science

shoaglund's picture

The Colorado Virtual Academy Science Fair...A Wild Experience!

Submitted by on Tue, 05/01/2012 - 6:18am

Each year, new and experienced families attend our popular in-person events around the country where they learn more about online education, meet our dedicated and experienced teachers and staff, and of course, have some fun with other local families.

On Thursday, April 19th, Colorado Virtual Academy held a COVA Science Fair & Discovery Day at a local The Wildlife Experience. 459 families, including new and soon to be COVA families, attended this event -  with one family traveling over 3.5 hours one way from the Western Slope to attend! Now that's impressive! 

shoaglund's picture

Discovery Space Shuttle Lands at Dulles National Airport

Submitted by on Tue, 04/17/2012 - 11:43am

Image by Brittany Collins

pthomas's picture

When Will I Ever Use This?

Submitted by on Tue, 04/10/2012 - 12:57pm

A former student let me know about a post by DimSumThinking, titled When Will I Ever Use This. The post starts by referencing A Mathematician’s Lament, which was written by Paul Lockhart in 2002.

shoaglund's picture

Wind Map

Submitted by on Fri, 03/30/2012 - 9:23am

Yesterday, we shared information about the wind map via Twitter, but it's too cool not to share it here as well...

Wind:  "an invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us—energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future." 

shoaglund's picture

K12 Kids are Amazing: Tennessee Virtual Academy student Davis F.

Submitted by on Tue, 03/27/2012 - 8:13am

Wait until you read this story about Tennessee Virtual Academy, Davis F., and how he outscored most of the other college teams at the recent Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Southeastern competition.

Out of the 54 teams competing in the competition, only Florida A&M-Florida State University College of Engineering, University of Alabama and Mississippi State scored higher than this fifth grader! 

His impressive robot he named "davibot" took a week to create and was completely autonomous to meet the competition's requirements.  

shoaglund's picture

Discovery Education 3M Young Scientist Challenge

Submitted by on Fri, 02/17/2012 - 6:14am

I often highlight the importance of encouraging  students to pursue Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) related studies to prepare them for their future. In the next five years, STEM related jobs are expected to increase by over 20 percent.  This statistic does not correlate with the amount of young adults pursuing STEM related studies and ultimately, career paths. The lack of qualified graduates will have global implications that will greatly affect our country. 

Major companies, including Google, Intel, Microsoft , and 3M are doing their part to encourage students to continue to pursue STEM related studies, including creating contests giving kids an avenue to share their innovative ideas with the world. 

shoaglund's picture

Google Science Fair 2012

Submitted by on Fri, 02/03/2012 - 8:36am

Have you heard about the Google Science Fair? It's an online science competition seeking curious minds from the four corners of the globe. Anybody and everybody between 13 and 18 can enter. All you need is an idea.

In fact last year, over 10,000 students from 91 countries submitted their amazing ideas and it was narrowed down to 3 top winners – all young women. The judges said what set their ideas apart was their intellectual curiosity, their tenaciousness and their ambition to use science to find solutions to big problems. Just read about their winning experiments:

  • Lauren Hodge in the 13-14 age group. Lauren studied the effect of different marinades on the level of potentially harmful carcinogens in grilled chicken.
  • Naomi Shah in the 15-16 age group. Naomi endeavored to prove that making changes to indoor environments that improve indoor air quality can reduce people’s reliance on asthma medications.
  • Shree Bose in the 17-18 age group. Shree discovered a way to improve ovarian cancer treatment for patients when they have built up a resistance to certain chemotherapy drugs.
Ashley MacQuarrie's picture

Transforming the Way We Learn: How cyberlearning can encourage an interest in STEM

Submitted by on Tue, 11/08/2011 - 10:34am

“Cyberlearning blows apart the walls of the classroom and allows new experiences that were never possible or practical before.”

This quote is from an awesome video from Mindshift on how cyberlearning is transforming the way students learn science. At 7 minutes, it’s a bit long, but I encourage you to watch the whole thing. The students’ enthusiasm and the learning experiences made possible by technology are inspiring! 

Through cyberlearning, students are experiencing science in ways that would not otherwise be possible. Virtual labs and simulations make it possible to replicate experiments that could not be conducted in even the most sophisticated school science lab. Mobile technology allows students to experience science out in the world, rather than behind a desk, while activity-based projects “give kids ownership of their learning.”

shoaglund's picture

STEM Education: Some Students Have Little Access to Science Education

Submitted by on Tue, 11/01/2011 - 11:10am

A new report recently released by the Center for the Future of Teaching and Learning at WestEd teaching and student learning in California reveals that many K-6 students have little access to high quality science education in California elementary schools.  This finding is shocking especially when you consider President Obama recently said STEM fields are  "more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health, our environment, and our quality of life than ever before."

shoaglund's picture

Encouraging Students to Explore STEM Related Studies

Submitted by on Tue, 10/04/2011 - 10:45am

I have been reading a lot lately about the importance of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and how it plays a huge part in preparing for and succeeding in the kind of workforce our country needs. 

Why it that kids is seem to lose interest in STEM related studies before they hit middle school? They are born natural problem-solvers, acting as mini-scientists – tasting, touching, building, and experimenting, as they explore the world around them.  What happens over the course of a few short years that would cause a third of fourth graders to lose interest in science?  And a few short years after that – research shows 50 percent of eight graders deem it irrelevant to their education or future plans. Science – irrelevant!? Really?!

Pages