Name: ________________                        Period: ________  Date: _______

Directions:

Please answer the following questions in complete sentences.  Each question is worth 3 points.

1.  What is the developer’s primary focus?

2. What is the retro encabulator capable of synchronizing?

3. What is the retro encabulator successfully being used in?

4. Where is the differential girdle spring located?

5. Extra Credit: what is the only new principle involved in the retro encabulator?

—

Name: ________________ Period: ________ Date: _______

Directions:

Please answer the following questions in complete sentences. Each question is worth 3 points.

1. What do insects brush against to effectively cross-pollinate the flowers?

2. What do the markings and hairs on the Fox Glove flower act as?

3. Which species of plants have pollen grains smaller than those of insect pollinated flowers?

4. When the florets were growing, what was pollen transferred too?

5. Extra Credit: Which plant has evolved the “most interesting” for ensuring cross-pollination?

—
OK, so do these questions REALLY reflect current teaching of science? Take look at these questions from Glencoe’s General Physical Science textbook supplement:

Chapter 8 Quiz
1. When industries release hot water into streams and rivers, it is called _____. Hint
A. thermal expansion
B. thermal pollution
C. contamination
D. radioactive water

2. The state of matter that has a definite volume and a definite shape is _____. Hint
A. gas
B. liquid
C. plasma
D. solid

3. The most common state of matter is _____. Hint
A. gas
B. liquid
C. plasma
D. solid

Not sure about this one? Here is the hint:
Think about where most of the matter in our solar system is located.

4. Most pressure is measured in _____. Hint
A. grams
B. kilopascals
C. newtons
D. kilograms

5. Charles’s law states that the volume of _____ increases when the temperature increases, at constant pressure. Hint
A. a solid
B. a liquid
C. a gas
D. all matter

(Inspired by a classic)

Connecting your students with scientists and engineers is one way to enage them in science. It also provides sudents with mentors and positive role models. National Lab Day is a national inititive and classroom “matchmaker” launched last year to help facilitate these connections. A National Lab Day project can serve as a cornerstone to project-based learning in your classroom.

As you start the new school year, I hope the following interview with Samantha Israel, National Lab Day Coordinator, inspires you and your students to engage in an authentic science project. I would also like to extend a special thanks to NLD’s Lew Esses, Abraham Faham, and Miro Sutton for their assistance with this interview.

EB: Why NLD (and what is it)?

SI: America is falling behind in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education. NLD aims to reverse this downward trend and inspire students in order to increase general science-based literacy, as well as to stay competitive in the global market.

National Lab Day is more than just a day; it is a nationwide initiative to build local communities of support that will foster ongoing collaborations among volunteers, students, and educators. NLD does this primarily through our online platform (www.nationallabday.org) that connects teachers with STEM professionals, community volunteers, and a variety of other resources - all there to support and help teachers strengthen their STEM programs.

National Lab Day is not just about “labs” as we normally think of them – cookie cutter labs are a major part of the decline in STEM interest. NLD promotes a hands-on learning approach to STEM learning. It is about kids building robots and bridges and learning physics and engineering in those projects; kids testing the water in their schools and the local streams and learning chemistry and biology in the process. Real life application to STEM subjects is essential in stimulating interest.

We encourage teachers to consider hands-on learning projects for their classrooms, and to use our site to connect these projects with local professionals who would like work with them to see the projects come to fruition.

National Lab Day, the day itself, is a capstone day to celebrate the yearlong efforts and collaborations between students, teachers, STEM professionals and community volunteers - all supporting and pursuing fun hands-on learning. National Lab Day was celebrated this year on May 12th, 2010 (for pictures and video from the first annual NLD please see www.nationallabday.org). We will continue to celebrate NLD each year in May.

EB: How does NLD work?

SI: NLD is the ultimate educational matchmaker - think of it as the e-Harmony of STEM education. Teachers can post projects on our website (www.nationallabday.org) that they think would benefit from the help of a STEM professional or community volunteer. Our site will then automatically provide suggestions of local professionals or volunteers who have created accounts on NLD and may be able to help. Teachers can then message suggested “matches” in order to follow up and make an arrangement to work together. Likewise, our system also presents STEM professionals and community volunteers with suggestions for projects they may be able to help with. They too can then message teachers responsible for projects they are interested in, and offer to assist.

Aside from using the automatically generated match suggestions that our system provides, teachers can manually search for their own matches by keyword, state, and location in the “community” tab at nationallabday.org/scientists. STEM professionals can also browse and search all projects in the “projects” tab at nationallabday.org/projects/live.

NLD also features an organization portal to further help teachers and projects. Organizations can post resources, host events, and adopt projects (to help galvanize activity and strengthen results). These organizations are provided with a customizable “MyNLD” page (including a unique co-branded URL) that allows them to showcase all of the work their organization has done to strengthen STEM learning. For a great example of an organization MyNLD page please visit http://my.nationallabday.org/OSLN.

Lastly, teachers can also request financial support for their projects on NLD. This is enabled by our partnership with Donors Choose (www.donorschoose.org).

EB: What is the difference between the “NLD event” in May and what happens during the rest of the year?

SI: As mentioned above, the National Lab Day “Event” simply celebrates all of the work that is ongoing throughout the year, and it also encourages future involvement in our initiative. However, at any time during the year a teacher can post and complete a project through our website.

EB: NLD has been in place for 7-8 months now, what would you say are some of your biggest successes?

SI: In the few months since President Obama launched NLD, thousands of teachers have joined the NLD community and have posted over 1,800 projects. More than 3,500 STEM-based professionals and volunteers have joined the NLD community to date. These individuals are ready to support teachers as well as students in their communities. For example, in the Fort Bend Independent School District 70,000+ students participated in National Lab Day. There are over 200 professional organizations, companies, and foundations that have joined the NLD effort, with a combined membership of over 6 million.

To view some of the press we have received please visit: www.nationallabday.org/press.

EB: What do you hope to see during the 2010-2011 school year?

SI: In the upcoming year, National Lab Day will build on our current success. We want to see the same activity we witnessed last year, but on a larger scale. Our goal is for NLD to continue to expand and become an everyday learning resource. We will also be working on a series of improvements internally on our website to make it an increasingly useful tool for our users.

EB: One of Edutopia’s “core concepts” is to promote project-based learning opportunities. How do you see NLD supporting this approach to teaching?

SI: Project based learning is the heart of the NLD program. In the U.S., STEM education is very textbook-centric. This is problematic in that it can lead to significant disconnect between STEM subjects and real world application. Teachers often want to teach these subjects more dynamically, but many lack the tools or experience to do so.

There are numerous STEM professionals out there who are ready and willing to help spread their knowledge and expertise - all that is needed is a network. The core of the NLD program focuses on bringing together professionals that want to help teachers and serve as a resource that can strengthen their various STEM programs.

In April 2009, President Obama made a nationwide request to STEM professionals: “I want to persuade you to spend time in the classroom, talking and showing young people what it is that your work can mean, and what it means to you … [to] encourage young people to be makers of things, not just consumers of things.” NLD’s primary goal is to meet the president’s challenge.

EB: I heard that there was a goal of forging 10,000 scientist - teacher partnerships last year. Can you give a few examples of what some of these partnerships looked like?

SI: For every completed project on the NLD site, at least one scientist-teacher partnership was created. Each scientist-teacher partnership formed through NLD looked different, simply because the NLD program is designed to match the unique and specific needs of teachers and their classrooms. For example, some of the partnerships were in the form of weekly phone calls to provide advice on science fair projects, while others were class visits to help teachers and students learn how to adapt solar energy in their classrooms.

Here is an expanded example of one particular partnership:

From the “Adopt a Class” project, the teacher writes:

“I posted my sophomore physics Alternative Energy Project on National Lab Day in the fall. I was contacted by a mechanical engineer, Mr. G., who lives in the area. He contributed to our project in several ways. He began by giving a presentation to our students about engineering as a career, which was great exposure for those interested in pursuing engineering. His presentation was extremely engaging for the students, and emphasized many different applications of engineering from bridges to energy efficiency to music video production. He left quite a few very helpful alternative energy books and engineering magazines in our library for the duration of the project which students used in their research. He met with student teams to check in about their research and help to identify areas to work on. He also collaborated with the students in an ongoing way on our class blog. Alternative energy is an area I’m just beginning to learn more about, so it was very helpful for all of us to have Mr. G. as a resource. The students presented their research all this week in class, and Mr. G attended all their presentations, gave feedback, and asked questions about their work. He then gave a presentation of his own for the class about energy efficiency and left us with resources we can use to make our school more energy efficient.”

EB: Many current scientists and engineers cite the Apollo program as their inspiration for pursuing STEM careers. What do you think will be the inspiration for the next generation?

SI: Inspiration is what is missing in the science classroom today. Our hope is that the STEM professionals who have been lucky enough to develop a passion for their subject area will become increasingly driven to share this enthusiasm with the next generation. Therefore we seek to encourage scientists and other STEM professionals everywhere to become the inspiration for future generations.

EB: How can one get involved in NLD?

SI: Getting involved is easy. Simply go to www.nationallabday.org and click “Join now!” you will be led through a quick sign-up process and have the option to choose your role (teacher, STEM professional, volunteer . . .).

Once an account has been created, users have full access to the site. Teachers are encouraged to post as my projects as they would like, and to use the NLD site to connect with local professionals and community volunteers. The site can also be used to find financial support. STEM professionals and volunteers are encouraged to browse current projects and find teachers looking for help. We encourage our users to actively use our platform, and take advantage of this powerful resource.

As a final note, throughout this interview I have differentiated between STEM professionals and community volunteers. The reason for this is that we encourage community members who do not necessarily feel confident referring to themselves as STEM professionals, but still have an interest in supporting STEM learning, to play a role in our initiative. Community volunteers can provide an extra set of hands on a fieldtrip, or help judge a science fair, and much more.

The bottom line: NLD encourages collaboration and excitement towards STEM learning – regardless of your role. If you want to help revive STEM subjects for future generations, join the movement!

It’s a nagging question that has long haunted the equality-minded world of academia: Why are women so underrepresented in the fields of science and technology?

…

A team of Miami University researchers led by psychologist Amanda Diekman has come up with a different explanation. In a paper just published in the journal Psychological Science, they argue women perceive STEM careers (those in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) as largely incompatible with one of their core goals: Engaging in work that helps others.

The researchers found the more strongly a participant endorsed communal goals, the less likely he or she was to express interest in a STEM career. Not surprisingly, women were more likely than men to endorse these care-oriented objectives.

“If women perceive STEM as antithetical to highly valued goals,” they write, “it is not surprising that even women talented in these areas might choose alternative career paths.”
There’s a certain irony at work here; as the researchers point out, advances made by scientists “hold the key to helping many people.” Nevertheless, such careers “are commonly regarded as antithetical (or at best irrelevant) to such communal goals,” they report.

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So, we went and it was mostly entertaining.  It was pretty interesting to see how the show was made…and we got a couple of beers too.  When we left, there was a group of pretty obnoxious people doing obnoxious things, obviously drunk.  Only one problem…the FREE BEER was non-alcoholic!  Yeah, so these idiots got drunk on N/A beer…definitely not from Wisconsin!

So, what is the point of this story?

Did you hear?  Teenagers can get high on the Internet for free.

The web was bombarded today with stories about teenagers finding a new way to get high….with “music.”  It is called I-Dosing and it is all the rage (well, at least in Oklahoma).

At least, that’s what Oklahoma News 9 is reporting about a phenomenon called “i-dosing,” which involves finding an online dealer who can hook you up with “digital drugs” that get you high through your headphones.

…

“Kids are going to flock to these sites just to see what it is about and it can lead them to other places,” Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs spokesman Mark Woodward told News 9.

…

Oklahoma’s Mustang Public School district isn’t taking the threat lightly, and sent out a letter to parents warning them of the new craze. The educators have gone so far as to ban iPods at school, in hopes of preventing honor students from becoming cyber-drug fiends, News 9 reports.

Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/07/digital-drugs/#ixzz0toEzUpCl

Better be careful, or your kids might end up like this:

If it sounds too crazy too be true…because it is.  It didn’t take much digging to find that I-dosing is a bunk. It is just a new way to separate teenagers from disposable income…while letting them feel like they are getting away with something.

From Psychology Today

In 1839, Heinrich Wilhelm Dove discovered that two constant tones, played at slightly different frequencies in each ear, cause the listener to perceive the sound of a fast-paced beat. Calling this phenomenon “binaural beats,” Dove helped launch two centuries of legitimate research and, as is almost always followed by exciting empirical study, money-grabbing pseudoscience.

First, the facts: Binaural beat therapy has been used in clinical settings to research hearing and sleep cycles, to induce various brain wave states, and treat anxiety.

But there are more controversial (dare I say dubious?) claims associated with binaural beats: Increased dopamine and beta-endorphin production, faster learning rates, improved sleep cycles, and yes, if you dig around less scientific communities like, oh, MySpace, you’ll find kids telling each other that “dude, those beats get you like totally high.”

If you’ve wandered through a Brookstone or Sharper Image store in your local shopping mall and noticed sleep therapy or “brain-controller” devices for sale, that’s just an upper middle class, “I need to stop thinking about my 401(k)” version of the same digital drug that the new crop of seedy i-dosing websites are offering to teens.

And from LiveScience…

However, the parents shouldn’t worry, as the music almost certainly does not cause a high, or encourage future drug use, said Harriet de Wit, the principle investigator of the University of Chicago’s human behavioral pharmacology lab.

Although experiments show that the expectation of getting high can enhance the symptoms associated with drugs, even when someone takes a placebo instead, no sound or music could trigger the exact pathways activated by specific drugs like PCP or Quaaludes, de Wit said.

Yeah, so just like those folks getting drunk on N/A beer, these kids are getting stoned on music.  It isn’t happening…not even on Venice Beach.

]]> http://www.teachingscience20.com/2010/07/stop-i-dozing/feed/ http://www.teachingscience20.com/2010/07/rosetta/ http://www.teachingscience20.com/2010/07/rosetta/#comments Thu, 15 Jul 2010 01:58:19 +0000 Brunsell http://www.teachingscience20.com/?p=158 Video:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/7883459/Space-probe-has-close-encounter-with-giant-asteroid.html

The European Space Agency’s Rosetta comet chasing spacecraft flew within 1,900 miles of the 83 mile wide Lutetia asteroid to obtain a close look at the mysterious object.
Scientists have been puzzled by the composition of Lutetia, which is named after the Latin name for Paris, since it was discovered 150 years ago.

They hope to be able to tell whether Lutetia, which is currently around more than 282 million miles from Earth, is either a primitive form of asteroid made of rock and carbon or a metallic one.
The information gleaned by Rosetta during its fleeting fly-by will provide scientists with new information about what giant asteroids are made of how the solar system formed.

Learning progressions are central to the framework.  Learning progressions provide a coherent description of how core ideas in science and engineering build throughout K-12.

The framework embraces the mantra, less is more, and states, “Reduction of the sheer sum of details to be mastered give time for students to engage in scientific investigations and argumentation and to achieve depth of understanding of the material that is included.”

For more details on the development of the framework, click here.

I have provided a summary of the framework in three parts.  The first part explores the premises and guiding principles of the framework document.  The second part explores an example learning progression and the core disciplinary ideas presented in “Dimension 1.”  The final part explores dimensions 2 and 3 and includes an example of a performance expectation for one sub-question of a core idea.

Please add your thoughts to these VoiceThreads!

Part One: Foundations (Make it Big!)

Part Two: Dimension 1 - Disciplinary Core Ideas (Make it Big!)

Part Three: Dimensions 2&3 - Cross-Cutting Elements & Science and Engineering Practices. (Make it Big!)

NOTE: The National Academies of Science has a survey here -available July 14- to submit official feedback

Comparing the genomes of Tibetans and Han Chinese, the majority ethnic group in China, the biologists found that at least 30 genes had undergone evolutionary change in the Tibetans as they adapted to life on the high plateau. Tibetans and Han Chinese split apart as recently as 3,000 years ago, say the biologists, a group at the Beijing Genomics Institute led by Xin Yi and Jian Wang. The report appears in Friday’s issue of Science.

If confirmed, this would be the most recent known example of human evolutionary change. Until now, the most recent such change was the spread of lactose tolerance — the ability to digest milk in adulthood — among northern Europeans about 7,500 years ago. But archaeologists say that the Tibetan plateau was inhabited much earlier than 3,000 years ago and that the geneticists’ date is incorrect.

When lowlanders try to live at high altitudes, their blood thickens as the body tries to counteract the low oxygen levels by churning out more red blood cells. This overproduction of red blood cells leads to chronic mountain sickness and to lesser fertility — Han Chinese living in Tibet have three times the infant mortality of Tibetans.

The Beijing team analyzed the 3 percent of the human genome in which known genes lie in 50 Tibetans from two villages at an altitude of 14,000 feet and in 40 Han Chinese from Beijing, which is 160 feet above sea level. Many genes exist in a population in alternative versions. The biologists found about 30 genes in which a version rare among the Han had become common among the Tibetans. The most striking instance was a version of a gene possessed by 9 percent of Han but 87 percent of Tibetans.

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Scientists propose big experiment to study Gulf oil spill

Frustrated with limited data on the BP oil gusher, a group of independent scientists has proposed a large experiment that would give a clearer understanding of where the oil and gas are going and where they'll do the most damage. The scientists say their mission must be undertaken immediately, before BP kills the runaway well. They propose using what's probably the world's worst oil accident to learn how crude oil and natural gas move through water when they're released at high volumes from the deep sea. Since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig exploded and sank into the Gulf of Mexico in late April, more than 200 million gallons of oil have gushed from the blown well. The scientists also want to see how the oil breaks down into toxic and safer components in different ocean conditions, information that would help predict which ocean species are most at risk. The experiment also could provide data that would help in dealing with any future spills. "Without this understanding, we're no better off when the next one occurs," said Ira Leifer, a researcher at the Marine Science Institute of the University of California at Santa Barbara who's leading the team that's proposed the experiment. The plan calls for about two weeks of experiments with two research vessels and robotic vehicles at a cost of $8.4 million. The scientist would use monitoring equipment and sampling to conduct experiments at various levels in the water column.

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Failing to make your bed in the morning may actually help keep you healthy, scientists believe.
Research suggests that while an unmade bed may look scruffy it is also unappealing to house dust mites thought to cause asthma and other allergies. A Kingston University study discovered the bugs cannot survive in the warm, dry conditions found in an unmade bed. The average bed could be home to up to 1.5 million house dust mites. The bugs, which are less than a millimetre long, feed on scales of human skin and produce allergens which are easily inhaled during sleep. The warm, damp conditions created in an occupied bed are ideal for the creatures, but they are less likely to thrive when moisture is in shorter supply. 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/4181629.stm

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[cross posted at Edutopia.com]

What story do these images tell?  What questions could your students generate about these images?  Could these questions pave the way for independent (or small group) research projects?

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.

.

.

Edutopia’s PBL Bootcamp starts on Monday, and I thought that I would provide some resources to get you thinking…

MESSING ABOUT

Good projects revolve around important questions. However, good questions are not always easy to generate…especially in a vacuum. How many times have students drawn a blank when confronted with the “freedom” to study anything they want for a school project? Often, it is helpful to have students “mess about” with information before you ask them to brainstorm questions.

(Yes, I know that middle school students have their own definition for messing about.)

Many of the resources below can provide a great starting point for short and long term projects.

Infographics

The old saying, “a picture is worth a thousand words,” has a lot of merit.  A good picture can often tell a story, provoke emotions, or generate questions.  The use of images and visual representations is critically important in science. Visual representations can also quickly convey very complicated information.  We are constantly bombarded by inforgraphics that describe scientific information.  How often do we ask our students to analyze or create an infographic?

What could our students do with these complicated infographic?

• http://www.fastcompany.com/1657758/infographic-of-the-day-the-gulf-oil-spill-isnt-the-biggest-but-itll-be-the-costliest-by-far
• http://www.infographicworld.com/system/photos/10/medium/DeepwaterRig_pf_full.jpg
• http://www.infographicworld.com/static/i/DeepwaterRig_full.jpg
• http://www.vizworld.com/2010/05/infographic-biggest-oil-spills/

Other Oil Spill Resources

How Big is the Oil Spill?
The current estimate is 35,000 to 60,000 barrels per day (1 barrel = 42 gallons).

• http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/05/how-much-oil-has-spilled-in-the-gulf-of-mexico.html
• http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2010/05/newshour-oil-widget-2-including-spillcam.html

Other Oil Spill news:

Where will the Oil go?  [exploring ocean currents]

• http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/jun/16/cuba-braces-bp-oil-spill
• http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/06/oil-spill-in-atlantic-by-october/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+wired%2Findex+%28Wired%3A+Index+3+%28Top+Stories+2%29%29

Oil Spill Mapping

• http://www.paulrademacher.com/oilspill/

Long-term impact (includes ecosystem / food web)

• http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/05/gulf-tipping/

Oil Spill News (Methane)

• http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_gulf_oil_spill