Understanding Caribou Migrations via Drones and Models This article covers Andrew Berdahl;s work on understanding Caribou migrations in Alaska. By watching the herd from above, scientists got insights into how Caribou behave and whether or not they follow a leader on their journey across the ice flows.
How One Small School District Embraces CS Education This is a fantastic article about how Computer Science education is embraced and supported in the small town of Melrose, NM. It highlights the work of Alan Dougherty (science teacher, and bus driver for the district) as he leads student teams to compete in the Supercomputing Challenge. Alan was a participant in the NM-CSforAll PD program and a past participant in Project GUTS PDs offered in concert with the Supercomputing Challenge.
Computational Thinking in Science - a new article by Peter Denning In this article, Peter Denning recounts the origin of computational science, a meld of computer science and science. He states "scientists who used computers found themselves routinely designing new ways to advance science. They became computational designers as well as experimenters and theoreticians" and "computational thinking emerged from within scientific fields—it was not imported from computer science.
Project GUTS at CSEdWeek Kickoff in San Mateo, CA This year, Paige Prescott and Sheena Vaidyanathan will be representing Project GUTS at the CS Ed Week Kickoff conference in San Mateo, CA. The organizers are expecting to have around 100 district administrators from all over the country at the event. Project GUTS will have a booth at the showcase to talk to attendees about how they can implement computer science in science at their schools/districts.
Why CS Belongs in Every Science Classroom Project GUTS teacher and supporter Sheena Vaidyanathan wrote a terrific article for EdSurge on "Why Computer Science Belongs in Every Science Teacher's Classroom" (November 16, 2013). She focuses on data analysis and computer modeling and simulation as NGSS practices that can be "brought to life" with tools like StarLogo Nova. Project GUTS was recommended as a place to get
Modeling and Mapping the Spread of the "Gangnam Style" video This article describes a research study that asked "Do viral videos spread in the same way as infectious diseases?" The study minimized the impact of geographical distance as a measure and looked at the linkages and spread of disease. They found that indeed the spread of a viral video had characteristics similar to the traditional "wave pattern" of contagion spread.
Girl Scouts of America Offers New STEM Badges The Girl Scouts of America are offering 23 new badges focused on STEM areas. In the photo is Sylvia Acevedo, right, CEO of the Girl Scouts of the USA (and former NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory scientist) from Las Cruces, NM! She says ""My troop leader looked at me and saw me looking at the stars, and she taught me that there were constellations, she taught me there were systems and patterns to the stars.
NGSS' Next Challenge - Curriculum This Education Week blog article describes a dearth of curricula that are aligned to the NGSS standards. Notably, it points out the need for PD side by side with new curricula, "Previous efforts to produce science materials for teachers often yielded great results— but neglected professional development. The developers of new curricula need to see these as intertwined, rather than separate, Short said, with supports built in so teachers feel safe trying out new things."
Interview with Susan Yoon In this video, Dr. Susan Yoon of University of Pennsylvania talks about science education, modeling and simulation, and gives a delightful historical perspective on her involvement with StarLogo Nova.
How to Color a Lizard In an article from phys.org, researchers have used simulation to show that skin color in animals arise from microscopic interactions between neighboring cells.
Computer Modeling of Namibia's Mysterious Fairy Circles Two graduate students developed a computer model of how fairy circles form. In their model, the interaction of termites and vegetation caused the development of fairy circles and another smaller scale pattern between fairy circles that no one before had see. The two students went to the desert of Namibia to look for this secondary pattern and found it. While not "proof" of how the Namibian fairy circles were formed, the finding furthers our understanding of pattern development in nature in
Don't You Dare Try to Teach Science Without Building Models In this January article in Wired by Rhett Allain, the author states that science is about building models and thus science classes should be framed around building models. Do you agree? https://www.wired.com/2017/01/dont-dare-try-teach-science-without-building-models/
NSTA Stance on Computing Education NSTA Executive Director, David Evans, while an advocate for CS education does not believe computer science should be able to count as a science graduation credit. In the NSTA community blog (http://nstacommunities.org/blog/2016/10/17/computer-science-should-supplement-not-supplant-science-education/) of October 17th he stated his view that "Computer Science Should Supplement, not Supplant Science Education."
