Author: dominick.fantacone@cortland.edu

Southern Section Members,

Are you a point of contact for Science Matters? Looking for PD opportunities or sharing your workshop info?

STANYS is the lead organization in NYS for the NSTA initiative, Science Matters. The purpose of Science Matters (formerly BaP) is to reduce isolation of teachers of science, K-16, and to keep them informed about professional development in their region, the state, and nationally. We need every school to be represented for this to be effective.

This electronic network is not the same as the Oneonta list that allows two-way communication with colleagues. The intention of the network is to inform teachers of science about opportunities in professional development, award opportunities, and grant information relevant to the section, demographics, or state at large.

If you are not a PoC, you can sign yourself up. The POC for his/her school receives digital information that will then be shared with colleagues. There can be more than one PoC per school. The messages sent out by NSTA for Science Matters and by STANYS leaders are seldom the same as those shared on the Oneonta networks.

Please encourage more of your section members to become PoC’s. They will receive information that is not shared on the Oneonta Lists, such as STANYS identified grant opportunities, PD, and NSTA generated opportunities.

The success of this network requires all buildings and all teachers to be represented. Please encourage any of your colleagues in other schools to sign up to become a PoC. There are more than 6,000 public and non public schools in this state that need to receive information relevant to teachers and students.

1. Go to http://bap.nsta.org
2. On the left side of the opening page, click on “Become a Point of Contact”;
3. Step 1: Select State
4. From the menu, select “New York”;
5. Step 2: Enter only your school’s Zip in the first box (no other info in other boxes) & click “Find Schools”;
6. Step 3: Look just below “Find Schools” for the listing of all schools with that ZIP, & click on your school’s name. (If your school’s name does not appear, send a message to Nancy Ridenour (nridenour@twcny.rr.com) with the school’s official name, address, and ZIP. It will then be added to the list of schools with that ZIP);
7. Step 4: Complete template of first page about General Info. & click “Next”;
8. Complete template on second page about Demographics. Under Demographics for Grades and for Subjects:
   1. If you are representing all the teachers of science in your building, be sure to include all the grades, and all science subjects for teachers whom you are representing, not just what you teach.
   2. If you are representing a subset of teachers in your building, be sure to include just those grades and subjects of teachers you represent, not just what you teach.
   3. If you are representing just yourself, include just the grade(s) and subject(s) that you teach.
9. When completed, click on “Submit”.

Nancy Ridenour

STANYS Liaison for Science Matters