STAO Conference

On Friday, November 11 and Saturday, November 12, I attended the STAO conference for Secondary Science teachers at the DoubleTree Hotel by Hilton in Toronto. I was able to attend about ten conferences, some of which provided some very useful ideas for teaching Science, as well as some free resources that I definitely look forward to using in the classroom someday. I thought I would share a few of those resources here, since some of them are available free online to any teacher who wants them. One of the most interesting I just received in the mail a few days ago; it's a microarray simulation that was sent to me free of charge by the Ontario Genomics Institute:

This is used to teach students taking courses related to biotechnology about how cancer research is done; students place droplets from six bottles containing different "genes" on a slide, then add a hybridization buffer; the droplets change different colours based on whether the genes are expressed in normal lung cells, cancerous lung cells, both, or neither. There are other useful educational resources that can be found on the Ontario Genomics Institute's website, as well as information about teaching prizes. The spokesperson at the conference also recommended that teachers go to the "Rx and D" website and e-mail as many pharmaceutical companies as possible, seeing if they're willing to give away equipment and other resources, as they're often willing to do this.

Another company that had a prominent presence at STAO was Smarter Science; they strongly encourage inquiry-based learning in elementary and secondary schools, and have developed many resources to foster students' understanding of the scientific process. At one of the talks I attended, we learned how to use "Squishy Circuits" to help get Grade 9 applied students interested in electricity:

This involves using a form of dough that conducts electricity to connect dollar-store LED lights in series or parallel circuits with a battery or other power source. This can be used to explore the scientific method as students can change one independent variable at a time and see how it impacts a certain dependent variable. Instructions for making homemade conductive dough can be found at this site. The Smarter Science website has many useful materials and ideas for Science teachers; this link in particular has many useful ideas suggested by teachers for student-centered inquiry-based learning activities.

Finally, one other resource that Canadian Science teachers should be aware of is the Perimeter Institute, a research centre in Waterloo that receives funding from the Province of Ontario and Government of Canada. It has plenty of resources that are free for Canadian teachers, including in-class kits, multimedia resources, and workshops focusing on teaching modern physics. I picked up a couple of the packages at the conference, including this DVD and worksheet booklet focusing on relativity and how it relates to GPS technology:

Teachers can visit this part of the site to have these resources mailed to them.