Www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/bird-counting-flying-robot/
Huge potential breakthrough appeared in ecological studies with a remote controlled airplane. Ecologists were having trouble analyzing numbers of birds on a particular island as they would fly away when they got anywhere near the shore. They simply wanted to count them and analyze the biodiversity but if the animals get scared it's game over. With a new spin on already created technology, they used remote controlled airplanes with gps trackers and cameras attached to the bottom of the planes. With the cameras they took pictures of the island below and they were able to count up the birds and wildlife without disturbing anything below. This type of research has enormous possibilities for ecologists everywhere to be less interfering in nature. For the classroom, this encourages further examination of already used or unused technology in the ecological field. Students need to think outside the box or even inside the box in the coming years to be able to stay a step ahead of competition. Competition is their peers and any other students that will want jobs in the future. I will make a note to encourage thought of technology like this because it is a good example to rethink old tech.
Wednesday, November 23, 2011
Choice reading 11
Www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/spider-mite-fossil-amber/
A prehistoric mite has been found attached to an ancient spider fossil. This fossil has been dated back 30 million years and a mite has been found attached to it encased perfectly in yellow amber. Finds like this are very much like the jurassic park movie; they claim to find specimens that are preserved so well that their bodies can survive for generations undecomposed. This type of fossil can be studied by scientists and much can be learned from the ancient bodies. The stages of evolution of that organism to now, the discovery of new species, and even rediscoveries of organisms. All these are extremely important to both paleontologists and zoologists. For a teacher, this type of find is very important to future paleontologists and students interested in these types of research. It is important to foster students growth with articles like these to let them know that not all has been discovered yet. With the world being mapped out, such advanced technology, and so many scientists out there in the field, it is easy to think that there's nothing left to do. This is what I once thought and this is what I need to communicate with my students. There is still so much to do out there, so much you can do if you want to.
Draper chp 11
What is literacy Draper Chp 11. pg. 159-161
In these few pages they said exactly what I was planning on saying. Chapter 11 focuses on bringing all the chapters together and saying why we need to (re)imagine content area literacies. We must do this, according to Draper, because "working together, literacy specials and content area teachers place themselves in the best possible position to attain what they care about most, the wellbeing of their communities". I consider communities to mean content area specialties. I was going to say that we must (re)imagine content area literacies because teachers need to work together with literacy specialists as well as outside content areas to form a community. If we don't form it now, we won't have it. If we form this foundation and keep a mentality that we will cooperate with other teachers in other fields as well as constantly challenge ourselves to teach better then we will not get stuck in the same rut that thousands of teachers are in. Burn-out occurs because teachers get bored, and those without the heart of a teacher also get burn-out very quickly in a community lacking school. Teachers challenge each other, inspire each other, and teach each other. If we can (re)imagine content area literacy now before we even know what our content literacy is, then we might have a shot at correcting future mistakes.
Technology in the classroom
Blake and Harry- Technology in the classroom
Technology in the classroom is both vital and changing. We need to stay current on the technology in our areas or we will quickly lose our students to dull, mind numbing routines. For instance the black board, how long has the black board been around? We need to get rid of them wherever possible, students don't like them, I don't like them. I feel like a PTA member but whenever I was in a classroom with outdated technology I felt much more bored with the class no matter what it was. When we watched dvds on reptiles or got to get the laptop lab out it was a good day. One piece of technology that I think will be up and coming in the science field will be the Ipad 2. I am typing on one at the moment actually, it will almost certainly replace laptops in the classroom. The apps available on the Ipad 2 help with any class including sciences. There are maps of the solar system, diagrams for anatomy, and even videos showing how bacteria infect host cells. The only reason I survived microbiology was my Ipad 2 and the helpful videos it provided me on bacterial transformation. In the near future I will expect to see more Ipads in the classroom as well as future technology to slowly creep in, and this would be a good thing.
School trip
Andy, Chad, and Stephan- School Trip
One school trip I can't wait to take with my future students will be to a science museum. Things I will need to remember to do will be permission slips for every student. Students in highschool like to use field trips to ditch school. I need to have every student accounted for. Another area will be funds. Will I be getting reimbursed by the school or will I be having the students parents pay for their own students? Can the students parents all pay for a trip to the museum? I will need to consider the area I am in, how close the museum is to our school and whether or not it will detract from their other classes. I would probably take one class at a time so that I only have approximately 20 students per trip. More than 20 students will require additional teachers that I don't know if I can recruit. If I do take 20 students at a time I will have to make repeat trips to the museum. I will probably make them fill out a worksheet while there to make sure they take the trip seriously. If the students have questions I will be near the entire time. I would be the main chaperone for the trip since I would not want to disturb other teachers. Overall it would be a very educational trip and I look forward to taking it.
Brain based research
Emily and Natalie- Brain based research
The article reviewed brain based research and its' effect on education. Brain based research is the study of the brain and through it we expect to find out about study approaches and students thoughts. Brain based research is a very clashing issue topic in the education field. Some believe that it should be applied in the education field and utilized for its findings. Others believe that it has no place in the classroom and it is all just guesswork. There is research on both sides to support using or not using brain based research but I will go at the issue from another way. I like brain based research that studies how to best approach individual students, however, I feel that more research on mass student groups, and the approach we take as a whole is not improved enough yet. The mind of students is individual and different for every child. Attention is what drives many students and if we give them that then we can be assured of higher achievement. More time spent studying their brains so that we can bang out a fool proof curriculum is a waste of time I feel.
What makes a good teacher
Joe and Autumn AOW What makes a good teacher?
The article discussed whether or not future schools should hire teachers that do not have teaching degrees. Several states are starting to accept teachers with professional experience in their field of study. This I feel takes away from the quality of the teacher. There is no arguing that a teacher with real life experience is a good thing, however, a professional without teaching experience is a bad thing. We are teachers in our hearts and our education helps bring it out. Professionals for the most part, do not have the heart of a teacher and they just want the extra cash. The teaching profession requires a lot of things that professionals may not have, patience, love, and a heart for teaching. I keep saying heart for teaching but the point is clear in my mind. Teachers want to teach, those with the 2 year degrees did not want to teach. Now if they truly do change their mind and want to get into teaching, then more power to them. For the most part, the friends that I have seen get into teaching after they were professionals have trouble adjusting and do not like their students.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
choice reading 10
Astronomer David Nesvorney in a Texas
Research Institute believes that the solar system may have lost a
giant planet. This would be called the 5th giant planet
because we already have 4, Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, and Earth.
David believes that this planet was “kicked” out of the solar
system and that this is a common occurrence among solar systems
across the neighboring galaxies. After running simulations, some
failed, and one worked. The problem resided with the icy belt around
Neptune and an apparent anomaly 600 million years ago. With a
planet ejected, the current planets lineup worked and the icy belt
around Neptune was explained. I don't know if I completely agree
with the 600 million years ago hypothesis, however, it is interesting
that there could have been an additional planet. This would be good
extra reading material for a class, especially those interested in
space. It would also be interesting if in the future I had to teach
lessons based on this new knowledge, or had to teach based on
theories of planets here 600 million years ago.
choice reading 9
ID24 is a new powerful laser capable of
imitating the earths core. It creates insane pressure and
temperature to mimic the earths core. It is capable of acting on
very small particles of matter to study what will happen to elements
like copper when put to the test. By May 2012, the beamline will be
sold around the world for approximately 150 million. This is a huge
breakthrough for science as a cheaper solution to beam technology as
well as possibilities for testing elements. For students, this is an
excellent article to show them the new technologies emerging. This
could be job stimulation as well as an interesting read. As for me,
I remember my driving force throughout highschool was the dream of
someday working for Nvidia making graphics cards. I have since
changed that dream but it was still fun to research and I got much
better grades then I would have if I hadn't intended on being a
computer scientist. Dreams drive students and we should look for
articles like this to give them direction, career aspirations, or
even just a critical thinking read.
choice reading 8
A rediscovered formula for tree growth
explains why trees don't splinter when they grow. The immense weight
created by a trees branches would make a person wonder why they don't
splinter. There is a formula created by Leonardo Di Vinci explains
how a tree grows so that its branches do not splinter the tree. The
author claims it may have something to do with the way the water and
nutrients are transported up the trunk. The mathematics involved are
quite complex but the point is that students might be interested in
topics like this. When the curriculum isn't enough, teachers can go
beyond the general education information and challenge their
students. With articles like this and information like this out on
the internet, it gives me a go to for critical thinking. I may not
be interested in how trees grow but students are. My subject area in
biology is huge, I can't cover all the topics, and I cannot interest
every individual student through lectures.
choice reading 7
The article centers around the debate
for growing or not growing artificial meat. Beef is a stable
resource that we depend on in this country as well as other developed
countries. One pound of beef, however, takes about 7 pounds of plant
material to make. There simply isn't enough room, according to the
author, to be able to feed 7 billion people a healthy diet of meat.
Artificial meat is on the rise in debate and in practice. The
growing of this meat takes much work with stem cells, brilliant
scientists, and a truckload of money. Therefore the question is
“should we continue to search for an alternative to home grown
livestock, and is it even necessary?” I would agree with the
author that it is necessary but is it likely to be completed in the
near future, no. I can use articles like this in my classroom to
encourage critical thinking. If we can debate over the necessity of
artificial meat culturing labs, then we can certainly get some
critical thinking done about my standard curriculum.
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