[NAEP] MPES Newsletter: Volume 1, Issue 9

[Dawn Wiseman]

								May 12, 2008
 
		Volume 1, Issue 9

Later this week, Corinne and I are heading out to 
Membertou to participate in the Atlantic Native 
Teachers Education Conference. We're running two 
workshops on elementary science which we hope 
won't get TOO messy.

With that in mind here's a bit of news from the east Š


Safer water systems
Do your students ask what use science and math 
are in their communities? How about telling them 
that combining the two subjects can lead to safer 
water?

As an ever increasing number of communities 
across Canada work to maintain the integrity of 
their water and waste water infrastructure, 
Abenaki Associates has responded with an official 
launch of their Safe Water Infrastructure 
Management System (SWIMS) software.

Abenaki's new SWIMS software will allow 
communities to track scheduled and overdue 
maintenance, monitor specific problems, and 
produce work orders and reports which help paint 
a clear, real-time, picture of their water and 
waste water infrastructure using advanced 
integration with GIS systems.

Abenaki is holding a one-day workshop in Moncton, 
NB to demonstrate the new software, and has many 
more planned for the near future. For more 
information regarding SWIMS software and upcoming 
workshops contact Brian Saulnier at 
brian at abenaki.com or 1-800-361-1402. You can also 
visit Abenaki's website at http://www.abenaki.com 
for other workshop dates and locations across 
Canada.


Going, going, goneŠ
As we noted in our last issue, we need to make 
space in our office for new materials. At this 
point, we are looking to give away (for the cost 
of shipping) the following:

- copies of our curriculum materials. Significant 
quantities of the most recent issues (geomatics, 
food, ocean and building engineering) are 
available, and smaller numbers of older titles 
(see 
http://www.nativeaccess.com/teachers/curriculum.html 
for a list of subject areas). There are about 50 
archive-sized boxes worth of material here.
- both French (12 boxes) and English (8 boxes) 
versions of What Health Scientists Do.

Please email me Monday, May 19 if you are interested.

Whipped cream in space
An experiment in space has shed new light on the 
puzzling physics of some everyday substances such 
as blood, ketchup, motor oil and whipped cream.

http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2008/25apr_cvx2.htm?list845015


Publish your practice
The Canadian Journal for Science, Mathematics, 
and Technology Education will publish a Special 
Issue on Indigenous Science Education from Place: 
Best Practices on Turtle Island. It is intended 
to create an interdisciplinary dialogue on 
Indigenous science education in the North 
American (Turtle Island) context.

This special issue will be edited by Herman 
Michell from First Nations University of Canada. 
He invites scholarly essays and research 
manuscripts that draw upon existing academic 
literature as well as showcase developments in 
Indigenous science education for the benefit of 
communities and schools that are involved in 
decolonizing science curricula around the world.

Please contact Herman for more information.
Tel: (306) 790-5950 ext. 3332
Email:  hmichell at firstnationsuniversity.ca


Meet the skalugsuak
Thanks to Pamela Bumsted Š
According to Inuit legend, a urine-soaked cloth 
was once whipped from an old lady's hand and 
carried out to sea, where it turned into a sea 
monster called skalugsuak. Of its legendary 
peculiarities, skalugsuak lives for 200 years, 
has thousands of teeth, weighs over a ton, eats 
caribou whole, has skin that can destroy human 
flesh, and possesses—in place of eyes-living, 
glowing creatures which lure its prey.
But skalugsuak isn't a fable-it's a real shark, 
whose flesh is so packed with urea that it smells 
and tastes like urine. Commonly known as the 
Greenland shark, the animal is the second largest 
carnivorous shark (after the Great White), and 
the apex predator of the eastern Arctic. When 
their carcasses have washed up, scientists have 
opened their stomachs to find eels, sharks, 
beluga whales, dog, horse, reindeer, and a lot of 
fish, and they've even been reported to hunt 
caribou in the manner of a crocodile ambush.
Canadian scientists of the University of Windsor 
have taken on the task of tagging Greenland 
sharks to track their living conditions and 
location. Despite living at depths of over a 
mile, the animal doesn't play too hard to get 
when it surfaces-it can be dragged out of the 
water with one's bare hands.

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2008/05/06/freakish-caribou-eating-creature-haunts-the-arctic-deep/

Upcoming events
Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the 
Environment) is a worldwide hands-on, primary and 
secondary school-based science and education 
program. GLOBE's vision promotes and supports 
students, teachers and scientists to collaborate 
on inquiry-based investigations of the 
environment and the Earth system working in close 
partnership with NASA and NSF Earth System 
Science Projects (ESSPs) in study and research 
about the dynamics of Earth's environment.

Around the world, primary and secondary school 
students are making scientific observations and 
reporting their data to GLOBE for use in 
research. For a school to participate in GLOBE, 
at least one teacher must be trained in the GLOBE 
science measurement protocols and education 
activities by attending a GLOBE Teacher Workshop.

Check out the 2008 workshops at
http://www.globe.gov/fsl/workshop/registration.pl?lang=en&nav=1


Next issue
The next issue of the MPES newsletter is due out 
in two weeks. If you have any information you'd 
like to share with colleagues please email it to 
dawn at nativeaccess.com.