http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews The NSDL Middle School Portal is hosting this blog to encourage teachers to use current events as teaching opportunities. Every Thursday, MSP staff will link a current news article to related teaching resources that connect specific content standards to that event. Articles may be appropriate for students to read directly, or they may serve as background knowledge for teachers and inspiration for subsequent instructional activities. The related middle level, grades 5-8 content standards of the National Science Education Standards are included as well as ideas for turning the news event into an inquiry-based lesson. Thu, 05 Jun 2008 14:23:18 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en Need an answer to your students' question "Why do I need to take science? I'm not going to be a scientist!" On June 1, 2008, Brian Greene, physicist at Columbia University and author, wrote an op ed in the New York Times with your answer. Early in the two page ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/2008/06/05/science-literacy-and-culture/ Middle school students are often intrigued by the excitement of exploration and the adventures of explorers, as their enthusiasm for Indiana Jones attests. Space exploration should be no exception. With new images now available from the Mars explorer, Phoenix, teachers can capitalize on student interest in exploration to meet some ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/2008/05/30/phoenix-explores-mars/ Many news outlets reported earlier this week that recent rice crop failures could have been avoided. An infestation of the brown plant hopper is the cause for the crop failure. The science knowledge and biotechnology needed to breed resistant rice plants have been in existence for several years. However, funds ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/2008/05/21/crop-failures-and-food-riots/ Distinguishing between science and science fiction can be a good reinforcement activity for students learning the characteristics of science. Cognitively, middle school students are able to differentiate between fantasy and reality. But because science is not always intuitively obvious, distinguishing science fact from science fiction can be more challenging. Today's ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/2008/05/15/science-science-fiction-ethics-and-indiana-jones/ Those of us born after World War II have take antibiotics for granted. Strep throat? Ear infection? Acne? Bronchitis? Not a problem. Take the full prescribed antibiotic dose and you are cured. The reality of antibiotic resistant bacteria however, disrupts that scenario. No longer can we always trust in a ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/2008/05/09/mechanism-for-antibiotic-resistance-discovered/ Typically, a middle school life science study of cells explores the ways cells get what they need and get rid of waste, and the cell cycle concept, including how cells reproduce through mitosis. Discussion of cancer at this time is appropriate since cancer cells share the needs of normal cells ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/2008/04/24/master-gene-controlling-tumor-angiogenesis-is-found/ This week's blog focuses on Earth Day, April 22. There is no news article accompanying today's blog. Instead, we provide you with an assortment of resources related to Earth Day. Do you know how Earth Day started? You can find the answer to that question and more in The History ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/2008/04/17/earth-day/ Many middle school curricula include attention to ancient American people and their cultures. This blog entry may be helpful in making connections to the nature of science and scientific enterprises as part of an integrated approach in studying the Anasazi or ancient Peublos. The story titled "Vanished: A Pueblo Mystery," ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/2008/04/11/why-did-the-anasazi-abandon-mesa-verde/ This week’s post focuses on the definition of species and its implications beyond science content knowledge—specifically, how the definition is related to species conservation and protection. For example, the brown bear of the Iberian Peninsula is a different species compared with other European brown bears because it is geographically isolated, right? ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/2008/03/26/how-is-species-defined-and-why-does-it-matter-the-politics-of-conservation/ This week’s blog draws from several news sources---washingtonpost.com, The New York Times, Science News Online and Science Friday. All these sources have stories and photos related to a study published March 7, 2008, in Science by researchers Victor Polyak and Carol Hill. (Science Friday features a 15-minute audio clip of ... http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/connectingnews/2008/03/14/when-did-the-grand-canyon-begin-to-form/