education
mikethemadbiologist | March 22, 2010Diane Ravitch, along with releasing her new book The Death and Life of the Great American School System, has been issuing a lot of mea culpas about her role in advocating for a lot 'accountability' educational reforms. When I first started reading this NY Times article, which signaled the beginning of the PR offensive, I had the same reaction Arthur Levine:
"She has done more than any one I can think of in America to drive home the message of accountability and charters and testing," said Arthur E. Levine, a former president of Teachers College, where Dr. Ravitch got her doctorate and began…
grrlscientist | March 22, 2010tags: Wideawake, Wideawake Tern, Sooty Tern, Onychoprion fuscata, Sterna fuscata, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Sooty Tern, also known as the Wideawake Tern or simply as the Wideawake, Onychoprion (Sterna) fuscata, photographed out of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Paul Sweet, 4 August 2007 [larger view].
NOTE: Unless you are a beginning bird watcher, PLEASE wait 24 hours before identifying this bird. (Intermediate-expert birders are encouraged to use puns, anagrams, poetry references or citations, Monty Python…
grrlscientist | March 22, 2010tags: animal rights, vegans, musical instruments, lamb-gut violin strings, education, streaming video
The best violinists rely on strings that are made from the guts of lambs that are no more than 4 months old at slaughter. Kinda makes you wonder how many vegans and animal rights wingnuts have given up playing and listening to orchestral and other music that relies on gut strings?
bioephemera | March 21, 2010I know nothing proves you're old as thoroughly as bewailing the foibles of kids these days and complaining that they're not as hard-working as you were. But I have to note that this letter - from a disgruntled student who thinks he's the next Bill Gates - is beautifully indicative of everything I think is wrong with education today:
You commented that I had probably the best example, to the assigned question, out of all the students participating. However, you also said that I did not complete the assignment as instructed, because I did not explain with the proper support from the text book…
grrlscientist | March 21, 2010tags: Life, Discovery Channel, Reptiles and Amphibians, Waterfall Toad Leap from Danger, animals, mammals, birds, BBC, television, streaming video
Gail Weiswasser at the Discovery channel emailed a few days ago to tell me about TONIGHT's premiere on the Discovery Channel of BBC's LIFE, the 11-part follow up to PLANET EARTH (the most successful natural history documentary of all time). While PLANET EARTH told the story of the natural world through the framework of our planet's ecosystems and regions, LIFE takes us on a more intimate journey, introducing different animal and plant groups, using…
grrlscientist | March 21, 2010tags: Chelicut Kingfisher, Striped Kingfisher, Halcyon chelicuti, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Striped Kingfisher, also sometimes known as the Chelicut Kingfisher, Halcyon chelicuti, photographed near the Pangani River Camp, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 13 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm VR lens, ISO 800, 1/1600 sec, f/7.1, Exposure compensation 0..
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | March 20, 2010tags: Pink-breasted Lark, Mirafra poecilosterna, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Pink-breasted Lark, Mirafra poecilosterna, photographed near the Pangani River Camp, Tanzania, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 13 January 2010 [larger view].
Nikon D300, 600 mm VR lens, ISO 800, 1/1600 sec, f/7.1, Exposure compensation 0..
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
HINT 1: this species is in the Alaudidae family and was first described by a German.
HINT 2: anagram of scientific name included in comment…
grrlscientist | March 20, 2010tags: Life, Discovery Channel, Reptiles and Amphibians, Komodo Dragons Hunt Buffalo, animals, mammals, birds, BBC, television, streaming video
Gail Weiswasser at the Discovery channel emailed a few days ago to tell me about the upcoming March 21 premiere on the Discovery Channel of BBC's LIFE, the 11-part follow up to PLANET EARTH (the most successful natural history documentary of all time). While PLANET EARTH told the story of the natural world through the framework of our planet's ecosystems and regions, LIFE takes us on a more intimate journey, introducing different animal and plant…
mikethemadbiologist | March 19, 2010Universal Hub linked to my post about the non-existent educational crisis in Massachusetts. In the comments was this really good point about not racing to the bottom (italics mine):
While I am a frequent critic of the Boston schools and government waste, on the whole Mass is fantastic thanks to the rigorous standards we impose (the MCAS isn't perfect, but based on some of my analysis, school improvements appear to be almost directly correlated to some of the standardized testing reforms). One more reason I'm opposed to using tax breaks to generate jobs - why do we always compete just on…
grrlscientist | March 19, 2010tags: Great Thick-Knees, Greater Thick-Knees, Esacus recurvirostris, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Great Thick-Knees, also known as the Greater Thick-Knees, Esacus recurvirostris, photographed on the Kosi River, Ramnagar, North India. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Adrian White [larger view].
Nikon D40x with 70-300AF.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | March 19, 2010tags: Marie Curie Actions, Roderick Fenske, Chemical Party, education, teaching, humor, funny, television, streaming video
Directed by Roderick Fenske, Marie Curie is proud to present: "Chemicals having a party," featuring sexy carbons, bored noble gases, and explosive reactions. This is a hilarious and educational video about chemistry!
mikethemadbiologist | March 18, 2010After finding this post about income inequality and social problems, I decided to check out the 'book version', The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always do Better, by epidemiologists Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett. It has a lot to recommend it (if you want the short pdf version, it's available here). First, the evidence for a correlation across countries and within countries between income inequality and social misery is pretty overwhelming. Second, in the introduction, as opposed to an appendix nobody will read, Wilkinson and Pickett explain the basics of the…
grrlscientist | March 18, 2010tags: blue shank, American Avocet, Recurvirostra americana, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] American Avocet, also known as the blue shank, Recurvirostra americana, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Richard Ditch, 25 February 2010 [larger view]. You are encouraged to purchase photographs from this photographer. I am happy to email his contact information to you.
Exposure Time: 1/400
F-Number: 8.00
ISO: 200
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
mikethemadbiologist | March 17, 2010It's bad enough that the Texas Board of Education, through its new 'standards', will result in the mass mental disability of millions of American students. But the new federal standards could potential harm Massachusetts' educational system--and if it's working well (and it is)--then don't fix it. With friends like Arne Duncan and the Obama Administration, who needs enemies (or Republicans)? Ze'ev Furman and Sandra Stotsky:
The Obama administration plans to make states adopt proposed national academic standards as a condition for receipt of federal education grants. The problem is what the…
grrlscientist | March 17, 2010tags: Mediterranean Gull, Larus melanocephalus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Mediterranean Gull, Larus melanocephalus, photographed flying over Scarborough, North Yorkshire, UK. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Adrian White [larger view].
Nikon D40x with 70-300AF.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
jdupuis | March 17, 2010An interesting and provocative article in The Scientist by Steven Wiley iof the Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory, To Join or Not to Join.
The thrust of the article is that scholarly societies are having trouble offering true value to their members in the Internet age, that their business models and even their raisons d'etre are being disrupted.
In years past, the answer was easy because being a member came with tangible benefits, such as inexpensive journals and the ability to submit abstracts to annual meetings. Nowadays, these perks don't seem very important. Most society…
grrlscientist | March 16, 2010tags: Atlantic Puffin, Fratercula arctica, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Atlantic Puffin, Fratercula arctica, photographed at the Machias Seal Island, Maine. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Paul Sweet, 26 May 2008 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
rallain | March 16, 2010The other day I was having a discussion with my brother about software and free software. Somehow I said I like it when software is free. Since he is a programmer and likes to get paid to program, he said "education should be free." I think I might agree with him.
I previously talked about higher education, specifically how it was more about being human than about job training. With that in mind, shouldn't it be free? If everyone should get healthcare, I think everyone should get an education.
But wait! How would I get paid? I haven't really thought this through the whole way. But…
bioephemera | March 16, 2010
Polly Law's Word Project is a series of mixed-media illustrations representing obscure words like dasypygal and nidifice. Though Law has exhibited her work in galleries, she hasn't found a backer to publish them as a book. . . yet. So she's seeking help at the entrepreneurial startup Kickstarter.com:
The Word Project book will be a soft cover, 10"x10". Each piece will get its own spread accompanied by its meaning, pronunciation & an example of use. Since 2002 I have been raiding the attics, basements and dusty cupboards of the English language in search of intriguing, odd & obscure…
jdupuis | March 15, 2010ISTL is a great resource for those of us in science and technology libraries. I'm happy to report on the tables of contents from the last two issues.
Winter 2010
Evaluation of an Audience Response System in Library Orientations for Engineering Students by Denise A. Brush, Rowan University
Open Access Citation Advantage: An Annotated Bibliography by A. Ben Wagner, University at Buffalo
Information Portals: A New Tool for Teaching Information Literacy Skills by Debra Kolah, Rice University and Michael Fosmire, Purdue University
Are Article Influence Scores Comparable across Scientific…