STEM Galore with OneCar and More!


Priscilla Robinson, Educational Innovationsby Priscilla Robinson

If you teach STEM,  you’ll want to learn about the OneCar system.

The performance components in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS) have spawned many wonderful chances to explore STEM in the classroom.  The STEM curriculum is based on the idea that an interdisciplinary, applied approach is the best way to teach students these four specific disciplines.   When your students are searching for solutions to real-world problems, they are more engaged, and their learning is more authentic.

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A Light at the Smithsonian: Notes from a Spectroscopist


Alex Scheelineby Alex Scheeline

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History, on the national mall in Washington, D.C., has an especially fascinating exhibit on Thomas Edison.  The exhibit highlights the development of electricity and lighting, and, more generally, invention.  In late 2017, I visited an area that featured a set of lamps—including a low-pressure sodium vapor lamp, a mercury lamp, an incandescent lamp, and a compact fluorescent lamp.

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Science Fairs in the News


latino-professor-newspaperYou might be surprised how much news there is about the ubiquitous science fair!  We have collected a few worthy articles for you.  Some are funny, others are provocative—and they’re all worth a look.

If you come across an article of interest, please share it with us in the Comments section below.

Happy reading!

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Science Fair Discussion Starters


Discussion Starters - Educational Innovations NewsletterWhy are science fairs important?  What makes the science fair process valuable?  It’s an excellent question and a good way to start a class discussion about this time-honored tradition.  First and foremost, why DO we ask our students to work on a science fair project year after year?   The answer, in a nutshell, is to help them learn how to think like scientists.  Scientists find answers to questions that interest them.  In other words, your students simply need to ask themselves, What do I want to know more about?

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Science Fair Lesson – The Scientific Method


Lesson - Educational Innovations Blog

What is the scientific method?  It’s one of the stepping stones your students need to cover before starting any science fair project.

As this helpful primer from Science Buddies states, “Whether you are doing a science fair project, a classroom science activity, independent research, or any other hands-on science inquiry, understanding the steps of the scientific method will help you focus your scientific question and work through your observations and data to answer the question as well as possible.”

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