August 2011 - Posts

Intelligent curriculum?


29 August 11 10:08 PM
When anyone suggests that we not teach evolution in school, he is suggesting that we not teach biology, and in a broader sense, science. So let's be more frank about the discussion--do we teach science, or something else pretending to be science (which Read More...
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Science and the art of Perrymandering


27 August 11 05:18 PM
I could be a Rastafarian, a witch, or a Hindu. Maybe I'm a Jainist, a Buddhist, or a Scientologist. I might worship the sun, the moon, or maybe even both. ' As a science teacher, it matters not a whit. And here we have potential future Presidents insisting Read More...
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Mixed message


26 August 11 08:26 PM
On the cover of NEA Today , the National Education Association trumpets teachers as change agents. Inside, we have "Create! Communicate! Collaborate!" pushing the best in education technology. Go us! Then I peek at the Talkback section, where under "Confiscate Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 1 Comments    

A Clockwork Yellow


24 August 11 10:12 PM
If you want to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe. Carl Sagan I think clocks did as much to squash our spirits as anything else, but the history of time is fascinating, and surprisingly silent given its effects on our culture. Read More...
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Quakers


23 August 11 09:43 PM
I am glad today was not a school day in New Jersey. Those of us sitting on the state's udder, the tip of Cape May county, got a nice ride for less than we'd pay at Morley's , and countless afternoon chats under the sun made the surreal feel real. Now Read More...
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No Khan Do


22 August 11 09:24 PM
Salman Khan makes educational videos, lots of educational videos, using a simple technique--he draws out his thoughts on a "blackboard," while he thinks aloud. Much like someone unwrapping a problem on a napkin or on an old slate blackboard. Bill Gates Read More...
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Seine thoughts


21 August 11 12:36 PM
Went seining yesterday with my brother and my niece, dragging our net along the edge of the Delaware Bay looking for whatever. We found lady crabs, spearing, a croaker fry, lots of comb jellies, a blue claw, a few hermit crabs, and a horseshoe crab molt. Read More...
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What your child's science teacher believes


18 August 11 11:24 AM
This is from last year--as the school year approaches, I like to lay things out, re-evaluate them, tweak as need be. I may be teaching your child soon--here are some of the things I believe: General Jack D. Ripper had a point, fluoridating public water Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 1 Comments    

Breaking down biology


16 August 11 09:48 PM
Thermodynamics started out as steam punk physics, but now explains, well, everything. There is a non-trivial element of faith the the Second Law of Thermodynamics, one we dance around when we toss the idea of the Big Bang around in science class. Every Read More...
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On nothing in particular


15 August 11 10:05 AM
Students seem amazed that the idea of "0" as a number is a relatively new concept, but students also see "0" as a numeral, as solid and inevitable as a "3" or a "7"--as most of us do. How could zero be invisible to the Greeks? (It wasn't, of course...but Read More...
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Bats!


13 August 11 08:38 AM
Last night was Perseids night --we had our lawn chairs out, the full moon's light blocked by the garage at our backs. The mosquitoes, our state bird, were scarce enough that we had not slathered on whatever state-of-the-art organic compounds we use to Read More...
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Fracking logic


11 August 11 07:32 AM
According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, fracturing fluids typically contain about 90 percent water, about 9 percent propping agents like silica sand and less than 0.5 percent chemicals. International Business Times , Read More...
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Grain moon


10 August 11 08:27 PM
The Grain moon of summer moves perceptibly Through the white birch we did not plant But showed up as a sapling when our child still suckled And now drapes over the pond that a young one Dug when she needed to dig. Daphnia dance in the shadows of the birch Read More...
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Nothingness is a huge part of everything


10 August 11 06:14 PM
I ramble on a lot. I edit a lot, too, hard as that might be to believe, tossing out about 7 or 8 words for every one that I leave. Yes, I know, anything less than a 10:1 scrub ratio marks me as an amateur too in love with his darlings.... Mary Ann Reilly Read More...
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Natural world


10 August 11 09:52 AM
If you know a bit About the universe It's because you've taken it in Like that, Looked as hard As you look into yourself, Into the rat hole, Through the vetch and dock That mantled it. Because you've laid your cheek Against the rush clump And known soft Read More...
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Nagasaki


09 August 11 08:54 AM
On August 9, 1945, just over 2 1/2 pounds of plutonium was converted to energy 1650 feet over Nagasaki. Two and a half pounds--about the weight of a 28 week premature newborn baby. 長崎 Yosuke Yamahata, A Japanese army photographer, took this picture the Read More...
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Arne the Disincentivizer


08 August 11 07:05 AM
The No Child Left Behind law requires that 100% of children in public education are proficient in math and reading (jn English) by 2014. The law is absurd, something recognized even by those with minimal contact with reality in the fantasy bubble of D.C. Read More...
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Hiroshima and horseshoe crabs


07 August 11 05:17 PM
The time between anniversaries of the uranium bomb dropped on Hiroshima, plutonium on Nagasaki, have the same off-center pull on me of the awful hours on Good Friday. Attaching this disequilibrium to specific times is, of course, a human conceit, as is Read More...
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Stars and storytelling


05 August 11 11:28 AM
I've been immersed in the new esocial culture the past week, even carried around an iPod for a couple of days. I wandered down to D.C. for the march , then back up to NYC for #edu140 . I saw incredible visionaries seduce their audiences with words, with Read More...
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Redemtion song


01 August 11 06:32 PM
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, None but ourselves can free our minds. Bob Marley We're at that point now. We were at it once before in my lifetime. I know what fresh bread baked from wheat ground by my hands tastes like. I know what blueberries Read More...
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Weodmonað


01 August 11 09:52 AM
Yep, mostly the same post third time around--I like the rhythm of the year. We call it August now, for Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus , a short guy with bad teeth, but this was less of an issue before television--the name was dragged over to England by Read More...
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