education
mikethemadbiologist | October 31, 2007I have a week off, so I've been going to the gym in the morning later than usual. I'm still recovering from the near-lobotomization of morning radio, so I wasn't prepared for a report on the "superbug" on Fox's The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet--think of it as a cheap knockoff of Regis and Kelly. Since the sound wasn't turned on for the television, I should have just left it alone, but no, I had to check out the video on the interwubs when I came home.
First, anyone who says that evolutionary biologists suck at communicating should watch this bozo. It's a classic example of how not to…
clock | October 30, 2007There is just a couple of more days left and my challenge is still at 50% (just 6 donors!) so I am panicking. There are several projects that are completely funded and several others that are still far away from the goal, but lots and lots of small donations can make it happen.
Every challenge that reaches its goal gets additional 10% from DonorsChoose. The chances of getting one of the Seed prizes, including the iPod Nano, are very, very good! Chances of getting a prize from me are even better! All the relevant information is here.
Just click here on the thermometer. Please! And…
drorzel | October 30, 2007In today's New York Times Natalie Angier has a nice story about increased interest in physics:
Many people wring their hands over the state of science education and point to the appalling performance of America's students in international science and math competitions. Yet some of the direst noises about our nation's scientific prospects may be premature. Far from rejecting challenging science courses, students seem to be embracing them.
This year, for example, the American Institute of Physics said that the percentage of high school students taking physics courses was at an all-time high,…
drorzel | October 27, 2007Via Physics Buzz, a Mechanical Aptitude Test for diesel technicians. It's fifty basic physics questions, covering a wide range of material from introductory physics: basic concepts of force and torque, a little bit of electrical circuits, and even some thermodynamics.
I got 45/50, which is a passing score. I suspect that I bombed the handful of questions involving specific engine terminology, because I know as much about cars as I do about 11-dimensional superstring theory.
Somebody needs to sit down with the authors and explain how units work-- forces are not measured in kilograms-- but…
clock | October 24, 2007There is less than one week left and my challenge is still at 45% (just 5 donors!). All the relevant information is here.
The other day, Janet and I participated in a silent auction at the ASIS&T meeting. You go around the tables and write down your bids. You offer a dollar or two. Someone else adds another dollear or two on top of your bid. You go back and add some more. Little by little, all the items were sold, and lots of money was collected for a worthy cause.
DonorsChoose is just like that. No need for you to throw hundreds of dollars for a single proposal there. Just add…
drorzel | October 24, 2007Mark Kleiman has rediscovered a semi-clever approach to the problems of smart kids:
So here's the puzzle: is there any justification for not treating high-IQ kids as having "special needs" and therefore entitled to individualized instruction? Yes, yes, I know that in the South "gifted" programs have been used as a technique of within-school resegregation. But that doesn't change the real needs of very bright kids.
I don't know how the special-ed laws are written. Is there a potential lawsuit here?
I say "rediscovered," because I've heard this proposed and rejected a dozen times in education…
sb admin | October 23, 2007You're seeing other ScienceBlogs readers donate, now join the love train*.
A rare serious post from Steve explains The Real Mozart Effect and why we should support music education with DonorsChoose. Playing an instrument has cognitive and developmental benefits.
That reason formed an episode of The Simpsons, too: Lisa's Sax. Homer wants to buy an air conditioner but Lisa needs help to nurture her brain with more than Springfield Elementary has to offer. Unsure what to do, he walks out of Moe's toward It Blows, with $200 in his pocket. He sees a music store and says, "Musical instrument?…
drorzel | October 22, 2007A little while back, Popular Mechanics published a list of 25 Skills Every Man Should Know. Seven of the 25 are car-related, another four have to do with construction, and an additional six are outdoorsy things. Of course, they also threw in "extend your wireless network," for the nerds out there, but it does tend toward the parodically ManlyMan side of things.
In response, Cut to the Chase posted a list of 20 "practical skills every self-sufficient adult should have", which probably errs in the other direction, with entries that are far too humorlessly sensible. (Though I notice that "Know…
drorzel | October 19, 2007An anonymous donor cashes in a $30 donation to ask:
Homework solutions from intro physics through grad school physics are available online, and while working through Jackson and Goldstein problems can be miserable without some guidance, the temptation is there to plagiarize. When you teach, do you use book-problems or write your own? Do you trust that those who are really interested in the subject will do the right thing and slog through homework like thousands before them?
An excellent question.
Homework is really a vexing issue. There's no way to really learn physics without doing…
mikethemadbiologist | October 18, 2007Over at Karmatics, Rob Brown thinks the counter-intuitiveness of natural selection is a big reason why people find evolution difficult to comprehend. In that way, natural selection is similar to prediction markets, where people bet on the chances of future events, such as the outcomes of sports events or political elections:
Prediction markets turn out to be remarkably accurate, typically more accurate than any individual expert can predict, as non-intuitive as it may seem. Like Wikipedia, prediction markets also tap into the power of selection, but the most dramatic similarity they share…
drorzel | October 15, 2007In the spirit of the newly clarified regulations governing the Academic Competitiveness Grant and National Science and Mathematics Access to Retain Talent (SMART) Grant Programs administered by the Department of Education, I am pleased to announce the Uncertain Principles Physics Scholarship Program. Under this program, I pledge to personally pay the full tuition for any student who is:
From a low-income family, or a historically disadvantaged group,
Enrolled as a full-time student at an accredited four-year college or university, and
Taking courses toward a degree in physics or related…
tqa | October 14, 2007
Late last week, the IRS released figures showing that the income gap in the United States is larger now than at any time since they began tracking that data in 1986, and may be worse now than at any time since the 1920s. The figures, which are based on 2005 tax returns, reveal that the richest 1% of Americans accounted for 21.2% of income, up from about 20.8% in 2000. The bottom 50% of families earned 12.8%, which is a drop from the 13% that they took home in 2000.
When the Wall Street Journal asked President Bush about the widening income gap, he said:
First of all, our society has had…
mikethemadbiologist | October 14, 2007Knute Berger relays the following email from Ed Lazowska, the former co-chair of the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee (italics mine):
The years of the [George W.] Bush administration have been a black time for science in this nation. I speak with the experience of having co-chaired the President's Information Technology Advisory Committee for Bush, and having chaired the Defense Department's DARPA [Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency] Information Science and Technology Study Group during his presidency. Funds for research, the seed corn of our future competitiveness…
clock | October 13, 2007I started teaching my BIO101 Lab this morning again. But this was the first: two of the students said: "Hey Mr.Z, we looked around the Web and learned a lot about you - A Blog Around The Clock, The Magic School Bus and now we have all the dirt on you!"
It was bound to happen - and it was fun, actually, a good ice-breaker for the beginning of the new class. Perhaps they will post comments here (please do). And I also pointed them to my classroom blog, as they are also taking the lecture portion with another faculty member at the same time.
clock | October 12, 2007The DonorsChoose fundraiser is in full swing here on Scienceblogs.com. As always, Janet's blog is the Information Center for the drive, and you can also check Dave's graphs as well.
As you know, Seed Media Group is matching $15,000 of your donations. The Scienceblogs.com Overlords have also announced some additional prizes!
* 21 "Seed Hearts Threadless" tee shirts
* 21 ScienceBlogs mugs
* 21 subscriptions to Seed magazine
* 9 copies of "The Best American Science Writing 2007"
These prizes will be divided into three thirds and each third will be given on one of the next three…
clock | October 9, 2007Another thing I will also have to miss - the Inaugural Event of the 2007-2008 Pizza Lunch Season of the Science Communicators of North Carolina (SCONC), on October 24th at Sigma Xi Center (the same place where we'll have the Science Blogging Conference). Organized by The American Scientist and the Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the first Pizza Lunch Session will feature Dr.Fred Gould, professor of Entomology and Genetics at NCSU (whose Insect Ecology class blows one's mind - one of the best courses I have ever taken in my life). Fred recently received The George Bugliarello Prize for an…
clock | October 9, 2007The news came from high above that the Seed Media Group Science Literacy Grants program will match your donations up to $15,000. So, at this point in the fundraiser, every dollar you donate is worth two!
So, check out my challenge and check out my SciBlings' challenges as well.
And yes, don't forget the prizes! I just got a mug and a t-shirt yesterday and they look good!
clock | October 8, 2007The first week of the DonorsChoose fund-drive is up and the donations are coming in rapidly to a variety of school projects via my SciBlings' challenges.
You can check out all the projects picked by my SciBlings here and my own here.
You can get to my pledge also by clicking on the thermometer on my sidebar (scroll down a little bit) and watch how the mercury in all of our thermometers rise over time. As you can see, 37% of my challenge has already been funded!
Thank you so much! If you continue being so fast and generous and we reach our goal too soon, I will add more projects to…
neurophilosophy | October 7, 2007
Wouldn't you be? Even if you weren't a 13-year-old pupil at a boys-only school?
My mother just found these old school reports and brought them over to me. Below are reports for maths, physics and biology. They're all handwritten, but, I think, legible.
drorzel | October 5, 2007The New York Times has a story on a novel approach to teaching high-school English: assigning homework to parents:
So far, Mr. [Damion] Frye, an English teacher at Montclair High School, has asked the parents to read and comment on a Franz Kafka story, Section 1 of Walt Whitman's "Song of Myself" and a speech given by Robert F. Kennedy in 1968. Their newest assignment is a poem by Saul Williams, a poet, musician and rapper who lives in Los Angeles. The ninth graders complete their assignments during class; the parents are supposed to write their responses on a blog Mr. Frye started online.…