Instructional Architect Helping to “Design the Digital Classroom”
The Research Office at Utah State UniDesIversity recently profiled the work of Mimi Recker and her Instructional Architect research group at Utah State University, funded by the NSF NSDL program.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_00
Related Link: http://research.usu.edu/researchmatters/htm/designing-the-digital-classroom

Improving Critical Thinking in Higher Education
Bob Panoff, Shodor’s executive director, presented “NSDL Resources to Support Critical Thinking” at the “Critical Thinking Through Technology” workshop at Elizabeth City State University (ECSU) on May 20, 2008.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_01
Related Link: http://nia.ecsu.edu/bw/bwf_orr.html

Developing Middle School Students’ Conceptual Understanding and Scientific Habits of Mind
NSDL’s Middle School Portal and the National Middle School Association hosted a web seminar entitled, “A New Model of Science Curricula and Instruction” on Thursday, May 29, 2008.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_02
Related Link: http://msteacher.org/

Plug the NSDL Wiki into the NSDL Repository and Get . . . A Scholarly Publication
A new National Science Digital Library (NSDL) scholarly publication, Classic Articles in Context (CAC), was launched in April 2008 with an atmospheric science theme: “Climate Change and Anthropogenic Greenhouse Warming: A Selection of Key Articles, 1824-1995, with Interpretive Essays.” Classic Articles in Context will present additional significant scientific questions of the Twentieth Century using landmark and important legacy papers in future issues.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_03
Related Link: http://wiki.nsdl.org/index.php/PALE:ClassicArticles

Francis Eberle Named Executive Director of the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA)
Francis Eberle, executive director of the Maine Mathematics and Science Alliance (MMSA) and an NSDL PI, will take the lead at NSTA in August replacing Gerry Wheeler as NSTA’s executive director.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_04
Related Link: http://www.nsta.org/about/pressroom.aspx?id=54908

NSDL at Minnesota Independent Schools “Affinity Day”
Teachers from Minnesota schools recently came to Providence Academy in Minneapolis to hear Bob Panoff, Founder and Executive Director of the Shodor Foundation, share his ideas about “Resources and Collaborations Available for Teachers through the National Science Digital Library.”
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_05
Related Link: http://www.shodor.org/cyberpathways/

Engineering Education History in Expert Voices
Engineering Pathway PI Alice Agogino regularly posts a “Today in History” item of interest in NSDL’s blogosphere.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_06
Related Link: http://expertvoices.nsdl.org/pathwaysnews/author/aliceagogino/

See All the Way Around a Molecule
A description of the ChemEd DL’s new collection of molecular models called Molecules 360.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_08
Related Link: http://www.chemeddl.org/collections/molecules/index.php

NSDL Core Integration Staff Updates
Karen Henry, former NSDL Core Integration Technical Project Manager, and and Alex Chaux, former NSDL Core Integration Programmer have accepted positions with the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR).
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_07

E V E N T S

NSDL/NSTA Web Seminar: Enlightening Experiences with Energy
Get ready for labs, interactives, historical accounts, and lesson plans related to energy curricula on June 12, 2008, 6:30-8:00 p.m. ET–all at your fingertips! Brought to you by the National Science Digital Library (NSDL) and the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT).
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_19
Related Link: http://learningcenter.nsta.org/products/SeminarRegistration.aspx

Summertime Fedora Commons User Meetings and Events
Fedora open source repository platform users are planning meetings and events in Canada and Europe throughout the summer and early fall. Take a look at upcoming opportunities to share ideas and information.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_11
Related Link: http://www.ecdl2008.org/

Moving To the “Next Level” of Materials Science Education
Laura Bartolo, PI of NSDL MatDL Pathway, is co-organizer of an upcoming NSF supported Materials Science Education Workshop to be held August 3-5, 2008 in Washington, D.C. The workshop is sponsored by the NSF Directorate of Math & Physical Sciences, Division of Materials Research. The goal of the workshop is to bring together 40 invited representatives from the materials science education community for a two-day workshop to provide a roadmap to the “next level” of materials science education for the coming decade.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_111
Related Link: http://matdl.org/

Thank you for Your Annual Meeting 2008 Submission
The Annual Meeting Planning Committee and reviewers are reading proposals for presentations and Lightning Talks for the 2008 NSDL Annual Meeting to be held September 30–October 5 in Washington, D.C.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_112
Related Link: http://onramp.nsdl.org/eserv/onramp:534/AM07_final_report.pdf

Climate Discovery Online Courses for Educators: Summer Session Now Accepting Registrations
This summer The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) offers a series of seven-week online courses for middle and high school teachers that combine geoscience content, information about current climate research, easy to implement hands-on activities, and group discussion.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_114
Related Link: http://ecourses.ncar.ucar.edu

SPARC Institutional Repositories Conference
SPARC, in partnership with SPARC Europe and SPARC Japan/National Institute of Informatics, announces the SPARC Digital Repositories Meeting 2008, to be held November 17-18, 2008 at the Renaissance Harborplace Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_113
Related Link: http://www.arl.org/sparc/ir08/

Web Seminar Series to Feature “Math Tools in Action”
Find out how to add dynamic computations and visualizations to websites using webMathematica 2. The Wolfram Education Group announces its newest seminar series scheduled throughout June 2008, “S22: Overview of webMathematica.”
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_114
Related Link: http://www.wolfram.com/services/education/seminar.cgi

B O O K M A R K S

Highlights From the June 2008 Issue of Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears
Beyond Penguins and Polar Bears issue 4 focuses on “Weather and Climate: From Home to the Poles.”
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_216
Related Link: http://beyond penguins.nsdl.org

‘Open Students” Seeks Guest Bloggers
‘Open Students’ accepts guests posts on any aspect of Open Access and welcome guest posts by students, faculty, librarians, administrators, publishers, and others.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_217
Related Link: http://www.openstudents.org/write/

Future Libraries
The editorial in the May/June Issue of D-Lib Magazine introduces a new JISC web site, Libraries of the Future,” that addresses the provocative question, “In an information world in which Google apparently offers us everything, what place is there for the traditional, and even the digital, library? In a library environment which is increasingly moving to the delivery of online rather than print resources, what of the academic library’s traditional place at the heart of campus life?”
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_218
Related Link: http://dlib.org/dlib/may08/05editorial.html

Curriki–The Global Education & Learning Community’s “Summer of Content”
Curriki is offering $500 per unit of instruction and $1600 per semester course to ensure strong curriculum coverage for all major subject areas in K-12.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_219
Related Link: http://www.curriki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Main/SummerofContent

I N S P I R A T I O N

The Story of Stuff
This site has presented over 2 million viewers with a multi-media description of all the “stuff” in our lives created by the industrial-consumer process—from its raw material extraction, manufacture, sale, use and disposal, along with how the “cycle of stuff” affects communities at home and abroad even though most of this cycle is hidden.
Click here to view full article: http://content.nsdl.org/wbr/Issue.php?issue=current#id_320
Related Link: http://storyofstuff.org/