TECHNOS

August 29, 2008

July 2005—Vol. 2, No. 6

Shape of Life: The Story of the Animal Kingdom series available!

Based on the PBS documentary, The Shape of Life, this series meets AAAS National Science Teaching Standards for Grades 9-12.

Welcome to the technos.net e-newsletter, published by AIT’s Technos Press. You’ll find valuable information here about AIT products and services and other noteworthy news from the world of education. Please let us know what you think, or what you’d like to see here, by emailing us at: editor@ait.net. Thank you!

Featured Interview

Marjorie G. Bardeen

Marjorie G. Bardeen is manager of the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab) Education Office in Batavia, IL. Fermilab is a high-energy physics laboratory, home of the world’s most powerful particle accelerator, the Tevatron. Scientists from across the country and around the world use Fermilab’s resources in experiments to explore the most basic particles and forces of nature. The Education Office was established in 1989 to enhance science education; in 1992, the Leon M. Lederman Science Education Center was opened. It houses the Teacher Resource Center, which hosts workshops and materials previews for science instructors and publishes an evaluation catalog of instructional materials. In addition to managing the Education Office, Ms. Bardeen serves as president of Fermilab Friends for Science Education, a not-for-profit corporation that exists to create and support innovative pre-college science education programs at Fermilab by seeking public and private-sector financial support. Under Ms. Bardeen’s leadership, a wealth of science education resources have been made available to elementary and secondary teachers and students. She holds a B.A. degree in Mathematics from the University of Minnesota and an Educational Certificate (Mathematics), from Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, IL.

Technos visited with Marge in her office atop the main building that houses Fermilab scientists, staff, and activities—overlooking Fermilab’s vast acreage of restored prairie habitat, a soft reminder that there is hard science at the foundation of environmental studies.

Technos: Please describe your job as manager of Fermilab’s Education Office.

M.G.B.: My job is to figure out ways to make Fermilab’s vast resources available to educators. To that end, we ask teachers, "What do you need? How can we help?" Then we match their instructional needs with available Fermilab resources so we can develop good resources for K12 classrooms.

Does it ever work the other way around?

Yes. We are in constant contact with the scientists here and we see them and talk to them all the time. For instance, my husband is a physicist, so he and I are always talking about what he’s thinking about and working on. When our staff learns about an interesting project or experiment, we’ll take it to our network of teachers and bounce the idea around.

Once we agree on a program, we raise the money to develop the programs teachers need and want. We help them develop the program, acquiring materials and piloting and revising the program. But let me emphasize that ours is a service to educators—we don’t tell them what we think they should have. Our main focus is to develop programs that are relevant, interesting, and challenging; and we want to provide a diverse program that is free, for the most part, to teachers.

Is any scientific topic open for development?

No. We are limited by Fermilab’s mission, which is high-energy physics, associated expertise in computing, and environmental stewardship of a reconstructed prairie. We have Web development and computing expertise here—but our scientists are not experts in education. The Education Office serves to bring the scientists together with educators to develop appropriate programs for instructional purposes. Schools and school districts are the locus for change, and we are the catalyst.

Read the entire Technos eZine interview with Marjorie Bardeen here.

Links to Fermilab Web pages and other relevant Web sites are listed in this month’s Recommended Links section.

Featured Article

Fermilab’s Teacher Resource Center Provides Materials, Information, Workshops, and Contacts

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, IL, is the site of the U.S. Department of Energy’s particle physics research projects. It is also the site of an extensive educational program that strives to connect Fermilab scientists with science teachers and students around the country. Fermilab’s Education Office, managed by Marjorie Bardeen, oversees the Teacher Resource Center (TRC), which is housed in the Lederman Science Center on the Fermilab campus.

Susan Dahl, director of the TRC, works most closely with science teachers as they develop workshops and review instructional software materials. "Our main focus is to connect scientists with the teaching community," she said. "We have to be aware of current research and then help to communicate what resources, ideas, and strategies are needed between the two groups. It helps to have scientists visit the classroom to convey to teachers and students the way they do their work, how they pursue inquiry and engage in study. At the same time, the scientists learn to communicate with young people on their level." Ms. Dahl has a traveling computer lab that can be used by teachers to demonstrate instructional materials during the workshops.

Read the entire article about Fermilab’s Teacher Resource Center here.

What’s New at AIT?

George Wright Joins AIT’s Board of Directors

The Agency for Instructional Technology is pleased to announce the addition of a longtime friend to its Board of Directors. George Wright, currently president of GW Communications and formerly executive vice-president and chief technology officer of Magic Lantern Group, Inc., in Toronto, Canada, joins AIT’s Board, effective July 1, 2005.

Mr. Wright is a bilingual (English and French) Canadian who possesses an extensive list of accomplishments in the fields of technology, communication, and education. He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Psychology and a Master of Arts degree in Modern Literature from the University of Western Ontario, and holds an Ontario Teacher’s Certificate from the University of Toronto.

His professional experience ranges from: dean of Information Technology and CIO at DeVry Institute of Technology (Toronto); president of Sonoptic Technologies, Inc., (Toronto); principal and producer at Les Productions Vidéo Fournier, Ltd. (Montreal, QC); senior vice-president for external relations at Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association (Toronto); director of Research and Information at the Association of Canadian Distillers (Ottawa); education officer/assistant branch director at the Ontario Ministry of Education (Toronto); college instructor/media coordinator at Sheridan College of Applied Arts and Technology (Oakville, ON); and secondary school teacher/assistant department head, English, at Etobicoke Board of Education (Toronto).

Mr. Wright worked through Magic Lantern, Inc., in partnership with AIT to produce AIT’s The Learning Source, which is hosted and distributed through InSite technology. TLS is an online streaming video library service aimed at teachers that features instructional materials for K12 classrooms.

His experience as a classroom teacher gave Mr. Wright a unique perspective from which to pursue his subsequent career in technology. "I see the experience of teaching as a highly beneficial formative experience," he writes. "The personal discipline required remains central in personal attitudes and practice—the intellectual undertakings of class and subject preparation, the daily marking burden of essays, creative writing tests, and exams, the constant professional development commitment required, the demand, occasionally absolute, to maintain discipline within student groups, the tricks of catching and holding attention—it was a good training ground for group management skill formation, social growth, and the understanding of core elements of the processes of learning and adaptation."

AIT welcomes George B. Wright to its Board of Directors and looks forward to a continued productive and mutually satisfying relationship.

Tech Notes

EdWeek.org has posted the eighth edition of Education Week’s Technology Counts 2005 report, Electronic Transfer: Moving Technology Dollars in New Directions: View the Table of Contents—and the Executive Summary.

The usual thorough job by Ed Week writers and researchers includes informative State Data Tables in PDF and Excel files for download, and a comprehensive comparative table of state-by-state expenditures for FY 2004 and FY 2005, “Financing Education Technology.” This report also features rankings of the states based on a number of ed-tech factors: access to technology, capacity to use technology, and use of technology.

Feature Stories include:

“NCLB Focuses on Data Tools,” concluding that the demands of the No Child Left Behind Act are spurring states to invest in data-management technologies
“State Support Varies Widely,” outlining a mix of funding approaches that states are using to pay for K–12 ed-tech programs
“Federal Role Seen Shifting,” asking if the leaders who steer federal decisions about technology investments are establishing new priorities
“Schools Eye Future Costs,” saying that educators are using a business concept to forecast the costs of technology
“Tracking U.S. Trends,” concluding that there is now almost no difference in the availability of Internet access between poor schools and wealthy ones

Browse state snapshots: http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/05/05/35state-of-the-states.h24.html

Print copies of the Ed Week Technology Counts 2005 report, Electronic Transfer: Moving Technology Dollars in New Directions, can be ordered here: http://counts.edweek.org/products/special-reports.

etc. (News You Need)

Recommended reading: Balancing Change and Tradition in Global Education Reform, edited by Iris Rotberg, is reviewed by Jay Mathews, education writer for the Washington Post. He calls it "a world tour of public education in the early 21st century." Read the review, titled "A Beach Book to Impress Your Friends." (May require free registration.)

From EdWeek.Org: "After spending four years sifting through hundreds of studies on teacher education, a national panel has concluded that there’s little empirical evidence to show that many of the most common practices in the field produce effective teachers," writes Debora Viadero. (http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2005/06/22/41aera.h24.html) The report, "Studying Teacher Education," can be ordered from the American Educational Research Association at this Web site: http://www.aera.net/newsmedia/?id=763.

The U.S. Department of Education has released a guidebook for schools and districts that explains the guidelines of the No Child Left Behind Act which say students from poor families who attend schools that are underperforming are eligible for supplemental academic support, including tutoring. Download a copy of the guidebook at the DOE’s Web site.

The Partnership for 21st Century Skills has released its report, "The Assessment of 21st Century Skills: The Current Landscape" (information, PDF file: ), along with an online tool, Assess 21, which is a database of skills assessments.

Education Week’s online chat of June 15 was about high school reform. "Life After High School: Preparing Students" featured guests Hilary Pennington, vice chairman, co-founder, and senior advisor on education at Jobs for the Future; Christin Driscoll, senior director of public policy at the Association for Career and Technical Education; and Ross Wiener, a principal partner at The Education Trust. Read the complete transcript here: http://www.edweek.org/chat/transcript_06-15-2005.html.html.

AIT Products & Services

In keeping with our theme this month, we are emphasizing our AIT catalog of excellent science and math materials. For more information about the following products, including pricing, follow the links to the AIT online catalog included with each description.

Physics: What Matters, What Moves. Investigate the basic concepts behind electromagnetic force, energy, gravity, light, motion, and nuclear force. Six 15-minute programs for grades 7–12, plus teacher guide.

Cracking the Code: The Continuing Saga of Genetics. A comprehensive resource for teaching the history and new science of genetics. Featuring lively animations and clever analogy, the programs present complex science information in a way that positively affects student attention and retention. The Pop band Moxy Früvous performs songs that assist students to recall key concepts and information. Both the history and social context of genetics are highlighted, so that viewers see the real-life applications of scientific endeavor. Five episodes of this series, which will eventually number six 30-minute programs for grades 7–12 and college, are now available: Peas in a Pod, Microscopes and Mutants, The DNA Obsession, The Gene Machine, and The Seeds of a New Era. Visit the Cracking the Code Web site.

Inventing Flight for Schools Curriculum Kit. This kit includes six 10-minute video programs, additional science tutorial and "how-to" video segments, a DVD resource disk, teacher guide, student worksheets, and Internet resources. It is a multimedia curriculum for middle-school-age students that guides them through the science and history behind the Wright Brothers’ invention of powered flight. Inventing Flight is inquiry driven, standards based, and activity based. Through planned activities, students discover answers to three critical problems of flight: control, lift, and propulsion. Produced by ThinkTV for Inventing Flight to mark the Centennial Celebration of Powered Flight. Visit the Inventing Flight Web site.

Minds on Science. Improve scientific thinking skills and prepare students for the scientific and technical demands of the 21st Century. Demonstrate that science is more than a set of answers; it’s a process of investigation. Use a systematic process that fosters scientific attitudes, critical thinking skills, problem-solving skills, and the ability to reason logically. Lead students on scientific investigations where they learn to formulate hypotheses, observe phenomena, record data, construct experiments, and seek answers from human and natural resources. Ten 20-minute programs for grades 5–8; DVD; teacher guide.

Energy, the Pulse of Life. Explore both basic science and (applied) technology concepts related to energy, including today’s most pressing issue of energy use. Connect theory to real-life applications within a very entertaining, viewer-friendly format that features original songs by best-selling pop group Moxy Früvous. Students first cover core material on the scientific history, physics, and biology of energy. They then go from basic science theory to a detailed examination of how energy is actually produced and used today, including the various problems of energy and the environment, particularly the greenhouse effect. Possible solutions are then proposed. The material is presented in a style designed to appeal to a teenage audience, yet the content is very rigorous. Nine 10-minute programs for grades 7–12, plus teacher guide.

Mathemedia helps teach students to apply mathematic principles to real-world situations, by placing math in everyday and workplace contexts. Real-life applications of mathematics concepts are illustrated through dramatic video segments showing peer-age characters using math to solve common problems. Twelve 20-minute programs for grades 7–12.

Mathematics Is Elementary. Use real classrooms and real-life situations to involve students in contextual learning. Through an interactive process, teachers and children encounter every aspect of the world of mathematics. Instead of passive viewing, the videos provide stop-point opportunities to discuss everyday problems and engage in activities that draw students directly into problem-solving. Thirteen 15-minute student programs for grades 2–4; one 30-minute teacher program.

Read previous issues of the TECHNOS e-Zine.

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