The videos on television show some of the massive destruction and the human toll of the recent earthquake in Haiti. It is difficult to imagine the suffering of the Haitian people. It is an unfortunate example of the devastation of a magnitude 7 earthquake.
It is natural to wonder why or how. When students are ready, teachers may want to discuss earthquakes and their causes.
The folks at IRIS have a website with a PowerPoint presentation and Quicktime movie that explain a lot of details associated with this particular earthquake and earthquakes in general. The PowerPoint has excellent pictures of the destruction to buildings, without presenting images of human suffering that would be difficult for some students. The image to the right is taken from the PowerPoint.
IRIS (AKA the Incorporated Research Institutes for Seismology) has lots of resources for learning about earthquakes including SeisMac 2.0 which allows Macintosh computers to become seismographs.
In the quest for Science Literacy, we strive to give students an understanding of natural events before they happen. Adaptive Curriculum has two strong Activity Objects, one is on determining the magnitude of an earthquake and the other is determining the location of the earthquake. The image below is from “Earthquakes: Measuring Magnitude.“
Berg (one of the really great guys in science education), would have the undergraduate secondary education science students put on physics and chemistry demonstrations for the local school children. It was a delightful way to give them experience teaching and expose children to the interesting world of science. In the picture, two of my students demonstrate their fire tornado. (See http://www.west.asu.edu/rillero/philippines.htm for more of my photographs from the Philippines.)
In this YouTube video below, a similar program is described called “The Little Shop of Physics.”
Tonight, as I understand it, “After Armadeddon” will air at 8 PM on the History Channel. It does present interesting opportunities for science teachers to talk about student ideas and feelings related to future and past disasterous conditions on Earth. It is part of a week of disasters at the History Channel. Here is a description of the show:
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
After Armageddon: – 08:00-10:00 PM
What have past acts of destruction taught us about what will happen to mankind after the apocalypse? Is it inevitable that disaster will someday strike America on an unprecedented level? How has history prepared us? History’s most dramatic events–Hiroshima, 9/11, Hurricane Katrina and others–are examined and analyzed with hard data gathered from their massive aftereffects. The disappearance of water and food supplies, the effects of deteriorated sanitation and health care on the remaining population, and the increased use of violence as a means of survival–all illustrate how societies have responded and survived.
I have an especially keen interest in this show as my son, Hy Rillero, spent just over two-weeks filming his segment, with many long days of work. I am hoping that much of his vignette survives the editing process for this two-hour special. No matter what happens it was a great experience for Hy to work with Director Stephen Kemp (Raw-TV). In Hy’s section, a respiratory virus has wiped out 80% of the US population and he chronicles his family’s quest to survive. The photo is of Hy and his film mom and dad.
The electronic Ohaus scales that I ordered a few years ago are slowly dying. Only half the digits are readable on the numeric displays or in some cases there are no readable numbers. At NSTA in Phoenix, I stopped by the Ohaus booth and the representative was not surprised when I told her this. Unfortunately, she informed me, the scales have only a one-year warranty. From the initial lot we bought, half are unusable.
Using the scales in our science methods classes at Arizona State University, shouldn’t be taxing compared to ordinary high school, middle school, or elementary school use. So it surprised me that the LD50 (a biology term for half a population dying) was achieved so quickly. But maybe my expectations are out of line, our Honda Odyssey, my wife informed me today, has 170,000 miles on it. But a one-year warrant, really? That makes me wonder how confident the manufacturer is in their product.
I like how fast the electronic balances gave readings. No longer were drafts, fast walkers, or table shakers an issue in our classroom, as compared to the old reliable triple beam balance scales. I predicted the end to triple beam balances at the high school and an even quicker death to the elementary level pan balances. But, perhaps I was too hasty.
I am not sure if Ohaus scales are worse then others. The sales rep informed me that in the newer models, the problem has been addressed with the displays. That won’t benefit me; I will put my next order in with a different company. But she also told me of another issue that seems likely to affect most scales that are not top end. Adding too much weight can permanently damage the weighing device. Yikes! It seems like a common occurrence, especially when doing full inquiry experiences, that students would add too much weight. Indeed, it seems like there should be warning signs on the scales about maximum loads.And this brings up a final issue. Why is it that we can’t find good reviews of science apparatus? I have bought things that are great and things that are lousy; wouldn’t it be nice to have a place like CNET that helps us tell what is good and what is not. But if you have scale advice, please do leave a comment.
One of the experts they interviewed was Joel Klein, chancellor of the New York City Department of Education. He said the following: “we’ve got to use technology differently. In any field but ours, if you fell asleep 50 years ago and woke up today, you wouldn’t recognize what’s going on. In education, if you fell asleep 50 years ago, you still have the same discussions.”
While classrooms have changed, the major change seems to be whiteboards for chalkboards and not big technology gains. The power of technology has not been used to greatly improve math and science education. Nor has technology been fully utilized to make it easier for teachers to help students learn and assess learning. Joel Klien suggests New York City schools are starting this process. As a former New York City teacher (Lehman High School in THE Bronx) I hope he is right, and that other school districts fully embrace technologies, like Adaptive Curriculum, that can help all students learn science and math.
Angie, one of my science methods students shared this article with me. ScienceDaily (2009-03-28) — Self-led, self-structured inquiry may be the best method to train scientists at the college level and beyond, but it’s not the ideal way for all high school students to prepare for college science. That’s according to findings of a new study. See: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/03/090326114415.htm#
It is always exciting to experience the sites and sounds of an NSTA conference. From my first science teacher conference, it was an awakening for me to find out that there are others like me who share my passion for science and education but who did not have an abundance of money to buy materials and who feel time compressed—despite perceptions that teaches have a lot of free time.
I brought my family along for this trip because it corresponded with my sons’ spring break from school. Okay, I admit, I probably wouldn’t have taken them to New Orleans if not for these reasons. I do think, however, exposure to other cultures is a good thing, and New Orleans’ has more than its share of culture. We were even able to go to a locals only crawfish boil (see photo). That my sons might be too young to appreciate New Orleans culture could be suggested by both of them liking the cool stuff in the conference exhibitor’s hall better than any other part of their visit. They were particularly taken by the science curiosities of “Steve Splangler Science” store, where the energetic folks did some intriguing square bubble demonstrations for them and then they were able to activities including tossing bubbles with gloves and making gummy worms. They also liked Flinn Scientific where they watched an engaging rep make foam, just like the stuff I use to close holes in and around my house. Now, they are flying home with a bag full of free materials from Insect Lore including two butterfly larvae that should form a chrysalis in two weeks.
It seems that the giving of t-shirts has achieved greater popularity. I don’t recall, in my first ten years of conference going, ever getting a t-shirt. Then the tech folks started giving away t-shirts and now so are the science folks. My wife doesn’t understand my interest in getting t-shirts, and she has already placed two of them (from Learning.com) in the piles of stuff to give to our son’s teachers. But there is one shirt I intend to keep; it is by far the nicest t-shirt I received, and it was a gray-background and white lettering SPARK t-shirt. I received it from Pasco when I attended a presentation on their SPARK system. Pasco seems to have a great understanding of the needs of a science teacher! So often science technology companies seem like they are devoted to the AP physics or chemistry teacher, who doesn’t have a family, social life, and is not pursing coursework. These rare folks might be able to take the time to figure out how to use complicated tech stuff to do one lab, but most regular teachers find it daunting. SPARK appears to be a solution that is easy to implement, cost effective, and has lots of uses. It acts like a mini-computer with a monitor, and it has its primary function—using probeware. So the yearbook teacher won’t want to borrow your class set!
The kids wouldn’t stop rapping “Made of Cells”, an educational song I threw together to reinforce vocabulary, even a week after the exam.It actually got to the point where I had to settle them down each time they walked into my classroom.
Auditory comprises the “A” in Fleming’s VARK model for different styles of learning (others are Visual, Reading and Kinesthetic) and can explain why we remember things more easily if it encompasses a rhyme or a melody.Recall when you were first introduced to the alphabet song: “a, b, c, d, eee, eff, geeee…”It was easy to memorize 26 separate sequence specific letters as a preschooler when it took the form of music.This technique is also implemented in learning the names of the continents (sung to the tune of “Frère Jacques” a.k.a. “Where is Thumbkin?”):
“There are se-ven, there are se-ven,
con-tin-ents, con-tin-ents:
Europe Asia Af-ri-ca
North and South Amer-i-ca
Austral-i-a, Antarc-tic-a.
Advertisers have been using the power of jingles for decades in both private
“You deserve a-break-to-daaayy.”
and public sectors:
“Be…All That You-Can-Be.”
Many scientists credit neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) for how the mind processes information.The theory states that we can potentially incorporate all of our senses during cognition of a word, idea, or set of specific tasks.The more senses bombarded through VARK when attaining that piece of information, the easier for it to “stick” in the brain and recall later.
Whether you call it an earworm, a jingle, or a catchy tune, using educational rap in the classroom is extremely effective.This is especially true in a subject area like science where much of the terminology is derived from Greek and Latin.So start formulating rhymes in your classroom today so your students can memorize that:
“All plants and animals are made up of cells.
Each is made up of parts called organelles.
So tiny you need a microscope to see.
About 100 trillion cells make up you and me.”
Guest Post by Joseph Ocando, who was an 8th grade science teacher in New York City as a member of Teach for America.He has started a business called Rhyme ‘n Learn.His raps can be ordered from http://cdbaby.com/cd/rhymenlearn
With a partner, my secondary science methods students selected a tree and then combined their ample knowledge, creativity, and critical thinking and came up with several methods to determine the height of the tree.
Linda Dee and Karen Schedler were helping my students learn about Project Learning Tree (PLT) and its many science activities. My students now have the assignment to develop a lesson plan using a PLT activity and then teach a high school or middle school class using this lesson plan.
This class of students has already earned my respect for their knowledge, abilities, and great attitudes, but it was still exciting to see them apply what they know with their creativity and critical thinking. Indeed the process was just as important as the result. Their tree-height-measurement methods included (a) having a partner of known height stand by the tree and estimating how many of them it would take to reach the top of the tree; (b) measuring the shadow length of the partner and the tree and using ratios; (c) holding a vertical ruler up, with the partner at the tree, and using the marking of the ruler to determine ratios for the heights, and (d) comparing the tree height to a building and then counting brick segments on the building to determine height. Of course, if a protractor was on hand we could have used the distance from the tree, angle to the top of the tree, and some trigonometry to make this estimate.
The tree height estimates were compared to a value found by using clinometers. These nifty devices, we were told, give a pretty accurate reading. You measure off 66 feet and look through the viewer with one eye and line up a horizontal line with the other eye. There were two scales for viewing the height of the tree, one in feet and the other in meters.In many cases, my students’ estimates were pretty close to the clinometers’ readings.
I was glad to see my students using metric measurements because we had talked about this before our spring break. My advice is to have their future students do all their measurements using the metric system and NEVER convert back into the imperial system. But with the “66 feet” distance and foot scale on the clinometer, it seems like our forestry colleagues, at least in the US, are not fully metrified. Prior to this, I had thought that the only people of science who were not completely immersed in the metric system were US meteorologists. It is obvious that some science traditions don’t change easily.
This activity series on weather is presented by PBS, and it has a great feature–you can add the activities directly to your school web site. I present the activities and what this would look like on your website below.
Resources:
Adaptive Curriculum’s “Hurricane Formation” (which allows students to learn that humidity, water temperature, and wind speed are important factors in hurricane development).
explain a lot of details associated with this particular earthquake and earthquakes in general. The PowerPoint has excellent pictures of the destruction to buildings, without presenting images of human suffering that would be difficult for some students. The image to the right is taken from the PowerPoint.
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