Welcome back to an exciting new school year! I hope all of you are rested after your well-deserved summer break. In order to make use of the technology in the schools, the DoDDS Science Today Newsletter is now going to be available on the worldwide web providing access to anyone who has Internet access. Please consult all of the links located on the Teachers/Parents/Students Science Information links on the main page of the TSI District Science Home Page. The listings will be updated and expanded as the school year progresses. Information relating to the science standards, course information as well as links to other science sources on the Internet will be provided. It is my hope to have everything that you need to answer any questions relating to the DODEA Science Curriculum. Please let me know if there is anything that needs to be listed on the site.
The TSI Starlab Schedules are posted on the TSI Science Home Page. As you know the schedule is tentative since the shipping of Starlab via MPS is not an exact science. Teachers and students have been disappointed in the past when Starlab did not materialize when expected. Sometimes it takes a month to send Starlab from one school to another. For those schools in Turkey, it has proven to be expeditious to utilize sport team buses to transport Starlab from one school to another. No one wants Starlab during the holidays, but unfortunately Starlab has to be somewhere. The same goes for the use of Starlab at the start and ending of the school year. The schools in Spain and the Azores have been able to work out an agreement for the use of Starlab. Turkey and Bahrain schools have a schedule, which changes each year. Teacher training for Starlab is available on-site for both beginners and advanced users of Starlab. Please have your administrator request training from the DSO for your staff members.
This is the year of the "orphan" science courses pre-implementation. Textbooks for the following "orphan" science courses should have arrived in the schools during SY1999-2000: Human Anatomy & Physiology, Astronomy, Introduction to Physics (Active Physics), Chemical Applications in the Community (Chem Com), and Science/Technology & Society (STS). These courses were referred to as "orphan" science classes since no materials were selected when the original review of science materials for grades 6-12 were held. A smaller materials review took place a year later for the "orphan" courses.
This school year is the full implementation for the other science courses. In the past there were a limited number of science courses available to ninth graders, namely Science 9. With the implementation of the new science courses and the number of credit hours increased to graduate, more science courses were being offered earlier. In the past, the only electives in science were for juniors and seniors. Today, a wide variety of offerings are available to students. It is important for school guidance counselors to realize that students in the ninth grade do not have to be limited to Interactive Science IV (formerly known as Science 9), but can select from a wide range of science courses based on their individual needs. It is important to note that courses such as Biology are no longer limited to just tenth graders, but can contain students from grades 9-12. Please consult the TSI Science Home Page to view the science selections available for our students.

Tim Connors
Science Liaison - TSI District