LabXchange at Harvard University is a free online platform for science education launching in January 2020. If you want a sneak peek, we invite you to join our preview this fall as a beta tester!

LabXchange allows educators to remix and share content to support differentiated, personalized learning. The content library contains high-quality digital resources from universities and scientific organizations worldwide - including interactive lab simulations, videos, assessments, and more. Educators can combine this content with their own materials to create customized learning pathways. As well as facilitating content creation and remixing, LabXchange connects learners, educators and researchers through social features such as private classes, discussion forums, and the ability to mentor or be mentored. By providing tools that foster hybrid learning, LabXchange allows users to engage in design, iteration, and problem-solving, while supporting individual exploration.

Take our Educator Tour or visit our website to learn more! And for the latest LabXchange news, updates, and testimonials, we invite you to join our mailing list.

Due to the generosity of many, we raised a total of $902.00 in support of our PSTA Professional Development Fund. Thank you to those who contributed baskets for the Silent Auction, placed bids for the baskets, or helped in any way to make it so successful. 

Three stipends, each in the amount of $300.66, were awarded this year.

The winners from this year's drawing were:

• Robin Zecca-Delaware County Christian School
• Michele Whitecraft- Mansfield University 
• Debbie Reynolds-Baldwin-Whitehall SD (currently on sabbatical)

PSTA is looking for passionate, dedicated educators to join our board of directors. If you have ideas for PSTA, please consider joining our team! The following positions are currently vacant on the board:

• Vice President

• Recording Secretary

• K-12 Regional Representatives (Eastern - Region IV, Mideastern - Region V, Midwestern - Region VII and Southern - Region IX)

• Eastern College Representative (open to college and university faculty only)

If you are interested in running for any of these positions, please e-mail the Board of Directors at pstaboard@gmail.com. When you reply, please indicate your interested position, your school/institution affiliation, a short bio about your qualifications, and that you are a PSTA member in good standing. If you have any questions, email the Board of Directors! 

Nominations are due by Friday, October 18th! 

Miami University’s Project Dragonfly is accepting applications for 2020 Earth Expeditions graduate courses that offer extraordinary experiences in 16 countries throughout the world. http://EarthExpeditions.MiamiOH.edu

Earth Expeditions can build toward the Global Field Program (GFP), a master's degree that combines summer field courses worldwide with web learning communities so that students can complete the GFP master's part-time from anywhere in the United States or abroad. http://GFP.MiamiOH.edu

Project Dragonfly also offers the Advanced Inquiry Program (AIP) master's degree that combines web instruction from Miami University with experiential learning and field study through several AIP Master Institutions in the U.S. Applications for Miami's 2020 cohorts are being accepted now with place-based experiences provided at zoos and botanical gardens in Chicago, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Denver, New York, San Diego, Seattle, and St. Louis. New for 2020: residents of the Jacksonville, Florida area can study and earn the AIP master's through Jacksonville Zoo and Gardens, AIP's newest Master Institution. http://AIP.MiamiOH.edu
Graduate tuition for all programs is greatly reduced because of support from Miami University.

Students are invited to design the 2019 PSTA Conference Logo to represent the 2019 PSTATheme:  Preparing Students and Teachers for Next Generation Science! The deadline to submit is May 13.
Check out more details HERE.

Early bird registration is now open for our annual conference. Check out the events page to register now.

Calling all PAEMST alumni!  
 
The 2019 cycle of the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (PAEMST) is in full swing! The PAEMST team is kicking off the 2019 Nomination Drive today and we need your help!  
 
By sharing PAEMST information on social media, forwarding this email to friends and colleagues, or nominating a great teacher yourself, you can help us spread the word about PAEMST to even more deserving teachers. Nominations can be submitted on our website, www.paemst.org. The nomination deadline is March 1, 2019 and the application deadline is May 1, 2019. 
 
We’ve included some sample Facebook and Twitter posts that you can share on social media. We also encourage you to access the NSF Facebook and Twitter pages and share the nomination drive posts from NSF throughout the week. 
 
Facebook:  
The 2019 Nomination Drive for the Presidential Awards for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching (#PAEMST) begins this week! My time as a PAEMST Awardee has been highly rewarding. If you know a 7-12^th grade science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and/or computer science teacher whose impact goes beyond the classroom, nominate them today. Let’s celebrate the excellence of STEM education together! http://bit.ly/2BHOORJ
 
Twitter: 
#PAEMST 2019 Nomination Drive is this week! As a proud #PAEMST alum, I encourage you to nominate STEM educators in your community! http://bit.ly/2BHOORJ
 
Should you have any questions about the program or the nomination process, please contact info@paemst.org or 855-723-6780. 
 
Sincerely, 
 
The PAEMST Team 
info@paemst.org 
https://www.paemst.org 
855-723-6780 (PAEMST-0) 

https://www.pennlive.com/news/2019/01/pa-educators-want-science-standards-to-do-more-than-teach-students-to-win-on-jeopardy.html

You can make a difference! Please act today.

As you know, The PA science standards are outdated and sorely need to be modernized. We received word that there may be some changes coming soon, so we need your help. We're asking you to write letters to three decision makers at PDE to let them know how you feel about the current standards and what you think should happen with them. 

Yes, you read that correctly. We're asking you to actually print out a letter and mail it in. "Who writes letters anymore?" you may ask. The people who want to actually make change, that's who. Emails, Tweets and calls are OK to get short-term attention but we need real, paper and ink letters that can be copied and shown to the politicians making decisions.

You won't need to write a book. All they need to hear is how frustrated science teachers are with the current standards and how much better shape we'd be in with the NGSS. There will be a sample letter copied below for you to model yours on. Once you're done writing it, send a copy to each of these people:
Pedro A. Rivera, Secretary, Department of Education
Matthew S. Stem, Deputy Secretary, Office of Elementary and Secondary Education
Brian Campbell, Director, Bureau of Curriculum, Assessment and Instruction
The address is: PA Department of Education 333 Market Street Harrisburg, PA 17126

Secretary Rivera wrote an op-ed in a number of papers across the state this week touting the changes PDE has made that will help our students succeed. One glaring omission was any word about science and STEM standards. Please remind him how important it is to have modern standards for us to teach from.

Sample Letter:

Secretary Pedro Rivera

PA Department of Education

333 Market Street

Harrisburg, PA 17126

 

Dear Secretary Rivera:

I am a retired elementary/middle school science teacher and IUP professor. I write to you today regarding the current legal PA Academic Standards for Science and Technology. Adopted in 2002, they are extremely confusing, non-specific by grade level and outdated. I have often witnessed the confusion and frustration exhibited by classroom teachers trying to navigate between those and their non-legal 2009 counterpart. Unfortunately, the ramifications for students and science education are dire.

The students of the Commonwealth deserve to have access to the best possible science education at all levels. This requires a current, consistently used, research-based set of science standards employed by educators statewide. I strongly encourage the Pennsylvania Department of Education to adopt new standards, specifically, the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), to accomplish this goal. 

 

Respectfully,

Science Teacher