February 2012 - Posts

Transformations


28 February 12 08:47 PM
Yesterday we fooled a few bacteria into taking in some jellyfish DNA, and now they fluoresce green. Tomorrow I will take a few colonies of these and give them what we all need--food, shelter, and a little security, and I'll get a few million more by Thursday. Read More...
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Last Sunday in February, 2011


26 February 12 01:47 PM
A repeat from last year, almost to the day, to remnid me what matters.... Our crocuses bloomed today. A tiny horseshoe crab, smaller than my thumbnail, crawled out of the Delaware Bay. The day lilies are rising again, like Phoenixes from the snow's ashes. Read More...
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More evidence-based hypocrisy


26 February 12 10:30 AM
Among other things, Cerf recommends the governor convene a task force to explore... whether poor students should be "presumed to be educationally at-risk." Today's Star-Ledger Commissioner Chris Cerf--did you really say this? Chris Cerf is a bright man. Read More...
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Evidence-based hypocrisy


26 February 12 08:45 AM
This one meanders and is meant for heavy fire--I want to know why "evidenced-based research" is an oxymoron in education. I want to know why Gardner and Marzano are revered for their research. I want to understand why the cult of personality supersedes Read More...
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Teachers are not (yet) professionals, II


25 February 12 10:19 AM
Trust me, I get why we need unions. The NEA might want to remember that they need us even more than we need it. Here's the first one in this series . I have heard this refrain too many times in my second profession: "We're professionals, we deserve more Read More...
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"No ideas but in things"


22 February 12 08:07 PM
"No ideas but in things." --William Carlos Williams Stuff comes from stuff. That's a big deal. Everything you touch came from something else. If we ever truly taught science as knowledge, instead of as a means to magical goals, we'd get this. If we ever Read More...
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Et tu, Zappa?


21 February 12 08:55 PM
There's seems to be some confusion about my role. I am, of course, an agent of the government, of the public, of my town. I am a science teacher, which should mean I teach science. Arne says it means I am the linchpin of our economy. Einstein said I have Read More...
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Teachers are not (yet) professionals


19 February 12 06:42 PM
A scorpion, being a very poor swimmer, asked a turtle to carry him on his back across a river. "Are you mad?" exclaimed the turtle. "You'll sting me while I'm swimming and I'll drown." "My dear turtle," laughed the scorpion, "if I were to sting you, you Read More...
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The electric slide


18 February 12 09:32 AM
I occasionally borrow a hand-cranked generator from the physics folks a floor below. It's a very simple device, exquisitely crafted by someone likely dead now. It should work well for another hundred years. It's simple, and makes the concept of "generating" Read More...
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Curious thoughts


17 February 12 12:37 PM
I have had it up to my ears with folks reminding me about the natural curiosity of children, as though teachers spend their idle hours dreaming of ways to squelch it. Unless the definition of curiosity has evolved (which is quite possible in an ed world Read More...
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Gingko blues


15 February 12 06:37 PM
Do not ever follow any advice I give for eating anything. If something has an acetyl group in it, I'll try it. Some folks' skin reacts to the pulp, too. This is the Science Teacher blog, not Fine Foods . My favorite tree on the Bloomfield Green was cut Read More...
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Valentine's Day crankfest


14 February 12 05:38 PM
It's February, I'm a cranky, psoriatic mess. Let's get on with it: 1) If a union pushes a salary differential greater than 100% among the rank and file, it's not a union, it's a Ponzi scheme. Even if it's a teacher's union. Maybe especially if it's a Read More...
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Quahogs, Darwin, and grace


12 February 12 09:26 AM
Today is Darwin Day , honoring a complex man with a stunningly simpleidea that replaced the need for magical thinking. Folks may hold on to their magic, I know I do, but they can no longer use rational thinking to hold on to the idea that the Hand of Read More...
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Science vs. information


11 February 12 12:38 PM
OK, this is a long one, mostly scattered thoughts written on a snow day two years ago, after reading The Mayor of Casterbridge for the last time. It's mostly for me. If you want to come along for the ride, bring a steaming Thermos of coffee. People degrade Read More...
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Siemens STEM Institute video


09 February 12 07:00 PM
OK, I'm not sure I'm allowed to do this (but it's usually easier to be forgiven than get permission--my Mommy taught me that)--here's my video for the Siemens STEM Academy program this summer. Mind you, it was edited on a cheap laptop running Vista Home Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 5 Comments    

Siemen's STEM Institute: A Luddite Wants In


06 February 12 07:36 PM
I would like very much to go to the Siemen's STEM Institute this summer, though after today, I'm not sure they'd welcome me in their midst. I've spent hours wrestling with a Flip camera , MS Movie Maker, and and apparent conflict between the chip set Read More...
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The Dayton Street shuffle


04 February 12 07:41 AM
The superintendent of the Newark Public Schools system announced that the city state will close down seven schools; the fate of the students and staff has not yet been publicly announced. Ms. Anderson's attempt to go into specifics ended with her walking Read More...
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Elementary science lesson


02 February 12 08:01 PM
I love my Newton's cradle, and various versions have amused me for decades now. Harrod's popularized them as desktop toys way back when, but not because they're scientifical. They're just plain fun. They're also as obvious as the nose on a polar bear's Read More...
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Imbolc


01 February 12 08:33 PM
An Cailleach Bhearra wandered around back in the 10th century in western Ireland, eating "seaweed, salmon, and wild garlic" (my kind of woman), looking for firewood. If the day was bright and sunny, beware--she had gathered plenty of wood and was set Read More...
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