[Whiteboard-subscribers] NSDL Whiteboard Report 144, Feb. 27, 2009

Carol Minton Morris clt6 at cornell.edu
Fri Feb 27 10:12:27 EST 2009


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

Issue 144, Feb. 27, 2009

N E W S

AAAS Project 2061 to Offer Content Alignment and Instructional Quality  
Training
With support from NSF's NSDL program, the long-term science education  
reform initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of  
Science (AAAS) will train the staff of seven NSDL Pathways as well as  
those of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) on how to  
determine the content alignment and instructional quality of K-12  
digital resources. The workshop will be held in March 2009 at the AAAS  
headquarters in Washington, DC. It will be followed by a customized  
workshop for each individual NSDL Pathway.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_00
Related Link:  http://www.project2061.org/

Dr. Robert Panoff, CSERD, Leads Workshop and Gives Keynote Speech at  
the Annual Faculty Conference at Houston Community College
On January 30, 2009, science faculty from the Houston Community  
College District and representatives from the Houston Independent  
School District participated in a computational science workshop  
conducted by Dr. Robert M. Panoff, Executive Director of Shodor.  
Faculty and administrators were given a general introduction to  
computational science and three hours of hands-on exploration of the  
“sources and resources of the Pathways of NSDL.” The disciplines  
represented at the workshop were life sciences, biology, chemistry,  
computer science, geology, astronomy, and physics. The following day  
Dr. Panoff gave the keynote speech, “Computational Thinking Across the  
Curriculum,” at the annual Houston Community College Faculty Conference.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_01
Related Link: http://www.hccs.edu/hccs/faculty-staff/center-for-teaching-learning-excellence/about-the-center-for-tle/sponsored-events

NSDL Reflections Hot Topic: How Do You See the Future of NSDL?
In January, an article, "NSF Rethinks Its Digital Library," was  
published in the AAAS Science Magazine discussing the history and  
current challenges of NSDL. It described some of the 'rethinking' by  
NSDL stakeholders and other observers. We'd like to get the broader  
community to think about and respond to this timely topic. A new area  
on web site is designed to respond to this (and future) hot topics  
facing the NSDL community. We invite you to visit the site and respond  
to the article by answering the question: How do you see the history  
of the NSDL and its future differently from what was described in the  
article?
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_02
Related Link: http://nsdlreflections.wordpress.com/

New in MicrobeLibrary
The American Society for Microbiology’s MicrobeLibrary continues to  
grow. Recent additions include a new issue of Focus on Microbiology  
Education (FOME) newsmagazine featuring the topic of concept  
inventories and assessments; one new articles accepted to volume 10 of  
the Journal of Microbiology & Biology Education on the constructivist  
approach; two new curriculum activities; and four new visual resources.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_03
Related Link: http://www.microbelibrary.org
WGBH Teachers' Domain  
News 
                                                                                               Teachers 
' Domain is pleased to announce a new adolescent literacy special  
collection funded by the Leon Lowenstein Foundation. These self-paced  
classroom activities use history and science topics to enhance the  
literacy skills of struggling readers in grades  
5-8.                                                 Click here to  
view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_04 
                                                                                            Related 
  link: http://hosted.vresp.com/235290/23cdafbf79/551000762/f5418be027/

In the Spotlight - Engineering Pathway Celebrates Black History and  
Engineers Week in February and Women's History in March
The Engineering Pathway (EP) "In the Spotlight" highlights timely  
resources in our collections. In February we focused on Engineers  
Week. This month and next, browse our resources on African American  
scientists, engineers, and inventors, and gender  
diversity.                                                         
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_05
Related link: http://nsdl.org/about/?pager=pathways&subpager=EP
Solving a Big Math  
Problem 
                                                                                                          While 
  there is much discussion about the importance of mathematics to  
scientific research, engineering, and technological innovation, the  
performance of American math students on international assessments is  
below that of math students in many other countries. In its special  
report "Math: What's the Problem?"-- the National Science Foundation  
(NSF) uses video interviews and online resources to examine the state  
of math education and to discuss the roles of culture, technology, and  
research in improving math learning and  
proficiency.                                                     Click  
here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_06 
                                                                                              Related 
  link: http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/math/

E V E N T S
Helping Middle School Teachers with Free Online Professional  
Development 
                                                                                     NSDL's 
  Middle School Portal Math and Science Pathways project, (MSP)2, and  
the National Middle School Association (NMSA) are partnering to  
provide a series of free online web seminars by recognized experts in  
support of middle school educators. These online learning programs are  
a convenient way to learn about resources and services that you can  
use in and out of your classrooms. Webinars are free and presented  
live, with recordings of the event available for subsequent  
use 
.                                                                                Click 
  here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_18 
                                                                                          Related 
  link: http://www.nmsa.org/ProfessionalDevelopment/Webinars/tabid/1011/Default.aspx?PageContentID=303

NSDL Brown Bag: Tools you can use from NSDL Technical Network Services  
(TNS 
)                                                                                 NSDL’s 
  Technical Network Services (TNS) provides open-source tools and  
support services that the STEM education community can use for  
creating production digital libraries and content-rich STEM learning  
environments. Join TNS staff for a brown bag web seminar session on  
March 5, 2009 at 1:00PM EST that is intended to provide current and  
prospective NSDL Pathways and projects, and other STEM educational  
developers, with an overview of three tools that can be used to manage  
and access collections of learning resources in interesting  
ways 
.                                                                                                       Click 
  here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_19 
                                                                                            Related 
  link:  http://nsdl.org/pd/?pager=brownbag

NSDL/NSTA Webinar: Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears: Arctic and  
Antarctic Birds
On April 21, 2009 at 8:00 pm ET join Jessica Fries-Gaither, Project  
Director and Elementary Resource Specialist for the Ohio Resource  
Center at Ohio State University and staff from the Cornell Lab of  
Ornithology as they share free digital resources, lesson plans, and  
children's literature from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the  
Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears cyberzine. This seminar is designed  
for K-5 educators. Register today for this web seminar!
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_110
Related link: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/SeminarRegistration.aspx
Broadening Participation in Computing (BPC)  
Workshop                                                         The  
Engineering Pathway launched draft versions of a new BPC Portal at the  
BPC Community Meeting on February 9-10, 2009.  The portal, will engage  
the computing diversity community with a digital library,  
collaboration opportunities, news, bulletin board, blog and other  
community services. The BPC digital library includes resources tagged  
for promising practices, and key research regarding target populations  
in computing and IT including Native Americans, African Americans,  
Hispanics, women and persons with  
disabilities 
.                                                                                                                     Click 
  here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_111 
                                                                                                        Related 
  link: http//www.bpcportal.org

B O O K M A R K S
The Best of the  
MiddleWeb 
                                                                                                            NSDL’s 
  Middle School Portal (MSP)2 has been selected as one of the “Ten  
Great Sites for Teachers” by MiddleWeb, which provides resources for  
schools, districts, educators, parents, and public school advocates  
who are working to raise achievement for all students in the middle  
grades.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_212
Related link: http://www.middleweb.com/10TeachingSites.html
Take Off With Polar Birds
Issue 11 of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears, focusing on Arctic and  
Antarctic Birds, is co-produced by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and  
“explores the amazing birds that live in or migrate to the polar  
regions” in photos, stories, research and a podcast entitled,  
“Birdwatcher's Delight: Birds and Inquiry Learning.”
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_213
Related link: http://beyondpenguins.nsdl.org/
Webinar on Water: Not Too Late To Check It  
Out 
                                                                           In 
  December 2008, ChemEd DL broadcast a highly successful Web seminar  
on water. Resources available in the ChemEd DL collection were  
introduced and recent, cutting-edge research about the dynamic nature  
of liquid water and the number of hydrogen bonds per water molecule  
were discussed. The online archives include the presentation slides  
used at the Webinar, links to related content, and free access to the  
movies used in the Webinar.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_214
Related link: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/symposia_seminars/NSDL3/webseminar4.aspx

Call for Resources to MicrobeLibrary
The American Society for Microbiology invites authors to submit  
resources to its MicrobeLibrary. Resources sought include classroom  
activities and laboratory exercises; animations, images and videos  
depicting the microbial world; and quality images for standard  
microbiology protocols Submissions are due March 1, 2009.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_215 
                                                                                      Related 
  link: http://www.microbelibrary.org
I N S P I R A T I O N

Café  
Life 
                                                                                                                                       “Periodic 
  Tables” is billed as a monthly Durham, NC gathering where curious  
adults can meet in a casual setting to discuss the latest science in  
plain English. On Feb 10 Bob Panoff offered his personal story about  
why he left tenured academics and created Shodor to help transform  
science and mathematics using networked learning communities such as  
the National Science Digital Library. Become a Periodic Tables fan on  
Facebook 
.                                                                                         Click 
  here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_316 
                                                                                           Related 
  link: http://www.ncmls.org/periodictables


NSDL Whiteboard Report, research news and notes from the National  
Science, Technology, Mathematics Education Digital Library (http://nsdl.org 
) funded by the National Science Foundation, is published monthly and  
includes information from NSDL projects and programs nationwide.  
PLEASE REDISTRIBUTE. TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE visit http://nsdl.org/publications/index.php?pager=signup 
.

Whiteboard Report is edited by Carol Minton Morris (clt6 at cornell.edu/ 
607-255-2702), NSDL Communications Director. Project leaders and  
participants from the NSDL Community are encouraged to send research  
news and notes of interest with links to additional information to the  
editor.

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, 0227656, 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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