29 Dec 11

Pesticide Education Program’s New Website!

Pesticide Education Program Website, Version 4.0!

Our Program has a new website: extension.psu.edu/pesticide-education! I think this is the fourth major revision in 15 years, so I guess thats not bad. Although the organization is similar to the old website, some pages may have a new landing place. Like someone said, Its just like getting a new car; I know the switch for the windshield wipers are here, I just dont know where! Also, please note that this new website is a work in progress. Some areas still need to be finished and we still need to place some old pages in the new website, so be patient! Now for the tour!

The Pesticide Education Programs new homepage.

Audience Tabs Across the Top

The tabs across the top are the main audiences that we serve. Information is housed in the area that is most usedand on our web site, that is most likely in the section. The main topics found in this section includes:

  • Certification and Exams
  • Recertification Credits
  • PA Department of Agriculture Information
  • Labels and MSDSs
  • Fact Sheets
  • Pest Management
  • Pesticide Highlights Newsletters
  • Core-Specific Issues
  • Category-Specific Issues

A brand new audience that we added is the section. This was needed to address the new pesticide regulations passed last December (2010) that requires pesticide dealers to have a certified dealer manager at each dealership location. More information on how to become certified and upcoming trainings can be found there.

We did a complete overhaul on the section. Within that section, we split further into four groups: Extension Educators and PDA Inspectors; Master Gardeners; Ag and Science Teachers; and Elementary Teachers. Each section has information specific to the audience they educate. We also have more to add such as a hands-on demonstration section where you can find activities to do at recertification meetings, classroom settings, or at public events.

The section is pretty much the same as before with links to our online D.B. Pest computer game, D.B. Pest activity book, and other fun games.

Quick Links Down the Left-Hand Side

Down the left hand side are a few quick links to Applicators and pages, quick links to recent and , next is our , and then links to information and to . We also have direct links to our Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube accounts.

The Rest

The middle part of the homepage below the photo are feeds from our and recent . To the right of that is a SpotLight section, which for now is our Pesticide Safety and Pest Management Library, which is a resources geared more for our Educators than anyone else. Then we have our Directors Update, which will be at least a quarterly update from the director of our program, Dr. Kerry Richards. We have somehow lost the Fall Update, but I am working on that! Finally, we have a list of our Upcoming Events, which includes some of the events where our program will have an exhibit.

Again, we welcome your comments, send to Sharon Gripp at .

0 Comments
Filed in Education Articles
  Posted by Abbey Santo
Tagged New Website, Pesticide Education, Website
18 Dec 11

Hybrid math is on the way to Triangle schools

The days of Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry could be numbered in Triangle schools, but they would be replaced by a new trio of what’s supposed to be tougher and more in-depth math courses.

Triangle High Five, a group led by the superintendents in Wake, Durham, Orange and Johnston counties and Chapel Hill-Carrboro, is recommending that their school boards stop naming courses Algebra I, Algebra II and Geometry.

Triangle High Five says those names no longer accurately reflect what students will begin learning next school year as part of a new statewide math curriculum. With students set to enroll in fall courses in the next few months, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro school board will be the first Triangle district to discuss the High Five proposal tonight.

“It wouldn’t be your mother’s, or father’s or grandparents’ Algebra I,” said Rodney Trice, executive director for curriculum and instruction for Chapel Hill-Carrboro schools. “It’s changing because of the additional content.”

North Carolina is one of 45 states that adopted the “common core,” a set of education standards in math and language arts. The goal is to have consistent, rigorous standards across the nation.

The state is letting school districts continue to call the high school courses Algebra I, Geometry and Algebra II. But what would be taught in each course would be significantly different. For instance, Algebra I would now include some geometry material.

Triangle High Five is proposing that the three new hybrid courses be called Common Core Math I, II and III.

Triangle High Five officials say using the same course names will promote consistency should students move between the five districts. Triangle High Five was originally formed in 2003 with funding from The News & Observer and four other area businesses to help improve the graduation rate and to promote collaboration among the Triangle school districts.

Rebecca Garland, chief academic officer at the state Department of Public Instruction, said state officials expect most districts will keep the old course names because that’s what parents are familiar with.

In addition to coming up with course names, another question facing school districts is the order for students to take the classes.

Chapel Hill administrators are recommending using an accelerated curriculum proposal from Triangle High Five that would let most students take three years of middle school math in two years. This would allow eighth-graders to take a high school math course, paving the way for honors courses in high school.

Whether Wake County will follow Chapel Hill’s example is uncertain. The decision could impact whether Wake continues the push it has made over the last two years to get more eighth-graders to take Algebra I, historically a high school course.

Ruth Steidinger, Wake’s senior director for middle school programs, said through a district spokesman that she will meet Monday with Superintendent TonyTata to talk about what math sequence to recommend.

School administrators in Durham and Wake say they expect to present the Triangle High Five proposal to their school boards in January.

Based on the complexity of the new material, Garland said it’s expected that the majority of North Carolina public school students will wait until high school before taking Algebra I or its new equivalent course.

Hui: 919-829-4534

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0 Comments
Filed in Education Articles
  Posted by Abbey Santo
Tagged Schools, Triangle Schools
18 Dec 11

Education minister Nick Gibb claims celebrity culture and obsession with wealth is harming children

In a strong attack on modern culture, Nick Gibb argued that a “got to have it now” culture is breeding unrealistic expectations of wealth in young people.

The schools minister said millions of children are being raised with the wrong priorities by equating wealth with success.

His intervention came in a House of Commons debate about whether children should get a better financial education to help them look after their personal budgets and launch their own businesses.

“Young people are growing up in a materialistic world for which they are often not fully prepared,” Mr Gibb said. “The ‘got to have it now’ culture means young people have high aspirations for branded or designer goods, often without the means to pay for them.

“People have unrealistic expectations about the lifestyle they can afford, fuelled by the glittering trappings of celebrities.”

Mr Gibb said he would like to see schools put a greater emphasis on maths teaching.

“We all have a job to do in moving young people’s aspirations away from this empty and often destructive perception of what success means,” he added. “Developing children’s intellectual capabilities and interests is a direct antidote to materialism.

“Alongside that, young people must acquire a sense of responsibility.

They need to contribute to society as responsible citizens and not take wild risks. They need to learn to live within their means.”

The debate among MPs was sparked after more than 100,000 people signed an online petition calling for schools to give lessons in personal finance.

The campaign was backed by Martin Lewis, who runs the website MoneySavingExpert.com.

It was brought to parliament by Justin Tomlinson, a Conservative MP, who argued people are making poor financial decisions “not necessarily

through their own fault but because they didn’t have the skills”.

He said some people taking out pay-day loans might have avoided crippling debt if they had been taught about interest rates at school.

Mr Gibb stopped short of backing compulsory financial education for all, but pointed out the Government is reviewing the National Curriculum

The education minister’s attack on the “got to have it now culture” comes just weeks after the Lord Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, criticised the selfishness of today’s consumer society.

He said the iPad and iPhone products sold by Apple helped contribute to a culture of egotism, because of their emphasis on personal ownership.

“The values of a consumer society really aren’t ones you can live by for terribly long,” the religious chief said. “The consumer society was laid down by the late Steve Jobs [ the founder of Apple] coming down the mountain with two tablets, iPad one and iPad two, and the result is that we now have a culture of iPod, iPhone, iTune, I, I, I.”

0 Comments
Filed in Learning Portal
  Posted by Samantha Bischof
Tagged Nick Gibb, Wealth
16 Dec 11

In report about sex abuse, a clue to the post-rubber room world

When investigators concluded that a Queens teacher had had a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old student, the city sent him home.

Two weeks later — today — police arrested I.S. 278 teacher Charles Oross and charged him with rape, criminal sexual act, and endangering the welfare of a child.

The detail about Oross being reassigned to his home can be found in a footnote of the report about his behavior released today by the Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation. It offers one clue as to how the city is managing teachers accused of wrongdoing now that they cannot be sent to reassignment centers known as rubber rooms.

Until last year, teachers accused of inappropriate behavior languished in the rubber rooms, sometimes for years, while awaiting discipline hearings. But after Mayor Bloomberg awakened to the existence of the rooms, he pushed for them to be dismantled. Part of the city-union deal shutting the rubber rooms down was that teachers whose cases were pending trial could be given work assignments.

For a couple of weeks in November, Oross was assigned to 49-51 Chambers Street, the Emigrant Savings Bank building that houses city offices. That is a more typical destination for teachers removed from their schools in the era after rubber rooms.

But city and union officials said today that the rubber room deal had introduced the possibility of assigning teachers to their homes.

They said the option is used rarely, and only in extreme cases. The SCI report says Orosss home assignment was for during his regular workday hours and notes that he was subject to random contact or visitation during that time.

Special Commissioner of Investigation Richard Condon launched the investigation into Oross in August, after a tipster reported his behavior to the New York Police Departments Crime Stoppers Unit. Condon recommended that the DOE move to terminate Oross and bar him from any employment in or around city schools in the future.

0 Comments
Filed in Education Tips
  Posted by Brodie Mollison
Tagged Sex, Sex Abuse
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