Year: 2009

This exercise is a repeat of the previous one, but this time we are going to do the problem using a spreadsheet program.  Many people use spreadsheets as simple tables, formatting textual information neatly so it looks good for display. While you can certainly use a spreadsheet for that purpose, its overkill.  Your word processor …

WeatherBug Exercise 1 (Computer): Temperature Statistics: Max, Min, Range, Median, MeanRead More

This has been one of my pet peeves for a while, and my kids can already point out the things I’m going to whine about as we drive along the BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway) coming home from Queens.  There are several of these video billboards along the road.  I have always found it ironic that there …

Light Pollution from Digital/Video BillboardsRead More

I first saw the reference to the Elements of Humanity web site in Physics Today although I subscribe to MAKE Magazine who made the site.  Elements of Humanity is a set of interviews with 12 scientist and engineers who talk about what inspired them to choose their careers.  Some of them are fascinating for teachers, …

Elements of HumanityRead More

Okay, that’s a mouthful.  I first read about this a month ago and put it on my list of things to look into.  What I was hoping for was something that might be applicable for participation by middle school students.  NALTA is a cosmic-ray detection experiment which requires fairly simple equipment which is placed on …

NALTA: North America Large-area Time-coincidence ArraysRead More

I’ve been advocating the use of WeatherBug data in normal classroom exercise for a while.  I’m not sure that it’s caught on, so I decided to start putting together some sample exercises.  This section is that, the examples.  As example, they are “fully worked” meaning I ask questions and then provide answers.  Of course, in …

WeatherBug Example ExercisesRead More

The process of calculating an average is not hard, but it can be tedious. So, in math class, the children are often given a set of made-up numbers that make the process easier. In this exercise, you don’t get a break; we’re going to use real data from the WeatherBug at P.S. 102 for December …

WeatherBug Exercise 1 (Math): Temperature Statistics: Max, Min, Range, Median, MeanRead More

The New Horizons spacecraft on it’s way to Pluto was scheduled to get a wake-up call on November 9 and then spend 10 days running system tests and diagnostics.  The trip to Pluto is so long (in spite of the craft’s record speed of about 23 km/sec) that it spends much of its time in …

New Horizons Wake-Up CallRead More

Okay, the rings themselves haven’t changed at all.  But it turns out that there is an outer dust ring that is about 24 million kilometers in diameter composed of dust grains that do not reflect visible light.  Because of that, it hasn’t been seen before.  NASA has a short (very short) press release showing an …

Saturn’s Ring System Just Got BiggerRead More

Here’s a project in need of (part-time) volunteers.  Classifying galaxies.  Yep, you too can become a galactic zoologist!  You can find a short teaser on the Astronomy Picture of the Day web site (APOD Oct 26, 2009) with more details at the official Galaxy Zoo web site.  Makes a good family game with older kids, …

Galaxy Zoologists Wanted!Read More

Another generic resource, also from the NSTA elementary mailing list.  The issue of using inquiry in science lessons is a big deal and also came up a recent School Leadership Team meeting.  Inquiry does, of course, get used, but it’s always a tough item since it is easy to get "off script" when using a …

Inquiry Based Science LessonsRead More