The STEM/ STEAM Teacher Academies are designed to expose teachers to a wealth of ideas to implement in K-12 classrooms that will increase rigor and relevance in STEM and STEAM environments.

There is no cost for these trainings, however space is limited. Please only register if you have confirmed that you are able to attend.

Sponsored by the Career, Technical, and Agricultural Resource Network

http://www.stemgeorgia.org/teacheracademies/

Attention, K–5 Teachers!

The Georgia Department of Natural Resources (DNR), The State Botanical Garden of Georgia and The Environmental Resources Network, Inc. (TERN) encourage you and your students to participate in the 29th annual Give Wildlife a Chance Poster Contest! As part of DNR and TERN’s “Kids For Conservation” initiative, this art contest provides a unique opportunity for kindergarten through fifth-grade students to explore the wonders of Georgia’s native plants and animals through the 2018–19 theme: Pollinator Power!

Poster Contest Rules and Flyer

Calling all thinkers, tinkers, and inventors!
GPB Education will be live streaming from Georgia Tech’s Flowers Invention Studio in Atlanta, Georgia on Thursday, May 9, 2019, from 10 AM to 11 AM EST. This live virtual field trip will offer students an inside look into one of the nation’s leading makerspaces as they learn about the engineering design process, hear from Georgia Tech students, and see ideas transform into inventions. The program is aligned to Georgia standards and targets an audience in 3rd-8th grades. Find out more and register by clicking on this link.

Are you a MS or HS teacher who teaches Earth and/or Environmental Science? Want to attend summer training June 10-12 in Forsyth County & receive a $750 stipend? The Earth and Environmental Science Educators' Institute will provide professional development in the use of Model-Evidence Link (MEL) activities centered on current Earth science topics. These 3-dimensional (core ideas, practices, crosscutting concepts) instructional scaffolds facilitate critical thinking, evidence-based reasoning, construction of scientific explanations, and collaborative argumentation to support scientific reasoning within challenging Earth science topics. For more information about the use of MEL diagrams in the classroom, explore this website. This three-day institute is free and a stipend is provided! Applications are open to middle and high school Earth and Environmental Science teachers in Georgia. Those teaching Earth science content in their courses are also encouraged to apply. Application Deadline: April 15, 2019. Register Here

Looking for ways to address those GSE standards that require students to construct an argument? Looking to find more time for science in your classroom by connecting it to literacy? Find useful tools for teaching scientific argumentation here: http://www.argumentationtoolkit.org/

This Map Lets You Plug in Your Address to See How It’s Changed Over the Past 750 Million Years--great for teaching concepts like change over time, location, and human/environment interaction. Read more here. Go straight to the map here.

The Georgia DOE is looking for nominations for science, technology, engineering, computer science and mathematics teachers working in grades 7-12. Nominate your colleagues at this website https://www.paemst.org/nomination/nominate or start your application here. Nominations are due March 1, 2019 with applications due May 1, 2019. This is a great honor...even just to be nominated!

Are you interested citizen science? Do you like taking trips in the summer...for free? Might I suggest you check out Our2Swamp.

In summer 2019, up to 20 teachers and 10 current Georgia Southern education majors will have the opportunity to visit and study the Okefenokee Swamp. The following summer, up to 30 teachers and 10 students will partake, including some participants from year one to help serve as facilitators and guides for the new participants.

“Our goal for the summer development is for the teachers to determine what they would like to study in their own schoolyards, something in their local ecosystem that they want to focus on,” Huffling said. “If they are not near a stream, they may look at birds, pollinators, plants or insects. There are so many different citizen science projects they can do, and we want the teachers to help us design and develop what the week will look like. We want it to be something they need and can envision using in their classrooms.”

The Georgia STEM Scholar Award recognizes teachers who are working hard to integrate effective STEM education in their classrooms. STEM Scholar teachers demonstrate a passion and determination to provide students with innovative and challenging STEM experiences. STEM Scholars create an atmosphere of exploration that excites, energizes, and equips their students to pursue enhanced educational opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and math.

We encourage you to apply as a STEM Scholar or nominate a colleague who you think is deserving of this award. Winners will be recognized at the GYSTC 30th Anniversary STEM Education Celebration on March 23rd, at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Winners will also receive a $500 grant to purchase STEM education materials for their classroom.

Qualifications:

A STEM Scholar should be:

• A teacher who demonstrates a passion and determination to provide students, parents or educators with innovative and challenging STEM experiences, for example
  • Improvements on student success, classroom, school, district or state STEM data.
  • Engagement in receiving or delivering STEM professional development opportunities.
  • Engagement in family or parent activities that promote STEM education.
  • Engagement with local, state or national STEM organizations.
• A certified classroom teacher in kindergarten through grade-eight.
• A dedicated, knowledgeable, and skilled teacher who is planning to continue in active teaching status for at least two years.
• A teacher who inspires students of all backgrounds and abilities to learn.
• A teacher who has the respect and admiration of students, parents, and colleagues.
• A teacher who can provide at least one letter of recommendation for this award.

Don't miss out on new resources and freebies! Join the Science Google Classrooms! Use the class codes listed below.

Elementary: uz7l4 (that's a lowercase L...not a 1)

Middle: wumkvdb

High: s0ei0d (those are zeros...not Os)

Are you interested in obtaining or renewing your Coweta STEM Recognition? The process is simple!

1) Teach 5 STEM lessons. A STEM lesson typically includes some sort of design challenge for your students. Designing a poster or Google Slide presentation does not count as a design challenge. Teachers may collaborate on lessons together. For example, if your STEM lesson calls for writing (which it should!), partner with an ELA teacher to help!

2) Fill out the STEM Activity log. Briefly describe the 5 lessons on this form.

3) Post one exemplar lesson with student work samples. Pictures or videos of student work so other teachers and students can understand what the assignment leads to using this http://bit.ly/CCSSSTEMRecognition form.

4) That's it! Now sit back and enjoy the admiration of your colleagues and community.

If you have more questions or would like to discuss lesson plan ideas, contact donald.white@cowetaschools.net or michelle.clarke@cowetaschools.net. You can also find more info at www.cowetastemrecognition.weebly.com

Looking for ideas for your STEM/STEAM lessons? Check out some of these!

150 STEM & PBL Activities

https://www.teachengineering.org

http://www.novelengineering.org

https://www.eie.org

http://www.stemcobb.com/lesson-links.html Elementary STEM Lessons

http://www.stemcobb.com/ms-stem-lessons.html Middle School STEM Lessons

239 STEM Resource Websites

Please contact Dr. Donald White with any questions or comments.

Email: donald.white@cowetaschools.net
Website: bit.ly/CCSSScience
Location: 167 Werz Industrial Boulevard, Newnan, GA 30263
Phone: 770-254-2800
Twitter: @dwhitesciguy