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Topics in This Issue
01. Make Plans to Attend ITEA's Green-Themed Conference!
02. ITEA Council News
03. What Have You Done to Reduce, Reuse, or Recycle Lately?
04. Two Special Events in Virginia
05. New Jersey Technology Education Teacher Earns Foundation Awards
06. Feeling the Money Squeeze?
07. Apollo 11 Moon Landing 40th Anniversary Activities Take Off at the National Air and Space Museum
08. NCATE Revises of Teacher Education Requirements
09. Call for Papers – International Conference Opportunity in Vancouver, British Columbia
10. Innovative Education Initiatives Receive the 21st Century Skills Practice of the Year Award
11. Two New Reports on the Economy and Education
12. From NASA Education
13. EbD™ NASA STEM Design Challenge Units Now Available From ITEA
14. Become a Fan of The Space Place

Make Plans to Attend ITEA's Green-Themed Conference!
Charlotte, North Carolina – known as the "Queen City" – will be the host city for ITEA's 72nd Annual Conference. 

Our theme, "Green Technology: STEM Solutions for 21st Century Citizens" will increase awareness regarding how we can make strides to sustain our environment through smart decision making, consumerism, designing, creating, and using human ingenuity. These are all topics about GREEN TECHNOLOGY that need to be addressed today to properly save and use our resources for tomorrow. The 2010 conference will address these issues through STEM education.

Charlotte = Captivating, Colorful, Cosmopolitan. It's no secret that Charlotte delivers cultural distractions and attractions, dining and nightlife for everyone, and a Southern ambiance all its own. More than just the nation's second largest financial center, Charlotte is a magnet for progressive growth and smart development. Prevention Magazine recently named Charlotte the best “Walking City” in North Carolina. Self Magazine also named Charlotte one of “Five Cities with Big Outdoor Appeal” for features like its Public Art Walking Tour, accessible museums such as the Mint Museum of Craft + Design, and nearby outdoor excursions like the U.S. National Whitewater Center.

So, make plans now to join your colleagues in March, 2010. And don't forget to apply early for funding assistance. See the article at www.iteea.org/Conference/funding.htm. For full conference information, visit www.iteea.org/Conference/conferenceguide.htm.

ITEA Council News

Going Green TECC TECC is calling for K-5 design briefs that support the “Green Technology” initiative. These design briefs and supporting resources will be available on the TECC website (www.tecchome.org/index.html). Please email design briefs related to the theme Going Green to Ginger Whiting at gwhiting@infionline.net

CTTE News CTTE elections will be held from December 1-18, 2009. Per the recent bylaws change, this will be an electronic ballot. President and secretary candidates will be on the ballot (with their responsibilities starting after the 2010 Charlotte conference and continuing until 2013) Anyone interested in either of these two offices should contact Past President Michael De Miranda, head of the Nominating Committee, at mdemira@CAHS.Colostate.edu.

The 2009 CTTE Yearbook will be mailed from Ball State University and arrive in mailboxes around the July 4th Holiday. An electronic version of the 2009 CTTE Yearbook, Essential Topics For Technology Educators, will be available through Glencoe/McGraw-Hill. Details to follow later in the summer.

Two yearbook themes are in the development stage, with one related to research headed to the editor later this summer. A second publication, on design and creativity, is also in the works (for 2011).

Source: One Five, Vol. 3, Issue 3 – June 15, 2009

What Have You Done to Reduce, Reuse, or Recycle Lately?

Here's a tip: Purchase an aluminum water bottle and fill it with tap water rather than purchasing water bottled in plastic containers. Not only is tap water much cheaper, but in the United States alone eight out of ten water bottles end up in the land fill yearly—approximately 22 million bottles! It requires 1.5 million barrels of crude oil to produce those bottles. That’s enough to run 100,000 cars for a year. According to mothering.com, the bottled water you purchase is often in #1 PET or PETE bottles (polyethylene terephthalate), which may leach DEHA, a known carcinogen, if used more than once. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence of adverse health effects tied to Bisphenol A, or BPA, a widely used chemical in the manufacturing of plastic polycarbonate bottles, including baby bottles, water bottles, and food/beverage containers.

Aluminum water bottles can be purchased and reused daily. Many have ecological decorations—and when sitting on a teacher’s desk can do several things. One, it’s a passive statement to your students that you are mindful of the environmental impacts created by the products you choose to use. Further it can begin a discussion about the topic. You prefer something with flavor? Small packets of flavor crystals can be purchased to add to your water. These are small and lightweight. The cardboard package is recyclable, and the package containing the flavor crystals creates a small amount of waste in relation to other water or drink containers. Stores can save on transportation costs because of the small packaging and light weight…another teaching point.

What are you doing/teaching to reduce, reuse, or recycle? Let us know at green@iteea.org.

Two Special Events in Virginia

VTEA Conference – Make it Happen August 4-6, 2009!

Make plans today to attend this year’s Virginia Technology Education Association (VTEA) Conference, where you will have an opportunity to experience a professional development program that can be key to your teaching success. The VTEA Conference is your connection to:

1. Time-saving resources that will make teaching easier while keeping you better informed.
2. Virginians helping Virginians with proven teaching techniques, new ideas, and strategies.
3. Interaction on technology topics such as robotics, design, high-performance vehicles, and more.
4. Networking with colleagues who share your interests.

For details, visit www.vtea.org.

14th Annual Virginia Children’s Engineering Convention - “Going Green with Children’s Engineering”

Thursday and Friday, February 25-26, 2010
Holiday Inn Select – Koger Center
Midlothian, VA

Do you have ideas to share?   

• Have you written some really good design briefs that others could use?   
• Have you experienced success in the classroom through children’s engineering?
• Does your school have a children’s engineering component that has made a difference?
• Has your school conducted an engineering project that involved a “green” theme?

If you answered “YES” to any of the above questions, we hope you are thinking about presenting at the 2010 Virginia Children’s Engineering Convention! Deadline for submissions is November 10, 2009.
 
Convention registration and other forms are currently being updated and will soon be available at The VCEC website: http://www.childrensengineering.org. Contact Mary Hurst (mcwhurst@cox.net) if you have questions.  
 
The Virginia Children’s Engineering Council is an affiliate of VTEA and ITEA.

New Jersey Technology Education Teacher Earns Foundation Awards

The New Jersey Technology Educators Association recently recognized Hillsborough High School Applied Technology teacher and ITEA member, Tim Zavacki’s commitment to technology in public schools, and presented him with three awards—the Innovative Technology Educator award, the NJTEA Image Award, and an outstanding county representative award—at its annual conference May 1. The Innovative Technology Educator award honors outstanding dedication, innovation, extraordinary contributions, and performance by technology education teachers. The award is bestowed upon six recipients, and each receives a $10,000 unrestricted cash prize. Read the full article by Eileen Oldfield at www.centraljersey.com/articles/2009/06/11/hillsborough_beacon/news/doc4a31199a21cd7413878878.txt

Apollo 11 Moon Landing 40th Anniversary Activities Take Off at the National Air and Space Museum

Millions of people across the globe watched as two men set foot on another world for the first time July 20, 1969. The National Air and Space Museum is commemorating this defining moment in space exploration with several 40th-anniversary-related programs including astronaut appearances, book signings, the opening of an art exhibit, and gallery talks by the museum’s Space History curators. All events are free and take place in the National Mall building; they are listed in chronological order at www.nasm.si.edu/events/pressroom/releaseDetail.cfm?releaseID=222. For updates and additional events, check www.nasm.si.edu/events/apollo11/apollo11events.cfm.

NCATE Revises Teacher Education Requirements
Deans, State Officials Outline More Rigorous Requirements for Teacher Preparation
Changes Will Bolster Clinical Training and Research to Meet Needs of P-12 Schools

In order to earn the NCATE seal of approval, more than 700 programs nationwide will need to do more than demonstrate that they have adequately met standards. Beginning this year, all institutions must accelerate progress toward excellence or develop a Transformation Initiative that focuses on key areas of improvement, including emphasizing clinical experience, increasing knowledge about what works in teacher education, meeting critical needs of schools, and recruiting a talented and diverse group of candidates. All of the changes also emphasize eliminating costly and unnecessary paperwork and increasing focus on crucial performance data. Get the full details at www.ncate.org.

Call for Papers – International Conference Opportunity in Vancouver, British Columbia

Technological Learning & Thinking: Culture, Design, Sustainability, Human Ingenuity—an international conference sponsored by The University of British Columbia and The University of Western Ontario, Faculties of Education in conjunction with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO—will take place in Vancouver, British Columbia on June 17-21, 2010. The conference organizing committee invites papers that address various dimensions or problems of technological learning and thinking. Scholarship is welcome from across the disciplines, including Complexity Science, Design, Engineering, Environmental Studies, Education, History, Indigenous Studies, Philosophy, Psychology, and Sociology of Technology, and STS. The conference is designed to inspire conversation between the learning and teaching of technology and the cultural, environmental, and social study of technology. Learn more about it at http://learningcommons.net.

Innovative Education Initiatives Receive the 21st Century Skills Practice of the Year Award

For the first time since the program’s inception, seven states have received the 21st Century Skills Practice of the Year Award, which commemorates the country’s preeminent state-led education reform initiatives. Iowa, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, North Carolina, West Virginia, and Wisconsin were honored June 11, 2009 at Institute.21, an annual event showcasing the progress states have made toward infusing 21st Century skills into core subjects. The Institute highlights the impact 21st Century skills initiatives have on student engagement and achievement.

Two New Reports on the Economy and Education

An “Entrepreneurial Workforce” Critical to America’s Future Success in the Global Economy
Poll from Junior Achievement and Gallup Shows Overwhelming Majority of Employers and Employees Support Concept

A new report from the Junior Achievement Innovation Initiative (JAII) and Gallup shows that employers (those responsible for hiring decisions) and employees alike believe that America’s workforce needs to become more “entrepreneurial” in order for the country to remain competitive in the global marketplace, and that K-12 classrooms are the place to start teaching entrepreneurship. This is in line with President Barack Obama’s call for “entrepreneurship” to be included with “problem-solving” and “critical thinking” as 21st Century skills to be incorporated into education standards and assessments.

The Gallup poll of 1,100 employers and employees shows that virtually all of those surveyed believe that the American workforce needs to become more entrepreneurial if America is to remain competitive (entrepreneurship was defined as “taking the initiative and assuming risk to create value for the company or business, either as an owner of your own business or in your place of work”). Nearly half of employees (46%) and employers (41%) felt the best time to learn entrepreneurship is in the K-12 grades, surpassing college (employees 25%; employers 32%) and “on the job” (employees 17%; employers 16%). Only one in ten (employees 11%; employers 9%) felt entrepreneurship is an innate skill that comes naturally. Read the full report at www.ja.org/files/The_Entrepreneurial_Workforce_full-11.pdf.

$100 Billion: for Reform . . . or to Subsidize the Status Quo?
The First Report of Education Stimulus Watch

Over the next two years, the federal government, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), will spend an unprecedented amount on education—nearly $100 billion. The legislation calls for transparency; President Obama has warned that if funds are not spent wisely, "We will call it out, and we will publicize it." The American Enterprise Institute (AEI) is lending its support to this cause by helping to keep an eye on this huge pool of funds through its new Education Stimulus Watch (ESW) project. Each quarter, an ESW report will deliver a careful, even-handed analysis of ARRA's implementation, with a particular focus on whether these federal dollars are leading to meaningful reform of our K-12 public education system. Read the first Education Stimulus Watch report at www.aei.org/paper/100024.

From NASA Education

NASA Learning Technologies Project Office Releases FY 2009 Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN)
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center's Learning Technologies Project Office (LTPO) has released a Cooperative Agreement Notice (CAN) to conduct research and evaluation on the design and usage of Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOG) and Persistent Immersive Synthetic Environments (Virtual Worlds) for NASA Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Education and Training.

This solicitation seeks proposals that communicate the required approach and skills to contribute to NASA and other federal agencies, private industry, and academia's research initiatives to improve STEM content and delivery approaches that promote the development of our nation's future workforce, workforce applications, and missions. Proposals should provide evidence-supported approaches, techniques, and tools that are grounded in education research that contribute to collaborative research for improving STEM education via gaming and simulations; and stimulate linkages and connections to and from secondary education and higher education and informal education communities using NASA content within a gaming context.

The LTPO NASA Cooperative Agreement Notice is available on the NASA Headquarters solicitations website: http://nspires.nasaprs.com.

Send Your Name to Mars
NASA invites you to submit your name to be included on a microchip that will be sent to Mars as part of NASA's Mars Science Laboratory mission, scheduled to launch in 2011. Mars Science Laboratory is a rover that will assess whether Mars ever was, or still is, an environment able to support microbial life. The "Send Your Name to Mars" web page enables anyone to take part in the mission by sending his or her name to the Red Planet. Participants can print a certificate of participation and view a map showing where other contributors are from. To submit names, visit http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/participate/sendyourname/. To learn more about the Mars Science Laboratory mission, visit http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/.

ISS EarthKAM Summer 2009 Mission
Middle school educators are invited to join NASA for the International Space Station EarthKAM Summer 2009 Mission on July 7-10, 2009. This exciting opportunity that allows students to take pictures of Earth from a digital camera on board the International Space Station. ISS EarthKAM is a NASA-sponsored project that provides stunning, high-quality photographs of Earth taken from the space shuttle and International Space Station. Since 1996, ISS EarthKAM students have taken thousands of photographs of Earth by using the World Wide Web to direct a digital camera on select spaceflights and, currently, on the International Space Station. For more information about the project and to register for the upcoming mission, visit the ISS EarthKAM Home Page: www.EarthKAM.ucsd.edu. If you have questions about the EarthKAM project, please email ek-help@earthkam.ucsd.edu.

New Education Videos Provide a Guided Tour of NASA’s Newest Mission
Astronaut Pam Melroy is calling on students to learn about NASA’s Constellation Program, which will send humans to the moon, Mars, and beyond. She is inviting students to become America’s next great explorers. Students and teachers can learn more about these missions in a new interactive feature called “Constellation: Earth Moon Mars.” In this Web-based feature, astronaut Pam Melroy gives a guided tour of NASA’s newest missions, starting from the International Space Station in low Earth orbit, to the moon and to the Red Planet. To view these videos and join the adventure or just peruse the list of what's available, visit www.nasa.gov/externalflash/CxEMM_SITE/index.html. Learn more about NASA’s Constellation Program at www.nasa.gov/constellation.

New Education Materials Available at NASA.gov
The Educational Materials section of NASA's website offers classroom activities, educator guides, posters, and other types of resources that are available for use in the classroom. Materials are listed by type, grade level, and subject. The following items are now available for downloading:

• Moon Munchies Educator Guide – Grades K-4
  www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Moon_Munchies.html
• Ares: Launch and Propulsion Educators Guide – Grades 5-12
  www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Ares_Educator_Guide.html
• Top Stars Bookmark – All Grades
  www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Top_Stars_Bookmark.html
• The Courage to Soar Higher Educator Guide – Grades 4-6
  www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/Courage_to_Soar_Higher.html

Submissions to Inside TIDE

To submit news or calendar items to Inside TIDE, email: kcluff@iteea.org.

End of Inside TIDE, Tuesday, July 7, 2009