The New Global Student Prize - Read and Be Inspired by what young people can and are doing!!

 The Varkey Foundation, which has run the Global Teacher Prize Program since 2015, has now started the Global Student Prize, where a student (high school through college) can win up to $100,000 as a top award. If you want to learn of some AMAZING impacts students have had all around the world, and on national and global scales, check out the Top 50 Finalist students! This is not necessarily STEM related, but reading some of the stories could be fun for you. 

Public Science - The Zooniverse (if you have Internet access)

You may have heard of public science, or maybe not. In most fields of science, there are datasets that are SO LARGE that there are not enough actual scientists in those fields to look at it all. And there are some things that people are still better at seeing and identifying or classifying from a dataset than computers are. How do scientists handle the analysis of such large datasets? 

Bring in the global public! 

If you have access to the Internet, you can get involved in actual, cutting-edge research! 

Some non-professionals are even getting their names on published papers for their contributions to new discoveries, such as new exoplanets.

Check out the Zooniverse website - there are over 80 big data projects that you can participate in, no experience required. Check out all the options, in dozens of different fields! 

Activity: Distance vs Displacement vectors

Link to Distance vs Displacement Lab Activity

 Early in physics classes, in mechanics, we often get into the topics of distance and displacement, or speed and velocity. These are issues of scalar vs vector. 

To demonstrate the differences between scalars and vectors, and specifically distance-displacement (and you can include speed-velocity, too), this mapping activity is useful for students since it actively gets them walking on paths that will clearly distinguish the differences between distance-displacement and even speed-velocity, if the teachers chooses. 

The only equipment needed is some sort of ruler or meter stick, ideally graph paper (or just paper), and if you want to include speed and velocity you will need some type of clock or timer. 

UNESCO Science Report 2021

Here's some motivation for tomorrow's scientists, engineers, and researchers in whatever technical field you are interested in. Most of the big global problems we face will require STEM to help find viable solutions. Get a sense of where the world is in the short video below on sustainability research, coming from UNESCO, the UN branch for science and education. There is a great need for more research and work into sustainability topics that matter for literally billions of people, but so much effort and resources (both human and financial) goes into things like artificial intelligence and robotics, sustainability and other global issues are often forgotten, and little funding exists for them. This is especially true in poorer countries, of course, but those are often the same countries that suffer from poverty and lack of STEM talent or resources. 

The full Report is here. It will take a minute to download, it is over 750 pages long, but check it out by sections that interest you. 

Calculus-based Physics Videos for Mechanics and E&M (if you have Internet access)

 I wanted to share a site with videos on how to think about and do all sorts of mechanics and electricity & magnetism (E&M) topics off my class blog. There are over 100 videos on topics that are part of the Advanced Placement course AP Physics C in the USA. Just scroll down, mechanics is first and then E&M.

If you have Internet access and an interest in engineering and physics major type work from introductory college classes, these may be helpful for you! Please enjoy and share. 

Maths Lessons for 2nd Annual Math Fair in Sierra Leone

 Here are links to new lessons used in the 2021 Maths Fair in Sierra Leone! Special thanks to Anna Pierrehumbert, as well as Jessica Wasilewski and Brigitte Bentele, who wrote these up! It was another wonderful success, so feel free to use these in addition to last year's lessons at the Maths Fair. 

Here are lessons in: 

- Coordinate geometry

- Matrices

- Mensuration: Circles, Area

- Numeration: Bases

- Numeration: Logs  You will also need the log flip book.

- Probability

Check here for lessons from the 2020 Maths Fair. 

The Essence of Calculus channel

 For those who do have Internet access, and want to have a more visual way of learning and understanding calculus, there is a well-done channel of 12 videos you may want to check out. Calculus is the math that is essential for understanding how things change with respect to others, and is necessary for the sciences and all other dynamic disciplines. Check it out! 

Finding the strength of Earth's gravitational field (g) and mass with a Pendulum!

Link to Determination of g using a Pendulum lab sheet.  

For a physics class studying anything about gravity, this is a simple and quick experiment that will allow students to determine the acceleration of gravity, g, which is typically 9.8 m/s^2, and is actually the measure of the strength of the gravitational field of the earth, using nothing but a simple pendulum! 

What's more, if you know g, then you can also calculate the mass of the entire planet!! With a piece of string and a little weight tied to the end that can swing! 

Check out this lab. The only materials includes a piece of string and something to tie at the end, perhaps a small stick, or paperclips or a washer. Also a ruler and a way to measure the time it takes the pendulum to swing once back and forth. That time is called the period of the pendulum. The lab gives the formula for the period of the pendulum, and by inserting the length and period time, one can calculate the acceleration due to gravity, g. 

But then we can use the notion from Newton's law of gravity, that g = GM/R^2, where G is the gravitational constant and R is the radius of the earth (given in the lab), and M is the mass of the earth that a student can solve for. Students can get good results to within a few percent if they are careful with their time measurement of the period.