Education Commons^™

Science Notes - Summer Opportunities For Math And Science Teachers, Jonna M. Higgins

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Northwest Missouri State University is seeking high school level math and/or science teachers interested in teaming with Northwest University instructors as part of an Upward Bound administered summer program. Team members' job responsibilities include teaching students, guiding and monitoring student laboratory work and research, evaluating student work, attending weekend activities and/or field trips and evaluating the program. The major emphasis of instruction will be to integrate the topics of the week in a manner that will help students understand that knowledge is not discrete.

Science Notes - Student Opportunities To Name Features On Venus

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

When astronomers and planetary geologists first see a new terrain feature on Venus, they typically assign both a descriptive term (like "crater," "corona" or "mons") as well as a particular name. Since Venus was the Roman goddess of love, scientists have decided to name its features after famous females throughout history. Most of the large features, like the Venusian land masses Aphrodite Terra and Ishtar Terra, have been named for love goddesses from other cultures. Although names for many of the craters have already been proposed, the International Astronomical Union, which is the sole authority for assigning names to celestial …

Science Notes - Summer Workshop For Astronomy Teachers

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Project SPICA (Support Program for Instructional Competency in America) will conduct another summer workshop for teachers at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics (CfA) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 29-August 16, 1992.

Science Notes - Genzyme Corporation Offers Posters, Jonna M. Higgins

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Genzyme Corporation is offering free, full-color posters on biotechnology subjects. A large, wall-size poster illustrates the process of cytokine signaling in the immune system, while a smaller poster depicts glycoprotein processing inhibitors and includes some descriptive text.

Science Notes - National Astronomy Exposition At Wisconsin Meeting

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Universe '92, the first-ever national astronomy exposition, will be the principal weekend event at the 104th Annual Meeting of the nonprofit Astronomical Society of the Pacific, to be held at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, June 20-25, 1992.

Science Notes - Chlorine Institute Offers Booklet, Jonna M. Higgins

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

The Chlorine Institute is offering a booklet titled "Chlor-Alkali Chemicals and the Chlorine Institute" free to educators. The booklet discusses past and present uses of chlorine, as well as theoretical and practical information about commercial production and distribution of the chemical.

Science Notes - Applications Invited For Project Esteem

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Project ESTEEM (Earth Science Teachers Exploring Exemplary Materials) will hold another summer workshop for teachers at Harvard University's Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, July 3-26, 1992. The goal of Project ESTEEM is to develop a nation-wide network of earth-science resource agents to promote an increase in activity-based teaching in American schools. Forty earth-science teachers from across the U.S. will be selected to participate.

Science Notes - Summer Research Opportunities At Department Of Energy National Laboratories And Technology Centers, Stephanie A. Althof

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Iowa science teachers have the opportunity to spend their summer doing research at one of the Department of Energy's 21 national laboratories or energy technology centers located throughout the country.

Science Notes - Flinn Scientific Offers Chemistry Demonstrations, Jonna M. Higgins

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Flinn Scientific is offering, free to educators, a series of demonstrations and experiments called Chem Fax. Chem Fax are designed to excite students' interest in chemistry and physical science while teaching them basic chemistry concepts.

Science Notes - Nickel-Cadmium Rechargeable Dry Cells May Be Dangerous, Jonna M. Higgins

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

The North Carolina Northwest Technical Assistance Center has issued a warning against using nickel-cadmium rechargeable batteries when constructing "dead circuits." The wires almost instantaneously become hot enough to burn students' fingers, melt holes in plastic or ignite magnesium.

Science Notes - Chemsource Modules Being Tested

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

ChemSource is a three-year project to produce materials that will provide day-to-day support for preservice and in-service high school chemistry teachers. Now in its second year, the project is funded by a $1.3 million grant from the National Science Foundation. The principal investigator is Mary Virginia Orna, professor of chemistry at the College of New Rochelle, NY.

Science Notes - Careers-In-Geoscience Pamphlet Offered, Jonna M. Higgins

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

The American Geological Institute is offering a full-color pamphlet titled "Careers in the Geosciences" free to educators. The publication describes the types of work geoscientists do, provides information about the training required of those wishing to enter this field and includes a section about the future availability of jobs in the geosciences.

Science Notes - National Institute Of Health Offers Newsletter, Jonna M. Higgins

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

The National Institute of Science publishes a newsletter reporting recent research conducted or supported by the National Institute of Health. The Fall 1991 issue, for example, contains four articles, including one titled "Gene Engineered Bacterial Toxin Kills AIDS-Infected Cells in Laboratory Tests."

Science Notes - Review: Out Of The Ozone, Carl W. Bollwinkel

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

David Davis has successfully used slides to develop a video titled "Out of the Ozone" which is appropriate for secondary chemistry and earth science students. The video reviews the development of the ozone problem and the theories about it. "Out of the Ozone" also helps students by identifying many factors promoting ozone depletion.

Science Notes - Review: Earth, Darrel Hoff

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Kalmbach Publishing Co., the publisher of Astronomy magazine, has released the first issues of its new publication, Earth. This company has established a solid reputation for publishing the popular journal Astronomy. While the new publication is directed toward a general audience, its level of coverage and breadth of topics will make it a useful resource for earth-science teachers.

Science Notes - Elementary Science Teachers Section Receives Grant

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

The Elementary Science Teachers Section of the Iowa Academy of Science received a $12,374.25 grant from the Iowa Space Grant Consortium, directed by Dr. Wallace Sanders, at Iowa State University. (Although administered by state groups, funds are from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.)

Science Notes - Natural History Potpourri Workshops

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

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Natural History workshops are scheduled at the Conservation Education Center (Springbrook) for the weeks of June 14-19 and 21-26, 1992. The potpourri of topics includes: birds, trees, rocks, prairie plants and pond life. The week-long sessions will include field trips, lecture/discussions, slide talks and participation in activities which link the content topics to classroom activities. Highlights of previous programs have included canoeing the slough for observations of yellow-headed blackbirds, making T-shirt designs with Cherokee leaf pounding, a trip through a virgin prairie and the "Potpourri Picnic."

Science Notes - Review: Odyssey, Darrel Hoff

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Kalmbach Publishing has now sold its middle-school / junior-high level magazine Odyssey to Cobblestone Publishing. This magazine uses the theme of space and astronomy to motivate its readers. The transfer of ownership has resulted in a reduction of the page-size of the magazine, while most of the features of the earlier journal are retained.

Editor's Corner - Beyond Environmental Awareness, Jonna M. Higgins

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

By now, most educated people must be aware that we are sitting on an environmental time bomb. Being aware of these problems is like knowing that a house is on fire somewhere in our city: we feel vaguely sad for those whose home is being destroyed, but the situation doesn't urgently demand our attention. We feel sure that someone else is taking care of the problem. Unfortunately, everyone seems to view our environmental difficulties as a fire in the distance - someone else's problem.

Back Matter; Editorial Office & Staff; Officers, Iowa Academy Of Science; Executive Board & Regional Directors, Iowa Science Teachers Section

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

No abstract provided.

Index To Volume 28

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

No abstract provided.

Cover - Front Matter - Table Of Contents

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

No abstract provided.

Mystery Powders A La The Learning Cycle, William Bluhm

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Even as the 1990s seem to be ushering in a new wave of "hands - on" science, one cannot help but look back to the late 1960s when a previous wave of experiential science programs was crashing ashore. Two programs notable among those spawned during the late 1960s and early 1970s were Elementary Science Study (ESS) and the Science Curriculum Improvement Study (SCIS). ESS units, originally a group of fifty-six independent units covering topics from the physical, biological and earth sciences for K-9, incorporated an instructional strategy called "messing around." "Messing around," which took place during the early portion of …

Earthworm Day, Kenneth W. Thompson, Deborah K. Thompson

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Using live animals in the elementary science classroom fosters enthusiasm and encourages curiosity. The earthworms discussed in this article, commonly called night crawlers, are easy to find in Iowa in moist garden soil or around lawns. Earthworms are often used as fishing bait and, because of this, are readily available at reasonable prices from commercial bait dealers or backyard entrepreneurs. Besides their availability and low cost, earthworms are relatively hardy and easily handled by elementary students. For these reasons, and because of the very important role earthworms play in the environment, they were selected to be the focus of the …

Two Simple Exponential Decay Experiments, John W. Zwart, Carl Fictorie, Michael Hubers

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

When trying to teach a wide variety of experimental analysis techniques on a tight budget, teachers often have difficulty finding hands-on experiments which illustrate exponential decay and provide for the teaching of semi-log plotting skills. The authors have developed the following inexpensive and easy-to-implement experiments to meet that need.

The Iowa Aea Middle School Science Project - Sleds, Dean Hartman, Rollin Bannow

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

A resource of over 300 science activities is now available to Iowa science teachers from the Iowa AEA Middle School Science Project electronic bulletin board. It is the result of a report from a 1984 task force commissioned by the Iowa Department of Education to assess the needs of science education in Iowa. The task force identified the grades four through nine as those with the greatest need. Specifically identified was a need for user-friendly teaching materials that emphasized a "hands-on/minds-on" approach to science. Too large a portion of the science taught in these grades was based primarily on a …

Temperature Trends In Iowa, Laurent Hodges

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

With all the discussion about possible global warming, many people have wondered: What is the historical trend in Iowa's temperatures? This can be answered reasonably well for the past century. Temperature records since 1873 have been compiled by the State Climatological Office and its predecessors (National Climatic Center, 1990). For many years the State Climatologist published the average annual temperatures for the state as a whole, but that practice ceased in the early 1950s. Consequently, I have gone back over the records of the last 11 decades (from 1880 to 1989) and computed an average annual temperature for each year …

Astronomy Bulletin - The 1990-91 Winter Sky, P. Steven Leiker

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

No abstract provided.

A Survey Of School/Business Partnerships, Edward Bryan Roberts

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

Good science teachers enrich their classes in a variety of ways with creative use of media and hands-on laboratory exercises. They also use community resources successfully to stimulate student interest (traditionally in the form of field trips and guest speakers). An extension of this idea is for educators to create an alliance or partnership with a business or other organization. The goals of the survey reported here were to discover the thoughts of people with an interest in partnerships or alliances and for the Iowa Alliance for Science to use this information to help facilitate partnerships.

Science Notes - Program For Leadership In Earth Systems Education Workshops

Iowa Science Teachers Journal

The Program for Leadership in Earth Systems Education (PLESE) has announced its 1992 Summer Workshop program. The program will serve groups of teachers at two sites, Ohio State University in Columbus and the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley.