kids and science
jstemwedel | May 17, 2007I hope you've noticed that Seed has sent a team to blog the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair currently raging in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
I love science fairs. I've judged them (and recruited others to judge them). At our county fair, I'm always sucked right into the science-fair-type exhibits entered by kids in the Young California exhibit hall.
And of course, as a kid, I did projects for our school science fair.
Actually, it was officially a "curriculum fair" rather than a science fair. Why? Was science too scary an area even for the fifth and sixth grade teachers to…
jstemwedel | May 11, 2007Younger offspring: (brandishing a decorated and labeled paper plate) You're going to blog about this on Friday.
Dr. Free-Ride: I am?
Younger offspring: Yes! It has to do with science, and I made it.
Dr. Free-Ride: (pretending to think it over) Well, I don't know ...
Younger offspring: And this way, you don't have to get us to draw you pictures on Friday morning when we're supposed to be getting ready for school.
Dr. Free-Ride: Ah, so you're saving me time? OK, I'm convinced.
The younger Free-Ride offspring's kindergarten class has been studying insect lifecycles. It's one of those Spring-…
jstemwedel | May 4, 2007The Free-Ride offspring, talking during dinner:
Younger offspring: I'm not ever going to die.
Elder offspring: You don't know that. You might get hit by a car just before you turn 90.
Younger offspring: No, I will not!
Elder offspring: How can you be sure? Have you gone into the future to see?
Younger offspring: I'm not going to the future!
Dr. Free-Ride: Are you planning to wake up tomorrow?
Younger offspring: Yes.
Dr. Free-Ride: Then you're going to the future.
Younger offspring: But waking up tomorrow isn't like using a time machine.
Dr. Free-Ride: That's true.
Elder offspring: So, can…
jstemwedel | April 27, 2007Dr. Free-Ride: Hey, can you guys draw me a picture with some of the wildlife you've seen in the last week?
Elder offspring: Sure!
Younger offspring: But ... I haven't seen any wildlife in the last week.
Dr. Free-Ride: What are you talking about? We see wildlife every day when we walk to school.
Elder offspring: Yeah, the squirrels and the different kinds of birds and the snails.
Younger offspring: That counts as wildlife? OK, I can make you a picture.
As mentioned last week, the sprogs and I tried to undertake some noticing-of-wildlife as part of the First Annual Blogger Bioblitz.…
jstemwedel | April 24, 2007The April 16 issue of Chemical & Engineering News has an interesting article about homeschooling families looking for chemistry curricula. (You need an individual or institutional subscription to view the article; it might be worth checking with your local library.)
I'm far from an expert on homeschooling (as we're availing ourselves of the public schools), but I'm fascinated by the ways some of the families featured in the article are piecing together what they need for their kids.
Why families choose to homeschool is an interesting question. From the article,
One common reason [to…
jstemwedel | April 20, 2007There's a lot going on this week and next that captures the interest and imagination of the Free-Ride offspring. They've been thinking about animals that live in places we do not (like the briny seas), noticing the critters that live in our neighborhood, contemplating the ways a domestic animal might interact with our backyard ecosystem, and even musing on human nature.
But what you'll really want to know is why does this penguin look so scared? Read on and find out.
The backyard species census.
The sprogs and I are going to be participating in the First Annual Blogger Bioblitz, an event to…
jstemwedel | April 17, 2007Friend of the blog LO alerted me to The Great Turtle Race, wherein a passel of leatherback sea turtles "race" from Playa Grande in Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands. The linked website it tracking the turtles via satellite, so you can watch their progress and root for your favorite. (I'm pulling for Stephanie Colburtle, "an intensely patriotic turtle who can fly through the water like an eagle".) There is also information there about leatherback sea turtle populations and ways you can help protect them.
jstemwedel | April 13, 2007Overheard at the Free-Ride dinner table on the occasion of the elder Free-Ride offspring dropping a piece of broccoli:
Younger offspring: Pick it up! 1-2-3-4-- that was close!
Elder offspring: (having retrieved the piece of broccoli from the floor) You're counting your seconds too fast. You should say, "One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand, ..."
Younger offspring: But I wanted to be sure you got it before it was too late and you couldn't eat it any more.
Dr. Free-Ride: I think you guys are taking the five second rule a little too seriously.
Elder offspring: You're the one…
jstemwedel | April 6, 2007
The younger Free-Ride offspring's kindergarten class has been discussing rabbits for the last week or so. I can only hope the high school kids have been discussing the molecular structure of theobromine (the main alkaloid in chocolate) and working out the phase of matter of the interior of Peeps.
Younger offspring: Do you know what baby rabbits are called?
Dr. Free-Ride: Oh, I do! I know everyone thinks they're "bunnies", but really they're "kittens", right?
Younger offspring: You did know!
Dr. Free-Ride: I know a few things. So, what else did you learn about rabbits in school?
Younger…
jstemwedel | March 30, 2007Yes, the Free-Ride offspring think they have the power to declare today "Dinosaur Day". This is your official notification.
It's not all play on "Dinosaur Day" though. Sometimes a sprog has homework to do.
The elder Free-Ride offspring had a dinosaur project due this week, a model of a dinosaur (yes, I know that officially pteranodon doesn't count as a dinosaur because of the whole flying thing -- they're not drawing such sharp distinctions for this project) accompanied by a brief paragraph about where that dinosaur lived, what it ate, and the usual sort of dinoformatics. (Actually,…
jstemwedel | March 23, 2007The participants in the conversation recounted here were not under oath during the conversation, and there exists no official transcript of the conversation.
Dr. Free-Ride's better half: When we were filling water bottles for soccer practice today, your child had an interesting theory about what was going on with the ice cubes.
Dr. Free-Ride: You put ice cubes in the water bottles? Pretty fancy! So, what was the theory?
Elder offspring: Well, the ice cubes floated to the top of the bottle, near where the drinking spout is. I think that's 'cause the ice cubes want to get warm and melt so…
jstemwedel | March 16, 2007
Neither of the Free-Ride offspring considers leprechaun trapping a sport. That doesn't mean, however, that they won't try to catch a leprechaun.
In view of all the springtime sports excitement (here, here, here, here, and here), the sprogs take this opportunity to consider how their athletic endeavors are actually scientific explorations.
Swimming:
Buoyancy is important here, obviously, but the big lessons have had more to do with how alignment of one bit of the swimmer affects the alignment of the other bits. To wit: chin up leads to legs that sink, while chin down lets legs float up…
jstemwedel | March 9, 2007At least in these parts, the March kindergarten homework packet is very leprechaun-centric. This raises some obvious questions about the status of leprechauns. Are they actual entities? Are they mythical? And how's a curious kid to decide?
Younger offspring: I think leprechauns are real, even though I've never seen one. There are lots of stories about leprechauns.* Maybe if we went to Ireland we could find leprechauns -- I don't think they would live in California.
Elder offspring: I don't think leprechauns are real.
Dr. Free-Ride: Why not?
Elder offspring: I think you told me they…
jstemwedel | March 2, 2007
Sitting here on the calendar between Chinese New Year and Saint Patrick's Day, it seemed like a good time for the sprogs to do some investigations of gambling devices -- in particular, dice.
Dr. Free-Ride: Will you roll dice for me?
Younger offspring: Can I use the purple ones?
Dr. Free-Ride: Sure. Hey, we're going to roll 36 times. Before we start rolling, can you make some guesses about how many of your rolls will come up as sixes?
Younger offspring: Ummm ... I think three.
Dr. Free-Ride: Really? How many do you think will come up as fives?
Younger offspring: I don't really know. I…
jstemwedel | February 23, 2007It willl be no surprise to regular readers on this blog that the Free-Ride offspring like books. At this point, it is even possible that their books outnumber their parents' books, which is almost alarming. (Please send compact shelving and a librarian who can break out some Dewey Decimal on our profusion!)
Naturally, this means the sprogs must grapple with the issue of which books are reliable sources of information and with the related issue of which books are appropriate for children. We consider as a test case Animals of the Ocean: In Particular the Giant Squid.
The book is hardbound…
jstemwedel | February 16, 2007Both Free-Ride offspring are charter members of the Order of the Science Scouts Special Children's Auxiliary. They have not, as yet, built their own fire, either in a fire pit or a laboratory. However, a discussion this week about the strange vapor seen emanating from a car's tailpipe one morning moves them further in the direction of being O.O.T.S.S.O.E.R.A.A.A.P. fire-certified.
Elder offspring: Remember that car we saw when we were walking to school, with the vapor coming out of its tailpipe?
Younger offspring: I made vapor come out of my mouth, too. It was cold.
Dr. Free-Ride's better…
jstemwedel | February 9, 2007Last weekend, the sprogs and I were delighted to attend a late Australia Day/early Darwin Day party. Our hosts apologized for "not having much interesting kid-stuff" on hand. Little did they suspect that the abundance of cookies (not just ANZAC cookies, but rolled ginger and lemon cookies in the shapes of kangaroos and giant Galapagos tortoises), and of cute stuffed animals native to Australia, and of art supplies, would keep the Free-Ride offspring more than happy.
Did I mention that the art supplies included Australia-themed stickers? Terribly useful to have road signs so your duck-…
jstemwedel | February 2, 2007Last night, while tucking the Free-Ride offspring into bed:
Dr. Free-Ride: Tomorrow is Groundhog's Day.
Elder offspring: I really hope the groundhog doesn't see his shadow this year so we can have an early spring.
Younger offspring: Yay! Spring could start tomorrow!
Dr. Free-Ride: Hold on now, "early spring" doesn't mean spring will start immediately, it means --
Younger offspring: I really want spring to start early because then my birthday will come sooner!
Dr. Free-Ride: OK, you guys realize that what the groundhog sees has no impact whatsoever on how many calendar days are left until…
jstemwedel | January 26, 2007Since the internets are abuzz with discussion about truth, I decided to get some input from the smartest members of my household.
Dr. Free-Ride: Wakey wakey!
Younger offspring: (groggily) I don't want to get out of bed yet.
Dr. Free-Ride: That's fine. Can I ask you some questions?
Younger offspring: (simultaneously nodding and burrowing further under the covers) Mmm hmm.
Dr. Free-Ride: If I ask you some questions, do you think you can tell me your answers?
Younger offspring: If I know what the answers are I will.
Dr. Free-Ride: Can you tell me what truth means?
Younger offspring: Not…
jstemwedel | January 19, 2007The past week or so, I've been on a little bit of a cooking jag. This has not gone unnoticed by the Free-Ride offspring.
Elder offspring: Why have you been making us so many yummy things to eat this week?
Dr. Free-Ride: I guess I'm going to miss cooking for you while I'm away at the conference this weekend.
Younger offspring: (with a melodramatic look of anguish) You won't be here this weekend!
Elder offspring: But since your shuttle to the airport comes at 4:20, we can see you tomorrow when we come home from school and before we go to ice skating.
Dr. Free-Ride: Uh, no, my shuttle comes at…