Congratulations to Suzanne Pilon!

The Rochester Area Colleges’ Center for Excellence in Math and Science (RAC-CEMS) wants to congratulate Suzanne Monagan Pilon for receiving the  Presidential Award for Excellence in Mathematics and Science Teaching. Mrs. Pilon is a Primary Multi-Age Teacher at Hilton’s Quest Elementary School. The news article can be found at Hilton Central School District’s website.

To find out more about this and other awards for educators, visit our web site’s Educator Fellowships and Awards page.

Using Sand in Your Classroom

Browsing through my feeds I found an article on sand from Andrew Alden, a Geology Guide. As I was reading, it made me think about projects that could be done with sand in a science class, from Kindergarten to 12th grade. Some projects I thought about are: an art project in primary school, a report on what sand is used for in middle school, doing something with sand in the chemistry lab in high school.

This also reminded me of the sandblasting that young visitors can do at the Corning Museum of Glass.

The article Here’s Sand in Your Eye answers questions such as this:

- What is considered sand?

- What is sand made out of?

- What does sand form or make?

- Does sand make sound?

These are questions that a teacher could ask students to do a short report on.

What other sand projects do you think your students could do?