Browse by Tags

All Tags » photosynthesis   (RSS)

Breathing biology


23 January 12 07:36 PM
We got beans growing in our classroom. Three gorgeous rattlesnake pods hanging from a vine, the soft purple puff of a flower between the second and third bean. Most of the stuff that makes up these beans is carbon dioxide, much of it from the breath of Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 3 Comments    
Filed under:

,

,

,

,

,

Catechism in the classroom


17 December 11 08:59 AM
I have a lovely cross-section of an ash tree in class, about an inch thick and almost two feet wide. It makes a great sound when I rap it with my knuckle, its heft is just right, and it still smells great. Bored students count its rings, so I know it Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 0 Comments    
Filed under:

,

,

,

,

Dark


15 December 11 06:20 PM
Last week of the sinking sun. The Earth hurtles closer to the sun, but my little piece of paradise edges more and more oblique to the sun, our source of light, of life. We're in the dark season. *** The bell still rings at 7:45 in the morning. It's not Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 1 Comments    
Filed under:

,

,

,

,

,

,

,

Teaching photosynthesis


11 December 11 08:23 AM
I work hard to make my classroom "unscientifical." I discovered not so long ago that some students learn just enough scientifical vocabulary to throw me off their scent. We are raising a generation of liturgists. I ask specific questions no one truly Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 10 Comments    
Filed under:

,

,

,

On misconceptions


27 November 11 06:55 AM
The deeper I dig into how much a child understands a particular idea, the more I realize persistent misconceptions can be. We have plenty of places for magical thinking in our culture: horoscopes, good luck charms, religious incantations, and the stock Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 12 Comments    
Filed under:

,

,

Last harvest


22 January 11 01:22 PM
Then the LORD God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living soul. As I was poking around the classroom garden yesterday, getting the plants ready for the weekend, I found a Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 0 Comments    
Filed under:

,

,

,

,

,

,

,

Bell jar


12 January 11 09:59 AM
No, nothing metaphorical. The real thing. I cleared out some space from one of our hallway exhibits to make room for our horseshoe crab art exhibit--a wonderful art teacher is integrating art and science, and the results have been lovely. I took out an Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 1 Comments    
Filed under:

,

,

,

Faith and fear


07 January 11 02:27 PM
For I took an Earthen vessel, in which I put 200 pounds of Earth that had been dried in a Furnace, which I moystened with Rainwater, and I implanted therein the Trunk or Stem of a Willow Tree, weighing five pounds; and at length, five years being finished, Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 0 Comments    
Filed under:

,

,

,

,

On balance


05 November 10 07:08 AM
Theology alert--f eel free to jump in.... This was inspired by Father Sean and Brother John and the Reverend Scott. Balance. We need balance in our lives. Overwhelmed? Seek balance. An innocuous philosophy--who could possibly be against balance? A madman Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 0 Comments    
Filed under:

,

,

,

,

,

,

,

,

,

,

Bloomfield's sidewalk astronomers catch a galaxy


22 November 09 05:33 AM
I advise the Bloomfield High School Astronomy Club--we are sidewalk warriors, fighting the glare of streetlights, security beacons, and gaudy church steeples. A few times each night flashing emergency lights roar past us a few feet away. We live under Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 11 Comments    
Filed under:

,

,

,

,

Communion


30 June 09 08:42 PM
Our neighbor's father died last night after a brief but ravaging illness. The usual laughter rising over the fence has been missing the last few weeks, and I suspect it will be some time before it returns. An earlier thunderstorm cleaned the air, as they Read More...
Postedfrom doyle | 4 Comments    
Filed under:

,