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Cobb Science

January News and Notes

Cobb ScienceJanuary News and Notes

Happy New Year!

Welcome back! We hope you had a restful and enjoyable break and are rejuvenated as you begin second semester. We have many exciting upcoming events this winter and spring. Please note that we had to change the Elementary Science Fair to March 19th (to coincide with the Elementary Science Olympiad) at Walton High School. The Middle and High School fair will remain on January 30th at Cobb Safety Village. The Dodgen Middle School Science Olympiad Invitational is on January 23rd and the regional middle school Science Olympiad is on March 5th at South Cobb High.
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Today's Meet

Students in Daniel Harbert's class give each other real-time feedback on Today's Meet during group presentations.
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Vocabulary Jenga

STEM Lab teacher Melissa Weatherford shares the life-size Jenga game she made to help students review science concepts and vocabulary.
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Science Toys

STEM Lab teacher Matt Farrell shares some really fun science toys that he purchased at Richards Variety Store (http://www.richardsvarietystore.com/)

Professional Learning Opportunities

Join us for after school on Tuesday, January 26th at Clarkdale Elementary for a Make-and-Take PBL session. If you've been wanting to implement a PBL in your classroom but aren't sure where to start, or if you have an outline of a PBL you would like to implement, spend two hours with us fleshing out your ideas and getting feedback on implementation.


Elementary Session: 3:15-5:15 pm Register here: https://goo.gl/VKURFU

MS/HS Session: 5:30-7:30 pm Register here: https://goo.gl/kiZJ6L



Deeper Learning Institute: Spend a Saturday morning (Feb. 27th) at Hawthorne with your curriculum PLS coaches and supervisors for this participant-guided workshop about teaching the standards deeply and accurately in order to better prepare students to do well on assessments. Register by Jan. 29th to guide the direction taken by content expert sessions based on your feedback during registration. Link here for registration.


The GaDOE is hosting many STEM-related PL events this spring. See the Cobb Science website for the full flyer.

Instructional Strategy Focus- Differentiation

The Department of Teaching and Learning spent the fall training on differentiation. Access resources and webinars from these trainings at https://engagecobb.wordpress.com/differentiation/


To access science-specific examples of how to differentiate by content, process, and product, visit this site: https://goo.gl/WGuZWc. This link also contains sample student interest inventories and instructions on how to make learner profile cards.


In addition, Edutopia released a Differentiated Instruction Resource Round-Up here: http://www.edutopia.org/article/differentiated-instruction-resources

Digital Tools and Resources

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101qs

From the 101 Questions site (www.101qs.com): "Can you perplex us? Can you show us something that’ll make us wonder a question so intensely we’ll do anything to figure out the answer, including listen to your lecture or watch your slides? Here’s one way to find out. Upload a photo or video. Find out how many of us get bored and skip it. Find out how many of us get perplexed and ask a question. Then figure out what you’re going to do to help us answer it."

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SketchNotes

Sketchnotes can be done using drawing apps on a tablet or the old-fashioned way using pencil and paper. They are a more engaging way for students to take and illustrate their notes. Read about the how-to's and see examples here: http://www.schrockguide.net/sketchnoting.html
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Speaking of Chemistry

A production of the American Chemical Society's Chemical and Engineering News, this program features short videos on weird and otherwise interesting chemistry issues suitable for middle and high school students. Use the videos to spark conversations in your classroom. (www.bit.ly/CENOnline)

Upcoming Events

Event Information

NSTA Exploravision Competition Deadline

Challenges students in the U.S. and Canada to research a technology of interest and explore what that technology could be like 20 years from now. Up to $240,000 in savings bonds (at maturity) are awarded annually to student winners for the most innovative ideas that combine imagination with the tools of science. Winning schools, students, and teachers capture additional prizes—including computers and an expenses-paid awards trip to the nation's capital for the first- and second-place winning students (and their parents or guardians), coach and mentor—in this team- and project-based learning competition.

When?

Monday, Feb 1, 2016, 05:00 PM

Event Information

Georgia Science Teachers Association Conference

The teacher voice is often the least heard, but most important one in education today. The knowledge, training and experience that we bring to science education makes a difference. Individually and collectively, as science teachers, we can shape the classrooms of the future. In this year's conference we will be sharing our best ideas, resources and practices. We will highlight sessions within the following strands, along with other great sessions from excellent science educators around Georgia. Join us - and have your voice heard!

  • Strand 1 - Speaking Up on Integrating Literacy to Advance Science Instruction
  • Strand 2 - Speaking Up on Building STEM from Science
  • Strand 3 - Speaking Up on Developing Partnerships, Leadership, and Policy
  • Strand 4 - Speaking Up on Effective Classroom Assessment

When?

Thursday, Feb 4, 2016, 08:00 AM

Where?

Atlanta Evergreen Marriott Conference Resort, Lakeview Drive, Stone Mountain, GA, United States

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Event Information

Code Quest

Lockheed Martin's Code Quest is an annual computer programming competition where teams of 2-3 students each work together for 2.5 hours to solve problems by using JAVA programming to complete the “quest.” The problem set consists of 15-20 challenging problems created by Lockheed Martin engineers and computer programmers. Registration is now open at http://www.lockheedmartin.com/codequest

When?

Saturday, Apr 30, 2016, 08:00 AM

Where?

800 Walker Street, Marietta, GA 30060, United States

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