{"id":1124,"date":"2009-09-22T19:46:10","date_gmt":"2009-09-22T23:46:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=1124"},"modified":"2009-09-22T19:49:10","modified_gmt":"2009-09-22T23:49:10","slug":"this-n-that-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1124","title":{"rendered":"This n That"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Orlando Sentinel School Zone blog has a few interesting items up recently. Apparently, to raise money in lean budget times some school systems are looking into letting businesses advertise in the schools. PETA made an offer to Volusia County<\/a>.<\/p>\n

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals say it has sent a letter to Superintendent Margaret Smith offering to place ads in all of the county’s middle and high school science classrooms advocating an end to dissecting animals in class.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The School Zone blog also notes that end of course exams are being taken out for a spin in algebra<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Grade 9 FCAT-2 Mathematics exam (told you it was clunky) will test mostly knowledge of algebra, and, if the Florida Legislature agrees, it could become the state’s algebra end-of-course exam — and passing it could, eventually, become a new graduation requirement, according to a memo Education Commissioner Eric Smith sent to district school superintendents last week.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Florida State University professor Harold Kroto\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s GEOSET project is a collection of short, engaging videos to teach science. The St. Petersburg Times is calling it ‘Mr Wizard’ for the Internet age<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kroto’s goal is to harness the Internet and modern technology to revolutionize the way schoolchildren learn science, math and technology.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The head of Freedom High School’s science department in New Tampa was cited for animal cruelty<\/a> after some gerbils were found dead.<\/p>\n

School district officials say they found no evidence Barthel intentionally let the gerbils die, and also say she has never been disciplined for misconduct in her years with the district.<\/p>\n

Still, representatives for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals say the deaths are a clear case of animal cruelty and are calling on the district to ban the use of all animals in classrooms.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This new shark movie<\/a> at Orlando Science Center is no ‘Jaws’.<\/p>\n

“We’re trying to let them see that sharks aren’t largely mindless killers,” he says. “They’re an incredibly important component of the oceans. We need them to be there to have a healthy ocean.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Osceola adds “Missions Labs” to all its elementary schools<\/a> to improve science lessons.<\/p>\n

“The goal was to give the students a hands-on experience and get them really excited about the whole idea of really doing science,” said Sharon Kelley, a curriculum supervisor who works with math and science. “The real goal is the excitement, the exploration, the discovery aspect of science.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

“When Louisiana officials recently passed a new law governing the classroom materials that can be used to cover evolution lessons, some predicted that controversy\u00e2\u20ac\u201dand possibly lawsuits\u00e2\u20ac\u201dwould follow. Now a committee of the state board of education has signed off on new rules that seek to clarify how complaints and challenges stemming from the law will be handled in school districts. Whether those rules clarify things, or merely roil the waters on the bayou, remains to be seen.” Curriculum Matters blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Orlando Sentinel School Zone blog has a few interesting items up recently. Apparently, to raise money in lean budget times some school systems are looking into letting businesses advertise in the schools. PETA made an offer to Volusia County. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-i8","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":954,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=954","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":0},"title":"Toughening high school graduation requirements","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 17, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"The Florida legislature is trying to toughen high school graduation requirements. Among the proposed changes are to require: Starting with the freshman class of 2014: Take algebra I and geometry for two of the four required math courses. Take biology I as one of three required courses. Starting with the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=954#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1554,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1554","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":1},"title":"More high school kids taking math\/science","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"May 24, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"From the AP News wire: \"More high school students are enrolling in math and science classes. ... Overall, the percentage enrolling in math and science courses increased in all subjects except algebra I, a class many students now take in middle school. Yet while more are enrolling, the report also\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2144,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2144","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":2},"title":"Pushing hard for the near future","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"June 9, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"FSU physics professor Paul Cottle says: Why do I push so hard to keep students who took Algebra 1 in middle school moving through the science and engineering pipeline by taking the right math and science courses?\u00c2\u00a0 Because I know they could be doing this in seven short years ...","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2144#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1175,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1175","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":3},"title":"Science in the legislature and beyond","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"March 12, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"As Florida lawmakers debate on whether to raise graduation requirements and replace some FCATs with end-of-course exams, some very interesting public opinions are popping up. For instance: Rocky Hanna, principal of Leon High School in Tallahassee (and speaking, he said, for all that district\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s high school principals), said his colleagues\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 2 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 2 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1175#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1164,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1164","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":4},"title":"House Bill includes expanded science testing","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 11, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Florida House is the first out of the gate with a comprehensive bill that is meant to kill the FCAT, replace it with end of course testing, and beef up graduation requirements. The Orlando Sentinel blog the Gradebook (and this Sentinel article) and Paul Cottle's blog Bridge to Tomorrow\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1738,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=1738","url_meta":{"origin":1124,"position":5},"title":"11.11.12 This & That","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"November 11, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"-- Will mandatory biology and geometry exams keep high school students from graduating? New tests could prevent thousands from graduating: The passing rate on Florida's new biology and geometry exams \u00e2\u20ac\u201d now must-pass tests for a high school diploma \u00e2\u20ac\u201d would be under 60 percent if a proposed scoring system\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}