news & events

Below are news items, publication announcements, conferences or other events at which, ITEST LRC staff, projects, advisors, and partners will be presenting or attending. If you plan to attend any of these events, it is an opportunity to network with ITEST constituents and/or learn more about the ITEST experience. Contact us for further information.

RECENT CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS
A number of ITEST project PIs and LRC staff presented conferences in March:
AERA – March 24 – 28, 2008
NSTA – March 27 – 30, 2008
SITE – March 4, 2008

The LRC NSTA Presentation: Bridging Formal and Informal Education to Engage Youth in STEM Learning: The ITEST Experience--View this presentation.

 

PROJECTS IN THE NEWS
Many ITEST projects have received recent news coverage; thanks for letting the LRC know when you get coverage – please keep it coming!

Arizona

NSF grant supports education outreach [November 2007]
ASU News
Arizona State University
As a child growing up in India, Tirupalavanam Ganesh remembers taking apart his mechanical toys – and his father’s fountain ink pens – to figure out how they worked. Later on, he used an Erector Set he received as a gift to build any number of “contraptions.” Read more . . .
Cohort 5 project: Learning through Engineering Design and Practice: Using our Human Capital for an Equitable Future – Learn more about this project at http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/projects/comprehensive/ledp_az.asp

ASU program fosters interest for women, minorities [November 2007]
East Valley Tribune.com
By Andrea Natekar
Nancy Cortas, 12, stood outside Powell Junior High School in Mesa writing down observations about a desert tortoise ambling on grass near her feet. “These are prehistoric animals,” she wrote. “Their feet are very scaly and rough.” Read more . . .
Cohort 5 project: Learning through Engineering Design and Practice: Using our Human Capital for an Equitable Future – Learn more about this project at http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/projects/comprehensive/ledp_az.asp

California

World’s busiest Web site headquarters hosts, mentors PV youth [October 2007]
Register-Pajaronian
By Roger Sideman
One hour’s drive and a world away, the headquarters of the planet’s most visited and most profitable company on the Internet opened its doors Tuesday for some lucky middle school girls. Read more . . .
Cohort 4 project: Girl Game Company -- Learn more about this project at http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/projects/youthbased/gcg_ca.asp

Maine

Greely students hope to put towns on the digital map [September 2007]
the Forecaster
By Peter Smith
CUMBERLAND – A group of Greely High School students and teachers are hoping to use cutting-edge technology to create a digital portrait of Cumberland and North Yarmouth. Read more . . .
Cohort 3 project: Community For Rural Education, Stewardship, and Technology (CREST) – Learn more about this project at http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/projects/comprehensive/CREST_me.asp

Massachusetts

Using evaluation-research methodology to inform workforce development strategies and project scale-up [February 2008]
Fifth Annual NSF ITEST Summit
This year's summit focus was on Using Evaluation-Research Methodology to Inform Workforce Development Strategies and Project Scale-Up. Some of the Summit presentations and panels were Webcast, click the link below to view the archives at the Learning Times Web site. http://home.learningtimes.net/itest?go=z1114619
ITEST Learning Resource Center

Michigan

Jazlin Ebenezer, principal investigator shares project news [February 2008]
Addison High School Daily Announcements
Addison was well represented at the Tri County Science Fair this week.  Maurina Aranda’s research on the chloride levels of Bean Creek and the St. Joseph River was the #1 project in the Environmental category.  She also received the Stubnitz award for best environmental research.  Out of 180 projects, Maurina’s project was awarded third place overall.  Her outstanding work allowed her to bring home two medals, two judges’ ribbons, certificates and $205 in prize money.  Maurina did her work as a member of Biology II and this work was supported by the National Science Foundation’s TITiC grant.  Congratulations to Maurina Aranda for her accomplishments.
Cohort 2 project: Translating IT Into Classrooms -- Learn more about this project at http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/projects/comprehensive/LakeErie_mi.asp

Montana

The following are articles submitted to the LRC by Cohort 4 project: Paleo Exploration Project: Spatial Analysis of Fossil Finds in the Northern Plains -- Learn more about this project at http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/projects/comprehensive/paleo_mt.asp

Spatial analysis of fossil sites in the northern plains:  A unique model for teacher education [February 2008]
GSA Today: A Publication of the Geological Society Of America
Understanding science and technology is key to our next generation’s success. Conveying the excitement of science and effectively melding it with technology in both field and classroom settings can be a challenge for many K–12 educators. Middle school is a critical juncture in a child’s educational experience, when interest in science and technology is budding. If this interest is captured, it can lead to a lifetime of learning and, for some, a rewarding profession. Read more . . .

Camp features oldest and newest things [July 2007]
Glasgow Courier
By Samar Fay, Courier Editor
Kids use geospatial technology and lasers to study dinosaur fossils
How would you like to learn the scientific method? Read page 27-z-z-z or use lasers to see if the sediment with the T. rex bones is continuous on both sides of the fossil-strewn arroyo? Read more . . .

GPS training & fossil digging [July 2007]
Daniels County Leader
Did you know that eastern Montana contains some of the richest fossil beds on Earth? Students and teachers from eastern Montana gathered at Ft. Peck along with faculty from the paleontology department at University of Montana to unearth dinosaur and plant fossils on a private ranch about 45 minutes southeast of Ft. Peck. Read more . . .

Digging for a dinosaur
By Geoff Casey, Special to the Press
Digging for a dinosaur is not as easy as it may seem in the movie “Jurassic Park,” where it simply required a few sweeps of the paleontologist's brush to uncover the specimen. There it lay, just like you would see in a museum display! Read more . . .

Dinosaurs - an ancient bridge to new learning
Glasgow Courier
By Samar Fay, Courier Editor
On a Sunday afternoon, about 30 middle school teachers are leaning over laptop computers, headphones clamped on. They frown as they struggle with a tutorial about building a GIS map of fossil sites around Fort Peck Lake. Read more . . .

Digging dinosaurs [June 2007]
Great Falls Tribune
By Kim Skornogoski
Regional teachers, students spend week working with UM paleontology project
When Mallory Eberle starts seventh grade this fall, the Plentywood student will have a lot to say about what she did this summer. Last week, she studied the sediment in a dry creek bed to determine Read more . . .

New Jersey

High-School scientists decode DNA sequence, present findings [March 2008]
National Science Foundation
Press Release 08-037
New Jersey students publish their findings, present their work at the National Science Foundation
Opportunities for high school students to do research as part of a science class are -- sadly -- all too rare. Where such opportunities do exist, students often find themselves going through the motions of an experiment with a predetermined outcome. Read more . . .
Cohort 2 & 5 project: HiGene: A Genome Sequencing Project for High Schools -- Learn more about this project at http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/projects/comprehensive/BRITE_nj.asp

Pennsylvania

Access to Admissions
This video of interest was produced by one of the summer intensive groups of high school students.
Students’ video tape and map the experience of try to enter the admissions office at Temple University from the perspective of a person who needs wheel chair access.
The video can be found at: http://youtube.com/itsrg2007
Cohort 2 project: Building IT Skills Amond Inner City Youth in North Philadelphia Through Development of a Community Geographic Information System (bITs) -- Learn more about this project at http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/projects/youthbased/Temple_pa.asp

Rhode Island

$1.2-million grant to train science teachers [September 2007]
The Providence Journal
By Gina Macris, Journal Staff Writer
PORTSMOUTH — In the darkened auditorium of Portsmouth High School, students and teachers joined Governor Carcieri yesterday in watching a computer simulation of the way heat affects atoms. The atoms changed from white to red as they gyrated in larger and larger arcs, going from a solid substance, to a liquid, and then becoming a gas. Read more . . .
Cohort 5 project: Rhode Island IT Experiences for Students and Teachers -- Learn more about this project at http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/projects/comprehensive/ritest_ma.asp

Texas

IT: Where the Girls Aren't
Some promising initiatives can help educators encourage girls’ interest in technology and science, according to panelists who spoke recently at an influential interactive media conference. Read more . . .

Vermont

Global Challenge Award Project Photos [July 2007]
The 2006--2007 year Challenge engaged a large number of students from within the United States and countries across the globe. 2600 students from 50 countries registered for the challenge. Over 400 formed international teams. View photos

'Global Challenge' links students in U.S., Asia to tackle issues [April 2007]
The Barre Montpelier -- Times Argus
By Lisa Rathke Associated Press
MONTPELIER — Chris Fitzhugh plans to spend spring break building a copper and PVC-pipe model to show how temperature differences in the ocean can be used to generate electricity. Read more . . .

PUBLICATIONS, SUBMISSIONS and ADDITIONAL ITEMS of INTEREST

Informal science education (ISE)
Program Solicitation
NSF 08-547
Replaces Document(s)NSF 06-520
National Science Foundation
Directorate for Education & Human Resources
Research on Learning in Formal and Informal Settings
Letter of Intent Due Date(s) (required) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time): 
March 20, 2008 and September 18, 2008
Full Proposal Deadline(s) (due by 5 p.m. proposer's local time):
June 19, 2008 and December 18, 2008
http://www.nsf.gov/publications/pub_summ.jsp?ods_key=nsf08547

Serious educational games: From theory to practice
Leonard A. Annetta (Ed.), North Carolina State University, USA
Serious Educational Games: From Theory to Practice focuses on experiences and lessons learned through the design, creation and research in the Serious Education Games Movement. Serious Games is a term coined for the movement that started in 2003 for using commercial video game technology for teaching and learning purposes. This book presents a collection of work that bridges the theory behind Serious Educational games and cutting edge research coming from many aspects in the field. The authors all have experienced Serious Games in education in their research and/or through personal game play. You can find a preview at: http://www.sensepublishers.com/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=0&products_id=493
Cohort 3 project: Highly Interactive Fun Internet Virtual Environments in Scienc (HI-FIVES) -- Learn more about this project at http://www2.edc.org/itestlrc/projects/comprehensive/HIFIVES_nc.asp

The ITEST learning resource center’s online evaluation database: Examples from the collection
International Journal of Technology in Teaching and Learning, 3(1), 51-65
Leslie Goodyear & Bethany Carlson
Education Development Center
The National Science Foundation-funded ITEST Learning Resource Center at EDC has developed an online database of instruments for ITEST project level evaluators and researchers to use as they develop measures for their projects. This article details the purpose and development of that database and highlights three instruments from it that represent the kind of evaluation tools archived there. Read more . . .

Ten years of youth programs at the american museum of natural history: An independent perspective and lessons learned [January 2008]
Authors: Becky Carroll, with assistance from Anita Smith, Barbara Heenan, Heather Mitchell, Mark St. John, Inverness Research
Purpose
This report includes:

Read more . . .

Institute of education sciences [October 2007]
New Practice Guides Released
The Institute of Education Sciences has released two more Practice Guides in a series intended to bring the best available evidence and expertise to bear on systemic challenges in education that cannot currently be addressed by a single intervention or program.

Encouraging Girls in Math and Science: A Practice Guide was developed by a panel of experts and provides educators with specific and coherent evidence-based recommendations on how to encourage girls in the fields of math and science.

Organizing Instruction and Study to Improve Student Learning: A Practice Guide, reflects an expert panel’s consensus on some of the most important principles to emerge from research on learning and memory. To download, view and print these practice guides as PDF files, please visit: http://ies.ed.gov/ncee/wwc/practiceguides/

Microsoft’s site for K-12 educators
Where you can access resources developed for middle school and high school technology, computer science and math teachers. www.microsoft.com/facultyconnection/precollegiate

EDC's Siobhan Bredin Presents ITEST Program at United Nations Conference [February 2007]
Siobhan Bredin, project director of the National Science Foundation-funded ITEST (IT Experiences for Students and Teachers) Learning Resource Center at EDC, addressed the United Nations on February 28th, presenting five successful strategies – identified by ITEST projects - for encouraging young women and girls to pursue skills and careers in science and technology. Read more

ITEST Fourth Annual Summit Live Webcast Sessions [February 2007]
This year's summit focus was on New Learning and the New Learner: Harnessing IT to Reinvent the Education Landscape. Key Summit activities addressed these important issues facing our nation's workforce:

Archives now available! Read more