An reflection of the article "What is Our Sputnik?

The article, What is Our Sputnik? did not turn out to be what I expected and I am not sure how to respond. I am not sure how the author justifies the correlation between the changes in science and education brought about by the release of the Russian satellite Sputnik and today’s emphasis on foreign policy and fighting terrorism.

I think the author fails to take into account the sociological differences between the American of today and the America of the late 50’s. The adults of the late 1950’s were products of WWI and WWII. They had seen Russia as an enemy. The thought of the Soviet super power having an upper hand on us was unacceptable and unleashed a need to surpass the Russians. Society of the 1950’s was living in prosperous postwar economic times. They were hard workers raised by parents who survived the Great Depression and understood what hard work and pride meant. They remembered the victories of the United States and took pride in the nation.

Today’s society is one with a sense of entitlement and very little pride in our nation. As a whole, much of society is lazy, not willing to be hard workers. The majority of people know little of the oil dependency crisis. Very few care one way or the other about what is happening in the Middle East. I fear the only reason politicians care is for political gain. Our service men are valiantly fighting a war about which,most of us know nothing. People on the home front are more concerned about the economy as to how it affects them. They (whether democrat or republican) voted for the candidate who could do the most for them. Of course, we are going to vote for who can do the most for us, but with a nation of self-entitled people, our vision is limited. We have become a narcissistic nation of whiners who do not take responsibility for our own actions; we choose to blame others or take the mindset that we are owed something.

What would it take in today’s world to light a fire under us the way Sputnik did? It will take an event that affects us personally, not us as a nation. We think we have it going on because we have all the cool gadgets and toys…. IPads, IPhones, IPods, etc. Our youth today lack the foresight to want to pursue careers associated with changing the world. It is simply too much work. 

I was told to submit a question to Askascientist.org and relay their reply. I have not heard back from them. I had asked, “If a yoke of a chicken egg is an example of a large cell, does it have all of the organelles other eukaryotic cells have? Does the yoke have a nucleus, Golgi bodies, endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, and ribosomes?   If a yoke does indeed have all these parts, are they microscopic? I would think so. Are the organelles as small as organelles in other cells? If so, does that mean there is just a lot of cytoplasm used as filler?  If the egg is a sex cell, I would think it has half of the number of chromosomes as the bird’s other cells, right? When it is fertilized, does it become a ‘whole’ cell until it begins to divide? I am curious. I just do not get the whole yolk is a cell thing.”

This question was too big to submit. I shortened it to ask, “If a yoke of a chicken egg is an example of a large cell, does it have all of the organelles other eukaryotic cells have? Are the organelles as small as organelles in other cells? If so, does that mean there is just a lot of cytoplasm used as filler?” I was able to successfully submit this series of questions, but as I have said, I did not receive a response.

I decided to try once again. This time I asked a simpler question, one related to genetics. “Is liking the taste of brussel sprouts genetic?”  We shall see if they respond.

An Adventure in Exploring On-line Presentation Options

As a teacher always on the prowl for new and innovative ways to engage my students, I happily checked out a few on-line presentation options.

My students have become proficient at creating PowerPoint presentations so earlier this year, I introduced them to Popplet.com which is a free presentation program wherein the user creates what appears to be a graphic organizer made of bubbles. You can input videos (including YouTube videos), images and text into a bubble. At any point, the user can create a presentation path, connecting bubble to bubble. When in presentation mode, each bubble enlarges and swings into view until the arrow button is pushed changing to the next slide. Popplet.com is free. Each of my students needed an email address to set up an account. They could allow their partners access to the project so they could each work on it at home. They enjoyed the novelty of a new project making tool and the presentations turned out great. One drawback I faced was being able to access the students’ Popplets myself. When the students create a PowerPoint, I can copy it to a flash drive and take it home to grade, but not with the Popplets.

            Last Sunday, I gave Prezi.com a whirl by creating a presentation to use in my classroom on Monday. It was not difficult to figure out how to make the program work. I liked the end product better than the Popplet, but it was more challenging to navigate. The students enjoyed my presentation and I was able to update and expand it between classes. I could share the presentation and have them write things down without their realizing they were actually taking notes. The premise is the same as Popplet.com. You have bubbles in which you can add text or images. The presentation mode is more fun. It makes you feel a little like you are on a rollercoaster.

            I went to both websites, Web2.0: Cool Tools for School and Web Tools 4 U 2 Use to check out some prospective on-line presentation tool, looking for one to use for my endangered species project.  I read the blurbs promoting each option. Many of the choices, like GoogleDocs, emphasized the opportunity for collaboration, which I do not need for this project. The fact that it is an on-line writing tool piques my interest in sharing it with one of my teammates. The majority of options promoted themselves as being able to create slideshows, add music or sounds, in addition to having the capacity for being uploaded and shared with friends.

            What I want is something different, and I think I found it with Glogster.com. It seems to be a site where you can create a poster of information that includes text, pictures, images, and video links. If I am right, I should be able to use my scrapbooking skills to make something intriguing. I have barely started and may crash and burn, but I like a challenge. Have any of you out there had any experience with creating glogs?  Let me know.

Website: Web 2.0 Cool Tools for Schools—Presentation Tools
http://cooltoolsforschools.wikispaces.com/Presentation+Tools
Explore a sampling of Web 2.0 presentation tools.

Website: Webtools4u2use—Creating Presentations
http://webtools4u2use.wikispaces.com/Presentation+Tools

Simple Machines: Websites to Checkout

I opted to checkout websites that could be helpful to students while learning about Simple Machines. Brainpop.com is the first place I went. It has cartoon vignettes that are informative, engaging and educational. My students LOVE the videos. Brainpop.com covers a wide range of topics from science to health to history to math to language arts. For Simple Machines, there are clips for: the lever, incline plane, wheel and axel, pulley, and gears, in addition to clips about assembly lines and work. Each clip is accompanied by quizzes. One of the quizzes can be taken on line with immediate feedback. The students can print the results. Also available are quizzes the teacher can print and have the students take. These do not give immediate feedback. They must be graded.

The drawback to Brainpop.com is that you must have an account to use it. The good news is you can set up a trial account to use with your classes. Our teachers pushed hard to get our school to purchase a subscription. Most of us use the site often throughout the year. The simple machines brainpop clips could be used separately to introduce or review each machine to an entire class. I would consider taking my classes to our computer lab. Each student would be given the printed quizzes to take. They could watch each of the clips and take the quizzes at their own pace. Check it out.  http://www.brainpop.com/

EdHeads.org is another great site to use while teaching Simple Machines. The cartoon pages are also, informative, engaging, and educational, in addition to being interactive. I used this site a few years ago; the one year I did teach physical science  My students really enjoyed interacting with the program. Because this site is interactive, the students would each need to use their own computer. The EdHeads.org site is free to all interested. You do not need an account. I would highly recommend checking this site out.  http://www.edheads.org/activities/simple-machines/index.shtml

The previous two sites are ones I was already familiar with. The next two, however were the only ones I found during my lengthy search. They are both really good. The Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago had a fabulously adorable interactive game that is too fun to pass up. http://www.msichicago.org/fileadmin/Activities/Games/simple_machines/  When I played the game, I learned while laughing out loud at how cute the character was. I highly recommend that you take a look at it. It will make you smile.

The final treasure I uncovered was a Rube Goldberg interactive game.  I found this student friendly interactive webpage at PBS.org. http://pbskids.org/zoom/games/goldburgertogo/rubegame.html   A great way to enrich the simple machine’s concepts is to introduce students to Rube Goldberg designs.

“A Rube Goldberg machine, contraption, invention, device, or apparatus is a deliberately over-engineered or overdone machine that performs a very simple task in a very complex fashion, usually including a chain reaction. The expression is named after American cartoonist and inventor Rube Goldberg” (Wilipedia.org).

The webpage shows a cartoon Rube Goldberg in which the students need to make 13 adjustments to have the contraption operate correctly. This hands-on experience would be a great way to introduce the idea of Rube Goldberg machines.  It was challenging and a lot of fun.

                I believe I have indeed dug up some good treasures to be used in any classroom, no matter the age of the learner. Students today, need to be 21^st century literate citizens. Although these websites are simple, they show students what types of things are available on line. Not all of my students have computers at home, so it is beneficial for them to use the computers at school. Simply by using computers to learn, helps students to become more comfortable with computer technology. Our county will pilot a program within a few of the schools. The students will all be given tablets to use. This is the wave of the future.

In Hot Water

We have been asked to conduct an experiment comparing the insulating abilities of four different materials. I went with materials that keep people warm in these cold and blustery months. I chose wool, traditionally used for centuries to make clothing. I selected a synthetic felt which is not woven but tightly matted acrylic and polyester. Being thick, I thought it would hold in the heat well. The next material I chose was fleece. We have use fleece to make throw blankets to snuggle on the couch with. The last material I selected was not a fabric but a foil, aluminum foil. I wanted to branch away from textiles and use an insulator commonly used to keep wood warm.

I selected four mugs identical in size, shape, and composition.  Into each mug, I poured one cup of boiling water; measured and recorded the temperature; cover the cup’s opening with one of the selected insulators; and then secured it with a rubber band. After waiting the designated 30 minutes, I uncovered each container; measured and recorded the temperature; then recovered the each mug. I calculated the drop in temperature for each of the four cups as I waited an additional 30 minutes before taking the temperatures again.

I found the water temperature in both the wool and the felt covered mugs dropped 91° total, within two, 30 minute testing periods. The aluminum foil covered mug dropped 94°, while the fleece covered mug lost 96° in the one hour period. I thought the wool and felt would come out on top, but was surprised the foil held in more heat than the fleece.

 I do not believe the data I collected to be reliable enough to draw an accurate conclusion. I would want to perform the experiment several times over to gather more data. My experiment did however, seemed to show wool and felt being the best insulators. They were able to trap more of the radiant heat inside the mug. Less heat energy could escape than in the other two mugs resulting in a smaller change in temperature.

I think if I were to conduct this experiment again, I would choose different insulating materials to test. I would consider using a hot pad/oven mitt. We use oven mitts to protect our hands for being burned when removing hot objects from the oven. They must make good insulators. I would also use a sheet of Styrofoam. We use Styrofoam often for containing hot drinks because the material prevents our hands from burning. It retards the conduction of heat energy. The heat of the contents does not transfer to the cup and then to our hands, easily.  I would also try cardboard like the sleeves put on coffee cups in fancy coffee joints. Surely, coffee companies tested different materials to find the most efficient choice for protecting the hands or their customers.

I could use this experiment to help my students understand diffusion, the movement of particles from an area of high concentration to an area of lower concentration. Diffusion can be a difficult concept to grasp so using a variety of examples is beneficial. Additionally, understanding the movement of heat energy from high concentration to low will better prepare my students for physical science next year.

All in all, I would say this experiment was a success for me. 

Who's the Biggest Swinger?

Which will come to rest more quickly, a heavy pendulum or a lighter one? I attempted to answer this question despite my lack of background knowledge. After several trial and error efforts, I still feel that I came up short. I went through a series of failed attempts before coming up with a procedure that seemed to work. I tied two strings, one with the smallest washer and the other with the heaviest. I hung them on a yardstick, which I laid atop the back of two chairs.  In the beginning, the strings were too long so the pendulum knocked into the chairs and tangled together. I tried timing the swings but that took too long, and I soon realized was not necessary. I assumed the flat surface of the yardstick contributed to the wild swinging, so I tied shorter strings and the washers to a dowel. I struggled being able to tell when the pendulum actually stopped. They both continued to sway a tiny bit but the smaller one seemed to stop first but it was close.

                The inconclusive data forced me to try other options. Changing only one variable at a time, I tried using spoons, various string lengths, even taping the string to the dowel instead of tying it. Nothing gave me the definitive answer I was hoping for. I figured I was doing something wrong. At this point I began to seek out help. I returned to the Pendulum Ship from the Newton’s Amusement Land, theme park found in the Walden resource page. It talked about the length of the hanging device being more critical than the mass of the swinging object. I decided to try another approach by attacking my hypothesis from a different angle. I took two identical pair of scissors, and tied them to the dowel using a short string and a longer string. When I pulled the scissors back and released them, the scissors on the shorted string stopped earlier than the other pair. At last I could actually see a result.

                                Help…. found

                I was still unsure of my conclusion and found no information in the text that helped me. I did find using the PhET’s Interactive Simulation website posted by the University of Colorado helpful. I set up a simulation that mirrored my original experiment. I set both pendulums to have an equal length from the top, and used two differently weighted objects. The pair, despite their difference in mass, stopped at the same time. Finally I found a definitive answer to the original question. To satisfy my compulsion to be right, I googled the question to see what I could find. The most helpful information came from Mrsstrasbaughsblogspot.com. She is apparently a teacher earning her master’s degree and took a class last spring similar to ours. Her work was well done and helpful.

                I could never use an activity like this without better closure. Sometimes inquiry is done for the sake of inquiry. This will never work without follow up to assure the students master the concepts.

                                A Scenario…. The Flying Dutchman

                To make this activity more interesting for my students I would propose a scenario as follows. A group of friends go to White Water’s American Adventure Park. They are in line to ride the Flying Dutchman (a pendulum boat ride). Two of the kids start to argue. One of the pair believes that the ride will last longer if there are fewer people on the boat. He said that if there were fewer people, the lower mass would result in the ride stopping slower, thus lasting longer. The other friend said the ride would actually last longer with more people on it. The more mass, the more momentum; therefore, the longer the boat swings back and forth. I would then challenge the students to create an experiment to discover which of the friends was right.  I would then follow up to make sure the concept I wanted them to uncover was understood by them all.

                                What should they learn?

                I have no idea what they should learn from this experiment. I never figured it out on my own. I can only share what I learned from Mrs. Strasbaugh??????

                                To wrap this up….

                It was good for me to experience the frustration of not knowing what I was trying to discover, I guess. It let me see how my students might feel. However, they work in groups and have team mates to bounce ideas off and me as an instructor to provide guidance.