Newsletters | Newsletter Archive BLOSSOMS What's New? January 2011
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January 2011

What's New?
A BLOSSOMS monthly newsletter

 
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How Are Teachers Using BLOSSOMS?
Teachers report back that they are using the BLOSSOMS resources in several different ways. Many prefer using the “interactive” videos in their entirety, welcoming the chance to co-teach with a content expert on a new lesson topic. Others are choosing to use certain segments of the videos – for example, an interesting explanation or demonstration of a concept currently being studied by the class. Still others take advantage of these resources by adapting them to their own teaching styles and presenting the lessons on their own to the students. There is no “right” way to use a BLOSSOMS math, science or engineering video. Each one is a complete lesson resource, accompanied on the BLOSSOMS website by a teacher guide, downloadable class hand-outs and a list of additional online resources relevant to the specific topic.
New BLOSSOMS Website
A new website will be introduced in early spring allowing BLOSSOMS users to communicate with other users around their utilization of the video lessons and around other topics of interest. The search function will also be upgraded, enabling users to search by topic, key word, language and educational standards. Each BLOSSOMS lesson will be mapped to the educational standards of all 50 states, and this information will be accessible on the new site. Let us know if you have any suggestions about what we should include on the site.
K-12 Research Grant
We are pleased to announce the signing of a major k-12 education contract with Fujitsu of America, "Towards Intelligent Societies: What Motivates Students to Study Science and Math? How Do We Provide for Flexible Learning Pathways?" This effort, like our other recent contract with the NIH, is supportive of BLOSSOMS and provides an "R&D base" for BLOSSOMS. In part 1 of this 3-year effort, we will seek to learn what factors cause students in k-12 education to stay with or drop out of STEM-focused curricula. In Part 2, we plan to design and build a prototype software platform called "Guided Learning Pathways." More about these efforts in upcoming newsletters.
BLOSSOMS logo "BLOSSOMS Teaching Duet"

 
Watch for these new videos
• Anatomy of the Eye
    playing pool
• The Physics
of Pool
Meet a BLOSSOMS
video teacher

Ahmad Al-AjlouniDr. Ahmad Al-Ajlouni is a professor in the Department of Applied Chemical Sciences and Dean of the Faculty of Science and Arts at the Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) in Irbid, Jordan. Professor Al-Ajlouni is carrying out research on replacing stoichiometric oxidants by environmentally safe and well-accepted ones. The catalytic activation of peroxides by transition metal catalysts toward oxidation reactions is a major research line at his laboratory. Beyond this research, Dr. Al-Ajlouni is interested in the development of effective science teaching skills and the implementation of modern teaching strategies in classrooms at both the university and high school levels in Jordan. Read more about the Jordan University of Science and Technology here and watch Dr. Al-Ajlouni’s lesson, Sustainable Energy: Can Water Be the Future Fuel?

 
 

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