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Sky happenings for March 2023 and beyond
March opens with a spectacular pairing of the two brightest planets at dusk, Venus and Jupiter. They appear closest to each other, just half a degree apart – about the apparent width of the Moon’s disk – on Wednesday, March 1st. They’re still 11°-12°…
Why We Teach Science
It’s Springtime, and the school year is getting to feel a bit long in the tooth. Testing might be zapping the life out of the year, and students and teachers are starting to count days. It’s been a very rough few year(s), and summer is calling…
Region 4 Update: Spring 2023
The CA NGSS have an important birthday this year! 10 years ago, the State Board of Education adopted the CA NGSS as our science standards. With this exciting birthday, we want to celebrate the amazing work that is happening in Southern California to…
Planned Happenstance in Career Exploration
We’ve grown up being asked that question as early as Kindergarten and we continue to ask that of each other and ourselves throughout our years. From an early age we are conditioned to pick a title/career and focus solely on that career as we navigate…
5 Strategies to Support Multilingual Learners
English is not the primary language for a large number of students in the United States. And for many of them, academic challenges are compounded by struggles with language. How do we ensure we are properly supporting this population?
California Skies, Winter 2022
Coming events, December 2022 and beyond: Occultations of Mars by the Moon will be visible in parts of the U.S. on the evenings of Dec. 7 (a Full Moon, the next one after the eclipse), and Jan. 30 (a waxing gibbous Moon). From Los Angeles and Palm…
Show Me the Money!
What do you need to support science at your school, your district, your community? Is it professional learning on how to engage all kids in science, even the ones who don’t traditionally take the advanced classes needed to meet the A-G requirements?…
Region 4 Update: Winter 2022
Two cohorts of secondary teachers from across five Southern California counties have participated in professional learning centered on connecting science and environmental literacy titled Launching Environmental Literacy Lessons.
5 Steps to Be Phenomenal with Phenomena
What makes great phenomena bones that are strong enough to support an entire unit? At Mosa Mack, we use a simple strength test to determine well built phenomena -- we consider how many questions are elicited from students when the phenomenon is…
Using Art to Communicate About The Importance Of The Ocean To Help Inspire Action
Our ocean doesn’t get the attention that it deserves for such an important role that it plays in our lives. Many people are not aware that every second breath we take comes from the ocean. While the vast ocean is vital to all life on Earth, it is…