Saturday 27 October 2012

 
Theme: At the Crossroads for Science Education 
Dates: 29th March-1st April, 2012



Each year National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)  holds four conferences on science education: three regional events in the fall and a national gathering in the spring. This organization provide ways for science teachers to connect with one another.


This year I attended the National conference that was held in the spring in Indianapolis Indianna.

This was the conference of a lifetime! This was also my first experience at an international conference on science education and I really enjoyed the experience. 

The conference was so meaningful because there were many hands-on activities that I adopted for use with my students. 

There were many presenters from organizations such as Delta Education, Discovery Education, Japan Artec, and NSTA Student Chapter.

Exciting Activities:

1. Building your own electrical circuit


In this session we built our own electrical circuits using paper, foil, circuit template diagrams with electrical , christmas tree bulbs and 9volt batteries.



2. Using discrepant events to enhance your lessons

A.  Discrepant Event: The Mystery Tube


You can't really tell how the strings are connected in this tube

B. Discrepant Event: The Cartesian Diver

This activity works on the principles of buoyancy, pressure and force (weight). My students love this activity.

Here is an example of a video which explains this activity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BiI7DhFgoNQ


3. Building your own coil motor



Members from Japan Artec facilitated this session. With the materials we were given we were able to build our own motors using principles of electricity and magnetism.



Stephen Matthew Skeen, Yao-Shi Osaka and their assistants hepled us with our electric motors.
 
 
 
 
Other activities such as the Elementary Extravaganza,  Make over lab session, and even touring the ehibit halls gave me an opportunity to gather resources for my classroom and also to meet professionals that were in the field of science.
 
                                                                                       
Elementary Extravaganza
 
 
Extreme Makeover: Laboratory Edition Members of the NSTA student chapter introducing us to some exciting activities.
 
 
 
Sea World's display of the Virginia Opossum in the exhibit halls

2 comments:

  1. What I remember about science from school you could write on a postage stamp and still have room to write the 23rd Psalm but I love how this session at the conference gave you some ideas to excite and motivate your students. How things have changed since the 60's!

    Well done Pradesta.

    ReplyDelete
  2. what is the procedure for the electrical circuit? May I ask.

    ReplyDelete