From an Associated Press article by Donna Blankenship:

“State and local education officials have been begging the federal government for relief from student testing mandates in the federal No Child Left Behind law, but school starts soon and Congress still hasn’t answered the call.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan says he will announce a new waiver system Monday to give schools a break.

The plan to offer waivers to all 50 states, as long as they meet other school reform requirements, comes at the request of President Barack Obama, Duncan said. More details on the waivers will come in September, he said…”

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Click here to read more…

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Rita Ferrandino Attends White House Community Briefing on Education Issues

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WASHINGTON, DC – July 19, 2011 – Sarasota resident Rita Ferrandino joined roughly 150 Floridians at the White House on Friday, July 15th, as part of the Office of Public Engagement’s Community Leaders Briefing Series. Ferrandino, CEO of Science Companion’s publisher, Chicago Educational Publishing Company, LLC, is involved in a number of education and STEM Education advocacy organizations.

The Briefing Series is a unique opportunity for grassroots leaders to come to Washington to hear directly from White House officials on the issues that are affecting communities and to learn more about the President’s priorities and initiatives from the people that work on them every day. In return, the White House gets to hear directly what is going on in our communities. The goal of the program is to strengthen the dialogue between community activists and their government.

During the briefings, Ferrandino heard from a number of top administration officials, including Deputy Commerce Secretary and Tampa resident Francisco Sanchez and Deputy NASA Administrator Lori Garver. The session included an hour-long Q&A with top White House officials, during which Ferrandino stressed the need for investment in STEM education. Ferrandino also participated in a roundtable discussion with officials from the U.S. Department of Education. President Obama made a unscheduled stop after his press conference on the debt ceiling to address the community leaders.

“Each year, we lose more ground in our global competitiveness because we lag behind in STEM education,” said Ferrandino. “It is vitally important that we support our educators in providing the best STEM education possible, challenging them to help our children build their curiosity and comprehension.”

Rita with DNC Chair Debbie Wasserman Shultz

“Most children only get about two hours of science a week in elementary school, despite studies showing that science learning must start early – both because it’s cumulative learning and kids fall behind quickly, and because by middle school, kids have already defined their interests,” continued Ferrandino. “If they don’t get any real exposure to science before that, they rarely find it engaging.”

While in DC, Ferrandino also attended a meeting held by Senator Bill Nelson and Representatives Ted Deutch and Frederica Wilson and Democratic National Committee Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz,. The meeting focused on key education issues, as well as including a discussion about the on-going debt negotiations. If you are interested in engaging and monitoring in activities at the White House, go to www.whitehouse.gov/engage where you can sign up receive e-mails directly.

Have Questions about the Conceptual Framework for Science Education?

Leading science education consultant (and former Science Companion Academic Advisory Board Member) Harold Pratt shares a helpful article about what the Conceptual Framework is all about.

Read it here!

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New Legislation Introduced to Support STEM education.

New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has introduced some exciting new legislation designed to help educators bring great STEM education to their students.

Read more here!

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Home Energy Challenge Contest

(By way of NSTA):

Last week U.S. Department of Energy Secretary Steven Chu joined with U.S. Department of Education Secretary Arne Duncan and NSTA Executive Director Francis Eberle to announce the launch of the America’s Home Energy Education Challenge, a competition that will be run by NSTA to educate students about the benefits of energy efficiency, motivate them to play an active role in how their families use energy, and help families across the country save money.

This fall, school teams in grades 3–8 participating in the Home Energy Challenge will be asked to implement energy efficiency activities that reduce the energy use in their homes. Teams will be asked to monitor and measure their energy consumption over a specific three-month period and compare it to data from the same period the year before, to track if they have successfully reduced their energy use. Participating schools can compete for more than $200,000 in prizes that will be distributed at the regional and national levels of the competition, including some additional prizes for honorable mention competitions. All participating schools and students will receive a DOE certificate of recognition, along with benefitting from the energy and money savings that come with energy efficiency improvements.

Students can also earn an Energy Fitness Award via a number of online activities where they will improve their knowledge of energy use in buildings, better understand energy-saving techniques, identify local energy-saving opportunities, develop an energy savings plan, and learn to undertake various energy use calculations.

“Energy efficiency is all about helping families save money by saving energy,” said Secretary Chu.  “America’s Home Energy Education Challenge leverages the passion and curiosity of students to encourage families across the country to reduce energy waste in their homes while inspiring the next generation of America’s energy leaders.”

“Science teachers nationwide will recognize that America’s Home Energy Education Challenge is a valuable teaching tool that encourages active learning about energy and science and will help students to connect science to real world applications,” said Dr. Francis Eberle.

Click here to find out more!

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Science Cheerleaders

A great resource for teachers and administrators curious about inquiry-based science.

Inquiry and the National Science Education Standards: A Guide for Teaching and Learning (2000)

The 21st Century Classroom

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Do you remember when computers first showed up in the classroom?  Have you used an interactive whiteboard?  What impact will smart phones have on the classroom experience?

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Herff Jones has made available a free whitepaper on how technology impacts how students learn.  Click here to access the paper from the Herff Jones website.

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Congratulations White House Science Fair winners!

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Students from across the country visited the White House recently to show off their science fair projects.  The White House Science Fair is part of President Obama’s Educate to Innovate program, and he spoke to the students about the role of science and innovation in American History.  Congratulations to the winners!  Read about their visit on the Department of Education blog here and watch a behind the scenes video here.

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Click here to view the embedded video.

If you missed the  New York Times article from earlier this month about simple tips for effective studying, you can check it out here.

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We’re  are honored to have been chosen by MMSA, the Maine Mathematics & Science Alliance as the inquiry science curriculum for the ongoing L-SILL Project (Linking Science, Inquiry and Language Literacy).

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What L-SILL is working towards:

The goal of L-SILL is to improve student achievement in science by supporting sustained professional development and the implementation of science-authentic classroom strategies that incorporate reading, writing, and speaking in the context of inquiry-based science. L-SILL provides school-based support with a variety of workshops and conferences open to any K-6 science teacher or administrator in Maine.

What they have to say about Science Companion:

Science Companion is the K-6 science curriculum program selected for L-SILL because of its focus on inquiry, developmentally appropriate content, pedagogical strategies, focus on the big ideas of science, and strong integrated literacy components. Science Companion incorporates children’s literature to model processes of science as well as to illustrate concepts and ideas. Scientists’ notebooks are an integral part of each kit, integrating a writing component. Questions and discussions are scaffolded in the Teacher’s Guides to assist teachers in guiding science discourse that will enhance students’ conceptual understanding of the targeted concepts. Reading, writing, and speaking are the essential components of literacy and Science Companion uses these to support science learning. Visit the MMSA to arrange a workshop at your school.

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We think the MMSA is pretty cool, too!

Click here for their 2010 Maine STEM Summit Report!

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