Fun and Learning: Google Games---Seeking Top Performers for work...relating that to science and math education.

Here is a story about Google Games, a day of engineering- and math-heavy challenges. This particular story, by Wade Rousch, is about challenges that took place in 2008. It is about a recruiting method that can be adapted to science and math education. It is about the joy of learning. It is about being surrounded by others who want to learn and who learn recreationally.

Read the article here, then, think about what you can carry away from it to apply to science education situations.

Math team, chess teams, science fairs, bridge-building competitions and other venues blending learning and fun may foreshadow this type of recruiting. Do you feel joy from participants at these events? Do you feel joy from students in your science and math classes? Are your top students challenged? Are all students challenged at appropriate levels?

Do you remember finishing all the math exercises and science problems in the text books within the first two weeks of school because they were fun to do, and then being bored in class? Today, as a student, one can go to the internet and use Google (or other search engine) and find math and science challenges (For example, the MIT courses in the left hand column of this blog...). Neither work, nor, education, should hold people back from reaching their full potential, and being happy. Maybe we need a "Google Games," open to the whole public...pre-K through age 160+. Hmmm!

Refereed journal article reading is an important part of science literacy. Case in point: Allergies, Asthma and Schools... Here's a book to read.

Refereed journal article reading is an important part of science literacy. Case in point: Allergies, Asthma and Schools... Here's a book to read.
Want one parent's viewpoint on reading journal articles, which concurrently explains basic biology and genetic engineering? Try reading The Unhealthy Truth: How our Food is making us Sick and What We can do about It, by Robyn O'Brien [and] Rachel Kranz (Broadway Books (Random House), New York. 2009).

What started out as one mother's quest to better her child's chance of survival, is contributing to safety for all children, while explaining science every parent, every person, needs to know. Believe me, when you want to save your child (and also happen to save our children), the journal articles no longer seem difficult. If you are not convinced that reading the peer-reviewed journal articles, the refereed articles, isn't an important science literacy skill to which young people to at least be exposed, and adults should learn, then, read this book. You will learn things to help your own health and survival...and, you will likely gain the desire to read refereed journals on topics where you have a need to know.

Examples of topics where you might have a need to know: the effects of the medicines your parents are getting, why haldol is still prescribed in the USA while the government advises third world countries not to use it unless no other drug is available, what medicines (routinely given to seniors) mimic Alzheimer's, how melatonin re-sets sleeping patterns (jet lag, shift workers, seniors in nursing homes), what medicines given to seniors make them unable to swallow (resulting in feeding tubes), about thoraxic outlet syndrome and swimmers, among other need-to-know topics.

I'd read a few journal articles to save a loved parent from a "mimic dying" state or keep my child safe while eating or playing sports. I'd read journal articles to save my child's life or lengthen mine.

O'Brien's book will convince you about the importance of evaluating sources as a part of science literacy. I recommend this book for adults, who may or may not choose to share all or part of it with their child(ren).

Women in Science: Sister Patricia Shaffer, Chemist, Leader, Legend

I personally met Sister Patricia Shaffer and assure you she does encourage women in science. I often think of how much she helped me. Here is a quote written about her and a link to more information.

Pat Shaffer Patricia Shaffer, RSCJ, was inducted into the San Diego County Women's Hall of Fame on March 24, 2007, as an 'Improver of Women's Lives." She was cited as "a research chemist, university professor, nun, and member of the scientific associations who since the 1950s has encouraged children to study science. From the classroom to Tijunana orphanages to migrant worker children, her contributions are legendary.'

Here is her biography as it appears on the website of the San Diego Women's History Museum and Educational Center, one of event's sponsors:

'Sister Patricia Shaffer, Ph.D. has spent her career helping women in San Diego County. She has encouraged women to study science as a research chemist, university professor, nun, and member of scientific associations...'

Source: http://www.rscj.org/news/province/ rscjscientist _inducted_into_hall_of _fame.html. ( Includes a photo) Accessed 11-01-09.

Another photo, click here: http://lh3.ggpht.com/_dVoi2Td0OkA/Rg2NT_s2yzI/AAAAAAAAAD0/1ezNkNVBl_Y/s640/283%20WHF%20Induction2007.JPG

Faculty biography USD http://www.sandiego.edu/cas/chemistry/faculty/biography.php?ID=689


I will post some of her journal articles shortly. ---under development---

Thank you, Sister Patricia Shaffer, for being a great role model!!!

Link to JAVA Applet on Brownian Motion

http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/brownian.htm

Botany lead to some of Einstein's ideas...The Value of Pure Science.

I like Einstein. He lets me encourage those with difficulty reading (Science Literacy), in addition to all his other accomplishments. Also, Einstein, as do other scientists, rests on the shoulders of scientists before him.

Pure science is important to advancing our knowledge and therefore to great strides in civilization. In a poor economy, we sometimes forget that. Often, people become about survival, about money now. Let's get back to Einstein.

A quote, with the emphasis placed by me, showing how botany played a role in Einstein's work follows :

In his doctoral dissertation, submitted to the University of Zurich in 1905, Einstein developed a statistical molecular theory of liquids. Then, in a separate paper, he applied the molecular theory of heat to liquids in obtaining an explanation of what had been, unknown to Einstein, a decades-old puzzle. Observing microscopic bits of plant pollen suspended in still water, English botanist Robert Brown had noticed in 1828 that even tinier particles mixed in with the pollen exhibited an incessant, irregular "swarming" motion — since called "Brownian motion." Although atoms and molecules were still open to objection in 1905, Einstein predicted that the random motions of molecules in a liquid impacting on larger suspended particles would result in irregular, random motions of the particles, which could be directly observed under a microscope. The predicted motion corresponded precisely with the puzzling Brownian motion! From this motion Einstein accurately determined the dimensions of the hypothetical molecules.^{3
Source http://www.aip.org/history/einstein/essay-brownian.htm. Accessed November 1, 2009.}

We can remind ourselves, then, that studying a basic science, like botany---which links nature, chemistry, ecology, environmental studies, physics, agriculture, horticulture, and medicine---studying basic science leads to important advances, like Einstein's, and basic science should not be dropped when the economy is bad.

Ask, why have medical schools stopped requiring botany just as herbal medicine is gaining popularity? Why are we dropping the basic science? Why don't politicians know more about the environment and the plants and other organisms in it? Do they need more basic science? Does your town have a botanist to contribute to their environmental impact studies...or do they study only things like traffic... (also important, mind you...but, don't leave the environment, including plants, out of the environmental impact study). Formulate your own opinion on including more basic science in your curricula. Act on your ideas.

(c) J S Shipman 2009
All posts are copyrighted. See notice at bottom of web page.

Internet Safety in the Classroom and at Home

I encourage use of computers in all science classrooms. Therefore, I also want to encourage internet safety. Thus, here is a link to an article on internet safety.

http://www.guidancechannel.com/default.aspx?index=2276&cat=1

I will add others and encourage readers to do the same through the comment box or via e-mail and I will add information at this post.

Fundsnet Portal

http://www.fundsnetservices.com/educatio.htm

Here is a link to grants and funding for education. You may perhaps find funding for your innovative science education and science literacy ideas.