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Overhead Projectors: They're NOT Just for Transparencies Anymore

Hoh, hum, my teacher is using the overhead projector again. That's the attitude of many students when an instructor pulls out the old transparency file, but it doesn't HAVE to be that way. In this "off the wall" presentation, master teacher Bill Hilton Jr. of Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History illustrates how the overhead projector can be used to effectively teach all sorts of concepts from animal locomotion to microchemistry, even fractions and geography. If you think Imax movies are impressive, wait until you see what you can do for your students with a Petri dish and an overhead projector in your very own classroom!

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Why Teachers Don't Take Field Trips,
And Why They Must

There are many reasons Why Teachers Don't Take Field Trips with their students: lack of time or buses or support from school boards and administrations; behavior problems; tunnel vision emphasis on test scores; even teacher fear of unfamiliar learning environments. But for every excuse not to take a field trip, there are at least 30 reasons why field trips must be part of the standard school curriculum--especially if 30 is the average number of students in your classroom. During this motivational talk, master teacher Bill Hilton Jr. of Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History provides valuable hints on how to overcome the obstacles to providing field trips and discusses ways to assure that any off-grounds excursion you take will enhance student learning, improve test scores, and make your students love you even more.

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The Effects of Alcohol: Evolution in Reverse

One of the most difficult problems facing American young people is how to deal with social pressures associated with alcohol and drinking. Although many students prefer not to drink, they lack sufficient knowledge about alcohol's effects. As science teachers, we are responsible for providing information about how alcohol does affect mind and body; a stronger understanding of the physiological effects of alcohol might enable students to withstand pressures from their peers.

In this presentation, science educator Bill Hilton Jr. of Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History describes how ingesting alcohol causes "reverse evolution" that first robs drinkers of higher thought processes, then motor abilities, and, finally, their life functions. This is a different approach than is usually taken by health books or science textbook chapters about drugs and alcohol.

This humor-laden but motivational talk can be modified for use with science and health classes at any grade level--even college and adult ed--and provides an opportunity for alcohol education without preaching or moralizing. Since 25,000 people are killed annually in alcohol-related vehicular accidents, it's apparent that someone is NOT getting the message.

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Hummingbirds & Hamburgers & Higher Scores on PACT

EVERYBODY loves hummingbirds, so why not use them to get higher scores on the Palmetto Achievement Challenge Tests (PACT)? Join science education consultant and naturalist Bill Hilton Jr. from Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History for an informative and entertaining presentation about how hummingbirds and Operation RubyThroat can help teach science-and just about everything else! In this wide-ranging talk, nearly any relevant topic is fair game, including ecology, digital cameras, bird banding, cross-disciplinary techniques, on-line technology, and-of course-how to embrace South Carolina's new standards in time for PACT science learning assessment in 2003. (P.S. Along with instructional tidbits to use or share with folks back home, you're gonna learn a LOT about hummingbirds!)

(Photo © Hilton Pond Center) Color-marked Ruby-throated Hummingbird

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