TED Talk: New Mindset for how we think about students, inspired by Quantum science!

  I wanted to share my TED Talk, just out, about the Quantum Revolution in Education. In order to break educators everywhere from the traditional mindset that all students will more or less get the same experience and learning from any given lesson teachers provide, we need a more realistic mindset that drives home the fact students are unique, with their own emotional and intellectual states! 

They DO NOT get the same experience from any lesson we do! We must then ACT and INTERACT with students in different ways if we really mean what we say with "No Child Left Behind." 

This mindset is inspired by quantum mechanics, of all things, so check it out. 

If you have Internet: Use Netlogo to learn programming and do computational science

 Northwestern University researchers created a programming platform called Netlogo some years ago, and it's likely a million students, graduate students and even professors have used this to learn how to program, run its hundreds of prewritten simulations in just about every STEM field for assignments, or used it for actual, high-level research that is agent-based. 

If you have any Internet access, you can use any type of computer to access Netlogo. 

By agents, we mean individual objects or even organisms. Netlogo is designed to, as easily as can be done, develop programs and simulations where individual entities interact with each other by some set of rules or mathematical law. You can do orbits, for example, since this is just individual objects interacting through Newton's law of gravity. You can do growth of bacteria, since those are individual organisms that follow some statistical rule for reproduction. You can simulate forest fires since each tree is an individual organism (an agent), and the spread of fire follows a relatively simple rule (if a neighboring tree catches fire, those trees next to it will catch on fire). 

It is worthwhile to check this out. You can download it, or run it on the Web, so even ChromeBooks can use Netlogo. There is a library with hundreds of examples, and you are free to modify the code for any of them to learn the language and create your own versions of the original simulation! 

If Everyone saw this TED talk, there would be fewer deniers of climate change

 If you can watch this video and still deny something weird is not going on with our planet, then I will not be able to understand what other evidence is needed (unless one has other agendas they're after, and the evidence is inconvenient). A wonderful classic TED talk by James Balog, showing what is happening to the world's glaciers and ice sheets through time-lapse photography. Check it out. It is pretty convincing. Happy Earth Day, and let's never stop trying to make change for the health of our planet and future generations...

Earth Day 2022 on April 22

 Earth Day is on Friday, April 22. Consider the U.N. SDGs again - are there little things you can do this week, and then perhaps every week, to help? Reducing time in the shower. Recycling. Turning lights and other electrical devices/appliances off. Composting food waste. Buying food you need, and reducing food waste and excess. Put some plants in the ground. Pick up litter in the neighborhood. Donate to and/or volunteer at a favorite organization doing good work. Post these types of actions on your social media platforms, encourage others to do the same (remember the multiplier effect on impact!). Be kind, compassionate and empathetic to others, while being grateful and respectful for what we have in our lives compared to most on the planet. 

Thanks for considering!! This is the only home we have, let's respect it and take care of it, always. 

Elementary and Middle School Teachers may find SEE SAW Lessons useful

While this set of SEE SAW lessons developed to primarily help those schools overseas that do not have materials, supplies, equipment, or electricity and Internet access, teachers here in the United States and any other country or region may find them useful, as well, particularly elementary and middle schools that have limited supplies/equipment and/or time to do science. Unfortunately, some elementary schools only have an hour of science time every 1-2 weeks, as much more time is dedicated to reading and mathematics. Also, many elementary and middles schools have limited science budgets and access to materials and equipment. But in a STEM dominated world and economy, science education is obviously vital throughout a child's educational experience, including starting strong in elementary school. 

SEE SAW lessons are designed exactly for these situations! As always, feel free to use anything linked on this site. Use them as written, modify them for what best works for your classes, and even use them just to get ideas and see what's possible with nearly no equipment or resources and develop your own lab activities or demonstrations for the concepts and topics you study. 

Physics Activity: Projectile Motion and predicting landing spots

 Lesson Plan for Projectile Motion and predicting where objects will land.                                                   Student lab sheet (includes how to find uncertainties in the predicted landing spot).

Projectile motion is studied in most physics classes, since projectiles are so common in our lives. The idea that the parabolic trajectory of a thrown or kicked ball is due to the combination of a horizontal motion of constant velocity with a vertical motion of constant acceleration (free fall) can be eye-opening for anyone who has wondered why things move along those curves in the first place! 

For those who want a more detailed explanation of the math behind projectile motion, check here. A second video looks at the change in trajectory when air friction is added. 

For those who have access to the Internet and want computer simulations, check this PhET simulation you can experiment with. 

Physics Activity - Modeling radioactive half-lives

 Lab sheet for students for Radioactive Half-lives (for introductory class)                                                     More advanced lab sheet for Radioactive Half-lives

Radioactivity is one of those words that largely scares people. It isn't always a bad thing, in fact our own bodies have radioactive materials in them! This term refers to the process of certain atomic nuclei spontaneously and randomly breaking down, where the parent nucleus decays/splits apart into other pieces. The 'stuff' that comes out of that decay process is radiation. Most radioactive processes result in one of three types of radiation being emitted from the material: alpha, beta, and gamma particles. 

Alpha particles consist of 2 protons and 2 neutrons (a helium nucleus). Beta particles/rays are electrons coming from the nucleus, as a result of a neutron decaying into a proton and electron (yes, neutrons are radioactive). Gamma rays are high-energy photons coming from the nucleus. 

One of the key properties of radioactive materials is their half-life. This is the time it takes an initial sample of a radioactive material to have half of that material decay. So if a half-life is 1 year, a 10 kilogram sample of the material will decay and about 5 kilograms will remain. In another year, only around 2.5 kilograms will remain. In another year, only around 1.25 kilograms will remain, and so on. Half lives can ranges from fractions of seconds to over a billion years! 

This lesson requires any large number of 2-sided items, such as coins or even a deck or two of playing cards. If you have certain candies available, such as M&Ms or Skittles, those can be used and students can eat them once done. Each time you have a cup-full of the items (it is ideal to have around 100 items for a small group of students to use as their 'radioactive sample'), that would represent one decay cycle over a half-life period. One side of the coins or candies represent an atom that decayed, and the other side means the atom is still 'alive.' Students count and keep the alive atoms, spill them again, and repeat until all atoms have decayed/died. Graphing the number of alive atoms to the spill number (i.e. how many half lives have gone by), students get the curve scientists use to determine how old certain fossils and other items are when they find them. It is an interesting procedure and method for doing this type of work! 

Biology Activity: Extracting your own DNA

 Lesson plan for Extracting your own DNA with simple supplies                                                                         Video showing how to extract your DNA

Every cell in our body has DNA, the molecule with our genetic information. This is at the heart of the study of genetics, and determines to a large degree who we are and what we look like. Because it is a central topic in any biology class, having a way for students to physically experience it and literally see their own DNA can be not just informative but also inspirational and one of those moments they will remember about their schooling! If you have the materials to do this, it is worth it! 

Math Activity: Solving Open-ended problems with mathematical modeling

If your students have access to the Internet, this is possible.                                                                   Video series explaining and showing what mathematical modeling is.

Open-ended problems are real-world, complex problems that do NOT have a SINGLE correct solution. Instead, these are problems that require a mathematical model (a set of equations) that address a more complex situation than what we normally would give students, and must use assumptions relevant to the problem in order to begin developing the model. These are like the actual problems professional applied mathematicians develop. Depending on the assumptions one starts with, viable solutions will be different from person to person. 

There is a competition that allows students to have a chance to try this process, and attempt to develop a possible solution to open-ended problems. This site has all sorts of resources, including an Archives page that has numerous examples of this type of problem AND the top six solution papers for each problem; and a Resources page with booklets, videos, teaching guidelines, and examples of what math modeling is and how to approach it. 

For high school/secondary aged students, these types of complex problems and the process of developing mathematical models based on assumptions, data and other evidence, can expose students to actual real-world problems that can only be approached in this manner, and allow students to apply what they've learned in STEM classes over the years in a more practical way. 

Physics Activity: Determine the acceleration of gravity & Mass of the earth with a Pendulum

 Lesson plan for using a pendulum to determine acceleration of gravity, g, and Mass of the Earth.                 Example of lab sheet for students.

A pendulum is one of the simplest devices to build and use in an experimental activity. And the main property of a pendulum we can measure and use is its period, or the time it takes a pendulum mass to be released, swing across, and then back to where it started. It turns out that by knowing the length and period of a pendulum, one can calculate the acceleration due to gravity, g. For Earth this is g = 9.8 m/s^2 at its surface. This value is also the measure of the strength of the gravitational field of the Earth. 

A bonus calculation one can do once we have a value or g is to determine the mass of the Earth! This is because the gravitational acceleration depends on the mass of the planet, g = GM/R^2, where M is the mass of the earth, G is the gravitational constant, and R is the radius of the earth. These values are provided in the lesson plan. 

It is a fascinating idea that the mass of an entire planet can be determined using, effectively, a piece of string! 

Chemistry activity: Determination of Density

Link to lesson plan for measuring densities. 

Density is a property of materials which can be vital in determining an unknown material. This is because each material has its own unique density value. 

Density is defined as the amount of mass packed into a given volume of space, or                              Density = Mass/Volume, D = M/V. This is therefore a relatively easy value to determine in the laboratory, if one has a balance or scale to measure mass, and containers such as beakers or graduated cylinders for measuring the volume of displaced water when an object is put into the water. Here is an example of a table of elements, arranged from lowest density to highest density. Here is a extensive list of densities for different materials. 

It can be fun to have students to take some small number of objects, determine their densities, and then find the closest match on these lists to see if they can identify what the object of made of! 

Donate to EducAid - Evanston fundraising for female hygiene

 A group of my students are doing fundraising in our school that will be sent to EducAid in Sierra Leone. The goal is for this money to be used to help girls attain feminine hygiene products, which are often difficult for them to come by or afford. They also want to raise awareness of menstrual shaming so many girls suffer just about anywhere in the world. If you are able to help out, even small donations add up and allow for good things to happen on the ground!! 

The Progress in lighting up the world

 One of the reasons for the SEE-SAW project is the lack of access to electricity for too many people around the world. Obviously, the lack of electricity is devastating on how one can do scientific investigations, let alone have access to this blog since you would not have computers with Internet access. 

While this is one of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), that is, to have all countries and people with access to electricity by the year 2030, what is the progress towards the goal? This site uses data from the World Bank from 1998 through 2019, and it is estimated that the number of people without electricity dipped below 1 billion in 2015. Keep in mind that the first power plant for any city was built in 1882. Let's hope this trend continues and does, in fact, we can light up the entire world!