Science Inquiry

Teach Science and Math blog's post on science inquiry.

Science Textbook Review

The Teach Science and Math blog has published a review of some science textbooks here.

Magic School Bus Website

I am so excited to share The Magic School Bus Website with everyone!!

There are simple science experiments, games, and activities for young children. So fun - and educational!!

Teacher Tube

The YouTube for teachers: http://www.teachertube.com

Great Java Simulations for Science Class!

The University of Colorado Boulder has a fabulous site for interactive science simulations.

In one of my favorite simulations, you can create a circuit using light bulbs, wires, resistors, batteries, etc. as well as household items such as a dollar bill and a paper clip. When the circuit works, the light bulbs light...the more resistance, the dimmer the lights.

Loads of other great simulations HERE!

Optics Resources

In writing a unit plan for optics (coming soon) I stumbled upon this website: http://library.thinkquest.org/C003776/ingles/fun/index.htm

The site is full of activities geared towards optics as well as java applets and other media resources. Enjoy!

Rutherford Gold Foil Experiment

A friend showed me a fabulous lesson plan to teach about Ernest Rutherford, his atomic model, and his gold foil experiment.

She began the lesson by playing a game to help students estimate the size of something they can't see. Inside a large box (the cave), she placed a can (the monster) and cut slits out of the bottom of the box so students could slide checker pieces through. Analogous with Rutherford's gold foil experiment, most checker pieces slide straight through while some bounce off the "monster" at small angles and others bounce backwards. This is to help students understand how Rutherford determined the nucleus of an atom must me massive and dense.

Then, she showed the animation found on this website that explains Rutherford's experiment. A great way to discuss the atomic models!!

Physical Sciences Resource Center

Great website for teacher resources relating to the Physical Sciences: http://www.compadre.org/psrc/

Solar Power

Really cool article about solar panel technology: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/03/05/solar.roof.atlantic.city/index.html

Physics Teaching Jobs

Since I'm anticipating applying for Physics Teaching positions come next May, I frequently search online for the current opennings. Usually I'm annoyed with monster.com or careerbuilder.com since they give about 12 results and most of them tutoring or teacher placement companies.

However...today I used simplyhired.com and had 24 pages worth of results! The majority of them were actually physics jobs! I searched nationwide since I don't know where I'll be living, but you can certainly limit the results!

Shoutout: Science Junkies

I found the website ScienceJunkies.com. All sorts of fun resources.

I especially liked this page.

Influential Women in Science

I am confident it's imperative to share with students a description of "who" scientists are. Mostly, these conversations destroy the misconceptions that science is done by old, white males.

Here's an article published by the National Science Teacher Association on women in science.

Read it HERE!

What I'm Watching Online: The Magic School Bus!

A friend just referred me to this website: watchhomeschooltv.com where you can watch all the Magic School Bus episodes for free!!

Right now I'm watching "Magic School Bus #31: Gets a Bright Idea" for a unit plan based on light and optics!

More Science Games

Just found a great website with all sorts of online science games and "adventures". The site also includes online and offline science experiments!!!

Check it out HERE!

Rubrics

I found a blog entry on science and math rubrics this morning (link at bottom of page). While I like the descriptive nature of the rubrics, I tend to not like using number scales. I much prefer setting up a table with the descriptions across the top. 

For example, for a lab report, I might say "Student explained procedure in a clear and repeatable manner." There would be a column for each section of the report I am looking to assess. Along the left hand column would be my assessment milestones. "Goal not achieved and writing unclear," "Goal not achieved and writing clear," "Goal achieved and writing unclear," and "Goal achieved and writing clear" might be sample scoring if I were most concerned with my students writing clearly and achieving the goals I gave them in the assessment descriptions along the top of the rubric. 

It is always helpful for students to see a rubric before they're graded by one!

I like rubrics similar to THIS, but would have replaced the number categories with their descriptions to avoid using numbers since students can get hung up on what number they got and whether or not that's an 'A'. This way you are using more constructivist methods to help your students gain understanding and necessary skills.

How To Create A Rubric in 5 Minutes

Teach Science and Math Rubrics

Field Trips: Bodies Exhibit

It was quite a coincidence when I read the article about the Bodies Exhibition in Poland the other day, since I was already planning on visiting the New York Exhibition. I went with my husband (medical student who could tour us through the human body), sister (future occupational therapist or other medical occupation), and my parents. 

Husband and sister thoroughly enjoyed the journey through the human body. The rest of us were a bit queasy. It started with bones and skeletons and progressed through muscles, nervous system, circulatory system, respiration, other organs, reproductive system, and fetal development. 

The exhibits were incredible. The attention to detail was like a drawing in Grey's Anatomy and every body part was labeled well. The plaques explaining what we were looking at were straight forward and satisfies those of us that weren't looking for the gory details, as well as others who wanted to know everything!!

My favorite part was the circulatory system room. They painted the arteries red and veins blue and displayed them for various body parts and organs. I had no idea how complex and numerous the arteries were - there were so many arteries, you could tell exactly what body part you were looking at since it took the exact shape of a leg, arm, colon, etc.

There was also an intact nervous system (brain and eyes included) that was laid out on a table - a great way to understand more about nerves. Rooms such as respiration and reproduction (and others) held many specimens with interesting pathology: lung cancer, kidney stones, breast cancer, and goiters. There was even a box for smokers to trash their cigarettes after seeing the effects of their smoking!

However, I must add that things got very difficult for me once we hit the fetal development exhibit. My husband and I haven't had children yet, but even still, the sight of fetuses from only a few weeks was almost too much to handle. One part even had a pregnant mother with a 24 week old baby. At this point, it was very hard to forget all of the exhibits were once alive.

If you're teaching a biology or anatomy class, I would highly recommend taking a trip to the Bodies Exhibit. However, think carefully about who your students are. Sensitive students may not be able to handle the exhibit, especially considering each part once was alive (or part of a living human). This was undeniable when we notice finger and toe nails, lips, and hairy skin.

I am certainly glad I went to the Bodies Exhibition, but for me, that will probably my only trip there!!

Physics Games: Bubble Quod

I was browsing some internet games this evening and found this game. Great for discussions on momentum, center of mass, and basic mechanics!! The object of the game is to move your bubble up and over obstacles, ramps, and levers to the rusty nail in order to pop the balloon!

Bubble Quod

Multicultural Science: Bodies Exhibit

I am currently enrolled in an Urban Multicultural Science Education course. The gist of the course is to encourage teachers to include multicultural aspects of each lesson in order to be sensitive that all students in your science class do not have the same cultural background as yourself.

The following article is the perfect example. People in America have embraced the Bodies Exhibit, so it never occurred to me that some countries would question it like Poland has. That is, until I got half way through this article and remembered Poland sees this exhibit from the culture of the Holocaust. Teaching multiculturally just means being sensitive to other cultures...if I were teaching in Poland I would be must more discreet and think twice about bringing my students to this exhibit.

"Bodies" exhibition probed in Poland

By Gabriela Baczynska

WARSAW (Reuters) - Polish prosecutors are investigating whether a controversial exhibition displaying human cadavers amounts to desecration of the human body, a spokesman said Friday.

"Bodies... the exhibition," which has toured a number of countries, consists of 13 corpses and around 250 body parts which have undergone a process known as "plastination" which preserves human tissue permanently using liquid silicone rubber.

"We are investigating this case to check whether the corpses were not desecrated and whether all procedures needed to mount such an exhibition in Poland were carried out," a spokesman for the Warsaw prosecutors' office, Mateusz Martyniuk, told Reuters.

The exhibition, which has also drawn criticism from some Polish politicians, is housed in a Warsaw shopping mall and is scheduled to run until mid-July. The organizers said they had met all legal requirements to bring it to Poland.

"The exhibition entered the European Union a few months ago and in line with all sanitary procedures, customs regulations and others," said Agnieszka Rojewska from Media Metropolis, the public relations agency promoting the display in Poland.

She said more than 10,000 people had visited the exhibition since it opened a week ago. Its chief medical adviser is Roy Glover, professor emeritus of anatomy and cell biology at the University of Michigan.

Sanitary officials expressed concern. "Thirteen dead people appear out of the blue in the center of Warsaw. It provokes the deepest astonishment, amazement and suspicion," said Deputy General Sanitary Inspector for Poland, Jan Orgelbrand.

He invoked the specter of the Nazi death camp of Auschwitz, located in southern Poland, where the remains of murdered Jews were used in the manufacture of various products.

"The human being is sacred... A 'beautiful' lamp made of human skin in Auschwitz is the riposte to the question of where the human being ends and where art begins," he said.

Poland was home to one of the world's largest Jewish communities before the Nazis slaughtered most of them during World War Two in camps such as Auschwitz, where some 1.5 million Jews from all over Europe were killed.

Comment among people viewing the exhibition was mixed.

"There are some critical opinions about this, but I don't agree with them. That's what we are like," visitor Anna Jurek told Reuters.

Last year, the "Bodies" exhibition also stirred controversy in the United States. The promoter agreed to stop using remains of undocumented origin in the New York display after a probe by the state attorney general.

(Editing by Gareth Jones and Mark Trevelyan)

Reasonably Priced Laser Pointers

I was browsing the internet dreaming of getting a shiny laser pointer :o)

What I stumbled upon made me think about getting one now!!!

Amazon.com's listing of laser pointers is incredible (can be found HERE). I was most impressed that the green lasers, which are usually priced in the hundreds of dollars range due to the expense of manufacturing them, were between $30 and $50!!!

If you're in the market for a laser pointer, check out Amazon.com!!

**Lesson ideas for laser pointers coming soon!

You Decide About the Hubble Space Telescope!

In the 400th year anniversary of Galileo's observations, the HubbleSite is allowing everyone the opportunity to have input on the Hubble Space Telescope's next misson.

CHECK IT OUT HERE!