education
jdupuis | May 11, 2010I have a few conferences coming up and I thought I'd share my schedule just in case any of you out there in sciencelibrarianblogland will also be attending.
I'll list them in order, along with whatever I'll be presenting.
BookCamp Toronto, May 15, Toronto
9:30: eBooks in Education and Academia -- the glacial revolution
John Dupuis (York University)
Evan Leibovitch (York University)
Description: Despite growing public acceptance of eBooks, two areas in which they could offer the most benefit -- education and academia -- are far behind the eBook mainstream. This session will discuss issues…
clock | May 10, 2010Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. See all the interviews in this series here. You can check out previous years' interviews as well: 2008 and 2009.
Today, I asked Alex from Miss Baker's Biology class at Staten Island Academy to answer a few questions. You can read about Alex's experience at ScienceOnline2010 here.
Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about…
grrlscientist | May 10, 2010tags: Bald Eagle, White-headed Sea Eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Bald Eagle, also known as the White-headed Sea Eagle, Haliaeetus leucocephalus photographed in Lyman County, South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 17 January 2010 [larger view]. You are encouraged to purchase photographs from this photographer. I am happy to email his contact information to you.
Canon 50D, 400 5.6L lens.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This is an immature Bald Eagle, as you…
mikethemadbiologist | May 10, 2010Oy. Anyone who thinks Jews are smarter than other people, well, that's because we gave all of the stupid to Charles Murray (author of The Bell Curve). Last week, in The New York Times, Murray had an op-ed about charter schools wherein he scribbled about the failure to find differences in performance between charter and public schools:
So let's not try to explain them away. Why not instead finally acknowledge that standardized test scores are a terrible way to decide whether one school is better than another? This is true whether the reform in question is vouchers, charter schools, increased…
rallain | May 10, 2010This is a question that comes up every now in then. But I would like to ask a few similar questions with my first order approximation answers. I would love to hear some other ideas on these questions.
Do people need a functional understanding of math to function in this world?
I say no. Maybe this is not a popular answer, but this is my first answer. Let me give my reasons. What percent of people in this world have a functional understanding of math? (let me just say functional understanding means they can do basic word problems and understand what is going on) If I estimate this…
grrlscientist | May 9, 2010tags: Brubru, Nilaus afer, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Brubru, Nilaus afer, photographed Serengeti National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 15 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 200-400 VR lens, at 400 mm. ISO 500, 1/800 sec, f/5.6, Exposure compenstation +1.
Okay, this lovely little bird's ID will drive you crazy (although it is possible that either Adrian or Carel might be able to figure it out), so I will be most pleased if you manage to correctly identify this bird's taxonomic family.
Please name at…
rallain | May 8, 2010I have one more comment about the previous MythBusters episode where they compared two cars crashing into each other at 50 mph vs. one car crashing into a wall at 100 mph. At the end of the episode, Jamie reflected on the experiment. He said something like (regarding how he incorrectly thought one car at 100 mph was the same as 2 at 50 mph):
"....that was a mistake. You know what? I am ok with that. That is how you learn stuff"
What a great attitude. I think this is something many students miss out on. Which is better, taking a class where you know everything and don't even need to…
grrlscientist | May 8, 2010tags: Baglafecht Weaver, Ploceus baglafecht, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Baglafecht Weaver, Ploceus baglafecht, photographed Arusha National Park, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 15 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm lens, ISO 400, f/7.1, 1/640, Exposure compensation +.7
This African bird has a truly peculiar scientific name (can anyone tell me how it got this weird name?), but if you can't identify the species, you can at least tell me which taxonomic family this bird is placed in.
Please name at least…
mikethemadbiologist | May 7, 2010
(from here)
A while ago, Ezra Klein posted an interview with an anonymous Harvard graduate who works for Goldman Sachs ("Why do Harvard kids head to Wall Street?"). Before I get to the interview, I'll answer the question--and it might not be what you think it is.
Ultimately, students from elite colleges have been trained (and, yes, I'm using the same word one uses for a dog) to jump through hoops that authority figures set for them. These are not "the road less travelled" types. Their entire lives, from kindergarten on, are focused on getting to the next round, the next level. Throughout…
grrlscientist | May 7, 2010tags: American Avocet, Blueshank, Recurvirostra americana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] American Avocet, also known as the Blueshank, Recurvirostra americana, photographed at Bolivar Flats Shorebird Sanctuary, Houston, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 6 June 2007 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s f/8.0 at 500.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
This bird has a peculiarly-shaped beak.
Can you tell me the technical (…
grrlscientist | May 7, 2010tags: Deutsch für Doofe, German for Boneheads, German language, education, SpeedyConKiwi, streaming video
Lesson two in how to not offend Germans while buying beer.
Let me review:
Hello = Hallo
Good morning = Guten Morgen
Good evening = Guten Abend
Good day = Guten Tag
Good night = Gute Nacht
Goodbye = Auf Wiedersehen
Bye = TschüÃ/Ciao
See you soon = Bis bald
See you later = Bis später
See you tomorrow = Bis morgen
Please = Bitte
Thank you = Danke
You're welcome = Bitte
drorzel | May 6, 2010My publisher would like to include a Teacher's Guide with the paperback edition of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. which means that, well, I need to put together a Teacher's Guide for How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. The problem is, I'm not exactly sure what should go in that sort of thing.
So, if you have any opinions on the subject of Teacher's Guides for pop-science books in general, or can point to examples of Teacher's Guides that you particularly like, or have suggestions for what ought to be in a Teacher's Guide for How to Teach Physics to Your Dog. If you were a teacher planning to…
mikethemadbiologist | May 6, 2010Forget about measuring student outcomes. Can we even measure student numbers? A couple of weeks ago, I started pulling data from the NY Times website that displays the citywide testing scores (I was interested in exploring the relationship between poverty and test scores at a finer resolution than I had previously).
Here's the problem: the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) numbers--the ones the federal government uses--and the state numbers don't agree. I'm not referring to educational outcomes: they don't even have the same number of students. Let's look at New York City. The NCLB numbers*…
grrlscientist | May 6, 2010tags: Painted Bunting, Rainbow Bunting, Passerina ciris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Painted Bunting, also known as the Rainbow Bunting, Passerina ciris, photographed at Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary, Brazoria County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 27 April 2010 [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.
Review all mystery birds to date.
drorzel | May 5, 2010Over at the Virtuosi, there's a nice discussion of the physics of letting air out of tires. Jesse opens the explanation with:
Have you ever noticed how when you let air out of a bike tire (or, I suppose, a car tire) it feels rather cold? Today we're going to explore why that is, and just how cold it is. Many people consider the air escaping from a tire as a classic example of an adiabatic process. What is an adiabatic process? It is a process that happens so quickly there is no time for heat flow to occur. For our air in the bike tire this means we're letting it out of the tire so…
cagapakis | May 5, 2010My semester in MIT's course on Documenting Science Through Video and New Media has drawn to a close. I've had a wonderful time and learned a lot about how films and science are constructed by different people in different times for different reasons. Most of all I've learned about how challenging it can be to put together an interesting narrative and present a point of view while at the same time ensuring that the science being explained is honest and clear to everyone. I've recently gotten the chance to watch two great recent science documentaries outside of class, Naturally Obsessed and…
mikethemadbiologist | May 5, 2010Last week, we looked at how the Obama Administration's "Race to the Top" education 'reform' legislation screwed over Massachusetts because MA had the silly idea that changing the curriculum (dumbing it down, actually) of one of the most successful educational systems in the world should be presented to the citizens of the Commonwealth. Silly Mad Biologist: we want to teach kids about democracy and citizenship, not have them grow up and do them. Jeepers. Some people.
Anyway, "Race to the Top" also screws over science education, especially innovative programs to expose young children to…
grrlscientist | May 5, 2010tags: Indigo Bunting, Passerina cyanea, Guiraca cyanea, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Adult female Indigo Bunting, Passerina (Guiraca) cyanea, photographed at Quintana Neotropical Bird Sanctuary, Brazoria County, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 27 April 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/350s 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 5, 2010tags: education, public outreach, SciCafe, science cafe, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, NYC, streaming video
Who: AMNH paleontologists Dr Mike Novacek and Dr Mark Norell
What: free public presentation for kids of all ages, "Travels with Tyrannosaurus"
When: tonight, 5 May at 700pm
Where: Gottesman Hall of Planet Earth, American Museum of Natural History, Enter at the 81st Street (Rose Center) [directions and maps]
Cost: FREE, and there is a cash bar too! (must be 21+ with ID to purchase alcohol)
Amazing fossils are still out there, waiting to be discovered. Museum…
rallain | May 4, 2010Really, I have many jobs. But in this case, I am talking about my two jobs inside my one job as learning facilitator. I like to call myself a learning facilitator rather than a teacher or a professor because I can't make people learn (that would be teacher). Professor would imply that I am professing the truth. Well, I don't know if anyone knows the truth in science - I am sure I don't. So, I am going to stick with learning facilitator (LF).
In my official role as a LF, my institution has actually assigned two jobs:
Help students learn (my words, not theirs)
Evaluate students'…