kids and science
jstemwedel | November 27, 2009Today, the Free-Ride offspring have lots of questions. Maybe science can answer some of them.
Younger offspring: Why do the stars shine so bright?
Elder offspring: Why do snails come out on rainy days?
Younger offspring: Why does food taste so good?
Younger offspring: Why do humans think their voices are different than when you record your voice?
Elder offspring: Why does ice cream melt on Pluto?
Dr. Free-Ride: How did ice cream get on Pluto?
Younger offspring: Has anyone lived on Jupiter?
Dr. Free-Ride: I think I know the answer to that question, at least if "anyone" means terrestrial…
jstemwedel | November 20, 2009Dr. Free-Ride: Any ideas for tomorrow's sprog blog?
Younger offspring: I wanted to do how photosynthesis works.
Dr. Free-Ride: Did you do any research on that since last week?
Younger offspring: I don't do research.
Dr. Free-Ride: You don't do research?! How do you do science, then?
Younger offspring: I don't research stuff.
Dr. Free-Ride: Well, then, how do you learn stuff?
Younger offspring: (after a pause) I didn't do research about how photosynthesis works at night.
Dr. Free-Ride: Well, but does it work at night? 'Cause, what is photosynthesis?
Younger offspring: The moon could make it…
jstemwedel | November 13, 2009Dr. Free-Ride: Do you know what a placebo is?
Elder offspring: A placebo is something that you think works but doesn't really work.
Dr. Free-Ride: Sometimes when people are not feeling well, like, if you're sick and bed and want some medicine -- you've asked me for medicine before when you were sick. Why do you ask for medicine?
Younger offspring: Because I think it will make me better.
Dr. Free-Ride: You think it will make you not sick anymore.
Younger offspring: Mmm-hmm.
Dr. Free-Ride: And sometimes you get the medicine and almost immediately you think maybe you feel better. Although I…
jstemwedel | November 6, 2009A bit of follow-up on the two experiments we described last week:
First off, the water cycle model.
It turns out that the elder Free-Ride offspring used a 20 ounce plastic bottle rather than a 2 liter bottle.
And, there was a mixture of seeds (including radish, corn, and bean seeds), rather than just grass seeds. (We have been speculating about what kind of corn you can grow in a bottle. Baby corn?)
And, the bottle is left uncapped (so the plants have better access to oxygen, and so they don't get all moldy).
And, since it's already an open system (what with the bottle being uncapped and…
jstemwedel | November 6, 2009Dr. Free-Ride: I wanted to ask you guys a question. I think maybe I asked you this question (or something like it) some time ago, but you were a lot younger and, you know, you keep growing and changing and stuff. So the question is, when someone tells you something about science, how can you tell if that person knows what they're talking about?
Younger offspring: No way.
Dr. Free-Ride: What? What do you mean, "no way"?
Younger offspring: I don't know.
Dr. Free-Ride: You don't know how to tell if someone knows what they're talking about? Like, if a kindergartner told you something about…
jstemwedel | November 3, 2009In which I repeat what I said two years ago, because it seems even more relevant now (when state budgets have throttled school budgets and the current U.S. President has identified education as a national priority):
We're feeling warm and fuzzy about the good work DonorsChoose does, and how it can broaden people's notion of the community of children they care about (not just in our town, but all over the country) ...
... but, there's this persistent voice in my head saying, "Really, as a society, we ought to be funding all the schools adequately, if not lavishly. In a civilized country,…
jstemwedel | November 3, 2009Hey ScienceBlogs readers: you rock!
In a year where lots of folks are waiting for the signs of economic recovery to be manifest in their daily lives, and where public school budgets have been even more hard hit than they were a year ago, your generosity helped us significantly surpass the impact of our October 2008 drive.
Let's break it down:
In 2008, ScienceBlogs bloggers mounted 21 challenges. 270 donors to those challenges helped raise about $38,000 to fund classroom projects.
This year, ScienceBlogs bloggers mounted 13 challenges. The 266 donors who stepped up and gave to those…
jstemwedel | October 31, 2009Happy Hallowe'en and welcome to the last day of the 2009 Social Media Challenge. With your help, ScienceBlogs bloggers have raised more than $56,000 to help public school teachers pay for classroom supplies, fund field trips, and support activities to help their students learn.
Today is the end of the drive, so if you've been hanging back -- or if you've found some money in the pocket of that winter coat you've just dug out of the closet -- this is a great time to help make a difference. And, if you make a donation through my challenge page, you can still get in on some fabulous prizes,…
jstemwedel | October 30, 2009The Free-Ride offspring have been rather busy recently, what with the approach of Hallowe'en and the rapidly approaching end of their regular soccer season. (The post-season, of course, falls after this weekend's time change, which means practices will either be earlier or darker.) Still, each of them has found time for an experiment they'd like to share.
From the elder Free-Ride offspring, a model of the water cycle:
What's pictured here is a sketch; the actual set-up is at school.
The elder Free-Ride offspring carefully added soil to an empty 2 liter bottle, followed by a sprinkling of…
jstemwedel | October 23, 2009As I noted earlier this week, Hewlett-Packard is going to be distributing another $200,000 in the DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge. They're dividing up that pool of money according to how much each challenge has raised as a proportion of the total funds raised by this Sunday. In other words, if my challenge were to raise an amount equivalent to 1% of the total take by Sunday, HP would add another $2000 to fund the projects in my challenge.
If we were to get enough of an extra kick from HP to break $3000, I would gladly deliver the "big reward" I promised to you (and the internets)…
jstemwedel | October 23, 2009Dr. Free-Ride: So, you know this Friday is Mole Day.
Elder offspring: It is? What does that mean exactly?
Dr. Free-Ride: Do you remember what a mole is? Not the animal, but the quantity.
Elder offspring: Not really.
Dr. Free-Ride's better half: It's a convenient unit of measure for things like atoms and molecules.
Dr. Free-Ride: Like eggs come in dozens and shoes come in pairs, molecules come in moles -- that's 6.02 x 1023.
Elder offspring: Whoa! That's a pretty big number.
Dr. Free-Ride's better half:Well, but atoms and molecules are pretty small. Can you imagine weighing out a single…
jstemwedel | October 22, 2009Because, of course, tomorrow is Mole Day. According to the National Mole Day Foundation:
Celebrated annually on October 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m., Mole Day commemorates Avogadro's Number (6.02 x 10^23), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry. Mole Day was created as a way to foster interest in chemistry. Schools throughout the United States and around the world celebrate Mole Day with various activities related to chemistry and/or moles.
Last year, I put up a post on Mole Day explaining the mole concept and why it matters in chemistry. But there was a little bit of grumbling…
jstemwedel | October 20, 2009It's day 20 of the 2009 Social Media Challenge in which generous ScienceBlogs readers (among others) help raise funds through DonorsChoose for books, supplies, field trips, and other classroom projects in cash-strapped U.S. public schools.
So far, we've made impressive progress, with 13 challenges mounted by ScienceBlogs bloggers raising a total of $19,462. You may recall that $650 of that total was donated by Hewlett-Packard, which gave $50 to each of our challenges. I've just gotten word from the folks at DonorsChoose that HP wants to kick in even more -- with a twist:
HP has been…
jstemwedel | October 16, 2009The Free-Ride offspring try to explain what it means for an organism to be adapted to its environment, and why it matters:
Dr. Free-Ride: OK, so you've been learning in school about?
Younger offspring: Different adaptations.
Dr. Free-Ride: Can you explain what an adaptation is?
Younger offspring: Well, I forgot.
Dr. Free-Ride: You don't need to use the exact words from your science book.
Younger offspring: I know, but I still forgot the meaning.
Elder offspring: An adaptation is a change made to ensure success and survival in animals.
Younger offspring: I want to say it somewhat like my…
jstemwedel | October 13, 2009Our month-long drive with DonorsChoose to raise funds for public school classroom projects has been under way for almost two weeks now. At the moment, the ScienceBlogs leaderboard show a total of $15,890 from 121 generous donors, benefiting 6,971 public school students.
That's pretty good work so far!
Of course, there's also the matter of how the ScienceBlogs bloggers who have mounted challenges are doing in their competition to demonstrate that their readers are the most generous. So let's check in on the horse race.
Most money donated:
DrPal's First Aid for Michigan Classrooms ($2,054)…
jstemwedel | October 9, 2009At dinner last night, the younger Free-Ride offspring told us about a science lesson from earlier this week:
Dr. Free-Ride: You were going to tell me about a science activity you did, we think, on Tuesday in school?
Younger offspring: Mmm-hmm.
Dr. Free-Ride: Tell us what it's called.
Younger offspring: "Best Bird Beak".
Dr. Free-Ride: "Best Bird Beak". And what was the activity?
Younger offspring: Well, you use different items to pick up different things, like softened shredded wheat nuggets.
Dr. Free-Ride: Uh huh.
Younger offspring: Grapes, water, and ... there was one more thing, I think…
jstemwedel | October 8, 2009About 5 hours ago, "HP from Palo Alto, California" just rocked our world (and helped a bunch of public school classrooms) by plunking down $50 on each of the 13 challenges mounted by ScienceBlogs bloggers in the DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge. That's a total of $650!
I'm thinking there's a good chance that the "HP" here is Hewlett-Packard, in which case "Yay!" for the historic high-tech firm finding the ScienceBlogs challenges and supporting them unprompted. But if "HP from Palo Alto, California" is an individual donor, here's a big "Yay!" for that awesome act of individual…
jstemwedel | October 7, 2009Today is the one week mark in our month-long drive with DonorsChoose to raise funds for public school classroom projects, and it is no surprise that ScienceBlogs readers have been generous in their support. As I write this post, the ScienceBlogs leaderboard indicates:
Thirteen challenges mounted by Sb blogs or coalitions of Sb blogs, including a newly-added challenge from Abel Pharmboy.
In the lead for most money raised so far, with $1,807, the Uncertain Principles Challenge.
In the lead for most donors so far, with 35, Dr. Isis's challenge.
The challenge that got the most recent donation…
jstemwedel | October 6, 2009Actually, it might be a philosophical question.
Younger offspring: One of my classmates told me that you fart every second.
Dr. Free-Ride: What, me personally?
Younger offspring: No, humans.
Dr. Free-Ride: Each individual human farts every second?
Younger offspring: Yeah.
Dr. Free-Ride: No, I don't think so.
Elder offspring: Well, there's gas exchange with your butt all the time.
Dr. Free-Ride: I don't think super-low levels of gas exchange count.
Younger offspring: Gas-exchange is a fart.
Dr. Free-Ride: No, I think there needs to be a macroscopic quantity of gas released all at once for it…
jstemwedel | October 4, 2009Here's a quick update on how the ScienceBlogs contingent is doing in the DonorsChoose 2009 Social Media Challenge.
Since we kicked off the challenge on Thursday, three more blogs have mounted challenges:
A Blog Around the Clock (challenge here)
Christina's LIS Rant (challenge here)
Thus Spake Zuska (challenge here)
And, as I type this, 61 ScienceBlogs readers have donated a grand total of $4,784, funding projects that will reach 1,329 students.
Of course, there are more students to be reached. If you're the kind of person who likes to give a project the last chunk of change it needs, here…