The Innovative Teaching at Penn State (ITAP) Brown Bag Lunch Series will present “Using a Children's Storybook Assignment to Assess Pre-Service Teachers' Knowledge of Science Practices in Astronomy” from 12:05 to 1:20 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 7, in Paterno Library’s Mann Assembly Room and online via Zoom.
Renovations to the science education wing in Chambers Building are well underway as the fall semester approaches. Since its start in January 2018, construction has moved steadily and is nearly halfway done. The estimated date of completion is December 2018.
The Dean's Graduate Assistantship (DGA) for Engaged Scholarship and Research in Education in the College of Education was established in 2010 to support exceptional students working toward a doctoral degree. As of January 2017, DGAs guarantee four years of funding for recipients.
Penn State's College of Education is part of a high-profile, learning sciences project known as Advancing Coherent and Equitable Systems of Science Education (ACESSE) that could be the impetus behind driving national change about how K-12 students learn science.
Penn State Abington education faculty and students hosted fourth-graders from elementary schools in economically challenged areas for a lesson with a nationally known figure in science education.
"Finding Your Roots," an innovative new school curriculum that utilizes personalized genealogy and genetics to teach science and health to disadvantaged and minority students, has received $659,000 in grants from Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and National Science Foundation.
Carla Zembal-Saul, holder of the Kahn professorship in STEM education at Penn State, is co-author of a newly released book designed to support K-5 teachers in integrating explanation-driven science in their classrooms. "What's Your Evidence? Engaging K-5 Students in Constructing Explanations in Science" (Pearson, 2012) examines the importance of scientific explanation in elementary science instruction. Zembal-Saul's co-authors are Katherine McNeill, faculty member at Boston College, and Kimber Hershberger, a third-grade teacher at Radio Park Elementary School in the State College (Pa.) Area School District.
The new CarbonEARTH program in the College of Education's Center for Science and the Schools (CSATS) aims to improve the way science is communicated and taught in elementary and middle schools. Supported by a National Science Foundation (NSF) GK-12 grant -- funded by the Graduate STEM Fellows in K-12 Education program -- the CarbonEARTH program hones graduate student skills in science communication, strengthens K-12 student understanding of science and broadens teacher application of science content.
Penn State alumnus Bruce Wellman, a 1991 graduate with a bachelor's degree in science, has been selected by President Barack Obama to receive the Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. The annual award, one of the nation's highest honors for teachers, is given to the best pre-college-level science and mathematics teachers from across the country.
The National Research Council's Committee on Conceptual Framework for K-12 Science has been working to reconceptualize the nation's science education standards. The new framework's impact likely will be far-reaching. The College of Education's Deborah Smith, assistant professor of science education, is an appointed member of the committee. With its final report expected soon, Smith discussed potential implications of the new framework, considerations undertaken in its creation, and the research foundations upon which it is based.
A Pittsburgh area couple has pledged to create a new scholarship in the College of Education. The Bill and Bunny Vitori Scholarship in Science and Math Education will recognize and support outstanding undergraduates majoring in secondary education with a science- or math- related option.
The Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) on May 20 announced that Penn State is among 50 research-focused universities selected to receive new grants totaling $70 million intended to help strengthen undergraduate and precollege science education nationwide. The resources will let faculty at research universities pursue some of their most creative ideas by developing new ways to teach and inspire students about science and research.
Penn State College of Medicine faculty, staff, and students recently held an educational community event called "Pathways to Health" at the Whitaker Center for Science and the Arts in Harrisburg. Adults and children had a chance to participate in hands-on activities related to science and health and attend several mini-lectures. The event was staffed by two dozen medical and graduate students and by nearly a dozen volunteers from the Cosmopolitan Club of the Capital Region and the Penn State Institute for Diabetes and Obesity.
Penn State's College of Education has received a three-year, $525,000 grant from the Martinson Family Foundation of Lawrenceville, N.J., to support a project aimed at strengthening teachers' knowledge of science in grades K-8 -- a vital step toward encouraging more students to pursue interests in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, according to Carla Zembal-Saul, associate professor of science education, holder of the Kahn Professorship, and project co-director.
I am one of that peculiar breed known as science writers. In fact, I belong to the strangest minority of science writers, for I was a scientist for years before turning to writing. I believe very strongly in what I do: I tell science. Although there are those who feel my writing career is a waste of a good scientific mind, I believe that by telling science I make a real and substantive contribution to both science and writing.
