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).
As an educator who embraces the promise of technology, I believe that 2009 is an important milestone. Consider this statement: “the possibilities exist today for individualized instruction to a degree heretofore unimaginable. We stand at the brink of a vast revolution in teaching, learning, instruction, education… the computer makes possible teaching and learning that are suited to the momentary requirements of the individual human being.” Why are these words so relevant today? They were written by Robert Siedel in 1969, making 2009 a fortieth anniversary. It is easy to forget that educational technology has been around for decades. As early as the 1950s, researchers were investigating the use of computers as tutors. By the late 1960s, there was abundant evidence in favor of computers. In 1972, a major review of computer-assisted instruction (CAI) was published that summarized ten studies with 10,000 total subjects; it concluded that computers were beneficial for students. In 1977, two important events coincided: Inexpensive ”micro-computers” were first released, including the Commodore PET and Apple II. And the statistical technique of meta-analysis, which had been invented one year earlier, was first applied to CAI research. All meta-analyses, including the first in 1977 and the dozens of others that followed, have reached the same conclusion: CAI is better than traditional instruction. This is true at every level (elementary, secondary, college, adult education) and in nearly every subject (science, math, social studies, accounting, woodworking, languages, etc.) The evidence is overwhelming. In almost 95% of statistically significant studies, CAI results in higher test scores. Plus, there are other benefits: students learn faster on computers and enjoy CAI more than traditional instruction. Despite the obvious benefits of computers, they are not being used to teach students in school. Although computers are sometimes used to surf the Internet and type reports, they are never used to deliver the majority of curriculum in any course. This is not due to a lack of evidence; we have known since at least 1977 that CAI is better than traditional instruction. This raises a critical question: Why is the most effective educational technology ever invented not being used to instruct students in classrooms? Today, in 2009, it is easy to get caught up in new innovations, especially for those of us who embrace technology. However, we should be mindful that no amount of innovation will usher in the age of educational technology because CAI was good enough more than 30 years ago. The barrier to instructing students effectively with computers is not technology; the barrier is will.
Reference
Seidel, R. J. (1969). Is CAI Cost/Effective? The Right Question at the Wrong Time. Educational Technology, 9(5), 21-23.
Article is by Jeremy Schneider, who I invited to submit an article after I read his book Chalkbored. Jeremy is a former high school chemistry teacher who is currently living in Canada. –PR
The Texas Computers in Education Association conference just ended and I am on the plane heading home. It is a nice conference, with lots of exhibitors, presenters, and attendees. I am going to infer that Texas loves science, because at my presentation, which had a narrow niche of middle school science, critical thinking, and state standards, I estimate there were 300+ people.I posted the PowerPoint for this presentation on the last blog.
I thank District Administration’s Kurt Dyrliand Scholastic Administrator’s Ken Royal, who did one of the first articles about Adaptive Curriculum after interviewing me about two years ago at FETC. Ken really enjoyed the Activity Object on Francisco Redi, who helped disprove the idea of spontaneous generation. When Ken was a former science teacher he did this science experiment in class, replete with decaying meat and putrid smells.
It will be interesting to see if the idea of video blogging takes off. I suspect that it will do well as a medium, as long as it has either more attractive or loquacious people than me!
I have the good fortune to be in beautiful Austin, Texas today for the Texas Computer Education Association’s (TCEA) annual convention. Austin is a delightful city, and this conference is huge. In a couple of hours I am going to be doing my presentation “Critical Thinking and TEKS Science Content Via Online Activities.”
I am placing the PowerPoint file here for participants and anyone else interested in this topic. Below are some titles and resources from the presentation.
demonstrate basic relationships between force and motion using simple machines including pulleys and levers (TEKS: 7.6)
http://2dboy.com/games.php
Creature Creator
prelude to Spore
Free trial edition
How can students making creatures
Develop science content?
Develop critical thinking?
Or both?
Adaptive Curriculum Activity Objects
Dancing with the Bees
TEKS 6.12: responses to external stimuli
Determining Planet Layers from Seismic Waves
TEKS 6.6 identify forces that shape features of the Earth; 7.2: organize, analyze, make inferences, and predict trends from direct and indirect evidence
Groundwater
TEKS 6.1: make wise choices in the use and conservation of resources; 6.14 groundwater
The key ingredient of a successful hands-on science lesson is to start with a great science activity. I think as teacher educators, it is easy to underestimate how difficult it is for preservice students to find and evaluate science activities. In my “Physics for Teachers” class, students teach a hands-on science physics lesson. But before they turn in a lesson plan and teach a lesson, they are required to submit the activities they strongly considered and two activities they tested out and that they determined to be excellent. I then make the selection of which activity they will teach, helping to ensure that they are successful and that our class enjoys vibrant, relevant hands-on experiences. I am attaching the template my students use for this assignment. Click Here for Physics Activity Template
Rillero, P., & Gallegos, B. (1998). Databases: A Gateway to Literature in Science and Mathematics Education. In J. E. Malone, W. Atweh, & J. Northfield (Eds.), Research and Supervision in Mathematics and Science Education (pp. 323-349). New York: Lawrence Erlbaum and Associates (Hardcover edition: ISBN# 0-8058-2968-7, paperback edition ISBN# 0-8058-2969-5)
About the Image
The picture shows two toy cars and is from Adaptive Curriculum’s Activity Object entitled “Newton’s Third Law of Motion.”
This blog focusing on using technology to improve science teaching and learning has been in existence since June 2008. The list of 2008 blog titles for Ed-tech-4-science with publishing dates are presented below. I made hotlinks for articles that I think classroom teachers of science would find most useful. Then I put the titles into Wordle to get the image below.
Much as we may try to deny it, we teachers have known this truth for years:we’re boring.Oh, we fight back gamely, but in a world of television and movies, music and video games, capturing students’ attention is a real challenge.A decade or two ago, the problem was bad enough, but now!Now there are iPods!Now students have music, games, and videos on their cell phones!What chance do we, poor teachers have?
Two years ago, I decided to try an experiment with my Physics class.I decided to fight fire with fire.If the kids want movies, let’s watch movies.And I don’t mean those “educational videos”; I mean real, blockbuster Hollywood movies.No one ever accused Vin Diesel of being boring.No one ever accused Arnold Schwarzenegger of being an old stick in the mud.No one ever accused Keanu Reeves of droning on and on in a monotone…um, yeah…
Speaking of Keanu Reeves, the classic example of bad movie physics is the delightfully improbable Speed, with its climactic scene of a city bus jumping across a 50-foot section of missing freeway.The kids know that such a thing could never happen, but when they work through the calculations to show that it couldn’t, they really gain a better understanding of why it doesn’t work.For an extension activity, students can calculate how large a take-off angle the bus would need in order to make it across.It’s not as large as one might think (or it wouldn’t be if one could ignore air resistance the way we so often do in introductory physics courses).
I recently completed Superhero Week, in which I had my class analyze scenes from Superman, SupermanReturns, Batman, BatmanBegins, and Spider-Man, looking for examples of directors playing fast and loose with the laws of physics.Just to cite a few examples from the first of the Christopher Reeve Superman movies, Superman meets Lois on her rooftop and takes her out flying.Why doesn’t she freeze?How can she breathe at that altitude?How come she can fly as long as she’s in contact with Superman, even when it’s just their fingertips touching?When their hands come apart, why does she plummet straight down, rather than following the normal parabolic path of a projectile?When Superman catches her, after many seconds of free-fall, how does she survive the impulse?Shouldn’t she at least have a few broken ribs?Bruises?
In the interests of honesty and full disclosure, I should admit that I did not arrive at the idea on my own.A long-time fan of science fiction and fantasy novels, I first thought of using that avenue to generate interest, but as I searched for resources online (why reinvent the wheel, after all?) I stumbled across a fabulous website:Intuitor’s Insultingly Stupid Movie Physics, now also available in book form.
As I dug further, I turned up even more resources:Bad Movie Physics: A Report Card, and 9 Laws of Physics That Don’t Apply in Hollywood. And then there’s my personal favorite (yes, I know; as good as Intuitor is, I think this one might be even better), a book called Don’t Try This at Home! The Physics of Hollywood Movies, by Adam Weiner.My first year of doing this, I pretty much stuck with the suggestions from Intuitor and Adam Weiner.Then, as I gained more confidence, I began searching out my own for movies to use.Once you start looking, they aren’t hard to find.
Using gooey balls, in the “World of Goo,” to make towers and bridges is an engaging way to build conceptual ideas in physics, engineering, and chemistry. The game made by a team of two guys (Kyle Gabler and Ron Carmel) at “2D Boy” won the Innovation Award and Technical Excellence Award at the Independent Games Festival. Goo is available for PCs, Macs, and the Wii. IGN named Goo the best Wii game of the year.In my house, the free trial download version of Goo won the “Win Over the Skeptical 11 Year-Old Award” for totally engaging my son—who proclaimed, “This is addicting!” My eight-year old son called it “very fun.”
That shows the power of Goo. A game that requires no instructions, but you proceed from level-to-level building things to transport the living goo balls. There is something satisfying about building the goo structures, and something powerful about completing the puzzle at each level. Okay, the goo ball creatures and game remind me a bit of the Zoombinis, and the puzzle contexts are not the greatest, but building the structures to solve the puzzle is intriguing and satisfying. And who wants to waste time learning elaborate storylines when there are goo structures to build?
In my trial of the free on-line sample, I built towers and then bridges. Then my 11-year old son took over, starting anew, and quickly blazed past me to get to build balloon structures to help fight gravity. Neither of us met the minimal goo ball rescue at the “Impale Sticky” level, but fortunately we were able to skip this level when we were left a few balls short.
Building a goo structure is difficult to describe but easy to do. You pull one of the goo balls and separate it from the structure. Two or three white “lines of force” (my term not theirs) appear and when you stop pulling it, the white lines become goo links joining the ball to the previous structure. Of course there is a lot of jiggling and the pull of gravity is evident. If you pull a ball too far away from the others, the lines of force disappear and you realize you need to put it closer.
Science Education and Goo
Linking goo balls forms triangular tresses, which are important units of engineering design. Through trial-and-error learning, we experience that triangle goo formations are easy to build and stable. It is a nice contrast, because it seems in the world of play (from Lincoln Logs™ to Legos™), rectangular formations dominate. The tresses are then used to build towers, bridges, and dangling structures. There is a nice science (and international touch) in the use of metric measurements such a “you have 4.4 meters to go.”
The physics of Goo feels pretty real, and this can be a bridge to many physics concepts. As you build structures, the notions of a good foundation and center of gravity come into play. Build it one way too far, and it falls down; keep the center of gravity above the base, and the tower rises. There is also a sense of harmonics/resonance/vibration in that if your structure starts to bend and bob, you have to be careful that your additions don’t cause more of this in an undesired direction.
At some higher levels of Goo, buoyancy comes into play, along with levers and moments, as balloons lift up lever arms. When this is applied to building a bridge, the balloon placement is critical because too much lift or too little gets the balloons popped. Placing the balloon closer or further from the pivot point can decrease or increase the lift.
For chemistry, the most obvious notion is the idea of adhesion and cohesion. Goo balls being attracted to other goo balls is cohesion. When they stick to something else, like the level where you have to climb up out of a canyon and make them stick to the walls, you have adhesion.
How do you Goo?
If you are teaching an engineering class, I think you have good justification to buy a class set of the “World of Goo.” I also think this would make a great addition to the computers of an elementary school computer lab. I can imagine Mr. Cosgrove (my fifth grade teacher) saying: “After you finish your graphs, if you have time you can Goo.” But for stepping softly into the “World of Goo,” give your students an extra-credit assignment to download the free version (link) at home and complete a certain number of levels. They can use screenshots to prove (and display) their work.
Edu-Goo
Winning awards is great and selling lots of this game must be pretty exciting to the creators. But I think the next endeavor should be an Edu-Goo product line. The possibilities are endless so I will just name three: (a) Online competitions between classes, schools, or the world to see who can build the Goo bridge to support the most weight, (b) three-dimensional Goo structures so students can explore using triangular versus rectangular tresses, (c) DNA Goo, where students can construct DNA double helix molecules. Less exciting but useful are worksheets that can guide exploration and discovery. Edu-Goo could have a teacher contribution page so teachers can contribute ideas about educational uses of Goo.
Last month, I put in some thoughts about capitalization of Earth and Moon at the end of my blog posting (Long-Lost Lunar Pics and the Lunar Slamdown: Some Recent Space Science News). I did not anticipate reader reaction to this, with over 365 comments and dozens of emails–on both sides of the issue. A few readers told me how tears welled up in their eyes, when they read the line, ““If a meteor hits me, don’t I crater? If my plates move, don’t I crack?” Time magazine did a cover story, “Rethinking the miniscule earth!” Many universities are holding meetings to consider updating their editorial style guide. Of course there was the mail from those who disagreed and like many attacks, they took on distressingly ad hominem nature. No doubt some of these were fueled by Fox TV News, who advocated the status quo: “Why change? Rillero is pandering to the liberal media. We think he should be labeled a Lunatic with a capital ‘L.”
But back to reality… I will be the first to admit that grammar isn’t as exciting as science, but nevertheless, I will share some random ideas about capitalization that science teachers and students should know. Start brewing the coffee; it is difficult to get through all this without some caffeine.
General Guidelines
First, let’s start with rule A from the University of South Carolina’s Publication’s Editorial Style Guide: When in doubt, do not capitalize.
Then a good hedge statement always comes in handy, like this one from the University of Chicago:
“But “rules” in writing — unlike, say, rules in Newtonian physics — are not written in stone. They are established by agreement among experienced writers, even though experienced writers can and do disagree all the time.”
I find this an interesting analogy. I wonder if people of science look at grammar as black and white but consider science to be changing and based upon shared understanding. While people of grammar view science as black and white, but consider grammar to be changing and based upon shared understanding. I like using analogies to explain science, but I find it interesting when people use science to explain other things. (But I will save this for a future blog posting.)
From NASA: Celestial Objects
While not everyone would agree with my call to use capital letters when referring to the Earth, Moon, and Sun as celestial objects, NASA certainly does.
According to the NASA style guide: Namesofcelestialbodies such as “the NorthStar,Halley’sComet, Venus,Earth(theplanet),theSun,theMoon(Earth’s) are capitalized.” So let the controversy end!But we don’t capitalize, again according to NASA, “earth(theground) and moonsofJupiter.” I went into this a bit more in my earlier blog post.
For lack of a better organization, let’s fly with NASA for a bit. We also capitalize geologic names such as geologic periods (UpperCambrianPeriod,BronzeAge) and soil groups(Laterite,Tundra).
These capitalization comments are from NASA’s Grammar,punctuation, andcapitalization: A handbook for technical writers and editors written by Mary K. Mccaskill. The entire handbook is online as a PDF document. This guide has way more to it than capitals, so if you want a good free guide to technical writing, have at it. I think it is a good idea to introduce students to different types of style guides.
From NASA: Geologic Entities and Life
Here are a few more capitalization nuggets from NASA:
While we do capitalize days of the week (Monday) and months (October), we don’t capitalize seasons (fall, spring).
For biological names, we don’t capitalize common names (red buckeye) unless they contain a proper noun (Ohio buckeye).
We do capitalize kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, and genus but we don’t capitalize species.
But of course in binomial nomenclature we describe the species with both the genus and species, so for the Ohio buckeye tree, we have Aesculus glabra (see image to the right).
University of South Carolina: More Science Tidbits
Capitalize the formal name of departments but not the informal names. Correct: He enrolled in the Department of Civil Engineering. Also correct: He enrolled in the civil engineering department.
Capitalize entire geographic names and regions of the country but not compass directions or localities. For example: Saluda River Sesquicentennial State Park; Midwest; western East Coast; and northern Atlantic.
Don’t capitalize names of university majors and minors except for proper nouns. For example, “He has a major in Swahili and a minor in biology.”
The names of university courses are capitalized, so for instance, I often teach Methods of Elementary Science 411.
Company trademarks are capitalized. Both of my sons ate Earth’s Best baby food. (This was the first major organic baby food brand and it was started by my brother-in-law Arnie Koss).
“Addresses on Envelopes The United States Postal Service requires that addresses appear on envelopes in all-capital letters and, except for the hyphenated ZIP code, without punctuation.”
I wonder if the US Postal Service has some sort of amnesty program because I better turn myself in for violating this one. But if you agree with capitalizing Earth and Moon, please write to me at this address on the left and if you disagree with my comments and want to do an ad hominem attack, please write me at the address on the right.
Majuscule
In my internet research on capitalization of science terms, I came across a new term: majuscule. It sounds like a school Harry Potter should attend to work on his magic. But this word refers to, as far as I can tell, capital letters. Odd that most people haven’t heard of majuscule, yet miniscule is well known.
Conclusion
If you read all the way to this point, you really have a strong regard for capital appreciation. Capitalization is a tricky affair, but as long as you have your own style guide—there won’t be any capital punishment. Although, we shouldn’t consider the importance of a proper majuscule as miniscule.
For the Record
The first paragraph about the capital controversy was in jest. The address in capitals quote was real but I don’t know if it is true. Arnie Koss is my brother-in-law. The buckeye drawings are from Minnesota Trees and Shrubs (Clements, Rosendahl, and Butters, 1912), which was scanned by Google.
Living just north of Phoenix, we get the warm sunny 70° January weather, but we can drive 100 miles to the north to play in snow. Snow takes on a reverent beauty when you are just visiting it, playing in it, and having the air full of thick, downy flakes. When it makes unwanted intrusions, such as when I lived in New York, Ohio, and Iceland, it becomes more difficult to appreciate.
To the right you will see some snow fun pictures from our snow play in Flagstaff yesterday. It is interesting to see the evolution of “sledding”. Even in my childhood, toboggans were on their way out. Wooden sleds with two rails and a steering bar, like the Flexible Flyer, ruled the hills. I didn’t even see one of these on the hills.The disc or flying saucer seems to be waning.The flexible-foam, body length “sled” is the new king of the slopes. But what slides down the snow best?
The “coefficient of friction” (COF) is used to express the amount of friction between surfaces and this is proportional to the force pushing the surfaces together, or the weight of the rider and sled on the snow. The greater the COF the more friction there is. The COF for not-yet moving surfaces (static friction) is greater than sliding surfaces (kinetic friction). Engineers have measured different COFs (link). For instance, the kinetic COF for leather on oak is 0.52 and for those interested in glass-on-glass action, the kinetic COF is 0.4. Google has enlightened me. I had no idea there was so much research done on snow, and that there is a vibrant field called “snow engineering”, which might be called the ultimate snow job. Without going too deep into it, the COF for a moving skier (ski on snow) was analyzed to be between 0.01 and 0.3. I’d have to think that metal on snow would be a lower COF than foam on snow. It is good to think about, and students could do some fun experiments to find out.
Virtual science experiences must engage students and must have rich interactions. If it is just a Flash animation, I am not ready to call it an “experience” when the term video is much more suitable. If a teacher is going to bring laptop carts into a room or sign up weeks ahead for the computer lab, they should have computer-learning experiences that feature an engagement, a significant interaction, a closure, and multiple means of assessment.
“Sliding on Different Surfaces,” an Activity Object by Adaptive Curriculum, features these aforementioned characteristics. For an engagement, students play a game where they steer a sled down a hill while encountering different types of surfaces. If they steer over the surfaces with the least amount of friction, they will go faster. They receive a score based upon how well they did.
In the student interaction, students are in an office. They slide a pencil case across a desk and then mark the distance. Their mission is to find different things in the room such as a towel, newspaper, and sandpaper (obviously a rough office) and see how the pencil case sliding distance varies. (Elearning Physics Preview)
This elearning physics experience moves forward to an explanation of friction and factors that influence friction. There is an optional paper-and-pencil activity sheet that students can complete as they do the Activity Object, with two questions to be answered when they are finished.The activity sheets promote writing and become a permanent record of their learning for their science notebooks. If a teacher has a projector or interactive whiteboard and is doing a whole class lesson, the activity sheet is even more essential.
After the closure, students move onto the multiple-choice assessment, where they answer five questions and receive instant feedback about their learning. Teachers can log in to access student scores for the assessment. They can also see how long students took doing the Activity Object.If students are up for a bit of gaming, with their new understanding of friction, they can go back to the game and improve their time.
I did the Activity Object and played the game, and I observed that compared to my 8 and 11 year old sons, my sled in Flagstaff went much farther than their sleds. I would like to think that this was because I selected the patches of snow with the least friction and thus I picked up more speed. But these foam “sleds” are not very steerable and so, unfortunately, I have to consider the competing hypothesis that since my mass is a wee bit more than my sons (well okay, actually my weight is about 50 pounds more than both of them together), this may have had an influence. Since momentum is equal to mass x velocity, my momentum should be much greater than my sons’, and thus it would take longer to bring me to a stop. An impulse (force x time) can change the momentum of an object. Since my momentum is much bigger, and assuming that friction is about the same, I coast longer and thus farther.
But I think I will choose the happier hypothesis – that my greater knowledge of friction, rather than greater weight, made me go farther. Which just goes to show the subjective side of science after a happy family day in the snow.
Resources:
The key ingredient of a successful hands-on science lesson is to start with a great science activity. I think as teacher educators, it is easy to underestimate how difficult it is for preservice students to find and evaluate science activities. In my “Physics for Teachers” class, students teach a hands-on science physics lesson. But before they turn in a lesson plan and teach a lesson, they are required to submit the activities they strongly considered and two activities they tested out and that they determined to be excellent. I then make the selection of which activity they will teach, helping to ensure that they are successful and that our class enjoys vibrant, relevant hands-on experiences. I am attaching the template my students use for this assignment.
Much as we may try to deny it, we teachers have known this truth for years:
As I dug further, I turned up even more resources:
Using gooey balls, in the “World of Goo,” to make towers and bridges is an engaging way to build conceptual ideas in physics, engineering, and chemistry. The game made by a team of two guys (
How do you Goo?
Last month, I put in some thoughts about capitalization of Earth and Moon at the end of my blog posting (
Living just north of Phoenix, we get the warm sunny 70° January weather, but we can drive 100 miles to the north to play in snow. Snow takes on a reverent beauty when you are just visiting it, playing in it, and having the air full of thick, downy flakes. When it makes unwanted intrusions, such as when I lived in New York, Ohio, and Iceland, it becomes more difficult to appreciate.
tion, rather than greater weight, made me go farther. Which just goes to show the subjective side of science after a happy family day in the snow. 
Entries (RSS)