{"id":114,"date":"2006-12-05T20:49:15","date_gmt":"2006-12-06T00:49:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/?p=114"},"modified":"2008-08-05T11:31:48","modified_gmt":"2008-08-05T15:31:48","slug":"catching-up-on-the-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=114","title":{"rendered":"Catching up on the news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Middle school goes beyond the classroom<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Boca Raton \u00c2\u00b7 In a middle school with a voracious appetite for innovation, half a dozen teachers are pushing back the walls of the classroom.<\/p>\n

They’re using cameras so that students at home or on vacation can get their lessons.<\/p>\n

Podcasting and live streaming video from classes at Don Estridge High Tech Middle School are parallel experiments to discover how cameras can add to learning.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Cash for teachers, FCAT spur interest in Palm Beach County science fair<\/a><\/p>\n

It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out how to generate more interest in this year’s Palm Beach County School District Science and Engineering Fair.<\/p>\n

It just took a little cash. Add the buzz about Scripps Florida and, of course, the science FCATs, and entries in this year’s science fair are up more than 40 percent.<\/p>\n

More than 1,000 entries, up from last year’s 700, are a sign of health for the 50-year-old county science fair as it showcases middle and high school projects today at the South Florida Fairgrounds.<\/p>\n

…<\/p>\n

“We want to make sure that science is as important as athletics, and we’ve been pushing teachers to be more involved in science research,” Barch said.<\/p>\n

The annual stipend is $1,700 for middle school and $2,900 for high school teachers. To earn it teachers must attend workshops, do extra paperwork, coordinate a school science fair and take their top students to the county competition.<\/p>\n

Dovetailing with that financial motivation is new emphasis on the science portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test this year. It is the first time FCAT science scores will be a factor in determining the grade a school earns from the state. In past years, the school grade was based on FCAT scores only in reading, writing and math.<\/p>\n

“Teachers are so concerned with preparing for the FCAT that sometimes in the past, teachers didn’t want to spend much time on things like the science fair,” Barch said.<\/p>\n

The merging of the stipend and FCAT goals are complemented by the visibility of Scripps in the county and a growing interest in biomedical careers, Barch said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Middle school goes beyond the classroom. Boca Raton \u00c2\u00b7 In a middle school with a voracious appetite for innovation, half a dozen teachers are pushing back the walls of the classroom. They’re using cameras so that students at home or … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","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":[3],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pcZNLl-1Q","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2832,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2832","url_meta":{"origin":114,"position":0},"title":"Congratulations! Florida gets an A!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 19, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"A paper in the latest edition of Evolution: Education and Outreach examines how each state's middle school science standards cover evolution (A state-by-state comparison of middle school science standards on evolution in the United States). The standards were judged in five categories:\u00c2\u00a0Is the term \u00e2\u20ac\u0153evolution\u00e2\u20ac\u009d used; Is the concept of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Our Science Standards"","block_context":{"text":"Our Science Standards","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2853,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=2853","url_meta":{"origin":114,"position":1},"title":"4th Annual science education fundraiser LAUNCH!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"July 29, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Florida Teachers Need Your Help Supporting Science Education The best way to learn about science is to actually do science. But giving students that opportunity for hands-on exploration takes money. Teachers are constantly dipping into their own pockets to supply materials for their students, but even with that dedication and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raising $ for classrooms"","block_context":{"text":"Raising $ for classrooms","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=20"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3529,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=3529","url_meta":{"origin":114,"position":2},"title":"Let’s help Florida science education!","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"August 7, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"We don't get to do this often enough, but I'm happy to kick off our Fifth Annual (can I call it annual if we don't do it every year?) fundraising for Florida classroom science supplies on Donors Choose. We typically match your donations up to $500 but this time we're\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Raising $ for classrooms"","block_context":{"text":"Raising $ for classrooms","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=20"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/thanks.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/thanks.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/thanks.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.flascience.org\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/thanks.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":155,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=155","url_meta":{"origin":114,"position":3},"title":"No time for science fairs?","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"February 13, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"As I scan through the news looking for interesting tidbits for this blog, I commonly see quite\u00c2\u00a0a few articles about science fairs throughout the state. So, I had not idea that science fair participation for the upper grades is declining. TAMPA - While hundreds of students gathered Monday to show\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":116,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=116","url_meta":{"origin":114,"position":4},"title":"Pick a major … any major","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"December 15, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is a list of majors high school freshman can pick from starting next year. Interesting list. Aviation Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic? Obviously, this full list of 440 approved majors is not available everywhere across the state to all students. My daughter will be right in the middle of this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "In the Classroom"","block_context":{"text":"In the Classroom","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":749,"url":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=749","url_meta":{"origin":114,"position":5},"title":"Science scores up 14 points at Polo Park Middle","author":"Brandon Haught","date":"October 16, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is an interesting story about a partnership between Discovery Communications (responsible for the Discovery Channel and Animal Planet) and Polo Park Middle School in Palm Beach County. Discovery went above and beyond in helping the school implement a new supplemental educational program despite tight budgets. Hardin Daniel, Discovery's vice\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 3 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 3 comments","link":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/?p=749#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114"}],"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=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flascience.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}