Due to technical difficulties, the Webinar last week was interrupted and has been rescheduled.

The new date and time is: Wednesday, September 22 at 4 p.m. PDT.

Even if you had registered to attend the August 29 webinar, we need for you to re-register using the link below.

During the one-hour guided tour of Science Buddies, you'll find our how to use Science Buddies resources in your classroom. In this comprehensive online guided walk-through of the Science Buddies website, we'll show you how our:

• Huge library of Project Ideas and our Topic Selection Wizard tool can help students find a project they are excited about, even if they don't think they are "into" science.
• Our Teacher and Parent Resources can help you implement an inquiry-based curriculum or organize a science fair.
• Our resources can guide students through the process of creating and presenting a science project, even if they lack parental support.

Please register to join us for this free event:

Date:

• September 22

Time:

• 4 p.m. Pacific
  
• 5 p.m. Mountain
  
• 6 p.m. Central
  
• 7 p.m. Eastern

Where:

• Online

System Requirements:

• PC-based attendees
  Required: Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2003 Server or 2000
  


• Macintosh-based attendees
  Required: Mac OS X 10.4.11 or newer

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Space is limited, so please register ASAP to reserve your slot. The first 5 people to sign in, attend the whole webinar, and complete a post-webinar survey will receive a copy of Norton 360, courtesy of Symantec. At the end of the webinar, we will randomly select attendees to receive a variety of great door prizes. One lucky attendee will win a $100 Best Buy gift card! If you have any questions, please contact Meghan O'Hare at meghan@sciencebuddies.org.

Reserve your seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/935948914

A Perseid meteor striking in 2007. Source: Wikipedia, Mila Zinkova

I read about the Perseid meteor shower in the newspaper the morning of August 12—the day the annual meteor shower was predicted to peak. The Science Mom in me flagged the event, but even so, I thought to myself, "I'm not sure I want the kids to miss their bedtime again."

Over the summer, it is so easy to not enforce bedtimes, and I have lately fallen into the sliding bedtime trap, the kids growing crankier by the day as they get less and less sleep. (Possible science experiment: is it my imagination or is it true that most kids wake up at pretty much the same time regardless of when they went to bed?)

I didn't think about the meteor shower again until dark had fallen. Just as I was trying to muster up the will to enforce bedtime, I heard my husband suggest to the kids, "Hey, let's go outside and look for shooting stars."

The cat out of the bag, the kids started begging me to stop working (filling out mountains of school registration forms) and come outside. I said the familiar "be there in a minute." Many minutes later, my daughter came running in the house, full of excitement. "Mommy, Mommy, you have to come out NOW. We just saw a meteor!" How can you say no to that?

Putting the school forms aside, I grabbed some blankets (welcome reinforcements) and headed out to the best spot on our property for a good view of the Eastern sky without tree interference: our driveway. The four of us laid together in our driveway, staring up into the moonless, clear night sky. It was a very peaceful family moment.

As we lay there gazing at the stars, my husband explained what he knew about the meter shower. He didn't mention that it is called the Perseid meteor shower or that it comes every August as Earth passes through the tail of the Swift-Tuttle comet. I didn't offer that information either. Instead, we quietly gazed up at the sky, waiting and waiting. Dad explained what a meteor is. I pointed out the Milky Way. My son asked, "Why do they call it milky?" My daughter answered, "Look at it. See how the sky looks milky there? That's why."

I thought to myself, "Wow, this is worth the ignored bedtime." There we were together as a family, gazing up at the stars. No tickets, no travel, no planning. Just a couple of sleeping bags, a clear night, and the possibility of something spectacular.

When my son announced that he was tired and wanted to go to bed, I escorted him in, leaving my husband and daughter to wait for more meteors. I hadn't seen any, but I was too tired to go back out after my son was in bed. In the morning, the report was excellent: dad and daughter bonded while sharing the sight of half a dozen decent meteors!

~ Courtney, "Science Mom"

Thanks to a grant from the Motorola Foundation's Innovation Generation program, Science Buddies will be developing online resources related to summer science camps. Many camps throughout the country focus on the sciences and offer opportunities for students to explore science in fun and innovative ways.

"We are excited about the opportunity to add the 'Summer Science' resource to our website and to encourage students to engage in hands-on science projects ...even when school is out," said Ken Hess, Science Buddies CEO.

Read the full press release.