NSTA Conference in San Francisco

Last week I was in San Francisco for the National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) conference.  I have never been to the science teachers conference before.  It was so fun. Science I am a math teacher and not a science teacher, many of the sessions were not something that I could use.  Instead, I signed up for the field trip options.  On Thursday, I toured schools in SF that have school yard gardens.

I am becoming more and more convinced of the value of school and community gardens.

Saturday I boarded the Robert G Brownlee, an educational and research vessel on the San Francisco Bay.  We threw out a net and collected samples of the fish, shrimp, and jelly fish.  They talked to us about what we found and the health of the Bay waters.  We also collected a water sample and looked at the plankton and other small animal life with a microscope.  Lastly, we collected a mud sample and using screens and water to see what kind of things we could find.  The scientists talked to us about the history of the Bay and how it has affected the plant and wildlife.

National Laboratories

On March 8 we flew to San Francisco for the National Science Teacher Association (NSTA) conference.  But first, we took a field trip to the Lawrence Livermore National Ignition Facility.  Security is very tight and we were not allowed to take any pictures.  The science that is being done there is amazing and almost looks like science fiction at times.  I was exhausted by the end of the day with trying to gain some kind of understanding of the science that is so beyond my understanding.

NIF is the world's largest and highest-energy laser system.  Its goal is to ignite a self-sustaining nuclear fusion reaction and produce net energy gain -- the same fusion energy process that makes the stars shine and provides the life-giving energy of the sun.

The scientists that work there are very optimistic that fusion energy is very close to being a reality!

We also visited the Lawrence Berkley Laboratory.  Because they do not do research with nuclear weapons, they let us take as many pictures as we wanted.

Again, the science was beyond my understanding.  They do "bend" light beams into a very large circular course that intensifies it and then conducts experiments.

We did smile when among all of the very high tech equipment, we saw the widespread use of "aluminum foil".

Behind the Scene at the Smithsonian

One of the spouses of an Einstein Fellow, Bob King, volunteers several days a week at the Smithsonian Natural History Museum.  Bob arranged for some of us to have a behind the scene tour of the dinosaur section of the museum.  We started our visit early, before the doors were open to the public.  Our guide shared some of his dinosaur expertise with us.

Then he took us downstairs to the special collections where scientists  do research on fossil specimens. 

Sabor toothed tiger skull

Touching a specimen of Wooly Mammoth fur.

Busy Week

On Wednesday I was a part of a panel discussion at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.  The topic was Business and Industry Partnerships with Schools.  We were to discuss the role that businesses play in the classroom as the United States faces the challenge of ensuring that students are college and career-ready.  Each of us were introduced and then we took a few minutes to state our views.  The rest of the time was spent with people of the audience asking us questions and giving comments.  I was pretty nervous and got very little sleep the night before as I kept thinking about what I was going to say during the panel discussion.  

It was a good discussion.  I lost my nervousness soon after it started.  The complete session was video recorded.  I will put up a link where you can watch it if you want, as soon as it is posted.   It was a good experience, but it went a little long.  Don't feel bad if you don't watch the whole thing.  I was getting a little bored myself before the end and I was on the panel!!  

NBCLearn field trip

Tuesday the Einstein Fellows went on a field trip to NBCLearn at the NBC Studio.  They wanted to share with us the educational website for NBC.  They have a massive library of news videos and educational clips.  Only catch is, it is not free.  Schools must pay a subscription fee to have access to most of the videos.  They also gave us a tour of the studio. How they put together the news shows was fascinating.

The famous peacock.

This is me on a TV monitor.  They let us sit in the news anchor's chair while they rolled the teleprompter and ran the camera.  This is what I would look like on the Nightly News. 

CPATH RET Meeting

For the past two months, I have been working very hard to put together a meeting here in Arlington, VA.  At the National Science Foundation, I work with Harriet Taylor, program director in the Computer and Information Science Engineering Directorate.  We work on a program called CPATH, (Pathways to Revitalize Undergraduate Computer Education).  Connected to that is a program called Research Experience for Teachers (RET).  I was given the task of planning, organizing, and leading a meeting of CPATH RET teachers.

Last week it all culminated in a meeting that brought 35 K-12 teachers together in Arlington, VA for two and a half days.  They traveled from 15 different states and grades taught ranged from grade school through high school.  As a part of the RET experience, they had all spent a summer working with a professor and a team of graduate students at a university or college working on some sort of research in computer science.  They then brought what they had learned back to their classrooms and tried to infuse computational thinking into their curriculum.  Our meeting brought them altogether where they could share what they had done.

One of the big jobs I had was to create a booklet that highlighted each of their projects.  I also created a poster of each project for the poster session at NSF where they could share their experiences with members of the NSF directorates.

All in all, everything went very well.  The food was good, keynote speaker were great, break out sessions appeared informative.  Feed back from the teachers was very complimentary.  I made many new contacts and some new friends.  I learned a great deal from the experience of organizing the meeting and creating the booklet and posters.  My confidence in my ability to carryout such a big endeavor is now strong.  Everyday that I am here, I am doing something new and stretching outside of my comfort zone.  I am over the halfway point of my Fellowship.  I cannot explain what a wonderful opportunity it has been for me.  I hope you are enjoying reading about some of my adventures.

2011 CPATH RET teachers

Poster Session at NSF

Talking to participants about the day's activities.

Can you see how captivated my audience is?  :-)

I am doing a card trick that demonstrates computational thinking.

Country Music Hall of Fame

While in Nashville, I visited the Country Music Hall of Fame.  I was surprised at how emotional the experience was for me.  Watching video and listening to the best in country music touched me deeply.  I wished I had longer time there.