From: lindgren@tiac.net (Charles F. Lindgren)
Subject: NSTA, Phoenix
Date: Mon, 28 Oct 1996 16:19:46 -0500 (EST)
It's been a week since Phoenix and the NSTA Conference. This week I'm home and my wife is away visiting "The Kid" for parent's weekend. I'm grounded because most of the neat stuff happens Sunday night and I could never get from Pennsylvania to Massachusetts and Teach after driving all night. She left me with a request: "get all of your Convention materials (only she didn't say 'materials') out of the living room before I get back!" So I did. As I'm doing that I want to send you a report on the good materials/sessions I encountered on Mars: Best Session - "Exploring Crustal Material from a Mystery Planet (Mars)" There was a great introduction to this. John Gallagher from Port Angeles Washington was the principle presenter. He mentioned that Ken Edgett, who was standing at the back of the room, had just returned from Moscow after attending a planetary science meeting there. Before he left he managed to obtain a sample of Martian material that was returned from their probe. Unfortunately the camera malfunctioned on the probe so we didn't have any photographs. It was our task to analyze the sample and identify the site characteristics. THIS WAS GREAT!!! The material package was fantastic. Virtually ever scientific concept from classification to observation to inference was brought into this lesson. This lesson was originally created by "Time, Space & Matter" (TSM) one of the first "letter" Programs of the '60s. They did it with mineral chips to introduce the concept of dichotomous classification and mineral physical characteristics - this is far superior. You might want to use this in addition to our PTK materials/resources. The materials are available for $2.65 per packet (one packet per two stuidents) from Spectrum House U.S.A., Dept. NSTA-9601-AZ, 1501 West 19th Street, Cedar Falls, Iowa 50613. Tel. (319) 266-8377 (for immediate delivery) or fax (319)266-6329. I though I could duplicate this mixture, trust me - you can't!!! Invest $50 it's great! In addition to the materials you supposedly get instructions for its use. Best Deal - "Arizona Mars K-12 Educational Program". $5.00. It highlights the Mars Global Surveyor Thermal Emission Spectrometer Project. The line drawings are worth the $5!!! This is a spiral bound booklet (145 pages) highlighting the Surveyor and Pathfinder Mission. It brings everything together from a host of other sources. There is also a HUGE teacher resources section at the back of the booklet which extends for 32 pages!!! Order via Ken Edgett, Mars K-12 Education Program, Dept. of Geology, Box 871404, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ 85287-1404 FAX (602)965-1787; e-mail <edgett@esther.la.asu.edu> te. (602)965-1790 Best Lesson - I'm sure extra terrestrials will become a part of the discusssions. I went to a Saturday 8:00 AM session (which had quite a crowd!!) on "Life in the Universe: SETI for Grades 3-9" The workshop had us design an Extra-terrestrial based on the roll of the die. It was great. I snail-mailed a copy of the lesson to Jan. It's designed for grades 5-6. Most of us thought that it was more in tune with 7-8. Edna DeVore, Science Education Coordinator, SETI Institute, 2035 Landings Drive, Mountain View, CA 94043. Tel (415)961-6633 FAX (415)961-7099 e-mail ed_dept@seti.org www.seti-inst.edu In the "What do you think I am, made of money?" catagory "Craters" NSTA publication PB120X $24.95. Yes I bought this. In addition to the classic "whatever dropped into the whatever" to show crater and ray formation, there are a whole series of lessons on craters including a CD-ROM (Mac and Windows) showing craters in the solar system. The text deals with crater formation on many terrestrial objects as well as a DETAILED discussion of the death of the Dinosaurs and the K-T boundary. It looks Great!!! I also purchased The Astronomy Society of the Pacific's "The Universe at Your Fingertips" (see page 64 of Live from Mars" teacher's guide) which is a loose-leaf tome for $29.95. This REALLY looks great. It was reviewed in Sky and Telescope during the Hyakutake visitation, and they gave it rave reviews! The other session I attended included pertinent to our program were: "Venus Topographic Box" which is a slight variation of the Topo assignment in our guide "Image Processing in Scientific Research and in the Science Classroom" which highlighted the NIH program (My favorite!!!!) "Exploring Planets from your Classroom - Red Rover" A disappointment!!! If you have any questions, feel free . . .