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Subcategory: Middle School
Results From the Experiment: Middle Schoolers Pronounce Science "Cool" after Lab Visit
Oct 13 2009 - The Washington Post (requires free registration)
Montgomery County, Maryland, has hit on the formula for getting young people interested in science: Unleash 190 seventh-graders in a building full of robots, prosthetic limbs, microscopes, remote-controlled surgical arms and bacteria-filled flasks, and watch what happens.
Siemens We Can Change The World Challenge Kicks Off at United Nations International Youth Day
Aug 17 2009 - TreeHugger
The United Nations Headquarters in New York City was host to a couple-hundred youth on August 12. All were gathered for this year's International Youth Day and to kick off the second year of The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, a nationwide educational-sustainability challenge for grades K-8, along with the National Science Teachers Association, and Discovery Education.
65 Hours in Tree for Michigan Teacher
May 14 2009 - The Boston Globe
Science teacher David Buth is rewarding the tree-mendous fundraising efforts of his Michigan middle school students by spending 65 hours in a perch 40 feet above ground.
She Makes Learning a Ride, Not a Drag
Apr 18 2008 - Washington Post (requires free registration)
When one of Patricia Herr's eighth-grade science classes at Smart's Mill Middle School was having trouble grasping physics, she gave the students a copy of the state's learning standards and asked them what would help them better understand the material. Their response: Have the class design and build an amusement park ride.
"Queen of the Dead Things" Gets Her Due
Feb 8 2008 - Daily News
Middle school teacher, Greer Harvell, is one of three educators from across the nation vying for the Shell Science Teaching Award. Sponsored by Shell Oil Co. and the National Science Teachers Association, the award recognizes one outstanding classroom teacher who has had a positive impact on his or her students.
Middle School Manages Distractions of Adolescence
May 12 2007 - New York Times (Requires free registration)
At Briarcliff Middle School, almost any minute of any day can become a lesson in weathering the turmoil of adolescence. Take the large blue and white sign outside the cafeteria urging students to control their impulses. It didn’t stop one sixth grader from slapping a Groucho Marx moustache on his upper lip and strutting around. But he did hesitate and think about it. Across New York State and the nation, educators are struggling with performance slumps in middle schools and debating how best to teach students at a transitional, volatile age. Briarcliff has emerged as a nationally recognized model of a middle school that gets things right, a place that goes beyond textbooks to focus on social and emotional development.
For Teachers, Middle School is Test of Wills
Mar 19 2007 - New York Times (Requires free registration)
Faced with increasingly well-documented slumps in learning at a critical age, educators in New York and across the nation are struggling to rethink middle school, especially in cities where the challenges of adolescent volatility, increasing violence, and lagging academic performance are more acute. As they do so, they are facing a key problem: a teaching corps marked by high turnover, and often lacking expertise in both subject matter and the topography of the adolescent mind.
Study Questions Shift of Sixth Graders
Feb 27 2007 - News & Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina--Requires free registration)
Sixth graders perform better in elementary school than in middle school, according to a study by researchers at Duke University and the University of California, Berkeley.
Movement for K-8 Schools Gaining Momentum
Jan 28 2007 - Boston Globe (Requires free registration)
With so many middle schools performing poorly, the movement for K–8 schools is gaining momentum in Boston and nationwide. But some education reformers think combining the middle grades with high school, rather than elementary school, is a better formula.
Taking Middle Schoolers Out of the Middle
Jan 22 2007 - New York Times (Requires free registration)
Two New York schools, in disparate corners of the nation’s largest school system, are part of a national effort to rethink middle school, driven by increasingly well documented slumps in learning among early adolescents, as well as middle school crime rates and stubborn high school dropout rates.
Study Raises Doubts on K-8
Jan 16 2007 - Baltimore Sun (Requires free registration)
Johns Hopkins University researchers have concluded that expanding elementary schools to sixth, seventh, and eighth grades does not help adolescents do better academically, a finding that raises questions about changes in Baltimore and other urban districts.
Countdown Begins to Choose 'America's Top Young Scientist of the Year'
Aug 23 2006 - Yahoo
Four hundred middle school semi-finalists from 43 States, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C. have been named to compete in Discovery Channel's Young Scientist Challenge (DCYSC). Discovery created the DCYSC in 1999 to try to effect change in America's current underachievement status in science and math. The competition is aimed at middle school students in response to evidence that students turn away from math and science as they get older.
Upper Grades, Lower Reading Skills
Jul 13 2006 - Washington Post (Requires free registration)
Teaching reading has long been considered the job of elementary grade teachers. But some educators say more attention needs to be focused on the reading skills of middle and high school students. The Alliance for Excellent Education estimates that six million middle and high school students cannot read at acceptable levels. Educators say older students struggle for many reasons, such as low student expectations or cultural bias. However, they note it’s difficult to pinpoint one cause.
Crucial Year Can Be Precipice or Springboard
Dec 13 2005 - Washington Post (Requires free registration)
Many educators believe ninth grade can be a make-or-break year in determining high school success. At northern Virginia's Minnie Howard School, one of the few schools in the country that serves only ninth-graders, administrators have focused on changing the way teachers view accountability for student learning.
Middle Schoolers Learn Science from Harry Potter
Jul 13 2005 - USA Today - AP
This fall a middle school teacher in Norfolk, Virginia, will teach an after-school remedial program for eighth-graders that will combine reading with the study of science in the Harry Potter books. The program at the inner-city school is being funded by an $82,000 American Honda Foundation grant awarded to Charlene Haviland and George Plitnik, a physics professor at Frostburg State University in Maryland. Haviland sought the grant, which includes enough money for lab equipment, after she was unable to find a model for a middle school class of this type. "There's a lot of science that looks like magic," said Plitnik, who has been known to show up for class in a wizard's costume.
Academy Stresses Fun, Teamwork for the Next Scientists
Jul 13 2005 - Fresno Bee
About 150 middle and high school students are participating two-week academy at Fresno State designed to demonstrate that bridge construction, math, electronics, and even statistics can be fun. The competitive highlight challenged two-student teams to build the highest tower from 8x11-inch pieces of paper, toothpicks, frozen juice sticks, rubber bands, paper clips, and plastic straws. The immediate goal was to see which team could combine height with stability. Beyond that, Jerry Valadez, Fresno Unified science coordinator and NSTA member, says students learn teamwork and confidence in solving problems and that numbers, engineering, and science work are enjoyable.
Math Educators Find Common Denominators
Dec 21 2004 - Washington Post (requires free registration)
A "peace summit" was held in Washington, DC, in an attempt to make sense of seemingly contradictory results from recent international studies of science and math education and find good practices for US students that all educators can agree on. There was more agreement than some participants imagined possible, suggesting that they may be moving toward a "centrist position." Among the topics they said they agreed on were (1) heavy reliance on calculators in the early elementary grades is a bad idea; (2) elementary school children must have automatic recall of number facts, which involves memorization of multiplication tables, for example; (3) children must master basic algorithms.
Why Middle Schools Are Being Questioned
Sep 12 2004 - New York Times (Requires free registration)
Education experts are voicing various opinions on what should be done with middle schools—grades six, seven, and eight with students between the ages of 11–14. Some teachers say placing such a volatile age group together in the same building is simply a “prescription for problems.” Other experts see it as a unique time of life and one that is essential, so that these students, giddy in a period of rampant self-discovery, are given their own learning environment.
Giant African Snails Targeted for Roundup
May 18 2004 - NSTA - Tim Weber
The US Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service is engaged in an effort to collect the giant African snails being used in classrooms and nature centers or kept as pets in private homes. The Service encourages anyone who has the highly invasive snails to turn them in voluntarily without fear of penalty.
Mano a Mano, Iron Teachers and Science!
Aug 5 2003 - New York Times (requires free registration)
"Let's mercilessly brutalize some strawberries!" Dr. Steve Ribisi shouted to the 100 or so people watching him at the Exploratorium, San Francisco's science museum. He was competing against six contestants in another Web episode of "Iron Science Teacher," a program based loosely on the Japanese television show "Iron Chef." Dr. Ribisi declared his goal: to extract DNA from fruit, using the "secret ingredient" — kitchen utensils.
BattleBots Inspire a Battle of Brains
Jun 27 2003 - Pioneer Press (St. Paul, MN)
The task: build a little robot that can defeat the little robots the other kids have built. It's a challenge students accept with gusto. The larger challenge: make sure the students master some science, math, and engineering principles along the way. Twenty teachers came together in Minneapolis this week to figure out how to do just that. They took a class in designing and building steel robots and learning the coursework tailored two years ago by the originators of the BattleBots TV show.
New Focus on Middle School Kids
Jun 19 2003 - The Honolulu Advertiser
Anthony Jackson claims that the public’s perceptions of middle school students as "slightly crazed social butterflies who can’t stay off the phone or concentrate on homework" have led to low expectations and results for such students. Jackson, one of America’s leading middle school experts, also notes more federal and local resources should be devoted to middle school teachers.
Teacher's Research Will Take 40,000 Students to Bottom of Sea
Oct 16 2002 - The News Journal
More than 40,000 students in about 500 schools in the United States and abroad will travel to the bottom of the sea thanks to a Delaware teacher and others who will participate in Extreme 2002: Mission to the Abyss, a research expedition to study hydrothermal vents nearly two miles below the ocean’s surface. This article details why Hepsi Zsoldos was selected for the trip and how teachers can participate in the expedition via the Internet. Students can participate by asking scientists questions and suggesting topics for experiments. The expedition is scheduled to begin October 20 from San Diego, CA aboard the research vessel Atlantis.
Science Teacher Gets Big Results at a Tiny School
Oct 9 2002 - New York Times (requires free registration)
Longtime NSTA member Karen Howell sure knows how to motivate her students. The fact that they win science competitions in disproportionate numbers is only part of the story. Many students enter school knowing the legend of Mrs. Howell. "My brother always told me what a good teacher she was," said one fourth-grader. "Now I have Mrs. Howell and I turned my room at home into a scientist's lab. I have microscopes and test things there."
Student Laptops are a Luxury
Sep 13 2002 - USA Today
This week the state of Maine handed out laptop computers to all seventh- and eighth-grade students at a cost of $37 million. In the opinion of this author, laptops are a luxury most school systems can't afford; the money could be put to better use hiring teachers who studied the subjects they're assigned to instruct. "Currently, 33% of the state's math teachers in grades nine to 12 lack either a major or minor in the subject," the author says. (See also this article for extensive background on Maine's laptop decision.)
Minority Students Bound for Science
Sep 11 2002 - Indianapolis Star
Purdue University launched a new scholarship program this week aimed at
encouraging minorities to pursue careers in math and science. Purdue has selected 63 eighth-graders from Indianapolis Public Schools (IPS)
for its Science Bound program, thereby guaranteeing the students
scholarships to attend their West Lafayette campus after they graduate. While still in high school, the students will be assigned a mentor-teacher.
They will also be invited to attend special field trips, after-school
programs and summer camps.
Texas Science Teachers Fear Losing Clout, Resources Along With State's 8th Grade Test
Feb 13 2002 - Education Week
Texas middle school teachers are worried that their classroom resources will be drastically reduced next fall when the state cuts its 8th grade science test. "If it's not tied into money, we're lost," said one science teacher, commenting on the fact that financial sanctions and rewards for schools are linked to student scores on state tests. Experts agree that such concerns are justified. "There is a greater emphasis, in terms of time and coverage, on [subjects] that are tested," noted a researcher who has studied state testing systems nationwide. Read more..
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