Our staff returned from an exhilarating few days in Boston where we talked with over 600 teachers who stopped by our booth at the National Science Teachers Association Convention (April 3-5). While we certainly chatted with lots of New England science teachers, we were impressed with the geographic diversity of visitors – they represented 46 states, DC and Canada! Here were some of the highlights:

• So many booth visitors came looking for materials for their AP Environmental Science classes this year. That got me thinking – is this course gaining popularity? Turns out nearly 5,000 high schools now offer the course for over 118,000 students, double what is what just 5 years ago!  And, population studies are 10-15% of the course.
• How well do you know population biology and human population trends? 30 of our booth visitors won water bottles for answering some of our knowledge questions like these:

o   What is the term used to describe the maximum number of a species that can sustainably live in a given area? (Carrying Capacity)

o   By how many people does the world’s population grow each year? (83 million)

o   What are the three most populous countries? (China, India, US)

o   If everyone on the Earth lived like an American, how many Earth’s would we need to sustain us? (4)

• Step right up and spin to win! Our Wheel of Curriculum Fortune helped teachers take home lots of Pop Ed materials for their classrooms – Activity CDs and booklets, Posters, DVDs and more. And even more walked the exhibit hall sporting Pop Ed’s “You’re 1 in 7 Billion” button.

We’re already making plans for the 2015 NSTA Convention to be held in Chicago, March 12-15, so save the date!