Category: science
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Bison on the Konza Prairie
This past weekend I had an opportunity to tour the “back roads” of the Konza Prairie with a wonderful docent, Chod Hedinger, who had been one of my Scoutmasters when I was growing up in Manhattan, Kansas. I created a 10 photo VoiceThread this evening titled “Bison on the Konza Prairie” to provide greater context…
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Fun with Stellarium: Yes that IS Mars!
This evening a cold front is making its way across central Oklahoma, and we are witnesses to a grand display of lightning off to the east. My wife and I haven’t sat outside and watched a lightning storm together in a LONG time– in part because in our last house, we didn’t have a front…
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Encourage hands-on science inquiry!
The National Geographic Hands-On Explorer Challenge 2008 offers a great way to encourage U.S. students to develop their love of science and learning, as well as their natural curiosity to discover new things about our world. To enter students must submit a 300 word essay telling “us what you discovered as a hands-on explorer in…
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Morning with Dr. Alan Kay
2008 is off to a great start. I spent 1 hour and 13 minutes this morning listening to the challenging and visionary ideas of Dr. Alan Kay, who was a keynote speaker at the EduComm 2007 conference this past June in Anaheim, California. I also started the day at the YMCA gym several blocks away…
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Novelty and curiosity essential for engagement and learning
Dr. Elizabeth Zelinski of USC was recently interviewed about an extensive memory study of older adults by the authors of the SharpBrains blog. In the interview, Zelinski stated: The physical fitness analogy is a good one, in that cognitive enhancement requires the engagement in a variety of activities, those activities must be novel, adaptive and…
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Planetary magnetic fields and auroras
My wife and I watched an amazing 2004 NOVA special from NetFlix last night called “Magnetic Storm.” We love watching these types of science specials from time to time. I knew a few things about magnetic fields as they apply to earth science, but learned several new things in this special too that are amazing.…
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Astronaut courage and NASA ingenuity shown again
Think the ability to think fast and solve problems with the materials on hand was just something NASA astronauts and design engineers needed back in the early days of the U.S. space program in the 1960s and 1970s? Think again. According to Wednesday’s CNN article, “Discovery lands after challenging mission:” Even before the mission began…
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A whole different level of amateur rocket launches
Have you ever launched Estes model rockets with students or with your own children? As part of a “Power and Energy” class I took in 7th grade in Manhattan, Kansas, we built our own rockets and used Estes engines to launch them. That was certainly a memorable class project! A year or so ago, we…
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Want to improve learning and memory? Try getting more SLEEP!
The interactive website for the NOVA ScienceNOW special “The Sleep-Memory Connection” provides an opportunity to explore both the stages of sleep as well as intriguing connections scientists are exploring between sleep and memory. According to the website: Psychologists have long suspected that sleep– both before and after learning something new– aids the development of memories.…
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Teacher Barbara Morgan is in orbit!
How wonderful to read tonight that Barbara Morgan, the backup teacher-astronaut to Christa McAuliffe in the ill-fated 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger mission, successfully launched into space along with the other crew members of STS-118 this evening as the space shuttle Endeavour escaped the gravity of our blue planet and entered orbit. 🙂 Visit the NASA…