September 2009

Free science posters!

September 28, 2009

If you’re looking to beautify your classroom, here are some links to some free science posters. No guarantees as to quality, but these links should be a helpful start! http://www.johnny-lin.com/posters.html#powersoften http://www.tufts.edu/as/wright_center/products/svl/posters/posts.html http://www.mii.org/teacherhelpers.php http://www.surfnetkids.com/games/Science_Games/ http://www.scattercreek.com/~zimba/freeforteachers.htm#posters

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If a boy pees on the floor and there’s nobody there to see it

September 26, 2009

We see the darndest questions on teacher listservs. It seems that, at one school, there was a mystery to be solved. The boys’ urinals were often surrounded by a puddle of “liquid.” Were the urinals weeping water? Or were the boys purposely urinating on the floor (as the janitor believed)? And, most importantly, how can [...]

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The inner life of the cell

September 24, 2009

I was recently reminded of this wonderful visualization of the processes inside the cell.  As a physicist, I found this quite powerful in imagining this mysterious (and usually, to me, boring) microscopic world.  It was created by a Harvard professor in conjunction with a scientific animation company.  Here’s the video: In my art and science [...]

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Science zine-a-thon contest

September 24, 2009

Create your own science zine, win a prize! This could be a really fun activity for a class.  An 8-page booklet from a single 8 1/2 x 11 sheet of paper… that says something real about science!  There are prizes in several age categories, and they have some simple instructions and templates for making them.  [...]

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Population growth and physics?

September 19, 2009

Do physics teachers have a role to play in teaching about population growth?  One could argue that the study of physics is separate from the world of human concerns — it’s concerned with the physical laws governing how the world works.  Our role is to educate students about these abstract laws.  The rest is for [...]

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A few random cool things for the class or the curious

September 17, 2009

Want a benchtop SEM scan of your fingernail? This is too cool — a company called ASPEX will take an SEM scan of any object that you send them and pst it online.  You can certainly find some intriguing stuff lying around your home or office to scan and send to them!  Or how about [...]

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Got a math or science question?

September 15, 2009

You can ask it at the following address, and get a customized reply from an expert in the field!  Pretty cool service — I’ve served as an expert answerer at least once.  If you’re a new teacher or an experienced one, it’s nice to have a go-to place for your burning questions.  Besides, if you’re [...]

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Are lectures evil?

September 14, 2009

No, of course not.  But to hear us education folks prattle on, you’d think that an instructor who lectures to their students is doing them a grave disservice. Well, if all they’re doing is lecture, then their students could be getting more bang for their buck.  But lecturing is perhaps an indispensable part of class, [...]

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A couple of beautiful things – Science and images

September 10, 2009

I’m in a scientific visualization seminar now, so I’ll probably be sharing some beautiful things with some regularity. There is something very satisfying about complex geometrical objects.  I think my brain feels this sigh of relief at such orderly intricacies.  So, I love these images created by computer algorithm, basically tweaking parameters to get surprising [...]

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