October Social 10/8 at Harrington's in Wakefield

The academic year is back in full swing! Make NSSSA a part of your professional learning network by joining us to “talk shop” with the science education leaders in and around your community!

Participate in the NSSSA’s October Social at Harrington's in Wakefield on October 8th and share your experiences, ideas, and concerns around hot topics in Science Education including:

• New Middle School Science Standards alignment
• Integrating engineering / technology in your classroom
• Lesson Exchange - have a good lesson or lab activity, share it! (Especially for new AP Lab Formats)

Where: Harrington’s Pub in downtown Wakefield.

When: Thursday, Oct. 8th 3:30-6:00. Agenda starts at 4:00.

Cost: Free

Whether you are an active or former member you are encouraged to join us and bring a teacher, coach, or coordinator making a difference in your science classrooms. Attached below and in this link you will find a printable invitation to share with your colleagues.

Appetizers will be served compliments of the NSSSA.

Please RSVP so we can get an accurate count and have enough refreshments on hand. Questions regarding this event can be sent to musselman@bpsk12.org. We hope to see you and your colleagues there!

Third Annual North Shore High School Marine Science Symposium

Announcing the Third Annual North Shore High School Marine Science Symposium

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

Salem State University

Please join the Massachusetts Marine Educators (MME) for an exciting glimpse into the marine world through a diversity of perspectives from around Massachusetts.  Presenters will include experts from the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries, New England Aquarium, Seacoast Science Center, Massachusetts Bureau of Underwater Archaeology, and many others. Students will have the opportunity to investigate current and on-going projects in marine science and related disciplines.

Symposium Schedule:

8:15 am        Registration and Refreshments

9:00 am        Welcome

9:20 am        Workshop Session A

10:25 am      Workshop Session B

11:30 am      Featured Talk: Two Weeks Underwater: Becoming an Aquanaut on Mission 31

12:15 pm      Lunch

1:00 pm        Adjourn/depart

Workshops: There will be 10 hands-on marine science workshops that will be repeated in each of the two time slots. Students will attend two workshops during the day in addition to the two keynote addresses. Please complete the attached Participant Detail Form (which also has workshop session details) by Friday, March 6th. Workshop attendance will be assigned by MME to accommodate student preferences to the greatest extent possible.

Cost: $10 per student includes registration materials, morning refreshments, and lunch

Other logistics: Light refreshments will be provided during the registration period, and all registered participants – including teachers and chaperones – will receive a boxed lunch.  We recommend a ratio of one adult for each ten students. Schools are responsible for their own transportation.

Space is limited, and registration will take place on a first-come, first-served basis.  Payment can be made by check or credit card, however if paying by check, a purchase order number must be provided at the time of registration. 

Please register here: https://massmarineeducators.wufoo.com/entries/2015-north-shore- hs-marine-science-symposium/

If you have any questions, please email Shannon at mscoutreach@neu.edu or call 781-581-7370, x321.  Please visit www.massmarineeducators.org for more information about MME.

Sponsored by: Massachusetts Marine Educators, Northeastern University Marine Science Center, and Salem State University

NSSSA Annual Holiday Meeting: You're Invited!

Please join us for the annual North Shore Science Supervisors Association's Holiday Party on January 22nd!

The holiday party will be held at the Sheraton Colonial Boston North Hotel (on the Lynnfield / Wakefield line) and will begin promptly at 4:00 PM.

This event is being sponsored by Glencoe and is free to NSSSA members. If you are attending please consider completing this RSVP. While not required it will help us gauge what amount of members plan to attend so we can plan dinner and refreshments accordingly!

If you ha​​ve not yet paid your annual membership this year please bring your dues to the banquet. The cost is $15 for active members and $5 for retirees.

Don't miss this opportunity to reconnect with your fellow science education leaders and start 2015 off right. We look forward to seeing you there.

Invitation from Melrose Public Schools to Join "Job-Alike" Meeting Discussing DDMs in Science

NSSSA member Julie Shea of the Melrose Public Schools has invited all NSSSA members to join a "Job-Alike" meeting hosted by Melrose to discuss district determined measures, or DDMs as part of their involvement with the SEEM Collaborative. The purpose of the job-alike is to provide support in curriculum, instruction, and assessment by participating districts by sharing resources among the departments and districts.

The meeting will be on Tuesday, January 27th at 3:00 PM at Melrose High School (360 Lynn Fells Parkway, Melrose, MA) in the newly renovated science labs. We have arranged a snow date for Tuesday, February 3rd. The meeting is open to science directors, chairs, and curriculum coordinators at any grade level. We ask participants to bring at least one DDM being used by their district including any accompanying rubrics. To facilitate collaboration, please bring five copies. Participants will be invited to a DropBox folder where additional DDM’s can be shared. We also ask you to bring your calendars so that we can plan subsequent meetings.

If you would plan to attend to this meeting (or want to be involved in future meetings) you may contact Julie Shea directly please by email with your name, position, school district, phone number, and email.

David Lyons Inducted into Massachusetts Science Teacher Hall of Fame

 Former NSSSA President, David Lyons, was honored during the annual MAST/MSELA award banquet as the newest member of the Massachusetts Science Teacher Hall of Fame.


David retired from public education in June of 2010 after several years with the Revere Public Schools as both a science teacher and a science curriculum coordinator. David was inducted with the help from another former NSSSA President, Harriet Page, who had this to say about David in her speech:

I am very pleased that David M. Lyons, EdD, will be inducted tonight into the Massachusetts Hall of Fame for Science Educators. I have known David for many years and have served with him in numerous ways that have revolved around supporting and improving science education in Massachusetts. 

I have worked with David over the years back when I was President of North Shore Science Supervisors Association and when he was President of NSSSA and we continue to work together presently as we serve on this organization’s Board of Directors- in striving to keep this association alive and vibrant- in an era when it is much more difficult to motivate science educators to come out and participate in organizations of this type.  

I had also worked with David when the “old” Massachusetts Science Supervisors Association held yearly state conventions and David always volunteered to be a presenter at the conventions. But- besides participating in the conventions himself, he also made sure, as the Science Curriculum Director for the Revere Public Schools, that funding was available for several of his K-12 science faculty to attend these conventions which he knew would “sow the seed” for these teachers to think about involving themselves in science education on a broader level beyond just their local district. 

David has expanded his desire to support Massachusetts science teachers through his business- Lyons Educational Consulting Services. He enthusiastically helps to develop competent new Massachusetts science teachers via his role as Senior Science instructor at Cambridge College. Evidence to his success in this endeavor- I worked with one of David’s new science teachers in my DESE Summer Chemistry Institute in July and this young teacher shouted praises about how much David’s mentoring has helped shape her into a much more competent biology teacher and how he has continued to be supportive to her in her classroom well past their formal mentorship period. 

For all of the reasons that I have just mentioned and many more, it makes me very happy to see David Lyons inducted tonight into the Massachusetts Hall of Fame for Science Educators.

Congratulations to David and a thank you from the entire NSSSA membership for his years of service and fellowship!

Reminder: MSELA / MAST Conference This Week!

This is just a reminder that the MAST/MSELA Conference is being held this week at the Boxborough Inn. The MSELA President, Wendell Cerne, who joined us for our fall meeting was kind enough to also pass along the agenda for the MSELA portion of the event, in hopes that you might join your fellow science leaders while there for one or more of their sessions. You can still register for this event if interested, just follow the link shared above.

The MSELA agenda has been published below for your convenience. Also, keep your eyes peeled for more information in regards to the NSSSA holiday meeting, as always courteously held after the busy holiday season!

Massachusetts Science Standards Update

Former NSSSA President, David Lyons and retired NSSSA member, John Papadonis attended both the recent STEM Summit in Worcester and a Science Standards Colloquium hosted by Cambridge College at the Museum of Science. There they took in a presentation by DESE's Assistant Director of STEM, Jacob Foster, whose presentation slides have been shared below. In addition, David Lyons has been kind enough to share his notes from this presentation and our fall meetings roundtable discussion on the revised science standards.

Timeline:

• Expected ratification Fall 2015
• MCAS change 2-3 years after ratification, but high school may take longer (due to competency determination).

The Big Picture:

• 32% of currently advertised jobs in Massachusetts are for STEM fields.
• 60% of jobs that pay more than 60 thousand/year are in STEM.

We need to begin now to prepare students for these future jobs! Rather than focusing on the specifics of a Biology course, Career and College readiness means having students not only learn, but use relevant science and engineering practices, relevant scientific reasoning and relevant math.

Scientists and engineers basically use the same skills (with only their purpose and product being different). In the new standards content and practice are now integrated, which, hopefully, will lead to greater interest.

We need to address student misperceptions at all grade levels. All students are taught about photosynthesis, but do they actually know how a tree becomes a tree? We don't simply want students to know facts, our goal is for students to be able to interpret and explain the natural world.

The Implications 

1. Relevance-there is a shift from learning facts to explaining phenomena
2. Rigor- standards include practice with content, inquiry-based practices
3. Coherence- learning builds across time and across disciplines

One paradigm shift is to student directed learning. We want our students to be able to argue from evidence. To quote Scott Morrison, "seeing is not doing, participation is not ownership!"

Engineering is not just a simple application of science (old standards). For engineering practices we want our students to Ask, Imagine, Plan, Create, and Improve (just like in the real world).

Specifics:

• New standards articulate desired student performance.
• New standards do not define how you teach. 
• New standards feature a change in the verbs (moving away from Bloom's) 
• New standards will be linked over time, connected, with increasing sophistication.

Old standards: (relative to photosynthesis) paraphrased, and compared to the new.

Grade band 3-5: Describe how energy from the Sun.....
Grade band 6-8: Recognize that producers.......
High School: Identify the reactants, products and purposes.........

New standards: 

Grade 5: Support an argument that plants......... 
Middle School: Develop a model to describe........
High School: Use a model to illustrate how photosynthesis......

• Pre k-8 will now be grade specific (unlike prior bands) 
• Pre k-5 practically mirror Next Generation standards, so Jake explained that aligned resources should be much easier to find.

Jake advised not to keep both sets of standards, but to start using Next Gen now (pre k-5).

Districts are encouraged to have integrated curriculum, but they will not be mandated to do it. Middle school should be spiral, as this is the format of the new standards (but not mandated).

Middle school decisions to be made:

• Do you spiral or continue the layer cake (Earth/Space-Life-Physical)?
• How do you handle content-specific teachers? 

Assessment: 

The schedule of MCAS exams is not expected to change (no grade to grade test). There will probably be a different look to the test because the present test does not assess practice.
DESE will be watching the PARCC to gauge how the science tests will change because to conform to the new standards there needs to be a performance assessment.
The high school standards are for introductory 9th and 10th grade courses.

Every district determines their own pathway. There is an overall reduction in the scope of high school standards. High school standards feature an overlap in STEM and ELA standards.