Effective Change at School and District Levels

At the moment I do not have my own classroom and have been substituting for the last year and half at the elementary school on base. I have had to borrow classes to teach the variety of lessons that were required. All in all the teachers were appreciative when I came in to teach. Some of the teachers are not strong in science and I have offered to assist them when they are unsure of how to teach something. Listening to some teachers they struggle to find the time to teach science to their classes. I have tried to point out the importance of making sure science finds its way into the curriculum. One good thing is that the science standards for DoDDs seem to spiral and that the students are not constantly learning the same things, at the same time there are certain topics that are explored in more complexity each year. Another issue is that the schools goals focus on Writing and Math, so there is more focus on those subjects and they tend to be highlighted during trainings. The school has recently received new reading, social studies and math materials, while the science materials are over 8 years old. The downside it is DoDDs that decides on the curriculum and makes the initiative to get new materials. Hopefully since the other programs have been updated science will be close behind. The best thing I can do is encourage the teachers at the schools to make sure they are teaching science, even if it is not every day, but to find the time to make it a part of their curriculum and assist when needed. We have a diverse population and I want all the students to be confident in their science abilities and see the possibilities that await them.

Keeping up with Global Competition

In 1957 the Soviet Union (now Russia) launched the Sputnik I, the world's first artificial satellite. This event marked the beginning of the space age and the start of the United States versus the Soviet Union space race. Then in January 1958 the US launched Explorer I satellite and continued a successful program of lightweight, scientifically spacecraft. Later that year the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was created. From the creation of NASA there have been some successful missions such ongoing unmanned missions, the Apollo program and the Space Shuttle program to name a few. It is interesting that what started out as the space race, has now turned into cooperation as the US and Russia are the two biggest partners in the International Space Station (ISS), this could particularly be seen when the US relied on Russian launch vehicles to service the ISS when the American program was grounded for several years following the 2003 Columbia disaster.  Times have changed though, and the Space Shuttle program has been discontinued. NASA is continuing to look at other planets including Mars and Saturn and has several active missions such as MESSENGER for Mercury, New Horizons for Jupiter and Pluto and Dawn for the asteroid belt. With all this in mind are we doing the best we can? It does not seem like there has been as much excitement since the start of the space race. What is our Sputnik? "'Our response to Sputnik made us better educated, more productive, more technologically advanced and more ingenious,' said the John Hopkins foreign policy expert Michael Mandelbaum. 'Our investments in science and education spread throughout American society, producing the Internet, more students studying math and people genuinely wanting to build the nation'" (Friedman, 2010). Friedman (2010) discusses our need to help everyone else and that if things do not change we will just exhaust ourselves. We are too highly involved in the rest of the world's problems. I agree with Friedman, things need to change in order for progress to be made. We need to find that spark again that was created after the launch of Sputnik.

One thing that needs to be done is make sure we are teaching science at all levels. Science often gets glazed over or left out all together at the elementary level due to high stakes testing and the emphasis on Language arts and math. Often students are not exposed to science until middle school and this can be too late to spark their interest. We need to make sure we are consistently teaching science, and possibly integrating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) lessons into the curriculum. By teaching our students through STEM lessons there is a chance we can inspire them to pursue a STEM career. In order for the US to advance we need to keep producing future scientists that can further our advancement. As a nation one thing that would help would be to develop national standards that every state uses, while there is a set of National standards each state has their own standards they follow. This will be a difficult step to take as each state will has continually maintained its own standards. Also as a nation we need to focus on the US and less on every other country. While we are a powerful country and want to bring aid to those in need, at the same time we are draining our resources. We need to look at our economic stability and determine the best use of our money, if we continually are helping everyone else when do we have the time to help ourselves. I think the US does need a new Sputnik-like event to spark attention and commitment to science education reform and bring it back to the forefront of global competition. We need to strive to improve our science education at all levels and inspiring future scientists to take the lead and bring our country up to speed.

Resources
Friedman, T. L. (2010). What’s our Sputnik? [Op-Ed]. The New York Times [Late Edition (East Coast)], p. WK.8

Snack Tectonics

For my model I used food to help model plate tectonics. In this lab frosting is the asthenosphere, fruit roll-ups are oceanic crust, and graham crackers represented continental crust. First the students spread out the frosting so it is about 1cm thick. Then they place the fruit roll-ups next to each other, push down slightly and pull them apart slowly. This models divergent boundaries and sea floor spreading.

Next the students placed one of the graham cracker squares next to one of the fruit roll-ups and gently pushed it. The graham cracker slides over the fruit roll-up and this models subduction. This is one of the convergent models demonstrated.

The next convergent boundary involves taking the two graham crackers and dipping one side in water for a few seconds. They then place them next to each other (wet side facing each other) and gently push them together forming mountains.

 Finally the students take new graham crackers and place them next to each other and slide them past each other repeatedly to represent transform boundaries and the formation of earthquakes.

This is a crowd pleasing lesson. I have done this lesson now with several grade levels from 2nd all the way up to 8th. This time around I was working with 5th graders.The only real problem occurs if the frosting is not spread out enough or if they do not pull the fruit rollups apart slow enough. The students were also suppose to draw a cross section of each model. This proved difficult for them. Since I am only subbing at the moment and do not have my own class I had to borrow a class. This is something I know I would have to work on with my students throughout the year. Overall the lesson went well!

Tornadoes, Earthquakes and Tsunamis Oh My!

2011 has been a particularly hard year already as far as natural disasters are concerned. A devastating earthquake that also caused a tsunami in Japan happened on March 11. In April an estimated 173 tornadoes ravaged Alabama and other southern states, causing billions of dollars in damage and hundreds of fatalities. More devastating tornadoes have occurred in Joplin, Missouri, on May 22 which is one of the deadliest tornadoes in history and the beginning of June Springfield, Massachusetts was also hit hard by tornadoes. Hurricane season began June 1 and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) are predicting an above normal Atlantic season with 12 to 18 named storms, 6 to 10 of those becoming hurricanes and 3 to 6 of those becoming major hurricane, category 3 or higher. (NOAA, 2011). In recent years there have also been a multitude of disasters which many can still recall such as Hurricane Katrina, the 2004 earthquake in Sumatra that caused a tsunami that spread over 14 countries and killed 230,000 people and displaced 1.4 million more (Discovery Communications, LLC., 2011). There was also the earthquake in Haiti that was very destructive due to the lack of building codes. Other infamous disasters such as the eruptions of volcanoes of Mount Vesuvius and Mount St. Helens may have happened decades or centuries ago, but are still studied today.

If one has not experienced a natural disaster first hand, they may have no ideal the true impact is has on people and the surrounding community. How do we help our students to become scientifically literate and compassionate citizens through the study of current and past natural disasters. Well if any students had first hand experience I would want them to share their recollection of the disaster. When I lived in Texas there many students that relocated there after Hurricane Katrina, this would have provided an open forum on hurricanes. Our school was also shut down for 2 days when it was thought that Hurricane Ike was going to hit, Ike took a turn and ended up hitting Galveston and Houston, Texas instead. I was very close to Houston in Huntsville during that time and we were hit by strong winds and lost power. On my drive back to Corpus I say some heavy damage in Houston. When disasters hit we need to share news feeds with our students as well as pictures and videos of the destruction to help the students understand what damage is actually done. I think it would be interesting for students to study the most destructive disasters as far as earthquakes, hurricanes, volcanoes, tsunamis, tornadoes, floods, droughts, and blizzards and them compare them to each other. Since so many of these disasters take place far away I think it is difficult for students to understand their magnitude.

Another way to get students involved is find ways to donate to the areas in need. I remember when I was in school and Hurricanes Andrew and Hugo we collected and sent school supplies to Florida. Students need to be aware of how severe the destruction that occurs and often the people lose everything. There are many school clubs that would likely be involved in humanitarian aide, we need to encourage our students to become compassionate citizens and helps those in need!

Discovery Communications, LLC. (2011). Top 10 natural disasters. Retrieved from http://science.discovery.com/top-ten/2009/natural-disasters/natural-disasters.html

NOAA. (2011). NOAA hurricane outlook indicates an above-normal Atlantic season. Retrieved from  http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2011/20110519_atlantichurricaneoutlook.html\





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Ask a scientist?

Recently we had to venture to a website called ask a scientist which is run by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and ask a question pertaining to cells. Here is the question I posed and the answer I received. 

 

Question: I recently met with a dermatologist to be treated for psoriasis. He went over some of the newer treatments that are available. Up until now I have typically treated it in a topical fashion with creams and ointments. He was explaining some of the injections-biologics that are available. Biologics specifically target the immune system and are made from proteins of living cells (Psoriasis, 2009). The one he is thinking about putting me on he said was derived from human cells. He mentioned that some of the other ones that are available are a mix of human and another species, often mice. My question is how does introducing other species proteins into our body affect us over time? Are there any ill affects? What other species are we/can we use cells or parts of cells to treat certain diseases?

Answer: Follow up with the physician directly on the specifics of the recommended treatment. I am not sure which treatment they may have been referring to. There are quite a few human proteins that are used in treatment. They are not necessarily manufactured by human cells and the therapeutic protein may be made by bacteria, insect, mice, or even plant cells. Purification of the therapeutic protein is thus key.

One therapy that comes to mind that might be relevant is the use of monoclonal antibodies that bind to immune cells and can help temper an overactive immune system. The older antibodies were not completely human derived and the non-human derived regions could be immunogenic. The body starts to recognize the therapeutic protein as an invader and generates antibodies against it, thus preventing successful repeat treatments. We now have many different therapeutic antibodies, derived using recombinant DNA technologies, that are completely human-derived, and thus do not illicit an immune response.
Hope that helps.

Disclaimer:

The Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Ask a Scientist website provides a forum for teachers, students, and others to discuss biomedical topics with scientists. Participating scientists answer questions to the best of their knowledge. The information they provide is intended for educational purposes only. The Howard Hughes Medical Institute assumes no responsibility for the scientific accuracy of Ask a Scientist responses or for the content of references and Web links that may be provided in responses. Views expressed in Ask a Scientist responses are not necessarily those of HHMI.

So there you have it. I am still curious about biologics and where they are derived from. So I guess I have something new to study.

Web Presentation Tools

I have grown up with technology, I have been typing papers on computers since I was in high school and I have used PowerPoint and Excel as well in my academic career for presentations and science labs. In most cases I have self taught myself how to do things. I remember taking Calculus I as a summer course at a community college and there were quite a few adult learners, our professor had us use this computer program sometimes as part of the class and the my classmates were amazed at how well I picked it up when they smetimes struggled using it. Technology is constantly changing and being improved as the years go on, sometimes it is hard to keep up with it. I had no idea how many online presentation tools there were available.

Prezi reminds me very much of PowerPoint, but I find the controls to be a bit confusing. I believe if I were to play with it long enough that I would be able to control things better. One nice feature of having the presentation online is not having to carry a thumbdrive or have a certain computer that has software such as PowerPoint loaded to it. I had a thumb drive stolen from my laptop at school one year and it was never returned. However there are also downsides to having a presentation online as well. Our school sometimes has internet outages which are outside of our control and sometimes and it can be out for several days. This would leave me without a way to present my work to others if we were to have one of those happen. Also our school has been having some power outages as well and I would be afraid to lose my work if it the online program was not saving periodically. If I would using PowerPoint I could at least save it to my drive before the computer would have to be shut off since we do have battery backups connected to the computers which allow them to stay on for a little while. There are lots of tutorials and lessons available to help you with your Prezi presentation, that is very helpful. The most basi free version does not offer as many features as those you have to pay for. Also with the free version the storage is only 100MB. The enjoy version for $59 a year gives you 500MB a year allows you to make them private and use your own logo and the pro version for $159 a year gives you 2000MB storage and the ability to work offline. One nice this is that students and educators can receive the enjoy for free and the pro for only $59 a year. Overall it looks like an interesting online program, would just take a little getting used to the wheel that is used to design the pages.



Mybrainshark allows you to upload PowerPoints and then add voice. You can insert poll and surveys. You can share the presentation on facebook or other places including Youtube video. You can upload videos as well. You can add background music to a presentation. I think a tool like this would be nice to have if students missed a day of class. You could add the notes or other things you discussed during the various slides and they could view it at home or upon returning to class. Again the basic service is free. For the Pro 1 version it is $9.99 a month and allows you to identify viewers, share presentations privately, add passwords for security, and improve analysis with detailed view and reporting alerts. To me this seems  little bit simpler since you can upload a premade PowerPoint and then enhance it with other things. Another great tool to use and since it can be embedded on websites something very useful for a teacher to use. 

Potential and Kinetic Energy

Potential and Kinectic energy is an intersting topic for students to explore. This course we talked a lot about rollercoasters. Rollercoasters are something that most students can relate to since most of them have probably ridden them at amusment parks. This is an excellent way to connect students to the idea of potential and kinetic energy. The need to understand that when the roller coaster reaches the top of the hill it has potential energy and as it is going do the potential energy is converted into kinetic energy. There are a lot of fun websites that deal with designing rollercoasters with the topic of potential and kinetic energy. One can be found here http://www.jason.org/digital_library/4851.aspx. The students get to determine how many cars (3-8) they add and then design the track using hills and loops, but they coaster needs to hae enough energy to make it and stop at the end of the track without crashing. It shows the potential and kinetic energy as the coaster moves along the track. This could help students when they are designing their own coasters like the one we read about using the foam insulation and a ball.

Here are a few more sites that offer rollercoaster simulations some do not demonstrate potential and kinectic energy, but could be fun to play with and have the students explore various designs.
http://www.funderstanding.com/coaster
http://kids.discovery.com/games/rollercoasters/buildacoaster.html

Some interesting websites dealing with rollercoasters
this one has a demo video http://tlc.howstuffworks.com/family/roller-coaster3.htm
http://www.learner.org/interactives/parkphysics/coaster.html
http://www.teachersdomain.org/resource/phy03.sci.phys.mfe.zsplcar/
http://www.miamisci.org/af/sln/mummy/raceways.html

To help with the idea of potential and kinetic energy I would also show the BrainPop videos on both topics found here
http://www.brainpop.com/science/energy/potentialenergy/
http://www.brainpop.com/science/energy/kineticenergy/

What a better way to relate to a scientific topic than with something most students are familar with. After watching and working with some of these demonstrations it would directly into the Rollercoaster challenge.