NECC Day 2 For Me

Day 2 at NECC was all about the Science! I spent the morning in the poster sessions and then traveled (or is that travailed) through the vendor's area to get my Flash Drive.

The poster Sessions had some unique presentations and there were several specific projects which I link to at the bottom of this post but the overall impression I got with the science was that using technology to enhance science is about finding ways to do authentic science in your local area. Several projects had students identifying and then learning teaching about critters in the neighborhood.

After lunch I got into some BYOL sessions. Both were hosted by the producers of the shows from WGBH in Boston. I definitely like what they are up to. They have matched problem solving and engineering lessons with the PBS programs Fetch! and Design Squad. They emphasized the fact that they did all they could to make sure that the activities were low to no cost. As a former Science teacher who was always on a shoe string (as long as they were donated) budget I loved that feature about the activities. I also loved the dry humor of Dave Peth as he asked us to take our hands of our keyboards and actually do an activity. Doing activities in the session as another big plus. The Science and CTE teacher in me thrived on it. One of the activities was actually a simple version of an activity I have done in classes with students, just differently executed. Building Roller Coasters. WGBH's take on it was to use insulation, tape and a marble which was simpler than my vinyl tubing and BB's. But either way I got to use DUCT tape !!! (Yes it's duct tape unless you're talking about Duck Tape)What a great way to spend a couple of sessions!