November 2009

Name that mystery SEM sample, win a prize

November 30, 2009

A while back I blogged about a cool opportunity to get anything (yes, anything!) scanned on a Scanning Electron Microscope. Posted from the ASPEX website, here is a toy bunny, macrosize, and microsize: Though how anyone could give up that cute wittle bunny is beyond me. You can still send them samples (which I just [...]

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Chemical apple pie

November 28, 2009

A tip of the apron to Elnore Grow for this one: CHEMICAL APPLE PIE  (No apples but tastes like Apple Pie) Yield 1 pie Ingredients 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust pie ( I buy this already done) 2 cups water 1 1/2 cups white sugar 1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar [...]

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We learn by taking tests (even when we get the wrong answer)

November 25, 2009

photo by Patrick Hannigan (click for Wikimedia link) We think of taking tests as something to assess whether we learned something, but there is a fascinating set of literature that shows that it does more than that.  Tests can be learning events in their own right.  It makes sense when you think about it.  How [...]

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Public science lectures: What for? How to?

November 23, 2009

I recently read two interesting articles on translating science for the public — in particular, why we give lectures for the public at all, and some effective ways to do it. For those of you who are interested, here are the original source articles: Explaining the Unexplainable: Translated Scientific Explanations (TSE) in public physics lectures, [...]

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Making light rays in the classroom

November 14, 2009

In optics experiments, you often need to create lines of light.  You can do this with light boxes, but they’re expensive, and tend to  have too many rays to be useful.  Laser light boxes are great, but again, spendy. One teacher recommends using laser levels. These are the things made to help you hang pictures [...]

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Teaching Physics with the Physics Suite

November 11, 2009

If you’re a teacher — of physics, or any other physical science — and haven’t yet picked up a copy of Edward Redish’s Teaching Physics with the Physics Suite , I’m making a bid right now that you do so. I finally read it — really read it — instead of just browsing through a [...]

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Video resources for your classroom

November 10, 2009

I feel like I keep posting these, I should compile them. Currki :  Currki, an open source website for educational materials k-12 has over 80,000 members who are educators and teachers. TeacherTube TeacherTube is a video sharing website based on YouTube. It is designed to allow those in the educational industry, particularly teachers, to share [...]

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Great blog on technology and teaching

November 9, 2009

I’ve been really enjoying a blog put out by the University of Colorado’s ASSETT (Arts and Sciences Support of Education through Technology) program.  They have frequent posts on technology that relates to higher education, and how it really impacts your classroom. For example, connecting with students by Facebook; considerations, or whether to mentor via FB [...]

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Myth: The astronauts didn’t float away because they had heavy boots

November 9, 2009

Below I am reposting a rather long piece taken verbatim from the website of Steve Detweiler who just says that it’s an “amusing anecdote from a friend of mine.”  So, I’m not sure of the veracity of the story, and some claim that it’s an urban legend.  It may well be.  But it opened up [...]

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Cheat sheets and blogs for science teachers

November 4, 2009

A couple links that look very helpful. 100 excellent blogs for science teachers (which includes yours truly!) Includes a bunch of teacher blogs (which seems like a great way to get some online mentorship if you’re all alone), and subject-area blogs (like physics or biology).  A very useful list. 100 cheat sheets for K12 teachers [...]

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Video footage of math and science teaching

November 3, 2009

Here are a few collections of videos of science teaching and learning — useful for learning how to teach. Annenberg: http://www.learner.org/resources/series90.html http://www.learner.org/resources/series126.html TIMSS http://nces.ed.gov/timss/video.asp

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