We’re working on details for Phase III of the Greater Proficiency in Science program, which will address process skills and inquiry in science, and will focus on the development of new, inquiry-based instructional units on the most problematic topics for our students. We’ll be posting some details in August on our GPS Phase III Page, but until then, check out the short presentation below that outlines what we are planning to do.

For more information on participating, or to send your ideas or comments, contact your local Math/Science Center director:

• Dickinson-Iron-Menominee Math, Science, and Technology Center (Dee Benjamin, Director)
• Eastern Upper Peninsula Math/Science Center (Valerie Masuga, Director)
• Great Lakes Math/Science Center (Christy Cloud, Director)
• Northwoods Math/Science Center (Tom Abramson, Director)
• Seaborg Math and Science Center (Deb Homeier, Director)

GPS Phase 3 Overview from Stephen Best on Vimeo.

In trying to make plans for next year, we’re trying to figure out who is planning to continue to participate in the program, and who isn’t (and why you might not be – we’re hoping it’s not us!). Anyway, to do this, we’d like for you to let us know of your intent, so that we can plan accordingly and hopefully get plans together for activities next fall.

CLICK HERE to let us know.

Spring was busy – what with workshops, wrapping up lesson study, water quality studies, and, of course, most of you wrapping up your teaching for the school year. So, congratulations on making it through the year. We had a great year with all of you, and are looking forward to next year.

So, while you are away from your classroom for a while, we wanted to let you know about what is happening right now in preparation for the next school year. Here is some of what we are working on for you:

• Moving and updating content from the web site
• Revising the air and water quality curricula
• Creating a new framework for development of new curriculum units for the project
• Creating a recommended set of questions and lessons for new units addressing science GLCE’s in grades 3-high school, including invasive species, schoolyard habitats, energy, and weather
• Updating the water and air quality units with new lessons, modifications, and more developed student materials
• Integrating new technologies to support teacher learning communities.

We’ll post some updates here when specific parts of the site are complete. In the meantime, enjoy your summer, and let us know if you have any comments or suggestions for next year.

We are just over a month away from our final workshop of this school year for the Investigate the State project. On April 23, we will all gather together starting at 10am Eastern time for this event, which will include time for teachers to present your lesson study work to us and your colleagues in the project. We will also be looking at a new tool for all of you to use with your classes, as well as review some of our plans for the coming year, including a new energy curriculum, and possible new tools and resources.

In order to plan our full agenda and deal with some of the details for this workshop, we need you to REGISTER ONLINE to let us know if you will be there (click the link)

Please register by April 10 so that we can make appropriate plans for the event.

Also, remember that we are going to present the videos of your lesson student efforts. In order to do this, we need you to let us know about your video and what we will be editing. To do this, please complete the appropriate form from THIS PAGE (either option 1 or option 2).

We are looking forward to seeing you all that day, and hearing from you sooner. We are also posting some additional information, lesson materials, and a large number of iPod resources from the MACUL conference over the course of this week on the site, so be sure to check it out. We’ll notify you on this page about the new additions to the site.

Investigate the State is opening up the program to teachers throughout Michigan, and hopefully, beyond the state as well! We’ll be at the MSTA Conference, presenting information about the project on Saturday, March 6 at 11:00am (Room 104 of Lansing Center). At this session, we’ll give an overview of the program, as well as information for teachers on how they can participate in the project.
We’ll also discuss upcoming efforts for the project, including webinars, workshops, and new curriculum projects for the coming year. So, come and join us to see what the project is about.
We hope to see you there.

Starting promptly at 9:30am to 3:30pm (Eastern); 8:30am to 2:30am (Central)

Locations: Seaborg Math/Science Center (live); Eastern Upper Peninsula ISD, Dickinson Iron ISD, and Delta-Schoolcraft ISD (all via ITV)

Workshop Facilitators:
Stephen Best and Nancy Williams, University of Michigan

Activities:

• Review data considerations and presentations for the Air Quality unit (learning set 4)
• Review previous workshop activities related to this unit (overview of lessons in air and water units)
• Examine data sharing and online data web sites for environmental quality considerations, and discuss how to use these in your classroom
• Sharing of resources and apps for the iPod Touch for science teachers.
• Review remaining details of the lesson study process, and how this will be conducted by teams within this project.
• Planning of team lesson study efforts and presentations for April 23 with your teams.
• Share plans for ongoing Investigate the State efforts.

PLEASE BRING THE FOLLOWING:

• Videocamera,
• iPod Touch
• your computer
• your curriculum binders
• and any of your lesson resources for discussion with your colleagues about your lesson study plans.

We would like to spend more time addressing the iPod touch today, and its possible use for learning and instruction. We would like EVERYONE to bring it, and to be prepared to share with your local group ONE APP OR RESOURCE (i.e. podcast, book, etc.) that you have downloaded and tried to use so far.

We will be using the Internet to do some searches and use some tools related to our focus on air and water quality today. Bring laptops if you have them available.

Lunch will be provided.

Yep – This March is going to be a busy one for conferences. March 10-12 is the MACUL (Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning) conference, which provides three days of workshops and presentations addressing the integration of technology into classroom teaching and learning. And, wouldn’t you know, as a technology-oriented project, Investigate the State will have a presence at the MACUL conference, with numerous sessions and workshops by Steve Best.

For those of you involved in the project who live in Michigan’s less populous, pleasant-peninsula, making the trek to Grand Rapids for the conference might be a bit hard. However, if you can make it, it offers a number of excellent sessions to help you learn about new tools, or give you ideas for how to use a new technology in your classroom. And, if you can’t, Steve is at least recording all of his sessions, so that you will be able to access them on one of our “sister sites” – the TechTools4Teachers site.

Want to know what he is doing? Here’s the list of sessions:

Collaborative Online Tools to Support Teacher Learning

Preconference Workshop – March 10, 8:30am – Noon
Rockford Christian School
Registration fee – $60
Web 2.0 tools are great for supporting students, sure, but what about teachers? In this workshop, we’ll explore a number of tools and resources for teachers to collaborate and engage in ongoing professional development. We’ll look at a number of tools and how they can best help teacher learning, and will see what some of the newest generation of online tools can do to help support learning communities and individual professional development. Refreshments provided.

iTeach – Using iPods/iPhones in the Classroom

Preconference Workshop – March 10, 1:00 – 4:30pm
Rockford Christian School
Registration fee – $60
It’s not just an entertainment device or phone – the iPod/iPhone has more power and functionality than many computers in your school! This workshop will provide an overview of how the iPod and iPhone can be used as teaching and learning tools. We’ll look at a variety of applications, along with strategies for how teachers can use these devices to be more knowledgeable and productive for their own work, and how they can use these with students to support learning. Depending on availability, this session may also feature an overview of the new Apple iPad. Refreshments provided.

Web 2.0 in the Classroom: Collaborative Learning Tools for Science

Thursday, March 11, 4:00 – 5:00pm
See how Web 2.0 tools can support inquiry and problem solving in science. This overview will introduce a number of tools for general instruction, as well as some specific to science. See how these new tools are providing new learning opportunities specifically for science. LOTS of resources to share!

25 iPod/iPhone Apps to Help You Teach

Thursday, March 11, 10:00 – 11:00am
Want to learn how your iPod or iPhone can help you become a better teacher? This session will provide a quick overview of several apps and tools that can improve your productivity, help you communicate, and support your learning and teaching. Handouts and door prizes will be available for attendees.

Learning About Our Teaching: SIGPL Action Research Grant Round Table

Thursday, March 11, 1:00 – 2:00pm
Action Research allows teachers to use research methodology to examine the effects of instruction and technology on student learning. In this session, applicants for the SIGPL Action Research Award from this past year will discuss their findings in small groups with session participants.

Considerations for Designing Online Professional Development Resources

Friday, March 12, 8:30 – 9:30am
Do you need to find a way to support teachers’ professional learning, but can’t figure out what tool or approach would work best? This session addresses the design of online PD resources with a focus on research-based practices, to meet the different goals each teacher might need. Free resources will be provided.

Learning About Our Teaching: The SIGPL Action Research Grant Presentation

Friday, March 12, 10:00 – 11:00am
Want to know about the impact of technology on learning? SIGPL sponsors the Action Research Award to help MACUL members investigate and report on the changes in learning and instruction through action research. This session presents a grant overview and the featured presentation of findings from this year’s winning proposal.
Pre-Conference Workshop

Investigate the State to be presented at NSTA Annual Conference

March is conference month for educators. And, it certainly is for MMSTLC and the Investigate the State program. The presentations continue at the National Science Teacher Association Annual Convention in Philadelphia, PA, from March 18-21. We’ll be presenting some of the main ideas of the Investigate the State project at the session, and looking for interest in ways to grow and expand our efforts.

The second session focuses on the writing strategies that were the focus of many discussions and activities focusing on assessment practices. This session is one of the featured sessions at the conference. We would love to have you attend, so please check out the NSTA site to register, and see the session times for our presentations below:

Say What You Mean! Strategies to Help Students Better Communicate Science
2:00 – 3:00 pm, Saturday, March 20
Philadelphia Marriott, Grand Salon G

Investigate the State: Collaborating to Study Science Issues in Michigan
9:30 – 10:30 am, Saturday, March 20
Sheraton Philadelphia City Center Hotel, Room: Freedom H

Investigate the State will be presenting a session about the project at the upcoming Michigan Science Teacher Association conference.  The MSTA Conference, which takes place March 4-6 in Lansing, is the premier annual science education conference for teachers in Michigan.

“Investigate the State: Collaborating to Study Science Issues in Michigan” will be presented at 11:00am on Saturday, March 6, in Room 104 of Lansing Center by project director Stephen Best and Nancy Williams, both of the University of Michigan.

In addition, the Investigate the State team is presenting a number of other sessions related to resources of the Michigan Mathematics and Science Teacher Leadership Collaborative (MMSTLC).  These include:

Say What You Mean!  Strategies to Help Students Better Communicate Science
10:00 – 10:45am, Friday, March 5
Room 102, Lansing Center

The Problem with Models and How to Fix Them
11:00 – 11:45am, Friday, March 5
Room 201, Lansing Center

Creating a New Generation of Science Leaders
4:00 – 4:45pm, Friday, March 5
Room 203, Lansing Center

Web 2.0 in the Classroom: Collaborative Learning Tools for Science
10:00 – 10:45am, Saturday, March 6
Room 104, Lansing Center

Science Book Studies as Professional Learning Communities
1:00 – 1:45pm, Saturday, March 6
Room 202, Lansing Center

Since many of the participants in the Investigate the State initiative are doing some level of analysis of their own student learning, I wanted to point out one possible option for all of you to consider.  MACUL (the Michigan Association of Computer Users in Learning) is beginning a new award program this year, titled the “Action Research Award”.  This program, sponsored by the Special Interest Group for Professional Learning (SIGPL), will reward one or more educators who have used an action research effort in their own classrooms or schools to see the effect of any particular technology on student understanding or achievement.  The program provides a $500 award, plus the opportunity to present your findings at the upcoming MACUL conference in Grand Rapids (March 10-12).

For more information, visit the Action Research Award page online (or email Steve, since he is the director of the SIG sponsoring this effort).