Ideas for the Science Fair - recent science news stories

After a long blogging hiatus this semester, I am greeting you with some recent science news stories to inspire all those upcoming science fair projects.

Science News

#1 - High School CSI in action!
New York High Schoolers May Have Discovered New Cockroach Species    By Scott Hensley
(click on the title to read about it)





#2  In honor of my two children.......and reducing male spillage at toilets everywhere,

There's A Fly In My Urinal  by Robert Krulwich
(click on the title to hear the broadcast story, watch a short video clip, or read more)

 



 
 
 
 
 
 
I especially love the idea of error analysis and the discussion of spillage quantification.
 
 
#3 - Continuing the insect theme (and because my youngest son got an ant farm for Christmas:)
 
Ants that Count   also by Robert Krulwich 
(click on the title to link to hear the broadcast story or read more)

 
 

Happy holidays to all and safe travels!

Observe and Reflect in Middle School - Week Two

More excerpts from my Woodrow Wilson Teaching Fellows weekly reflections as they continue their first weeks of full immersion field experience in an urban Indianapolis middle school.

“This is getting interesting.”

“Last week everyone was happy and smiling when it was all fun and games, but now that there is work to be done a few cracks appear in those once smiling faces, and we can see personalities popping out.”

"I look forward to seeing the kids every day. They are a mystery. I never know what they are going to bring each day. That makes it exciting. It forces me and the teachers to stay on our toes and be prepared for the unexpected.”

“I went around (to the students) and did a lot of one-on-one help. I felt like I was struggling with word assistance in ways that should have been easy to understand. Maybe this is something that just takes practice. Maybe you just learn ways of saying things that work???”

"We had our first opportunity to grade papers. What an experience! … We had some papers where the children were supposed to write in complete sentences. Do you give credit for sentences that start with a capital letter but have no punctuation at the end? How much credit do you give for sentences where nine sentences end in periods, but one sentence doesn’t? Since it is the beginning of the school year, are you more lenient because they are getting back into the groove of school or do you play hardball?”

“Is anyone else tired when they go home?”

“I’m hoping to get some practice with classroom management and discipline. I feel like that is one particular area where I will need a lot of practice. …Maybe I’ll get lucky and the kids will be bad this week so I can get a lot of practice.”

“It was sad to think that after four days of school a student had five documented offenses that prompted a call home.”

“Our teacher uses seating charts to place students in the most appropriate seat to make them successful. (Our teacher) continues to change the seating charts as some of the seat assignments have not worked as well as anticipated.”

“We collected their (first assignment) from the previous day. Several students did not seem to have theirs with them. It seemed odd to me that so many would ‘forget’ on the first one.”

"Throughout the week I started to feel more and more satisfied with my decision to teach.”

Indianapolis schools start their school year in mid-august. These excerpts are from the school week dated August 17-21st.

Observe and Reflect in Middle School - Week One

After a beautiful fun filled summer vacation from all things education, it's time to get back to work.

This fall I have the pleasure of coaching 6 Woodrow Wilson Science Fellows during their full time field experience at an urban middle school in Indianapolis. These 6 individuals were accepted to this program for an intensive year of teacher training which will result in a masters degree in education. They are each given a $30 thousand stipend to ease the transition and they commit to teaching science or math for 3 years in a high-needs urban or rural Indiana high school after graduation.

They range in age from 24 years to 69 years with a variety of professional and academic experiences. Currently they are placed in pairs with mentor teachers at Northview Middle School in Washington Township. They are divided between one 8th grade classroom and two 6th grade classrooms. Each week they submit a weekly reflection to me - here are some excerpts from the first week:

“The first two days of meetings were both boring and overwhelming.”

“I learned that one teacher was hired the Friday before the teacher work day due to a teacher being promoted to be an assistant principal. What did I learn? I may be hired at the last minute and have minimal time to prepare my classroom etc. That thought is creating some anxiety to me as a first time teacher.”

“I’ve determined that for the most part, adults are not that much different than children. They don’t all work great together, they still complain, and they tend to have a slight grudge against authority.”

“It was a really tiring week. I had to exhibit a level of alertness that I’m not used to doing. I am getting better of being aware of more things, but still could use some more practice.”

“The first two days of classes were exhausting: a constant stream of new faces, names, procedures, etc.”

“I’ve also noticed that there are a lot of subtle skills involved in teaching, particularly in classroom management.”

“The students took me by surprise. They are more mature and more with-it than I expected.”

“I am really working on learning students’ names. I remember from my volunteer experiences how much it means to kids to be recognized and called by name.”

"I was nervous!"

I truly look forward to the observations and reflections of these budding educators as the semester progresses.

Easter Bunny Demo

Here is an idea for all the leftover chocolate bunnies. Basically a modified "elephant toothpaste" demo. Decomposition, catalysts, reaction rates, and a product with great visual impact--- just a messy clean up.



Mrs. Simpson is my kind of performance artist. That evil grin compliments those gigantic science goggles.

Engage Your Students

How is this for a science news headline from MSNBC?

Microbe-powered 'fart' machine stores energy
Could improve fuel cell technology by turning CO2 into methane
Scientists at Pennsylvania State University have created an electric "fart" machine of sorts, which takes advantage of a microbe's ability to convert electrical energy into methane to create a more efficient way to store energy.

If this doesn't grab some student attention and interest about science, then I am truly at a loss. (kudos to Susan W. for sending this to me)

Or if that doesn't work - here's another attention getter and argument for better science literacy in our general population. (thanks here to Nina K.)

The Dangers of Dihydrogen Monoxide Website

Oh, the potential for lesson plans here. Maybe we could finally convince our students that they need to be educated and think for themselves. Also perfect as an intro for a web-based research project (ie. the pitfalls of trusting all published information).

If that doesn't convince them check out the Youtube video below.



And yes these people are now recorded for all eternity. As a chemistry teacher, I say "Woe is me."

Revealing What Lies Behind the Curtain

"What is necessary in order for effective educational change, and why is this so difficult?"

When it comes to defining essential questions in education, I can’t think of a better one than this. There will never be complete consensus about best practices in curriculum, instruction, or assessment. And the information and research base for all of those keeps growing especially with our ability to access resources via ever changing technology. So how does that transfer to the individual student? Of course it is via the classroom teacher.

For all the problems teachers face with ineffective public policy and school administrators, the balance of power to effect change in learning outcomes still lies with the classroom teacher. So I would argue that what become most important are the talents and intentions of these professionals. It is certain that education models and programs will come and go throughout a career. But because student populations vary throughout the country these models cannot be used universally as is. The teacher must be a critical thinker and a decision maker who can implement a plan of action. Too often I still observe teachers who are dependent on a model, or a textbook, or an administrator to take care of these decisions for them. Or in many cases, teachers just do not have critical thinking skills.

I no longer believe that individuals who simply enjoy working with children and have good intentions should be the majority of our teaching force. These skills alone are not enough. We are demanding more as a society for our children than this. However, I do not see this translating at the university level to a more selective and rigorous program for teacher education. I have long been a critic that education should not be a major area of undergraduate study. It becomes a fall back for students who could not make it in more rigorous programs. No one wants to publicly acknowledge this but this is why education majors become the butt of campus jokes. We then produce ineffective teachers who go on to become ineffective administrators and the cycle perpetuates itself. The truly effective and talented teachers then either eventually leave the classroom or become the minority of true professionals in a building.

I am closely watching the events that unfold in the Washington, D.C. school district, as the appointed chancellor, Michelle Rhee, tries to fix a failing public school system by holding all the adults accountable for what happens. She is actually able and willing to fire staff members who are not pulling their weight. In a recent podcast interview, she acknowledges the problem with principals who are also conflict avoiders. How can you possibly be an effective leader of a school and be afraid of conflict? We have all seen this probably as the norm rather than the exception.


Click the arrow to view a video podcast of Michelle Rhee


In “Chalkbored”, Jeremy Schneider argues that there simply aren’t enough people who can do an effective job of teaching so instead we should have facilitators for online learning. I think there are plenty of people who would make great teachers but they don’t want to work in such a dysfunctional and depressing system where job security is determined by length of stay rather than merit.

So to wrap up, I would summarize my answer to the question as this. Until we pull back the curtain and take a good hard honest look at what is going on with school staff (teachers and administrators) there will not be effective educational change.


Daly, James. "Up Front - What works in public education." Edutopia. Jun2008. The George Lucas Educational Foundation. 20 Apr 2009 .

Merrow, John. "A Profile of Arne Duncan - The Engine of Innovation." [Podcast ] The Merrow Report. 25MAR2009: 134. Learning Matters, Inc.. Podcast.22 Apr 2009. .

Merrow, John. "Michelle Rhee - Finding Good Principals." [Podcast 'entry'] The Merrow Report. 13JAN2009: 8. Learning Matters Inc.. Podcast.21 Apr 2009. .

Merrow, John. "The Second Year." [Podcast ] The Merrow Report. 14OCT2008: 120. Learning Matters, Inc.. Podcast.20 Apr 2009. .

Schneider, Jeremy. Chalkbored: What’s Wrong with School and How to Fix It. Pace of Mind, 2007.

Project Based Learning - What it's supposed to look like

I came accross this video on You Tube. Enjoy. It's a great introductory look at Project Based Learning (PBL). Kudos to this math teacher, she actually gets it!

Make sure to take note that it is the talent of the person implementing the learning strategy (PBL), rather than the learning strategy itself that succeeds to provide quality learning experiences.