K-12 education
terrasig | September 29, 2007The company whose Movable Type (MT) software powers us at ScienceBlogs, Six Apart, is doing a great thing by supporting one of our favorite charities, DonorChoose.org.
Between now and noon Monday you can request a code that will give you $30 to donate to any DonorsChoose project you'd like. What is DonorsChoose, you ask?
Donors Choose is a brilliant non-profit organization lets you support schools and education directly and personally, by choosing projects that excite you, and then making it easy to donate to them. Every project listed on the site is a personal request from a public school…
terrasig | May 3, 2007For five decades, the Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) has been an national resource for science education and teacher development in the somewhat unlikely setting of Colorado Springs, Colorado. In addition to a variety of print resources, often developed with NSF support.
Among their greatest personal resources for teachers is the Keys to Science Institutes that provide an intensive, 5-6-day-long on-site experience for science educators together with a year-long web-based community that reinforces the skills and tools gained during the institute workshops. While not inexpensive…
terrasig | September 26, 2006Dr Bruce Alberts, recently departed president of the US National Academy of Sciences and Professor of Biochemistry and Biophysics at UCSF, just spoke this morning at a symposium celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Duke University School of Medicine. The overall program is incredible, with four Nobel laureates in three days, plus a number of Lasker Award winners including one of this year's (Linda Grieder).
I'm compelled to put up this quick post on Dr Alberts' talk because of his ambitious plan for improving scientific literacy of the US and the scientific prospects for grad students and…
terrasig | July 24, 2006There was really nothing more I could add last week regarding all of the turmoil at/about the US Food and Drug Administration in the aftermath of the much-debated survey results, as covered by my SiBlings and elsewhere last week. A good many of us have colleagues and former classmates who work at FDA and are busting their humps to serve the public good despite the lack of scientific support and the abundance of political pressure.
As evidence in defense of the folks at the front line at FDA, here is a very nice public-service education and drug safety program developed by FDA for kids…
terrasig | July 15, 2006I've gotten a few raised eyebrows this week as to why a modestly-compensated, mid-career cancer researcher would choose to (or could afford) to vacation in Aspen, Colorado. I'll have more to say about this, but just one example of why this is such a worthwhile place to visit comes from my 2 hours yesterday at a free Aspen Institute lecture listening to financier, venture philanthropist, and prostate cancer survivor, Michael Milken, talk about how to revolutionize the pace of scientific discovery and implementation of medical innovations.
Many people remember Mr Milken incorrectly, or at…
terrasig | July 4, 2006As noted in my last post on the end of our ScienceBlogs.com DonorsChoose campaign to raise funds for public schoolteacher projects around the country, we have all been amazed at the outpuoring of generosity from readers who share our passion for educating the next generation of scientists. At the very least, you have all played a part in improving the scientific literacy of kids who go on to do other things, but can still apply critical thinking skills to everything from making sense of politician/sciencespeak to protect themselves from unscrupulous marketers of dietary supplements.
But as…
terrasig | July 2, 2006The DonorsChoose campaign here at ScienceBlogs has come to a close and our challenge has been the beneficiary of support from about 10 donors. As a result of the generosity of readers, including poor graduate students and thoughtful family members, we've met all three of our challenge goals to fund projects in underserved areas of North Carolina. Thank you!
However, one donor stands out and I'm sending this shout-out for permission to use her name here to acknowledge her incredible philanthropy. The DonorsChoose page that we sponsors see doesn't list exact dollar amounts, but given the…
terrasig | June 21, 2006...not to mention you are discriminating, generous, good-looking and intelligent!
What am I talking about? First, recognize that our move to Sb has increased our daily visits steadily into the triple digits but we are still only floating around positions 32 to 40 among our 44 SiBlings.
But, be still, dear readers - we are kicking butt in two measures of DonorsChoose contributions. Pledge coordinator (and Sb 2.0 pledgemistress) Dr Janet Stemwedel was procrastinating on real work yesterday to calcuate that Terra Sig is #1 among ScienceBloggers for DonorsChoose contributions per 1000 unique…
terrasig | June 18, 2006Much to my amazement, over $500 has been donated to fully fund the first of my three pet projects in North Carolina. What is even more amazing is that these donations came from a total of two individuals: one is a blogger and the other is unknown to me, I think, but DonorsChoose does not list the amount for each donor. So thank you to you both and a very special BIG thank you if one of you donated the bulk or if both of you donated in the ballpark of $250 each.
Why I am even more touched by your generosity is that the funded project, Big Books for Little Readers in Science and Social…
terrasig | June 12, 2006A renowned, non-profit curriculum development organization in Colorado Springs, CO, called BSCS (Biological Sciences Curriculum Study) has developed for NIH three FREE teaching modules for middle school teachers. The first is called, "Doing Science: The Process of Scientific Inquiry," and helps students in grades 7-8 to develop and refine their critical-thinking skills. The complete press release and info on the two other modules is below the fold. BTW, have I mentioned that these modules are FREE?
I'm obviously committed to doing what I can to reverse the tide non-scientific intrusions…
sb admin | June 9, 2006No surprise here: a highly-regarded climatologist declares that the Bush administration is "muzzling government scientists" and covering up the facts about global warming.
Warren Washington, a senior scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, said that Bush appointees are suppressing information about climate change, restricting journalists' access to federal scientists and rewriting agency news releases to stress global warming uncertainties.
"The news media is not getting the full story, especially from government scientists," Washington told about 160 people…