Author Archive
2017 – Disasters, Drama, and Delight By Steph Bestelmeyer 2017 was quite a year. Our office was burglarized in May and then flooded in September due to a broken pipe. In October, the Public Education Department proposed New Mexico science education standards that omitted key concepts about evolution and climate change. Yet in spite…
The Birth of a New Lesson By Rink Somerday The Asombro Institute for Science Education staff is always looking for regionally relevant, cutting edge science to incorporate into our hands-on, classroom lessons. It often starts with a science topic or science education standard that classroom teachers seek support in meeting. The wheels begin to…
Urgent! Help Shape Future Science Education in New Mexico By Ryan Pemberton On September 12, 2017, the New Mexico Public Education Department (PED) proposed replacing the current science education standards with the NM STEM Ready Standards. These new standards are based on the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). However, a few key differences, including…
What We Do By Libby Grace Many mornings, the Asombro office begins to buzz just as the sun rises over the Organ Mountains to the east. We check activity bins, grab handouts, load up the cars and are off with the hopes of beating the buses to schools with plenty of time to set…
Peace, Love, and Butterflies By Stephanie Haan-Amato Who doesn’t love butterflies? Butterflies hold the rare status among insects of being considered lovely and charming by most people. In fact, research demonstrates that butterflies are the most popular group of invertebrates, and perhaps not surprisingly, that mosquitoes, leeches, spiders, and wasps are the least popular…
Burglary and a Happy Ending By Stephanie Bestelmeyer If you’ve ever been burglarized, you know the sense of shock, sadness, and anger that come in waves as you deal with the aftermath. Unfortunately, the Asombro Institute for Science Education staff and Board felt all of these emotions in late May when our office was…
A Decade and a Half of Stories By Rink Somerday When I think of the thousands of students I have taught over the past 14 years, it is hard to remember all the faces and all the names. Some stick out for the insight they possessed on a field trip or the connection they…
What Can We Do in One Hour? An Interview with Debbie Vance – Picacho Middle School By Ryan Pemberton I have been an environmental educator in some shape or form for the last six years. The ways I’ve interacted with students has varied from going into their classrooms, to hosting students on field…