teaching
grrlscientist | October 28, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
This is a poll. I will show you two pictures, and ask you to tell me which picture is more symmetric. Your votes are tabulated after you've clicked on that picture:
Now that you've participated in my little poll, I want to share some information about my own fund-raising efforts for DonorsChoose:
Those pictures tell us that collectively, we've:
provided resources to 550 students
supported 66 hours of instruction and homework
Oh boy! Sixty-six hours of classroom instruction AND HOMEWORK?? That's almost demonic…
grrlscientist | October 28, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
Here's the latest news from DonorsChoose: collectively, all of the blog writers and the 4,038 citizen philanthropists who participated in the Social Media Challenge have raised more than $565,000 to help more than 99,000 students in public schools throughout the US!!! I think this is amazing! JUST the ScienceBloggers team has raised an astonishing $54,358 from 244 citizen philanthropists (my blog has raised $5,646.31 so far -- last year, the ScienceBlogs team raised $38,000 and my blog raised $2,884.55)
But there's still…
grrlscientist | October 28, 2009tags: Rough-billed Pelican, American White Pelican, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] American White Pelican, sometimes known as the Rough-billed Pelican due to the structure that develops on the upper mandible of breeding adults, Pelecanus erythrorhynchos, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. Numerous Broad-winged hawks, Buteo platypterus (background) with two red-tailed hawks, Buteo jamaicensis (right of center, lower left) [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours -- If you can convince me there's other species in this image, feel free to…
grrlscientist | October 27, 2009tags: Mississippi Kite, Ictinia mississippiensis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Mississippi Kite, Ictinia mississippiensis, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 September 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.
grrlscientist | October 26, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
I am so lucky to be enjoying a flood of thousands of unique visitors right now, so much so that my blog will surpass the 4 million visits mark in an hour or less. To celebrate this incredible landmark, I ask you -- all of you -- to donate to a DonorsChoose classroom! DonorsChoose is a non-profit fund-raising agency that provides money to teachers throughout the United States to help "their kids" improve their education. I chose specific classrooms to help -- my "Challenge" students -- that focus on classrooms that are (a…
grrlscientist | October 26, 2009tags: Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, photographed at Smith Point, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 30 September 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/1000s 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 | October 25, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
How many of you are Harry Potter fans, or know someone who is? How about all those millions of kids in the United States who are crazy about Harry Potter and his amazing owl, Hedwig? So don't you think this makes owls a special bridge between kids and the worlds of imagination and literature and nature and science? I certainly think it does, so of course, I think this wonderful DonorsChoose project, Who Gives a "Hoot" About Owls! is a superb classroom lesson to interest this high-poverty classroom of 120 third graders in…
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: Juvenile Martial Eagle, Polemaetus bellicosus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Juvenile Martial Eagle, Polemaetus bellicosus, photographed in Nakuru National Park, Kenya, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 29 July 2006 [larger view].
Nikon D2X, 200-400 VR lens at 200. ISO 200, 1/2000, f 5.6.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Here's another look at this bird.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 25, 2009tags: intelligent design, scientific process, science classroom, rational thinking, AtheistBusCA, streaming video
Kenneth Miller provides a brief explanation as to why "intelligent design" is not admissible in a science classroom.
grrlscientist | October 24, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
I am so excited and so proud of YOU, my beautiful readers, for donating your precious and limited dollars to help kids in impoverished classrooms continue their journey towards claiming a brighter future through education. As of a few minutes ago, we raised the minimum of $2500 in DonorsChoose funds, which qualifies us for at least $2000 in matching funds from Hewlett-Packard! However, I have a confession to make: I am a selfish bastard because I want MORE MORE MORE of those precious HP funds to share with impoverished…
grrlscientist | October 24, 2009tags: Bearded Vulture, Lamb Vulture, Lammergeyer, Gypaetus barbatus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Lammergeyer, also known as the Bearded or Lamb Vulture (for reasons that I'll bet you can correctly guess at), Gypaetus barbatus, photographed on Mt Kilimanjaro, at just under 15000 feet, at Barafu Camp. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 24 July 2006 [larger view].
NIkon D2X 70-200 VR lens at 200, ISO 200, 1/1250, f 6.3.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
According to legend, the Greek playwright…
grrlscientist | October 24, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
I have a confession to make: I love ant farms. I love them so much that one of my readers bought me an ant farm to cheer me up shortly after I lost my funding and was experiencing a long run of bad luck in my job search -- the financial stress and loss of self esteem were almost unbearable. But even though I am an adult (well, I'm told I look like an adult), I found hours of joy watching "my ants." But imagine how eye-opening an ant farm would be for a bunch of impoverished second-graders who have never seen or…
grrlscientist | October 23, 2009tags: Project Kaisei, Oceanography, North Pacific Gyre, North Pacific Garbage Patch, plastic, pollution, environment, streaming video
Project Kaisei's 2009 Expedition. Footage from the Kaisei, one of two research vessels Project Kaisei sent to the North Pacific Gyre in August, 2009 to study the extent of the marine debris problem in the gyre, the impact it may be having on marine life and the food chain, and to find ways to catch and recover some of the debris for a larger clean-up effort.
grrlscientist | October 23, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
I thought DonorsChoose would send me all my donors' contact information, but apparently they don't, so I need you to send me a copy of the email receipt you received from DonorsChoose so I can enter you in as many prize drawings as possible. Of course, I also need your mailing address along with this receipt because I am leaving the country two weeks after this fund raising effort has ended, so I want to get everything mailed to you as soon as possible because I can't afford to mail prizes from Germany! (especially since…
grrlscientist | October 23, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
One of my donors, Hewlett-Packard, has notified me that they are willing to provide my Challenge classrooms with an additional $2000 IF I manage to raise a total of $2500 by Sunday. That means we're only $514 away from being able to nearly double our ability to help impoverished classrooms throughout the United States! I've already donated $300, so I am completely tapped out, so I am asking you: please donate to my DonorsChoose classrooms!
In recognition of your kind gifts to help others, Princeton University Press is…
grrlscientist | October 23, 2009tags: Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Chipping Sparrow, Spizella passerina, photographed at Illinois Beach State Park, Lake County, Illinois. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Janice Sweet, 20 October 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | October 23, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
I am focusing on this project, For the Birds!, because it targets fifth grade kids, the perfect age to get them interested in birds for life. Further, this is a high-poverty classroom in NYC (my home), and I wish to help the kids here develop an appreciation for the glorious bird life that migrates through here and resides in this large city. But this is an expensive project because they are asking for 15 binoculars for a classroom of 30 kids, so I donated $300 to this project to get it started. Will you donate money to…
grrlscientist | October 22, 2009tags: DonorsChoose, science education, teaching, fund-raising, poverty
One of my donors, Hewlett-Packard, has notified me that they are willing to provide my Challenge classrooms with $2000 IF I manage to raise a total of $2500 by Sunday. That means we're only $1000 away from being able to nearly double our ability to help impoverished classrooms throughout the United States! I've already donated $300, so I am completely tapped out, so I am asking you: please donate to my DonorsChoose classrooms!
In recognition of your kind gifts to help others, Princeton University Press is offering 2…
grrlscientist | October 22, 2009tags: Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorous rufus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Rufous Hummingbird, Selasphorous rufus, photographed at Smith Point Hawk Watch, Texas. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 10 October 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso400.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
khannula | October 22, 2009I'm back from the Geological Society of America annual meeting, and I promised to blog about my session. So... here it is.Techniques and tools for effective recruitment, retention, and promotion of women and minorities in the geosciences. It's a mouthful, and included a lot of different perspectives, from information on the state of diversity in the geosciences today to suggestions for where we need to go to specific programs that have been developed to... well, to my talk, at the very end.
The session began with a personal perspective from Pamela Hallock-Muller, a marine scientist from the…