al-mofhariz

Recently, the webcomic xkcd  spurred some discussion with a description of the Saturn V rocket that managed to use only the thousand (or "ten-hundred") most common English words. Entitled " Up Goer Five ," the strip provided a jargon-free explanation of rocket architecture and sparked a bit of reflection about the role of technical language in science and its wider dissemination. Detail from "Up Goer Five" (http://xkcd.com/1133/) In that sense, Up Goer Five is a bit like  #overlyhonestmethods , which I covered  here . Both highlight the possibilities (and pitfalls) of effective science communication, and both provide interesting opportunities for meditating on what role (if any) the social study of science might play in that process, and how such analysis fits with scientists' own public self-reflection. The phenomenon really took off with (1)  Theo Sanderson's web-based text editor  (that spell-checks every word you type against the ten-hundred co...

Integration...a big idea.  In the past, I have thought of integration as a form of connecting topics or themes across content areas.  Think about teaching Ecosystems and reading about animals, using animals to measure or do math, as well as learning about it in science. That's really more like Cross Curricular, isn't it? But Integration is when we teach thinking ideas or structures in all areas of your curriculum.  For example, we are learning about compare and contrast this month.  How are we doing this? First we introduced the concept of Compare and Contrast as a whole group using photos of colonial Virginia houses based on architecture of German and English settlers.  By observing the pictures, students were able to notice what was similar and different. Then we introduced the signal words: Compare (how they are alike) and Contrast (how they are different).  Signal words for compare: also, both, too, similar, the same as,more, like, as well as,...

Roller coaster designs....you have read that I begin my force and motion unit using the lessons created by Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan in More Picture Perfect Science Lessons.   But what comes next?  I felt like I needed to extend the unit more - to cover other concepts besides pushes and pulls. First, I wanted students to test and explore how to increase a marble's speed by changing the hill height. Next, I wanted students to explore what happens when you change the mass of the marble.  So we used four different marble sized balls - one of play dough, one with texture and one metal ball bearing. We weighed the mass of each ball before we experimented on our roller coaster tubes. The children were able to record true data that measured time and mass. But what next???? I wanted students to learn how to write better conclusions, so I created several cards with their individual conclusions.  The students were able to analyze the responses and decide which were clear...

Say hello to your little friends—all 100 trillion of them. Each of us harbors about 1,000 microbial species in our noses, mouths, and guts; on our skin . Together, they weigh an astonishing 2 to 5 pounds. If you’re worried about the aliens within, don’t be. A torrent of new medical and genetic research shows that your microbiome is essential to your survival . These itty-bitty bugs help you metabolize food and build your immune system . They make vitamins and protect you from getting sick. The director of NYU’s Human Microbiome Program , Dr. Martin Blaser is at the forefront of this new research on the jungle of microorganisms inside us. While medical science has traditionally focused on “bad” microbes —the germs that cause illness and how to eradicate them—Dr. Blaser and other pioneering researchers have flipped that idea inside-out, investigating good germs and their role in health and disease . He asks: --How did the human microbiome evolve ? Are we humans actually ecosyst...

We asked historian of science Christopher J. Phillips, an expert on quantification in American public life, to reflect on the role of statistics—and Nate Silver—in the coverage of the 2012 election. He was kind enough to write us the following guest post; you can find out more about his work  here . The 2012 election was a "Moneyball Election" and Nate Silver its big winner. Or so proclaimed   the New Yorker 's Adam Gopnik.  He was certainly not alone. Deadspin's David Roher  lamented the "braying idiots"   detracting from Silver's well-deserved limelight; President Obama jokingly praised Silver   for having "nailed" the prediction of this year's Thanksgiving Turkey; and Wired's Angela Watercutter perhaps  gave the ultimate compliment   by calling Silver a "Nerdy Chuck Norris."  Silver, for anyone who has spent the last few years under a rock, is the creator of the (mostly) political blog FiveThirtyEight . Picked up ...

I am so excited about our next engineering project in our STEM related curriculum.  We made Rube Goldberg machines! First, there are some excellent interactive computer programs that your students can do either at home or at school. I found it interesting to watch my students complete these tasks...at first, they were impatient because it takes thinking to solve the tasks.  But with patience and testing again and again, they were able to solve the puzzle. The first one is from FOSS (of course)....You get to manipulate the different parts of the machine to catch a burglar. The other one is from Zoom with PBS.  This one has more parts in the contraption, but it is really fun.  When you finish it, the skateboard delivers lunch to the crew! Next I presented them with a design brief - You can purchase this design brief at Teachers Pay Teachers if you would like your own copy!  The students spent a day in their science groups planning what materials they would use t...

I've recently had the pleasure of interviewing David Kinkela , Associate Professor of History at SUNY Fredonia and -- of particular note here at AmericanScience -- winner of the 2012 FHSA book prize for his DDT& The American Century: Global Health Environmental Politics, and the Pesticide that Changed the World (University of North Carolina Press, 2011). The book is a remarkable exploration of the history of DDT and especially the domestic politics of its global use. (You can read an excerpt here .) I'll leave Dave to explain in his own words the significance of this history and his approach to telling it, as he does in our interview below. As I think you'll agree, it really should be assigned reading for many American policymakers much as historians of American science. Helen : I just finished your book this evening, which has got me fairly brimming over with questions. I found it a really thought provoking read -- and one that answers a lot of quest...

Rocket into deep space with astrophysicist and author Jeremiah Ostriker as he explores dark matter and  dark energy! Making up 95 percent of the known Cosmos, the Dark Duo are maddeningly invisible—yet they shape the very structure of the Universe and drive its expansion . Is dark energy the fabric of space itself? Is dark matter comprised of yet-to-be-discovered subatomic particles? How do scientists detect the undetectable?  Drawing on his new book, Heart of Darkness: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Invisible Universe , Dr. Ostriker discusses the latest theories, observations, and data —as well as mind-boggling questions that remain. Jeremiah Ostriker is professor of astronomy at Columbia University and emeritus professor of astrophysics at Princeton University . A pioneering researcher in the field of cosmology and author of more than 500 scientific papers, he has been awarded the National Medal of Science , the Gold Medal from the Royal Astronomical Society , and th...

This year my colleague and I have been working on the idea of the Flipped Classroom.  Do you know what that is? It's an idea where instead of content lectures in class, they are presented with content material at home.  The idea is to "flip" lectures, so that there is more time for exploration and investigations in class .  I have never really been a "lecture" teacher - but, truth be told...we do need to teach content.  In the past, I have spent time introducing content through non-fiction books, content charts, diagrams on chart paper, and through videos.  All of these methods I still use, however, now I have also added the blog idea for homework. We started this idea of flipping by subscribing to a very well known "flip" resource that my son was using in high school.  I thought...why not!  Well, it didn't work for us...within one hour of the  site going live we had over 200 comments from our students.  They were using it as a social outlet...

This week, a hashtag trended on Twitter that will be of particular interest to historians, sociologists, and other students of science: #overlyhonestmethods. One site has called it science's PostSecret ; 75 of the best examples have been curated at  Storif y. Here's what they look like: Frank, humorous admissions (or inventions?) of how protocols are cobbled together and assumptions are papered over, the #overlhonestmethods meme makes for great reading, especially for those of us interested in the gap between representation and reality in scientific practice and publishing. Bloggers at The Guardian , Scientific American , the Public Library of Science , and elsewhere have weighed in, most seeing #overlyhonestmethods as a refreshing peek inside the black box of science. Here, I'll inventory a few of the strands in the conversation, and offer some thoughts on what it all means. The Guardian 's headline captures what's at stake: "Scientists take to Twitter to rev...

Do you remember playing Mousetrap as a child? I loved the idea of setting up the trap and watching it fall into place.... Can you even find them anymore?  Little did I know that I was building my own "Rube Goldberg" Machine. With the onset of YouTube in the classroom, I have fallen in love with sharing these machines with my students. My classroom full of future engineers and kinesthetic learners have fallen in love with them too.  Here's a great Mythbusters video for the holidays (wish I had seen it last month!)   Stay tuned for how my kids made their own versions in science class!     Comment:

Every year we use foam tubes and marbles to teach the concept of force and motion using the lesson plans created by Karen Ansberry and Emily Morgan.  Have you read the book More Picture Perfect Science Lessons? or the sister book Picture Perfect Science Lessons ? Both of these books include science lessons based on children's literature in a meaningful context - based on the 5 E's of Inquiry. You can buy them at NSTA or Amazon for about $36.  They are well worth the money! Recently...I was browsing YouTube and found an excellent explanation of this same lesson that we do each year that was taped in Kansas City.  The teacher does a great job of explaining what she is doing and why she is doing it.  She explains the 5 E's - Engage, Explore, Explain, Extend and Evaluate It is a perfect example of the program with great modeling by the teacher.  I enjoyed seeing her cute additions to the lesson - the kids wear lab coats and safety goggles! She al...