education
grrlscientist | May 24, 2009tags: Inca Dove, Columbina inca, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Inca Dove, Columbina inca, photographed in Paul Rushing Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/320s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
The gentle, big-eyed, small-headed look of this bird should send us in…
grrlscientist | May 23, 2009tags: Lesser Goldfinch, Carduelis psaltria, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lesser Goldfinch, Carduelis psaltria, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Richard Ditch, 13 October 2007 [larger view].
Date Time Original: 2007:10:13 08:34:51
Exposure Time: 1/639
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Rick Wright, author of Aimophila Adventures and Managing Director of WINGS Birding Tours Worldwide, writes:
Here's a tiny, acrobatic bird with a short, deeply notched tail. Even…
esiegel | May 22, 2009It's Memorial Day weekend, and I won't be blogging over it, as I'm going to be enjoying my long weekend! (And I hope you are, too.) But I'd like to leave you with some reflections on our history of Space Exploration in this country. (This was originally posted last year.)
There are wonderful things going on in Space Exploration these days, and we know an unprecedented amount about our planet, solar system, galaxy, and Universe as a result of all the exploration that we've done. In fact, that's most of what I write about here. But another huge part of that exploration has been manned…
ddobbs | May 22, 2009
Having lived with fire ants, stepped in fire ants, laid down with fire ants, and been bit just about everywhere by fire ants, the news that parasitic flies turn fire ants them into zombies by eating their brains pleases me immensely.
Speaking of pleasure: Vaughn whacks the dopamine = pleasure meme.
Sharon Begley says Obama may get a lot done, but he can't erase stereotype threat (so far).
We may be dozing, but Europe is ordering its swine flu vaccine. D'oh! Update: We're getting a start too.
"Good night, sleep tight, I love you." Why consistent bedtime routines work.
Why the best…
grrlscientist | May 22, 2009tags: Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Mourning Dove, Zenaida macroura, photographed at Tom Bass Park, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 8 April 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | May 21, 2009tags: NYC Life, NYPL, public services, public education, public libraries
If you are broke and unemployed in any city of this nation, including NYC, you would have very few free public resources at your disposal to help you find work because of the massive budget cuts that have been made to this nation's public libraries and other public resources. I find this situation outrageous.
I have a special request to make of you: if you read this blog, please write a letter to Mayor Bloomberg, asking him NOT to cut NYC's public library services and to maintain six day per week service! Even if…
esiegel | May 21, 2009Regardless of where you work, one of the most nerve-wracking experiences can be your performance evaluations. Why is this nerve-wracking? Because no matter how talented and capable you are, and regardless of how good of a job you actually do, there are factors that you have absolutely no control over that can affect your evaluations. This can be a boss who wants to eliminate your job, a colleague who has a personality conflict with you, or a student who doesn't like the subject you teach.
Well, one of the nice things about being a teacher is that all of the students you teach get the…
grrlscientist | May 21, 2009tags: NYC Life, NYPL, public services, public education, public libraries
If you are broke and unemployed in any city of this nation, including NYC, you would have very few free public resources at your disposal to help you find work because of the massive budget cuts that have been made to this nation's public libraries and other public resources. I find this situation outrageous.
I have a special request to make of you: if you read this blog, please write a letter to Mayor Bloomberg, asking him NOT to cut NYC's public library services and to maintain six day per week service! Even if…
grrlscientist | May 21, 2009tags: Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Blue-grey Gnatcatcher, Polioptila caerulea, photographed in Manhattan, Kansas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Dave Rintoul, 11 April 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
tqa | May 21, 2009
Education Secretary Arne Duncan testified for the first time in front of the House Education and Labor Committee yesterday, on the topic of the President's education plan. Duncan was the only witness for the hearing, and his testimony covered the broad spectrum of federal involvement in education. (As someone with a Bachelor's degree who is moving toward a secondary education career, I was particularly happy to hear discussion about the need for more of a focus on non-traditional routes toward teacher certification.)
One area that received a great deal of attention (and which will receive…
grrlscientist | May 21, 2009tags: TEDTalks, einstein, African Grey Parrot, Stephanie White, streaming video
This video is a whimsical wrap-up of TED2006 -- presented by Einstein, the African grey parrot, and her trainer, Stephanie White. Watch for the moment when Einstein has a moment with Al Gore [5:49]
gregladen | May 20, 2009... tbooks. (get it?)
Josh Rosenau, of the National Center for Science Education, has a piece in Seed online:
The National Center for Science Education, in Oakland, CA, where I work, has tracked hundreds of attacks on evolution education in 48 states in the last five years. In the last two years alone, 18 bills in 10 states have targeted the teaching of evolution. These bills, like the flawed science standards approved by the Texas Board of Education in March, don't ban evolution outright. But they do authorize teachers to omit evolution or include creationism at their whim. "These bills…
gregladen | May 20, 2009It's hard to stand up to brilliant people!
This guy is OTT. I was waiting for him to explode the whole time. Ouch ouch ouch ouch. My brain hurts now.
grrlscientist | May 20, 2009tags: Orange-crowned Warbler, Vermivora celata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Orange-crowned Warbler, Vermivora celata, photographed at the Big Sioux Recreation Area near Brandon, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 10 May 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | May 19, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Green-winged Teal, Anas carolinensis, photographed at the San Bernard Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/500s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
evolvingthoughts | May 18, 2009Anyone who has had to order textbooks for students knows how expensive they are. Here's something that I hope may end up a trend amongst academics: Creative Commons licensed texts. P.D. Magnus wrote a logic textbook, forall x, which he made available under the CC license; and now David Morris of the University of Lethbridge has used it as the basis on which to write an abstract mathematics textbook, Proofs and Concepts. With luck, this is a new dynamic of the new media, that will benefit education even if it takes away some revenue from academic publishers. For work that is fully created (…
gregladen | May 18, 2009Scientific American names the 10 most important leaders in science and technology
... a press release from the National Center for Science Education
OAKLAND, CA May 18, 2009
Barack Obama and Bill Gates are in good company. The NCSE's Dr. Eugenie C. Scott joins Obama and Gates as members of the Scientific American 10 honor roll. This honor roll pays tribute to the ten people in the last year who have "demonstrated exceptional leadership and accomplishment in guaranteeing that future technologies will be applied to the benefit of humanity".
Past honorees include Al Gore, stem cell…
grrlscientist | May 18, 2009tags: mystery bird, bird ID quiz, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Greater Sand-Plover, Charadrius leschenaultii, photographed near Jacksonville, Florida. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Roger Clark, 14 May 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | May 17, 2009tags: NYC Life, NYPL, public services, public education, public libraries
If you are broke and unemployed in any city of this nation, including NYC, you would have very few free public resources at your disposal to help you find work because of the massive budget cuts that have been made to this nation's public libraries. I find this situation outrageous.
I have a special request to make of you: if you read this blog, consider the fact that all my wireless access is provided by the NYPL, and wireless access is one service that will be cut or discontinued. If Mayor Bloomberg, the eighth…
grrlscientist | May 16, 2009tags: American Pipit, Anthus rubescens, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] American Pipit, Anthus rubescens, photographed in Minnehaha County, near Wall lake, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Terry Sohl, 10 November 2008 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 40D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.