As with math and literacy, there are several professional organizations dedicated to fostering excellent P-12 science teaching.
I'll start with the statewide organization: MnSTA, or the Minnesota Science Teachers Association. This organization is designed to help teachers stay on the cutting edge of science education, to network with other science teachers, and provide professional development opportunities. It offers an events calendar, with upcoming workshops and conferences. As a member, you'll have access to the newsletter, as well as information from past conferences. For anyone, there is a resources page, with links to science websites, legislative information, and assessment updates. MnSTA also has an annual conference in the spring, a great professional development and networking opportunity.
At the national level, there is NSTA, the National Science Teachers Association, of which MsSTA is a local chapter. This is an incredible site with a wealth of information for science teachers. Check out the elementary, middle school, and high school specific resource sites for articles, blogs, websites, and lesson ideas. As a literacy person, I particularly like the "Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12" site. Members have access to an amazing amount of professional development resources, including webinars, articles, and networking opportunities. Journals published by NSTA include Science & Children for elemetary science teachers, Science Scope for middle school science teachers, and The Science Teacher for high school level teachers. Like other discipline-specific teaching organizations, NSTA publishes position statements supporting excellent science teaching. Lots of great information, resources, and opportunities at the NSTA site!
For middle and high school specialists, there are a few more organizations to consider, including NESTA, (the National Earth Science Teachers Association), NABT (the National Association of Biology Teachers), or AAPT (the American Association of Physics Teachers). Each of these organizations offer members similar resources to NSTA, and might be worth considering if you are an earth science, biology, or physics teacher.
Next post: Social studies organizations
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What did teachers do before the internet gave them access to all these incredible resources???
Your blog apparently wants me to remain anonymous, Dr. Kelly! This is Angela from Dr. Kaback's group and I can't post anything unless I select 'anonymous'--weird!
ReplyDeleteANYWAY...
I was a bit worried as I was going through all of the organizations because I didn't see science, but after continuing on...here it is!
This is pretty cool--all of the organizations you've listed for all of the subjects are neat, in fact. At the school that I am at, they have a science specialist (sigh), but never fear, Dr.Kelly, because I introduced my 2nd graders to non-fiction books already and used a book on PLANTS!! Yes, I did bring up photosynthesis and some of the research I did about it. Do you know how cool it is to have done all that work and research in your class and then be able to use it in my classroom?!?!?
I am happy that you have several sections devoted to different organizations--it will definitely come in handy!