IN THIS ISSUE:

• Session Status Overview
  
• Making Science Meaningful and Plant Investigations Fun
• Please Tell Us What You Think!
• West High School in the News

Difficulty displaying email? View web page.

Fall 2011 Session Newsletter | No. 7

This newsletter provides fall participants updates on session activities, and tips for teachers and mentors as they guide student investigations.

Session Status Overview - Session Officially Ends Today

Thanks to all teachers and mentors for making this session a great one. We appreciate all that you do to inspire students to explore their questions about plant science.

This is the last official day of the fall session, but the site will be up for another few weeks if students need to finish up their projects or post their final presentations. We can't guarantee mentors will be available past today, but if your students are not yet finished with their projects, you can ask mentors if they would be willing to stop in a few more times in the next week or two to post final comments.

The PlantingScience team is excited to begin working on an improved PlantingScience website this spring, which will include many improvements we've been hearing through feedback surveys that you would like to see. To allow for development time, we'll be scaling back a bit and anticipate a somewhat smaller session in the spring.

We wish you all a very happy holiday seaason!

Making Science Meaningful and Plant Investigations Fun

Here are a few student views from post-tests about working with mentors, studying plants, and thinking about science in a new light.

"I enjoyed getting to learn more about the germination of seeds but I think that the best part of the experiment was being able to have a very experienced mentor and getting to know them."

"The thing i liked most was being able to talk to a scientist about what we were doing, and he gave us helpful suggestions on how to do things. Our scientist also asked us questions on what we were doing that helped us keep our minds working."

"[The thing I liked best was] learning new information that I can teach my younger siblings and cousins"

"It brought my attention to plants and their life cylce behind their pretty colors"

Your efforts to make science come alive for students makes an impact! It is so common to hear that students don't like plants. The chance to get to know a plant close up can change that opinion.

Feedback Surveys - Please Tell us What You Think!

We are gearing up to make some much-anticipated changes to the PlantingScience program, and we need your feedback! Please take a few moments to let us know how your experience this session went and what we can do to improve the program in the future. Below are links to surveys for teachers and for mentors. We will also be sending links to these surveys in an e-mail that will come out shortly. We appreciate and value the exceptional feedback we get each year and are very excited about our plans for the future.

Help us make PlantingScience even better!

SURVEY FOR MENTORS

SURVEY FOR TEACHERS

West High School in the News

Underclassmen take hands-on approach to biology in advanced West High class

Congrats to Christine Winstead and her students who were profiled in the local news. News articles like this one are so important for making innovative learning practices in the sciences more understood, and more widespread. We hope that many students are able to experience science as a practice, and we appreciate the effort that PlantingScience teachers and mentors make toward that goal.

High Schools investigating Brassica
Pershing Co. High (NV), V. McLean - Finished!
The Webb Schools of CA (CA), K. Quick- Finishing up
High Technology High School (NJ), M. Roche - Finished!
Wichita North HS (KS), B. Welch - Finishing up

Middle/Jr. High Schools studying seeds
North Lake MS (WA), R. Burn - Finished!
Nautilus MS (FL), G. Foote* -Finished!
Oakridge MS (FL), G. Stamp - Finished!
Jenks Middle School (OK), S. Giddens - withdrawn
Harbor Heights MS (NY), A. Mercado - Finishing up
The Melrose School (NY), T. McManus - Online!
River School (CA), L. Talbert - withdrawn
St. Rose of Lima Academy (NJ), C. Wage - Finished!
St. Michael School (IL), N. Ramig - Finished!
Nottingham Elementary (NH), R. Buzzell - Finished!
Lake Zurich MS (IL), L. Linder - Finishing up
Bangor Christian Schools (ME), S. Boyle - Finished!
Roberson MS (TX), E. Doll - Finishing up
North Zulch HS (TX), A. Turner* - Finished!
Mears MS (AK), N. Pustina, H. Johnson - Finishing up
New Hebron Christian School (IL), S. Wassel - Finished!
Delmar MS (DE), S. Giudice* - Finished!