Arjen | OpenSTEM Pty Ltd

Get a 50% discount during NAPLAN week 2017

That’s right. Use the NAPLAN17 coupon code to receive a 50% discount on any base PDF resource, teacher unit bundle or subscription during this NAPLAN week, up to Sunday 14th May 2017. This offer is valid for anyone: existing and new customers, subscribers, and there are no other restrictions.

Why? Well, as you know we feel very strongly that good materials help awesome teachers deliver excellent outcomes. And while standardised assessment can assist a teacher with that, the way that NAPLAN results are now aggregated for comparing schools (including by the media) does little to improve either standards, the wellbeing and success of students, or the wellbeing of teachers. Of course, NAPLAN “just is”, for now, but we’d like to support every teacher and school as they focus on the core teaching materials that help our students’ literacy, numeracy, general knowledge and skills. We’re here to help!

If you’re an existing customer, see if there are any units you’ve been wanting to get anyway. If you are a might-be-new-customer of OpenSTEM, we look forward to welcoming you!

Staying safe during Cyclone Debbie

Cyclone Debbie seen from the International Space Station — Cyclone Debbie as seen from the ISS

We hope all teachers and students are safe in the areas of Queensland and New South Wales affected by the cyclone weather! We understand that many state schools (any South of Agnes Water to Northern New South Wales) are closed today, the radar shows a very large rain front coming through. Near Brisbane it’s been raining for many hours already, and the wind is now picking up as well. It’s good to be inside, although things are starting to feel moist (reminding Arjen of when he lived in Cairns).

Why not take this opportunity to replace dry old teaching materials using coupon code DEBBIE for 25% discount on any Understanding our World® unit. This special Cyclone Debbie offer ends Sunday 2nd April.

Did you know that, in the Understanding Our World®units, Year 5 students did work on Natural Disasters during this term!

Also, do take a peek at the Open Source Earth Wind Patterns site at NullSchool – using live data to create a moving image. All open. Beautiful.

Trying an OpenSTEM unit without a subscription

We have received quite a few requests for this option, so we’ve made it possible. As we understand it, in many cases an individual teacher wants to try our materials (often on behalf of the school, as a trial) but the teacher has to fund this from their classroom budget, so we appreciate they need to limit their initial outlay.

While purchasing units with an active subscription still works out cheaper (we haven’t changed that pricing), we have tweaked our online store to now also allow the purchase of individual unit bundles, from as little as $49.50 (inc.GST) for the Understanding Our World® HASS+Science program units. That’s a complete term bundle with teacher handbook, student workbook, assessment guide, model answers and curriculum mapping, as well as all the base resource PDFs needed for that unit! After purchase, the PDF materials can be downloaded from the site (optionally many files together in a ZIP).

We’d love to welcome you as a new customer! From experience we know that you’ll love our materials. The exact pricing difference (between subscription and non-subscription) depends on the type of bundle (term unit, year bundle, or multi-year bundle) and is indicated per item.

Try OpenSTEM today! Browse our teacher unit bundles (Foundation Year to Year 6).

This includes units for Digital Technologies, the Ginger Beer Science project, as well as for our popular Understanding Our World® HASS+Science program.

St Patrick’s Day 2017 – and a free resource on Irish in Australia

Happy St Patrick’s day!

And “we have a resource on that” – that is, on the Irish in Australia and the major contributions they made since the very beginning of the colonies. You can get that lovely 5 page resource PDF for free if you check out using coupon code TRYARESOURCE. It’s an option we’ve recently put in place so anyone can grab one resource of their choice to see if they like our materials and assess their quality.

Back to St Patrick, we were briefly in Ireland last year and near Dublin we drove past a ruin at the top of a hill that piqued our interest, so we stopped and had a look. It turned out to be Slane Abbey, the site where it is believed in 433 AD, the first Christian missionary to Ireland, later known as St Patrick, lit a large (Easter) celebration fire (on the Hill of Slane). With this action he (unwittingly?) contravened orders by King Laoghaire at nearby Tara. The landscape photo past the Celtic cross shows the view towards Tara. Ireland is a beautiful country, with a rich history.

Slane Abbey - info plaque — Photos by Arjen Lentz & Dr Claire Reeler

Mildred Dresselhaus, the Queen of Carbon | NY Times

“Dr. Dresselhaus, who helped transform carbon into the superstar of modern materials science, was renowned for her efforts to promote the cause of women in science.”

Millie Dresselhaus (nee Spiewak) high school yearbook 1948 — 1948 A tribute at Hunter High School.

“Mildred (Millie) Dresselhaus, a professor emerita at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology whose research into the fundamental properties of carbon helped transform it into the superstar of modern materials science and the nanotechnology industry, died on Monday in Cambridge, Mass. She was 86.”

Librarians take up arms against fake news | Seattle Times

Librarians are stepping into the breach to help students become smarter evaluators of the information that floods into their lives. That’s increasingly necessary in an era in which fake news is a constant.