Maine Science

Newsletter of the Maine Science Teachers Association

Visit us at www.mainescienceteachers.org

June 2009

MSTA Members, President’s Letter We have a responsibility to our

membership not to lose money by
It has been awhile since we have sent a holding the conference with few
newsletter. We have been busy updating attendees
our website at
www.mainescienceteachers.org. It has a We welcome our new members
different look and we are working at who became MSTA members by
making it a useful tool for you. Please attending the Klentschy Event at
provide our webmasters any feedback Falmouth HS. We hope to
that you might have. continue to offer additional
professional development in
I don’t know where the school year has conjunction with the Department
gone. It certainly has been one of of Education in the near future.
concerns and challenges for many The MSTA Board thanks Anita
including MSTA. Bernhardt for her tireless efforts
on behalf of the Maine Science
Knowing the financial constraints that Teachers Association.
schools are facing, the MSTA Board of Directors has spent
time looking at options to continue to provide professional I want to close by wishing you a great end to the
development opportunities. We need to make financially school year. Keep providing the students of Maine
sound decisions and have tightened our budget even more. with great experiences in science.

Keeping these challenges in mind, MSTA is going to plan our

fall conference. However, we will look closely at our early
Mary
registrations and make a determination about holding or Mary Whitten
canceling the conference. MSTA President
Dot Lamson named SAVE THE DATE!!
Outstanding
The MSTA 2009 Annual Conference
Environmental Educator
October 9, 2009
MSTA Congratulates Dot Gardiner Area High School
Lamson, a state leader in Please Visit
environmental education and
www.mainescienceteachers.org
director of Chewonki’s Center
for Environmental Education. for more information
Lamson was presented with
the 2009 MEEA award for Outstanding Leadership and
Achievement by the Maine Environmental Education Inside this issue:
MSTA and Maine State News
Association’s (MEEA) at their Annual Conference, held
NSTA and Other National News
at Chewonki Center on March 27, 2009.
Professional Development
Teacher & Student Resources
 MSTA 2008 Annual Conference Highlights

Dr Lee Lynd was the Keynote speaker at the 2008 MSTA Annual Conference. Dr Lynd
is Associate Professor of Engineering at the Thayer School of Engineering at
Dartmouth College and a leading expert 0n cellulosic biofuels. Dr. Lynd has provided
testimony before Congress on the merits of biomass in energy production. At the
MSTA conference, Dr Lynd talked about his own career pah. His research in biomass
fuel production and the importance of STEM (science, technology, engineering and
mathematics) education in developing informed citizens.

MSTA presented the Philip Marcous and Louis Lambert Awards at the Annual Meeting.

Peter Zack, head of the Maine Energy Education Program received the Louis Lambert Award for is
contributions to science education by a person who is not a formal educator.

Betty Jameson, a teacher in the Bangor school system, received the Philip Marcoux Award for
contribution to science education by a formal educator

SAVE the DATE - Tess Gerritsen is Coming to MSTA!

The award winning and New York Times Bestselling Science

Mystery author is coming to the Maine Science Teachers
Association’s annual conference Friday October 9, 2009 at Gardiner
High School.
Ms. Gerritsen is a graduate from Stanford University where she
studied Anthropology. Tess then went on to medical school at the
University of California San Francisco, where she was awarded her
M.D.

Ms. Gerritsen began writing fiction in 1987 while out on maternity

leave from her work as a physician. In 1996 she wrote her first
medical thriller, Harvest, which also marked her debut on the New
York Times bestselling list. Her books include Gravity, The
Surgeon, Vanish, The Bone Garden, and soon to be released The
Keepsake as well as many others. Ms. Gerritsen is an internationally recognized author and has won
both the Nero Wolfe Award for Vanish and the Rita Award for The Surgeon.

To celebrate this event MSTA will host a “MSTA Summer Read with Tess Gerritsen” during the months
of July, August, and September. MSTA will host a discussion blog each month at
http://www.mainescienceteachers.org. Each month a blogging participant will be chosen at random to
receive a free copy of the following month’s read. A free hardcovered and signed copy of The Keepsake
will be given away at the October MSTA conference.

In July the book read and blogging discussion will start with Ms. Gerritsen’s medical thriller Gravity.
This will be followed with The Surgeon in August and The Bone Garden in September.

For information on Gravity visit http://tessgerritsen.com/books_gravity.html.

Please follow http://www.mainescienceteachers.org/ for more upcoming details about

the Summer Read and our Annual Conference.

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Klentschy Event a Success

Thanks to enthusiastic participation by more than 100 Maine

Science teachers of all ages and demographics, Dr. Michael
Klentschy's presentation on Tuesday May 12, 2009 was a
great success! Dr. Klentschy spoke about the strong
connection between science and literacy. He showed that the
application of literacy strategies drawn from reading, writing,
listening and speaking not only provide students with
increased opportunities to develop a deeper understanding of
science content, but also significantly strengthen student
comprehension and writing proficiency. He explained
research based-strategies in the use of science notebooks including ideas on how to get started,
writing scaffolds for students and lesson planning formats.

We wish to thank our co-sponsors: The Maine Department of Education, The MOVE Program
(ME Dept of Transportation and ME Turnpike Association), The Gulf of Maine Research
Institute. The Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance, and Carolina Biological Supply
Company . We also want to extend special thanks to Falmouth High School for hosting this
most successful event.

2008 Presidential Awards

In January the Maine Department of Education honored

the three 2008 State Science Finalists for the
Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and
Science Teaching (PAEMST) at a recognition dinner at the Senator Inn in Augusta. Jan Mokros, the
Executive Director for the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance was the keynote speaker for the
event. Ms. Mokros spoke about the importance of teacher leadership in advancing science education.

The 2008 PAEMST recognizes teachers of science at the K-6 level. The three finalists for 2008 are
Lauree Gott, a grade 6 teacher of science at Veazie Community School, Margaret Morton, a grade 4/5
teacher of science at the South Bristol School, and Pamela Thompson, a grade 4 teacher of science at
Madison Elementary School. Each individual prepared a video tape of their teaching, completed a
written analysis of their classroom instruction and student learning, and submitted letters of
recommendation and a professional development/leadership resume. The finalists’ applications were
submitted to a national panel for review. The Department of Education anticipates that the 2008
PAEMST Science Awardee will be announced sometime this spring.

Maine has many exceptional teachers and we are pleased to be able acknowledge three of them as our
state finalists for the PAEMST. We hope that you will take the opportunity to extend your
congratulations to these individuals for their efforts on behalf of Maine students.

Applications are currently being accepted for the 2009 PAEMST which recognizes 7-12 teachers of
science. For more information please contact Anita Bernhardt at the Maine Department of Education at
624-6835 or anita.bernhardt@maine.gov

3
The Science Anchors

The National Science Teachers Association, National Research Council, Project 2061 and Achieve will
serve as the Inter-Agency Steering Committee for the development of the Science Anchors. The
Science Anchors is intended to identify big ideas and their supporting ideas to provide clearer, more
focused learning targets than are already identified in the NRC National Science Education Standards
(NSES)and the AAAS Benchmarks for Science Literacy (BSL). In this way the Anchors Project is similar
to the NCTM Focal Points which was published in the fall of 2007.

NSTA President, Page Keeley and Cary Sneider of the Museum of Science (Boston), both
members of the original Anchors Task Force, spoke about the Anchors work during an
NSTA Conference workshop. During their presentation Keeley and Sneider indicated that
they expected the Anchors work to take 12 -24 months to complete. They also indicated
the Anchors work will update the NSES and AAAS Benchmarks only as needed. Many
details about whether the document will focus on grade spans or grade levels or who the
primary audience will be are yet to be decided. Feedback from the audience was collected
during the session. Keeley and Sneider made it clear that opportunities for input from
diverse stakeholder groups will be solicited throughout the development process.

MSTA Welcomes Janice Mokros to Maine

MSTA would like to welcome Dr. Janice Mokros, Maine Mathematics and
Science Alliance’s new Executive Director, to Maine’s community of science
educators! Jan is a developmental psychologist and mathematics educator,
who was a long time staff member at TERC, where she was an author of
the curriculum ‘Investigations in Number, Data, and Space’ as well as the
director of research and a staff developer for this program. More recently,
she has worked to bring math to out-of-school settings, including science
centers, zoos, aquariums, and after-school programs. Jan has developed
activities, games, and a book for parents to help them incorporate
engaging math into their everyday family lives. She also has been involved
in higher education as a professor and administrator. She launched San Francisco State University’s
Center for Science and Mathematics Education, which focuses on recruiting and retaining K-12 science
and math teachers. The Alliance is delighted to have her aboard. If you are ever in Augusta stop by
MMSA to introduce yourself and say hello to our newest member.

Educators and scientists collaborate at a COSEE-OS workshop

Ten K-5 teachers including MSTA Board Members Laurette Darling

and Pamela Thompson will join marine scientists at the University
of Maine Darling Marine Center in Walpole, ME for a three-day
workshop entitled Enhance Meaningful Learning and Teaching
through Phytoplankton Investigations. The workshop is designed to
engage these elementary educators in examining their science
teaching practices through scientist led and supported lab sessions investigating phytoplankton.

4
First Maine Teacher Accepted to the NASA Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Program

– The first cohort of teachers accepted into the NASA Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Program
began their course work in applied sciences this winter. Joni Cooke of Turner, Maine represented
Maine as a member of part of the first cohort group. The second Endeavor cohort will be open to in-
service teachers of science, technology, engineering or mathematics as well as pre-service and
alternative-route education professionals. The Endeavor Science Teaching Certificate Project will select
the next 40 Fellows, for Cohort 2 in late 2009. Cohort 2 will begin the program and coursework in
January 2009. The Department is hopeful that Maine will have many more teachers represented in the
second cohort.
- Nancy Ibarguen and Anita Bernhardt, from the Maine Department of Education have worked with
NASA to ensure that participating teachers participating in the program will receive recertification or
certification credit for their successful participation.
- NASA covers participant costs for for the 15 online graduate courses and is working in conjunction
with Adams State College in Colorado which offers an accredited teacher education program. For
more information go to http://www.us-satellite.net/endeavor/about.cfm or contact Anita Bernhardt
at anita.bernhardt@maine.gov

The Maine Course Pathways Syllabus Review

Six Maine schools are participating in the Maine Course Pathways High School Syllabus Review. The
feedback these schools provide will help to inform the design of the syllabus review tools. The purpose
of this work is to provide a syllabus review tool that will assist high schools in evaluating whether the
programming offered provides opportunity for all students to learn the skills and knowledge outlined in
the Maine Learning Results: Parameters for Essential Instruction as they progress toward graduation.
There will be a statewide conference for the Maine Course Pathways in the fall of 2009.

Maine Environmental Education Benchmarks

The Maine Environmental Education Association Conference was held on March 27, 2009 at Camp
Chewonki. The keynote speaker discussed the development of state environmental education
benchmarks. Rebecca Bell, the Environmental Education Consultant from the Maryland Department of
Education, talked about the challenges and opportunities Maryland encountered in the development of
their environmental education benchmarks. Maryland is the first state in the country to complete their
state environmental literacy benchmarks.

The eligibility of states to apply and be considered for grants which will be available from the federal
government under the No Child Left Inside Act will be contingent on the completion of environmental
literacy (EE) benchmarks. The Maine Environmental Education Association (MEEA) and the Maine
Department of Education (MDOE) have begun preliminary work on these benchmarks. MEEA and
MDOE hope the collaboration around EE benchmarks will become a regional effort including other
states in the New England Area. For more information contact Kara Wooldrik at Maine Audubon,
kwooldrik@maineaudubon.org, or Anita Bernhardt at the Maine Department of Education,
anita.bernhardt@maine.gov.

5
Discover Education send me this recent announcement.

During the National Science Teachers Association's National Conference in New Orleans, La., the United States
Department of Energy, the X PRIZE Foundation and Discovery Education announced
www.FuelOurFutureNow.com <http://www.fuelourfuturenow.com/> , a new dynamic, online knowledge center
inspired by the Progressive Automotive X PRIZE.
The Web site is designed to engage students in the science of alternative fuels and energy-efficient engineering.
Featuring targeted curriculum and lesson plans for all grade levels, as well as high-quality video, dynamic
interactives and additional resources from the United States Department of Energy, teachers can use the online
knowledge center to achieve their science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) goals. To access the full
news release, visit http://www.cblohm.com/news/DiscEd/DE_090323/.

Maine DOE, Re-Inventing Schools Coalition (RISC) and Marzano Associates - The Maine Department of
Education has been working with Bob Marzano and the Re-Inventing Schools Coalition (RISC). The purpose of
this partnership is to develop tools to support a standards-based system of education. As part of this work we
will be identifying and developing rubrics for developmental levels. The rubrics for these developmental levels (or
learning benchmarks) will be developed for key ideas in each content area. More information about this work will
be shared as it becomes available.

Anita Bernhardt, State Science & Technology Specialist and Regional Representative
Maine Department of Education
(207)624-6835
anita.bernhardt@maine.gov http://www.maine.gov/education/lres/scitech/

Challenger Learning Center Events

2009 - The International Year of Astronomy

We began this International Year of Astronomy celebrating Galileo's birthday and unveiling our two new Hubble
Images. We will continue to offer events throughout the year to encourage you to get out and look up!

At the Challenger Learning Center of Maine, we have much to celebrate in 2009! In addition to taking part in the
IYA, this year CLC celebrates our fifth year of engaging and inspiring students and teachers in the fields of space
of earth science. We are pleased to offer a variety of events throughout 2009. We look forward to seeing you!

June 19 Rockin' -Rocket Launchin' -Solstice Celebratin' ASTRONAUTS BALL

July 30 (EYU series continues) STORIES IN THE SKY
September 24 (EYU series continues) FAMILY CHALLENGE
October 8 (annual movie night and rocket team kick-off event) OCTOBER SKY viewing
October 23 (annual "Out of this World" family science night) BOO! Science

Jennifer Therrien, Center Coordinator & Educational Liaison

Challenger Learning Center of Maine
(207) 990-2900 ext 3
www.clcofme.org
“Through a diversity of programs we educate students and teachers in order to inspire an active lifelong passion for space and earth science.

6
Children’s Book Council Review

Nancy Chesley, the Elementary Science and Literacy Specialist at the Maine Mathematics and Science
Alliance, is currently a member of NSTA’s Children’s Book Council Review Panel for Outstanding
Science Trade Books for Students K–12. This panel identifies the best in trade books for student
explorations and presented some of these books at the NSTA Convention in New Orleans. Each
member of the panel reviews over 200 selections submitted for consideration of this prestigious
designation.

One of the favorite book picks this year is Farmer George Plants A Nation by Peggy Thomas and
illustrated by Layne Johnson. The annotation from CBC’s states “Readers meet George Washington, a
thoughtful farmer who delighted in experiments with plants, tools, and new methods of farming at his
home in Mt. Vernon, Virginia. Washington believed that many successful farmers would help America
grow into a stronger nation. This picture book is rich in primary sources such as letters and diary
entries; it provides accurate maps and paintings from a historical point of view. For information about
the other selections for 2009, go to http://www.nsta.org/publications/ostb/ostb2009.aspx

Innovation Sets 2009 NSTA/Vernier Technology Award

Winners Apart from the Competition

Awardees win Vernier data-collection tools, cash, and professional development reimbursement

Beaverton, OR –– March 23, 2009 – The National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and Vernier Software &
Technology announce the seven winners of the 2009 NSTA/Vernier Technology Award, where innovation and scientific
investigation are applauded. Ranging from elementary school teachers to college instructors, these seven science
educators were selected as winners by an NSTA-appointed panel of experts for creating innovative data-collection
lessons and programs in their classrooms.

Each winner received $1,000 in Vernier products, $1,000 in cash, and up to $1,000 toward expenses to attend the 2009
NSTA National Convention in New Orleans, Louisiana, March 19-22, 2009. They are to be formally recognized during the
convention’s NSTA Awards Banquet.

Sarah Southam, Chemistry/Physics Teacher, Telstar High School, Bethel, ME

Energy in a Cord of Firewood

Synopsis: You never enter Sarah's classroom without first donning your safety goggles.
Sarah does lots of hands-on lab activities that keep her students engaged, active, and
inquisitive. She finds that having her students do labs reinforces the material she is trying
to teach. Sarah scours lab and demonstration books and the web to find the perfect
activity to get across a point. Finding and setting up the labs really helps Sarah learn the
material. Sarah created a spin off of the Chemistry with Vernier activity “Energy of Food”
she calls “Heat Content in a Cord of Wood.” The wood pellet stove industry is really taking
off in Maine, as many families burn wood to keep their homes warm in the winter. This lab was inspired by her
student, Patrick Gallagher, who wanted to determine the relationship between type of wood and the amount of
heat produced. The activity has students calculate the amount of heat a cord of different types of wood are likely
to produce based on burning small samples of the wood.

If you are interested in speaking with any of these innovative educators, please contact Brooke
MacDonald at brooke@kehcomm.com or via phone at 410-975-9638.

Vernier Software & Technology has been an innovator of data-collection technology for 28 years. Creating easy-
to-use and affordable science interfaces, sensors, and software, their products can be found in education from
elementary school to college. Vernier helps teachers enhance their science curriculum, increase learning, and
build students' critical thinking skills. For more information visit www.vernier.com.

7
 NSTA’s New Science Teacher Academy

I’d like to introduce myself to you, share some

information, and ask for your support—all in one fell
swoop!

I’m Joe Sciulli, director of professional development programs for the National Science Teachers
Association (NSTA), and the information I’d like to share is about NSTA’s New Science Teacher
Academy, http://www.nsta.org/academy/

In April, NSTA announced that it is accepting applications for the 2009 NSTA New Science Teacher
Academy. The NSTA New Science Teacher Academy, co-founded by the Amgen Foundation, is a year-
long professional development program established to help reduce the high attrition rate among
science teachers new to the teaching profession. Intened for science educators entering their second
or third year of teaching, the Academy is designed to help promote quality science teaching, enhance
teacher confidence and classroom excellence and improve teacher content knowledge.

For this academic year, NSTA will select 185 teachers to participate as fellows in the 2009 Academy.
NSTA Fellows chosen for the program receive a comprehensive membership package, online mentoring
with trained mentors who teach in the same discipline, and the opportunity to participate in a variety of
web-based professional development activities, including web seminars. In addition, each NSTA Fellow
receives financial support to attend and participate in NSTA’s National Conference on Science
Education, taking place in Philadelphia, March 17-21, 2010.

Science teachers located throughout the country, who will be entering their second or
third year of teaching and whose schedule is a minimum of 51 percent middle or high
school science, are encouraged to apply for the program. Applications must be submitted
no later than June 30, 2009 to be considered.

Although we reach a large number of individuals involved in the science education community, there
are still many science educators out there that don’t know about this program. I’m hoping that you’ll
help spread the word and include the news about this exciting opportunity on your Web site and/or in
your member newsletters and communications. The most comprehensive information to date can be
found on the Academy Web site, link listed above.

If you have any questions please let me know. Thank you for your efforts to get this important
information out. "

Cordially,
Dr. Joe Sciulli
Program Director
Mickelson ExxonMobil Teachers Academy
Building a Presence for Science - Science Matters
NSTA New Science Teacher Academy
NSF/eMSS PI
1840 Wilson Boulevard
Arlington, Virginia 22201
703.312.9218
jsciulli@nsta.org

8
 MSTA 1st Annual Student Green Team Award

Teachers, principals, parents - do you have a team of “green” students in your school that has brought
environmental awareness and change to your school? Do they deserve recognition?
MSTA would like to announce the first Green Team Award. Winners of the award will be announced at
the next annual MSTA conference on October 9th at Gardiner High School. If you have a team that you
feel deserves recognition then send a description what the team is doing, as well as what school the
team is from, and who the contact person is as well as contact information to Mary Dunn at
mdunn80@gmail.com
The adult who works with the winning team will be awarded the prize at the October 9th conference to
bring back to the students. The adult will also get a free registration to the October conference and a
year’s membership to MSTA. So if you work with a green team. take a few minutes to tell us something
about them and their work by nominating them for this first MSTA Annual Green Team award!

Nominations due by June 30, 2009.

Your name: ___________________________________________________

Your email address: _____________________________________________

Your school: ___________________________________________________

Brief description of your green team’s work:

9
Elementary Science Education in the K–12 System
4/22/2009 - Page Keeley
“Any collection of things that have some influence on one another can be
thought of as a system. Thinking of a collection of things as a system
draws our attention to what needs to be included among the parts to
make sense of it, to how its parts interact with one another, and to how
the system as a whole relates to other systems.”—American Association
for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) 1989, p. 166.
An essential component of higher-level thinking is the ability to think
about systems—how parts relate to one another and to the whole.
Systems thinking can help us see and understand science education in
new ways. This is why one of the goals of my presidency, a goal also shared by President-Elect Pat
Shane, is to take a K–12 system approach to supporting the need for high quality elementary science
education in every school district.
Elementary science is a critical part of the K–12 science education system. Tragically, the enactment of
No Child Left Behind (NCLB) has greatly diminished the time spent on teaching science in many
elementary schools. In some schools that have not attained adequate yearly progress (AYP) status,
science is not taught at all, and teachers are told point blank not to teach science so they can spend
more time on reading and mathematics. The good intentions of NCLB eroded the fundamental
foundation for science in our K–12 education system. One of the crucial parts for a fully functioning
system is missing or damaged.
Learning in science begins in early childhood. This is a time when young minds are curious about
science and ready to engage in the practices and language of science that form a foundation to be built
upon and strengthened throughout a student’s K–12 education. Young children bring to science views
of the natural world and ways of thinking that have a major impact on their learning as they progress
from one grade level to the next. Ignoring these ideas and delaying the development of science
language and practices until students formally encounter science in middle school certainly violates
what we know about systems: If one part is missing, it affects the other parts of the system.
“Something may not work as well (or at all) if a part of it is missing, broken, worn out, mismatched, or
misconnected.”—(AAAS 1994, p. 264).
We know science education is not working well for many students in the United States. We also know
our system of education is strongly connected to our ability to compete in an increasingly global
economy dependent on highly skilled workers in the science, technology, engineering, and
mathematics (STEM) fields. One solution in the past few years has been to funnel more funds into
Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate courses in high schools, undergraduate and
graduate education, recruiting qualified secondary science teachers, and increasing the rigor of middle
level classes. These strategies might work if they match well with the other parts of the system.
However, we can’t expect students who have missed six years of science to suddenly be prepared to
take on more demanding opportunities to learn science in middle and high school. All the parts of the
system that should include the K–6 years of knowledge and skill building are not there to support the
cumulative steps that contribute to high levels of learning.
When we look at the progression of learning over time, starting with fundamental ideas and skills
developed in preK–2 and built throughout the elementary years, teachers are often surprised to find
middle school and high school students have major misconceptions about fundamental ideas developed
early on that went unchallenged through school. They are also dismayed to find there are often large
gaps in students’ conceptual understanding of even basic ideas in science. Is it reasonable for a school
district to eliminate science for six years and then expect students to fill in the blanks in middle and
high school? Science learning is a cumulative process. It is time to give science a foothold equal to that
of reading and mathematics in the K–6 curriculum.

10
We all have a responsibility to advocate for high quality elementary science programs, increased time
spent on teaching elementary science, and opportunities for elementary teachers to get the
professional development they need to teach science well. The burden for elementary science advocacy
can’t be placed solely on the elementary teachers who like to teach science. Middle school and high
school teachers, I implore you to speak out to your administrators and help them understand the ripple
effect the demise of elementary science has had on student learning in your grades. Your teaching is
affected significantly by the loss of elementary science!
You can also push for more elementary science professional development. Bring a team including
elementary, middle, and high school teachers from your district to an NSTA conference. Stay tuned for
more information about an upcoming NSTA Research Dissemination Conference (RDC) on linking
research to practice in elementary science, to be held at the 2010 NSTA National Conference in
Philadelphia. Encourage the formation of elementary science professional learning communities to learn
how to best restore science to the curriculum and advance K–6 science learning. Encourage a K–6
team to attend NSTA’s August 2009 summer institute on Professional Learning Communities in Science.
Public support for early science education is important as well. Parental involvement is key to
increasing the public’s understanding of why science education must begin in the early grades. The
new NSTA Science Matters website is a great a source of material for helping parents understand the
importance of elementary science.
Even though not all of us teach elementary science, we have a collective responsibility to ensure every
student in every grade has the best possible science education. That is why we as individuals must act
as a system. A simple K–2 systems learning goal says, “When parts are put together, they can do
things that they couldn’t do by themselves” (AAAS 1994, p. 264). Imagine what the output could be at
the end of grade 12 if we all band together to strengthen our K–12 science education system to include
six years of rigorous, high quality elementary science. After all, each part of the system, including
elementary science, contributes to the whole. We can’t continue assuming we will increase our schools’
output of students who will become our next generation of scientists and engineers without ensuring
an input of elementary science learning into the K–12 system.
References
AAAS. 1989. Science for all Americans. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
AAAS. 1994. Benchmarks for science literacy. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

Science Matters Web Site

Here is an NSTA web site and new advocacy campaign for helping parents understand the importance
of elementary science. With some teachers being told not to teach science in elementary school, the
once a week science lesson that might get squeezed in on Friday afternoon, or the science lessons that
primarily involve reading and little minds-on inquiry, it is critically important that we help parents
understand why their child needs a full, rich high quality science education in the elementary grades.
Parents can be our strongest advocates yet science is an area many parents don't understand well
enough to advocate for in their schools. The ripple effect from NCLB's focus on reading and math that
often eliminated or diminished opportunities to experience science as a core curriculum area in K-5 is
being felt at the middle school and high school level as large gaps in understanding the content and
practices of science are starting to show.

On behalf of NSTA, I urge all elementary, middle, and high school teachers to use this web site to
advocate for elementary science. Please share this with parent groups, put an article in your school's
parent newsletter, and join us in bringing elementary science back on to the front burner in schools
and districts in Maine. Please visit the site: http://www.nsta.org/sciencematters/?lid=hp

Thank you,
Page Keeley, NSTA President
11
Apollo Upgrade

The flight computer onboard the Lunar Excursion Module,

which landed on the Moon during the Apollo program, had
a whopping 4 kilobytes of RAM and a 74-kilobyte “hard
drive.” In places, the craft’s outer skin was as thin as two
sheets of aluminum foil.

It worked well enough for Apollo. Back then, astronauts

needed to stay on the Moon for only a few days at a time.
But when NASA once again sends people to the Moon
starting around 2020, the plan will be much more
ambitious; and the hardware is going to need a major
upgrade. ‘Doing all the things we want to do using
The Chariot Lunar Truck is one idea for a vehicle
systems from Apollo would be very risky and perhaps not equal to the lunar terrain. Each of the six wheels
even possible,” says Frank Peri, director of NASA’s pivot in any direction, and two turrets allow the
Exploration Technology Development Program. astronauts to rotate 360°.

So the program is designing new, more capable hardware and software to meet the demands of
NASA’s plan to return humans to the moon. Instead of staying for just a few days, astronauts will be
living on the Moon¹s surface for months on end. Protecting astronauts from harsh radiation at the
Moon’s surface for such a long time will require much better radiation shielding
than just a few layers of foil. And rather than relying on food and water brought from Earth and
jettisoning urine and other wastes, new life support systems will be needed that can recycle as much
water as possible, scrub carbon dioxide from the air without depending on disposable filters, and
perhaps grow a steady supply of food: far more than Apollo life-support systems could handle.

Next-generation lunar explorers will perform a much wider variety of scientific research, so they¹ll need
vehicles that can carry them farther across the lunar surface. ETDP is building a new lunar rover that
outclasses the Apollo-era moon buggy by carrying two astronauts in a pressurized cabin. “This vehicle
is like our SUV for the Moon,” Peri says.

The Exploration Technology Development Program is also designing robots to help astronauts maintain
their lunar outpost and perform science reconnaissance. Making the robots smart enough to take
simple verbal orders from the astronauts and carry out their tasks semi-autonomously requires vastly
more powerful computer brains than those on Apollo; four kilobytes of RAM just won’t cut it.

The list goes on: New rockets to carry a larger lunar lander, spacesuits that can cope with abrasive
moon dust, techniques for converting lunar soil into building materials or breathable oxygen. NASA¹s
ambitions for the Moon have been upgraded. By tapping into 21st century technology, this program will
ensure that astronauts have the tools they need to turn those ambitions into reality.

Learn more about the Exploration Technology Development Program at

www.nasa.gov/directorates/esmd/aboutesmd/acd/ technology_ dev.html. Kids can build their own
Moon habitat at spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/exploration/habitat.

12
Micro- and Nano-space Explorations of Health and Disease
SUMMER PROGRAM FOR GRADE 3-8 TEACHERS
“Where the telescope ends the microscope begins. Which of the two has the grander view?” – Victor Hugo
July 6 – 17 at USM Portland Campus
Monday - Friday, 9:00 AM to 3:30 PM

Contact project coordinator, Gail Fletcher, patricia.fletcher@maine.edu , (207) 780-4377

Participating Teachers Receive:

• CEU credits and stipends
• A light microscope for their school (with built-in digital camera & USB port)
• Access to USM microscopy outreach support

Join us this summer and together we will:

• develop new curriculum materials for literacy and numeracy in the context of scale, systems, and models
in the natural world
• add the vast unseen microscopic world of micro- and nano-space to the cosmic dimensions explored in
the sky dome of southworth planetarium using light and electron microscopy
Sponsored by National Institutes of Health, Science Education Partnership Award
Project director, S. Monroe Duboise, USM Department of Applied Medical Sciences, duboise@usm.maine.edu

\
Can molecular biology help us understand mental function ?

Eric R. Kandel, M.D. and Thomas M. Jessell, Ph.D.of Columbia University will help us understand how
the nervous system turns an idea into action—from the complex processing that takes place in the
brain to the direct marching orders the spinal cord gives to the muscles. Modern neuroscience equates
mind with the organ we call the brain, an astounding network more than 100 billion neurons connected
in a vast complicated web. The presenters will help us puzzle out how the brain is organized and
identify the seat of human memory. The question of understanding how the brain functions is rivaled
by the question of how such a complex network of cells develops in the first place.
A two-DVD set of lectures, animations, interactive features, and more is available free from the Howard
Hughes Medical Institute at www.biointeractive.org.

13
 The Cool Chemistry of Alien Life

Alien life on distant worlds. What would it be like? For millennia people
could only wonder, but now NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope is
producing some hard data. It turns out that life around certain kinds of
stars would likely be very different from life as we know it.

Using Spitzer, astronomers have discovered the organic chemical

acetylene in the planet-forming discs surrounding 17 M-dwarf stars. It’s
the first time any chemical has been detected around one of these small, cool stars. However,
scientists are more intrigued by what was not there: a chemical called hydrogen cyanide (HCN), an
important building block for life as we know it.

“The fact that we do not detect hydrogen cyanide around cool stars suggests that that prebiotic
chemistry may unfold differently on planets orbiting cool stars,” says Ilaria Pascucci, lead scientist for
the Spitzer observations and an astrophysicist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland.

That’s because HCN is the basic component for making adenine, one of the four information-carrying
chemicals in DNA. All known life on Earth is based on DNA, but without adenine available, life in a
dwarf-star solar system would have to make do without it. “You cannot make adenine in another way,”
Pascucci explains. “You need hydrogen cyanide.”

M-dwarf and brown dwarf stars emit far less ultraviolet light than larger, hotter stars such as our sun.
Pascucci thinks this difference could explain the lack of HCN around dwarf stars. For HCN to form,
molecules of nitrogen must first be split into individual nitrogen atoms. But the triple bond holding
molecular nitrogen together is very strong. High-energy ultraviolet
photons can break this bond, but the lower-energy photons from M-dwarf stars cannot.

“Other nitrogen-bearing molecules are going to be affected by this same chemistry,” Pascucci says,
possibly including the precursors to amino acids and thus proteins.

To search for HCN, Pascucci’s team looked at data from Spitzer, which observes the universe at
infrared wavelengths. Planet-forming discs around M-dwarf stars have very faint infrared emissions,
but Spitzer is sensitive enough to detect them.

HCN’s distinctive 14-micron emission band was absent in the infrared spectra of the M-dwarf stars, but
Spitzer did detect HCN in the spectra of 44 hotter, sun-like stars.

Infrared astronomy will be a powerful tool for studying other prebiotic chemicals in planet-forming
discs, says Pascucci, and the Spitzer Space Telescope is at the forefront of the field. Spitzer can’t yet
draw us a picture of alien life forms, but it¹s beginning to tell us what they could, and could not, be
made of. “That’s pretty wonderful, too,” says Pascucci.

For news of other discoveries based on Spitzer data, visit www.spitzer.caltech.edu

<http://www.spitzer.caltech.edu/ . Kids can learn Spitzer astronomy words and concepts by playing the
Spitzer “Sign Here!” game at spaceplace.nasa.gov/en/kids/spitzer/signs.

This article was provided by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under a
contract with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

14
SkiJinks Weather Laboratory

Find answers to hard questions at the SciJinks Weather

Laboratory. Now, students can find answers to tidal
mysteries on our web site.

What causes the tides? We might remember that it has something to do with the Moon. But then why
do we have two high tides each day if the Moon only rises and sets once? And why don't the tides
occur at the same time every day? All is revealed in a new "How & Why" page on the middle-school-
level NOAA/NASA SciJinks Weather Laboratory website, http://scijinks.gov. Click on the "How & Why"
button.

Other how and why topics are listed at scijinks.gov/weather/howwhy. Additional weather-related
resources for teachers are available at scijinks.gov/en/educators.

Why is Earth’s core so hot?

Blistering hot molten rock bursts through weak places in Earth's crust. So what is down there and why
is it so hot? Earth's core may seem as mysterious and remote as outer space, but scientists actually
have learned a great deal about it. Listen to a scientist explain.

Visit http://spaceplace.jpl.nasa.gov/en/educators/podcast/ to subscribe to these Podcasts. Or listen

now to this and the previous Podcasts on your computer or read the transcripts.

The Maine TREE Foundation and Maine Project Learning Tree Announces two
2009 Forests of Maine Teachers' Tours

There are two tours available:

July 14 to 17 at Leen's Lodge on West Grand Lake in Downeast Maine

July 28 to 31 in the Rangeley Lakes & Western Mountains
• Each tour begins with a Project Learning Tree workshop

• Discover & discuss changes in Forestry & changes in education

• Each tour combines math, science, technology, language arts and Social Studies with current
information about forest practices, up-to-date technology and promising research into new
products

• 3.0 CEU's available plus 30 contact hours

• Sign up for two graduate credits on Tour One by contacting Dr. Robert Kuech
rkuech@usm.maine.edu Registration for the tour and for graduate credits much be taken care
of separately.
The registration fee: $75/person. Visit www.mainetreefoundation.org to learn more and call or write
today to register: 621-9872 or mtf@gwi.net

Patricia Maloney, Maine PLT Coordinator

153 Hospital Street
Augusta, Maine 04330
207 626-7990
www.mainetreefoundation.org or www.plt.org
15
MAITCA Summer Institute - July 27 - 31, 2009 - University of Maine, Orono

The focus this summer will include School Gardens, Aquaculture, Entomology, Dairy, Beef, Horses,
Crops, and more! Tours will include the Center for Cooperative Aquaculture Research, JF Witter
Teaching and Research Center, Rogers Farm Gardens and many other sites. Presentations will include
Sustainable Agriculture, Using My Pyramid and integrating agriculture across the elementary
curriculum.

At this Educator’s workshop, participants will receive 42 contact hours for re-certification credits.
Thanks to grants issued by the ME Potato Board, The ME Department of Agriculture and other sponsors
the cost of this training will be only $200 per participant before June 30th (a $400 value), and $225
after this date, which includes lodging, travel and meals for up to 25 educators for the 5 days.

All participants will receive the 55-lesson Food, Land and People Resources for Learning, The Maine
Teacher Resource Guide, Growing Potatoes in Northern Maine, Caretakers All and Choose Well
(curricula from the National Cattleman’s Assn.) and The Wild Blueberry Curriculum as well as training in
these hands-on materials and exposure to Maine Agriculture and Local Foods.

All participants will receive a free copy of the USDA interactive CD “Growing a Nation - The Story of
American Agriculture” and “Celebrate America” a social studies video and lessons using food to teach
students about cultures.

Willie Sawyer Grenier, Maine Agriculture in the Classroom

28 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333
(207) 287-5522, Fax 287-7548
maitca@maine.gov or www.maineagintheclassroom.org

Registration Form
Conference Fee $200.00 before Deadline June 30, 2009 or $225 afterward (if space is available)
Make checks payable to Maine Agriculture in the Classroom (MAITC)
NAME_____________________________ SCHOOL__________________________________

HOME ADDRESS____________________ SCHOOL ADDRESS___________________________

HOME PHONE_____________________ SCHOOL PHONE ____________________________

GRADE LEVEL_________________________ SUBJECT(S) ___________________________

E-MAIL ADDRESS ___________________________________________________________

WILL YOU BE STAYING OVERNIGHT? YES ( ) NO ( )

DO YOU HAVE SPECIAL NEEDS? (DIETARY OR OTHERWISE ) YES ( ) NO ( )

Explain _________________________________________________________________

ARE YOU CURRENTLY USING AGRICULTURE IN YOUR CURRICULUM? YES ( ) NO ( )

HOW MANY STUDENTS WILL YOU HAVE IN 2009/2010? ___________________

Conference registration deadline 6/30/09 Mail to: MAITCA, 28 State House Station, Augusta, ME 04333
For more information call (207) 287-5522 or E-mail maitca@maine.gov or visit www.maineagintheclassroom.org
Registration includes overnight accommodations, transportation during the conference, and meals.

16
 SUMMER MODELING WORKSHOPS FOR
HIGH SCHOOL AND MIDDLE SCHOOL
SCIENCE TEACHERS:

Modeling Workshops in high school physics, chemistry, and/or physical science will be held in summer
2009 in Arizona, California, Miami FL, Chicago IL, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, New York, North
Carolina, Ohio, Philadelphia PA, Pittsburgh PA, Tennessee, Dallas TX, and Wisconsin. Pending funding,
also in Georgia, New Orleans, and Missouri.

For details, visit http://modeling.asu.edu . Click on "Modeling Instruction Workshops Nationwide in

Summer 2009".

At some sites, stipends and/or free tuition are available for in-state teachers. Teachers nationwide can
apply for a stipend at Miami FL.

Modeling Workshops are peer-led. Content is re-organized around basic models to increase its
structural coherence. Participants are supplied with a complete set of course materials and work
through activities alternately in the roles of student or teacher, as they practice techniques of guided
inquiry and cooperative learning.

For 17 years, the Modeling Instruction Program has been helping teachers attain knowledge and skills
needed to benefit their students. Modeling Instruction is recognized as an Exemplary K-12 science
program by the U.S. Department of Education

Jane Jackson, Co-Director, Modeling Instruction Program

Box 871504
Dept. of Physics
ASU
Tempe, AZ 85287
480-965-8438
http://modeling.asu.edu

17
Are you an upper elementary or middle school teacher looking for new ways to engage your
students in energy topics? Are you tired of putting together an instructional unit using
pieces of lessons and activities from a variety of sources? Could you use a coherent set of
inquiry-based materials to teach students about energy? Introducing PowerSleuth, a series of
"energy neutral" standards-based curriculum units made up of 7-12 lessons that follow a
conceptual storyline around energy topics. Developed by the Maine Mathematics and
Science Alliance in conjunction with the Maine Public Utilities Commission, PowerSleuth
consists of themed instructional units for three grade spans: Energy Lights Maine! for Grades
4-5, Energy Heats Maine! for Grades 6-7, and Energy Powers Maine! (in development) for
Grades 7-8.

While the PowerSleuth materials are divided into themed grade level spans, the design of
these units is meant to provide teachers flexibility and varied opportunities to use them in
different grade levels. Energy Lights Maine! focuses on light and electrical circuits, how
people get light, how it’s used, and what its link is to our environment. Energy Heats Maine!
focuses on heat transfers and includes examination of various ways Maine people heat their
homes and the pros and cons of those choices economically and environmentally. Energy
Powers Maine! includes more sophisticated explorations of energy transfers and
transformations and developing an understanding of where Maine gets its energy, how the
use of these resources impact our daily lives and the health of our state, an introduction to
energy resources, and the pros and cons of our energy decisions.

A companion website, www.powersleuth.org provides multimedia support for the

PowerSleuth materials. The site is designed for Maine students, teachers, and community
members and includes activities, projects, video clips, links, lesson plans, and other
resources for each of the PowerSleuth modules. The “Teacher Zone” portion of the site
contains lesson plans for each of the units which teachers may download and use in their
classrooms. Presently, the Energy Lights Maine! and Energy Heats Maine! draft lessons are
available for use. Energy Powers Maine! is in development. In addition to lesson plans,
teachers will find the accompanying support materials, a listing of activities and projects
students can do at home, and websites and videos related to the various energy topics.
The final versions of the PowerSleuth modules will be uploaded to this site and there will be
upcoming curriculum training opportunities available for all three units soon. Visit the Maine
Mathematics and Science Alliance’s website www.mmsa.org for a complete listing of current
opportunities.

For more information contact Lynn Farrin at lfarrin@mmsa.org

18
 MSTA 2009 Annual Convention Invitation to Presenters

The Maine Science Teachers Association Annual conference will be Friday,

October 9th at Gardiner Area High School. We are looking forward to the
great networking opportunities of seeing old friends and making new ones. I
hope you can all put this event on the calendar today, and make a
commitment to your professional development and your students.

It is time for interested presenters to submit their proposals. Feedback from

our membership indicates that participants would like to attend more
presentations by teachers. What would you like to share with other Maine
teachers? The conference committee will review the proposals and
make selections, if necessary, to insure a mix of grade levels and content offerings available. Science
literacy will continue to be an important focus this year. We will continue to offer both one hour
presentations/sessions and 2hour workshops.

If you are interested in presenting at the conference this year please fill out the presenters form and
submit it to Robin Kennedy at rkennedy@clcofme.org or Challenger Center / Robin Kennedy 30 Venture
Way Bangor, ME 04401. The form itself may be sent via the postal service or electronically. A
description of your session MUST BE submitted ELECTRONICALLY to Robin. If more than one person is
presenting each presenter must submit a form for contact information. Please submit these forms
together. If there are more than two presenters in a group,
the additional presenters will need to pay the cost of food.

Science teachers in the state of Maine have great ideas. Please consider sharing yours with others at
the conference. The experience is invaluable!

Conference presenters will receive FREE conference registration and FREE MSTA membership!

We hope you have a great summer!

Presenter Forms are due June 30th!!!

Robin Kennedy
Challenger Learning Center
30 Venture Way
Bangor, Maine 04401
207-990-2900
Fax 990-2040
Helping Maine students Reach for the stars!

MSTA 2009 Annual Convention Invitation to Exhibitors

Anyone interested in having an Exhibit at the MSTA 2009 Annual Convention should contact:

Laurette Darling
PO Box 352
Kents Hill, ME 04349-0352
207-293-3847 (H) or 207-446-4987 (C)
Or by email at ldarling@fairpoint.net

19
 MSTA Annual Conference – Presenter Form
Teaching the Science of Tomorrow
October 9th, 2009 at Gardiner Area High School
**If you are accepted as a presenter, you do not need to register for the conference**

Name _______________________________________ Position_________________________________________

Home Address ________________________________________________________________________________
City/Town _______________________________________________ State _____________ Zip ______________
Home Phone _____________________
School/Organization ____________________________________________________________________________
Address ______________________________________________________________________________________
City/Town ________________________________________________ State _____________ Zip _____________
Work Phone ___________________
* Email______________________________________ Preferred mailing address: [ ] home [ ] organization
(MSTA newsletters will be sent to you via email during the coming year.)

Describe your organization: [ ] private school [ ] public school [ ] informal educational institution
[ ] K-2 [ ] 3-4 [ ] 5-8 [ ] high school [ ] college [ ] pre-service

Presentation Information
Type: [ ] Session - 1 hour [ ] Workshop - 2 ½ hours

Target Audience/Grade Level(s): ________________________________

If the presentation is professional development, check the appropriate content area(s):

[ ] Life Science [ ] Physical Science [ ] Earth/Space Science [ ] Any

Title ____________________________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________________________
Co – Presenter(s) _____________________________________________________________________________
(Attach a presenter form with contact information for each presenter. If more than two are presenting, food costs will need
to be paid for the additional presenters at registration.)

Needs: Requests should be an integral part of your presentation.

[ ] Water [ ] Tables
***It would be helpful if you could bring your own AV equipment. However, if your presentation requires a computer lab
(PC or MAC) or any other equipment, please contact us at least two weeks before the conference!

1. Electronically provide a brief (50 words or less) description of your presentation. This description will appear in the
program. Please email your description to Robin Kennedy at rkennedy@clcofme.org.

2. Send presenter form electronically or mail it to:

Robin Kennedy
30 Venture Way
Bangor, Maine 04401

Presentation Forms are due by June 30th!! Please fill out one form for each presentation!