Hurricane Maine

Monitoring performance

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 14:39:00 +0000

Though techie in nature, I am not app crazy like most. I really prefer to use non-tech means and making my own decisions (rating matter a bit to me but are not the sole reason for purchases, etc.)

So as I look at all the fitness devices and apps out there, I think often about buying them but haven't. I do not have a heart rate monitor or other various devices (I don't even use the ones that are on my stationary bike.) I do however know that biofeedback is important and will probably purchase a device (not two or three) that will give me some feedback in how I am doing health-wise.

So I read with interest an article about Keeping Detailed Health Records and one person's experience with these devices and apps. In particular the brief discussion about the Hawthorne effect whereas a person or organization improves when they know they are being evaluated or observed. As a teacher. I know how my behavior changes a little when an administrator is in the room. The article gives a perfect example of how sports performance changes when we know the coach or instructor is looking.

The article details how perfection can cause us to try to obtain new numbers and get more data. A quote from the article caught my attention:

That's when I realized my tracking had veered seriously off track. Gary Wolf, co-founder of a user's group called Quantified Self, had warned me this might happen. "The magic is not in how many numbers you collect or how devoted you are to collecting them," he told me over the phone. "The secret is using the data in a meaningful way." Tracking, he explained, should help you reach your goals, not be a goal unto itself. Not only had I lost sight of this, but I had crossed the line into obsession.

That's when I realized my tracking had veered seriously off track. Gary Wolf, co-founder of a user's group called Quantified Self, had warned me this might happen. "The magic is not in how many numbers you collect or how devoted you are to collecting them," he told me over the phone. "The secret is using the data in a meaningful way." Tracking, he explained, should help you reach your goals, not be a goal unto itself. Not only had I lost sight of this, but I had crossed the line into obsession.

"The magic is not in how many numbers you collect or how devoted you are to collecting them, the secret is using the data in a meaningful way." Tracking...should help you reach your goals, not be a goal unto itself.

As I think about data-driven anything in schools, I wonder if we have crossed into some obsession. Our school schedule is disrupted 25 days a year for testing. Lost time with students. From the top down (No child left behind/race to the top), data (tests) have been the goals and not data to help us reach actual goals that matter.

I still intend to purchase a device to learn more about my body and my health. It will inform me in order to help improve my health and fitness, but I will not use the data as the goal itself.

Now about the train wreck that is the current education reforms...

Learning to seek instead of search

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:30:00 +0000

From Alan Levine and oh so right on the mark:

“Kids” are given some assignment and want to get it done as fast as possible, to satisfy what is being set in front of them. They give the top results…because the question they are asked to “research” does not matter much to them.
When we talk of searching, we are talking the basic most bottom of the pyramid structure motivational task. Frankly, I don;t care if kids can “search”– I want to know what happens when they seek.

and

Kids can’t search because the questions we are asking are not big enough. Let’s stop patting ourselves on our backs for our critical thinking superiority.
And it’s not just kids, folks it is you too, when you ask questions rather than seek answers. For a large chunk of my career, especially in the last decade, most of my reputation for knowing something about technology came because people would call ro email asking a question, I would google the results, and send them a summary and links. I was not answering their question at all, but was seeking the answers. And it did matter to me because I wanted to help them.

About education (what else...?)

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 14:06:00 +0000

With direct instruction, focusing on standards, and test scores being held over our heads, I have let much of the creative, project based, and interesting parts of my last few years of teaching go. I am not happy about this and should be more of an outlier, but also worry about being labeled a poor teacher.

Nonetheless, I am still struggling on how to balance both of these approaches to education in the continually shrinking time that I have with students.

Some great posts about the decline of quality education through Race to The Top and Common Core can be found in this open letter to Bill Gates and this post about lack of innovation with scripted curriculum. Those of us who have been teaching for some time know the effects that standardized tests have had on eduction over the last decade. In the post, High Stakes Testing = Negative Effects..., great research is put together in a powerful post that shows we have been headed in the wrong direction and need to stop. And Vicki Davis likens Standardized Testing as Modern Day Bloodletting - love her posts! With all the research and those who are experts in education discussing this, when will those "making the decisions stop and listen? And when did we become a nation that stopped listening to the people who actually know what they are talking about (of course I am talking about anti-science and anti-education sentiment that seems to be sweeping the country.)

And then you have to be inspired by this post about a principal who has been working for 48 years and has the following quote about teaching kids:

She has outlasted more than a dozen schools chancellors, who made what she described as “little changes here and there,” and watched a student body dominated by the children of Italian immigrants transform into one that is 45 percent Asian-American and 18 percent Hispanic.

But as the city embarks on an overhaul of its middle schools, Mrs. Brennan believes that what works remains the same. Consistent rules and consequences. A dedicated, hard-working staff. A calendar stuffed with activities like a Shakespeare fair and an annual musical. Sincere care for your charges.

Maintaining the status quo

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 13:28:00 +0000

So those who really know me know that I maintain what I need to do to get along but that I have very different values than many. Generally they have anything that has to do with the status quo. If it makes them uncomfortable then good. It is a sign that it is something that needs to be talked about but more importantly acted upon. I would rather make others uncomfortable than stand back and watch.

The events that have occurred at Penn State only serve to really throw these to the forefront. It was disheartening to see the reactions from many about it without really confronting what is wrong today. Very few schools really do a good job at stopping the bullying and other societal problems going on as it is pervasive in their towns and societies themselves. As long as we hide under the guise of "kids will be kids" and "people need a tougher skin" while allowing those revered by their status to get away with it only perpetuates more generations of the same.

Some interesting posts caught my eye that range from how sports have skewed college for everyone to the role of athletics and athletes in some high schools.

How morally wrong are we as a society that we forgot people who are abused, bullied, or harassed and focus instead on anger to those who are reprimanded for maintaining the status quo? Some interesting posts of viewpoints from readers can be found in the post Something is Rotten here at Penn State and this post that quotes

All they need is for good people to look the other way. And a cult of authority that never challenges...

I am very disheartened about not only these events but things I hear and see in communities. 19% of teens have been harassed or bullied according to this study. When did we forget that every person has value? What gives one person the right to determine the value of another? Why do we need more generations to have to go through this? and when will the adults stand and speak up, do what is right, and model better behavior?

On being individual...

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Tue, 28 Dec 2010 14:48:00 +0000

I am not sure of the relatedness of this post to education, but find it fascinating on individuality not only in our own lives but of what we do not understand about snowflakes. Really, we were taught that no two snowflakes are alike but it turns out that it is actually false. Its move through the atmosphere shapes it into what it becomes.

If people and experiences shape kids over time, what happens if the current school reformers remove every aspect that can shape students into individuals? I am convinced that focusing on testing will drive the experiences that light up students away from them as well as some of the best teachers that help guide and shape. What environments should they have as they tumble their way through life? And now, school is so far not the place where students can shape their lives. I firmly stand behind the idea that school is the worst place for students to be. They need adults and experiences to shape their lives but school is no longer that place where it comes together.

Read this portion taken in its entirety from the above blog post:

In 1988, a cloud scientist named Nancy Knight (at the National Center for Atmospheric Research—let’s not defund it) took a plane up into the clouds over Wisconsin and found two simple but identical snow crystals, hexagonal prisms, each as like the other as one twin to another, as Cole Sprouse is like Dylan Sprouse. Snowflakes, it seems, are not only alike; they usually start out more or less the same.

Yet if this notion threatens to be depressing—with the suggestion that only the happy eye of nineteenth-century optimism saw special individuality here—one last burst of searching and learning puts a brighter seasonal spin on things. “As a snowflake falls, it tumbles through many different environments,” an Australian science writer named Karl Kruszelnicki explains. “So the snowflake that you see on the ground is deeply affected by the different temperatures, humidities, velocities, turbulences, etc, that it has experienced on the way.” Snowflakes start off all alike; their different shapes are owed to their different lives.

What is at stake about Wikileaks

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:58:00 +0000

Andrew Sullivan's quote of the day:

"Whatever you think of WikiLeaks, they have not been charged with a crime, let alone indicted or convicted. Yet look what has happened to them. They have been removed from Internet … their funds have been frozen … media figures and politicians have called for their assassination and to be labeled a terrorist organization. What is really going on here is a war over control of the Internet, and whether or not the Internet can actually serve its ultimate purpose—which is to allow citizens to band together and democratize the checks on the world’s most powerful factions," – Glenn Greenwald.

I charge that many need to learn to critically think and separate out issues first. There is more than one issue in regards to Wikileaks. I for one agree that transparency brings to light practices that need to be stopped. The world has the right to know these. For those that do not like Wikileaks publishing material it receives, this type of activity will not stop.

Why test scores fall in later grades

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:45:00 +0000

A fascinating post from over at Assorted Stuff. Teachers have often said that focusing on test prep in younger grades will leave out information students will need later.

From the post:

But by 10th grade, being a good reader no longer means being a good decoder. Most kids are good decoders by this time. Instead, reading tests emphasize comprehension, and comprehension is mostly driven by prior knowledge–knowing a little bit about the subject matter at hand. (I’ve emphasized the importance of prior knowledge in reading here and here.)

All that time spent on decoding in the early grades, (and time not spent on history, geography, science, music, art, etc.) comes back to haunt kids in 10th grade and beyond.

and

According to Willingham, “a parallel phenomenon is happening in math” where we push drilling rudimentary algorithms at the expense of understanding mathematical concepts.

In the end, he comes to the very logical conclusion that, if we expect high school students to do well in those international comparisons, “the work must begin in early elementary school”.

Snake oil and education

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 16:27:00 +0000

Read Marion Brady's article about standardized snake oil.

This part really cuts to the heart:

Standardized, subject-matter tests are worse than a waste. We’re spending billions of dollars and instructional hours on a tool that measures one thought process to the neglect of all others, wreaks havoc on the minds and emotions of teachers and learners, and diverts attention from a fundamental, ignored problem.

That problem? Longshoreman and college professor Eric Hoffer summed it up a lifetime ago. Because the world is dynamic, the future belongs not to the learned but to learners.

Read that sentence again. Then read it again. Even if standardized tests didn’t cost billions, even if they yielded something that teachers didn’t already know, even if they hadn’t narrowed the curriculum down to joke level, even if they weren’t the main generators of educational drivel, even if they weren’t driving the best teachers out of the profession, they should be abandoned because they measure the wrong thing.

The future belongs not to the learned but to learners. American education isn’t designed to produce learners, and the proof of that contention is the standardized test.

America’s system of education is designed to clone the learned. And motivated either by ignorance or greed, the wealthy and powerful, using educationally naïve celebrities as fronts, are spending obscene amounts of money to convince politicians, pundits, policymakers, and the public that this is a good and necessary thing.

Thus far, they’ve been wildly successful. If they’re not stopped, those now sitting in our classrooms won’t just witness America’s descent into Third World status, they’ll accelerate it.

The fundamental, ignored problem? Poverty. Again, since we cannot discuss what is really important, because we are afraid to look in in the eye and ask ourselves the toughest questions about what we believe, look at what we are choosing to value instead.

American school fail

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Tue, 07 Dec 2010 11:26:00 +0000

The truth about failure in American schools found here is a great piece of writing. Rather than write more about this subject as others have done, I prefer to note for future reference what Stephen Downes has found to be the best part:

"Throughout the world, the full picture of any nation's schools reflects the social realities of that country; when schools appear to be failures, the facts show that social failures (the conditions of children's lives outside of school) are driving the educational data. And we will certainly never address these social failures – and the truth about our schools – if political leaders and media voices refuse even to say the word 'poverty', while promoting simplistic manipulation of data." And I would add that much of the churn around 'school reform' is deflection in an attempt to avoid dealing with poverty and social equity.

So, when will we critically think issues and stop focusing on band-aid reforms and pointing fingers?

Things you really need to know

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Sat, 04 Dec 2010 15:41:00 +0000

What you really need to read is "What you really need to know" by Stephen Downes. I have summarized below. Be sure to read his entire article.

How to predict consequences. Using statistics, experimenting to learn more about reactions and the world around you is important.
How to read. Read: Critical thinking. Reading between the lines, ferreting out information, and cutting to the chase are extremely important.
How to distinguish truth from fiction. Really. I don't know where to begin except my classes do this all the time (I try not to come off as a conspiracy theorist.) There is a lot at stake. What we eat, our health, the environment...let's talk about hidden agendas, flat out untruths, and lets learn to just question a little. Would Fox new have such a grip if people stood up and realizes the malarkey that exists.
How to empathize. I like his reference to The Golden Rule. Really, if everyone adhered to the rule we would not need to spell out examples in the forms of the commandments, etc.
How to be creative. Identifying patterns, thinking outside of the box....Tough as we have been so encouraged to be scripted as learners.
How to communicate clearly. I think I need to work on this one.
How to learn. Connecting learning to a whole. Enough said. In education it is called Big Ideas. Focusing on bringing everything around to the main tenets and principles that bind science is key. Learning to ask questions and find answers. Students do this a lot more than we realize but in class are too content to take whatever teachers say and never question or seek to find on their own.
How to stay healthy.
How to value yourself. Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid. Einstein
How to live meaningfully. Having a noble goal and purposefully pursuing it.

As a biology teacher I believe my subject is very important and the State believes which facts in Biology they think kids should remember (and charges me to follow through.) But I don't believe in the learning of the facts and wish that the focus were on the understanding of how bodies, environment, etc. all work together and why we see what we do in the world, and charge head on to the misconceptions that are generations old.

Talk to anyone who has been out of school. They will say that what they needed to know to get along in life was not taught in school. We know that, and many of these are able to be added into lessons that go far beyond the scripted facts.

Using Inquiry in teaching cells

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 16:17:00 +0000

So, it is not project based learning I know. Really I advocate project based learning, but many times Inquiry is as close as we can get.

In teaching cells, it is usually the same old drill. Compare plant and animal cells, make models, drill the cell parts, etc.

This time, we decided to just jump right in.

Students were asked one question: Are fruits and vegetables made of cells?

They then determined what they already knew about cells and what they needed to know/questions that they had. One of the questions was what is the best and easiest cell to obtain and what does it look like? We discussed how it is a good idea to have something to compare to and I offered some materials to provide background information. The two offerings were their own cheek cell and a red onion cell. Students asked about making parts stand out and we discussed two types of stains we would use. We also learned how to estimate size while looking under the microscope.

Students did a fabulous job. I was so impressed at what they learned including limitations of stains (for example, using iodine with potatoes causes the material to turn black because it is also an indicator and turns colors in the presence of starch.

Students created whatever format they could to answer the question and justify their answers with the evidence they collected throughout. Here is one such example: http://gottalovebio.wikispaces.com/GBPO#Are%20Fruits%20and%20Vegetables%20Made%20of%20Cells?

Are Fruits and Vegetables Made of Cells?

View more presentations from punxsyscience.

Fall blog challenge and what I read...

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 09:02:00 +0000

I read blog posts from a few of those I follow who are participating in a blog challenge. Since my last attempt to commit to blog weekly di not materialize one blog post, this may be what I need to jump start it again. Melanie Holtsman has a great blog challenge and last week's (okay, I just found it today!) is this:

What is your life as a reader like? Do you read for work, pleasure, instructions or emails? What is your favorite author and/or genre? What is your favorite reading spot? What did you like to read when you were the age of your students?

I have always been a reader. I have always told my students I know so much because I read about a variety of things. I always have. When I was younger, I read many historical novels set in the 15th through 19th century. If it involved Europe, I was hooked. I learned a lot about the history of many countries that way. I also learned about the history of science and other subjects. When I was in college, I did not read for fun. And of course, I read a library of children's books as well. Most of my reading today is in the form of blog and online newspaper articles. My favorite is Andrew Sullivan's from the Atlantic. It takes me to many different topics. I also ready a variety of books, many on education, but many on just thinking or bettering myself. Currently I am reading: The Paradox of Choice: Why More Is Less. I try to find time anywhere I can. I take books with me to doctors offices (my kindle is great for that), on trips, or anywhere there may be some unexpected downtime. I do try to read a little at night, but rarely get through a chapter before nodding off!

Tags: fallblogchallenge2010

Best TED talks on global problems

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 00:24:00 +0000

I like to use TED talks to introduce students to global issues that they may not be aware of.

1. One such talk is from Ellen Gustafson on Obesity + Hunger = 1 Global Food Issue

This is a much see to learn more about obesity and hunger in our country and other countries. Understanding why these problems exist are necessary to understand why they are so prevalent today and the root causes.

2. Another is Carl Safina on The Oil Spill's Unseen Culprits, Victims

Understanding why such events are happening, how we are all responsible and why there must be more accountability is key to making any kind of future change.

3. Another is Hans Rosling on Global Population Growth.

It is difficult to get a big global picture of population and why that can change the rest of the biodiversity on the Earth. This TED talks does a great job of visualizing the population growth and providing possible solutions to this problem.

Obviously there are so many other problems that can be shown with TED talks, from climate change to loss of species, etc. These three are a basic underpinning of our consumptive culture and lack of respect for our species and others. Many other problems stem from these.

What is your favorite TED talk that discusses a global issue that students can learn from?

Genius

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 01:20:00 +0000

So what if you were called a genius? Would you believe it?

Elizabeth Gilbert believes so. She believes that all of us have genius and can tap into it.

What do you think ? How would this change education and schools if we focused on the fact that everyone had the capacity for genius? what would that look like?

Assessment

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 00:36:00 +0000

As I look at curriculum changes and using the SAS tool previously mentioned, there has been discussion about the 4 types of assessments:

Benchmark - These tests are given to measure student progress against the benchmarks.
Diagnostic - These are used to determine the current level of understanding and skill of the student.
Formative - A check of understanding at multiple points along the way. Assessment for learning.
Summative - Assessing what is known or assessment of learning.

As I start to work on the curriculum map for my classes, I can't help but reflect on the types of assessments offered in our past curriculum maps.

They would read: lab, test, quiz, homework. Surely we can do better than that.

If you were to fill an assessment column with each of these four types of assessments, what particular ideas would you have for assessing student learning?

Getting my head on straight...

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 23:02:00 +0000

As the summer is half over and I am yet to start thinking about the new year, I devote this first post as a list of what I need to work on for the start of the school year. As in the past, reflection is an integral part of learning, understanding, and receiving input.

Work on new curriculum. Science has new books, we changed when students will be taking various courses, and we should be vertically aligning our curriculum. It is a familiar trap to incorporate a few new things, change the page numbers from the book into the old notes, etc. I have not operated that way in a long time. Sure content stays about the same but the delivery needs to continually change. Science, Algebra, and Literature are the first three courses to take an end of the course assessment that is required for graduation.
Use the PA Standards Aligned System to really look at the curriculum. It is exciting that they are using Understanding by Design in the curriculum tool, but without others truly understanding the curricular approach, the actual transformation can be lost.
Focus on all 4 types of assessment: Benchmark, Summative, Formative, and Diagnostic.
Work with our small group of teachers using the curricular tool to create a district template and curriculum map to serve as a road map to all other departments through the year.
Add more inquiry. Much of what I do is guided inquiry and need to step it up a bit.
Step up wiki use as well as other tools. My class is mostly paperless and we use a wiki for just about everything. I feel the need to really look at what I do and push it just a bit more.

The above does not give much information at this time. As I work through my list, I am sure to have much to talk about and questions to ask.

Science careers

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 18:02:00 +0000

As high school students are contemplating their futures, here is a list of places to find science related careers:

http://www.ekgclasses.org/50-useful-career-sites-for-science-students-and-workers/

STEM is a hot topic right now and there are many fields associated with science that kids would enjoy.

The battle is still brewing

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 16:51:00 +0000

I like this video which came through via Lucy Gray. Dan Brown has a rousing video entitled An Open Letter to Educators.

There are many great quotes from this, but one I loved the best is:

Empowering students to change the world for the better.

It really is about being a learner. That is what we need kids to be. It is what the world needs to be if we are to finally solve any of our problems.

My questions:

1. How many people would really be considered a learner? Can we make the right changes about "anything" (insert: what kids should know, financial issues, government, anything with the environment.)

2. If I can see why standards are necessary and know that creativity is as or if not more important, how do we not allow the common core movement to stifle the latter?

Qualities of a good teacher...

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:38:00 +0000

Hat tip to Vicki Davis who sent this out through Diigo:

Attention, Gates: Here's What Makes a Great Teacher

What has really bugged me,

...besides the people who think we make too much, we do a lousy job etc. (really, no matter what we do they would complain - other forces besides teachers are affecting what they complain about.)...

is how corporate, political, non-teachers think what is the best way to teach. How has our profession lost any voice in what is best? It is truly disturbing. Kids are not one size fits all and neither is teaching. Even though I do a fairly decent job of getting kids to really think, problem solve, and get to the highest level of Bloom's Taxonomy, I balance it out with other activities that speak to different kinds of students.

This article spoke to me as I felt the way he did:

that I was not a great teacher my first few years (though the kids told me otherwise, that was the impression I had from the administration),
that as time has gone by I have enjoyed teaching more but hated school even more
that there are many great ways to teach and not just one is best
that the 10 qualities of the best teachers are qualities we do not want to talk about - they aren't quantified and many of them make people nervous.

These 10 qualities are:

(1) has a sense of humor; (2) is intuitive; (3) knows the subject matter; (4) listens well; (5) is articulate; (6) has an obsessive/compulsive side; (7) can be subversive; (8) is arrogant enough to be fearless; (9) has a performer’s instincts; (10) is a real taskmaster.

Ask any master retired teacher and they will tell you the same thing.

MySciLife grant proposal

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:27:00 +0000

I am really excited to have been working on a grant proposal recently submitted to the MacArthur Foundation. We are now in the public comment phase of the competition. If you have a moment to go look at the proposal and comment I would be greatly appreciative!

This blurb below was written by Candy Shively, one of the best people I have ever worked with and the Director of K12 Learning at the Source for Learning (Teacher's First.) she writes so expressively, that I am using her words:

TeachersFirst is very pleased to collaborate with Jim Dachos of GlogsterEDU, Professor Oliver Dreon, Jr of Millersville University (PA), and Louise Maine, noted high school science teacher from Punxatawney, PA on MySciLife, a truly innovative project to Bring Science to Life. The MySciLife entry in the MacArthur Foundation/HASTAC Digital Media and Learning Competition is now available for public comment here:

http://www.dmlcompetition.net/pligg/story.php?title=543

(In a minor technology glitch caused by the entry submission system, the html tags we used to make italics-- which WORKED in the preview function of the competition web site--- display here as funny little and markers.)

Please take the time to read and imagine how MySciLife could change the way students interact with science and with each other as they take on and LIVE the roles of science concepts. Your supportive comments and constructive suggestions are a vital part of the grant process, so visit early and comment often.

If you could pass this link on to others, that would be great!

On entropy...time...free will...

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 00:20:00 +0000

This is nice. From Andrew Sullivan's blog and 3QD comes this post about a bright young physicist's new book and his prologue:

If everything in the universe evolves toward increasing disorder, it must have started out in an exquisitely ordered arrangement. This whole chain of logic, purporting to explain why you can’t turn an omelet into an egg, apparently rests on a deep assumption about the very beginning of the universe: It was in a state of very low entropy, very high order.
The arrow of time connects the early universe to something we experience literally every moment of our lives. It’s not just breaking eggs, or other irreversible processes like mixing milk into coffee or how an untended room tends to get messier over time. The arrow of time is the reason why time seems to flow around us, or why (if you prefer) we seem to move through time. It’s why we remember the past, but not the future. It’s why we evolve and metabolize and eventually die. It’s why we believe in cause and effect, and is crucial to our notions of free will.
And it’s all because of the Big Bang.

And really, everything is just Science (okay, and Math)...even things like free will, and of course time, if you think about it.

Countdown to the Olympics...and the Science of it all!

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 01:34:00 +0000

Thanks to the people at NBC Learn! They have created fantastic resources for students to learn about the science behind their favorite Winter Olympics sports. Many of the science concepts are about physics and physical science, but there are a few aimed at Biology. In all actuality, these athletes rely on a variety of science principles from all subjects. These concepts are shown virtually and to visually demonstrate scientific principles that play a crucial role in how Olympic athletes perform. This 16-part series explores such principles as gravity, friction, velocity, acceleration, drag, resistance, and more - is available free to teachers on www.nbclearn.com.

About the resource:

NBC UNIVERSAL PRESENTS ‘THE SCIENCE OF THE OLYMPIC WINTER GAMES’

NBC Learn, NBC Olympics, and The National Science Foundation Collaborate To Create Video Content About the Science Behind Popular Winter Olympic Sports

The 16-Part Video Series Starring Top U.S. Athletes and Narrated By NBC News’ Lester Holt Will Be Featured On NBC Broadcast and Digital Platforms Including www.nbclearn.com

How does angular momentum help figure skater Rachael Flatt achieve the perfect triple toe loop? How does elastic collision allow three-time Olympic hockey player Julie Chu convert a game-winning slapshot? How do Newton’s Three Laws of Motion propel short track speed skater J.R. Celski to the finish line? These are just a few of the scientific principles explored in a special 16-part video series entitled “The Science of the Olympic Winter Games,” presented by NBC Learn, NBC Olympics and the National Science Foundation.

In a unique collaboration, NBC Learn, the educational arm of NBC News, has teamed up with NBC Olympics and the National Science Foundation (NSF) to produce a 16-part video series focusing on the science behind how athletes preparing for February’s Vancouver Games skate, ski, jump and curl to Olympic gold. This groundbreaking collaboration capitalizes on the massive spotlight on the Vancouver Olympics to make science accessible to students throughout the United States by illustrating how scientific principles apply to competitive sports.

The video series is narrated by NBC News anchor Lester Holt and available to viewers on www.nbclearn.com. NBC’s “Today” premiered a piece from the series this morning. The project will also be offered to educators as a timely way to incorporate the Olympics into classroom learning.

In each piece in the series, an NSF-supported scientist explains the selected scientific principle, while Olympic athletes describe how these principles apply to their respective sports. The science is broken down by capturing the athletes’ movements with a state-of-the-art, high-speed camera called the Phantom Cam, which has the astonishing ability to capture movement at rates of up to 1,500 frames per second. This allows frame-by-frame illustrations of Newton’s Three Laws of Motion, the Law of Conservation of Angular Momentum, friction, drag, speed, velocity, and other scientific concepts.

“Science touches every aspect of our nation’s popular pursuits, including its athletic events,” said Jeff Nesbit, director of the National Science Foundation’s Office of Legislative and Public Affairs. “It’s exciting to partner with NBC Learn and NBC’s Emmy-award winning Olympic division to present the range and depth of that science to a huge American audience while ultimately inspiring the passions of young people across the United States in all the things science can do.”

“This unique project shows just how versatile NBC Learn can be,” said Steve Capus, President of NBC News. “We’ve made a commitment to education and this project is another creative way to support classroom learning using the journalism and production resources of NBC News. Every two years the Olympics captivate us. This project is another way of telling the remarkable stories of athletes who are the best of the best."

Rachael Flatt, a 17-year-old high school senior at Cheyenne Mountain High School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and among the favorites to qualify for the Vancouver Games in figure skating, may understand the ins-and-outs of the science behind her sport better than anyone else on the ice. The straight-A student’s father is a biochemical engineer, while her mother is a molecular biologist.

“I guess it’s definitely safe to say that science runs in my blood!” said Flatt. “I jumped at the chance to participate in this project because my parents have passed along their love of science to me over the years and I hope to one-day pursue a career in the field.”

In addition to Flatt, the “The Science of the Olympic Winter Games” features two-time Olympic medalist and Harvard graduate Julie Chu (Hockey) from Fairfield, Connecticut; 2006 Olympic bronze medalist John Shuster (Curling), from Chisholm, Minnesota; 2006 Olympian Emily Cook (Freestyle Skiing), from Belmont, Massachusetts; and 2010 Olympic hopefuls J.R. Celski (Short Track Speed Skating) from Federal Way, Washington and Liz Stephens (Cross-Country Skiing) from East Montpelier, Vermont.

About NBC Learn

NBC Learn (www.nbclearn.com) is the educational arm of NBC News dedicated to providing engaging and innovative resources for students, teachers, and lifelong learners. The online resources NBC Learn has created for the education community leverage nearly 80 years of historic news coverage, documentary materials, and current news broadcasts. Currently two unique offerings, iCue (www.icue.com) and NBC News Archives on Demand (www.archives.nbclearn.com), give students and teachers access to thousands of video clips from the NBC News archives, including great historic moments -- from the Great Depression to the Space Race to the latest political coverage. NBC Learn also offers primary source materials, classroom planning resources, and additional text and image resources from our content partners.

About NBC Olympics

NBC, America’s Olympic Network, has broadcast 11 Olympic Games, the most Olympics broadcast by any network. NBC surpassed ABC’s 10 Olympics with the 2008 Beijing Games, the most watched event in U.S. television history with 215 million viewers. The 2010 Vancouver Games mark the sixth of an unprecedented seven consecutive Olympic broadcasts by NBC Sports, which began with the 2000 Sydney Games and continues through the 2012 London Games.

About the National Science Foundation

The National Science Foundation is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year 2009, its budget is $9.5 billion, which includes $3.0 billion provided through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to over 1,900 universities and institutions.

###

The Science of the Winter Olympics Games

Scientific Areas Explored

Figure Out Figure Skating

How do Olympic figure skaters do triple axels and quadruple toe loops? It's all about angular momentum, vertical velocity, and conservation of angular momentum. NSF-funded sports scientist Deborah King, from the Department of Exercise and Sports Sciences at Ithaca College explains, using high-speed, high-resolution video of Olympic hopeful Rachel Flatt.

Safety Gear

Most Winter Olympic sports are high-speed and dangerously high-impact, from ski-jumping to short track speed-skating to hockey. To protect their skulls and brains, athletes wear protective helmets. NSF-funded scientists Melissa Hines, Director of the Cornell University Center for Materials Research, and Kathy Flores from Ohio State University's Dept. of Materials Science and Engineering, explain how a helmet's hard outer shell works to dissipate energy, and foam linings work to absorb energy. Olympic athletes Julie Chu, a member of the U.S. Women's Hockey Team, and Scott Macartney, a U.S. Ski Team member who suffered a concussion in a 2008 fall, talk about the importance of helmets to Olympic competitors.

Slapshot Physics: Hockey

The slapshot is the fastest, hardest shot in ice hockey--and an excellent illustration of elastic collisions, energy transfer and momentum exchange. NSF-funded scientists Thomas Humphrey of The Exploratorium in San Francisco, and Kathy Flores, an Ohio State University materials scientist, explain, along with U.S. Olympic hockey players Julie Chu and Zach Parise.

Aerial Physics: Aerial Skiing

Behind the breath-taking twists and turns of Olympic Freestyle Aerials is the science of angular momentum and moment of inertia. NSF-funded physicist Paul Doherty, Senior Scientist at The Exploratorium in San Francisco, and Olympic aerialist Emily Cook, explain and demonstrate 'cat twists' and 'contact twists.'

The Science of Snowboarding

The physics behind the awesome, gasp-worthy tricks snowboarders do in the half-pipe? Gravity, friction, and energy (potential and kinetic), as explained by NSF-funded scientists Paul Doherty at The Exploratorium in San Francisco and Deborah King, from the Dept. of Exercise and Sports Sciences at Ithaca College; with assistance from Kevin Pearce, a member of the U.S. Snowboarding Team.

The Internal Athlete: Cross Country Skiing

Cross-country skiers are among the fittest athletes in the world; they train to increase their ability to take up and use oxygen--a maximum aerobic capacity measured by a VO2 Max test. NSF-funded scientists Deborah King, from the Department of Exercise and Sports Sciences at Ithaca College, and Joseph Francisco, President of the American Chemical Society, explain the biomechanics, assisted by two members of the U.S. Cross-Country Ski Team, Liz Stephen and Andy Newell, and Troy Flanagan, Director of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association Center for Excellence.

Blade Runners: Short Track Speed Skating

Short track speed skating, the fastest self-propelled sport in the Winter Games, illustrates all of Newton's First Three Laws of Motion: (1) An object at rest will remain at rest unless an unbalanced force acts on it; (2) a force acting on a object produces an acceleration of that object; and (3) for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Using high-resolution Phantom Cam video of Olympic short track skater J.R. Celski, NSF-funded physicist George Tuthill explains.

Banking on Speed: Bobsled

NSF-funded scientists Paul Doherty, Deborah King, and George Tuthill, along with bobsled designer Bob Cuneo, use an Olympic bobsled run, from starting push to the finish line, to illustrate acceleration, velocity, gravity, and drag.

Mathletes

From the formula used to figure figure-skating scores to the calculus used to figure instantaneous velocities in a speed-skating race, arithmetic and math are part of every Winter Olympic event and every move Olympic athletes make on snow or ice. NSF-funded mathematician Edward Burger from Williams College explains some of the math you can see in Olympic sports, with assistance from figure-skating expert and sports scientist Deborah King of Ithaca College, and U.S. hockey player Ryan Miller.

Air Lift: Ski Jump

Ski-jumping--hurtling down a ramp at speeds of 60 mph, then soaring through the air--is an excellent illustration of the aerodynamic forces of lift and drag. NSF-funded scientists Paul Doherty, of The Exploratorium in San Francisco, and physicist George Tuthill of Plymouth State University, explain, along with U.S. ski team members Todd Lodwick and Bill Demong.

The Science of Skates

Skates used by Olympic speed skaters, figure skaters and hockey players are custom-engineered by materials scientists so that the boots and blades meet the demands for each sport. NSF-funded scientists Melissa Hines, Director of the Cornell University Center for Materials Research, and Sam Colbeck, formerly of the U.S. Army Cold Regions Lab, explain, along with U.S. Olympic hockey player Julie Chu, short track speed skater J.R. Celski, and figure-skater Rachel Flatt.

Competition Suits

The chemistry and materials science used to create aerodynamic competition suits is described by NSF-funded scientists Melissa Hines of Cornell, Troy Flanagan of the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association, and U.S. Olympic speed skaters Trevor Marsicano and Chad Hedrick; U.S. luge team members Erin Hamlin and Mark Grimmette; U.S. ski team members Scott Macartney and Anders Johnson; and U.S. bobsledder Steve Holcomb.

Downhill Science: Alpine Skiing

A downhill ski race is a tour de force--emphasis on force: from the forceful push-off that accelerates the alpine skier down the slope, to the forces of gravity, friction and wind or air resistance. NSF-funded scientists Paul Doherty of The Exploratorium in San Francisco, and Sam Colbeck, formerly of the U.S. Army Cold Regions Lab, explain the physics of alpine skiing, with help from four members of the U.S. Ski Team: Ted Ligety, Marco Sullivan, Scott Macartney and Julia Mancuso.

Science Friction: Curling

Sending the 42-lb. granite curling stone down a long sheet of ice toward the center of a bull's-eye target is all about friction and surface physics, as NSF-funded scientists Sam Colbeck, formerly from the U.S. Army Cold Regions Lab, and physicist George Tuthill from Plymouth State University explain, with help from Olympic hockey player John Shuster, and Iain Hueton, from the Ogden Curling Club in Ogden, Utah.

Science of Skis

Skis used by Olympic Alpine and Nordic skiers are made of fiberglass and polymers, engineered by materials scientists to give skis used in different events the flexibility, stability and torsional rigidity required. NSF-funded scientists Melissa Hines, Director of the Cornell University Center for Materials Research, and Kathy Flores, an Ohio State University materials scientist, explain how skis are made, from the core to the ski base, with help from three members of the U.S Olympic Ski Team: Julie Mancuso, Scott Macartney and Ted Ligety.

Olympic Motion

The Olympics are a chance to marvel at the physical abilities of the athletes. But what makes these athletes so unique from the rest of us? Dan Fletcher, an Associate Professor in the Department of Bioengineering at UC Berkeley, explores how the organization of human cells through training, exercise and "muscle memory" produce the fantastic range of Olympic motion.

Tags: NBC Learn, Olympics, science education

The brain and aging

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:21:00 +0000

This New York Times article has some great information on keeping the brain young, or actually read as: remembering things you learned previously. Reading viewpoints and information different from your own is the key as it challenges the brain.

Read for yourself.

We become too complacent by reading information from people who think just like us. I have a variety in my blog roll but should probably add a few more counter voices. I am sure all of us could do more as the article says.

Since the vast majority of the public do not, another good reason to instill this in youth in order to create a generation of learners that never stop learning.

Can't help it...

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 21:15:00 +0000

Sorry, but thanks to @cleversheep on twitter I found about this tongue in cheek blog. Scan through. Those who try to advance technology have heard these statements before.

As we start passing out computers next week for one to one integration, I can hear the continued laments from the community and school community alike. The problems in this blog can just be changed from about what type of paper or mechanical vs. wood pencils to using computers, etc.

Oh, the price of technology...it will ruin us all...or maybe as in my last post...it will just ruin what we believe should be normal.

Where is the change we have been wanting?

noreply@blogger.com (Louise Maine) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:08:00 +0000

Will Richardson posts his loss of optimism for any kind of change in education. I have been feeling that too as can be told from past posts. I am not sure what we are doing, do not think we are doing anything right, and know we are doing students a disservice being in this path to increasing test scores.

So when I read Will's post and then Ewan McIntosh's here, I needed to record a bit here for my remembering later.

Specifically, that education does not serve our students and is counterproductive to change itself.
And then there is this quote from Seth Godin:

The problem is no longer budget. The problem is no longer access to tools.

The problem is the will to get good at it.

Really, this is a fundamental problem of young and old alike.

As everything else is failing around us, there are too many people who are holding on and waiting until things return to normal. That scares me more than anything. Now above any other, in every sector of our life, we need to be reinventing and becoming empowered to make a difference. Normal has been our problem all along.