education
grrlscientist | December 23, 2009tags: Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea (Ajaia) ajaj, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Roseate Spoonbill, Platalea (Ajaia) ajaj, photographed at Arthur Storey Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 December 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/750s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
rallain | December 22, 2009I re-watched Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix last night and my wife and I noticed something about teaching. Of course I mentioned that this would make a good blog post (and she may still post it on her blog, but I can't help myself). If you have not read the book or seen the movie, I don't think I will give away any serious spoilers - but who hasn't at least seen the movie? If you were going to see it (or read it) you would have done so by now - right?
The Order of the Phoenix shows at least three different examples of teachers and teachings in the movie. Here they are:
Dolores…
rallain | December 22, 2009Female Science Professor has been talking about student evaluations lately. (here are some other Student Eval posts - post 1 post 2 post 3). I had some ideas on student evaluations, and here they are.
One Question
A friend of mine likes to say that student evaluations should just be one question: "Do you like this instructor?" Maybe that is the only reliable information you can get from a student. Perhaps that can even be useful. Here is an indication of the problem. We have on our evaluation form (which is filled with useless questions) the following question:
Agree-Disagree:…
grrlscientist | December 22, 2009tags: Northern Pintail, Pintail, Anas acuta, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Northern Pintail, also known simply as the Pintail, Anas acuta, photographed at Arthur Storey Park, Houston, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 5 December 2009 [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.
mikethemadbiologist | December 21, 2009One of the things often heard is that someone is leaving the city for the burbs because the schools are better (I use the generic city, since, in my experience this attitude doesn't appear to be limited to any particular city). But what if parents aren't choosing better schools, but better student bodies? What if parents are paying exorbitant housing costs, not because the schools perform better, but because those high housing costs are able to exclude students who perform poorly?
A while ago, I wrote that, despite the best efforts of the doom-and-gloom educational assessment industry, some…
grrlscientist | December 21, 2009tags: Common Redstart, Phoenicurus phoenicurus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Adult female Common Redstart, Phoenicurus phoenicurus, photographed at La Lanterna in Genova, Italy. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Cliff Miles, 11 December 2009 [larger view].
Canon EOS Rebel XT with a 75-300mm zoom lens.
Here's a challenging bird for you to identify courtesy of a friend, who narrowed it down to one of two species (but it doesn't "fit" either species well). He contributed four images of this bird (what I think is the best image is published here) to…
grrlscientist | December 20, 2009tags: Bronzed Cowbird, Molothrus aeneus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Bronzed Cowbird, Molothrus aeneus, photographed at Quintana, Brazoria County, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 22 April 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/800s 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 | December 19, 2009tags: Green Jay, Cyanocorax yncas, Blue Morph, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Blue Morph Green Jay, Cyanocorax yncas, photographed at Laguna Atascosa Refuge, Harlingen, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 8 April 2008 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/80s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
You might be interested to read an article I wrote about schemochromes and the physics of blue coloration in birds. This piece was…
drorzel | December 19, 2009I gave a talk last night to the Albany Area Math Circle, a group of high-schoolers who are interested in science and math, and enter and do very well in national math competitions. I think there were 48 kids there last night, which was pretty impressive.
I gave basically the same talk I gave at Boskone on the Many-Worlds Interpretation, including reading the dog dialogue from Chapter 4. I made an effort to update the SF references a little, to things that people born in the early 1990's might recognize. (Wow, I feel old.)
The talk was probably a little too abstract for the audience, and I…
drorzel | December 18, 2009How to Teach Physics to Your Dog is now listed as "In Stock" at Amazon, so it's the perfect time to order a dozen or so copies for your last-minute holiday gift needs.
"But, wait," you say, "why do I want to teach my dog physics? Particularly quantum physics-- why does anyone need to know that?"
The answer is: "Lasers." Lasers are pretty awesome, right? Let's ask an expert:
If I were creating the world I wouldn't mess about with butterflies and daffodils. I would have started with lasers, eight o'clock, Day One!
OK, maybe he's a bad one to ask. Still, lasers are pretty awesome, and lasers…
grrlscientist | December 18, 2009tags: Ashy Drongo, Dicrurus leucophaeus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ashy Drongo, Dicrurus leucophaeus, photographed at the small village of Muang Khong, near Chiang Dao Mountain, northern Thailand. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dirk S. Schmeller, November 2009 [larger view].
Nikon d90 with a Nikon lens 80-400, 1/400 s f/16 at 400mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
mikethemadbiologist | December 18, 2009Over the last few elections cycles, we've heard about the importance of various demographic groups: Bubbas, soccer moms, NASCAR dads, hockey moms, and so on. But Nan Mooney's (Not) Keeping Up With Our Parents: The Decline of the Professional Middle Class describes one demographic sector that has largely been ignored. Maybe it's because they* aren't 'real Americans', or perhaps they don't have a catchy nickname.
Mooney's book describes the economic problems facing college-educated professionals, including teachers, social workers, and, yes, scientists (contrary to popular belief, most…
grrlscientist | December 17, 2009tags: education, public outreach, SciCafe, science cafe, AMNH, American Museum of Natural History, NYC, streaming video
Since the holidays are a busy time, I am notifying you of NYC's upcoming SciCafe a little early so you can be sure to add it to your calenders!
Who: Ichthyologist Melanie Stiassny
What: free public presentation, "Mysteries of the Congo: Exploring the World's Deepest River"
When: 700pm, Wednesday, 6 January 2010
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…
drorzel | December 17, 2009Quantum physics can sometimes seem so arcane that even humans don't need to worry about it, let alone dogs. It's actually tremendously important to our modern world. In fact, if you're reading this on a computer (and how else would you be getting it?), you have quantum physics to thank for it.
Computers are based on millions of tiny transistors manufactured on chips of silicon. These transistors are combined together to make "bits" that can be in one of two states, which we call "0" and "1." Manipulating these bits lets us do mathematical operations, write books about dogs, and watch videos…
grrlscientist | December 17, 2009tags: Carolina Wren, Thryothorus ludovicianus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Carolina Wren, Thryothorus ludovicianus, photographed in an abandoned finch nest on the deck outside the home of one of my readers in Powder Springs, Georgia. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Rebecca Checkwood, 11 December 2009 [larger view].
Sony DSC-W7, 0.025 sec (1/40) f/2.8 7.9 mm.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | December 16, 2009tags: conservation, endangered species, Shark Finning, Sea Shepherd, human behavior, television, streaming video
This is a television commercial by the Sea Shepherd. It is an appeal to stop finning sharks. Shark finning refers to the cruel practice of capturing sharks and slicing off their fins. Shark fins are a Chinese delicacy -- they are the main ingredient in shark fin soup. Since shark meat isn't worth the cost of transporting the massive shark bodies to market, the finless animals are thrown back into the water, alive. Without its fins, the shark cannot swim, so it sinks beneath the…
grrlscientist | December 16, 2009tags: Golden-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia atricapilla, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Immature Golden-crowned Sparrow, Zonotrichia atricapilla, photographed at Vancouver Lake, Clark County, Washington. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Lyn Topinka, 13 December 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
A second picture of the same individual, at rest.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | December 15, 2009tags: European Herring Gull, Larus argentatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Leucistic/albino European Herring Gull, Larus argentatus, photographed at Station Orthinologique de l'Ile Grande, just outside of Pleumeur-Bodou/Landrellec, Bretagne, France. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: TravelGirl, spring or early summer 2006 [larger view].
Canon 5D, 100-400L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | December 14, 2009tags: Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Meadowlark, Sturnella neglecta, photographed at Carpinteria Salt Marsh in Carpinteria, California. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: John Callender, 5 December 2009 [larger view].
Can you ID this bird? Can you identify what type of animal killed it? If so, share your comments.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
There is still some disagreement as to what killed this bird. The photographer says a raptor did it; a commenter claims a…
bioephemera | December 13, 2009
Okay, so these tricks aren't rocket science. But I think lighting and extinguishing candles remotely is a pretty entertaining diversion - definitely for an audience experiencing a post-holiday meal food coma. You can lecture them all about chemistry, and they won't be able to flee! Bwahahahahaha! Good stuff.
Then I found this "Extreme Physics Party Trick". . . and I'm still laughing.
EXTREME!