teaching
khannula | July 23, 2009Jim Lehane at Dino Jim's Musings has posted the call for the August Accretionary Wedge: Time to think OUT of the box:
So your mission is this: "What out of the box ideas do you use to teach people about geology or geological concepts?" No need to limit yourself on ideas you have actively used. If you have used it and you think it is good, great. Is it an idea you have worked up on and gotten ready but haven't had the chance to use it yet, also great (this is pretty much my scenario). What if it is just a theory that you think would be something different and cool, even better. Anything works…
sciencewoman | July 23, 2009Now that things at ScienceBlogs have returned to normal, and I've drawn down my stash of reader emails, it's time to get back to work on my series on course design. For those who haven't been playing along (1.1, 1.2) I'm prepping a new graduate level course on experimental design and data analysis (EDDA) that will serve MS and PhD students from geosciences and civil and environmental engineering. I don't envision this course as a purely statistics course, though EDDA necessarily incorporates statistical concepts and techniques. Similarly, I don't envision this course purely as a proposal…
grrlscientist | July 23, 2009tags: Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Coccyzus americanus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Yellow-billed Cuckoo, Coccyzus americanus, photographed at High Island, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 May 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 ,Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/320s 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 | July 23, 2009tags: Richard Dawkins, evolution, University of Nebraska State Museum, Diatoms, Yellowstone Lake, Stephanodiscus yellowstonensis, religion, fundamentalism, streaming video
Richard Dawkins explains how microscopic algae called Diatoms uniquely evolved in Yellowstone Lake in response to climate change [2:09]
What will the creationists and other fundamentalists say in response to these data?
grrlscientist | July 22, 2009tags: Ruff, Philomachus pugnax, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Ruff, Philomachus pugnax photographed in Swakopmund, Namibia, Africa [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dennis Paulson, April 2007 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds as of this date.
grrlscientist | July 22, 2009tags: TEDTalks, medicine, Psychopathic Killers, epigenetics, brain damage, psychology, MAOA gene, serotonin, Jim Fallon, streaming video
In this video, Gever Tulley uses engaging photos and footage to demonstrate the valuable lessons kids learn at his Tinkering School. When given tools, materials and guidance, these young imaginations run wild and creative problem-solving takes over to build unique boats, bridges and even a rollercoaster! [4:42]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give…
grrlscientist | July 21, 2009tags: Least Bittern, Ixobrychus exilis, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Least Bittern, Ixobrychus exilis, photographed at Anahuac Refuge, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 1 May 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 ,Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/250s f/8.0 at 1000.0mm iso40.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 21, 2009tags: TEDTalks, Diet Pepsi, Aspartame, artificial sweeteners, diversity, choice, happiness, psychology, Malcolm Gladwell, streaming video
Tipping Point [Amazon: $8.54] author Malcolm Gladwell gets inside the food industry's pursuit of the perfect spaghetti sauce -- and makes a larger argument about the nature of choice and happiness [18:16]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.
grrlscientist | July 20, 2009tags: Sharp-tailed Grouse, Tympanuchus phasianellus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Sharp-tailed Grouse, Tympanuchus phasianellus, photographed at roughly 9am in the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument in Montana. [I will identify these birds for you in 48 hours]
Image: Bardiac, 7 June 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 19, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Ruddy Turnstone, Arenaria interpres, photographed at Galveston, East Beach, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 19 May 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200 ,Kowa 883 telescope with TSN-PZ camera eyepiece 1/640s 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 | July 18, 2009tags: Swee Waxbill, Yellow-bellied Waxbill, Estrilda melanotis, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Yellow-bellied Waxbill, also known as the Swee Waxbill, Estrilda melanotis, photographed on Mount Kilimanjaro, Africa. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dan Logen, 2007 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 18, 2009tags: TEDTalks, medicine, bone marrow, new technology, Marrow Miner, Daniel Kraft, streaming video
Daniel Kraft demonstrates his Marrow Miner -- a new device that quickly harvests life-saving bone marrow with minimal pain to the donor. He emphasizes that the adult stem cells found in bone marrow can be used to treat many terminal conditions, from Parkinson's to heart disease [4:42]
TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world's leading thinkers and doers give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes.
grrlscientist | July 17, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery birds] Red-Bellied Woodpecker, Melanerpes carolinus, photographed at the Katy Prairie, Texas. [I will identify this bird for you tomorrow]
Image: Joseph Kennedy, 3 March 2009 [larger view].
Nikon D200, Kowa 883 telescope with tsn-pz camera eyepiece 1/200s 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 | July 16, 2009tags: Western Screech-owl, Megascops kennicottii, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Western Screech-owl, Megascops kennicottii, photographed in Arizona. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Richard Ditch, 11 June 2005.
Date Time Original: 2005:06:11 13:52:01
Exposure Time: 1/60
F-Number: 5.60
ISO: 500
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
khannula | July 15, 2009While I was teaching my reworked upper division gen ed class earlier this summer, I decided to use a discussion technique that I hadn't used before: the
"http://serc.carleton.edu/introgeo/gallerywalk/index.html">gallery walk. It worked so well that I'm trying to figure out where else it might be useful.
The idea behind the gallery walk is pretty simple: students are divided into several groups, and work their way around a series of stations at which they add to a list of answers to a question (or whatever the task at each station involves). I had used the technique as a participant in a…
grrlscientist | July 15, 2009tags: Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Snowy Owl, Bubo scandiacus, photographed on the Fort Pierre National Grasslands in South Dakota. [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Terry Sohl, 4 January 2009 [larger view]
Photo taken with a Canon 50D, 400 5.6L.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
As an added bonus, can you tell me if this bird is a juvenile or adult, male or female?
Review all mystery birds to date.
sciencewoman | July 15, 2009As introduced yesterday, I'm blogging my way through the SERC tutorial on course design, for a new graduate-only course on experimental design and data analysis. Yesterday, I explained the context and constraints on the course, and today I'm mulling on the course goals. I'm supposed to identify 1-3 over-arching goals for the course and 1-2 ancillary skills goals. Below the fold, I'll share my overarching goals and how I got to them. But I'm struggling with the ancillary skills goals, dear readers, and I'd love your help.
Task 1.2c: Set one to three overarching goals for your course.
The SERC…
sciencewoman | July 14, 2009After articulating that my most dire need is to get funded, it may seem disjointed to embark on a series of blog posts about teaching, but there you have it, the life of a professor at a place that requires both research and teaching. I still contend that I will get fired from my job much more quickly for failure to teach a course than failure to get funded, so I must do something about the new preparation I have for the fall.
The new course, "Experimental Design and Data Analysis," is a graduate-only course with only a loose definition in the course catalog. It hasn't been taught for the…
grrlscientist | July 14, 2009tags: Eastern Screech-Owl, Megascops asio, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird] Fledgling Eastern Screech-Owl, Megascops asio, photographed in a backyard birdbath in Manhattan, Kansas (Riley County). [I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours]
Image: Dave Rintoul, 1 July 2009 [larger view].
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
Review all mystery birds to date.
grrlscientist | July 13, 2009tags: mystery bird, identify this bird, birds, mystery bird, bird ID quiz
[Mystery bird, I will identify this bird for you in 48 hours] Passenger Pigeon, Ectopistes migratorius.
Image: Dan Tallman.
Please name at least one field mark that supports your identification.
ID Keys: Wine-red breast, slate blue head and rump, slate grey back.
Review all mystery birds to date.