Description: Minnetonka Christian Academy, a diverse day-school with approximately 150 students in grades K-12 and 13 teaching staff, is located in a beautiful suburb on the western side of the Twin Cities. We seek teachers who desire to lead young people to know Jesus, are committed to helping each student experience their best academically and socially, and are able to implement multiple strategies of instruction and assessment.

For more information, contact Pamela Consuegra, Supt. of Schools via email at pconsuegra@mnsda.com or via phone at 763-424-8923.Please send an electronic copy of your resume to pconsuegra@mnsda.com

New Science Teacher Academy to Select Middle and High School Science Teachers for 200809 Term

Currently accepting applications for a full-time position teaching high school Physical Science, Biology, Chemistry and Honors Biology or Chemistry. Prefer candidates with successful experience teaching high school science and must be denominationally certified. If interested in a job in the beautiful Napa Valley contact principal Larry Aldred at laldred@puc.edu or call (925) 965-7273. Closing date: June 2, 2008.

Clifford Goldstein and Ervin Taylor debate the issue. Check it out at atoday.com the Jan. 08 issue. Be sure to locate parts II and III at the bottom of the page.
Then post your comments on this site! As a friend of mine always says, “Be free!” Let’s talk about this.

Do you wonder if your students will ever glimpse the relevance of science to their lives? Have your impassioned discourses on the ethical implications of stem cell research, human cloning, physician assisted suicide, genetically engineered crops, etc, etc, been met by vacant stares? If so, I share your frustration.

This year, in yet another attempt to educate our “citizens of tomorrow” I decided to try debates in my classroom. I started by asking my students to name some current science issues. After a very brief discussion, I suggested that they talk with their families and friends and then hand in a list of 5 controversial subjects with an explanation of how they are related to biology. From those lists I selected the 9 most frequently mentioned topics and passed around a sign-up sheet. The students chose three topics and I selected the members of the proponent teams and the opponent teams for each topic. Then I searched the internet for information on the duties of each team member, debate protocols and scoring systems which I used to make a packet for each teammember. The audience participates by taking notes, scoring points and by asking questions before the closing comments. I scheduled the debates for one Friday per month (30 minute periods) which works out pretty well as we don’t have to transition to another activity.

When I handed out the lists of teams, I explained to my students that I had chosen the teams because I did not want these debates to be about personal beliefs. I want them to find evidence to support the position of their team and learn how to present that information logically and to respond to the arguments of the opposing team in a relevant manner.

My goals for my students are to raise their awareness about the issues, learn how to locate information and evaluate the validity of sources and express themselves rationally, clearly and concisely. I am not interested in convincing my students of any particular position. I just want them to consider the evidence and think for themselves. So far I have been overwhelmed by the results. The students have a strong desire to be well prepared and to perform well and are improving with each debate. I will let you know how it goes as the year progresses.

The Language of God: A scientist presents evidence for belief. Written by Francis Collins, an evangelical Christian who is the director of the National Human Genome Project.

Reviews may be found at the following sites:

http://www.atoday.com/news/atnewsbreak/2007/01/24

http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2007/january/32.62.html

Post your comments under the Recent Discussions heading on the lower right side of this page. We await with bated breath!

Hello all you intrepid science teachers of the world’s children. You are amazingly courageous and we are so proud of you! I hope that you will find this website to be a means of communicating with each other and with all of us. We want to help in any way that we can so please post questions and interesting observations to share with us all. You inspire us with your willingness to tackle the challenges of language barriers and scanty resources in classrooms around the globe.

Thank you for all that you do,

Gail Redberg

As voted by ASEA members in Nashville, student missionaries are receiving a free membership to ASEA. They will be able to post questions on the forum and receive responses from those of our membership who are experienced with that particular issue. As our membership includes both elementary and secondary science teachers in all disciplines I believe we can be of real assistance to them. Responses made in a timely manner will be of the most help, so let us all commit to checking out the ASEA website regularly, preferably once a week.

Support your student missionaries. Take time to log on!

Because we started our Paypal account at the end of December, 2006, everyone who renewed before Dec. 31, 2006 will have until Dec. 31, 2007 to renew their membership. Those members who signed up after that date will need to renew one year from the date they paid their membership dues.

If you are confused, send me an email or post on this site and I will respond with your specific renewal date. Also let me know if you are having any trouble with Fisher Science discounts.