News:

Pasco schools say virtual ed's a real budget breaker

As Pasco schools look to the future of education, online courses for kindergarten through eighth grade rate high on the priority list. "I'm not being funded to do it. I'm just being told I have to do it," said Fiorentino, who is leading a statewide effort to get a reprieve. "We just can't afford doing it this year." She said her staff has estimated the startup costs for the program — including such things as curriculum development and infrastructure — could run as high as $1-million. Although over time it would be expected to become self-sufficient, the school's initial price tag looks too steep when the district can't even afford employee raises, she added.

http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/article967362.ece

Hard times cut state cyber school enrollments

The state's 11 cyber charter schools -- online, at-home alternatives to traditional public schools -- are the latest victims of the recession. Facing the threat of layoffs or mortgage foreclosures, some parents are sending their children back to brick-and-mortar public schools because a stay-at-home spouse had to get a job, said Joe Lyons, spokesman for the Pennsylvania Virtual Charter School in Norristown, second-largest in the state.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_606700.html

Davis sixth-grader's science experiment breaks new ground

By Niesha Lofing

University of California, Davis, scientists are redirecting their research after a professor's son discovered that a major agricultural pest prefers pistachios over other nuts.

The sixth-grader's experiment showed that female navel orangeworms preferred to lay their eggs in pistachios rather than almonds or walnuts, and researchers now are trying to use the information to better control the pests, according to the California Farm Bureau.

http://www.sacbee.com/education/story/1530953.html

Economy brings reprieve to teacher shortage

http://www.sltrib.com/education/ci_11408218?source=rss

Fair Isn't Always Equal

http://www.stenhouse.com/shop/pc/viewprd.asp?idProduct=8982&r=sb090112b&REFERER=

First Chapter Free

Socratic Circles presentation (Ballroom 3)

Mary Dooms, Marge Strand of Lake Zurich Middle School South, Lake Zurich, Illinois

email: [email protected] and [email protected]

Book: Socratic Circles by Matt Copeland

Overview

Rooted in Socrates' philosophy that critical thinking and reason skills ar enhanced when the learneer begins to question.

Questioning continues the though process while answers stop it.