[Whiteboard-subscribers] Whiteboard Report #133, 3/19/08

[Brad Edmondson]

NSDL WHITEBOARD REPORT #133

March 19, 2008

Whiteboard Report news is on the Web at http://NSDL.org and  http:// 
expertvoices.nsdl.org/whiteboardtalkback. Back issues are available  
at http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue--Archive.php.

NEWS

NSDL Wiki’s Short Lists For Teachers

http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/highlights
http://wiki.nsdl.org/index.php/NSDL_Wiki
During his life, Thomas Midgley, Jr. was honored for the benefits his  
work brought to humanity. He never imagined that he would also be  
identified as the person who caused more damage to the global  
environment than anyone else in history ever did. Midgley was the  
chemist responsible for the widespread use of tetraethyl lead and  
chloroflurocarbons (CFCs) in the 20th century. Teaching his life  
story is a great way to frame discussions about the benefits and  
drawbacks of using these chemicals, and also what happens when lab  
discoveries become big business. Resources on Midgley, lead, and CFCs  
are the subjects of the latest Short List in the new NSDL Wiki. Short  
Lists are a collaborative online environment where registered users  
can organize, create, and annotate resources. Online community  
members can also use the wiki's extensions in their own MediaWiki  
projects.

High School For The Next 15 Years

http://wiche.edu
Projections released today by The Western Interstate Commission for  
Higher Education show that the number of high school graduates in the  
US will peak at 3,340,000 in 2007-08, decline modestly to 3,189,000  
in 2013-14, and then rebound to near its 2007 level (3,362,000) in  
2021-22.  But underneath those placid national averages will be rapid  
changes in the geography and ethnicity of graduates.  The number is  
projected to increase at least 20 percent over the next decade in six  
states (Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Texas, and Utah), and to  
decline at least 10 percent in eight states (Kansas, Louisiana,  
Montana, New Hampshire, North and South Dakota,  Vermont, and  
Wyoming).  The number of non-Hispanic white graduates is projected to  
decline from 1,903,000 in 2007-08 to 1,588,000 in 2021-22. But the  
number of Hispanic graduates is expected to increase from 465,000 to  
780,000, and the number of Asian graduates from 159,000 to 244,000.

NMC Virtual Campus Turns Two

http://sl.nmc.org
The New Media Consortium’s virtual campus on SecondLife.com turns two  
years old this month. Boot up your avatar  and drop by to attend  
events  at an online amphitheatre or share ideas in a virtual  
teacher’s lounge.  On March 24 at 11 am Pacific time, the NMC is  
invited to hear Byron Reeves, a professor at Stanford, co-founder of  
Media X, and research leader at the Learning in Informal and Formal  
Environments (LIFE) Center . LIFE is an NSF-funded interdisciplinary  
collaboration between learning scientists at the University of  
Washington, Stanford University, SRI International, and other  
institutions across the country.

NSDL Continues Rollout On iTunes U

http://nsdl.org/iTunesU
A complete description of NSDL’s new venture on iTunes U has been  
posted on the NSDL site. iTunes U is a free service that gives users  
of Apple's iTunes access to audio and video from leading educational  
institutions. The Beyond Campus section of iTunes U includes museums,  
public radio and television stations, and other non-profit  
educational providers. The launch of NSDL on iTunes U Beyond Campus  
includes content from Pathways partners like AMSER, ChemEd DL, and  
the Exploratorium, plus material from the National Center for  
Atmospheric Research (NCAR). Popular materials include ChemEd DL's  
popular Chemistry Comes Alive! Videos, and interviews with NCAR  
scientists on the causes and evidence for global climate change.  The  
iTunes U page on NSDL.org includes instructions on how to download a  
free copy of the software and get started.

ChemEd DL Prepares For Workshop

http://bcce2008.indiana.edu
The Chemical Education Digital Library (ChemEd DL) and several  
partners are planning a workshop for the 20th annual Biennial  
Conference on Chemical Education, to be held July 27-31 at Indiana  
University in Bloomington. Participants will get a tour of ChemEdDL’s  
resources and learn how to use them in their classrooms. The  
Interactive Online Network of Inorganic Chemists (IONiC) will  
demonstrate their new social networking and learning site called  
Virtual Inorganic Pedagogical Electronic Resource (VIPEr). The  
workshop will also demonstrate the extremely popular Lather Printing  
and Apple Fool activities. Each participant will receive a  
complimentary month long subscription to the JCE online.

BOOKMARKS

Museum Computer Network 08 Seeks Ideas

http://www.mcn.edu/conferences/index.asp?subkey=2014
The Museum Computer Network is accepting proposals for papers,  
panels, workshops, and good ideas, but act fast: the deadline for  
submission is March 21.  MCN 08 will take place in Washington, DC on  
November 12-15. Proposals are solicited in any of the following  
areas, as well as on other topics: Social Networking, Web 2.0 & Web  
3.0; Superior Content, Superior Delivery; Digital Readiness; Museum  
Information Standards; Issues of National Concern for Museums;  
Opportunities for Emerging Professionals; and Leadership,  
Sustainability, Accountability. Any and all ideas are welcome.   For  
more information, contact Program Chair Holly Witchey, hwitchey AT  
clevelandart.org.

Steve Hargadon’s Ode To Web 2.0

http://www.stevehargadon.com/2008/03/web-20-is-future-of-education.html
http://www.techlearning.com/blog/2008/03/ 
web_20_is_the_future_of_educat_1.php
Steve Hargadon, host of the EdTech Live podcasts and director of the  
Open Technologies project at The Consortium for School Networking,  
raised a lot of dust with a long blog post on March 4 called “Web 2.0  
Is The Future of Education.” “I believe that the read/write web, or  
what we are calling web 2.0, will culturally, socially,  
intellectually, and politically have a greater impact than the advent  
of the printing press,” he wrote.  “I believe that we cannot even  
begin to imagine the changes that are going to take place as the two- 
way nature of the Internet begins to flower.”  Comments are welcome.

National Math Panel Issues Report

http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/mathpanel/index.html
A report issued on March 13 by The National Mathematics Advisory  
Panel contains 45 findings and recommendations on instructional  
practices, materials, professional development, and assessments.  The  
report says that debates over the relative importance of conceptual  
understanding, computational and procedural fluency, and problem  
solving skills are misguided, because the skills are equally  
important. It also says that knowledge of fractions is the most  
important foundational skill not developed among American students,  
and that more students must be offered an authentic algebra course in  
eighth grade.

INSPIRATION

Classic Clips From Sesame Street

http://video.sesameworkshop.org
The website for Sesame Street now offers a beta version of a service  
showing hundreds of video clips from the show's early years. Grownups  
all over the world are getting back in touch with their inner six- 
year-olds by watching Bert rave about his bottle cap collection or  
Cookie Monster go on a rampage. But the main goal of the project is  
to improve the way Sesame Street's educational messages are delivered  
to actual six-year-olds and their teachers. Sesame Workshop is a not- 
for-profit group that encourages teachers to use its characters  
freely, but quality control issues have arisen in the last few years.  
"We wanted to make a free service so people can use Sesame Street the  
way it should be used," says Miles Ludwig, a VP and digital producer  
at Sesame Workshop.

NSDL Whiteboard Report describes research, news, and notes from the  
National Science, Technology, Mathematics, and Education Digital  
Library (http://NSDL.org), which is funded by the National Science  
Foundation. Whiteboard is published bi-weekly and includes  
information from NSDL projects and programs nationwide. Please  
redistribute. To subscribe or unsubscribe, visit http://nsdl.org/ 
publications/?pager=signup.

Whiteboard Report is edited by Brad Edmondson (gbe2 at cornell.edu).  
Project leaders and participants from the NSDL community are  
encouraged to send research news and notes of interest. Please limit  
these items to 200 words and provide web links to additional  
information.

The National Science Digital Library (NSDL) is the nation's online  
library of resources for science, technology, engineering, and  
mathematics education and research. NSDL would like to thank the  
National Science Foundation for its generous support and advocacy of  
NSDL as the NSF digital library of science education. This material  
is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under  
Grants No. 0227648, 0424671, and 0227888. Any opinions, findings, and  
conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those  
of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the  
National Science Foundation.



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