Teachers - Check Out This Great Resource!

Teachers TryScience is a website designed especially for teachers.  This site provides free and engaging lessons, along with teaching strategies and resources, which are designed to spark students’ interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The site even features collaboration tools to assist teachers in discussing and sharing effective instructional practices. Check it out! http://www.teacherstryscience.org/

The Bay Area Science Festival: Unleash Your Inner Scientist!

Are you ready to unleash your inner scientist?  If you'll be in the San Francisco Bay Area October 29th to November 6th, you won't want to miss the Bay Area Science Festival, an exciting 10 day event that allows participants to celebrate the region's scientific wonders, resources, and opportunities by exploring the role of science, engineering, and technology locally and in the world!

This 10 day festival will provide a wide range of science & technology activities – lectures, debates, exhibitions, concerts, plays, workshops, etc. – at a variety of locations throughout the Bay Area.

Young people will understand that science is fun, exciting and important, encouraging them to pursue careers in science; parents will feel more confident about supporting their kids’ interests in science; and teachers will have new resources to get students thinking about science outside of the classroom. 

There will be dozens of exciting events for all to enjoy!

Here is a sampling - 

For students, families and teachers:
Encourage your students to attend free Discovery Days Events!
Each will be packed with hands-on activities, performances, interactive demonstrations and family-oriented science entertainment.

• Saturday 10/29: Cal State East Bay in Hayward, 11AM - 4PM
• Saturday 11/5: In­fineon Raceway in Sonoma, 11AM - 4PM
• Sunday 11/6: AT&T Park in San Francisco, 11AM - 4PM

Saturday, November 5, is the Bay Area Star Party! Meet local astronomers at a dozen star party sites across the Bay Area.

Just for teachers:
Attend an Educator Give Away! Leveraging excess stock/equipment/materials from labs/companies across the area, there will be free educator giveaways across the Bay Area. The giveaways are sponsored by BABEC, PROBE, SCCBEP, and CCSF’s BIO-LINK Depot. Pre-registration is required.

• North Bay Giveaway: at Santa Rose Junior College, Petaluma Campus on Saturday, October 29, 10AM-1PM
• South Bay Giveaway: at San Jose State University on Saturday, October 29, 10AM-1PM
• SF/Peninsula Giveaway: at the BIO-LINK Depot near SFO airport on Saturday, November 5, 10AM-12NOON

Educator Events at the Tech Museum and the California Academy of Sciences.
On Saturday, 11/5, both the Educator Extravaganza at California Academy of Sciences (1:30-5:30PM) and the Teacher Open House with an Astronaut at The Tech Museum of San Jose (9:30AM-1PM) will be hosting special educator events with free admission and educational activities that can be used to the classroom.

These are just a few of the many activities and events planned for the Bay Area Science Festival. Complete details can be found at http://www.bayareascience.org. Help spread the word! 

Check out the flyer at: http://www.bayareascience.org/wp-content/uploads/BASFTeachers.pdf

Grants and Doument Cameras

Here are two grant opportunities that provide resources for classrooms. The first provides funding for innovative classroom projects and the second gives educators the opportunity to win a document camera for their classroom.

ING Unsung Heroes Award for K-12 Educators
The ING Unsung Heroes honors excellence in education by selecting 100 educators to receive $2,000 to help fund their innovative classroom projects. Of  these 100 finalists, 3 will be chosen to receive an additional $5,000, $10,000 and $25,000.

All K-12 education professionals who meet the following requirements are eligible:

• Employed by an accredited K-12 public or private school located in the United States.
• Full-time educators, teachers, principals, paraprofessionals, or classified staff with effective projects that improve student learning.

The application deadline is April 30, 2011. For more information and to download the application, please visit: http://ing.us/about-ing/citizenship/childrens-education/ing-unsung-heroes


2011 Samsung Grant Competition: 50 Winners Receive a Document Camera
In 300 words or less, Samsung's 2011 "Digital Preparedness" Grant Program invites K-12 teachers to answer the question: "Will new technology in the classroom better prepare our students?"  Based on need and quality of response, 50 educators will be awarded a SAMCAM 860 Document Camera. The competition is open to K-12 teachers from any public or private school located within the United States and its territories.  Applications must be received by April 30, 2011.  For more information and to apply, please visit:  http://samsunggrants.com/

Contests for your Students and More!

Are you looking for contests for your students to participate in? Here are two great contests with upcoming deadlines!

Space Foundation's 27th National Space Symposium Art Contest

The Space Foundation invites your students to participate in a national art contest challenging them to portray what space travel might look like in 2020. What this transportation system will look like is entirely up to your students!

The contest will be divided into four age categories:

• PreK – 2nd grade
• 3rd – 5th grade
• 6th – 8th grade
• 9th – 12th grade

Each age level will have three art categories to choose from:

• Drawing/Sketching
• Painting
• Multimedia

Each school can submit up to three different entries per category per age group (a maximum of 36 entries per school). The Space Foundation will narrow these submissions down to a group of semi-finalists and then, a panel of highly regarded members of the local art community will select first, second and third place finalists from each art category in each age category. From that group, the panel will select a single grand prize winner in each age category. The submission deadline is March 11, 2011 For more information, please visit: http://www.spacefoundation.org/education/art-contest

Green Your School Challenge

Do Something and Hewlett Packard are providing funding and HP computers to K-12 schools that reduce their carbon footprint. Four winners will receive a $1000 grant and an HP Pavilion DM1 laptop and one Grand Prize winner will receive a $5000 grant and 5 HP Pavilion DM1 laptop computers to power even more green projects! Eligible schools must make concrete efforts to reduce their environmental impact during an 8-week competition. Winners will be chosen based on their school's energy saved, garbage reduced, number of people involved, and innovative quality of actions and ideas. The deadline to submit projects is April 1, 2011. For more information and to register, please visit: http://www.dosomething.org/green-your-school

And don't forget, if you are San Francisco Bay Area Teacher now is a great time to apply for a paid IISME Summer Fellowship! You can earn up to $8,200 by participating in this unique and exciting professional development opportunity and return to your classroom in the Fall with new resources, teaching strategies, updated knowledge and renewed energy! Visit us at http://iisme.org today to learn more! 

Silicon Valley Engineering Council Engineering Education Awards

Attention Silicon Valley Teachers! Know any engineering or technology High School Seniors or Undergraduates? Please pass on the news about this awesome opportunity to win a $1,000 scholarship from the Silicon Valley Engineering Council! The February 5th deadline is quickly approaching.

The Silicon Valley Engineering Council (SVEC) Engineering  Education Awards recognize young engineering and technology students for their dedication, focus, and commitment to engineering with scholarships of $1,000. Engineering and Technology students graduating from high school, or presently enrolled in undergraduate community college and university programs are eligible to apply. Fulltime and part-time students are eligible. Students may receive an SVEC Scholarship award only once. Scholarship winners will be announced and awarded at the Annual SVEC Engineers Week Banquet on February 24, 2011.

Eligible students should submit their completed application by February 5, 2011. For eligibility requirements, to download an application, and for additional information, please visit http://www.svec.org/scholarship-awards.html

The IISME Community Website - Free curriculum at your fingertips!

Are you looking for innovative, standards-based curriculum that will excite your students? Then you have come to the right place!

Explore the many pieces of exemplary curriculum designed by IISME Fellows at the IISME Community Website!  Each IISME Fellow creates an Education Transfer Plan (ETP) to help bring their industry or research lab summer experience back to their students.  These ETP's are peer reviewed pieces of exemplary curriculum and are available online for all educators to utilize...for FREE! 

All activities, handouts, teacher notes and assessment pieces for each ETP can be downloaded and modified to suit the specific needs of your classroom.  What's even better? You can search by subject area, grade level, and key word(s)!  The possibilities are endless! Check it out! http://community.iisme.org

Upcoming Conferences for Educators!

Looking for an exciting conference to attend? 

Here are three upcoming conferences for educators:

STEMgrants Virtual Conference – From your Computer!

The 2011 STEMgrants Virtual Conference will be held from March 1-4, 2011and is focused on connecting educators with STEM funding through a series of virtual workshops!  From the comfort of your computer you can learn how to find STEM funding, write grant proposals and win awards.  Each presentation consists of live video of the speaker, simultaneous PowerPoint presentations and Q&A’s in real-time! Worried about missing a session? If you miss a live session, you will be able to watch a recorded version for up to 30 days!

There is also a full line-up of engaging keynote speakers to kick-off each day of the conference. Keynote Speakers include:

• Dr. Douglas Arion, President, Galileoscope LLC
• Darlene Cavalier, Founder, ScienceCheerleader.com
• Dr. Ioannis Miaoulis, President, Boston Museum of Science
• Dr. Winston Scott, Astronaut and Dean or Aeronautics, Florida Tech

Register by February 15^th and receive an Early Bird Discount! For $99 per person, you will have access to all of the live sessions! After February 15^th, the cost goes up to $129 per person.

For more information and to register, please visit: http://stemconference.com/

SVCUE Technology Conference – San Jose, CA

The Silicon Valley Computer Using Educators (SVCUE) will be holding their annual Technology Conference entitled “T3: Teach Through Technology” on Saturday, March 12, 2011 from 8am to 3pm in San Jose, CA.  This one-day conference will focus on the ways teachers can integrate the technology they have been given (or are seeking to obtain) into their curriculum! If you register by March 4^th, the cost to attend is $40 for SVCUE Members and $50 for non-SVCUE members. Register before January 16^th and save $10! 

IISME will be exhibiting at this conference, so please don't forget to stop by and say hello!

For more information on SVCUE and to register for this conference, please visit: http://www.svcue.org/

The NSTA’s National Conference on Science Education – San Francisco, CA

Begin the new year with resolve to get personal and professional development in 2011. Build your experiences in science education at the National Science Teachers Association’s (NSTA) National Conference on Science Education in San Francisco. Scheduled for March 10-13, more than 2,000 sessions will be offered—hands-on workshops, seminars, and symposia will increase your content knowledge, performance strategies, and techniques in the classroom. Nationally known presenters will inspire and inform. Thousands of your peers will share ideas, experiences, and challenges. Invest in yourself, your career, and your future. Register before January 14^th to save the most.  For more information and to register, please visit: http://www.nsta.org/conferences/2011SAN/

Sessions and presentations include:

• Featured Presentation: Ira Flatow, President and Executive Producer, NPR’s Science Friday
• Giving Elementary Science Teachers the Confidence, Skills, and Experience to Teach Chemistry. (lesson plans, strategies, and rubrics are the take-away’s.)
• Shaping Children's Views of Science by Doing and Knowing About Inquiry. Elementary, (research-based techniques)
• Linking Assessment to Teaching: Ideas and Evidence. Middle School
• From Cells to Sea Ice: Analyzing Data from Digital Images. Middle-High
• Developing Literacy and Addressing Content Standards Through Issue-oriented Science. Middle-High
• Variation, Selection, and Time. (Natural selection) Middle-High
• Hands-On Learning Activities for AP Biology. High School
• NASA Brings You Newton's Laws of Motion. 20 hands-on investigations. Middle-High
• Featured Presentation: Deeply Digital Science Teaching, Chad Dorsey, Pres, CEO, The Concord Consortium
• Featured Presentation: Dr. Art’s Planet Earth Show. Art Sussman, Sr Project Director, WestEd
• Exhibit Hall—test and try the most cutting edge products from companies across the nation. Bring an extra tote for giveaways. 
• Field trips (ticketed) for real discovery. USS Pampanito, Lawrence Hall of Science, the Match Science Nucleus, Wes Gordon Fossil Hall, the Tech Museum, RAFT, and more. 

On a side note, don't forget, if you are a San Francisco Bay Area Teacher interested in applying for a paid IISME Summer Fellowship, please visit: http://iisme.org!  The next Applicant Workshop (Information Session) for interested teachers will be on January 25, 2011 in San Francisco.  Please visit http://iisme.org for details and to register!