The Absence of Science in Public Elementary School Curriculum

How important is a science education for your kids? Our public school system curricula are changing every day, and it's usually not for the better. Understandably, government-backed schools who are graded on students' proficiency in reading, writing and math put more of a focus on those subjects. More than ever, parents are turning to homeschooling to fill the gap left behind.

What Happened to Science?

There was a recent article in the news regarding elementary schools in Kansas, Colorado, Missouri, Oklahoma and Nebraska. The topic was science curriculum, which has been reduced or even - in some districts - eliminated in favor of putting an educational emphasis on reading and math. According to the AP newswire published in the Lawrence Journal-World, "as many as one in five elementary teachers in Kansas and surrounding states are reporting science grades on student report cards, despite the fact that they don't spend any time teaching the subject or testing pupils' knowledge in it."

What a travesty in terms of educational goals for our kids! This seems to be a trend not only in the Midwest but in public education districts across the nation.

The Importance of Teaching Science at Home

The good news, however, is that homeschool parents (and any other parents who are concerned about their child's education) aren't limited by this type of underfunding and overemphasis on everything but science.

In the National Academy of Sciences research paper, "A Framework for K-12 Science Education: Practices, Cross-Cutting Concepts and Core Ideas", the importance of science throughout a child's academic career is emphasized: "... integrating understanding the ideas of science with engagement in the practices of science and is designed to build students' proficiency and appreciation for science over multiple years of school. We believe that the education of the children of this nation is a vital national concern. The understanding of, and interest in, science and engineering that its citizens bring to bear in their personal and civic decision making is critical to good decisions about the nation's future."

The best way to help your kids comprehend science and be ready for college level coursework is to use a consistent, building blocks approach across grades K-12. Teach your kids the basics at an early age, then build on that knowledge by continually introducing new topics. I recommend that kids as young as five start with chemistry and physics courses in order to best prepare them for biology, astronomy and geology in subsequent years. They need an explanation of core scientific processes early on to combat their previously formed and often erroneous interpretation of the world around them.

Our children need to be actively engaged in hands-on learning throughout their entire undergraduate school career and this is the best way to develop deep comprehension. We cannot simply skip science education in the lower grades but expect students, by their twelfth year, to suddenly gain a deep understanding of science in the hopes they will continue their education in college. Not only does this approach help with comprehension and extrapolation of scientific concepts, it aids students in creating an organizational learning structure that encompasses other subjects so they excel in all.

The fact that so many public schools are skipping science in favor of the subjects on which they will be graded is both depressing and catastrophic. As a country lagging behind in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) innovations, we need to encourage our children to embrace science. The earlier they learn real science and the more they continue their education, the better.

Real Science-4-Kids frames science in a way that encourages kids to examine opposing models. To find out more about our books, check out our website. You can see the full text of all our books online for free, so you can decide for yourself if our books are the back-to-school science books you want for your child.

Find out more about the worldview neutral Real Science 4 Kids curriculum created by Dr. Rebecca Keller, herself a homeschool mom, and other home school teaching resources on our Real Science blog [http://www.realscienceblog.com].

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Ways To Make Weekly Science Projects Part Of Your Routine

There are many things that you can incorporate into your weekly schedule such as sports practices, ballet classes, or even piano lessons. These are all great things for your kids in helping them find different interests. But another thing that you should try to do is to make science projects part of your weekly schedule. Making science part of your weekly schedule will not only help your child's analytical skills, it will also give you one on one time with them. If you do not think that you have time in your already busy routine, here are 5 ways to make weekly science projects part of your routine.

The 1st way you can make weekly science projects part of your routine is to set a specific night. Pick any night of the week. Make sure to pick a night that you can set aside enough time that you can actually go over the science project that you are doing. Make sure that you do not rush the time that you spend doing science projects. Take time to explain what the science project does and everything that is involved. Taking the time and not being rushed will help your child feel like you are not to busy for them. Making sure to do science projects will help your child to see that science is something you are interested in. Make sure that you are interested in science projects. This will help your child want to be more involved too. You are your child's greatest teacher. Your child looks up to you and will get more out of what you have to teach them than what anyone else teaches them.

The 2nd way you can make weekly science projects part of your routine is to pick a certain topic each week. Have an idea board hanging up where your child can write different ideas on what they would like to do a science project on each week. This will get your child excited about science projects. This will also make your child look forward to the time that you have set aside for doing science projects.

The 3rd way you can make weekly science projects part of your routine is to set aside a certain amount of time. Making sure that you have a certain amount of time will make it easier to want to take the time to set aside each week. Pick one or two hours out of your week to do science projects. This will be enough time that you can sit down with your child and spend time together, but also enough time that if you have other things that need to be done you can still get them done too.

The 4th way you can make weekly science projects part of your routine is to do science projects over dinner. Doing science projects over dinner will not only help you actually sit down for a family dinner once a week. It will also give you quality learning time with your family. This can be good because it will let you and your family be involved with the same thing. This will help you spark up conversations and have fun over dinner.

The 5th way you can make weekly science projects part of your routine is to do them like you would homework. Make them fun of course so your child won't be bored out of their mind. But take the time to look through your child's science text book and find something that you could do a science project on once a week that will go along with their lessons. As your child is doing their homework take the time afterwards to sit down and do a science project that goes a long with it.

These are all ways that you can make weekly science projects part of your routine. This will help you bond with your child along with helping them become more knowledgeable about the world around them and how it works. Make sure to make weekly science projects part of your routine.

Just Science Projects is one of the leading science fair projects for kids [http://www.justscienceprojects.com/] websites. Visit Just Science Projects for fun elementary and middle school science experiments and science fair guides [http://www.justscienceprojects.com/]. Visit Just Science Projects or call 206-498-6502 today!

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The Technology of Nations

In 1776, Scottish economist and philosopher, Adam Smith wrote the masterpiece, 'The Wealth of Nations'- actually 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations". By coincidence, the United States Declaration of Independence was adopted the same year, making the American colonies independent and thus no longer a part of the British Empire.

America has since evolved to dominate the old British Empire in virtually every aspect of human endeavors, except perhaps, social welfare. The Yankees figuratively were discipled by Dr. Smith who believed in free market and made his argument that 'capitalism' will benefit mankind than any other economic structure. He laid this foundation at the onset of industrial revolution and provided the basics for modern economics.

Smith made his case about the 'invisible hand' and why monopoly and undue and unfettered government regulations or interference in market and industry must be discouraged. He was of the opinion that prudent allocation of resources cannot happen when states dominate and over interfere.

In that old time, America farmers could grow cotton, but would not process it. It has to be sent to England where it would later be imported into U.S as a finished product. Understanding that this decision was not due to lack of processing ability, you will appreciate Smith's argument that market must be free.

His theses were clear and were very influential; they provided the same level of fulcrum to Economics as Isaac Newton's Mathematica Prinicipia to Physics. Or in modern times, Bill Gates' Windows to the information economy.

While reading Smith's book and understanding the time frame it was written, one cannot but appreciate the intellectual rigor in that piece. Before technology was penetrated in en mass across the regions of the world, he noted that all nations could compete at par in agricultural productivity. The reason was absence of division of labor in any subsistence farming system in the world. A farmer does everything in the farm and is not an expert in most.

Discounting fertile land, rain and other factors that could help farmers, all the farmers, from Africa to plantations in Alabama, the level of productivity was similar. Why? No specialization was employed in farming business at the time.

Fast track forward when the industrial revolution set forth. The British Empire became an engine of wealth creation through automation. It was a quintessential period of unrivalled human productivity which resulted to enormous wealth created in the empire. Technology not only helped speed process execution, it helped in division of labor.

Interestingly, Dr Smith had noted that except agriculture where productivity was flat because of lack of division of labor, other industries were doing just fine. And in those industries, there were organized structures which enabled division of labor. For instance in the construction industry, there were bricklayers, carpenters, painters, and so on; but a farmer was a farmer.

As you read through Wealth of Nations and observe the 21st century, it becomes evident that technology was so influential in the last few centuries. It has changed our structures and created a new business adaptation rules like outsourcing which is indeed a new breed of division of labor.

From accumulation of stock and pricing, as explained by Dr. Smith, we see today a world where technology is shaping everything in very fundamental ways for wealth creation. In this era, it has become technology as technology translates to wealth. So, nations that focus on creating, diffusing and penetrating technology will do well.

Why? It is about national technology DNA. The more passionate and innovative nations are triumphing at the global business scene. Give me Japan and I will give you electronics. Talk about United States, I will share biotechnology and pharmaceutical technologies, and indeed every major technology. Give me China, and I will give you green technologies.

So, as nations continue to compete on the technology paradigm, we see at the highest level of success measurement an embodiment captured by technology capability. When nations are understood from the lens of their Technology Readiness Index, Knowledge Economic Index, we see that countries have become technology competing nodes. In some really poor countries with no (effectual) technology, they do not have a node and are unplugged in the sphere of global wealth creation.

Simply, it will be difficult to separate the health of any modern economy from its technology. It goes beyond the wealth of that nation to its survivability. The most advanced nations are the technology juggernauts while the least developing economics barely record any technology penetration impact. For the latter, it is like still living in the pre-industrial age Dr. Smith discussed on agriculture and division of labor where processes were inefficient.

Perhaps, this explains the efficiency in developed world in both the public and private arenas. The more technologies they diffuse, the more productive they become. In other words, show me the technology and I will tell you where the nation stands in the league of countries. Interestingly, the invention of steam engine changed the world and powered the industrial revolution. The invention of transistor transformed the 20th century and is fuelling the new innovation century.

It seems that major scientific breakthroughs bring major great countries. Let me emphasize here that some old kingdoms that ruled the world such as the old Babylon, Roman Empire, and Pharaoh's Egypt; there have been associated knowledge base that put them ahead. You cannot disassociate good crop production in River Nile to the mastery of Egyptians in inventing some sections of geometry for farming. Some of the old wars had been won by developing constructs that enabled efficient transportation of soldiers to battleground. There was science and nations were winning by using that knowledge.

In conclusion, the world has been living on technology and it is indeed defining our competitive space. As nations compete, it is technology that shapes the world with wealth as the major byproducts, in some cases. I make this case because some of the best technologies had been invented for non-wealth reasons (yes, directly). Examples include Internet and radar technologies which have created wealth and spurred commercial innovations but have military origins.

There could not be any more powerful way of examining national competitiveness than understanding the technology of nations. Yes, wealth has since morphed to technology and all competitions and wealth creation could as well be seen from technology viewpoint. And in this piece, I aptly replace Dr. Smith's 'wealth' with 'technology' to have The Technology of Nations.

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How to Choose a Technology Partner?

You have discovered the need to enlist the help of a technology partner, doesn't seem like it should be too difficult to find, just Google it, right?

The dizzying amount of results that this simple search returns will put a kink in your plans to have a list of potential technology partners to your boss by this afternoon. There are a lot of things that need to be considered when picking your technology partner and a lot of criteria you should keep in mind when making this decision. Seize the opportunity to turn this decision into a strategy to stay ahead of your competition.

First, let's define what a technology partner is and how a technology partner is different from any other technology company. Technology partners offer technical expertise to assist you with your technology needs. A technology partner works alongside your team, taking the time to learn your business and educate you on the technical options available to you. Rather than just waiting for the end product, a technology partner will communicate and collaborate with you throughout the entire project so that the final product meets your needs, saving you time and money. Now that we have defined what a technology partner is, there are considerations that need to be addressed prior to choosing the right partner for you.

You have discovered the need to enlist the help of a technology partner, doesn't seem like it should be too difficult to find, just Google it, right? The dizzying amount of results that this simple search returns will put a kink in your plans to have a list of potential technology partners to your boss by this afternoon. There are a lot of things that need to be considered when picking your technology partner and a lot of criteria you should keep in mind when making this decision. Seize the opportunity to turn this decision into a strategy to stay ahead of your competition.

BEFORE YOUR SEARCH:

Before you even begin searching for a partner you need to consider your budget, internal resources, your intended market, and role of the new software. You should know where your company stands on this project and how much your company is willing to spend on this project. These are all important things to understand yourself before you engage potential partners.

It is important to ask yourself a few questions about the project itself. What will you need the software for? How intuitive do you need the software to be for the end-user? Is there something on the market already that would fit your needs? After you have answered these questions you will be able to see the extent of the project and have a better idea of the resources that you will need from a technology partner. With a better understanding of the project itself and how your company will handle it, you now have to determine what attributes are important in a technology partner.

CONSIDERATIONS

When it comes to making the decision on which company to partner with on your project it is important to take multiple factors into consideration. Your company is investing a lot of money into this one project so it is important that the project is set up to succeed. This decision can make or break your projects success so you need to take your time and do your research to find the company that is the best fit for your company and your project. You will want to see a track record of a potential partner's level of customer service. You may have to obtain referrals and references from past customers in order to prove the level of customer service they have provided. Past projects are telling of what you can expect from the companies on your project.

To have a successful project you need to hire a company that has an understanding of your business or a company that makes understanding your business a priority. A lack of understanding in these situations can result in a project that is disjointed from your company and your message. Although companies might have an excellent level of technical expertise it will do no good if they produce a product that does not look like yours. One of the reasons that you are in search of a technology partner is likely because your company is similar to many others out there and resources are hard to come by. Make sure that potential partners have the resources you need. This information can be validated by asking for referrals, references, and looking at a portfolio of projects the company has completed. Another great way to find this information out is to ask what technologies the company uses and ask to see examples. This is one area where it will pay off to do your due diligence.

To confirm a company's experience you should ask for a timeline of projects they are currently working on and the projects they have worked on in the past. This will be helpful for you to see if they have worked on projects similar to yours in the past which will demonstrate if they have the ability to complete your project. A timeline will also be helpful because you will be able to see if they have worked with teams and companies of comparable size.

One of the keys to a projects success is the ability to meet deadlines and make the release date. Responsiveness is a big part of being able to complete the project on time and you want a company you work with to respond to you when you have questions or changes that need to be made. You should be able to tell if a company will be as responsive as you expect from early on in your engagement.

It is important when hiring a consultant to work on your project that they are objective. You want the potential partners to be able to give you objective advice about technology. This can be an issue when some companies are only willing to work in one technology. You want to use the technology that works the best for your project and will be the most beneficial. Make sure before committing to one company that you ask what technologies the company works in and you should be able to tell from their answer their willingness to work in different environments.

Making sure your business style will work with the company you choose is important. If the company has an informal business style, but your company is formal there might be some issues. The level of professionalism should match, limiting the number of problems you might encounter. This might ensure the teams are compatible and will integrate well with each other.

Are these potential partners going to be available when you need them to be? Confirm with potential companies that they have more than one employee dedicated to your project. You may want to consider using a company that uses Project Managers or Engagement Managers to ensure that you will be able contact someone when you need to. Project managers are helpful as a single point of contact.

Chemistry and ease of doing business are important aspects to consider when choosing a technology partner. If the rapport between your team and a potential technology partner are off there will be issues that will be hard to overcome. You will get an idea of this from your initial look into the company, were they easy to get a hold of? Did you mesh well with the employees you have spoken to?

Does this project require ongoing support and do the companies you are considering offer the support you will need? Will the company prepare your own team to take over maintenance upon completion? You will have to consider what you need from the company after the completion of the project and then match those needs with a company that offers those services.

OveractDev Technology Partners bridges the gap between business needs and technical expertise simply by working alongside our clients and understanding their business objectives. We offer custom software engineering, user experience design (UX), content design and SEO, quality assurance (QA/QC) and engagement management. Established in 2007, OveractDev's corporate headquarters is based in St. George, UT with office branches in Salt Lake City and Silicon Valley. Visit http://overactdev.com for more information about OveractDev Technology Partners or call us at 1.855.683.7228.

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Introducing Martial Arts As a Part of School Education

Martial arts are combat practices whose origin can be traced to the Asian countries of China, Japan, India as well as others. Most popularly known forms of martial arts are judo and kung-fu. Ideally, the martial arts techniques are used in self-defence or attack, depending on the seriousness of the situation. The common misconception restricts the practice of fighting arts to adults. However, fighting arts education can also prove to be an excellent addition to your child's school curriculum. After all, the various forms of martial art techniques come across as an excellent activity for today's chubby youth.

But, this is not the only advantage. Learning martial arts can be a life changing experience for your kid. Here is a brief preview of the advantages of including it in your kid's education:

It's a confidence booster: Martial arts education helps your child improve his or her self-esteem as well as self-respect. The rigorous physical training ensures that your kid is able to cross barriers and therefore develop a more confident body language. In simple terms, fighting arts training will help your kid overcome the fear of the school bully, the big neighbour, etc.

Increases the activity for your kids: We are living in times when obesity is a major problem in our country. Sadly, this problem is affecting children at a young age. Through fighting arts education, you can increase the dose of activity in your child's daily life and avoid obesity related issues along with ensuring that he or she learns the importance of good health from a young age itself.

Teaches them discipline: Fighting arts education is not at all about random blows and punches. In fact, it is a collaborative effort between the mind and body that focuses on channelizing your energies in the proper direction. The collaboration between mind and body is possible only through practicing a disciplined training regime. As a result of this, children practicing any form of martial art learn the importance of a disciplined routine and adapt it in their daily life as well.

It rejuvenates the mind: Unlike the textbook learning in classrooms, martial arts education comes with practical training that allows your kid to flex their muscles as well as rejuvenate their mind. This in turn helps them to enhance their learning abilities even at school.

Relax under pressure: The fighting arts training helps to increase the ability of the body to withstand physical endurance and also aids in enhancing the mental abilities to remain calm even in a pressure situation. This ensures that in the long run, your kid becomes a better decision maker.

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Online Nursing Degree Schools - Education Via Internet

Online nursing schools refer to those online nursing degree program that provide you online nursing education by providing necessary information to become a nurse from any distance. You can earn an online associate nursing degree from the online nursing schools and can serve the people by entering in this noble field that gives you handsome rewards also. There is no one in the world, which is not aware of the stories of the bravery and dedication of the nurses particularly when the nation faces any kind of epidemic or during the times of the war.

Now You Can Convert Your Dream In Reality

Before the advent of the online nursing schools there were many people who could not realize their dream of becoming a nurse even though they had a strong desire to do so. This is simply because learning the required skill from the traditional schools were not so easy as it has become now when you can earn a online nursing degree with the help of the Internet. In fact, the Internet has made it possible to get the online nursing education irrespective of the fact that you are sitting in which part of the world.

By studying in the online nursing schools you can become the master in so many subjects. For example, medical administrative services, public health and safety, Therapeutic Rehabilitation and Nursing Assistants and mental health services are some of these topics. Till now, there are thousands of the students have earned the online nursing degree and are enjoying a successful career in the several cities of the United States of America. Name of some of these cities are Las Vegas, San Francisco, Nashville, Chicago and Salt Lake City.

Let us now talk about the subjects that are taught by these online nursing schools when you apply for an online nursing degree. Three main subjects are social science, physical science and biological science. There are some subjects that teach the humanitarian and cultural aspects of this noble profession. Liberal art is also an essential part of this online nursing education. There are three main kinds of degrees that are offered by the institute. These are as follow: -

1. Associate Degree in Nursing.

2. Bachelor of Science in Nursing,

3. Master Entry Level Program,

These are the major courses that are taught in the online nursing schools. Depending upon the course one course may take from two to four years. The student is supposed to complete a certain number of credits in the registered nursing care and development. Student must also learn the course that is related with the administration.

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