Writing Ideas- Women in Chemistry: Kudos to Alfred P. Sloan Foundation

 Eight exclusive web videos 
celebrating the contributions of 
extraordinary chemists:

The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
supports the Chemical Heritage Foundation's
Women in Chemistry series.

Source:  http://www.sloan.org/.  Accessed 25 Oct 2012

Here's the link:
http://www.chemheritage.org/discover/online-resources/women-in-chemistry/

Thank you to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for supporting this educational chemistry series.

Have students write what they think chemists do, what kinds of careers they have, and have them name a chemist or two, or, tell who (what kind of person) is likely to become a chemist.  Then, watch the videos. Not all at once, but, over time.  After the videos, ask the students to write about the same points that they did before seeing the videos.  Bring out the first essays.  Have the students compare and contrast their before and after essays.  Feel free to post the essays here or to have the students write to the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation or the Chemical Heritage Foundation or both.

(c) 2012 J S Shipman

Value Systems and Science: Khan Academy and Your Essay

Evolution, natural selection...Do these ideas fit your values?  Have you researched them or blindly repeated what you've heard said?  Data are truth.  Many religions seek truth.  Have you thought about truth?  Science and religion share that they are about truth-seeking.  Some students get excited about science when they study it from the point of their own value systems.

First have students jot down ideas for an essay on evolution from any perspective that they would like.  They can make a map of their ideas, or, use an outline, chart, picture, or list.  Let them use any way they would like to form a presentation of their ideas.

Next, have them put an opinion or feeling they would like to share.  They can circle this or put a box around it...Use some way to keep their sentiment or point in focus.

Set these items aside.

Now, here is a video to watch:
http://www.khanacademy.org/science/biology/v/intelligent-design-and-evolution?v=qxOEz9aPZNY

Have the students watch the video.  They may take notes.  They don't have to take notes.  They may use any format for the note-taking they desire if they do take notes.

Have them jot down the major points of the film and then box their feeling or opinion about the film they would like to share.

Have students then take some time even a week or two to write a comparison and contrast essay between their initial ideas and the ideas presented in the video.  Have them add information from 5 other sources of their choosing, religious books, newspaper articles, texts or story books, or, even and hopefully at least one journal article...  Be sure to have them cite the sources.  (They can use a style manual for that.  The librarian can help you find one or you can find some on line.  I suggest using a science one or one for publishing articles in a magazine.)

The purpose of this essay will be for the students to examine science from their own value systems as they are.  The work should not be steered by any adult or voice.  Let the student think deeply.  Let them know that this is where they are now in their thinking and their is no "wrong-ness" in thinking their own thoughts.  Explain that throughout life we use our value systems whether cultural, religious or other, to influence how we think and what we think about topics.  If they were writing this essay in 5 years, their views might be different because of their life experiences, their learning, and their deepening of personal views.  Let them know that periodically re-examining where they stand on issues is a good thing.  Stagnation is not a good thing, on the other hand.
Let the students have fun exploring their values and how they relate to science and how they relate to growth in life.
(c) 2012 J S Shipman

Autism and Oxygen in the News--Leading to Science Library Research and Citations

Autism and Oxygen in the News--Leading to Science Library Research and Citations

"In a recent study, autistic children who received 40 hours of hyperbaric treatment showed significant improvements in overall functioning, social interaction, eye contact, receptive language, and sensory or cognitive awareness." http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7940149.stm

Here's a link to a post from todays' left-hand column's link. After today, those links change, so, I have linked to the source article.

Remember using current events in science classes helps maintain interest. Students can also look for related research articles. for example:

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may improve symptoms in autistic children.

ROSSIGNOL DA, ROSSIGNOL LW.

Med Hypotheses 2006 Mar 20;[epub ahead of print].
Blue Ridge Medical Center, 4038 Thomas Nelson Highway, Arrington, VA 22922, USA; University of Virginia, P.O. Box 800729, Charlottesville, VA, USA (Source: http://www.websciences.org/cftemplate/NAPS/archives/indiv.cfm?ID=20061272).

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy may improve symptoms in autistic children
Medical Hypotheses, Volume 67, Issue 2, Pages 216-228
D. Rossignol, L. Rossignol (Source:http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0306987706001198).

And, that type of searching may lead to other interesting articles, such as:

Hyperbaric oxygen in the treatment of patients with cerebral stroke, brain trauma, and neurologic disease

Journal	Advances in Therapy
Publisher	Springer Healthcare Communications
ISSN	0741-238X (Print) 1865-8652 (Online)
Issue	Volume 22, Number 6 / November, 2005
DOI	10.1007/BF02849960
Pages	659-678
Subject Collection	Medicine
SpringerLink Date	Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Noori S. Al-Waili¹ , Glenn J. Butler¹, Jorge Beale¹, Mahdi S. Abdullah¹, R. W. Bill Hamilton¹, Boke Y. Lee¹, Paul Lucus¹, Michael W. Allen¹, Richard L. Petrillo¹, Zev Carrey¹ and Michael Finkelstein¹

(1)	Life Support Technologies, Inc. and New Technologies, Inc. The Mount Vernon Hospital, Westchester Medical Center, New York Medical College, New York, NY ( Source: http://www.springerlink.com/content/7474746430118483/).

I have posted these, "finds," in the way a student might when he or she just locates them, and, "cut -and-pastes," them into a word processor. Try to show the students how to cite information by using style manuals, such as CBE, MLA, or others. I like to suggest to students that they locate the style manual of the field that they hope to go on to study. It is much better for students to have an idea that there are different style manuals than to have them get to college saying that they do it the way their, "high school English teacher told them." I have found that many students frequently say the latter when they arrive at college. Your students will be different. If they use MLA, at least, they should know it is MLA. Scientists usually use others. Do you know which ones? Do you know how to find out? Take a look at the, "Rules for Publication," in journals that publish work that you are interested in...You can find out the styles typically recommended for that science field.

The Old Oak Tree and it's Life Cycle

Oak trees have been around and are a part of our culture for a long time. Perhaps you remember the song, "Tie a Yellow Ribbon 'round the old Oak Tree?" Ot, perhaps you recall Celtic folk tales.

Here is a story of the oak life cycle told by Teresa Guardiola, who has been featured previously on Read about it. It is based on Wendy Pfeffer's book. Can you write and tell science stories?

Help improve Science a Text Book

If you don't like science or if you do, you can write and be considered for publication in a WeBooks science book. You can join if you are interested in improving science education. You can join in if you home school, or go to a public or private school. You may write in any language as long as you include an English translation. You must be of legal age to submit work, however, a parent or guardian may submit for those under age. The entries will be edited prior to publication in a text. In a way, this is global, "brainstorming," for a new book. Your participation is welcome. What you post may also guide the development of interactive technology and laboratory exercises for science classes. Please do join in and improve science literacy.
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Latin and Science...English equivalents of Latin abbreviations

When Latin words, or other foreign words for that matter, are used in English or Standard American, they are italicized. Names of species and genera, for example, are italicized, e.g., Lactobacillus rhamnosis. Alternatively, such words may be underlined.

Often, students forget the spelling rules that apply to Latin names. The genus name is capitalized:Lactobacillus. The specific epithet is not: rhamnosis.

Many times in scientific (and other) writing, Latin abbreviations are used. For example, "et al," as found in the citation:

Delineation of HER2 Gene Status in Breast Carcinoma by Silver in Situ Hybridization is Reproducible among Laboratories and Pathologists. A. Carbone, G. Botti, A. Gloghini, G. Simone, M. Truini, M. P. Curcio, P. Gasparini, A. Mangia, T. Perin, S. Salvi, et al. (2008) J. Mol. Diagn. 10, 527-536

The following chart which is only slightly modified from the Mozilla Writer's Guide: https://developer.mozilla.org/Project:en/Writer%27s_guide accessed October 25, 2008, provides some helpful translations for Latin abbreviations.

Abbreviation	Latin	English/Standard American
cf.	confer	compare
e.g.	exempli gratia	for example
et al.	et alii	and others
etc.	et cetera	and so forth, and so on
i.e.	id est	that is, in other words
N.B.	nota bene	note well
P.S.	post scriptum	postscript

N.B. (Note well) Be careful not to confuse "e.g." (for example) with "i.e."(that is, in other words).

Historically, Linnaeus was the person who started us with the Latin genera and species names, reducing confusion and even preventing poisonings. (Click on the links for a pod cast and a word game on Linnaeus.) If you'd like to read more on Linnaeus, try writings by Linnaeus at the Linnaean Correspondence.

Enjoy using Latin in your scientific work. It is one thing that lets us know we are speaking of the same organism despite differences in our languages or differences in local names.

(c)J S Shipman 2008

Did you ever want to try tech writing?

Mozilla Firefox has wiki manuals, which means that you can help write and edit the manuals. Here is a link to get you started:
https://developer.mozilla.org/Project:en/Getting_started

Nathaniel Hawthorne and You: floral Displays, beautiful and unusual Trees at Leamington Spa

Overlapping humanities and science is a way to get more students interested in science. A stroll through Leamington Spa, or view its gardens on-line, for example, and you will share something with Nathaniel Hawthorne.

Our Old Home, by Nathaniel Hawthorne describes, in a section on Leamington Spa, the gardens and their beauty. Students interested in literature, or especially in Hawthorne, may find a connection to science through the gardens of Leamington.

A stroll through gardens in your own vicinity might encourage students to write, as Hawthorne did of the gardens of Leamington Spa, of their beauty. By writing, a student can educate others as to the beauty of gardens and of nature in general, and this, in turn, may contribute to the sustainability of the Earth.



(c) 2008 J S Shipman

Evaluate---> Create

Here's a post on teaching higher order thinking skills: http://www1.chapman.edu/univcoll/faculty/piper/2042/essential.htm

Use it and use the HOT Skills wheel as you read it. Use your background knowledge and your value system to evaluate what it says. You can do the entire post, or, just a paragraph. But, try to probe deeply into the ideas presented. Relate them to teaching/learning science.

Next, create something out of that reading and evaluation. Perhaps a video or a paper expressing key ideas and how you can use them to solve the, "No Child Left Behind," riddle. (Because as the NCLB stands, too many children are being left behind.) Or perhaps, you can create a painting or a ballet to convey a suggestion for public policy related to science education. Or, maybe, you have come up with a great lesson plan idea and you want to prepare a dynamic class for next week's science lesson.

Here are some ideas from the HOT Skills link above written earlier in this blog. You can use these ideas together with what you already know to help you evaluate the Chapman post and then create or synthesize your new ideas or ways of presenting based on what you read. What will you create?

Analysis: Do you see patterns? How are parts organized? Do you recognize any hidden meanings? Can you identify components?

Application: You can apply the data when you use information, methods, concepts,and theories in new situations. Solving problems by using required skills or knowledge is also, "application." For example, did you apply math skills that you already have to analyze the data.

Synthesis: Can you generalize from given facts, relate knowledge from several areas, predict, draw conclusions and use old ideas to create new ones? assess value of theories, make choices based on reasoned arguments, verify value of evidence, recognize subjectivity, compare and discriminate between/among ideas.

Remember to step through the thinking processes and be sure to use, "evaluation," and "creation." Have fun thinking deeply and being creative, too.

How do you get to Primary Sources from Secondary Sources?

Here is a secondary source article on ants (Click the words).

How would you find primary source articles on the same ants?

Here is an example of
a primary source article
that came up when searching in PNAS for
ants. It is not on Martialis heureka,
and, not by Christian Rabeling:
http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2447876.
Still, it might provide some clues.

The secondary source cited PNAS...Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, so let's look there:
http://www.pnas.org/content/105/14/5287.full?ck=nck. But, we have to go find a library that has this or purchase it to find out if it talks about the new species. It is like detective work.

A ha! Information on, "the 'ant from Mars' single specimen discovered in the Brazilian rainforest represents a sister lineage to all other ants... ARTICLE #08-06187: 'Newly discovered sister lineage sheds light on early ant evolution,' by Christian Rabeling (rabeling@mail.utexas.edu (Source:http://chinese.eurekalert.org/en/pub_releases/2008-09/potn-sif091808.php, 9-19-08)), Jeremy M. Brown, and Manfred Verhaagh." Let's try to find that! Here we go...Here's the link to the abstract: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2008/09/13/0806187105.abstract. Remember, when looking at a primary source article like this one, to use "reach reading" (trademark, jsshipman). You may have to look up a lot of new vocabulary. But, remember after reading 4 or 5 articles on the same topic, you'll likely learn all that vocabulary and be well on your way to becoming an expert. At the elementary school level, just getting the gist of an article and knowing that such primary sources do exist is the idea. (You might do an activity like circling or listing all the words you don't know...Remember not to write in books or journals unless you personally own them, however.) Don't get frustrated. Remember, just finding such articles and knowing they exist is great at this level. People who win the science fairs on the national level usually use these types of articles even in grades 1-6. On the high school level and junior college level, do try to paraphrase the gist of the article. (Knowing how to do this may come in handy during your life time, in case someone gets sick and you want to look up current research to discuss with your doctor, for example.) Upper class members and graduate students can remember that this is college level reading...and, it takes time to become familiar with such reading, even at these higher education levels. But, you should slug through articles in your research area, until you comprehend them. You might have to stay on the same paragraph for three days, or more, to do that. (Again, don't get frustrated nor discouraged.)

Could you also find primary source articles on the plants used as food, or habitat, or in the environment of these ants? Oh, another detective task! Let's see... First go back to the article and see if any plants are mentioned.
Try your hand at this and I will get back later on and update the post.

I don't know if you checked or not, but, you've had some time to look. When I looked, I didn't find anything there except, "plants of the Amazon rain forest," so I went to the primary source abstract. No plants were listed there, either, but, I found the words, "hypogaeic foragers." Those "Reach Reading™" words might help us. For example, knowing the meaning of common prefixes, roots, and suffixes will boost your chances of understanding new words. That is, we can guess from word parts:
Hypo...low, below
Gaeic... Earth, earth

We can also look in on-line or print dictionaries: hypogaeic foragers.

Now that we've checked those meanings, we can use these terms together with Amazon rain forest, to see if we can find anything: http://deposit.ddb.de/cgi-bin/dokserv?idn=967765773&dok_var=d1&dok_ext=pdf&filename=967765773.pdf appears to be a thesis or dissertation from Germany, however, it is written in English and holds a clue: "[Ants known]...to feed on palm oil had broad food spectra (Rettenmeyer[,] 1963; Savage, 1849; Roonwal, 1972; Moffett, 1986)." Looking at the cited articles, we see these complete references:

Moffett, 1986. M. W. Marauders on the Jungle Floor. National Geographic 170:273-286.

Rettenmeyer, C. W. 1963. Behavioral studies in army ants. Univ. Kansas Sci. Bull. 44:281-465.

Roonwal, M.L. 1972. Plant-pest status of root-eating ant, Dorylus orientalis, with notes on distribution and habits (Insecta:Hymenoptera). J. Bombay. Nat. Hist. Soc. 72:305-313.

Savage, T. S. 1849. The driver ants of Western Africa. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci. Philadelphia. 4:195-200.

The National Geographic article is likely a secondary source. The others look outwardly like they might be primary source, refereed journal articles. We can obtain these articles on-line, or, through interlibrary loan, or, by going to a library that has the journals. I suggest looking at the Roonwal article first, because he talks of roots and plant-pests. But, this article is in the Bombay journal... so, it likely doesn't mention plants of the Amazon that are fed on by ants.

If we have a difficult time finding such articles... on ants eating what plants in the Amazon, it may suggest a research area where we can provide new information. Of course, our literature search has just begun, but, it is an idea worth noting down. (These days you may wish to keep your notes in a spread sheet type file or a database. Personally, I find Microsoft Excel (trademark Microsoft) to be the easiest to rapidly manipulate and to be easy to add new columns and change the data types being stored, if desired. I have also used a number of other systems and file cards and notebooks, or combinations of the above...You have to find your own best system. For young students, this finding-your-own-best-system means learning specific ones your teachers give you, so you can try them out, to later discover what works best for you for note-taking.)

I hope at this point you are catching a feel for the detective-like, puzzle-solving excitement of science... Tracking down ideas in the technical literature so that you can build on the shoulders of the scientists preceding you. Gathering information is one of the steps needed in designing experiments. It allows you the tools to create sound experimental design. One must guard against being biased by the previous work, however. Go and explore. You can search for more primary articles on ants and their plants, or, you can select another science topic that interests you. Remember, the goal is to distinguish between primary and secondary sources, while you read about a science topic of interest to you. (By the way, this skill of finding primary and secondary sources is transferable to other areas such as history, music, math, art and all others.) Enjoy the detective work, and, don't get discouraged by difficult words.

Feel free to add comments on articles that you find, or on your own literature search adventures. If you have questions on primary and secondary sources, be sure to ask those, too.
###
Further Notes:
While looking up, "hypogaeic," to link definitions into the post, I came across this post on a "new" (1903) hypogaeic ant from Texas and have included it for your information: http://www.jstor.org/pss/1535770. When searching the technical literature, "old" literature may provide valuable information. This point is important because students are taught to stay current, and that, too, is important. But, some information is only available in older works. For example, one would not disregard the works of Aristotle or Plato, even though they are old. I mention this because I've seen schools teach students to throw out old references just because they are old. Sometimes that's valid, sometimes, it's not. The important thing is to think deeply about the value. For example, if you were reading an article on heredity from the 1930's and used it as your only source for a paper on heredity, then, you'd be in trouble, because so much new information is known on DNA and heredity since that time. The article below might provide a great comparison and contrast with the earlier article, cited in the secondary source that started this post... style of writing, methods used, similarities and differences in the descriptions, and so on.

The reference to the Texan ants is shown below:

• William Morton Wheeler. 1903. Erebomyrma, a new genus of hypogæic ants from Texas. Biological Bulletin, 4:3 (Feb., 1903). 137-148. Published by: Marine Biological Laboratory.

Once the post is updated, I will indicate the update at the bottom of the post: Updated 9-18-2008; Updated 9-20-2008.

How do you think about science?

Often in science we think about specific topics such as osmosis or the Kreb's cycle. Today, let's examine how we think about topics in science.

First of all, pick a science topic that you are now studying and list it:
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Now, identify what you have done with that topic:
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Look over what you have just written. What thinking skills did you use?
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When working on this topic, were you studying, "history of science," or, were you, "doing science," or, both? Give examples.
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With parental or guardian(al) permission, look for new-to-you information on the internet or at the library on the topic you selected. Read and paraphrase (Put it in your own words), or, summarize (write the information in a short form covering major points) that information. Check what you've written for both spelling and grammar, and for accuracy.
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Analyze what you have read. Compare and contrast it with what you already know for example. Do you agree with what you found? Why, or, why not? Again review your work for spelling, grammar, and accuracy.
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Create an experimental design related to your topic. (An experimental design has an introduction (background information and what others have done and said on this topic---which you will cite), materials and methods (What you will do, with what, and how), blank data table, and literature cited (What references did you quote, paraphrase or get ideas from?). Again review your work for spelling, grammar, and accuracy.
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Share you work with other students or family members. Remember to concentrate a portion of your discussion on how you were thinking about your topic.

As an extra activity, you might try to find a refereed journal article that talks about that topic as a focus, or, as a small part of the article. Have fun doing this. Such articles will likely be difficult to read and will require you to use "reach reading" skills (trademark). Reach reading skills, just like using skills to find new treasure in a video game, help make such scientific library research fun.
(c) 2008 J S Shipman
trademark J S Shipman

Horses

Horses are the focus but what else do you see in this film? Think of all the kingdoms of organisms and write about what you see.

Much of science is about observation. Sometimes we do not see all the organisms, but only those of the animal kingdom, or, sometimes only ourselves, Homo sapiens. Reflect on your position as one of the organisms among all the kingdoms of organisms.

Computers, Proteins, Enzymes, Cheese

Computers, Proteins, Enzymes, Cheese
Watch this video, if you please.



Compare and contrast this video to the one posted yesterday. You might want to use a Venn diagram and write an essay on the comparison and contrast.

Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi Day!
Pi... Pi is...http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/HistTopics/Pi_through_the_ages.html
Pi is a mathematical concept....http://www.piday.org/about.php

Writing? Science research might be important to your story.

Here's an article with some ideas about the research underlying writing. Try writing a story that requires some science research.

http://www.writeandpublishyourbook.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=435&Itemid=10263

Here's a post on "storytelling" and teaching science. It might be useful as you write your own sciencebased story.

http://www.backyardnature.com/cgi-bin/gt/tpl.h,content=124

Alchemy, revisited

Alchemy is a pseudoscience that contributed to the development of the science of chemistry. Alchemy talks about creating gold. A newspaper article in the New York Times talks about making other metals look like gold by pitting their surfaces. Similarly, gold can be made to look black. Can you see an application for this science which falls into the realm of surface chemistry? Well, jewelry manufactures are very excited about it. Can you speculate as to why?

Write an essay comparing and contrasting alchemy and chemistry. Then, discuss ideas you find in the newspaper article telling what you think about them. Be sure to cite ideas from the paper. But, also include your opinions about the article and whether you think it is alchemy or chemistry.

Suggest a product you think would be made from the "new" gold. Then, summarize your essay and make a conclusion. Draw pictures if you like. A parent, guardian or teacher can post your essay in the comments, or post a link to it. Have fun writing!

Want to write?

Here's a source for grants. Anyone with information on this source, please add to comments and give us feedback on your experience.

Sauerkraut Science (Post under development)

Sauerkraut Science
What has sauerkraut got to do with science?
Here is a lesson about picking a science fair topic.

(Not doing science fair ? Just want a good read? Read the link at the end of this post.)

Pick something you are interested in or that you can afford to use. Then, look for the science related to that item. Okay, we've selected sauerkraut, just to prove that almost any topic can become a subject of science study.

Brainstorm: What about sauerkraut has to do with science? What does your topic have to do with science?

Do a Literature Search:
Here's a sampling of literature found on sauerkraut. Do a search on your own topic.

• Books

1. Chemical Activities (Teacher's Addition) Christie L. Borgford and Lee R. Summerlin. ISBN13:97808412163 ISBN10:0841214166 paper. 244 pages.
2. Traditionally Fermented Foods http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=1939
   

• Newspapers and Magazines
• Journals

1. Food Chemistry: Changes in biogenic amine concentrations during sauerkraut storage. Volume 69, Issue 3, 15 May 2000, Pages 309-314
   doi:10.1016/S0308-8146(99)00273-3 Copyright © 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
2. Leuconostoc sp. strains: aem.asm.org/cgi/content/full/68/6/2877
3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/fstl.1996.0055
   

• Internet

1. Fermented Foods
2. Lactic Acid Bacteria
3. Microbiology
4. Create Sauerkraut (commercial kit)
5. Create sauerkraut (the old-fashioned way)
6. http://www.genkifoods.com/faq.html (commercial site)
7. DNA Fingerprinting in Sauerkraut?
   

Define a problem: "Do different amounts of salt affect the final product," or, "Do spices change the ability of the cabbage to be fermented?"

Brainstorm again:

Select a question from among your brainstormed ideas:

Write an experimental design:

• Introduction
• Materials and Methods (future tense)
• Blank data table
• Literature Cited

Set up the Experiment

Perform the Experiment

Collect Data

Analyze Data

Think about the Experiment and Future Experiments it suggests

Write a Laboratory Report:

• Introduction
• Materials and Methods (Past Tense)
• Results
• Discussion and Conclusions
• Literature Cited
  

Write a Reflection

• What did you do well?
• What did you learn?
• Do you have something to publish?
• Do you have ideas for another experiment?
• What can you do to improve your science fair experience next time?
  

Here's a wintertime story on sauerkraut that you might enjoy: http://www.thisisby.us/index.php/content/old_mother_hubbard__s_sauerkraut_soup

(c)2007, 2008 J. S. Shipman

Here's a Science Fair Guide you might find useful:

A Public Library Resource on Science Fairs:
http://www.ipl.org/div/kidspace/projectguide/

Remember that scientists use art and writing. They are imaginative. They also pay attention to detail. Some important words for science fair (among other words) are:

control

versus

experimental

replicates

replications

duplicate

triplicate

quadruplicate

repeatability

fact

opinion

statistics

Do you know what these words mean?

Do you know why they are important?



(c)2007 J. S. Shipman

Gifted and Talented Connections:

1. Talent Search
   
2. Center for Talented Youth
   
3. Connections Academy
   
4. Graduate Certifications
   
5. No Child Left Behind
6. Verbally Gifted Youth

Things to think about...
All children, including gifted and talented, deserve education at their level. Please encourage legislators to treat all children equally. Gifted children need study skills and other skills, as do children of all abilities.

For example, a gifted fifth grader in math, should not have to wait to do fifth grade (or higher) math until classmates learn to count to 500. (This and similar events happened frequently in this (and many)students case(s).)

A gifted child shouldn't have to perpetually teach other children in his/her class that are behind, rather than being taught...parents' taxes are being paid to have teachers teach. On occasion gifted children can teach others. But, all children can have that experience. Each child has some talent. Why then do these tutorials happen in one direction, so often?

(c)2007 JSS used by read-about-it.blogspot.com with permission of the author.