Welcome to this issue of Science Matters in Wisconsin.  Check out SMWi on Facebook to receive news and professional development updates throughout the week. http://www.facebook.com/sciencematterswi

Please share this Facebook page (and this newsletter) with your colleagues…especially those new to your school or to the profession!

--Special Requests

1. If you are involved in a regional science sharing group (ie: physics sharing group) please contact me or have the group coordinator contact me (brunsele@uwosh.edu).  Sharing groups are an excellent way to network with other science teachers and provide valuable professional development.  I would like to help regional groups share meeting times and information through Science Matters in Wisconsin.

2. Shelley Lee, the Wisconsin DPI Science Education Consultant, is on Twitter.  Follow her at @wisDPIscience for just in time science information. http://twitter.com/#!/wisDPIscience

--Federal Legislation Alert

Legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives have crafted a bi-partisan resolution on the importance of science education in the U.S. The resolution calls for an increased emphasis on science as legislators work to reauthorize ESEA (No Child Left Behind).  Read more about the resolution and, if you are inclined to do so, write your legislators here: http://www.sciencematterswi.com/support-science-education-by-supporting-house

--Professional Development

The UW Oshkosh Science Outreach office is providing a free workshop focused on space science for 4^th and 5^th grade teachers.  September 24 & October 8.  Find details here: http://www.sciencematterswi.com/uwo-science-outreach-lofty-teacher-workshop

Teacher workshops will be held on September 25^th at the Wisconsin Science Festival in Madison.  Find details here: http://www.sciencematterswi.com/professional-development-opportunities-925

--Website of the Week

Find recent scientific research news and breakthroughs at http://www.research.gov Check out the “news” and Science, Engineering and Education Innovation (SEE Innovation) sections for short descriptions of scientific research awards and discoveries.

--Science Spotlight

I bet you are expecting Hurricane Irene news…  You can find plenty of that elsewhere.  Let’s do evolution instead!  A 160 million year old fossil found in China provides the earliest evidence of an animal using a placenta to nourish young. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14651218

OK, one piece about Irene.  Follow the link to a nice quote from Bill Nye about climate modeling and the link between Irene and climate change. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2011/08/30/scitech/main20099349.shtml

Check out Science Matters in Wisconsin’s Daily Science News Digest: http://paper.li/scimatters_wi/1313980410 (or at www.sciencematterswi.com)

--Resources

Please share this resource with your elementary colleagues!  NSTA Press has two excellent books for elementary teachers.  Picture Perfect Science and More Picture Perfect Science provide dozens of inquiry based science lessons keyed to high quality children’s literature.  Lessons use a learning cycle approach that includes guided exploration and assessment instruments. These two volumes are excellent resources for both science and literacy instruction at the elementary level. Sheep in a Jeep (force and motion) is possibly my favorite elementary science activity! NSTA provides a free sample chapter from both books at the links below.

Picture Perfect (2^nd edition): http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781935155164

More Picture Perfect: http://www.nsta.org/store/product_detail.aspx?id=10.2505/9781933531120

-- Contact

To subscribe to Science Matters in Wisconsin, please visit - http://bap.nsta.org/Content/Home/BecomeAContact/Default.aspx

For questions about Science Matters in Wisconsin, please contact me:

Eric Brunsell, University of Wisconsin Oshkosh  brunsele@uwosh.edu