Friday, September 24, 2010

W3C announce workshop on Web privacy

W3C is pleased to announce a Workshop on Internet Privacy: How can Technology help to improve Privacy on the Internet?, which takes place at MIT in Cambridge, MA (USA) on 8-9 December 2010. Who we are (e.g. our thoughts, dreams, feelings, DNA sequence), what we own (such as financial property), what we have experienced and how we behave (audio/visual/olfactory transcripts), and how we can be reached (location, endpoint identifiers) are among the most personal pieces of information about us. More and more of this information is being digitized and made available electronically. [Read More:http://www.w3.org/ ]


Here is a workshop well worth attending, if you are able to go.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Say a student found a paper on, "Rotted Wood." What would you do?

"Look, teacher. I want to do my project on rotted wood. I like history and this paper has history."

So, here it is. The student found the paper, "Rotted wood - alga - fungus: the history and life of Prototaxites DAWSON 1859," by Francis M. Hueber.

There might be difficult vocabulary, however, the student interest in this topic will keep him or her motivated. So, what can the student do next and not get discouraged?

Well, a good start is to look at the complete reference and note that down in the project notebook. This helps a student avoid plagiarism and also saves time trying to retrieve references later.

Hueber, Francis M. 2001. Rotted wood - alga - fungus: the history and life of Prototaxites DAWSON 1859. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology. Elsevier. 116:123-158.

At this point, don't worry about the format. Just be sure that all the necessary information to cite is obtained. You can think about style and the citation format to use later. Students should learn, however, that the citation manual is not, "the way my teacher told me to do it." (Author's aside: I have seen so many students coming to college not having heard of style manuals. They come into class and want to do what their prior teacher said without knowing about style manuals.)

Skim the paper and look at the pictures, remembering, "No one knows all the words," (Beinetti, J., 1989. Personal communication). The Beinetti quote is a good one for students to remember to not get discouraged. Continue with the Reach ReadingTM technique. ( For info on this technique, contact me.)

Look at the parts of the paper:

  • Title,
  • Author,
  • Abstract,
  • Introduction,
  • Brief History
  • Materials and Methods,
  • Systematics,
  • Descriptions,
  • Ontogeny of the Sporophore,
  • Discussion,
  • Conclusion,
  • Acknowledgements,
  • References.
Is the student familiar with any of these parts? Does it look like a laboratory report or journal articles on laboratory experiments? Can the student link the format into his or her own knowledge and experience base?

Next, attack new vocabulary. Note that journal articles are special so, treat journals as precious. Don't write in them unless you own them. Use a photocopy to highlight any words not known. Remember, until you have read several journal articles in the same field, you may ave many new words. After reading about five articles, however, one starts to get a handle on the vocabulary.

Pause a moment and reflect. Did you (the student) know that there were plant fossils? Had you seen any before?

Let's look at the opening line in the abstract,"The Devonian flora discovered and collected by W. E. Logan in 1843 remained unstudied until 1855 at which time the collections were offered to J. W. Dawson." Hmmm!

"Devonian flora," a student might ask. Well, here's some information you can find on-line about the Devonian period:

http://www.historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/geology/eras/devonian.htm


Here is a sample of information you can find at this link.
Near the end of the Devonian period (360 million years ago), some larger and more complicated plants evolved on land too. These were mainly ferns. Some giant ferns were as big as trees, so that a lot of the land now became covered with thick, tall forests of giant ferns and mosses, and even a kind of fungus that could grow eight feet tall. But the very beginnings of plants with seeds, and even flowering plants, were also getting started at the end of the Devonian period. The Devonian period, like the Cambrian and the Silurian, ended with a crisis that killed off most of the plants and animals that were on Earth at that time.

Source: http://www.historyforkids.org/scienceforkids/geology/eras/devonian.htm. Accessed 9-21-2010.
Another online article discusses the Devonian period, giving more information. For example,

fish fossil

The Devonian Period of the Paleozoic Era lasted from 417 million years ago to 354 million years ago. It is named for Devon, England where the old red sandstone of the Devonian was first studied.
Source: http://www.fossils-facts-and-finds.com/devonian_period.html Accessed 9-21-2010.

Compare that to:
Devonian is named for England's Devonshire area where Devonian Outcrops are common. The Devonian follows the Silurian Period and precedes the Mississippian subperiod of the Carboniferous Period.

Source: http://encyclopedia.kids.net.au/page/de/Devonian_period. Accessed 9-21-2010.
A student might ask about, "Outcrops." What are they? How can he or she find out? A Google image search: http://www.google.com/images?q=outcropping%20Devonian&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&source=og&sa=N&hl=en&tab=wi&biw=1280&bih=611 Other ways?


Another quote on plants in the Devonian is shown below:
During the Devonian Period, life on land became abundant and diversified. Plants that emerged during this time period included club mosses, horstails, ferns, mosses, and liverworts. Towards the end of the Devonian, the first amphibians evolved. The earliest known fossil amphibian is Ichthyostega, known by a specimen that was unearthed in eastern Greenland.

Source: http://animals.about.com/od/d/g/devonianperiod.htm
. Accessed 9-21-2010.

Click here to link to a drawing of Devonian plants: http://universe-review.ca/I10-68-Devonian.jpg. Maybe the student would like to do his or her own drawing from verbal descriptions of the plants and then compare their idea(s) to the picture linked in this paragraph.

A student at Boston Latin School, Boston Latin Academy or other school studying classical languages migh like the sketch of club mosses and the Greek found here:
http://www.palaeos.com/Plants/Lycophytes/index.html
.

Source: http://www.palaeos.com/Plants/Lycophytes/index.html
. Accessed 9-21-2010.

Παλαεοσ
Paleos
Greek keyboard source: http://www.michael-robinett.com/language/greek/alphabet.htm. Accessed 9-21-2010.

A student might go to Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototaxites. Here is a quote on Prototaxites with a chance for a student to make a difference...A citation is needed:
The genus Prototaxites (pronounced /ˌproʊtɵˈtæksɨtiːz/) describes terrestrial organisms known only from fossils dating from the Silu-Devonian, approximately 420 to 370 million years ago. Prototaxites formed large trunk-like structures up to 1 metre (3 ft) wide, reaching 8 metres (26 ft) in height,[1] made up of interwoven tubes just 50 micrometres (0.0020 in) in diameter. Whilst traditionally very difficult to assign to an extant group of organisms, current opinion is converging to a fungal placement for the genus. It might have had an algal symbiont, which would make it a lichen rather than a fungus in the strict sense.[citation needed]

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototaxites. Accessed: 9-1-2010.


Note that the first cited article on the Wikipedia post is:
1. ^ a b c d Boyce, K.C.; Hotton, C.L.; Fogel, M.L.; Cody, G.D.; Hazen, R.M.; Knoll, A.H.; Hueber, F.M. (May 2007). "Devonian landscape heterogeneity recorded by a giant fungus" (PDF). Geology 35 (5): 399–402. doi:10.1130/G23384A.1. http://geology.geoscienceworld.org/cgi/reprint/35/5/399.pdf.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prototaxites. Accessed: 9-1-2010.

See the name, "Hueber, F. M.?" Are you familiar with that name from the first article discussed in he blog?

Let's look at another quote from Dr. Hueber's article:
Among the fossil plants that were collected by W. E. Logan along the shores of Gaspe [I have to go find the accent for the e---Dr. J] Bay (1843), the most enigmatic specimen resembled a fragment of a small tree.

Source: Hueber, Francis M. 2001. Rotted wood - alga - fungus: the history and life of Prototaxites DAWSON 1859. Review of Paleobotany and Palynology. Elsevier. 116:123-158.
A student might wonder about the meaning of, "enigmatic," and perhaps about what W.E. Logan looked like, and/or where is Gaspe Bay.

Enigmatic...let's check a hard-cover dictionary or get an on-line definition. The student can do that already and should be encouraged to. If he or she hasn't been exposed to dictionary or computer use yet, however, it would be worth introducing them.

W. F. Logan: Here's a link to some information on him. http://ess.nrcan.gc.ca/esic/llf/collection_e.php. There one can find a short biography of anecdotes on Logan's life. You can enjoy that so much and feel like going in another direction (Stigmaria underlining every seam of coal leading to a new idea about where coal comes from). In fact, the student who likes history, from the beginning of this post, might enjoy taking that diversion and incorporating it into his or her project. But, to get back to Logan and the rotted-wood-alga-fungus story, I haven't found Logan's picture yet. Aha!

http://gsc.nrcan.gc.ca/hist/logan/images/logan01.gif



We haven't even got into the heart of Francis M. Hueber's article yet and already there are so many fascinating ideas to capture students' attention(s).

Let's look further. Try your hand at reading the article and we'll come back to it later. Note that we can also find related articles. For example, here is a quote from and a reference to a related article: "Since the first fossil of Prototaxites was described in 1859, researchers have hypothesized that these organisms were giant algae, , or lichens. A recent study by Dr. Linda Graham and her colleagues published evidence in the February issue of the that they believe resolves this long-standing mystery," (Source: http://www.physorg.com/news185022458.html. Accessed 9-21-2010.) [See the original article at: http://www.amjbot.org/cgi/content/full/97/2/268: Structural, physiological, and stable carbon isotopic evidence that the enigmatic [emphasis Dr. J's]...
Graham et al. Am. J. Bot..2010; 97: 268-275
]
Can you guess what the organism is thought to be?


Science Literacy Comments:
Elementary, middle and high school students benefit from the exposure to journal articles. College, university, including both undergraduate and graduate students, benefit from bridging up to the technical level of reading.

(c) 2010 J S Shipman. All rights reserved.

---to be continued---(in another post, on another day)

Measurement Link

http://regentsprep.org/Regents/biology/units/laboratory/measurement.cfm

Lab Exercise Link from Morrison Labs

Here's the link: http://morrisonlabs.com/index.html

Science Literacy Comments:
Any time an educational program is from a company, evaluate it for bias.

Peace and Science

Here is a song about peace that you can listen to while you reflect on science and peace. More songs follow if you want to reflect longer.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QglEbgON9o&feature=player_embedded


Scientists working in botany (including plant science, plant pathology, plant genetics, plant physiology, field botany, and so on) and agriculture help feed the world. Does feeding the world promote peace?

What about water production?

Energy production?

Why is it important to study science?

How can your science study promote peace?

Do you know the story of sugar production? Do you know one chemist saved so many people from burns during sugar production. You could be one person saving lives, too. Does saving lives promote peace?

How does war affect the environment?

Listen, enjoy, reflect. Peace be unto you, and you, and you...Peace to all of us. Where have all the flowers gone, anyway?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1y2SIIeqy34




Thanks, Pete.


Do we need to hear it again?

Thanks, Joan.

Peace is up to each of us. Use your science for peace. Sustainability takes peace.


and again?



Peter, Paul and Mary bring us more...




and..



Start swimming...The times are changing. We can bring peace. Sustainability takes peace.







(c) 2010 J S Shipman

Friday, September 17, 2010

Today's In the News is on Hand-Washing...

Reflection... Comment on today's article (See the article in the left-hand column or quoted at the end of this post.)

Think about your hand-washing habits. Are you washing your hands more often? Do you know how antibacterial soaps and detergents create super germs?

Do you know plain old-fashioned bar soap kills some of the super germs better than the alcohol foam type cleaners? Did you go to the CDC Website?

Check out an earlier post on some related information: http://read-about-it.blogspot.com/2010/05/aseptique-technique-preventing-or.html

Here's a quote from that post:
http://read-about-it.blogspot.com/2010/05/aseptique-technique-preventing-or.html


(I quoted the news article here because it changes every day in the left-hand column.)

In the News:
More Americans Washing Their Hands
Researchers who secretly spied on more than 6,000 adults using public restrooms in several major US cities say that more Americans are now washing their hands after using the bathroom. While combing their hair and pretending to apply makeup, these "spies" observed 85 percent of public restroom users washing their hands, an 8 percent increase from a 2007 survey and the highest recorded rate since these surveys began in 1996. Men lagged behind women, with 23 percent neglecting to wash their hands as compared to just 7 percent. More .


The Big and Small of Science: Scientific Notation

See prior post leading up to this topic here: http://read-about-it.blogspot.com/2010/05/using-todays-in-news-on-asteroids.html.

Imagine your math homework if you had to add two huge (really, "HUGE") numbers together for every problem. Now imagine multiplying those numbers together for the next night's homework. Imagine your math homework if you had to add two TINY (really, "TINY") numbers together for every problem. Now imagine multiplying those teeny tiny numbers together for the next night's homework. Scientists working with very very big numbers, or, very, very small numbers probably felt the way you just imagined yourself feeling. That is, they felt overwhelmed, or, like they'd never finish their homework, until someone came up with scientific notation. (Did you imagine yourself that way or do you like to spend a week doing one night's homework?)

Students today may look at a page of scientific notation homework and balk, but, trust me, the teacher is doing them a favor. Scientific notation makes immense and Lilliputian numbers alike manageable. What do we mean by that? Take a look at the following quote from Gregory L. Curran (and read more at the cited website):
Scientific notation is simply a method for expressing, and working with, very large or very small numbers. It is a short hand method for writing numbers, and an easy method for calculations. Numbers in scientific notation are made up of three parts: the coefficient, the base and the exponent. Observe the example below:

5.67 x 105

This is the scientific notation for the standard number, 567 000. Now look at the number again, with the three parts labeled.
5.67 x 105
coefficient base exponent

In order for a number to be in correct scientific notation, the following conditions must be true:

1. The coefficient must be greater than or equal to 1 and less than 10.
2. The
base must be 10.
3. The
exponent must show the number of decimal places that the decimal needs to be moved to change the number to standard notation. A negative exponent means that the decimal is moved to the left when changing to standard notation.


Source: http://www.fordhamprep.org/gcurran/sho/sho/lessons/lesson25.htm
Accessed: 16 September 2010

Students might be thinking, "Great (sarcastically)! Now we have more vocabulary to learn for homework, on top of the math problems." But, the truth is, that vocabulary can help you understand a speedy way to do math (and science) homework. Let's look further. Perhaps some students tried to find out more. Welcome their efforts.

Using more than one source can help build science literacy. For example, one student might find the following quote from Wikipedia:

Scientific notation, also known as standard form or as exponential notation, is a way of writing numbers that accommodates values too large or small to be conveniently written in standard decimal notation. Scientific notation has a number of useful properties and is often favored by scientists, mathematicians and engineers, who work with such numbers.

In scientific notation all numbers are written like this:

a × 10b

("a times ten to the power of b"), where the exponent b is an integer, and the coefficient a is any real number (but see normalized notation below), called the significand or mantissa (though the term "mantissa" may cause confusion as it can also refer to the fractional part of the common logarithm). If the number is negative then a minus sign precedes a (as in ordinary decimal notation).......

....Any given number can be written in the form of a×10^b in many ways; for example 350 can be written as 3.5×102 or 35×101 or 350×100.

In normalized scientific notation, the exponent b is chosen such that the absolute value of a remains at least one but less than ten 1 ≤ |a| <>Scientific notation also enables simpler order-of-magnitude comparisons. A proton's mass is 0.0000000000000000000000000016726 kg. If this is written as 1.6726×10−27 kg, it is easier to compare this mass with that of the electron, given above. The order of magnitude of the ratio of the masses can be obtained by comparing the exponents instead of the more error-prone task of counting the leading zeros. In this case, −27 is larger than −31 and therefore the proton is roughly four orders of magnitude (about 10000 times) more massive than the electron.

Scientific notation also avoids misunderstandings due to regional differences in certain quantifiers, such as billion, which might indicate either 109 or 1012.


Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_notation Accessed: 16 September 2010.

Compare and contrast the two quotes in a table:

Scientific notation is simply a method for expressing, and working with, very large or very small numbers

Scientific notation, also known as standard form or as exponential notation, is a way of writing numbers that accommodates values too large or small to be conveniently written in standard decimal notation.

It is a short hand method for writing numbers, and an easy method for calculations


Scientific notation also enables simpler order-of-magnitude comparisons. A proton's mass is 0.0000000000000000000000000016726 kg. If this is written as 1.6726×10−27 kg, it is easier to compare this mass with that of the electron, given above. The order of magnitude of the ratio of the masses can be obtained by comparing the exponents instead of the more error-prone task of counting the leading zeros. In this case, −27 is larger than −31 and therefore the proton is roughly four orders of magnitude (about 10000 times) more massive than the electron.

Numbers in scientific notation are made up of three parts: the coefficient, the base and the exponent

("a times ten to the power of b"), where the exponent b is an integer, and the coefficient


Observe the example below:


5.67 x 105

In scientific notation all numbers are written like this:

a × 10b

This is the scientific notation for the standard number, 567 000

Any given number can be written in the form of a×10^b in many ways; for example 350 can be written as 3.5×102 or 35×101 or 350×100.


Now look at the number again, with the three parts labeled


5.67 x 105




In order for a number to be in correct scientific notation, the following conditions must be true:




1. The coefficient must be greater than or equal to 1 and less than 10

a is any real number (but see normalized notation below), called the significand or mantissa (though the term "mantissa" may cause confusion as it can also refer to the fractional part of the common logarithm). If the number is negative then a minus sign precedes a (as in ordinary decimal notation).

In normalized scientific notation, the exponent b is chosen such that the absolute value of a remains at least one but less than ten (1 ≤ |a| <>



2. The base must be 10


3. The exponent must show the number of decimal places that the decimal needs to be moved to change the number to standard notation


A negative exponent means that the decimal is moved to the left when changing to standard notation



Scientific notation also avoids misunderstandings due to regional differences in certain quantifiers, such as billion, which might indicate either 109 or 1012.

If students work in pairs or small groups and each is responsible for one source, they can do such comparisons and then share with the whole class what they have discovered. They will be comparing and contrasting, using new vocabulary orally and in writing, and, likely having fun. This activity will enhance science literacy, build vocabulary and help students understand scientific notation so that they can do the math needed more easily.

Here is another quote on scientific notation:
Exponents: Scientific Notation (page 3 of 5)

Sections: Basics, Negative exponents, Scientific notation, Engineering notation, Fractional exponents


By using exponents, we can reformat numbers. For very large or very small numbers, it is sometimes simpler to use "scientific notation" (so called, because scientists often deal with very large and very small numbers). [ Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.]

    The format for writing a number in scientific notation is fairly simple: (first digit of the number) followed by (the decimal point) and then (all the rest of the digits of the number), times (10 to an appropriate power). The conversion is fairly simple. [ Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.]

      • Write 124 in scientific notation.

        This is not a very large number, but it will work nicely for an example. To convert this to scientific notation, I first write "1.24". This is not the same number, but (1.24)(100) = 124 is, and 100 = 102. Then, in scientific notation, 124 is written as 1.24 × 102. [ Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.]

        Actually, converting between "regular" notation and scientific notation is even simpler than I just showed, because all you really need to do is count decimal places.

          [ Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.]

          • Write in decimal notation: 3.6 × 1012

            Since the exponent on 10 is positive, I know they are looking for a LARGE number, so I'll need to move the decimal point to the right, in order to make the number LARGER. Since the exponent on 10 is "12", I'll need to move the decimal point twelve places over. First, I'll move the decimal point twelve places over. I make little loops when I count off the places, to keep track:

            [See image at: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm]

            Then I fill in the loops with zeroes: Copyright © Elizabeth Stapel 1999-2009 All Rights Reserved
            [See image at: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm]

            In other words, the number is 3,600,000,000,000, or 3.6 trillion [ Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.]

            Idiomatic note: "Trillion" means a thousand billion — that is, a thousand thousand million — in American parlance; the British-English term for the American "billion" would be "a milliard", so the American "trillion" (above) would be a British "thousand milliard".

              [ Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.]

              • Write 0.000 000 000 043 6 in scientific notation.

                In scientific notation, the number part (as opposed to the ten-to-a-power part) will be "4.36". So I will count how many places the decimal point has to move to get from where it is now to where it needs to be:

                [See image at: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm]

                  Then the power on 10 has to be –11: "eleven", because that's how many places the decimal point needs to be moved, and "negative", because I'm dealing with a SMALL number. So, in scientific notation, the number is written as 4.36 × 10–11 [ Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.]

                    .
                • Convert 4.2 × 10–7 to decimal notation.

                  Since the exponent on 10 is negative, I am looking for a small number. Since the exponent is a seven, I will be moving the decimal point seven places. Since I need to move the point to get a small number, I'll be moving it to the left. The answer is 0.000 000 42 [ Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.]

                  • Convert 0.000 000 005 78 to scientific notation.

                    This is a small number, so the exponent on 10 will be negative. The first "interesting" digit in this number is the 5, so that's where the decimal point will need to go. To get from where it is to right after the 5, the decimal point will need to move nine places to the right. Then the power on 10 will be a negative 9, and the answer is 5.78 × 10–9

                    [ Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.]

                  • Convert 93,000,000 to scientific notation.

                    This is a large number, so the exponent on 10 will be positive. The first "interesting" digit in this number is the leading 9, so that's where the decimal point will need to go. To get from where it is to right after the 9, the decimal point will need to move seven places to the left. Then the power on 10 will be a positive 7, and the answer is 9.3 × 107

                      [ Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.]

                    Just remember: However many spaces you moved the decimal, that's the power on 10. If you have a small number (smaller than 1, in absolute value), then the power is negative; if it's a large number (bigger than 1, in absolute value), then the exponent is positive.

                      [ Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.]

                      Warning: A negative on an exponent and a negative on a number mean two very different things! For instance:

                        –0.00036 = –3.6 × 10–4
                        0.00036 = 3.6 × 10–4
                        36,000 = 3.6 × 104
                        –36,000 = –3.6 × 104

                      Don't confuse these!

                      Source: http://www.purplemath.com/modules/exponent3.htm. Accessed 17 September 2010.

                      Can the students place information in this quote in another column, adding to the information in the two columns in the table above and create a new comparison table? Is some of the information the same? Is there new information?



                      (c)2010 J S Shipman

                      Tuesday, September 14, 2010

                      Fall brings us, "Back to School," ...Time to think about Science Research

                      In the United States, fall is the season that the new academic year begins. The beginning of the year is a good time to start reflecting on student science research projects even though the science fairs and exhibitions seem a long way off. Engaging students in science research develops, for many, a lifelong enjoyment and understanding of the natural world. For others, it is the beginning of a passion that drives a science career. Students doing research increases science literacy. Let's look at what some schools are doing:

                      In the following example, the papers are due in February, but, some schools have science fairs in March. Winter and spring come quickly, so, for many students, the time to start work on their science project and research is, "now." Students will have time to do experiments, reflect on the data, read technical journals related to their research and write well-done laboratory reports.
                      Students who complete experimental research projects write a formal scientific paper based on their research and submit their paper with their application to the ASHSSS. Written papers are due the first Friday in February. Submitted papers are reviewed and edited by scientists and returned. Students whose papers are accepted for competition then present the results of their work orally at the symposium in a manner similar to that of a scientist presenting their work at a conference of their peers. The symposium is held at the UAF during the first weekend in March.
                      (Source: http://www.ashsss.uaf.edu/about.php. Accessed 14 September 2010)

                      The link, http://www.ashsss.uaf.edu/students.php, goes to some high school science resources and to a school in Alaska, USA. (Source: http://www.ashsss.uaf.edu/about.php . Accessed 14 September 2010)

                      Across the continent, in New York City, York Prep has a garden and an apiary. You can read about them here: http://www.yorkprep.com/yorkprepblog/york-prep-principal-chris-durnford-leads-beekeeping-efforts-for-new-york-private-school

                      Maybe you have a student more interested in art than in science. He or she may be interested in the following images from a student competition, and, be inspired by them to do some photography on science subjects:

                      http://botany.org/plantimages/ConantSTA2010.php#53

                      An artistic view is excellent for conveying science to the public. There are careers that bridge art and science. Perhaps one of your students will be a leader in that field. Have you thought about art as a tool for conveying science research? Art is also a way to engage some students in research.

                      As the school year starts, head into it with enthusiasm and show students the joys of science. Enjoy involving students in research for that is science. Be patient. One of your students might win a Nobel prize! Have a great year.