Posts tagged ‘STEM’

February 16th, 2012

Science Education Advisor Daniel Menelly Joins Liberty Science Center as VP of STEM Education

Science House Foundation is pleased to announce that Science Education Advisor and board member Daniel Menelly, who is also the host of Science House’s wildly popular science education app VideoScience, has just accepted a position as Vice President of STEM Education at Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, New Jersey. This will add a new, exciting layer of collaboration and science education opportunities to our growing worldwide network of collaborators focused on sparking the imaginations of students around the world about the excitement of science and mathematics.

The announcement from Liberty Science Center:

Daniel J. Menelly, a Pre-eminent Authority on Science Education, Named Vice President of STEM* Education at Liberty Science Center

February 14, 2012 (Jersey City, NJ) – Liberty Science Center today announced the appointment of Daniel J. Menelly to the position of Vice President of STEM Education starting March 12. Mr. Menelly will direct the Science Center’s extensive instructional programs that reach 190,000 students and teachers throughout New Jersey and the greater NYC area.

Paul Hoffman, President and CEO of Liberty Science Center, says, “Very few people have Dan’s extraordinary range of experience and diversity in STEM teaching and curriculum development. Liberty Science Center is committed to bringing the excitement of science to students and families from all backgrounds, and Dan is the right person to expand our already robust programs.”

Since 1998, Mr. Menelly has worked at the United Nations International School in Manhattan, where he developed and taught middle-school science through a minds-on, experiential model and integrated science lessons into other academic disciplines. In 2010-11, he took a leave of absence from the UN school to become the Albert Einstein Distinguished Fellow at the National Science Foundation in Arlington, Virginia. There Mr. Menelly tracked, evaluated, and promoted STEM education policy and reform initiatives at the national level.

Mr. Menelly’s areas of specialization include curriculum design and review, cyber-enabled learning, science education media, teacher evaluation, and hands-on science. He has developed curricula in astronomy, materials science, oceanography, chemistry, and physics, and he holds patents on science teaching aids known as The Alien Magnet Ball and The Galactic Manipulative. He has achieved national recognition for his many science instructional videos, including Light Physics and What’s Stomata With You?

He is a science education advisor at the Science House Foundation. He previously worked at the Harlem Day Charter School in New York City and has taught science at the American School of Paris in St. Cloud, France, and at Seacrest Country Day School in Naples, Florida.

Mr. Menelly was a Research Affiliate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Center for Materials Science. He holds a B.S. in Biology from Fairfield University in Fairfield, Connecticut and received his General Science Grades 7-12 teaching certificate from Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut. He is a resident of New York City.

*Science, Technology, Engineering and Math

About Liberty Science Center
Liberty Science Center (lsc.org) is a 300,000-square-foot learning center located in Liberty State Park on the Jersey City bank of the Hudson near the Statue of Liberty. Dedicated to bringing the excitement of science to people of all ages, Liberty Science Center houses seven museum exhibition halls, a 3D theater, the nation’s largest IMAX dome theater, live simulcast surgeries, tornado and hurricane-force wind simulators, K-12 classrooms and labs, and teacher-development programs. 600,000 students, teachers, and parents visit the science center each year, and tens of thousands more benefit from the center’s offsite and online programs.

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December 10th, 2011

Happy Birthday Video Science!

Joe Dyer trying one of his Video Science experiments at home in the UK

Recently we received the below email from Phil and Deb Dyer from the the city of Chester in the United Kingdom, with the above picture of their son Joe. On a visit to New York City the Dyers met Dan Menelly, Science House education advisor and host of Science House’s Video Science app who told them about the app.

“Our 9 year old son Joe has since been fascinated by experimental learning through the Video Science media. As parents Video Science has allowed Joe the opportunity to be given a one to one enriching science experience through digital media. Dan Menelly’s engaging lectures have caught Joe’s imagination and, as Joe says ‘There is really fun stuff to do and, it makes you do amazing things’.

As parents it is sometimes difficult to find a media that engages with your child’s learning process, but we are really pleased that Video Science has achieved this Joe is taking his Alien egg to school soon and will be presenting his experiment to the class, not bad for a 9 yr old!

Kind regards, Phil, Deb and Joe”

Dan Menelly demonstrates a "Light Physics" experiment for the Video Science series.

For the past year Science House education advisor Daniel Menelly and Science House CEO and Founder James Jorasch have spent a few weekends per month at Science House recording new videos for Science House’s Video Science app.

This month we celebrate the release of Video Science 3.0.

Saturdays at Science House

In the early days of Science House Dan Menelly and James Jorasch were discussing how they might collaborate. Dan envisioned a “virtual toolkit” of science teaching tips, tools and experiments for new science teachers based on some of the experiments he does in the classroom. But he didn’t have the technological capability to produce and disseminate this content.

“Science House was looking for ways to leverage cutting-edge technology to reach a larger audience,” James said. “So, Dan and I converted a room in Science House into a mini-studio and started capturing video.”

“Dan would arrive at 11am on Saturdays, usually exhausted from his work week as a full-time science teacher at the United Nations International School, and we’d spend hours setting up the studio. Some days we’d have to pause recording to go get an obscure missing ingredient usually available from a grocery store down the street.”

At Science House, a closet contains artifacts from past Video Science segments, and shelves full of materials purchased for use in future segments, “including ones involving the chemistry of soap, a working model of a turbine and some higher level biological science material,” Dan said.

Originally the videos were uploaded to the Science House website. But, James adds, “being serious Apple fanatics, we decided that it had to be on the iPhone. And when the first iPad application came out, we decided it had to be on the iPad, too.”

The Video Science you see and experience on your iPhone or iPad is the handiwork of Jesse Tayler, CEO and founder of Object Enterprises, a company specializing in mobile applications for business. In the early days, Jesse worked with Gabi de Wit from Science House Foundation (who recently left to pursue her PhD in Molecular Biochemistry at Oxford) to edit and produce the videos and bring them to life on iPhones and iPads.

“Gabi and Jesse together added the digital wizardry and coding that transformed Video Science into media that could be shared by anyone with access to the Internet or an iPhone,” Dan recalled. “Gabi offered her formidable science oversight and excellent editorial guidance to the concept notes we drafted for each new segment, and Jesse shared invaluable data to show which segments drew the largest audiences. We can use Jesse’s data to help shape and produce our next season of Video Science content.”

In the past 25 weeks, Video Science has been downloaded by more than 50,000 new users with some days reaching around 800 new downloads per day or 3,000 per week. It has been downloaded in every country for which there is a store, and Apple adds new stores regularly. Jesse estimates that there are nearly 200,000 downloads by at this point. (The system only allows you to see 25 weeks of download history.)

Not bad for no promotion! Jesse tells us this is unusual on the AppStore since Video Science has never been presented to any of the big tech blogs like TechCrunch or been involved in any promotions, and even still, “it does far better than any other app that I’m aware of that have had silent releases.”

Jesse’s team worked to program the app for a “super-fast release,” which allowed Video Science to get out into the app world quickly and well in advance of other science education apps.

This is when Video Science really took off.

Video Science and Education

Video Science has also been reviewed and recommended by teachers and education strategists as one of the go-to solutions for science teachers looking for curriculum suggestions on the web.

Edutopia blogged about Video Science as being a critical app for engaging students in new ways of learning. How Stuff Works listed Video Science in its top 10 apps for teaching kids about science. And YouthFirst, a resource for teachers included it among their classroom resources.

Dan Menelly described what he hopes people will gain from Video Science, reflecting on his 25 years as a science teacher, scholar and researcher.

“Teaching is a great pleasure. I’ve always enjoyed discussions with new teachers who are building their repertoire with STEM. I decided I could share my ideas, tips and experience with other teachers in cyberspace. My hope is that new teachers will not only interact with these ideas but build on them.

“I always viewed Video Science as a little ‘Tips of the Trade’ resource. Scoutmasters have emailed me saying they really like the “nuts-and-bolts” aspect. Others have described it as “garage-like.” And that’s what it’s intended to be: a nuts-and-bolts garage-like description of science lessons I’ve learned in my career. It’s not a simulation as much as it is a tool for teachers to build on. ”

The Future of Video Science

“The future is international for us,” James told me. In fact, on our recent speaking trip to Brazil we were thrilled when Ana Zeri of the Brazilian National Biosciences Laboratory told the audience that she had a special surprise that she was excited to share with them. That surprise was one of her favorite clips of Dan Menelly’s Stomata experiment.

We’re in early discussions now to create a Brazilian version of Video Science to make the lessons more accessible to non-English speakers.

As for the technology, we’ll continue to evolve with the times, James said. “And if there’s a new holographic display, you can bet Science House will be one of the first organizations to build an app for it.”

“If there are two words I’d like science teachers or parents who are watching video science to take away,” said Dan. “It’s ‘Try This.’ Show these to kids and they’ll teach you how to turn it into something else. “

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November 3rd, 2011

John C. Carver on Education’s “Printing Press Moment”

 

Is there a New DNA to learning? How can today’s schools create a more collaborative learning infrastructure in line with how today’s Internet-and-wireless-device savvy students experience the world? What does a 21st Century classroom look like? How do you increase and identify a student’s passion for learning and then empower it?

In this episode of the Science House Foundation podcast series, we speak with John C. Carver, Superintendent of Schools in Van Meter, Iowa in the midwestern United States.

We first learned about John’s revolutionary approaches to K-12 education transformation while working on our 2011 report, “IMAGINATION: Creating the Future of Education & Work.” In one of several interviews which ended up in the report, Carver described a compelling notion about the state of education in the United States today. Carver believes that we’re at another “printing press moment” in the history of the world and that “the days of training people to work on an assembly line are over.”

No more book bags
In 2009 the Van Meter School District was tasked by its board to transform by the fall of 2013 into a 21st Century school district. When I interviewed Carver this week, we discussed what a 21st Century classroom looks like and how the Van Meter School district is re-imagining and implementing this new vision, two years into that assignment. One thing that’s different about Van Meter from what you’d see at most U.S. schools in the past 75 years, John told me, is that you won’t students carrying heavy book bags. You won’t see textbooks. And they’re almost entirely paper free. Instead, each 6-12 grader is assigned their own MacBook.

“Technology is Invisible”
In elementary school classrooms in Van Meter you’ll find iPads, iPods and laptops. ”Technology is invisible,” says Carver. Van Meter doesn’t have computer labs. Instead, the teacher places the technology in the hands of the students when it’s appropriate.

John described how his philosophy has evolved, after 30-plus years working in US public schools, about what it means to be a “teacher.” For example, should teachers today defined by the content of their knowledge or their approach to learning (i.e. Are you a “math teacher” or something else)? The teachers at Van Meter, John told me, are not defined by the content of their expertise but by their roles as educators.

Is college still necessary?
Do tomorrow’s students still need to go to college in order to find a meaningful career? I asked John about a his perspective on a recent article in the Chronicle of Higher Education positing that college may no longer be a career benefit for high school graduates. If that’s the case, I asked, what should K-12 schools do to prepare students for a future that might not include college?

A passion for science and mathematics
“Kids have an intuitive interest in science and math.” But the United States is not necessarily approaching the teaching of science and mathematics in a way that ignites a student’s passion. John believes we need to re-think our approach to teaching science and mathematics. We need to first identify a student’s passion and contextualize the relevance of their passion to science and mathematics. And next, we need to stop teaching science and mathematics in isolation. The key, he says, is connecting with what that student is passionate about.

“Empowering our kids to ‘think, lead, and serve’ is as important at national security.”

You can learn more about John by following his excellent Twitter feed @johnccarver. John also mentions the innovative approaches to learning by Van Meter’s teacher librarian and tech specialist, Shannon M. Miller, who’s Twitter feed is an excellent resource for both educational hardware and software.

John C. Carver on Education’s “Printing Press Moment” by ScienceHouseFdn

…

We also talk to Kevin Temmer who’s high school art project to encourage students to study science became a nationwide sensation. We’ve posted the video below.

A few weeks ago I received an email from Bryan Temmer, Kevin’s dad, telling me about his son’s effort to try and increase student interest in science.

—–Original Message—–
From: Bryan Temmer
Subject: Science Fair Animation video

My son Kevin recently graduated from the International Baccalaureate program at Land O’ Lakes high school in Florida. As part of the community outreach in the IB program, Kevin decided to create an original animated video to teach students about the science fair. Kevin’s animation has been featured on several sites including the National Science Foundation Knowledge Network, National Geographic Kids, PBS Kids Dragonfly TV, AOL Kids, Edutopia, and Intel’s Inspired by Education site. Kevin’s animated introduction to the science fair can be viewed at:

Kevin was hoping to share his animation with more students to encourage participation and interest in the science fair.

Kevin also recently completed a brand new original song and animation for the World Science Festival in New York City. It was featured last month during the “Cool Jobs” presentation and can be viewed at: http://worldsciencefestival.com/videos/cool_jobs_opening

I look forward to any suggestions you may have on sharing Kevin’s Science Fair video with a larger audience.

———————-

In our final segment of the podcast, I spoke with Kevin, now a college freshmen, and asked him what inspired him to try and get more high school students excited about Science.

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August 18th, 2011

Bulgarian Students Imagine the Dream School of their Future

IMAGINATION: Creating the Future of Education and Work

Earlier this spring, when Rita J. King and I launched our project, “IMAGINATION: Creating the Future of Education & Work”  (a report exploring how Science and Technology education intersects with workforce preparedness) we made a decision not to release it as a book or a report, despite the 24,000 words that were written during our 18 months of research. As much as we love books, we realized that our audience would be best served if we took the digital culture on its own terms. So we rewrote the project and recast it as a website. As Rita J. King wrote in the introduction, we were going to try something new:

Rather than publishing results as a book or white paper, both of which are one-sided approaches to a subject that demands a conversation, an interactive site was chosen as the format.This site doesn’t just present theories and ideas, but rather actionable solutions that can be immediately and easily implemented in service of a relevant education for American students who need to gain proficiency if not mastery of core subject areas while at the same time being prepared for the reality of future work. Imagination is a broad topic, encompassing everything the mind can conjure, so the findings in this report are focused on those that overlap with the changing world of work.

And so it was with great delight that we read the below letter we received from Elena Stateva a high school teacher in Bulgaria, who used the IMAGINATION website as a part of her curriculum, challenging her students to IMAGINE their dream school of the future. In Elena’s words “Inspired by the “Creating Future Today” initiative, they imagined and constructed schools from words, challenging the accepted conventions during their summer school Philosophy classes.”

We’re publishing the student’s ideas with permission below.

PROJECT: “JUST A DREAM”
Creators: Radoslav Asparuhov, Daniel Rashin
Just a Dream is a school made of technologies, but not only about technology. It places a very high value on the potential of technology to transform the ways we see education. As full-fledged citizens of our dynamic modernity, students at Just a Dream are extensively trained how to use technology in the most innovative and effective way. For example, sculptures and other three-dimensional figures are created on computers, thus enabling students to develop their spatial and analytical intelligences. Top-notch technological innovations render the school one of the pioneers of knowmadic thinking.

Furthermore, Just a Dream gives students the crucial opportunity to have a practical go at their field. Relevant internships at successful companies are provided to each student, through a wide a range of sponsors. The sponsorship by highly acclaimed names in the business makes it possible for the students to go to school and use their modern facilities practically for free. In fact, these companies often recruit graduates from Just a Dream as the most prepared professionals.

In addition, Just a Dream is a school which recognizes extracurricular activities, within and outside the professional field, as essential to students’ academic and personal growth. Therefore, school trips are regularly organized, featuring exciting destinations in the country and abroad.

PROJECT: “MY DREAM SCHOOL”
Creators: Victoria Ivanova, Magdalena Kostadinova, Blagovest Pilarski
My Dream School is a unique institution, notable for its out-of-the-box, ground-breaking philosophy. Using a student-centered approach, which values what really is best for the student (and not for the administration, for example), My Dream School incorporates a wide range of fundamental practices. Combining the arts and technologies, students experience a comprehensive headstart to their professional careers. All subjects are taught in a way, which does not stifle student’s ideas, but on the contrary – encourages students to have their own opinion. Thus, My Dream School stimulates its student body to be active citizens, able to think critically about the world around them, instead of following blindly the leaders of today.

Moreover, My Dream School defines the term “revolutionary”, with its grade-less system and robotized teacher collective. Originating from the notion of boosting motivation internally (as opposed to externally, which is often the case), My Dream School has removed assessment completely, allowing its scholars to pursue knowledge itself, and not just good grades. The replacement of teachers by robots has further contributed to the establishment of an objective, knowledge- and skill-oriented classroom, free of discrimination and favoritism. Thus, students can learn in a safe, conflict-free and thought- provoking environment.

In addition, My Dream School puts great emphasis on the connection between learning and nature. During the weekends, students can enjoy environmental activities, such as hiking in the mountains, which build up mind and body together. The beautiful parks surrounding the school are themselves a source of relaxation, inspiration and energy.

PROJECT: “ART SCHOOL”
Creators: Elena Kehayova, Dafina Nedeva
The name of this school – Art School – already speaks a lot about its fundamental values. And yet, the Art School is much more than a school about art. It is a school where students go not only to grow in the direction of their talent, but where they actually find their talent and grow as a whole person. At Art School only the core subjects are obligatory – Literature, Math, Foreign Languages. The other subjects are a matter of preference: each student has the right to choose every part of their education. This freedom allows the students to explore their interests, inclinations and talents, to strengthen them or create them. Creativity – this is the key word which this school emanates through all its elements – from its facilities, to its curriculum, and of course – its teachers. The teaching collective is distinguished with its sharp eye to talent, broad mind for creativity and liberal view on individuality.

In addition to its exceptional creativity, Art School prides itself with a policy which preserves equality and prevents discrimination. Everybody at Art School is regarded equally, as an equal member of the school community.

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