Posts
Here is the link to educational videos posted by Valley Central School District...
(Valley Central is a great school district, especially when parents and other care-givers participate in conferences and volunteer, mentors from the community help guide students, teachers teach with a lot of methods so they can reach all students, and, students read a lot and study! (Are you doing your part to make your school great?)):
Showing posts with label NY. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NY. Show all posts
Monday, October 1, 2012
Friday, September 14, 2012
Students Writing for Science...
Students Writing for Science...
need to cite sources and follow style manuals. Sometimes, they complain about this. These are basic writing skills, however and need to be applied in science as in other fields.
Look at the previous post and you can see a link to instructions for authors of the new journal. Every journal has a section guiding authors to the style needed to be followed for that journal. Students can gather from this professional use of style that the exercise in the classroom does have merit in the real world... and even in the virtual one (since that journal is on-line only.)
Another indication of relevance to citation is any scandal on plagiarism. Schools, colleges, and universities have rules against plagiarism. It is against the law in many countries if not all. The recent scandal at Harvard shows none are exempt from having people break the rules: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/ harvard-cheating-ring-uni_n_1844104.html, however, students are often not aware of what plagiarism is.
Pointing out what needs to be cited, and, identifying both quotations and paraphrases, is helpful. Students may cite quotes but forget to cite paraphrases. They need to be reminded to cite both quotes and paraphrases/. Book publishers have been known to copy, even from this blog, without citing. Imagine! (I am giving them a chance here to "fess up," and make right.) But, we all need to be vigilant and give credit to authors for their ideas. Style manuals and instructions for authors give us the correct ways to cite for a particular publication. Even young students can learn to cite correctly: I have seen kindergarteners do it well (age 5).
Often students who did cite didn't know of style manuals. They did it according to their grade school or high school teacher's assignment sheets (which may have used APA, MLA, or other style manual as a base (Were these cited?)
Where can you get style manuals? Ask the reference librarian at your local library. For your information,. there are some style manuals at the bottom of the blog post. Feel free to add others in the comments. Thanks.
Note: Special Thanks to the Librarians at Thrall Library (and likely librarians at many other libraries) for making every effort to educate students on the library skills they need to stay current throughout their lives..
need to cite sources and follow style manuals. Sometimes, they complain about this. These are basic writing skills, however and need to be applied in science as in other fields.
Look at the previous post and you can see a link to instructions for authors of the new journal. Every journal has a section guiding authors to the style needed to be followed for that journal. Students can gather from this professional use of style that the exercise in the classroom does have merit in the real world... and even in the virtual one (since that journal is on-line only.)
Another indication of relevance to citation is any scandal on plagiarism. Schools, colleges, and universities have rules against plagiarism. It is against the law in many countries if not all. The recent scandal at Harvard shows none are exempt from having people break the rules: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/30/ harvard-cheating-ring-uni_n_1844104.html, however, students are often not aware of what plagiarism is.
Pointing out what needs to be cited, and, identifying both quotations and paraphrases, is helpful. Students may cite quotes but forget to cite paraphrases. They need to be reminded to cite both quotes and paraphrases/. Book publishers have been known to copy, even from this blog, without citing. Imagine! (I am giving them a chance here to "fess up," and make right.) But, we all need to be vigilant and give credit to authors for their ideas. Style manuals and instructions for authors give us the correct ways to cite for a particular publication. Even young students can learn to cite correctly: I have seen kindergarteners do it well (age 5).
Often students who did cite didn't know of style manuals. They did it according to their grade school or high school teacher's assignment sheets (which may have used APA, MLA, or other style manual as a base (Were these cited?)
Where can you get style manuals? Ask the reference librarian at your local library. For your information,. there are some style manuals at the bottom of the blog post. Feel free to add others in the comments. Thanks.
Note: Special Thanks to the Librarians at Thrall Library (and likely librarians at many other libraries) for making every effort to educate students on the library skills they need to stay current throughout their lives..
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
Footprints in sand, snow and rock...
[Under development]
Yesterday evening, I went to a dinosaur lecture presented at SUNY Orange. It covered dinosaur fossils from the Hudson River Valley (NY, USA), Palisades and Northern New Jersey (NJ, USA), Virginia (USA), Morocco, Poland and dinosaur and dinosaur footprints from many other places.
It was presented by Paul E. Olsen, Storke Memorial Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (see video). You may be aware of Dr. Olsen's research which addresses evolution of continental ecosystems, including the pattern, causes and effects of climate change on geological time scales and how these in turn relate to mass extinctions and other biogeological events. The lecture was fascinating and presented views of many dinosaur and crurotarsians finds. Also discussed were the roles of pollen and of iridium in providing clues about dinosaurs. Given a chance to hear Dr. Olsen speak, I recommend going. You will get updated on dinosaurs, enjoy the depth of his knowledge and also his intelligent sense of humor. (Children attending might do well to be prepped before the talk, as it does go at a rapid pace. ) If you do not have that opportunity to hear Dr. Olsen speak, try reading his research. Next time you see him on a documentary, you can say to yourself, "I've read his papers."
Following the lecture, some went out for coffee and a discussion of the highlights of the talk, among thee topics discussed were footprints. Did you know footprints can give an overview of course taxonomic values (...Not to genus and species in other words, but to major groups)? We learned this point, along with many others, at the lecture. And at our coffee klatch after the talk, we discussed many of the points and then veered-off on a discussion of footprints.
Perhaps this discussion path was followed because one of us had worked tracking game for research purposes and had seen first hand how much the local professional trackers could discover from seemingly innocuous footprints. Then it happened that today I was reading, Billions and Billions (by Carl Sagan), and I came across this quote,
[more coming soon]
Yesterday evening, I went to a dinosaur lecture presented at SUNY Orange. It covered dinosaur fossils from the Hudson River Valley (NY, USA), Palisades and Northern New Jersey (NJ, USA), Virginia (USA), Morocco, Poland and dinosaur and dinosaur footprints from many other places.
It was presented by Paul E. Olsen, Storke Memorial Professor of Earth and Environmental Science at Columbia University's Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory (see video). You may be aware of Dr. Olsen's research which addresses evolution of continental ecosystems, including the pattern, causes and effects of climate change on geological time scales and how these in turn relate to mass extinctions and other biogeological events. The lecture was fascinating and presented views of many dinosaur and crurotarsians finds. Also discussed were the roles of pollen and of iridium in providing clues about dinosaurs. Given a chance to hear Dr. Olsen speak, I recommend going. You will get updated on dinosaurs, enjoy the depth of his knowledge and also his intelligent sense of humor. (Children attending might do well to be prepped before the talk, as it does go at a rapid pace. ) If you do not have that opportunity to hear Dr. Olsen speak, try reading his research. Next time you see him on a documentary, you can say to yourself, "I've read his papers."
Following the lecture, some went out for coffee and a discussion of the highlights of the talk, among thee topics discussed were footprints. Did you know footprints can give an overview of course taxonomic values (...Not to genus and species in other words, but to major groups)? We learned this point, along with many others, at the lecture. And at our coffee klatch after the talk, we discussed many of the points and then veered-off on a discussion of footprints.
Perhaps this discussion path was followed because one of us had worked tracking game for research purposes and had seen first hand how much the local professional trackers could discover from seemingly innocuous footprints. Then it happened that today I was reading, Billions and Billions (by Carl Sagan), and I came across this quote,
From a jumble of hoofprints, we can accurately tell how many animals passed; the species, sexes, and ages; whether any are lame; how long ago they passes; how far away they are.It is through the lecture, discussion and Sagan book that I came to post on footprints in sand snow and rock. Have you left footprints in the sand at the beach or in the desert? Have walked through snow and made an imprint? Have you seen deer tracks?
[more coming soon]
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Memorial
Dr. J's mother died peacefully during her after lunch nap around 3:00 on August 20, 2008.
It is not necessary, but, anyone wishing to, may make donations of any amount in memory of Marie Shipman to your choice of charities including any listed below, or donor's choice:
Smile Train
The Audobon Society
Emily Dickinson Foundation
The Northeast Square Dancer
St Joseph’s School, Middletown, NY 113 Cottage Street Middletown, New York 10940
(845) 343-3139
Dumont High School, 101 New Milford Ave Dumont, NJ 07628
Orange County Community College
SUNY New Paltz 75 S. Mannheim Blvd., Suite 9, New Paltz, New York 12561
(845) 257-3244
William Paterson University
The Statue of Liberty- Ellis Island Foundation
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. Attention: Donor Services
17 Battery Place #210, New York, NY 10004-3507 (212) 561-4588
The Botanical Society of America
It is not necessary, but, anyone wishing to, may make donations of any amount in memory of Marie Shipman to your choice of charities including any listed below, or donor's choice:
Smile Train
The Audobon Society
Emily Dickinson Foundation
The Northeast Square Dancer
St Joseph’s School, Middletown, NY 113 Cottage Street Middletown, New York 10940
(845) 343-3139
Dumont High School, 101 New Milford Ave Dumont, NJ 07628
Orange County Community College
SUNY New Paltz 75 S. Mannheim Blvd., Suite 9, New Paltz, New York 12561
(845) 257-3244
William Paterson University
The Statue of Liberty- Ellis Island Foundation
The Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation, Inc. Attention: Donor Services
17 Battery Place #210, New York, NY 10004-3507 (212) 561-4588
The Botanical Society of America
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