April was a Busy Month at ScienceGeek.net
These are the raw numbers for the website in April. There is always an increase in activity during April as schools gear up for standardized testing. It will be interesting to see what changes come to standardized assessments as a result of Common Core State Standards and the recently published Next Generation Science Standards. Major changes to the Chemistry and Biology content here will await the publication of California's amended standards, anticipated in November 2013.
Under the topic heading "Unthankfullness is Theft", I have been writing about some the the postitive influences in my life. So far, I've written about two of my teaches - sixth grade teacher, Tony Novak and my middle school math and science teacher, Ben Marafino. I have also added my thoughts about my colleague Vicki Winterton, who will be retiring in June.
I've also written about a great resource that I recently discovered - Spectral Workbench (a do-it-yourself spectrometer and online spectrometry tools). I'm genuinely thrilled to be teaching during a period when such amazing resources are being made available for free.
Chemistry
The Chemistry Page will give first year chemistry students access to all of the notes, worksheets, labs, Powerpoints and other important documents for my General Chemistry classes. You may also access your current grades, a current Course Calendar, as well as links to free chemistry software. Interactive review activities for important concepts, organized by units, are provided to help the student prepare for important benchmarks and tests.
AP Chemistry
AP Chemistry will be on hiatus in the 2012 - 2013 school year, but will return for the following year, in 2013 - 2014. The AP Chemistry Page hosts the resources for the class, which include PowerPoints in Flash format, notes, review activities, and a calendar. During the 2012 - 2013 school year, I will be committing a lot of time and energy toward converting these resources to align with the College Board's new AP Chemistry Framework. Though I developed the resources for my AP students, they will probably also prove useful to college students taking a first year chemistry course.
Biology
I am not teaching Biology during the 2012 - 2013 school year. I will continue to provide access to my course materials, including Powerpoints (web-based and offline formats) and interactive review activities to help the student prepare for important benchmarks and tests. I may even find the time to add a few new things, so check back often.
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