[Scico-list] FW: Aurora math coaching positions available, Earth Science Sites of Week, NASSMC: "How'd You Do In School Today?", Chicago Schools Cut Teachers, Opinions

Tue May 8 13:09:51 MDT 2007

1.    FW: Aurora math coaching positions available, 

2.    Earth Science Sites of Week, 

3.    NASSMC: "How'd You Do In School Today?", Chicago Schools Cut
Teachers, Opinions

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-----Original Message-----

From: BARBARA PETERSON [mailto:BAPETERSON at aps.k12.co.us] 

Sent: Monday, May 07, 2007 9:34 AM

To: COmath

Subject: Aurora Public Schools math coaching positions available

Aurora Public Schools is seeking applicants for mathematics

instructional coaching positions.  Please visit the APS website for

additional information.

http://www.aps.k12.co.us/hr/index.html 

Barb Peterson

Instructional Coordinator, Secondary Math

Division of Instruction

15751 East First Avenue

Aurora, CO 80011

303-340-0859 X28367

303-326-1966 fax

bapeterson at aps.k12.co.us

This week's 5 May 2007 "Earth Science Sites of the Week" highlights
feature the following resources:

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PICKS OF THE WEEK: Ten key points concerning soils (in "Geosphere"
section), Sports science (in "General and Environmental" section),
Elementary Globe-five storybooks to integrate earth science into the K-4
classroom (in "General and Environmental" section), The Bernoulli's
Principle interactive (in "Animations" section),  Sun in 3-D (in
"Outstanding Images" section, Multiple choice testing strategies,  (in
"Teacher Tip" section).

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GEOSPHERE

1) HELPING PEOPLE UNDERSTAND SOILS: TEN KEY MESSAGES, USDA, this .pdf
document, which can be enlarged to show as a slide show, is a good
introduction to the origin, characteristics, and uses of soils.

ftp-fc.sc.egov.usda.gov/NSSC/Educational_Resources/sellsoil.pdf

GENERAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL

1) ELEMENTARY GLOBE ,by GLOBE Program (Recommended by Theresa Schwerin,
IGES) -- This series of five storybooks is designed to help K-4 teachers
integrate Earth science into their curriculum as they teach students to
read and write. Each book focuses on a different Earth science topic as
the main characters -- Simon, Anita and Dennis -- explore the natural
world. Storybooks and learning activities are correlated to national
education standards in science, geography and math.

www.globe.gov/fsl/elementaryglobe/ 

2) SPORTS SCIENCE, Exploratorium, the site (suggested by Scientific
American 2005 Web Awards, "offers a series of delightful and beautifully
designed microsites devoted to revealing the science behind our favorite
sports. You'll try your hand at hitting a virtual 90-mph baseball pitch,
calculate the aerodynamic drag necessary to keep you cycling at constant
velocity and even watch a video of professional skateboarders performing
daredevil tricks--with each kickflip and nolie explained by an
Exploratorium staff physicist. Don't miss the Q and A section, which
reveals the answers to such constant queries as "Why do I feel sore the
day after exercising?" and "How high can I jump?"

www.exploratorium.edu/sport/index.html

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DEPARTMENTS

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1) ANIMATIONS:  

b) The Bernoulli's Principle Interactive, M. Mitchell, (suggested by
Joseph Kerski, ESRI), the animation on this page explores the behavior
of an ideal fluid passing through a pipe. You can interact with the
animation, and immediately see the effects on the fluid velocity and
pressure. The animation is accompanied by two discussions - an
introductory discussion without any math, and a more advanced discussion
involving algebra and calculus.  The Principle has application to
weather and other Earth Science fields. 

home.earthlink.net/~mmc1919/venturi.html

OUTSTANDING EARTH SCIENCE IMAGES

b) Sun in 3-D, NASA, (suggested by Jim Hensel) "What does the Sun look
like in all three spatial dimensions? To find out, NASA launched two
STEREO satellites to perceive three dimensions on the Sun much like two
eyes allow humans to perceive three dimensions on the Earth...To fully
appreciate the image, one should view it with 3-D red-blue glasses."

antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap070424.html

7) TEACHER TIP: Multiple choice testing strategies,  (submitted by
Virginia Malone, consultant, Hondo, TX), teach your students test taking
strategies.  Many multiple choice test items are so poorly written that
a student can pass the test without knowing anything about the subject.
For an example of a test that gives away the answers to the good test
taker see http://wetheteachers.com/viewfiles.php?fid=306  The
information on the test is real.  For information on writing better test
items see 

xavier.xula.edu/jsevenai/objective/objective.html

Mark Francek

Professor of Geography

Dow 285

Central Michigan University

Mt. Pleasant, MI 48859

NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF STATE SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS COALITIONS
TITLE: "How'd You Do In School Today?" 

Online education programs like Edline and SchoolFusion help parents keep
tabs on how their kids are doing in school. But the sites are having an
unhealthy side effect, adolescent development specialists say, in that
they're enabling parents to micromanage their kids' lives in heretofore
unthinkable ways. 

"Edline really doesn't give us an opportunity to explain why our grades
aren't up to par," said Laura Iriarte Miguel, a high school student in
Gaithersburg, Maryland who helped start an anti-Edline club online. The
club has some 6,000 members.

Edline allows teachers to post grades online, and parents to monitor
their kids' progress. The idea is to improve communication, but the
technology can also destroy communication. Such close monitoring by
parents doesn't give teens space "for thinking about how to present bad
news," said Ellen deLara, an adolescent specialist at Syracuse
University. "Instead, parents can jump to conclusions, and essentially,
try and convict their teens, all before hearing from them."

The culture should be asking whether these services are "just making
children feel surveillance in a way that is uncomfortable for
everybody," said Sherry Turkle, a professor at the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology. 

Teachers say they like the technology, however. It opens lines of
communication between parents and teens, and helps working parents stay
in touch with what's happening in school, says Laura Hajdukiewicz, a
biology teacher at Andover High School in Massachusetts. 

At the same time, parents have to "remember what it was like when they
were in school...remember when you didn't get that homework assignment
in on time," said Christopher Garran, principal of Walter Johnson High
School, in Bethesda, Maryland. 

SOURCE: Washington Post, 30 April 2007 (p. C01)
WEBSITE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/29/AR200704
2901391_pf.html 

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NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF STATE SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS COALITIONS
TITLE: "Chicago schools cut 775 teachers" 

The Chicago public schools are firing 775 probationary teachers, about
11 percent of the district's 7,000 non-tenured teachers. 

Most of the teachers are being let go because they have proven unable to
manage their classrooms or have other performance problems. The
dismissals will allow principals to strengthen their teaching staffs by
recruiting higher-quality educators to fill the vacancies, said Arne
Duncan, the district's schools chief. 

Probationary teachers are those who have taught in the district for less
than five years, or have worked longer than that as full-time
substitutes. 

Chicago teachers' union officials placed some blame on the district for
not doing more to help inexperienced teachers. "New teachers are being
told, 'Here's your room, here's the key, good luck.' New teachers need
support, they need mentoring and a lot of those things are not in
place," said Marilyn Stewart, the union president.  

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, 28 April 2007 
WEBSITE:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/content/education/chi-0704271141a
pr28,0,724375.story?coll=chi-education-hed

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NATIONAL ALLIANCE OF STATE SCIENCE AND MATHEMATICS COALITIONS
TITLE: Weekly Wrap-up of Opinion

  1) "Business has key role in education reform" 

The Detroit News urges Michigan's business community to play a more
active role in education reform. Businesses should work with the state
on developing college programs that better prepare students for the work
world, the editors say, and invest in apprenticeship programs for jobs
that don't necessarily require a four-year college degree. 

SOURCE: Detroit News, 20 April 2007 
WEBSITE: http://www.detnews.com

  2) "1st things 1st should be math class formula" 

Frank Victoria, a math teacher in the Chicago public schools, argues
that students are being forced to tackle too much advanced math before
they've had a chance to master the fundamentals. Kids don't need to
learn the long mathematical explanations behind basic calculations
before they reach high school, Victoria maintains. "My 7th-grade math
text has two pages using models explaining division of fractions that
are more confusing than enlightening," he says. "All I get from students
are deer-in-headlights looks." 

SOURCE: Chicago Tribune, 22 April 2007  
WEBSITE:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/content/education/chi-0704210036a
pr22,0,4792198.story?coll=chi-education-hed 

3) "For Some High-School Students, Going to College Isn't the Answer" 

Rona Wilensky, principal of New Vista High School in Boulder, Colorado,
says educators are wasting their time trying to solve the problems of
underachievement by insisting that all students must be prepared for
college-level work. The presumption that college alone is the answer to
educational and economic woes is undermined by data showing high dropout
rates during the first years of college, she says. Instead, she says, we
ought to "design a portfolio of post-secondary options that truly
respond to both individual interests and strengths and society's various
needs."

SOURCE: Chronicle of Higher Education, 27 April 2007 (p. B18)
WEBSITE: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v53/i34/34b01801.htm

4) "China Needs An Einstein. So Do We."

Columnist Thomas Friedman finds in Walter Isaacson's new biography of
Albert Einstein evidence of the need to convey the beauty and creativity
found in science and mathematics. Einstein was able to think visually
and imaginatively - he believed, in fact, that imagination is more
important than knowledge. If we really want to engage kids in science,
Friedman says, we must not treat it as boring or intimidating, but
stimulating and boundless. 

SOURCE: New York Times, 27 April 2007 (p. A27)
WEBSITE:
http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/opinion/27friedman.html?n=Top%2fOpi
nion%2fEditorials%20and%20Op%2dEd%2fOp%2dEd%2fColumnists%2fThomas%20L%20
Friedman

--------------------------------------------- 
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