• Elementary Summer Leadership Institutes
• Secondary Summer Science Leadership Institute
• On-Line Physics EOC
• DPI Resources
• List Serves
• Directory of DPI Science Consultants
• Timeline for New Curriculum
• Testing
• Web Resources

Elementary Summer Leadership Institutes

The 2007 Elementary Summer Leadership Institutes will offer mathematics and science content professional development in concurrent sessions in different areas across the state.

June 24-29      Central Institute, Caraway Conference Center, Asheboro
July 22-27       Western Institute, Lake Junaluska, Waynesboro
August 5-10    Eastern Institute, Trinity Center, Salter Path

Secondary Summer Science Leadership Institute

Setting Sail for Student Success
July 9-12, 2007 Riverfront Convention Center, New Bern, NC

Focus: Implementing the 2004 Standard Course of Study; High School Exit Standards; Science and the Graduation Project

Registration coming in January: Check DPI Science Announcements at http://community.learnnc.org/dpi/science/archives/announcements/

On-Line Physics EOC

Students have begun field testing of the new Physics EOC. This on-line assessment includes a few items which go beyond the traditional multiple choice format. Congratulations to our Physics students and teachers as they lead the way to more modern assessments.

DPI Resources

The new Support Documents for the 2004 curriculum for Biology, Chemistry, Earth/Environmental Science, Physical Science, and Physics, are available linked to the 2004 SCS at http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/science/scos/2004/ go to each course and click on the Support Document. The new Reference Tables for Chemistry, Physics and Physical Science may also be downloaded here. The Support Documents are available in Word as well as PDF to enable teachers to modify activities to their local situation.

Many other useful resources for all grade levels are available at our LearnNC website. Please check http://community.learnnc.org/dpi/science/.

List Serves

Now is the time to make sure new teachers are signed up for the list serves that can keep them updated on curriculum, testing, professional development, grants, contests, and teacher resources. And if your e-mail address has signed be sure you have made the change with all the list serves you subscribe to.

Science Supervisors List Serve: Designed to communicate with Central Office Science Curriculum Supervisors. Science teachers are also welcome to join. To join send your name, LEA, e-mail address, phone number and job title to Susan Hart shart@dpi.state.nc.us. Note: Some school system firewalls prevent all list serve messages – please check with your Technology coordinator to be sure you can receive list serve messages. In some counties this has not been possible and supervisors have had to join with their home e-mail.

NCSciTeach: Science teachers list serve hosted at NCSU. This list serve includes a variety of professional development opportunities, contests for students, grants, and interesting science education news. We do not put non- DPI Professional Development announcements on the Science Supervisors List Serve. Therefore it is important for science teachers and supervisors to belong to both! To join the list visit http://lists.ncsu.edu/cgi-bin/mj_wwwusr and type ncsciteach in the mailing list box. Enter your email address on the next page and click subscribe.

Elementary Curriculum Support- Teachers can receive curriculum and testing updates by signing up to be on the elementary science list serve called “eScience”. To get on the list serve, please send your name, your school name, your LEA code, the grade you teach, email, and your phone number to Bonnie Curtis (bcurtis@dpi.state.nc.us).

Middle Grades Curriculum Support- Middle grades professionals are encouraged to join the middle grades science list serve. Members receive information relevant to curriculum support, professional development opportunities for teachers, and the latest news and initiatives at DPI. To join, please email Janet Bailey (jbailey@dpi.state.nc.us) or Beverly Vance (bvance@dpi.state.nc.us) with your name, school name, email address and phone number.

High School Curriculum Support - Designed for high school teachers interested in serving on curriculum support committees. Members receive information for all subject areas and are expected to share with their departments. To join e-mail Susan Hart at shart@dpi.state.nc.us with all of your contact information (name, school, subject area, e-mail address and phone) and ask to be added to the High school science support documents list serve. Note: Some school system firewalls prevent all list serve messages – please check with your Technology coordinator to be sure you can receive list serve messages. In some counties this has not been possible and teachers have had to join with their home e-mail.

 The Science House has a great resource summarizing how to join various NC Science List Serves. We encourage everyone with an interest in Science Education to join NCSciteach which carries many non-DPI announcements of professional development opportunities, etc.

DPI Science Consultants

Timeline for New Curriculum

Curriculum adopted by SBE December 2003.

Adoption of Instructional Materials - 2004-2005

Revised Support Documents – Drafts available now at http://community.learnnc.org/dpi/science/

Implementation for Elementary and Middle School 2005-2006.

Implementation for High School: 2006-2007 (except Biology which will use a transition curriculum in 2006-2007).

Testing

Contact Mike Jones, Education Consultant-Science, Technical Outreach for Public Schools (TOPS), (919) 515-4644, Mike_Jones@ncsu.edu

Moving to embedded field testing

Physics – will field test an on-line version in Spring 2006.

New Tests 5th and 8th - Operational in 2007-2008

Old EOC Tests continue through 2005-2006, Biology through 2006-2007

New EOC Science Tests field test in 2006-2007, operational 2007-2008

Web Resources

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/science/ links to the curriculum, revised curriculum, curriculum support documents, sample EOC questions, etc.

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/parents/highschool links to test overviews and additional sample EOC questions sorted by goal

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/policies/highschoolexit information on Exit Standards.

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/honorsguide Honors Course Implementation Guide

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/testing/reports/archive the North Carolina State Testing Results, also known as the “Green Book"

http://www.schoolclearinghouse.org/pubs/SCIENCE.PDF school science facilities planner – helpful guide when designing or remodeling science classrooms, laboratories and prep rooms. Important information about safe science facilities.

http://149.168.35.203/publications_catalog/ look in the on-line catalog for various curriculum materials, science safety posters, science posters, etc.

North Carolina Specific Resources for Developing Assessment

Revised schedule for EOCs.
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/testing/revisionofscsposting112304.pdf

Form to volunteer to be an item writer or reviewer.
http://www.ncpublicschools.org/accountability/testing/itemwriters/

Style manual for item writers – information for science is on pages 18-21.
http://www.tops.ncsu.edu/control/Text/style%20manual.pdf

Other useful Resources

Brief description of advantages and disadvantages of different kinds of test items and checklist for item editing. http://www.oir.uiuc.edu/dme/exams/ITQ.html

NAEP Question Tool: This is sample questions from the NAEP Assessment. Some good sample questions here –also information on how students score nationally on each item. It does take a little time to use. http://nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/ITMRLS/pickone.asp

Edinformatics: This site pulls together links to states with released science test items. The site can help classroom teachers by providing model test questions. www.edinformatics.co

SCASS: This site is houses a database of science questions for use in the public domain. Log in as a “guest” and surf the database. www.sciencescass.org

NSTA has published a series of science content books called Stop Faking It. These books are designed to help teachers better understand specific content topics. www.nsta.org Link to the store.

Misconceptions Research

Private Universe materials including videos for teacher workshops can be located at the Private Universe website http://www.learner.org/teacherslab/pup/

Making Sense of Secondary Science: Research into Children’s Ideas. (1994) Rosalind Driver, Ann Squires, Peter Rushworth and Valerie Wood-Robinson. RoutledgeFalmer Taylor and Francis Group New York. ISBN 0-415-097657

How Students Learn Science in the Classroom. (2005). National Research Council. M. Suzanne Donovan, John Bransford, editors. National Academies Press, Washington, DC. ISBN0-309-08950-6