October 2007

CA Science Teachers Association

October 29, 2007

I just came back from the CA Science Teachers Association in Long Beach — a very good time. I like science teachers. They’re erstwhile, smart, and care about kids. I gave a presentation on electrostatics — you can download my handouts. I saw one very good presentation on how to transform traditional cookbook-type labs to [...]

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science geek shopping?

October 21, 2007

For science geeks like me, there are a lot of really fun shops with neat-o science gifts. Send me yours, and I’ll add them to this list! It can be hard to find stuff like this — if someone wants to start a web-business, creating an online catalog of this sort of stuff would be [...]

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Take it Outside

October 14, 2007

I’ve posted a new episode of my Science Teaching Tips podcast… Episode: 18. Take it outside Sometimes kids don’t have much experience with nature. TI teacher coach Kim Marie Hansen tells us how she got her inner city students outside and observing the world, by using nature journals.

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Academics versus the "real world"

October 12, 2007

One thing that’s been on my mind a lot lately is the special place called academics. I was very happy at the Exploratorium, because I could see the results of my work every day. I was working directly with teachers and giving them tools that they needed, and that felt good. Now, I am doing [...]

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Think Positive

October 8, 2007

Hey, I’ve posted a new episode on my podcast: “Science Teaching Tips” Episode: 17. Think Positive Got a tough kid in your class? TI Staff Educator Modesto Tamez tells us a story from his teaching career – a powerful technique that has helped him win over the stubborn, negative students.

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Learning styles (may be) a myth!

October 8, 2007

I used to tell people “I’m a visual learner.” I liked seeing things, and organizing things graphically. But now after a bunch of reading, I’m not so sure. There’s been a lot of research on learning styles. For example, one rubric classifies people as: Active/Reflective Sensing/Intuitive Visual/Verbal Sequential/Global You can take this test here. On [...]

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