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To fly,
we have to have
resistance

Maya Ying Lin,
architect who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, DC

Coming to Earth soon: Nasty solar storms

Happiness in a Clam Shell
By Dennis Bauer www.dennisbauer.com

Baby Steps

Where do you want to go? Where do you want to be …in life, in a career, in your family, in anything? “Want to” …what powerful yet potentially sad words. I want to climb a mountain. I want to get a degree. I want to learn a language. I want to see Paris.

I have a friend who sends out an email every morning to everyone who subscribes to it. She calls it the Baby Steps Challenge. I like the title. It gets you unstuck. It moves you from “I want to” to “I will.”

It reminds me of Newton’s first law of motion …every journey begins with the first step.  I know: “every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.” I like mine better: “if you want to go somewhere, take a baby step. If you don’t take a step, you’re stuck where you are.”

Ever heard someone say, “I really want to ______________?” (You fill in the blank.) Maybe you’ve said it yourself. Don’t you think the words “want to” are among the sadder words on the planet? Without taking a step toward your “want to,” you’re stuck where you are.

When you know where you are right now and think of where you want to be, then you must take that first step to get from here to there. A “want to” by itself is like having a city map of Paris. But without “I will” and stepping out the door, stepping onto the airplane and stepping into a cab, you’ll never get from New York to Europe, and you’ll never see the Eiffel Tower! You’ll always only want to.

Take that first baby step, then another, then another and, sooner or later, you’ll build momentum and you’ll reach your dream.

Make Sir Newton proud. Don’t be stuck any longer where you are. If you want to go somewhere, take a baby step in that direction. Now get going!

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Coming to Earth soon: Nasty solar storms
By: Space.com Staff

The sun is about to get a lot more active, which could have ill effects on Earth. So to prepare, top sun scientists met Tuesday to discuss the best ways to protect Earth's satellites and other vital systems from the coming solar storms.

Solar storms occur when sunspots on our star erupt and spew out flumes of charged particles that can damage power systems. The sun's activity typically follows an 11-year cycle, and it looks to be coming out of a slump and gearing up for an active period.

"The sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity," said Richard Fisher, head of NASA's Heliophysics Division. "At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms. The intersection of these two issues is what we're getting together to discuss."

Fisher and other experts met at the Space Weather Enterprise Forum, which took place in Washington, D.C., at the National Press Club.

Bad news for gizmos

People of the 21st century rely on high-tech systems for the basics of daily life. But smart power grids, GPS navigation, air travel, financial services and emergency radio communications can all be knocked out by intense solar activity.

A major solar storm could cause twenty times more economic damage than Hurricane Katrina, warned the National Academy of Sciences in a 2008 report, "Severe Space Weather Events—Societal and Economic Impacts." [Photos: Sun storms.]

Luckily, much of the damage can be mitigated if managers know a storm is coming. That's why better understanding of solar weather, and the ability to give advance warning, is especially important.

Putting satellites in 'safe mode' and disconnecting transformers can protect electronics from damaging electrical surges.

"Space weather forecasting is still in its infancy, but we're making rapid progress," said Thomas Bogdan, director of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)'s Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colo.

Eyes on the sun

NASA and NOAA work together to manage a fleet of satellites that monitor the sun and help to predict its changes.

A pair of spacecraft called STEREO (Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory) is stationed on opposite sides of the sun, offering a combined view of 90 percent of the solar surface. In addition, SDO (the Solar Dynamics Observatory), which just launched in February 2010, is able to photograph solar active regions with unprecedented spectral, temporal and spatial resolution. Also, an old satellite called the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE), which launched in 1997, is still chugging along monitoring winds coming off the sun. And there are dozens more dedicated to solar science.

"I believe we're on the threshold of a new era in which space weather can be as influential in our daily lives as ordinary terrestrial weather." Fisher said. "We take this very seriously indeed."

New Program Allows Students to Propose Experiments for Last Scheduled Space Shuttle Mission
By Business Wire

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) will allow U.S.

middle and high school students to participate in the last scheduled Space Shuttle mission, according to Jeff Goldstein, Program Director for SSEP and Center Director of The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE).

Phase 1 of the program is a unique and historic opportunity for students to propose an

experiment, in the same manner as professional scientists and engineers, to fly aboard STS-134, the final scheduled flight of the Space Shuttle. Selected student experiments would fly for 10 days aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour. Launch is tentatively scheduled for November 2010, but a launch slip to mid-January is expected, enabling this student spaceflight experiments opportunity.

SSEP is undertaken by the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE), in partnership with American Aerospace Advisors Inc. (AAAI). The STS-134 student spaceflight experiments opportunity uses the AAAI CREST-1 (Commercial Reusable Experiments for Science & Technology) routine access-to-space payload.

Details are available at ncesse.org/2010/06/ssep/

According to Dr. Goldstein, “We want the final voyage of the Space Shuttle to also mark a new beginning for private sector sponsored student experiments in space, which organizations on the SSEP team have pioneered.”

David Yoel, CEO of American Aerospace Advisors, added, “We are pleased that SSEP will enable students to participate in our CREST-1 mission, and hope that the flight of Endeavour will be used as a gateway to Phase 2 of the SSEP—sustainable, ongoing access to space for grade 5-12 students inspired to propose experiments to be conducted in low earth orbit and on suborbital spaceflights.”

About SSEP

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP), launched in June 2010, provides middle and high school classes across the U.S. the ability to propose experiments to fly in low Earth orbit, and to celebrate that accomplishment with their local communities and with national and global audiences. SSEP uses a community-wide engagement model for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education, with programming strategically tuned to school district need.
For details, visit ncesse.org/2010/06/ssep/

About NCESSE

The National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) creates and oversees national initiatives addressing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education, with a focus on earth and space. Programs are designed to provide an authentic window on science as a human endeavor. Central objectives of the Center’s programs are to help ensure a scientifically literate public and a next generation of U.S. scientists and engineers—both of which are of national importance in an age of high technology. For details, visit ncesse.org

About American Aerospace Advisors Inc.

American Aerospace Advisors is a privately held, woman-owned small U.S.-based company consisting of scientists, engineers, and business people who are investing in the future of space, airborne remote sensing, and unmanned aviation, as well as targeted applied technologies. AAAI brings together an exceptional network of advisors, clients, and partners, shaping opportunity with strategy to create effective solutions to address today’s greatest challenges. Additional information is available at www.American-Aerospace.net

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Daring to Discuss Women in Science
By: John Tierney, New York Times

The House of Representatives has passed what I like to think of as Larry’s Law. The official title of this legislation is “Fulfilling the potential of women in academic science and engineering,” but nothing did more to empower its advocates than the controversy over a speech by Lawrence H. Summers when he was president of Harvard.

This proposed law, if passed by the Senate, would require the White House science adviser to oversee regular “workshops to enhance gender equity.” At the workshops, to be attended by researchers who receive federal money and by the heads of science and engineering departments at universities, participants would be given before-and-after “attitudinal surveys” and would take part in “interactive discussions or other activities that increase the awareness of the existence of gender bias.”

I’m all in favor of women fulfilling their potential in science, but I feel compelled, at the risk of being shipped off to one of these workshops, to ask a couple of questions:

1) Would it be safe during the “interactive discussions” for someone to mention the new evidence supporting Dr. Summers’s controversial hypothesis about differences in the sexes’ aptitude for math and science?

2) How could these workshops reconcile the “existence of gender bias” with careful studies that show that female scientists fare as well as, if not better than, their male counterparts in receiving academic promotions and research grants?

When Dr. Summers raised the issue to fellow economists and other researchers at a conference in 2005, his hypothesis was caricatured in the press as a revival of the old notion that “girls can’t do math.” But Dr. Summers said no such thing. He acknowledged that there were many talented female scientists and discussed ways to eliminate the social barriers they faced.

Yet even if all these social factors were eliminated, he hypothesized, the science faculty composition at an elite school like Harvard might still be skewed by a biological factor: the greater variability observed among men in intelligence test scores and various traits. Men and women might, on average, have equal mathematical ability, but there could still be disproportionately more men with very low or very high scores.

These extremes often don’t matter much because relatively few people are involved, leaving the bulk of men and women clustered around the middle. But a tenured physicist at a leading university, Dr. Summers suggested, might well need skills and traits found in only one person in 10,000: the top 0.01 percent of the population, a tiny group that would presumably include more men because it’s at the extreme right tail of the distribution curve.

“I would like nothing better than to be proved wrong,” Dr. Summers told the economists, expressing the hope that gender imbalances could be rectified simply by eliminating social barriers. But he added, “My guess is that there are some very deep forces here that are going to be with us for a long time.”

Dr. Summers was pilloried for even suggesting the idea, and the critics took up his challenge to refute the hypothesis. Some have claimed he was proved wrong by recent reports of girls closing the gender gap on math scores in the United States and other countries. But even if those reports (which have been disputed) are accurate, they involve closing the gap only for average math scores — not for the extreme scores that Dr. Summers was discussing.

Some scientists and advocates for gender equity have argued that the remaining gender gap in extreme scores is rapidly shrinking and will disappear. It was called “largely an artifact of changeable sociocultural factors” last year by two researchers at the University of Wisconsin, Janet S. Hyde and Janet E. Mertz. They noted evidence of the gap narrowing and concluded, “Thus, there is every reason to believe that it will continue to narrow in the future.”

But some of the evidence for the disappearing gender gap involved standardized tests that aren’t sufficiently difficult to make fine distinctions among the brighter students. These tests, like the annual ones required in American public schools, are limited by what’s called the ceiling effect: If you’re measuring people in a room with a six-foot ceiling, you can’t distinguish among the ones taller than six feet.

Now a team of psychologists at Duke University has looked at the results of tests with more headroom. In an article in a forthcoming issue of the journal Intelligence, they analyze the test scores of students in the United States who took college admissions tests while they were still in the seventh grade. As part of an annual talent search since 1981, the SAT and ACT tests have been given to more than 1.6 million gifted seventh graders, with roughly equal numbers of boys and girls participating.

The Duke researchers — Jonathan Wai, Megan Cacchio, Martha Putallaz and Matthew C. Makel — focused on the extreme right tail of the distribution curve: people ranking in the top 0.01 percent of the general population, which for a seventh grader means scoring above 700 on the SAT math test. In the early 1980s, there were 13 boys for every girl in that group, but by 1991 the gender gap had narrowed to four to one, presumably because of sociocultural factors like encouragement and instruction in math offered to girls.

Since then, however, the math gender gap hasn’t narrowed, despite the continuing programs to encourage girls. The Duke researchers report that there are still four boys for every girl at the extreme right tail of the scores for the SAT math test. The boy-girl ratio has also remained fairly constant, at about three to one, at the right tail of the ACT tests of both math and science reasoning. Among the 19 students who got a perfect score on the ACT science test in the past two decades, 18 were boys.

Meanwhile, the seventh-grade girls outnumbered the boys at the right tail of tests measuring verbal reasoning and writing ability. The Duke researchers report in Intelligence, “Our data clearly show that there are sex differences in cognitive abilities in the extreme right tail, with some favoring males and some favoring females.”

The researchers say it’s impossible to predict how long these math and science gender gaps will last. But given the gaps’ stability for two decades, the researchers conclude, “Thus, sex differences in abilities in the extreme right tail should not be dismissed as no longer part of the explanation for the dearth of women in math-intensive fields of science.”

Other studies have shown that these differences in extreme test scores correlate with later achievements in science and academia. Even when you consider only members of an elite group like the top percentile of the seventh graders on the SAT math test, someone at the 99.9 level is more likely than someone at the 99.1 level to get a doctorate in science or to win tenure at a top university.

Of course, a high score on a test is hardly the only factor important for a successful career in science, and no one claims that the right-tail disparity is the sole reason for the relatively low number of female professors in math-oriented sciences. There are other potentially more important explanations, both biological and cultural, including possible social bias against women.

But before we accept Congress’s proclamation of bias, before we start re-educating scientists at workshops, it’s worth taking a hard look at the evidence of bias against female scientists. That will be the subject of another column.

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NOAA’s Oil Spill Response Effort in the Gulf of Mexico

As the nation’s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA has been on the scene of the BP spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations.

We have mobilized experts from across the agency to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico’s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish and other endangered marine life.

NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Additionally:

As a major partner in the federal response to this evolving incident, NOAA will continue to provide the necessary coastal and marine expertise required for sound, timely decision-making and help protect the affected Gulf Coast communities and coastal marine environment.

Line Office Contributions

NOAA is a vital part of the massive response effort on the Deepwater Horizon incident. Many personnel are on-scene and many more are engaged remotely, as follows:

Office of Response and Restoration (OR&R)

Emergency Response Division (ERD)

Assessment and Restoration Division (ARD)

National Weather Service

National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS)

National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS)

Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO)

Office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research (OAR)

National Ocean Service
 

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New Survey Finds Parents Need Help Encouraging Their Kids in Science

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Hospital Windows
Author Unknown

Two men, both seriously ill, occupied the same hospital room. One man was allowed to sit up in his bed for an hour each afternoon to help drain the fluid from his lungs.
His bed was next to the room's only window.

The other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. The men talked for hours on end.  They spoke of their wives and families, their homes, their jobs, their involvement in the military service, where they had been on vacation.

And every afternoon when the man in the bed by the window could sit up, he would pass the time by describing to his roommate all the things he could see outside the window. 
The man in the other bed began to live for those one-hour periods where his world would be broadened and enlivened by all the activity and color of the world outside.

The window overlooked a park with a lovely lake. Ducks and swans played on the water while children sailed their model boats. Young lovers walked arm in arm amidst flowers of every color of the rainbow.  Grand old trees graced the landscape, and a fine view of the city skyline could be seen in the distance.

As the man by the window described all this in exquisite detail, the man on the other side of the room would close his eyes and imagine the picturesque scene.

One warm afternoon the man by the window described a parade passing by. Although the other man couldn't hear the band - he could see it in his mind's eye as the gentleman by the window portrayed it with descriptive words.  Days and weeks
passed.

One morning, the day nurse arrived to bring water for their baths only to find the lifeless body of the man by the window, who had died peacefully in his sleep.  She was saddened and called the hospital attendants to take the body away. As soon as it seemed appropriate, the other man asked if he could be moved next to the window.  The nurse was happy to make the switch, and after making sure he was comfortable, she left him alone.

Slowly, painfully, he propped himself up on one elbow to take his first look at the world outside.  Finally, he would have the joy of seeing it for himself.

He strained to slowly turn to look out the window beside the bed. It faced a blank wall.  The man asked the nurse what could have compelled his deceased roommate who had described such wonderful things outside this window. The nurse responded that the man was blind and could not even see the wall.

She said,  "Perhaps he just wanted to encourage  you."

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NASA plans Arctic mission at sea
By: Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - NASA is launching a mission from Alaska next month, but it won't be into space.

The agency will take to the sea June 15 from Dutch Harbor in the Aleutians on its first dedicated oceanographic field campaign.

The voyage is billed as an up close look at how conditions in the Arctic are affecting ocean chemistry and ecosystems that play a critical role in global climate change.

More than 40 scientists will spend five weeks on board the Coast Guard Cutter Healy, the country's most technologically advanced polar icebreaker. The Seattle-based Healy provides more than 4,200 square feet of scientific laboratory space.

Scientists will sample physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of the Chukchi and Beaufort seas and sea ice.

Passing the ‘Sniff Test’
In Assessing Gulf Coast Seafood, the Nose Knows

Inside NOAA’s Seafood Inspection Laboratory in Pascagoula, Miss., NOAA’s expert seafood assessors are training state personnel to use their sense of smell and taste to detect any unusual odors and flavors in Gulf Coast fish — aromas that could indicate contamination by oil or dispersants from the Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill.

Steven Wilson, the chief quality officer for NOAA’s Seafood Inspection Program, gives us a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to ensure that the seafood that reaches your local market or seafood counter is safe to eat.

What varieties of Gulf Coast seafood are being “sniff-tested”?

Right now, we’re targeting 10 species of seafood, including shrimp, different types of snapper and grouper, and possibly croaker, from fishing areas that have been closed due to oil and are being evaluated for possible re-opening.

Using your sense of smell is one of the best methods  for determining the safety and acceptability of seafood —sensory analysis is a commonly used tool in seafood safety and quality inspections.  An essential element of the job  of a NOAA seafood inspector is to determine what qualifies as Grade A fish, which means that seafood must have good flavor and odor.

How do you train people to use their sense of smell?

People are trained by exposing them to various kinds and concentrations of odors and flavors.  This process takes time.  Some people, unfortunately, are not trainable — some just don’t have an adequate sense of smell to do this work. However, most people have a sense that can be trained to detect specific odors and refined for enhanced sensitivity.

Highly experienced expert assessors from NOAA’s seafood inspection program are training state personnel to act as sensory screeners in the field. Using “first-line” screeners — who perform sensory testing right at the docks or at state laboratories — allows us to be as efficient as possible. They help us determine when we need to deploy expert assessors from NOAA and the Food and Drug Administration, our partner in seafood safety.

The Deepwater Horizon/BP oil spill is on a scale we’ve never seen before, and we can use all the extra hands — and nostrils — we can get. We are expecting to process tens of thousands of samples in the coming months.

What are sensory testers “sniffing” for?

Sensory testers smell for the distinct scent of oil or chemicals that might differ from the normal odor of fish and shellfish ready for market.  When we get a whiff of oil in a seafood sample, we know that the product is unfit for both human consumption and for commercial sale.

In “harmonization” class, we spike fish samples with set concentrations  of oil specific to the Deepwater Horizon/BP spill, as well as dispersants, to determine how sensitive our testers and trainees are.

Learning to discern an odor or flavor and properly describing it is something that comes from experience.  Some odors or flavors are easily masked by a competing odor or flavor so the training and evaluations need to take place in a controlled setting such as a laboratory.  We train people to not only fine-tune their sense of smell to the oil and dispersants from this particular spill, but also to be able to repeat their sensory abilities and standardize how they describe what they are smelling.

What is the process for sensory testing samples from the affected regions of the Gulf Coast?

For fish like snapper and grouper, we collect a minimum of six, one-pound samples. First, the fish are filleted. Then, a panel of 10 expert assessors will smell each of the raw samples and record the odor. The samples are then cooked, and the process is repeated so that the experts may smell and taste the fish in its cooked state.

Cooking the product is important for two reasons: First, it releases aromas that may be less detectable in a raw state. Second, some of the testers may be more sensitive to the smell of cooked fish versus raw fish.  Either way, smelling both raw and cooked samples assures that our testers can detect the full aromatic possibilities of the fish.

What happens to the samples after they pass or fail the sensory testing?

If they pass, then a 200-gram mixture of all the fish sampled from a specific location is sent to NOAA’s Northwest Fisheries Science Center in Seattle  for chemical testing to verify it is free from unsafe concentrations of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) —  the primary chemical constituents of oil and tar.

If the samples fail the sensory tests, then the fishing area from which the samples were collected would likely remain closed until repeated sensory testing and subsequent chemical analysis confirm that seafood from that area is free from unhealthy PAH levels. Sensory testing is the key – and first line of defense – to ensuring what lands on America’s dinner tables is safe to eat.

It’s often said that fish you buy at the market should smell like the salty sea. Is this true?

That’s exactly right.  If it smells “fishy”, beware …

NOAA and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have taken additional measures to ensure that Gulf Coast seafood that lands on America’s dinner tables is safe to eat. You can learn more from NOAA's Protecting the Public from Oil Contaminated Seafood: Fishery Area Closure and Surveillance Plan [PDF]. 

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M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. Photos from the conference posted.
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Be a M.Y. S.P.A.C.E. Teacher
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Free for All From NSTA

As another school year comes to an end, there's no better time to sit back, relax, and start planning for the year ahead. With this annual Free for All issue of Science Class—the online companion to The Science Teacher (TST), NSTA's journal for high school teachers—we provide you with an array of free resources to help you do just that. Enjoy your summer!

NSTA offers many resources and services at no charge; some are available only to NSTA members, but many are available to all.

Blick on Flicks
We all love watching movies. But we also love science. And sometimes the two do not mix! To help us sort the good science from the bad in movies and other visual media, Jacob Clark Blickenstaff provides expert commentary, pointing out where the physics is twisted, the chemistry fudged, or the biology stretched on behalf of the story—without losing sight of the fact that movies are meant to entertain. Blickenstaff helps turn "bad science" into teachable science for middle level and high school students.

Evolution Resources
Looking for books and articles on evolution? NSTA has compiled a wealth of print and online resources on this very subject. There is even a Q&A section on teaching evolution in the classroom!

Freebies for Science Teachers
Need a classroom resource—at little or no cost? Freebies features online resources that are—you guessed it!—free of charge for science teachers. From lesson plans to online activities to videos, teachers can find an array of resources for their classrooms. These resources can be searched by keyword, cost, or type, and are listed in the order they are posted. Short descriptions and website links accompany each listing.

Lab Out Loud
In this biweekly podcast, hosts and science teachers Brian Bartel and Dale Basler discuss science news and science education with leading scientists, researchers, science writers, and other important figures in the field. A selection of links and notes accompanies each episode, enabling the listener to dig deeper into the topics discussed.

Ms. Mentor
Do you have a question you would like to ask a veteran science teacher? Ask Ms. Mentor! Ms. Mentor was a middle school life and physical science teacher for 16 years and a high school computer science teacher for 11 years. She had a brief stint in higher education before retiring as a regional administrator. "Retired" is a misnomer, however—Ms. Mentor continues blogging, reviewing technology, and birding wherever and whenever her fancy takes flight. Blog topics have included science kits, writing in science classes, and formative assessments.

NSTA Calendar
The NSTA Calendar lists the science education events and programs for science teachers. Browse hundreds of events, searchable by date range.

NSTA Communities
Want to enhance your professional development and growth as a science educator this summer? Check out this online professional networking and learning system! NSTA Communities connects NSTA members, conference attendees, and presenters with others who share similar interests, values, and professional needs. Users can create a group on virtually any topic of their choosing and invite others with an expressed interest in that topic to exchange ideas and resources. NSTA Communities also offer an internal messaging system, threaded forums similar to discussion boards, calendar events, and a place to post resources for collaboration.

NSTA List Server
We want to help you keep in touch with your colleagues. NSTA's lists are group e-mail discussions that allow members to exchange information in a peer-to-peer forum. NSTA members who subscribe (at no extra cost) can now select from 12 topic areas: biology, chemistry, computer science, Earth science, elementary, environmental science, general science, physical science, physics, technology education, new teacher, and retired teacher. The lists remove geographical boundaries from member communication and are available to NSTA members—right now.

Colleagues on the list server can share ideas, get information, and ask questions on important issues. The list server is quick and simple to use, so you can easily stay current on trends in science education. The lists are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, so information from your peers is available when you need it.

NSTA News Digest
Looking for the top stories in science and education? NSTA News Digest has the day's leading news at the click of your mouse! Search by News Categories (i.e., Top Stories, Science, Education, or Legislative News) or Science and Education Topics. Click on a story's link, and it will take you straight to the source for easy printing and class distribution.

NSTA Press Books
Did you know that you can access a chapter of many new NSTA Press books online for free? Simply click on the book of your choice, and scroll down to the "Read a sample chapter" link.

NSTA Press Books Blog
New in January 2010, the NSTA Press Books blog offers behind-the-scenes information and tips.
Think you may have missed a lesson idea or teacher resource? Visit this blog to find out what the folks at NSTA press are up to, check out upcoming book releases, and read book excerpts.

NSTA Recommends
Read reviews of the latest science-teaching materials, and take the guesswork out of purchasing. NSTA's online review service, NSTA Recommends, helps you find the best supplemental books, videos, DVDs, and computer software on the market. Our reviewers evaluate each product on the basis of classroom applicability, standards connections, and overall value. Search more than 4,000 reviews by grade level, subject, or keywords.

NSTA Reports
NSTA Reports, NSTA's newspaper, is published nine times a year as a free member service. It is NSTA's timely source of news and information for and about science educators of all levels. It includes national news on science education and education in general; information on teaching materials; announcements of teacher programs; advance notice about all NSTA programs, conferences, and publications; and even a crossword puzzle!

Science Objects
You are teaching a subject for the first time, or for the first time in a long time. You need a content refresher now. Where can you find help that is engaging, high-quality, easy to access—and affordable, too? From NSTA's latest ready resource: Science Objects! Science Objects provide all teachers of science open access to these valuable new resources—at no cost. Resources can be filtered by subject and grade level.

SciGuides
NSTA's online resource, SciGuides, will transform the way you use the internet to plan and provide science instruction to your K–12 students. SciGuides enable you to quickly and easily locate targeted science content information and teaching resources from NSTA-approved websites and provide instructional tools and strategies to put them into practice.

SciLinks
SciLinks is an exciting partnership between progressive U.S. textbook publishers and NSTA. If your textbook has SciLinks, you and your students will have the best internet science sources at your fingertips, including

SciLinks is a free service to those with SciLinks-enabled textbooks and to NSTA members. And SciLinks is easy to use—just log on to the SciLinks site and enter a SciLinks number from the margin of your textbook. You will be offered a smorgasbord of teacher-approved internet resources tied to that specific point in your book.

SciPacks
SciPacks are 10-hour online learning experiences that you can use to help better understand the content you teach. SciPacks are aligned with the National Science Education Standards. Each SciPack contains:

Teachers are encouraged to seek advance approval from their district for continuing education credits that may be ascribed for passing the final assessment. NSTA is establishing relationships with the department of education in states across the United States to formalize the recertification value for completing a SciPack, or series of SciPacks. Select SciPacks are available for free!

Free for All From the U.S. Government

Kepler's Star Field Lithograph
Kepler's Star Field Lithograph was created by NASA's Kepler Mission, which is looking for planets the size of Earth in the galaxy's habitable zone. The lithograph shows where the spacecraft is looking and includes a description of the mission, the location of the star field in the sky, and an explanation of why this field was chosen. An image illustrates the distance this star field lies from the galactic center and the size of the field of view. The website also contains a poster, fact sheets, and a bookmark.

Science Nation
Science Nation is a series of video programs offered by the National Science Foundation. The videos examine breakthroughs and the possibilities for new discoveries about our planet, our universe, and ourselves. Download the free videos from the website!

Education and Outreach
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Agricultural Statistics Service offers Education and Outreach programs. K–12 lesson plans that incorporate agriculture are available in English, math, geography, science, and social studies.

LifeWorks
Targeted to middle and high school students, LifeWorks—from the National Institutes of Health's Office of Science Education—profiles individuals currently working in the medical sciences. Search more than 100 medical science and health careers by title, education required, interest area, or median salary. The varied responses show how careers in medical sciences are diverse and appeal to a wide range of people.

Environmental Education Games
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offers more than 20 online games focused on environmental education. Topics addressed include nautical charts (boat safety), humpback whale migration, correct disposal of marine debris, ocean literacy, recycling, pollution and invasive species, and a virtual ocean expedition to track gray whales.

The Water Sourcebooks
The Water Sourcebooks is a comprehensive environmental education program created by the Environmental Protection Agency for grades K–12. The program explains the water management cycle using a balanced approach, showing how it affects all aspects of the environment. Activities are categorized by grade level (K–2, 3–5, 6–8, and 9–12), and each grade level offers age-appropriate lessons on an introduction to water, drinking and wastewater treatment, surface water, groundwater, and wetlands and coastal waters.

Moon Math
Moon Math offers two ninth-grade math units that center on the theme of lunar habitat design. Unit I contains three case studies that can be used together or as stand-alone modules. These case studies focus on area, volume, and proportion and are provided at three levels of difficulty: whole numbers, decimals, and fractions. Unit II goes a step beyond lunar habitat design with three lessons addressing the calculation of human weight on the Moon, the optimization of cargo hold volume, and the optimization of cargo weight for a lunar mission.

ChemHealthWeb
ChemHealthWeb is the online companion to the National Institutes of Health and National Institute of General Medical Sciences' publication The Chemistry of Health. It includes six downloadable chapters: "Actions and Reactions," "You Are What You Eat," "Cool Tool," "Nature's Products," "Chemistry for a Healthier World," and "Chemistry Meets Medicine." It also offers information about chemistry careers, chemistry images (Molecule Gallery), chemistry-related puzzles and games, and a glossary of chemistry terms.

Schoolyard Habitat Project Guide
Schoolyard Habitat Project Guide was published by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and outlines the steps for creating a wildlife habitat on school grounds. It begins with a comprehensive "Getting Started" section with organization and planning steps required for students and teachers. Succeeding sections provide teacher and student instructions for creating forest, wetland, and meadow schoolyard habitats.

Scientists in Action
Scientists in Action is a publication created by the U.S. Geological Survey that is filled with stories and photographs of scientists in the field. Meet geologists, seismologists, micropaleontologists, cartographers, wildlife biologists, and a preparator—a scientist who handles museum specimens, in this case at the American Museum of Natural History's Department of Vertebrate Paleontology in New York.

Free for All Teachers of Science

Ho'ailona's Journal
Ho'ailona's Journal is a Hawaiian monk seal education resource for students from the University of California, Santa Cruz. It provides information about a young seal named Ho'ailona, ongoing research about him, conservation observations, and student projects. A Facebook page, "Ho'ailona Monk Seal," offers short updates and "conversations" with the seal. Students and teachers can help in the important conservation work of this monk seal project by getting involved in the Call for Action through class or school projects all over the United States.

Project Atmosphere Canada Teacher's Guide
Project Atmosphere Canada is a collaborative initiative of Environment Canada and the Canadian Meteorological and Oceanographic Society. The project's goal is to foster the teaching of atmospheric sciences and related topics in Canada across grades K–12. The teacher's guide covers topics such as acid rain, jet stream, and hazardous weather and the accompanying activities can be used in science classrooms globally.

2010 Morrison Planetarium Pocket Almanac
2010 Morrison Planetarium Pocket Almanac is published by California's Morrison Planetarium. It includes timelines for tracking the phases of the Moon, the planets in the night sky, and lunar and solar eclipses.

Continuously Changing Plant Growth
Continuously Changing Plant Growth is an activity on the Public Broadcasting Service website that demonstrates how the growth rate of a plant depends on many factors, including the amount of water and light it receives. Students in grades 10–12 use graphing to determine an equation that represents a plant's growth.

Safe Food Lessons
These safe food lessons were developed by the Food Safety Project at Iowa State University to provide future consumers with the tools they need to avoid harmful pathogens in the food supply. These lessons will help middle and high school students understand how knowledge about pathogen reduction, time and temperature abuse, and cleanliness will help decrease their incidence of foodborne illness.

Archeology's Interactive Digs
Archeology's Interactive Digs, produced by Archaeology Magazine, takes middle and high school students on virtual excavations to Pompeii; Waka,' a Maya site; and Mount Vernon, where George Washington distilled whiskey. Each dig site offers facts, field notes, interviews with archaeologists, and a panoramic view.

The Butterfly Lab
Designed for students in grades 7–12, The Butterfly Lab offers online activities and materials covering butterfly anatomy, life cycle, behavior, and related topics. Detailed information is accompanied by colorful diagrams and photographs. Teachers will also find three activities involving butterfly anatomy, movement, identification, handling, and more.

Geotechnical, Rock, and Water Resources Library
The Geotechnical, Rock, and Water Resources Library Project from the University of Arizona won the 2003 MAX Award in Education Experiences for applications created by educational institutions in K–12. The project's website contains links to lesson plans and activities for all grade levels.

CREATE for Mississippi
CREATE for Mississippi provides lots of great resources for integrating technology into core subjects. It was developed to support Mississippi teachers as they "advance technology in education." The site features a virtual community where teachers can share ideas, resources, and best practices.

Sustainable Footprint
Sustainable Footprint is a Netherlands-based project aimed at making students aware of the consequences of their lifestyles. The website has teacher programs for "problem-oriented learning" and a series of thematic lessons and guidelines for internationalizing the project and relevant links. The site also offers a footprint quiz for younger students (ages 12–15) and a "design for the future" assignment.

The Discovery of Pluto
The Discovery of Pluto is a part of Astronomy Beat, a series of articles written by noted scientists, amateur astronomers, and educators that gives behind-the-scenes looks at how astronomy is actually done. The Discovery of Pluto tells the story of how the author, Clyde Tombaugh, discovered Pluto. Tombaugh passed away in 1997 and his ashes are en route to Pluto inside the New Horizons spacecraft.

Discovery of Sound in the Sea
Discovery of Sound in the Sea introduces the science and uses of underwater sound to K–12 teachers and students. It provides easy, efficient access to timely, peer-reviewed content on the effects of underwater sound on marine animals. This newly redesigned website uses interactives that allow visitors to quickly immerse themselves in content—from the songs of humpback whales, to interviews with cutting-edge scientists, to the use of acoustics to measure waves.

Evolution of Evolution: 150 Years of Darwin's On the Origin of Species
Evolution of Evolution: 150 Years of Darwin's On the Origin of Species is an interactive multimedia report from the National Science Foundation. The report presents resources on evolution and Charles Darwin, including interviews and essays by a team of international evolutionary experts and a clickable timeline summarizing intellectual and technological achievements that advanced our understanding of evolution. Appropriate for teachers and students at a range of grade levels, the report shows how On the Origin of Species drew attention to anthropology, biology, geosciences, polar sciences, and even astronomy, and why it likely will continue to serve as the organizing framework for the sciences.

Lasers: Transforming Life
Lasers: Transforming Life is a video that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the invention of the laser. The video demonstrates laser applications in a compelling yet easy-to-understand manner and shows laser research that may lead to future clean energy sources or understanding of such mysteries as black holes. Download the video or request a DVD for your classroom.

Not Exactly Rocket Science
Not Exactly Rocket Science is a blog written by Ed Yong, an award-winning British science writer. The blog seeks to make the latest scientific discoveries interesting to everyone and is a great place to catch up on the latest science news. Visit the website for in-depth analysis of interesting scientific reports and explorations of science news.

What You Need to Know About Energy
What You Need to Know About Energy is a new website that communicates essential information about America's energy situation based on the vast holdings of reports from the National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and the National Research Council. The website provides an overview of our current energy system and covers four main topics: energy uses, sources of energy, the cost of energy (in terms of the environment, national security, and sustainability), and energy efficiency. The site's producers are also developing curriculum-based materials for high school and middle school classrooms.

Reading the Landscape
Reading the Landscape is a workshop being held July 26–31, 2010, in Maine. Participants, led by ecology professor Tom Wessels, can investigate Acadia National Park, hike the historic property of Medomak Camp, and explore the forests outside Camden in the Coastal Mountains' Land Trust-Fernald's Neck Preserve. Join like-minded individuals seeking knowledge and a chance to recharge.

SETIcon
SETIcon is a conference being held August 13–15, 2010, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Santa Clara, California, for the SETI Institute. This year's theme is "Our Search for Life in the Universe in Science Fact and Science Fiction." The conference features noted scientists explaining new developments in everyday language; stars of science fiction TV series and movies; and panels to air controversial issues and share perspectives.

P–12 Engineering and Design Education Research Summit
Join researchers, policy makers, and engineers for the P–12 Engineering and Design Education Research Summit taking place August 11–13, 2010, in Seaside, Oregon. The theme is "P–12 Capacity Building Through Community of Practice" and the summit is designed to be a "catalyst for combining scientific argumentation and collaboration that would enhance research in P–12 engineering education." The interdisciplinary approach will link research, teaching, policy, and engineering practice.

21st Biennial Conference on Chemical Education
Taking place August 1–5, 2010, at the University of North Texas in Denton, the 21st Biennial Conference on Chemical Education is a national meeting sponsored by the American Chemical Society's Division of Chemical Education. The conference is designed for secondary school chemistry teachers, graduate students, and chemistry professors. Both new and experienced chemistry teachers will find this conference to be an excellent source of materials, techniques, and content.

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Advancing Mentor and Novice Teachers in Space Science
 

We have an exciting opportunity for middle school earth/space science mentor teachers who will have a student teacher in their class in each of the next two years. This NASA-sponsored project is named AMANTISS (Advancing Mentor and Novice Teachers in Space Science).

We are conducting a training in August, 2010 at Lawrence Hall of Science in Berkeley, California for 32 lucky teachers that features our new GEMS Space Science Sequence for Grades 6-8! We would like to extend an invitation to you to submit an application, or send this on to an interested colleague.

The requirements of selected participants are as follows:

1. Must be a supervising (mentor) teacher for a pre-service student (novice) teacher
in their charge at the middle school level in each of the two years, 2010/11 and 2011/12.

2. Attend the mandatory summer institute, August 10-12, 2010 at Lawrence Hall of
Science in Berkeley, California

3. Commit to teaching the GEMS Space Science Sequence for Grades 6-8 in its
entirety while guiding their student teacher(s) through the use of these materials
during the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 school years. We imagine you will have a different pre-service teacher for one semester in each of the two years.

4. Commit to participation in the evaluation component of the project, which may
include surveys, site visits, and pre-post questionnaires.

5. Must be willing to remain involved over the life of this 2-year project, with a
culminating trip to the National Science Teachers Association Conference in
March of 2012 where they will be a part of a Symposium sharing lessons learned
throughout the life of the project. A stipend of up to $1,250 to cover travel costs
to attend the conference will be provided.

** Note: teachers who work with under-served and under-represented students will have an advantage in the selection process.

The grant provides the following for each selected mentor teacher:

• workshop fees and travel expenses paid to attend the August 2010 workshop in Berkeley
• one kit and teachers guide for the GEMS Space Science Sequence for Grades 6-8 to keep in their own classrooms
• one kit and teachers guide for the GEMS Space Science Sequence for Grades 6-8 for their pre-service teachers to take to their future classrooms
• travel expenses to attend the 2012 NSTA Conference joining other AMANTISS
teachers
• a $300 stipend for their final year of participation
• a supportive network of other supervising teachers

Application spaces are open until filled, so act quickly!

We deeply appreciate the partnership with all of you and look forward to supporting mentor teachers in your region with this wonderful opportunity.

For questions or additional information, please contact:

Traci Wierman, GEMS Network Director
twierman@berkeley.edu
510/642-2014

Access an application form here or download a flyer with the information above here.

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Deepwater Horizon Incident, Gulf of Mexico - Updated daily Situation: July 4, 2010

As the nation’s leading scientific resource for oil spills, NOAA has been on the scene of the BP oil spill from the start, providing coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations.

GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse [leaves OR&R site] is a new online tool that employs the Environmental Response Management Application (ERMA®) a web-based GIS platform that provides you with near-real time information about the response effort. The site offers you a "one-stop shop" for spill response information.

The site integrates the latest data the federal responders have about the oil spill’s trajectory with fishery area closures, wildlife data and place-based Gulf Coast resources — such as pinpointed locations of oiled shoreline and current positions of deployed research ships — into one customizable interactive map.

Updated daily
Situation: July 4, 2010

HOUMA, La. -- Crews throughout the Deepwater Horizon response branches in Louisiana are checking deployed boom and surveying for additional oil deposits after heavy weather moved through the area beginning Sunday, June 27.

Heavy winds and waves have blown sand across beaches, burying oil and boom. Reports of damaged and stranded boom have been received from Plaquemines, Terrebonne, Iberia, Jefferson and Lafourche parishes. Crews are beginning a systematic effort to repair any boom that has been damaged.

Heavy waves have eroded sand along beaches exposing oil that had been buried by natural sand build-up along the coasts. Beaches in Grand Isle, Louisiana, in particular, have had sand eroded away exposing buried oil.

"There is a long-term treatment plan for Grand Isle which includes the collection and washing of oiled sand including buried oil," said Don Ballard, the operations director for the Grand Isle branch. "Part of this plan includes collecting and storing oiled sand in piles for later cleaning. At no time has clean sand been used by clean-up crews to cover or bury oil or oiled sand."

NOAA Response

NEW Fact Sheet: What to Expect in South Florida from the Deepwater Horizon/ BP Oil Spill (Document format: PDF, size: 399.9 K)

NOAA provides coordinated scientific weather and biological response services to federal, state and local organizations.  Experts from across the agency have mobilized to help contain the spreading oil spill and protect the Gulf of Mexico’s many marine mammals, sea turtles, fish, shellfish, and other endangered marine life.  NOAA spill specialists are advising the U.S. Coast Guard on cleanup options as well as advising all affected federal, state and local partners on sensitive marine resources at risk in this area of the Gulf of Mexico. Overflights are conducted on a daily basis (weather permitting) to provide field verification of model trajectories. NOAA’s Office of Marine and Aviation Operations (OMAO) is supporting the response work in the Gulf with NOAA-owned ships and aircraft. Currently, NOAA has deployed six NOAA owned vessels in response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

Please see GeoPlatform.gov/gulfresponse for further information on the federal response to the Deepwater Horizon Incident.

Trajectories

Strong E winds are forecast to persist into Sunday then transition to persistent SE winds through next week with speeds of 10-15 knots. Due to the northwest movement of the slick over the past several days, the coastlines of Mississippi, Alabama, and the Florida Panhandle west of Pensacola continue to be threatened by shoreline contacts. An overflight today to western Mississippi Sound saw light sheens near Horn and Ship Island, but no oil further to the west. With strong easterly winds, the Chandeleur Islands, Breton Sound, and the Mississippi Delta also continue to be threatened. Only scattered sheens have been observed on recent overflights to the west of the Delta – strong westward currents will transport these sheens rapidly to the west. Models suggest more oil may be moved west of the Delta threatening shorelines as far west as Caillou Bay within this forecast period.

OR&R’s modeling team continues to generate daily trajectories for the nearshore surface oil. The offshore trajectory maps (previously displayed on this page, showing oil interacting with the Loop Current) have been temporarily suspended because the northern end of the Loop Current has been pinched off into a large eddy (Eddy Franklin) so there is no clear path for oil to enter the Loop Current from the source. Also, there have been no reports of recoverable oil in the Loop Current or Eddy Franklin and the oil has moved to the North and away from the Eddy Franklin. We will continue to monitor the area with overflights, vessel observations, and satellite analysis. When the threat of shoreline impacts to the Florida Keys increases, we will resume producing the offshore trajectory maps.

The Loop Current is an area of warm water that comes up from the Caribbean, flowing past the Yucatan Peninsula and into the Gulf of Mexico. It generally curves east across the Gulf and then flows south parallel to the west Florida coast. An eddy is water that rotates.

Closures

NOAA Modifies Commercial and Recreational Fishing Closure in the Oil-Affected Portions of the Gulf of Mexico

All commercial and recreational fishing including catch and release is prohibited in the closed area; however, transit through the area is allowed. (See map.) The new closure measures 81,181 square miles (210,259 square kilometers) and covers about 34% of the Gulf of Mexico exclusive economic zone. The majority of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico are open to commercial and recreational fishing. Modeling and mapping the actual and projected spill area is not an exact science. NOAA Fisheries Service strongly advises fishermen not to fish in areas where oil or oil sheens (very thin layers of floating oil) are present, even if those areas are not currently closed to fishing. Any changes to the closure are announced daily at 12 p.m. Eastern at sero.nmfs.noaa.gov and take effect at 6 p.m. Eastern the same day.

Sea Turtles and Marine Mammals (effective July 3, 2010)

The Unified Area Command continues to build a sea turtle observer program for all on-water oil clean up operations. The observers will primarily focus on controlled burn and skimmer fleet operations. The command's Wildlife Branch is working now to determine when, where, and how observers can be best positioned to reduce risks posed to sea turtles by oil containment and clean-up activities. In addition, the Wildlife Branch will begin to train additional sea turtle observers this weekend.

Throughout the spill, federal and state biologists have been surveying for and rescuing oiled sea turtles offshore using small vessels carrying trained sea turtle collection teams. If sea turtle observers can improve the sighting and collection of sea turtles prior to burn and skimming operations, then this is another way to reduce risks posed to turtles by the oil spill. In offshore waters, both free floating patches of sargassum seaweed and spilled oil tend to accumulate in convergence zones, places in the ocean where strong opposing currents meet. Sea turtles, especially juveniles, use these areas for food and cover. Burn operations sometimes occur there because of aggregated oil. Burn operations are managed by the Unified Area Command and are not to occur if wildlife are spotted prior to ignition. Burns can be stopped immediately by allowing fire-resistant boom surrounding the operation to open and the oil to spread too thin to support combustion. For more on the United Area Command observer program, go to http://www.deepwaterhorizonresponse.com/go/doc/2931/734531/

No turtle or dolphin strandings or rescues were reported on July 3. A total of 598 sea turtles have been verified from April 30 to July 3 within the designated spill area from the Texas/Louisiana border to Apalachicola, Florida (One dead and one live stranded turtle from Alabama, 
both oiled, and one live debilitated loggerhead recovered offshore by the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries). There are 147 sea turtles in rehabilitation centers. These include 100 sea turtles captured as part of the on-water survey and rescue operations, and 47 turtles that stranded alive. A total of 115 stranded or captured turtles have had visible evidence of external oil since verifications began on April 30. All others have not had visible evidence of external oil.

Of the 598 turtles verified from April 30 to July 3, a total of 436 stranded turtles were found dead, 55 stranded alive. Four of those subsequently died. Four live stranded turtles were released, and 47 live stranded turtles are being cared for at rehabilitation centers. This report contains some corrected numbers from earlier reports. Turtle strandings during this time period have been much higher in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle than in previous years for this same time period. This may be due in part to increased detection and reporting, but this does not fully account for the increase.

The NOAA Ship Pisces reported a dead 25-foot sperm whale on June 15, 2010, that was located 150 miles due south of Pascagoula, Mississippi and approximately 77 miles due south of the spill site last week. The whale was decomposed and heavily scavenged. Samples of skin and blubber have been taken and will be analyzed. The whale had not evidence of external oil. Sperm whales are the only endangered resident cetacean in the Upper Gulf of Mexico. There are no records of stranded whales in the Gulf of Mexico for the month of June for the period 2003-2007.

From April 30 to July 3, 56 stranded dolphins have been verified in the designated spill area. Of the 56 strandings, five were live strandings, three of which died shortly after stranding, one was released and one is in rehabilitation. Fifty one dolphins were found stranded dead. Visible evidence of external oil was confirmed on five dolphins, two live and three dead stranded animals. We are unable at this time to determine whether three of the dead stranded dolphins were externally oiled before or after death. Since April 30, the stranding rate for dolphins in Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle has been higher than the historic numbers for the same time period in previous years. In part, this may be due to increased detection and reporting and the lingering effects of an earlier observed spike in strandings for the winter of 2010.

A stranding is defined as a dead or debilitated animal that washes ashore or is found in the water. NOAA and its partners are analyzing the cause of death for the dead stranded and dead captured sea turtles and the stranded marine mammals.

Assessment

To help determine the type and amount of restoration needed to compensate the public for harm to natural resources as a result of the spill, a Natural Resource Damage Assessment (Document format: PDF, size: 90.8 K) will be conducted by NOAA and our co-trustee agencies. Although many agencies are involved in this process, NOAA is a lead federal trustee for coastal and marine natural resources, including marine and migratory fish, endangered species, marine mammals and their habitats. The focus currently is to assemble existing data on resources and their habitats and collect baseline (pre-spill impact) data. Data on oiled resources and habitats are also being collected. For additional information, see the Deepwater Horizon DARRP Webpage.

Current Trajectory Maps • top
24, 48 and 72 hour trajectory forecast maps and offshore trajectory forecasts are produced once daily.

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COSEE Lesson Plans

COSEE-West (Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence) is one of our partners in the Satellites in Education Conference. They have done an excellent job of pulling together some lesson plans that focus on ocean literacy.

Since 2002, the Centers for Ocean Sciences Education Excellence (COSEE) Network has grown to 12 thematic and regional Centers located around the United States. The overall mission is “to spark and nurture collaborations among research scientists and educators to advance ocean discovery and make known the vital role of the ocean in our lives.”

Although each Center is funded individually, the Network of Centers has established its own set of goals:

You can access a number of lesson plans submitted to COSEE by clicking here.

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