Designing the Learning Plan
Once I completed stages 1 and 2 of the UbD template I was ready to begin developing my learning plan. I started to think about what activities would help me [...]
Presenting at AAAS in Boston
It’s almost conference season and we have a bunch of upcoming conference presentations and sessions. I’ll be participating as a mini-presenter at this great session at AAAS in Boston next [...]
The Twin Sins of Curriculum Design
Using the Understanding by Design template is no easy task. It can take so long to get the enduring understandings and essential questions right. You have to give yourself time [...]
Why Afterschool STEM Matters
A few weeks ago, I provided testimony to the NY City Council on the topic of STEM education in Afterschool Settings. I was so nervous I took the unusual step [...]
Empire State of Mind: NSF Grant Update
In August 2012, the Academy and the State University of New York received a $2.95M grant to scale up the Academy’s Afterschool STEM Mentoring Program across New York State from [...]
Curriculum Planning using Understanding by Design
This year I am teaching a new grade level at my school. I am now the 6th grade science teacher. This change is both exciting and overwhelming. I am excited [...]
The Academy and SUNY Recieve NSF Grant
The State University of New York (SUNY) and the New York Academy of Sciences (the Academy) were recently awarded a $2.95 million grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to scale [...]
Ways to get from Here to There…
New York City. The Big Apple. The City that Never Sleeps. It’s hard to believe that just over two hundred years ago, the skyscrapers and subways we see today were [...]
Junior Roboticists Take on Nutrition
This March, 17 middle-school teams descended on the Academy for the 2nd Annual FIRST LEGO League Robotics Scrimmage. Find out what went down this year, as teams turned their sights [...]
It’s a Jungle Out There!
Spring always takes my mind to Central Park and inevitably to some of my favorite museums which border Central Park. One such museum, the American Museum of Natural History, is [...]
