The intention of this blog is to provide a place for me to capture and discuss the use of technology in the K-12 classroom, with a focus on the science classroom. You will typically find links to articles that examine innovative teaching methods, uses of technology for Professional Development and teaching, and techniques I, or others, are using to bolster classroom learning with technology. I will also be sharing general educational news that I find interesting.
Your can subscribe to the posts and the comments on this site via your favourite rss reader.
The Science Bench is produced by Kyle Stashuk. Please drop me a line if you have any questions or comments.
Amazon Indians from one of the world’s last uncontacted tribes have been photographed from the air, with images released showing them painted bright red and brandishing bows and arrows. The photographs, taken by Survival International near the border between Brazil and Peru, are rare evidence that such groups exist. [via Reuters]
Survival International is a group that works toward the protection of tribal people worldwide. They estimate that there are more than 100 uncontacted tribes remaining in the world today (with about half living in Brazil and Peru), but their numbers and safety are constantly under threat from illegal logging in their ancestral lands.
The term ‘uncontacted’ is used loosely as few peoples have remained totally uncontacted by modern civilization, but a number have chosen to make contact either exceedingly difficult or dangerous (wikipedia). It’s still an amazing thought to know there are pockets of humanity living with little or no knowledge of our modern world; with all our planes, and cars, and computers, and plumbing, and grocery stores, and any number of gadgets most of us cling to for ’survival’. If you have some free time then check out Survival International as they have some interesting articles and video about world tribe populations, the problems they face, and what we can do to help.
Quantum mechanic and the idea of atomic orbitals can be a challenging topic for students to grasp after having been told their entire lives that electrons circle the nucleus of an atom like planets orbit the sun. In reality we can’t know where the electrons are precisely around the nucleus, but thanks to Quantum mechanics we can use wave functions to identify areas of high probability for finding electrons at various energy levels. Without getting into the heavy math of the wave functions, students are shown that electrons can be found in s, p, d, and f orbitals, and are shown what these orbitals look like on paper. Again, students tend to identify these shapes as absolute structures that contain electrons instead of probability clouds that indicate where we have the best chance to find electrons.
I came across a shareware program last year for the Mac called Atom in a Box that displays atomic orbitals in real-time. It shows electron orbitals as a cloud, and helps students relate that the cloud’s density is determined by the orbital’s probability of containing electrons. It provides a more accurate visual representation of how these clouds exist, and how they interact and orientate around a nucleus. Some of the options in the program are beyond the scope of most high school chemistry classes, but I still find great benefit in showing orbital clouds for a few energy levels studied in class because it helps students understand that these are probability clouds, not finite structures.
Showing quantum state: n=3, l=1, m=0. In the program this would be a rotating fluctuating image.
In a TED talk from March 2008 Robert Ballard paints the argument for increased exploration of the oceans here on planet Earth. 75% of the planet is covered in water, but we have mapped and explored a surprisingly small amount of it. He makes the point that we have maps of Venus and Mars but pretty much all of the underwater land owned by the United States stays a mystery. I respond that it’s a bit easier to map the cosmos since you can point cameras at it, while trying to develop an imaging system that can penetrate 3,700 metres of water (or just shy of 11,000 metres in the Mariana Trench) is still a great challenge. Exploring the oceans also involves dealing with immense levels of pressure — something not experienced in space. For every 10 metres one goes underwater the pressure experienced increases by 1 atmosphere (the pressure we feel at sea level). At only 30 metres underwater vehicles (and people) must combat 4 times the pressure they feel at sea level. With improvements in robotic technology it is becoming easier, and cheaper, to explore the ocean depths.
In this talk Robert shares his love for the underwater world, talks about the experiences he has had, shares the wonders of the deep, communicates some amazing facts, and confirms that things are getting a bit better for underwater exploration with the acquisition of a boat from the US government. Watch for a funny moment near the end of the talk where Robert trusts a student who isn’t old enough to drive with a multi-million dollar underwater vehicle.
Earth Knowledge is an environmental news portal that aggregates news from around the Internet and plots it on a map of the world. It sports a slick well designed layout, and provides a simple filtering system for different types of environmental news divided into the categories: Biological Diversity, Land, Water and Climate. Each of those categories is then divided into further sub-categories.
Earth Knowledge is a great resource for current environmental news that allows students to match the nature of the article with it’s location on the earth and ask the questions, “Does one region have more of a type of news article than other areas?” Earth Knowledge could be a great first stop for any environmental research project.
Not to be outdone by the current rage surrounding the homemade Wii remote interactive white board comes a homemade multi-touch surface. A simple webcam, a box, a piece of glass and tracing paper allows you to interact with your Windows machine through a multi-touch interface. These interfaces are being developed by a number of companies, with Microsoft being one of them, and are being used by a number of cable news networks for displaying and interacting with the US Primaries election data. Materials, discussion and software can be found on the website of the undergraduate students blog who is working on the project.
Phun is an pretty impressive piece of software that provides users the ability design and explore 2D multi-physics simulations. You can create any shapes you like, and link them together with hinges, springs, or play with the density, friction, or mass of the object. As a simulator of physics it seems to do a pretty good job, but I have not found an easy way to set it up to use it to demonstrate a physics lab i.e. an easy way to set up a situation with a known angle and sized object, to explore the affect of friction on an object sliding down a slope. The program can demonstrate such a situation fine, but it does not seem to be possible to link it to the math behind the situation. None the less it is an interesting program for building systems of objects that interact in ways described by most laws of physics, but I have not found a way to include it into an assessment based learning experience.
The GTA is an intensive, one-day event (8:30am-7:30pm) where participants get hands-on experience with Google’s free products and other technologies, learn about innovative instructional strategies, collaborate with exceptional educators, and immerse themselves in an innovative corporate environment. Upon completion, GTA participants become Google Certified Teachers who share what they learn with other K-12 educators in their local region.
They will be hosting 50 outstanding educators from across the country, with the selection process looking at their passion for teaching, their experience as leaders, and their use of technology in K-12 settings. Preference will be given to people who live within 90 minutes of Google, but anyone in the world can apply, as long as they know they are responsible for all travel and lodging costs. Applicants must submit a 1-minute video (via YouTube or Google Video) explaining, I assume, why they should be considered for the workshop.
I hope they select a healthy mixture of individuals who currently innovate in the classroom, along with those who want to but need a helping hand. Obviously the event will have a strong Google focus, and I’m sure many presentations will revolve around writing and sharing Google Docs, organizing with Google Calendar and Google Mail (free for educators), and doing research with Google Search, Google Notebook, and Google Reader.
