clock hours!
Check in at the front entrance to Concrete High School by 9:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 26. The WSTA will have clock hour registration table set up for your convenience to sign in for clock hours and for check out purposes either on Saturday or Sunday. You must sign out on both days to confirm attendance and receive the clock hours.
Festival Highlights:
--Educational Presentations by biologists and naturalists
--Bus Tours with Eagle interpreters
--Conservation Displays with teacher packets
--Sardis Raptor Center with their Live Raptor program
--Portable Planetarium presentations
--Native American speakers, drummers, dancers and music.
--Northwest Artisan Gallery and Environmental books/supplies
--A Staffed Eagle Bald Eagle Interpretive Center in Rockport
For additional information and directions to the Festival contact: Upper Skagit Bald Eagle Festival (360) 853-7283, www.skagiteagle.org. Clock hours are $15.00 to be paid by Cash or Check at the time of registration. For Teacher Clock Hour information contact Dave Reid, Puget Sound Energy, (425) 462-3325. From Dave Reid of PSE.
Upcoming Events at the Northwest Stream Center
EAGLES
Meet "Freedom," a mature Bald Eagle, and her keeper Jeff Guidry from the Sarvey Wildlife Center. Together they will inspire you with intriguing facts about Eagles and their habitat requirements.
DATE / TIME: Saturday, January 12, 2008; 10:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.AGE: For All Ages
TICKETS: $5 Members / $7 Non-members. Advance purchase necessary; call 425-316-8592 or email aasf@streamkeeper.org.
WOLVERINE SECRETS
A lecture and beautiful photographs of Washington's wilderness and one of its most secretive predators, the Wolverine, will be presented by Keith Aubry, USDA Forest Service. This program will dispel myths and misconceptions, and highlight for the first time the habitat requirements and range of the wolverine in the Pacific Northwest. Also learn about their history and niche in the environment, and the implications of global warming on this snow dependent species.
DATE / TIME: Friday, January 18, 2008; 7:00 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
AGE: Middle School Age Children to Adults
TICKETS: $5 Members / $7 Non-members. Advance purchase necessary; call 425-316-8592 or email aasf@streamkeeper.org.
AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH
A presentation and the first of the Free Streamkeeper Academy Movie Series, An Inconvenient Truth, will be presented on the "big screen" in the Northwest Stream Center Auditorium. From director Davis Guggenheim comes the Sundance Film Festival hit movie, which offers a passionate look at the crusade to halt global warming's progress by exposing the myths and misconceptions that surround it. Featuring Al Gore, this engaging film presents stirring information about our planetary emergency. With wit, intelligence and hope, "An Inconvenient Truth" brings home Gore's message that while global warming is one of the biggest challenges facing our global civilization there is still time to make a difference. DATE / TIME: Thursday, January 24, 2008, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m.
AGE: Middle School Age Children to Adults (Movie Rating: PG)
TICKETS: FREE. Donations Accepted. Advance reservation required; call 425-316-8592 or email aasf@streamkeeper.org.
EVENT LOCATION: Northwest Stream Center, 600 - 128th Street SE, Everett, WA 98208. See website for directions at www.streamkeeper.org.
Each class is accredited by Washington Science Teachers Association (WSTA) for Teacher Clock Hours.
Free Teacher Training on Inquiry Based Science
Inquiry Based Science: From the Classroom to the Natural WorldPlease join other educators from around the Puget Sound for Olympic Park Institute's first teacher training in Seattle! Inquiry Based Science: From the Classroom to the Natural World Wednesday, January 16, 2008, 4:30 to 7:30 pm Washington Middle School 2101 S Jackson Street Seattle, WA 98144 Learn about inquiry based field science with two experienced Olympic Park Institute field science educators in a fun-filled, interactive evening! Activities will include guided and open inquiry for environmental science, learning strategies to complement classroom studies, cooperative learning activities to enhance academic goals and connections to released scenarios from the 2007 Science WASL. This teacher training is free to all Washington State Teachers and 4th - 12th grade science educators; three clock hours are available for $2.50 per clock hour attended. A light snack will be provided. Pre-registration is required. Space is limited so call or email today to reserve your spot! To sign up contact me at efoster@yni.org or 206 300 6291.
Cool Teacher Events at the Museum of Flight
K - 12 EDUCATOR OPEN HOUSE
K - 12 educators, administrators, and their families can enjoy The Museum of Flight free of charge. Come explore our exhibits, learn about our educational programs, and discover air and space resources, products, and programs.
Dates: Saturday, February 2, 2008
Time: 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Audience: K - 12 educators, administrators, and their families
Location: The Museum of Flight
Fee: No charge for Museum admittance
Questions: edevents@museumofflight.org, or call 206-768-7228
More information here.BECOMING THE CATALYST On January 24, educators from the National Institute of Aerospace and NASA will be at the Seattle Museum of Flight to conduct a teacher workshop, "Becoming the Catalyst: Inspiring Students to Become 21st Century Explorers." The workshop--part of the NASA Future Forum events celebrating the agency's 50th anniversary--will introduce teachers to a wide variety of web-based educational resources developed by NASA and its Future Forums partners. The workshop also will guides teachers through the steps to create their own Space Weather Action Center in their classrooms through which students will monitor the progress of an entire solar storm from the time it erupts from the sun to the time it sweeps past, generating changes in our magnetic field. For more information, call (206) 768-7216 or visit here.
Grow a Crystal Tree!
   My husband tucked a fun little stocking stuffer into my xmas stocking.....a kit to grow a crystal tree! I went to work immediately setting up my little paper tree, pouring in the mysterious solution (nowhere on the package are the ingredients disclosed, but most likely it is a saline solution), and checking in over the next 6 or so hours as my tree sprouted orange crystal blooms.
As my tree bloomed, I had fun visiting it for a quick check-in to see how much it had changed since the last hour or so. Growing a crystal tree is a fun at-home science project that kids (and grown-ups) of all ages will enjoy. And the best thing.....the kit only cost $1.99 at Science, Art, & More and is available from other science suppliers as well. My only disappointment is that this kit is for a "Mystical Tree" which the package describes as "Amazing tree...grows like magic!" Ah ha, but magic is not at play here, and a learning opportunity is missed when a scientific process is described as magic. If you choose to conduct your own crystal tree experiment at home, be sure to use this opportunity to teach your kids about the amazing process of crystallization. Some great, kid-friendly crystallization websites can be found here:
Salmon Stewards
Like many other holiday shoppers, my husband and I found ourselves earnestly prowling the shelves at Science, Art & More in the Roosevelt neighborhood for fun, yet educational, holiday gifts for our niece and nephew. Yup, we are the aunt and uncle that give the educational gifts, science kits, and books instead of throw-away toys. And you know what, the kids always love them. This year it was an electromagnet kit and a loom kit.As I turned a corner in the tightly packed store, a familiar image caught my eye. It was the cover to Salmon Stewards: Bringing Salmon and Watersheds Into Your Classroom, a curriculum that I co-wrote many years ago when I managed the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center. I was excited to see the curriculum for sale at such a cherished store. Previously, it had only been available at the Pacific Science Center's Explore More Store. Now you can get in, in person or by mail-order, from Science, Art & More or the Explore More Store. In addition, the Mercer Slough Environmental Education Center offers a Salmon Stewards Field Study Program for students in grades 3-5. I can attest that this program is, like the perfect holiday gift, fun and educational!
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