MnSTA
Newsletter Volume 49 No. 1 A Quarterly Publication of the Minnesota Science Teachers Association Inc.
Fall 2012
WCCO Meterologist Mike Lynch to Keynote 2013 MnCOSE Event
Meterologist Mike Lynch will be the keynote speaker at the Minnesota Conference on Science Education (MnCOSE) scheduled for Feb 22-23 in Duluth. Lynch is a native Minnesotan who grew up in Richfield, Minnesota in the 1960’s. He attended St. Peter’s Grade school and Holy Angels High School. After two years at the University of Minnesota in the Twin Cities he transferred to the University of Wisconsin in Madison and earned his B.S.degree in Meteorology in 1979. Shortly after he was hired as a broadcast meteorologist at WCCO Radio in Minneapolis and has been there for over 30 years. Mike’s other passion since he was a teenager has been astronomy. He built his first telescope when he was 15 years old. For over 40 years Mike has been teaching classes and putting on star parties through community education, nature centers, and other entities throughout Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. His goal is to help people make the stars their old friends. From 2004 to 2007 Mike wrote Astronomy/ Stargazing books through Voyageur Press. He also has brand new book, “Stars” published by Adventure Publications in 2012 with accompanying MP3 downloads available. On top of that Mike also writes a weekly Starwatch column for the St. Paul Pioneer Press and more than two dozen other newspapers across the United States. Mike, his wife Kathy, and their two children, Angie and Shaun live in Eagan, Minnesota.
WCCO Meterologist Mike Lynch will speak at the Minnesota Conference on Science Education scheduled for Feb. 22-23 in Duluth. The theme for this year’s conference is “Putting the E in STEM. There are more conference announcements on page 13
In This Issue: Presidents Message...........................................................2 Department of Conservation............................................2 In Media Res ...................................................................3 Update from Science Specialist................................. 4-5 Using CTE to meet Chem/Physics requirements..........6-7 Teacher Feature...............................................................8 Classroom Activity...........................................................9 Opportunities from Dept. of Education....................10-11 Opportunities............................................................12-13 MnCOSE information....................................................13 Board Directory.........................................................14-15