I can't say too much about how I've have taken the initiative to further promote science and STEM careers as I am only a substitute teacher this year.
What I can say is that there are a group of retired doctors, and scientist that have taken it upon themselves to do their own promoting of STEM careers and science in general, by volunteering at a small school and conducting science lessons apart from the district's curriculum. I heard about this when I saw them with a group of students and inquired about this. I make it a point when I'm subbing at that school to remind students as to when they will next visit, and if there's time, try to review some of the concepts covered from the previous visit. I also have them write questions down and to take these with them for the next science lesson.

The article "What's Our Sputnik?" (Freidman, 2010) without a doubt had some valid points. We must do what we can with young students enter STEM fields.
Years ago, when we successfully landed a man on the moon, and brought him safely back to earth, we were responding to a potential threat from another super power, the Soviet Union.
Although we did become more knowledgable, productive, and efficient in our various systems, we still seem today to be responding to others, instead of doing what we can to help our own country prosper, and its help its people feel secure.
The changes the author would like to see happen are not far fetched, but should be looked at realistically. First, and foremost, we must find ways to motivate young students to seriously consider STEM careers. But this will take more than enthusiasm to achieve, it will take a collective effort from teachers, AND parents, as well as the community to teach kids to determine what their goals are, and more importantly, what it will take to get there. We need to promote time, patience, and hard work. We need to counter the instant gratification that plagues our society. Young people need to understand what is behind those instant messages, and high speed internet, and social medias.

Let's try this out!

My lesson on earthquakes went pretty well.
The students that I taught were wonderful to work with. They seemed to really enjoy the activity. They were engaged in the process pretty much the whole time.
I think they really enjoyed building their own structures to see if they could withstand a simulated earthquake.
The regular classroom teacher was able to circulate and help as needed which was an added plus. I'm glad that there was enough time for the students to comment on the activity afterwards, but as always, I was crunched for time!

Natural disasters can and do happen anywhere, anytime. With advancements in technological communications we have the ability to learn about disasters as they happen, 24/7. Because of this we also have a responsibility to provide humanitarian aid whenever possible. Realistically, we can't simply drop what we're doing and travel across the country or across the world to render help. But thanks once again to technology, we can log onto various websites and offer our support through monetary means. We can also visit these sites to educate ourselves on the various and insightful information they provide.

Studying about natural disasters in the classroom and teaching about how these events impact the environment and people's lives provides an opportunity for students to find ways to be actively involved in humanitarian aid while gaining scientific knowledge about their world. Students can see how combining science and helping others can be applied to real world events, which can propel them to get involved. Starting out by learning about local organizations can expose them to efforts close to home. From there they can branch out to other organizations around the country and the world.

Encouraging students to create their own blogs can also provide a platform in which they can showcase their involvement and efforts, and give them something to be proud of. They can title their entry with "Caring is Cool."

Here are some sites to get students involved:

www.exploringabroad.com/humanitarian-org.htm
www.globalcorps.com
www.unicefusa.org/partners
www.children.org

try this again

just checking

Ended up not getting a very good grade on the Week 3 Application: Data Analysis. However, I contacted Dr. L. and got a second chance to add the discussion for peas and snapdragons. Let that be a lesson to me: never assume when writing a paper. Clearly state EVERYTHING!

Never did hear back from "Ask a Scientist" so I'm not sure what to do at this point.

try this again!

try this

yep

yep

Mike's science blog: Structured Inquiry Experience: Surface Tension Sci...

Mike's science blog: Structured Inquiry Experience: Surface Tension Sci...: Structured Inquiry Experience: Surface Tension Science Activity *Although I was not able to create a link in order for others to view stud...

Structured Inquiry Experience: Surface Tension Science Activity

*Although I was not able to create a link in order for others to view students work samples, I will do my best here to explain how the activity went.

It is worth noting here that I am not the regular classroom teacher, and therefore I believe the experiment would have turned out differently. I do not really have a clear picture as to just how much science these students have been exposed to this year.

The students were very excited about learning something new in science, as I came into the classroom. With only 45 minutes to one hour of allotted time, I jumped right into it by first asking students if they knew how to float in water. They responded with examples of treading water. I then asked them if they were able to float ON water. They said they couldn't. I then displayed a paper clip and a bowl filled with water and asked if I placed the paper clip in the water would it sink or float. The students responded that it would sink, which it did. I then asked if there was anything that could be used to make the paper clip float. The students felt nothing could be used. I then demonstrated how this could be done by first placing a small piece of paper towel in the water, then placing the paper clip carefully on top, and viola, the paper clip floated on top of the surface of the water! (During this whole time the students were instructed to answer questions asked of them in their journals.)
I then instructed the students to try this on their own as I circulated and assisted. I also used this time to ask open ended questions such as "Why is my paper clip still floating?" "What properties of water make this possible?" "What does the water look like around the paper clip?"
When students were able to master this, I challenged them to see how many paper clips they could float at one time. The record was 11!
As the activity progressed we discussed the concept of surface tension, and how an insect, the water strider, has taken advantage of this unique property of water. I then posed the following question to the students: "Can you think of any uses for this in humans?" I felt this question helped stretch their imagination, and got them thinking outside the box.
At the end of the activity, I brought out a mystery liquid, and asked the students to closely observe when I placed one drop of this liquid (dish washing liquid) next to the floating paper clip. The paper clip sank. I then asked the students what could the mystery liquid be? Their answers were varied from oil to shampoo, and even juice. To me they were engaged in the learning process right up until the end.  
They did a great job writing their responses in their journals and drawing pictures to show their thinking and learning. It's amazing how science and creativity can go hand in hand!
I believe the students were positively impacted by this activity, and will hopefully look at water in a new way.

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Testing blog set up