On the Web: Science For All

SciLinks®

SciLinks® is a web-based service from NSTA that provides online content chosen to augment printed articles and books. It does so through keywords; the keywords for this issue are Assessment Strategies and Roller Coaster Physics.

NSTA Calendar

The NSTA Calendar lists the following opportunities relating to Science for All. To learn about other science education events and opportunities, visit http://www.nsta.org/publications/calendar/.

• College Prep Scholarship Awards
  The QuestBridge College Prep Scholarship helps low-income high school juniors compete for admission to top-ranked colleges. Scholarship awards include the following:

  • Full scholarships to college summer school programs: 10 students will receive free counseling from QuestBridge to support their applications to summer school programs at Harvard University, Stanford University, the University of Notre Dame, and Yale University. If accepted, they will receive scholarships covering the full cost of travel, tuition, and room and board.
  • Individualized college admissions counseling: 40 students will be paired with a QuestBridge counselor who will provide personalized admissions advice via phone and e-mail throughout the college application process.
  • College Admissions Conference invitations: 800 students will be invited to QuestBridge conferences at Stanford and Yale. Participants will attend workshops in which QuestBridge staff will share lessons on how low-income students can successfully apply to leading colleges. They will also meet college admissions officers.
  • All-expense-paid campus visits: 30 students will have all of their travel expenses and room and board covered to visit a QuestBridge partner college.
  • Tele-mentoring with college students: 100 students will each be paired with an Amherst College student who will provide advice about the college admission process.
  
  The College Prep Scholarship application is available free of charge on the website and is due March 31, 2008.
  
• National Center for Blind Youth in Science
  The National Center for Blind Youth in Science (NCBYS) wants to ensure that visually impaired students who are interested in science, technology, engineering, or math have access to the best resources available. This web portal directs educators to the lesson plans and teaching tools that will help inspire and enable visually impaired students to follow their interests. Links lead to such items as Braille periodic tables and talking thermometers. Camps and study programs for visually impaired students are also described.
  
• MIT Women's Initiative Program
  Each January, outstanding female engineering students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) School of Engineering are selected to visit middle and high schools nationwide to speak with young women about the excitement of careers in engineering. The presentations include activities to engage students in thinking about engineering concepts, demonstrations of projects on which the presenters have worked, and information about the fields of engineering and the life of an engineering student. MIT’s Women's Initiative Program seeks to increase the number of women pursuing careers in engineering and computer science; it is run entirely by MIT students and is completely free for secondary school districts nationwide. Updated deadlines and the application form will be available in late summer, and applications will be accepted in September.
  
• Resources for English-Language Learners
  A teacher from Sacramento, California, has compiled a collection of categorized science-related links and resources helpful to teachers of English-language learners.
  
• Guide to Gender Fair Counseling
  Download or view A Guide to Gender Fair Counseling for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM). Developed by the National Science Foundation-funded Counseling for Gender Equity Project, this guide is intended for K–12 school counselors, teachers, and administrators and focuses on equitable counseling practices for girls relating to science, technology, engineering, and math. The field-tested guide includes chapters on bias-free counseling strategies, preventing harassment, the importance of technology, working with teachers and parents, and support programs.
  
• Gender Chip Project
  The Gender Chip Project has compiled a variety of resources helpful in guiding girls toward success in the sciences, technology, engineering, and mathematics. The website includes downloadable materials (including a curriculum for grades 5–9, created in concert with a documentary on the college experience of five women), as well as links to books and articles, videos and games, and related websites.