MSTA announced the competition for the Dan Wolz Clean Water Education Grant. This award is designed to help enable Michigan teachers to be aware of and promote careers in water environment, water quality, and wastewater management not only to their students, but also to the science community. The goal is to have students throughout the state who are much more aware of the contributions these industries make to society, and ideally, to become inspired enough in these fields to choose a career path that would make them a part of this broader effort of these fields.

More information about the program can be found here.

The Grant Application is available here, and should be postmarked by Dec. 18, 2009 and sent or faxed to the MSTA Office at the following address:
Sue Campbell
MSTA Office
3300 Washtenaw Ave., Suite 220
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Phone: 734-973-0433
FAX: 734-677-2407

The MMSTLC Partners received word recently that the project would not receive grant funding through the Mathematics and Science Partnership program from the Michigan Department of Education.  The MMSTLC Partners are sad to announce what we feel is a premature end to the ongoing professional development efforts of the project.  Our letter below to all of our participating educators expresses our feelings about this decision and the project in general:

Dear MMSTLC Participants,

We are writing to thank you for your ongoing participation and effort in the MMSTLC over the past couple years.  Through this program, you have invested considerable time and effort to enhance your own instruction and developed new skills, knowledge, and capacities to help support your colleagues in addressing mathematics and science instruction.  As a result of this and the new partnerships we have all formed through this effort, you and your colleagues in the project can better support teaching and learning at your schools and institutions.

We wanted to let you know that the MMSTLC will not receive additional grant funding to continue our formal networking and leadership development efforts or to financially support the ongoing implementation of program activities.  Despite this setback, you all have access to a considerable set of instructional and professional development resources provided by the project, as well as the networks and relationships you have developed with others in the project.  We anticipate that you will continue to use these resources and contacts to further support mathematics and science education in your school and region.  If there are any questions regarding the MMSTLC program or concerns regarding specific efforts for your project or team, please contact your mentor.

In the next several weeks, we will be posting and sending you some resources related to the project, including possible support considerations that we are exploring, and information about the project as well as a list of our accomplishments.  We’ll also update you on the resources we have been developing for the new project web site and upcoming webinars and other learning opportunities to find out about these new tools.   Beyond this, we want to suggest that you continue to maintain contact with your team partners and their organizations, that you use the resources from the project, and look for local sponsorship or grant funding opportunities.  We have attached a list of suggestions for next steps for everyone in the project.  As the professional educators you are, we hope you will continue to strive to support learning and teaching in mathematics and science through these and other approaches.

Obviously, we are disappointed that we will not have the opportunity to continue to work with all of you in these efforts.  This was a gratifying experience for each and every one of us, and we feel that we have all benefited through this collaborative work with you.  We want you to know that the project status does not reflect on the quality of the project or the work you all have been doing, but simply on the reality and situation of funding and priorities for the state.  In fact, our evaluator’s report suggests that we will continue to see the fruition of the project for years to come.  We are sure that you will be a part of that.

Thank you again for the opportunity to work with you all on improving mathematics and science education in our state.

Sincerely,

Walt, Judy, Karen, Mary Ann, and Steve

The MMSTLC Partners

Fall Science Conferences

There are a number of conferences taking place this fall that address a range of science topics and content for teachers. Sure, MSTA is great, but it isn’t the only conference in the state. Check these out:

MESTA Conference – The Michigan Earth Science Teachers Association annual conference will take place Oct. 2-3 “in the Detroit area” (translation – there are field studies!). More information here…

Urban Environmental Education Conference from MAEOE – The Michigan Alliance for Environmental and Outdoor Education is hosting this conference at the UM Dearborn’s Environmental Interpretation Center from Oct. 8-10. More information here…

Michigan AAPT Annual Meeting – The Michigan Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers is having their annual meeting at the Alden Dow Science Musuem in Midland on Oct. 10. This meeting will feature a workshop on quantum physics. More information here…

Fall Science Update – The Regional Math and Science Center of Grand Valley State University is hosting the 25th annual Fall Science Update for K-12 educators on November 18 at the GVSU Eberhard Center in Grand Rapids. This year’s theme is “Building Enduring Understands in Science”. More information here…

It’s that time again – time to get any proposals to present at the spring conferences submitted. There are a number of conferences for mathematics and science educators coming up next spring, and many of these are accepting proposals to present for the next few weeks.

Are you looking for an opportunity to share your ideas and expertise in the classroom? Would you like a chance to attend some of these workshops for free? Then, this is your chance. Check some of the links below to find out more about the conferences, and to submit your proposals to present.

Conferences and Links

COLLABORATIVE TOOLS FOR LEARNING CONFERENCE
November 13, 2009 at the Macomb ISD
MACUL’s fall conference, a single-day event that focuses on the use of online collaborative tools.
Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submissions are due October 5.

MSTA ANNUAL CONFERENCE
March 4-6, 2010 at the Lansing Convention Center
Annual conference for the Michigan Science Teacher Association.

Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submissions are due October 5.

MACUL ANNUAL CONFERENCE
March 4-6, 2010 at the Lansing Convention Center
Annual conference for the Michigan Science Teacher Association.

Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submissions are due September 29.

MICHIGAN JOINT EDUCATION CONFERENCE CONFERENCE
June 23, 2010 at Holt High School
Annual conference for cross-curricular efforts – a collaboration of the various teacher professional organizations.

Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submission information will be posted on their site later this fall.

NDSC SUMMER CONFERENCE
July 18-21, 2010 in Seattle
Summer conference for the National Staff Development Council

Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submissions are due October 2.

NCTM REGIONAL CONFERENCES
October 2010 in Denver, Baltimore, and New Orleans
Regional conferences for the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics

Click here for more information about the conference.

Proposal submissions are due November 1.

Algebra Changes

The Michigan Department of Education is making some changes to the High School Content Expectations, as well as the description of the curriculum content for Algebra II. If you teach high school algebra, or work with those who do so, please be sure to check the site and documents listed below for more information.

Algebra II Curriculum (Sept. 09 version)

Michigan Merit Exam content to be addressed

The Investigate the State curriculum resources and professional development, created through the MMSTLC program, are about to be used in an expansion of the Greater Proficiency in Science project. This project is supporting over 100 elementary and middle grades teachers throughout the Upper Peninsula in the use of inquiry-based learning approaches. More information about this project will be posted shortly.

Stephen Best presented two sessions on the MMSTLC project and the online resources of the project at the ESERA conference on Science Education Research in Istanbul. His poster presentation focused on the design of online learning tools and he also presented a paper on the design considerations of professional development activities. His presentation can be found here:

Esera09 Poster

SAMPI at Western Michigan University is offering a training workshop on the use of the SAMPI Lesson Observation System. The session is designed for those who might want to use the tool for evaluation or research. A brief description of the system is provided below. If you are interested in knowing more about the tool, we can send you a more detailed brochure.

The workshop will be offered at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo on Monday, August 17 (8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.) and Tuesday, August 18, 2009 (8:30 a.m. – Noon). This will be for the basic version of the observation system. On Tuesday, August 18 from 1 – 3:30 p.m., we will provide training on the mentoring version of the system. (NOTE: Only those who have had training on the basic version may participate in the mentoring version.)

To be approved to use the system and receive all the materials, you must participate in the full 10-hour workshop (in this case, both days). THERE IS NO COST TO YOU TO PARTICIPATE, OTHER THAN YOU PROVIDE YOUR OWN TRANSPORTATION AND OTHER TRAVEL COSTS. We’ll provide lunch on Monday and refreshments both days.

For the mentoring version training, you must participate in the full 2.5 hour session to receive materials. We can provide information about overnight accommodations if you need them.

If you are interested in participating, just RSVP to this email (from crystal.stein [at] wmich.edu), giving us email, telephone, and regular mail contact information, along with your affiliation. We will send a confirmation with specific details about location on campus and parking instructions.

YOU MUST RSVP BY Wednesday, August 5, 2009.

About the SAMPI Lesson Observation System:

“A comprehensive protocol for observing, analyzing, and reporting data from observations of content-based lessons in kindergarten through twelfth grade, and higher education classrooms. It is applicable in science, mathematics, social studies, language arts, fine arts, and other content-based lessons. It is based on Michigan and national teaching and learning standards in core subject areas with an orientation toward inquiry and investigative approaches to learning.”