Welcome to the Xplora newsletter! Xplora Newsletter Here we aim to inspire, excite and amaze you with news from the science education world. Whether you are looking for new resources dealing with cutting edge topics, or searching for practical ideas, this is the place for you! We also want to transform this newsletter into a communication hub for teachers, scientists and others interested in science education issues. We are open to your contributions just contact us: science-news@eun.org All the best, Alexa Joyce Science portal manager Science at a glance Become a member of Xplora Xplora, the European gateway to science education, invites you to join its educational community. You can register here: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/community/register.cfm Members can share science education resources, taking part in thematic chats and forums, and create private communities. Read more about Xplora: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/about/the_xplora_gateway.htm Thematic dossier: DNA Xplora offers regular thematic dossiers on important topics in science, complete with background information, recommended resources, experiments, training opportunities and more. The focus of this first dossier is DNA it includes top tips for extracting DNA from bananas, animations for illustrating key aspects and more. To read and download the complete dossier, visit: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/news/themedossiers/dna.htm Call for contributions: museums and science centres on Xplora Xplora s museum section presents science museums and science centres, as well as their educational activities. Visit: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/museums.htm
We invite all museums and science centres to take part by sending a brief description of the institution and its educational activities, to Laura Massoli at laura.massoli@eun.org Xplora School Projects 2005 This autumn Xplora is launching new science projects for schools. To signal your interest to take part, please contact Karl Sarnow at karl.sarnow@eun.org. There is no deadline for registration. More project topics will be launched soon. 1.Sunset project The sun rises in the east and sets in the west - but did you know that it doesn't always rise and set in exactly the same place? You can explore this topic with your pupils - even very young ones - in this simple project. Full teacher and student materials - notes, worksheets - will be provided to all participating schools. The project is aimed at improving both general skills, such as telling the time and basic geography and basic science knowledge. 2. Four seasons project Science and culture are brought together in this project. For the scientific part, students are invited to note the exact time and compass direction of the sunset, but, they must take their measurements on special astronomic dates - the equinoxes and/or the solstices. Students are invited to present and discuss their local cultural traditions relating to these dates on the Xplora portal through texts, online discussions, pictures and photographs. Schools can work together to compare results and traditions. The project intends to improve both general skills, such as telling the time and basic science and geography knowledge. To read more about, visit: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/megalab/xplora_school_projects_200 5.htm Megalab Physics experiment measuring radioactivity Help your pupils to learn how to measure radioactivity and compare data with others with this simple experiment offered by the German organisation, Bionet. Teachers and pupils can upload their results to the website and compare them with other schools using the database. The experimental procedure is in English only. Radio data experiment
http://www.bionet.schule.de/~pierrev/projects/radiodata/radiodata.htm Bionet site http://www.bionet.schule.de/ Secondary school biology experiments working on photosynthesis This French site proposes a range of experiments that can be carried out with pupils to investigate aspects of plant photosynthesis. They range from observing photosynthesis in action, to analysing pigments and replicating classic experiments by Hill and Calvin. The site is produced by the Biology and Multimedia section of the Pierre and Marie Curie University in Paris, France. Read more: http://www.snv.jussieu.fr/bmedia/photosynthese/index.html Hands-on atoms for primary school pupils This American site in English only although rather commercial, has some simple but excellent ideas for primary school science activities. The task is for kids to build "atoms" out of sweets, using the periodic table as a reference. There's an added motivation as once the "atoms" are built correctly, the children can eat their results! http://www.lessonplanspage.com/scienceedibleatomlab- ForPeriodicTableAtomsGoodIdea46.htm More practical science ideas at http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/megalab.htm Library Science education resources Are you looking for interactive activities, science websites, articles or educational databases for your lessons? Xplora offers you an online resources database for science teaching and learning. Last week the following items were added: - Piemonte Parchi : an online magazine for primary and secondary schools. Students can read, write and learn more about environmental themes. http://www.regione.piemonte.it/parchi/rivista/index.htm - Direct2U mailing lesson plans for primary teachers : class activities, from maths/numeracy lessons to geography, which you can download and use for free! http://forum.ngfl.gov.uk/direct2u - Presentations Of Science base : a database of PowerPoint presentations from a variety of scientific disciplines. The presentations can be used by teachers for their classes, or by students.
http://posbase.uib.no/posbase/ - iearn - The International Education and Resource Network - iearn website presents online projects from schools in more than 109 countries. The projects presented cover many areas: from science to maths, from environment to art. iearn empowers teachers and young people to work together online using the Internet and other new communications technologies. http://www.iearn.org/ You can search many other resources by age, keyword, language and subject: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/library/resources.cfm If you register as a member you can also add your own resources to the database. Fun physics site for pupils Do your pupils complain that science is boring? Then try encouraging them to visit this fun site "The Mission a great scientific adventure!" available in French and English. Produced by the National Film Board of Canada, the site challenges children to play games to learn more about scientific topics such as atoms, lightning, mirrors, electricity and more. English version of the site: http://onfjeunesse.ca/jeunesse/lamission/home_e.php French version of the site: http://onfjeunesse.ca/jeunesse/lamission/home_f.php Biology for primary children - the Adventures of Herman the Worm This fun site for young children helps teach and learn basic biological concepts in anatomy and ecology, while exercising their maths and writing skills. It explains how to set up a worm bin with your pupils, with suggestions for lessons and activities involving earthworms. English version: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms/index.html Spanish version: http://www.urbanext.uiuc.edu/worms_sp/index.html Take a virtual trip to outer space The European Space Agency (ESA) has developed many pedagogical tools for teachers. They cover a wide range of disciplines including geography, physics, and biology from primary through to secondary level, with materials usually available in several languages. All materials were developed together with teachers. Some are available directly online, some are downloadable, and some can be sent out as printed copies. You can find more information on them on the ESA site at www.esa.int/education. There is also now a web site for children in 6 languages accessible from http://kids.esa.int.
For further information or to order materials, please contact education@esa.int. Please mention which subjects you teach, your role, age of your pupils and your postal address. PENCIL project: Investigating marine issues with climate change PENCIL is a large scale European project to develop and test innovative methods for science teaching via many pilot projects. One of the pilot projects, led by the UK's National Marine Aquarium, will develop a Climate Lab looking at climate change and its impact on the sea. This pilot project brings together world-leading experts in climate change from the University of East Anglia, the UK's Environment Agency and other universities, and a network of schools. Further information about PENCIL: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/nucleus_home/pencil.htm Further information on the pilot project: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/nucleus_home/pencil/national_marine _aquarium.htm Nucleus project: Scienceduc Nucleus is a European cluster of projects to improve science education in Europe. Scienceduc is one of these projects, focusing on hands-on science education for primary schools. It is a two year project involving partners from France, Estonia, Portugal and Sweden. The French partner is a network for primary science teachers called Hand in Hand (La Main à la Pâte). Further information in English: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/nucleus_home/scienceduc.htm La Main à la Pâte French website for teachers: http://www.lamap.fr Grace - free software for data analysis and graphs Grace is a data analysis and plotting program, available for free. Karl Sarnow, pedagogical coordinator of Xplora, explains more about how it can be used in science teaching. http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/library/software/xmgrace.htm Visit the science education library at: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/library.htm Practice Call for participation - online chat for schools
Xplora is happy to invite primary and secondary schools to chat online. Many topics are foreseen, from fractals to chocolate. The chats are aimed at teachers as well as at students. If you want to take part and share your opinions with others, first you have to choose the chat topic and then register your interest. Have a look at our chat topics: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/events/online_chats/chat_topics.htm Favourite resources for science teachers "I have a strong belief that primary school science is a crucial stage for deciding future interest of students towards science. So, in my opinion, rising standards at this level is a very important task. In this website it is accomplished through the use of flash simulations for describing natural phenomena (greenhouse effect, water cycle). These simulations are accompanied by practical exercises and some assessment questions," says Bernat Martínez Sebastià, a Spanish physics teacher and teacher trainer. Here he introduces some of his favourite resources for teaching: Read more: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/practice/favourites/practice_examples.htm Teaching in Practice: Biological Treatment of Polluted Water Carmen Bucovala is a teacher of biology from the Ovidius High School in Constanta, Romania. She came up with a nature-inspired outdoor project and resource for secondary level students of science and biology. Carmen and her pupils put in place a real life water treatment project for the Tabacarie Lake in Constanta, and learnt more about local ecology - she explains more about how she and her pupils worked outside. Read more: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/practice/examples/teaching_in_practi ce.htm --- Favourite resources for science and informatics
Eleni is science and informatics teacher at the Greek Gynasium/Lyceum and the European School III both schools are in Brussels, Belgium. Here she describes her favourite online resources. They have done wonderful work presenting the tools used for historical experiments. The mechanism is described in a clear and simple way, while the colours and the old-fashioned style create a nice atmosphere, says Eleni Kyriaki, describing the site of the Institute and Museum of the History of Science in Florence. http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/practice/favourites/eleni_kyriaki.htm Events EMBO/EMBL Conference on Science and Security 28-29 October 2005 Heidelberg, Germany The European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) and the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) are organising this conference, which focuses on crucial issues around use and misuse of biological data about individuals. http://www.embo.org/projects/scisoc/scisoc2005.html Communicating European Research 14-15 November 2005 Brussels, Belgium The European Commission s Directorate-General for Research will host the second Communicating European Research conference. Based on the very positive experiences from the 2004 edition, the event will focus on the manifold aspects of science communication and will provide an excellent forum and meeting place for scientists, communication professionals and journalists. http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/events/calendar/communicating_euro pean_researc.htm Science on Stage: festival of science teaching 21-25 November 2005 Geneva, Switzerland A new 'Science on Stage' teaching festival is being planned at the CERN nuclear research laboratory. Following the model of the successful 'Physics on Stage' programme, delegates for the festival will be identified through national activities in 29 European countries.
http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/events/calendar/science_on_stage f estival_of_.htm To have a look at the complete list of events: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/events/calendar.htm About this newsletter Please send all comments, criticisms and contributions to sciencenews@eun.org. For more information about Xplora, please visit http://www.xplora.org/about.htm. The Xplora newsletter is published by European Schoolnet for the PENCIL project, which supports the Xplora science education gateway full information about PENCIL is available at http://www.xplora.org/pencil.htm. PENCIL is part of the Nucleus framework, funded by the European Commission's DG Research under the Science and Society programme. For full details of Nucleus please visit http://www.xplora.org/nucleus.htm. Subscriptions To subscribe or unsubscribe, please visit: http://www.xplora.org/ww/en/pub/xplora/news/newsletter.htm Reproduction rights You may copy and distribute parts of this text freely, as long as the source is credited as Xplora and includes the link back to www.xplora.org.