Students in grades 4-8 build simple circuits using a battery, wires, and light bulbs. They examine how electricity is conducted through a light bulb using a battery as a power source, and learn the difference between a series circuit and a parallel circuit.

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Tags: Electrical Engineering, Grades 4-9

High School biology students in Valders, Wis. are raising zebra fish as part of a research project being conducted by students at the University of Wisconsin-Manitowoc. Or at least they’re trying. But the grant-funded project, intended to interest high schoolers in STEM, has encountered a problem: dying fish.

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Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on Research Collaborators Encounter Mystery

Tags: Biology, Biomedical, Bioscience, Chemical Engineering, Chemistry, Experiments

Researchers have found a “surprisingly strong” relationship between imposition of Daylight Saving and students’ SAT scores. Students in Indiana counties that changed their clocks had scores that were 16.34 percent lower than those in counties that didn’t.

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Tags: Research on Learning, Testing

Physics teacher Ed Linz learned the value of teamwork commanding a submarine, where crew members place their lives in each others’ hands. He now collaborates with a special education instructor in teaching a mixed class of high school students.

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Filed under: Special Features | Comments Off on Feature: A Team Approach to Special Needs

Tags: Physical Science, Physics, Science Teachers, STEM education, Teachers, Team Teaching, Team-building skills, U.S. Navy

The school-reform enthusiasm that saw states compete for federal Race to the Top funding and change the way teachers are evaluated seems to have cooled. Anticipating cuts in state funding, school officials across the country are bracing for a pushback against reforms, including efforts to bolster STEM programs.

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Tags: Education Policy, Public Policy, Research on Learning

Seventh-grade technology education students in Hampton, Va., are learning to create clay animation videos using a webcam, software and clay. They research, design and create a five- to 10-minute episode for a hypothetical TV show, creating a storyboard, script, animated characters and digital imagery. “They’re only limited by their imagination,” says teacher Terry Beddow.

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Filed under: K-12 Education News | Comments Off on 7th Graders Create Animation Videos

Tags: Animation, Art, Art and Engineering, Computer Science, Design, Engineering Design, Technology, Technology Education, Technology for Learning

Teachers of grades 6 through 8 from Northrup Grumman communities have a chance to join an expedition either to the Bahamas, to examine coastal ecology, or to the edge of the Arctic, to study climate change.

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Filed under: For Teachers, K-12 Outreach Programs, Web Resources | Comments Off on Travel Fellowships for Middle School Teachers

Tags: Climate Change, Corporations, Environmental science, Grades 6-8, Ocean, Ocean science, Outreach, Programs for Teachers, Scholarships and Fellowships

The ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp (BHSSC) is a free, academic program for students entering grade 6,7, or 8 in the fall of 2010. Held on college campuses across the country, these 2-week residential camps provide activities, experiments, projects, and field experiences to enrich students’ mathematics, science, technology, and communication skills; introduce students to college life; and stimulate their interest in science and engineering as a potential career path. Campers attend classes that include problem solving, study, research, writing and communication skills. 2011 information to be announced.

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Filed under: Grades 6-8, K-12 Outreach Programs | Comments Off on Students Summer: Middle School Science Camp

Tags: Grades 6-8, STEM subjects, Summer Camps & Programs (Students), Summer Programs (Students)