TEAP Online Newsletter

Dear Technology Educators & TEAP Members,

Welcome to the April edition of TEAP-Online Newsletter! This newsletter contains a little bit of everything, unlike the past few months where you have received "theme newsletters". I would once again like to start off by thanking those who provided materials for this newsletter, your input is truly appreciate by all.

This was such a great idea...here it is again...
Legislators in the Classroom!

The Technology Educators Association of New Jersey has offered an idea for a great way to let those in a position to help us at the state level to find out what is going on in our classrooms and our field of education! The information has come to our attention via Dave Janosz, Executive Directory of TEANJ, and was offered as a suggestion for our state association by our TEAP Immediate Past Present, Joanne Trombley! The email Dave speaks of can be found in an attachment to this email in Microsoft Word form, if you are unable to open or read the message please contact TEAP-New@teap-online.org and it can be converted to suit your needs.

"Please consider writing an email to your state senator and assembly people, inviting them to visit with you and your students. I recently sent the below email to my local lawmakers and I already have two visits set up within the next few weeks. All I did beforehand was ask my building principal if it would be OK.

How do you find out who your legislators are? You can either use the insert in the February issue of the NJEA Review or you can search for them at this link:

http://www.njleg.state.nj.us/.

Please take the time to do this! It will go a long way to have new allies as we begin to take next steps! As these people get to know us and what we do we will be able to do much more for the students of New Jersey."

In PA, visit http://www.state.pa.us/papower/taxonomy/taxonomy.asp?DLN=31786 to find out who your local legislators are!

Are You Willing to be a 2004 TEAP Idol?!?

Think American Idol, without the irritating talent judges. You know showing off your talents a Technology Educator! Once again, conference presenting is no game show, but you can share what you do and how you do it with colleagues from our great state as well as states throughout the country. The application has been available on the 2004 Conference page, and there have been a few applications already!

Please, consider presenting at this years conference. You may also want to consider presenting at the 2004 Tech Fest, watch the website and future newsletters for information concerning how to get involved in this great forum for Technology Educators!

Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center "Renewable Energy Committee"

A TEAP member from Region 2E has become involved in the "Renewable Energy Committee" from Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center. They offer several very informative programs and tours with a focus on ENERGY. We feel that many teachers in Berks County (and possibly in some of the surrounding counties as well) might possibly be interested in or have students that are interested in Nolde's Energy Program as a local resource. We are looking for individuals who would like to have their email addresses added to Nolde's email list for additional information. If you are interested in more information, either respond to TEAP-News@teap-online.org or directly to Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center at noldeforestsp@state.pa.us. Below is some additional information that you can use or pass on to other colleagues.

Small Stream Power Production
A tour of Farm Hydro-power sites in the Ephrata area
Offered by Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center's Renewable Energy Committee

Small hydro-power generation has been used on farms for over 100 years. Some of these systems, fallen into disrepair, have been refurbished and are providing renewable energy for agriculture. See them in use and learn how they work in beautiful rural Lancaster County.

TOUR LEADER - Ron MacLeod of Nautilus Water Turbines
WHEN - 8:45 a.m. – 3 p.m. Saturday May 22, 2004 Rain or Shine
WHERE - Tour departs from and returns to Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center McConnell Hall (transportation provided)
COST - $5.00, includes lunch and transportation
SEATING IS LIMITED; register soon!

Great Sites Online!

Below are links to some other great online resources that may be useful to you in your day to day classroom activities. If you have any suggestions to be added to this area of the newsletter each month, please forward them at your convenience... Thanks to Rick Zilla for these and other great links!

NASA Glenn Research Center Propulsion Index - http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/shortp.html
- Contains a list of all the topics available from the Beginner's Guide to Propulsion site. Clicking on the title will deliver a page with a slide and a scientific explanation of the contents. Click on the word "Animated" for the animated version of selected pages or the word "Interactive" for a Java simulation. Some pages are also available as "Text Only". If the number and variety of pages seems too intimidating, consider taking one of their Guided Tours through the web site.

RocketModeler Version 1.2 - http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/K-12/airplane/rktsim.html

With this software you can investigate how a model rocket flies by changing the values of different design variables. If you are an experienced user of RocketModeler, you may prefer a slightly different version of RocketModeler. This a great piece of software for those of you working on model rockets with your students!

Toothpick (and Other) Bridges - http://archive.ala.org/ICONN/KCFAQ/bridges.html

As the name of the site suggests, this is a neat little page about toothpick bridges and more. It contains additional links to more information!

Yahoo! Groups

Please consider joining the TEAP-Online Yahoo-Group. This service provides it's members with the ability upload files, and chat using Yahoo chat services, as well as providing another form of communication for your the members of our association. For more information visit http://www.teap-online.org/join.htm.

If you have additional questions or items to include in the next TEAP-Online Newsletter, please email us at TEAP-News@teap-online.org with the subject header: TEAP-News Items. In your email, please include your name, school name, and your email address in addition to the newsworthy item. Please feel free to also send us links to useful online resources if you have any not included at TEAP-Online for the benefit of it's members! Please contact us if you no longer want to receive these newsletters.