kids and science
jstemwedel | November 12, 2007The results of our drive to raise funds for teachers and students with DonorsChoose are, in a word, astounding. Ginny reported the morning-after stats:
ScienceBlogs readers donated $54,335 for 155 classroom projects. With $15,000 in matching funds from Seed Media Group, that means our readers put $69,335 toward U.S. science literacy.
That $15,000 from Seed Media Group fully funded 33 more projects and gave a chunk of money to a 34th. But my most recent calculation shows that a total of $72,920 went to the 20 challenges mounted by ScienceBlogs bloggers -- which means that an additional $3,…
jstemwedel | November 9, 2007The younger Free-Ride offspring seems to have developed a contrarian streak that's about a kilometer wide. I haven't given up hope that logic might be an effective antidote to it, but some days those heels dig in rather deep ...
Younger offspring: There are lots of interesting animals that are mammals.
Dr. Free-Ride: Yes, there certainly are.
Younger offspring: And humans are mammals.
Dr. Free-Ride: That's true.
Younger offspring: But humans aren't animals.
Dr. Free-Ride: Say what?
Younger offspring: Humans aren't animals. They used to be animals back when they were still apes, but then…
jstemwedel | November 2, 2007Sometimes it feels to us like the parent's role in a child's education is one of eternal vigilance.
It is possible, however, that the Free-Ride offspring are more actively engaged in messing with their parents' heads than are most kids their age.
Dr. Free-Ride: Did you learn anything interesting today?
Younger offspring: Uh huh. We learned about the quack and the moo.
Dr. Free-Ride: About the duck and the cow?
Younger offspring: Mmm-hmm.
Dr. Free-Ride: (slightly impatient with the lack of content in the answer) So you learned that the duck and the cow are mortal enemies?
Younger offspring…
jstemwedel | November 1, 2007With just over 10 hours left in our ScienceBlogs/Donors Choose Blogger Challenge 2007, it's time to think about what happens next. Supporting classroom teachers with your funds is a noble gesture, but it's just a start.
To really get math and science literacy (and enthusiasm) to the levels we'd like to see, your time and personal involvement can do an awful lot. In this post you'll find ideas from ScienceBloggers about how to turn your good intentions into action.
From Mike Dunford at The Questionable Authority:
There are a lot of children in this country who don't have much in the way of…
jstemwedel | October 31, 2007It looks like you get 1440 extra minutes. And you can blame Presidential candidate (in South Carolina) Stephen Tiberius Colbert. From the DonorsChoose blog:
...our site was flat-out overwhelmed by the massive traffic that resulted from Stephen Colbert and Craig Newmark's announcement around midnight on Thursday, October 18.
As we scrambled to increase capacity, we continued to receive big spikes in web traffic from the re-airings of that Colbert show on Friday, October 19 in the morning, afternoon, and early evening, and across US time zones.
Since no new Colbert episodes were airing last…
jstemwedel | October 30, 2007The 2007 DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge ends tomorrow, and ScienceBlogs readers have met (and exceeded) 10 of the 20 challenges we mounted, raising $47,705.
Here's who's left:
Uncertain Principles: $3442 from 45 donors (0.597 donors/1000 pageviews)
Terra Sigillata: $2081 from 8 donors (0.738 donors/1000 pageviews)
Cognitive Daily: $1584 from 23 donors (0.147 donors/1000 pageviews)
Adventures in Ethics and Science: $1511 from 26 donors (0.556 donors/1000 pageviews)
A Blog Around the Clock: $1499 from 6 donors (0.0499 donors/1000 pageviews)
Stranger Fruit: $1358 from 16 donors (0.400 donors/…
jstemwedel | October 30, 2007As this is published (about 10 AM Eastern time) there are two hours left before the noon deadline for the last of the drawings for T-shirts, books, mugs, and subscriptions to Seed to thank you for your donation to our DonorChoose Blogger Challenge.
All you have to do is make a donation to one (or more) of those challenges, then forward your email confirmation from DonorsChoose to scienceblogs@gmail.com. I'm told that at present, the chances for each entrant in the drawing of being drawn for a prize are very, very good.
Haven't made a donation yet? Here are three challenges that are…
jstemwedel | October 29, 2007The 2007 DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge is in its last few days, which means there may be enough data to start identifying trends as to which ScienceBlogs readers are the most generous:
By scientific discipline:
Chad Orzel of Uncertain Principles is our lone full-time physical sciences blogger with a challenge this time around. He's more than halfway to his goal, but if you physics, astronomy, chemistry, and math types think you can do better vote with your donations and give Chad a boost.
Two of the brain and behavior blogs that mounted challenges actually met them (Retrospectacle and Omni…
jstemwedel | October 26, 2007... The Ridger has posted the illustrated sonnet about Saturn's rings that the sprogs and I crafted as a "thank you" for donating to a project in my DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge.
It's not too late to get your own sprog artwork, or nerd poetry, or sprog-illustrated nerd poetry -- and to help teachers and students in the process!
jstemwedel | October 26, 2007Jennifer is another reader who made a generous donation to one of the projects in my challenge. She wrote:
I felt like I definitely needed
a piece of art work from your very talented crew. ... I'd like
something in the style of Dr. Seuss about reptiles with some
accompanying artwork.
I've done my best to get my Seuss on. (This is one of those instances where it's clear how much more talented my offspring are than I!) This goes out to Jennifer with our sincere thanks for her donation.
Look there! Pressed up against the glass
A brave member of the Sauropsida class
(Whose orders four…
jstemwedel | October 26, 2007Ewan made a generous donation to one of the projects in my challenge and wrote me the following:
The concept of a sprog-illustrated nerdy poem was especially appealing... Could I please request a topic of 'brain' (ideally,
hippocampus, but that seemed a little potentially overdemanding)?
The sprogs and I are delighted to oblige. They have drawn some brains, while I offer a villanelle about the hippocampus -- along with our thanks to Ewan for his generous donation!
Who I am is most of what I know.
Limbic seahorse, pray scorn not my plea:
Hippocampus, tell me where to go!
Alas! Disrupted…
jstemwedel | October 26, 2007Dan Hough, a regular ScienceBlogs reader and the webmaster for Oklahomans for Excellence in Science Education, made a generous donation to my challenge. He requested some insect artwork from the sprogs, and said, "Please tell them from me I think they are really cool!"
Dan, the sprogs think you are the cool one for lending your support to teachers who are trying to make learning exciting for their students. Here's the artwork with our heartfelt thanks.
jstemwedel | October 26, 2007The Free-Ride offspring are magnets for questions not easily answered in the framework of the grade school science curriculum. This means, I think, that the Free-Ride parents are going to have to work out some age-appropriate ways to offer explanations. And I have a feeling my molecular model kit is only going to take us so far.
For example:
What's the deal with dry ice?
As Hallowe'en approaches, the Free-Ride offspring make more frequent encounters with plastic cauldrons spilling over with spooky vapors. They know that what produces those vapors is called "dry ice", but what exactly is…
jstemwedel | October 23, 2007In the last 22.5 days, ScienceBloggers and their generous readers have:
Mounted twenty challenges to fund educational projects through DonorsChoose.
Met (and exceeded!) the targets in five of those challenges (for which I issue a heartfelt "w00t!" to the readers of Retrospectacle, Deep Sea News, evolgen, Signout, and Pharyngula).
Secured every last cent of the $15,000 in matching funds put up by Seed.
Secured more than $2,000 from the Richard Dawkins Foundation to fund classroom projects in the Pharyngula challenge.
Raised $43,079 so far (before even counting that $15,000 in matching funds).…
jstemwedel | October 19, 2007I know that a lot of features of the world seemed bigger to me when I was a kid than they do now, but I'm starting to think that it's not just a matter of me getting bigger relative to my surroundings. The Free-Ride offspring keep reminding me that it takes a while to really get a sense of scale.
Younger offspring: I did my homework at [the afterschool program], but the teachers didn't mark me down in the "Homework Heroes" book, so maybe I won't get ice cream at the party at the end of the year!
Dr. Free-Ride: But you've been doing your homework there and getting it recorded for most of the…
jstemwedel | October 18, 2007A reader made a generous donation to one of the projects in my challenge in the name of Connor S. (age 8) from Conshohocken, PA. Connor S. in interested in the rainforest, so the donor requested an illustrated poem about the rainforest. The sprogs and I are pleased to provide haiku about the five layers of the rainforest:
Emergent layer:
High heat, dry wind, butterflies.
Trees scraping sunward.
Canopy layer:
Lush unexplored continent.
Half the life on earth.
Understorey shade:
Canopy-bound seedlings drink
Small scraps of sunshine.
Shrub layer: broad leaves,
Shade lovers, tiny trees. Light…
jstemwedel | October 18, 2007Regular commenter ctenotrish made a generous donation to a project in my challenge called Starfish View of the Sea. The project was proposed by the teacher of a 6th grade bilingual science class in a Houston school with a high poverty level (88% of the students in the school qualify for free lunch). It's an ambitious project and it still needs $322 more to become a reality.
Of course, if just 13 people could pony up $25, it would more than cover the project.
And, each of those people could hit the sprogs up for some artwork, like these pictures they did for ctenotrish:
That jellyfish-…
jstemwedel | October 15, 2007Still grading papers (different ones, but still) and I felt the sudden need to draw some bar graphs. Surely I'm not the only one who finds bar graphs soothing.
Am I?
In any case, we're at the halfway mark for the 2007 DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge, and it seemed like a good time to check the ScienceBloggers' progress. First, check out the progress-toward-goal graph:
We've taken some big strides -- there are now four blogs (Deep Sea News, Retrospectacle, evolgen, and Signout) that have exceeded their goals. Five others (The Questionable Authority, Omni Brain, Pharyngula, Thoughts from…
jstemwedel | October 12, 2007A conversation yesterday as we were running home to get the elder Free-Ride offspring ready for a soccer practice:
Dr. Free-Ride: Do you want to change out of your "picture day" clothes before practice?
Elder offspring: Nah, I'm good. I'll just change into shin guards, soccer socks, and cleats.
Dr. Free-Ride: Well, I want to change out of this suit.
Younger offspring: Why do you want to change? The suit looks nice.
Dr. Free-Ride: I've been wearing this grown-up costume all day. I'm ready to wear some clothes that are just clothes.
Younger offspring: Grown-up costume? You are a grown-up…
jstemwedel | October 11, 2007I know it's been quiet here (I've been grading papers), but I wanted to give you a quick glimpse at the ScienceBloggers' progress to date on the DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge. Here's the bar graph:
You'll notice that two blogs (Deep Sea News and Retrospectacle) have exceeded their goals and one (The Questionable Authority) is tantalizingly close.
And then there are the rest of us.
Do you suppose some additional prizes for donors would help? As it happens, Seed is offering some!
In addition to the $15,000 in matching funds that Seed is putting up for the challenges themselves, donors to…