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Newton Network Newsletter – December 2007

Newton Network News:

The holidays are close upon us and most of us are looking forward to the semester break.   For those inclined, the winter break can offer opportunities to explore the changing season with a variety of interesting science projects ranging from snowflake science to studying the winter solstice.

We wish to thank all who responded to our reader survey last month.  All of your comments are greatly appreciated.  For anyone who did not respond, we have included the survey response link at the bottom of this newsletter.

Once again, please pass your newsletter on to your colleagues, and let them know that they can sign up for their own newsletter as easily as going to our website (www.unr.edu/newton).

In This Issue:

Regional/Statewide:

Science Fair – Update on the Western Nevada Regional Science and Engineering Fair

Science Projects – Science projects for the winter season

Professional Development – Improve your teaching skills in Math and Science

Mailing the Newsletter – We are switching to a listserve for our mailing.

We need feedback – Does your newsletter help?

Science Fair – The Western Nevada Regional Science and Engineering Fair (WNRSEF) website has been updated and now contains all the information on the next science fair scheduled for March 20-22.  Check out their website at http://www.nevadasciencefair.net.

And don't forget the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) Science and Engineering Fair scheduled for March 29 & 30; check them out at (http://sciences.unlv.edu/engineeringfair/fair/...).

Science Projects –  The winter solstice will occur on December 22nd and provides a variety of activities that students can complete during the school break.  Education World provides many winter solstice related activities for students of all grade levels involving math, science, literature and art.  Activities range from tracking the time of sunrise and sunset to mapping the track of the sun.  A full list of activities can be found at  http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/....

Snowflakes are a part of the winter for many of us, but did you know that collecting snowflakes is part of the NASA History of Winter project and open to participation by any interested class.  A complete guide to collecting and submitting worksheets to the Global Snowflake Network can be found at http://education.gsfc.nasa.gov/how.  The website also contains information on studying ice samples and the latest NASA History of Winter project, Thermochron Quest.

If you have the desire to study the structure of snowflakes under a microscope then you will want to find out how to preserve a snowflake on a slide at

http://www.super-science-fair-projects.com/.... 

For those who don't have snowflakes readily available, you can study the structure of snowflakes as a mathematical problem known as the Koch Snowflake.  A complete description of the process of creating the Koch Snowflake can be found at http://www.math.hmc.edu/funfacts/ffiles/.... 

Growing your own snowflakes is another option.  Borax can be used to grow crystal structures resembling snowflakes in as little as 24 hours.  If you need more information on growing Borax snowflakes, check out http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/boraxsnow...

Professional Development – The semester break may mean a time for you to catch up on that workshop you have been meaning to take, or read the latest journal article that caught your eye.  Time is scarce so we have located a source for professional development workshops and lectures that may fit into your schedule.  Annenberg Media provides teacher resources and professional development programs across many curricula.  Most are presented online as one-hour workshops that can be accessed from any internet connected computer.  Check out what is available at http://www.learner.org.  And the really great part is that most are free.

Mailing the Newsletter --  Beginning with this newsletter, we will be using a listserve to mail the newsletters to you.  The from address for the newsletter will change and if you are using a spam filter, please add editor-newtonnews@scsr.nevada.edu to the safe list to ensure that you receive our newsletters.  If you have any questions or concerns please email Robert Newbury at rnewbury@unr.edu.  Also note that as usual, we will not be sending out a January issue of the newsletter since school will not be in session then.  However, if any time-critical news comes up, we will send a special edition as needed.

We need feedback – Newton News is a grant funded project and we are required to report on how we are doing.

To accomplish this, we are asking that you let us know if you read the Newton News.

We have made letting us know very simple: Either 1) if you are using MS Outlook for your mail, just click I read Newton News; or 2) if you use a different mail reader, then just send an email to rnewbury@unr.edu with “I read Newton News” in the subject line.

Your feedback will help us continue and support this newsletter.

Thanks.

Want more information about the Newton Network?

The Newton Network Newsletter works both ways – we send information to you, but you can send questions to us; if we don’t have the answer right here, we will find it for you.

Check us out at www.unr.edu/newton, contact Robert Newbury at newbury@unr.nevada.edu, or Michael Leverington at michael@edtech-teched.com.

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