T C E B TRIANGLE COALITION ELECTRONIC BULLETIN SEPTEMBER 20, 2001 VOL. 7, NO. 34 _____________________________________________________ Published by the TRIANGLE COALITION FOR SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION _____________________________________________________ THIS WEEK'S TOPICS: ESEA PASSAGE, SLOWED BY BUDGET, UNLIKELY BEFORE LATE FALL TOYOTA TAPESTRY GRANT PROGRAM EXPANDS TEACHING GRANTS FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF SCIENCE EDUCATION WHAT'S NEW AT FREE? MORE PARENTS EXCHANGING E-MAILS WITH TEACHERS SCIENCE IN FOCUS: FORCE AND MOTION FOREIGN TEENS SAY ACADEMICS GIVEN MORE PRIORITY BACK HOME DISCOVERY SELECTS THE FINAL FORTY ALL BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS SCHOOLS ARE NOW ONLINE ____________________________________________________ ESEA PASSAGE, SLOWED BY BUDGET, UNLIKELY BEFORE LATE FALL (Source: Education Week, September 12, 2001) When members of Congress returned here last week, they faced the same pressing questions on education that they did when the Capitol emptied out for the August recess. How much spending should they authorize for K-12 programs, particularly special education? How much flexibility should they give state and local officials in using federal money? And -- perhaps most perplexing of all -- how can they devise a method that gives a fair estimate of whether a school is failing? None of the leading players in the search for those answers knows exactly how or even when the matters will be settled. They just know that they'll spend much of the fall trying to reach a deal. Earlier in the summer, the House and the Senate passed their versions of a bill to reauthorize the ESEA with overwhelming support from both Democrats and Republicans. While Congress vacationed for most of August, staff members met to reconcile minor differences between the two bills, what Washington insiders call "clearing out the underbrush." Most of the noncontroversial issues have been settled, according to Sandy Kress (President Bush's chief education adviser) and Jim Manley, a spokesman for Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. But most of the large issues within Title I -- the program for disadvantaged students -- have yet to be resolved. And though the two bills have bipartisan support, reaching a compromise won't be easy. While the content of the K-12 bill remains up in the air, so does the question of when it will be ready to be passed. The reauthorization could become a hostage to what is shaping up as a nasty and protracted fight over the federal budget. (Editor's Note: In reaction to the national emergency, many educational meetings regarding the ESEA were postponed. However, congressional leaders have pledged that final work on the education reform bill, H.R. 1, will continue behind the scenes.) ************************************ TOYOTA TAPESTRY GRANT PROGRAM EXPANDS TEACHING GRANTS FOR THE ENHANCEMENT OF SCIENCE EDUCATION The Toyota TAPESTRY Grants for Teachers program, the largest K-12 science teacher grant program in the nation, has expanded and will now award up to $550,000 in grants. The TAPESTRY program, sponsored by Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. Inc. and administered by the National Science Teachers Association, has historically awarded 50 grants of up to $10,000 totaling $500,00. The program will now include a minimum of 20 additional "mini-grants" of $2,500 each that are available to K-12 science teachers. Toyota TAPESTRY has also added a third category to the program, Science and Literacy. Now, in addition to Environmental Science and Physical Science, the new Science and Literacy category will support the development of literacy skills in the context of science teaching and learning. Projects in all categories should have a community connection and involve students in science outside the normal classroom setting. Applicants can apply in any of the three categories for either the main grant or the "mini-grant" program. Over the past 11 years TAPESTRY has awarded nearly $4.5 million in grants to 443 teams of teachers from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, the U.S Virgin Islands, and the Northern Mariana Islands. Toyota TAPESTRY is open to elementary, middle, and high school science teachers in the United States and its territories, including the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico. For more information or to receive an application for both grant programs, call 800-807-9852 or visit www.nsta.org/programs/tapestry. Entry deadline for both programs is January 17, 2002. ************************************ WHAT'S NEW AT FREE? Many new resources in the arts, science, and social studies have been added to the Federal Resources for Educational Excellence (FREE) website. FREE (www.ed.gov/free) makes it easy for teachers, parents, students, and others to find teaching and learning resources from more than 40 federal organizations. Some of the new resources include: "Human Genome Project Education Resources" (www.ornl.gov/hgmis/education/education.html) offers curriculum modules, a newsletter, a molecular genetics primer, tutorials on biomolecules and biological processes, an overview of research on mutant genes and hereditary diseases, an online resource for learning biology, publications, teaching aids, animations, and other learning resources related to genetics. "MicroWorlds" (www.lbl.gov/MicroWorlds/) looks at materials sciences research at the Advanced Light Source, a facility that produces light one billion times brighter than the sun and offers opportunities for studying semiconductors, polymers, malaria, the electronic structure of matter, and other topics. Instructional modules explore why Kevlar is 20 times stronger than steel under water, how contaminants move and change in an ecosystem, and what makes a material a good electrical conductor. "Windows to the Universe" (www.windows.ucar.edu) explores the Earth, planets of our solar system, and the universe. It includes images, animations, and data sets in addition to information about books, movies, scientists, and myths. ************************************ MORE PARENTS EXCHANGING E-MAILS WITH TEACHERS (Source: Ed.Net Briefs, September 10, 2001 Original Source: The Charlotte Observer, September 2, 2001) According to a survey by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, more than one in four (28 percent) parents of Internet-connected homes report they have exchanged electronic messages with a teacher. Most parents think Internet use benefits their children, even though they continue to have some concerns about access to inappropriate content. Most parents deal with the issue of inappropriate content by closely supervising use of the Internet by their children. The survey found that 55 percent of parents describe their teenage children's regular use of the Internet as a good thing. Six percent said their teenage children's regular use of the Internet has been a bad thing. Thirty-eight percent said it has had no effect on their children. ************************************ SCIENCE IN FOCUS: FORCE AND MOTION Beginning October 10 the Annenberg/CPB Channel presents SCIENCE IN FOCUS: FORCE AND MOTION, a new science content workshop for K-8 teachers, produced by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. It explores science concepts in force and motion so that the viewer comes away with a deeper understanding that will help engage students in their own explorations. With science and education experts as guides, viewers learn more about gravity, friction, air resistance, magnetism, and tension through activities, discussions, and demonstrations. Extensive footage shot in real classrooms shows students learning and building on ideas as they explore the relationships among motion, force, size, mass, and speed. Individual workshop program titles, Annenberg/CPB Channel broadcast dates, and complete program descriptions are available at www.learner.org/channel/workshops/force. ************************************ FOREIGN TEENS SAY ACADEMICS GIVEN MORE PRIORITY BACK HOME (Source: Education Week, September 12, 2001) Foreign-exchange students living in the United States believe American teenagers spend less time on schoolwork and care less about academics than do students in the visitors' home countries, according to a study scheduled for release this week by the Brookings Institution's Brown Center on Education Policy. Drawn from a survey of foreign-exchange students, the finding is part of an effort by the center for the second year in a row to provide a status report on American schooling. The report "The Brown Center Report on American Education: 2000 -- How Well Are American Students Learning?," is available from the Brown Center on Education Policy at www.brook.edu/gs/brown/bc_report/2000/toc.htm. The Brown Center surveyed a random sample of 500 out of 2,200 students who participated last school year in exchanges sponsored by AFS Intercultural Programs Inc. Seventy-three percent of the students responded. The foreign students overwhelmingly viewed American classes as easier than those in their home countries. Fifty-six percent of the respondents described classes as "much easier," and 29 percent characterized them as "a little easier." More than half -- 56 percent -- also said U.S. students spend "much less" or "a little less" time on schoolwork than students in their homelands. Exchange students also tended to say that American students don't place as much importance on academic subjects such as math as their peers back home do. At the same time, American students give more priority to sports, the foreign students said. Responses to the survey also showed that more than 70 percent of exchange students had not held part-time jobs during the school week at home. The study cites other sources that indicate many American teenagers, by contrast, work part time. Mr. Loveless acknowledges in the report that foreign-exchange students are not representative of all students in their countries. They tend to be wealthier and have better schooling opportunities than their counterparts at home do, as well as in comparison with many students in the United States. But at the same time, Mr. Loveless says, their views suggest that American students can work harder. ************************************ DISCOVERY SELECTS THE FINAL FORTY Discovery Communications, Inc. and Science Service have announced the names of America's Final Forty middle school science students competing in the 3rd annual Discovery Young Scientist Challenge (DYSC) for the title of "America's Top Middle School Scientist of the Year." Next month, the Final Forty will travel to the nation's capital and compete for more than $100,000 in college scholarships and other awards in science competitions that will take place at Smithsonian Institution museums and the National Zoo. While working alongside the nation's leading scientists and historians at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History, National Museum of American History, and the National Zoo, as well as scientists from Celera Corporation in Rockville, MD, these students will tackle some of the 21st century's top science issues, including human genome mapping, renewable energy, and animal conservation. While the DYSC rewards the nation's top middle school student who demonstrates the best skills in leadership, teamwork, and scientific problem solving, it specifically seeks to identify the student who can most effectively communicate science -- a key component of the judging that further differentiates the DYSC from other contests, and reflects Discovery's philosophy that scientific knowledge is most valuable and effective when shared. A complete listing of the names of the Final Forty, their project title, school, and state, is available at www.discovery.com/dysc. ************************************ ALL BUREAU OF INDIAN AFFAIRS SCHOOLS ARE NOW ONLINE Secretary of the Interior Gale Norton has praised the strong partnership that recently brought the last Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) school online. Assistant Secretary for Indian Affairs Neal McCaleb, teachers, and students celebrated the final hookup recently at the Chichiltah/Jones Ranch Community School on the Navajo Reservation outside Gallup, NM. BIA created the Access Native America project, with the goal of bringing online all 185 elementary and secondary schools, serving nearly 50,000 students, many in some of the most remote locations in the United States. At the time, only one school had Internet access. Partnerships were forged. The U.S. Geological Survey provided engineering and networking expertise; Microsoft, Intel, and ProjectNeat provided hardware and software; and the Universities of Texas and Kansas developed education content and training for teachers and students. This summer, 50 teachers from BIA schools received training at the Pueblo of Laguna in Laguna, NM through Intel's "Teach to the Future" program. Each teacher will return to their school and train 10 of their co-workers how to connect technology with instruction. By the end of next year, more than 500 teachers will be skilled at using the Internet in their classrooms. In addition, parents and others in Indian communities will be given the opportunity to use Internet access at the school facilities to link to online libraries, museums, scientific and educational sites, and to strengthen and share their unique cultural heritage. The program's total cost was about $20 million. _____________________________________________________ This TCEB is made possible by a grant from AT&T. Please visit www.att.com/learningnetwork for more information about AT&T's support for education. The TCEB is a newsletter provided to members of the Triangle Coalition. Members may forward individual articles or the issue in its entirety providing that credit is given to the Triangle Coalition, and all of the following contact information is included in any republication. For TCEB subscription or membership information, contact: Triangle Coalition for Science and Technology Education 1201 New York Avenue, NW, Suite 700, Washington, DC 20005 phone: 800-582-0115 fax: 202-289-1303 e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.triangle-coalition.org To submit information for possible inclusion in TCEB, contact: Joanne Van Voorhis, Target Marketing, Editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] ************************************ THE MISSION OF THE TRIANGLE COALITION IS TO FOSTER COLLABORATION AMONG LEADERS IN EDUCATION, BUSINESS, AND GOVERNMENT TO IMPROVE SCIENCE, MATHEMATICS, AND TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION. The Triangle Coalition membership includes business, labor, education, science, mathematics, technology and engineering organizations, and community and state-based alliances. ************************************ -- This is the CPS Science Teacher List. To unsubscribe, send a message to <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> For more information: <http://home.sprintmail.com/~mikelach/subscribe.html>. 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