Has a teacher changed your life? Say 'thank you' during Teacher Appreciation Week

It's Teacher Appreciation Week. Take a moment to thank
a teacher who influenced you.
Photo Courtesy: Flickr User James Boyd (CC)

William Butler Yeats, winner of the Nobel prize for literature, once said that "Education is not filling a pail, but lighting a fire." Learning from a teacher who approaches education this way truly is a gift that can change a student's entire life.

For me, that gift came during junior high school in the form of Mr. and Mrs. Nelson. A husband-wife math power-couple, the Nelsons taught math and coached the after school MATHCOUNTS program at my tiny junior high school in the dusty tip of southern Nevada. They were such inspired and tireless teachers that we thought it was fun to stay after school for an extra hour and half every day and work math problems. We even had Saturday marathon sessions a couple of times--not exactly the kind of thing you expect to see junior high kids volunteering for, but we did.

In the classroom and at competitions, we were a team. It was us against the math problems, and the more we trained, the better equipped we were to battle the equations and untangle the word problems. After those two years, I never saw math, myself, or my education in the same way. The experience that empowered me to see myself as someone who was good at math. Someone who could study math or science--who could be a doctor or an engineer--if I that was what I wanted.

I have had many excellent teachers over the years, from elementary school to college. And I owe each one of them a huge "thank you."

This week (May 7th through the 11th) is Teacher Appreciation Week, and tomorrow (May 8th) is National Teacher Day. So as the school year winds down and students everywhere prepare for finals and graduations, it's a great time to pause and thank those educators--past and present--who have made a difference.

At the least, they have guided students through a year of learning. And at the most, they have lit a fire, inspiring students to think differently about their subjects and themselves. Either way, we owe them a debt of gratitude.

So why not send your teacher (or your child's teacher) a note--a simple thank you for doing the difficult work of teaching? Educators need inspiration as much as students, and knowing that they are appreciated can make a world of difference. If you want to recognize an educator publicly, tell us the story of how they inspired you in the comments below.

Or visit the National Education Association's Teacher Thank-You Project to see the virtual mural of thank-you notes and add your own.

If you are an educator, thank you. Even if it takes years for your students to realize it, you are making a difference.  As Henry Adams said, "A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops."

3 Simple Steps to Celebrate STEM and National Poetry Month

April was designated National Poetry Month in 1996.
Image courtesy: American Academy of Poets

Today marks the last day of National Poetry Month (NPM) 2012. Each spring since it was created by the American Academy of Poets in 1996, NPM has offered an opportunity for people to "band together to celebrate poetry and its vital place in American culture."

On the surface, science and poetry may seem like polar opposites and the poet and the scientist like two different breeds. But the two realms have a deeply entwined past, and there are some interesting similarities. Both poetry and science require keen observation skills and precision in word choice. Both are outlets for exploring and describing the world around us. And both have elements of creativity and inspiration. (More on this in our module Creativity in Science.)

Even in modern society, where we tend to specialize in a particular field of study and professional practice, there have been notable scientist-poet crossovers, as well as poets who have written beautifully about science. Among the many examples are:

• Lewis Thomas, the "poet-philosopher of medicine" and former president of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, who wrote popular essays (eventually compiled into two best-selling books) and poetry about cells, disease, medicine, and evolution;
• Chemistry Nobel laureate, Roald Hoffmann, who pens poetry and plays tackling a variety of scientific and nonscientific topics; and
• Philip Appleman, one of the world's leading experts on Charles Darwin, who is well known for his celebrated volumes of poetry illustrating Darwin's life and theories.

While the official NPM celebration is wrapping up, there's no reason to stop exploring the connections between science and poetry--on your own or in the classroom. Here are three simple steps to get you started:

1) Draw inspiration from some accomplished science and nature poets using resources from The Poetry Foundation and the American Academy of Poets. For starters, try:

Ten Poems to Get You Through Science Class This Year (we're not crazy about the title given to this collection, but the selected poems from across several generations and scientific disciplines can certainly inspire before, after, or during science class)

The Sciences Sing a Lullabye  by Albert Goldbarth

Darwin’s Bestiary  by Philip Appleman

Haiku Journey by Kimberly Blaeser


2) Try your hand at writing a science poem. We suggest beginning with the short, powerful haiku form, which the Poetry Foundation describes as:

A Japanese verse form of three unrhyming lines in five, seven, and five syllables. It creates a single, memorable image, as in these lines by Kobayashi Issa, translated by Jane Hirshfield:

        On a branch
        floating downriver
        a cricket, singing.
(In translating from Japanese to English, Hirshfield compresses the number of syllables.)

Developing a talent for writing haiku, like any form of art (or science), takes effort, thought, and practice. Capturing a moment is difficult enough, let alone distilling it down to 17 syllables. But beginners in all fields must start somewhere, and the short, flexible form of a haiku can be less intimidating than penning a sonnet, a ballad, or a even a limerick. And whether it's your first attempt or your 400th, haiku is always a great work-out for the creative muscles.


3) Share your poem. Swap haikus with a colleague, classmate, or friend. And please inspire others by posting it in the comments section here or on our Facebook page. To break the ice, I've posted a couple of my own attempts below. I'm sure you can do much better, so get writing!

Happy National Poetry Month!

We're Back!

We've been on a blogging hiatus for a
few months, but we're back.

Photo Courtesy Flickr User sidewalk flying (CC)

It's been a few months since we last posted, but we're excited to announce that we're back!  And we have tons of new things in store. Behind the scenes, we've been working away on plans for some major changes at Visionlearning, including:

• A redesign of our website (Stay tuned, we'll want your opinions on that soon!),
• New content and features for our modules and glossary of science terms,
• New comprehension tools to help students get the most from our materials, and
• More opportunities to connect on social media and discuss topics like STEM education, interdisciplinary teaching, and science in the news. (If you haven't found us on Facebook yet, come on by and connect with others who are interested in STEM topics.)

You've no doubt noticed that STEM education has been in the news lately (it even made the State of the Union address in January!). Everyone at Visionlearning is thrilled to be working at the heart of such an important topic. We think that discussing the issues and sharing resources that work is critical, whether you're a student, a teacher, a parent, a STEM professional, or a concerned citizen.

We intend for Visionlearning to be an open community, and we hope you'll join us in discussions here on our blog and on social media. Please use the comment areas liberally. Do you have a topic you want to discuss? A burning question? A must-have teaching tool? Tell us about it!

Thanks for your patience during our hiatus. We look forward to hearing from you.

The Visionlearning Team

Data Interpretation in the News: BPA

Here at Visionlearning, we are always looking for ways to provide our teachers and students real-life opportunities to put their knowledge to action. In scanning the news, this morning, we came across this interesting commentary on research recently released to the public on links between BPA and breast cancer.

This piece certainly conveys a strong opinion on the part of the author. But more than anything, it offers an excellent analysis of the misconceptions, misinterpretations, and bias that can occur in science. We will leave it up to you to decide if the study itself has merit. In the meantime, if you're looking for a great discussion for your classroom or community group, here you go!

Here are some links that might be useful (aside from the above article):

• The actual study in question
• Another recent study of importance that has not garnered much attention, but discusses how BPA moves through the body.
• Information on BPA from Health and Human Services.
• A discussion on the pro's and con's of plastic versus metal.
• Data Analysis and Interpretation learning module and quiz.

Let us know if you discuss BPA in your classes or community and what the results have been.

Steer away from controversy? Or grab it by the reigns?

In the August 5th issue of Science Magazine, Sara Reardon discusses the current state of teaching climate change in the K-12 classroom (see News Focus). It's an excellent discussion on the struggles science teachers face in this country, particularly in the wake of so many politicians denying its existence.  "Climate science," she says, has joined "evolution as an inviting target for those who accuse 'liberal' teachers of forcing their 'beliefs' upon a captive audience of impressionable children."

We'd love to hear your suggestions about how to handle this topic in any classroom (K-12 or otherwise). Do you avoid the controversy so as not to deal with parents and administrators? Or do you grab it by the reigns and teach what the controversy is really about? How do you, as a science teacher, deal with those in charge who have bought into the misconceptions surrounding climate change, believing politicians over scientists?

Share your thoughts here, or on our Facebook page.

New Developments in E-Learning

When Visionlearning started up in 1999, we were on the cutting edge of e-learning. Back then, something as simple as putting educational materials on the web was considered, if not revolutionary, pretty darn clever. In the last decade, though, we've seen monumental changes not just in technology, but in how content is delivered to the masses.

The Sloan Consortium recently held a conference in San Diego that featured some of the newer efforts educators and software developers. From using virtual classroom and presentation software, like Adobe Connect and Mediasite, to utilizing gaming techniques to teach critical thinking, there is certainly a lot of fascinating stuff happening out there.

Visionlearning is in the process of revamping the website in order to take better advantage of many of these new developments. So we wanted to take a moment and ask you, our users, what you think is most important. What types of new media do you find useful? What ways do you use bookmarking tools like Diigo, or do you not bother?

Throughout our redevelopment, we'd like to know what you think, so please let us know in comments below or on our Facebook site.

The Google Effect?

In an interesting article published online in Friday's Science, Dr. Betsy Sparrow talks about her study assessing the effects of the Internet on people's memory. Do we, as modern people, rely on the Internet as a giant, collective memory bank and save our own brain-space for the things that are most important to us (and not readily available online)?

Sparrow's study provides some convincing evidence that this may be exactly what we are doing. If we know that we are more likely and able to look something up in the future, we are less likely to retain that content in our own brain.

What are your thoughts on how this might effect the future of education? Not just online learning, but the classroom experience, as well?