NMY Math Science 7/8

This an interesting take on shadows. Since Alfred Hitchcock used shadows as a tool to create suspense, I thought the 8th graders might find this artist interesting. Alakobarov uses shadows to “paint” images on the wall. 

Maybe Laure and the Film & Photography students might want to try this out?

Doodling in Math: Spirals, Fibonacci, and Being a Plant [1 of 3] (by Vihart)

Do you remember the “doodling stars” video? Here is another set of videos from ViHart about spirals, Fibonacci numbers and plants. This is video is Part 1. Here are links to Part 2 and Part 3. I was particularly fond of Part 3. 

What do you think about this relationship between Fibonacci and plants?  This might be a great jumping off point when we study Life Science.

Have you met all these numbers yet?  Which ones are you interested in finding out more about?

(via INCIDENTAL COMICS: Meet the Numbers)

This is for all the cat lovers out there. There is some interesting science in how these cats are able to land on all fours.

thekidshouldseethis:

Do cats always land on their feet? High-speed photography shows us the answer.

Thanks, @cosentino. 

This post was written in November 2011 as part of the reflection process for Period Project. It somehow got lost in the shuffle of the holidays. I am posting it now, despite it’s tardiness!

This was a great project for me.  I really appreciated the opportunity to get first hand experience in what these projects are like from the student perspective. The process helped to deepen my understanding and gave me better insight into what I am looking when I assign a research/project/presentation.

As we constructed the guidelines for this project, the class agreed that each person or group would identify a period of the earth’s history and research a common set of questions so we could compare and contrast the different periods and get an overview of the earth’s history. Many of the students chose periods in and around the Mezozoic Era, the age of dinosaurs. I thought it was important for the class get a broader experience so I opted it find out more about the Carboniferous Period. I knew very little about this period so I was excited and daunted by the prospect.

The process of research has changed significantly since I was in school. The use of the internet is the first place to get information. I did some survey-type research at first so I had a context to work within. It also drove me to research the periods directly preceding and following the Carboniferous because I needed to see the bigger picture before I could figure out what was necessary to present. This enabled me to sift through the mass amounts of information and focus on key changes and aspects of the period that were necessary to communicate. 

I struggled tremendously with figuring out how to present my information. Many of students in the class had settled into a variety of projects/presentation-styles that felt very creative and diverse. I wanted to do something interesting and different, but the more I tried to be creative, I always found myself going back to things that I know, Keynote and timelines. I had decided I would make some sort of handout for the class have as a take-away. I was going to use Keynote, but the last weekend before I presented, I decided to try a new tool called Prezi. It was a presentation tool that incorporated movement and gave greater flexibility to layout the information in nonlinear format which I liked. It was intuitive and straight forward to learn and use. You can see the presentation here.

The presentation went well. I could have cleaned up my notes a little more so they were clearer when I was presenting, but I covered everything I hoped to cover. I got positive feedback for addressing visual and auditory learners with my Prezi and handout combination. There were many comments about how I tied the details about the Carboniferous period to the Devonian and Permian Periods. I appreciate that it was “strange” for the class to give me feedback, but I appreciated the honesty and critical notes.

I loved the diversity of presentation methods and tools that emerged from the rest of the class. Not everyone answered the basic questions that we outlined at the beginning of the project which made it challenging to see the connections between all of the periods presented. The themes that I walked away with were:
- climate changed dramatically several times through earth’s history
- the arrangement of the landmasses impacted climate significantly
- evolution of flora and fauna is incredible
- climate change in the Quatnerary Period seems to be dramatic compared to previous periods (time vs changes)

For the first time in my teaching career,  I felt like I was truly learning along side the class and that I had equal responsibility with each of the students to help us all learn a specific topic. It feels like what I believe learning in schools should look like, but sadly, we, as teachers, are not encourage or given the tools (time, class size and freedom, etc.) to create this environment. I am grateful for the experience and opportunity.

(via Treehotel…Sleep in Nature! | Yatzer)

In this morning’s Morning Meeting we shared our preference for either living in a treehouse or a boathouse. Well, this is a recently opened “TreeHotel” in Sweden.  This might convince me to give up my boathouse.

CHRIS BURDEN: Metropolis II (by GagosianGallery)

I shared this video back in June 2011, but I thought it was worth the repost because it is appearing at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)  starting on January 14, 2012. 

Here is the official description from the LACMA: 

“Metropolis II is an intense and a complex kinetic sculpture, modeled after a fast paced, frenetic modern city. Steel beams form an eclectic grid interwoven with an elaborate system of 18 roadways, including one 6 lane freeway, and HO scale train tracks. Miniature cars speed through the city at 240 scale miles per hour; every hour, approximately 100,000 cars circulate through the dense network of buildings. According to Burden, “The noise, the continuous flow of the trains, and the speeding toy cars, produces in the viewer the stress of living in a dynamic, active and bustling 21^st Century city.”

To see Metropolis II in action, please visit the gallery at these times:
Fridays: 12:30–2 pm; 3–4:30 pm; 5–6:30 pm pm; 7–8:30 pm
Weekends: 11:30–1:00 pm; 2–3:30 pm; 4–5:30 pm; 6–7:30 pm

Thank you to Anthony for tweeting this to my attention!

Field trip, anyone?

This does not directly connect with earth science, but worth sharing.  It goes back to our study of the Periodic Table of Elements from last year.  

This is Gallium. Can you describe what is happening and why?

thekidshouldseethis:

Above, part 1. And here’s part 2, where you’ll catch more action.

This is Gallium, a element with the symbol Ga and the atomic number 31. It’s a silvery metallic metal that looks like Mercury, but it’s different for a lot of reasons, most noticeably because it’s non-toxic, and because its melting point is 29.7646 °C or 85.5763 °F. At that temperature, it will melt (slowly) in your hand.

I just went back through my posts for this year and it appears I have not written an update yet.  I have written and posted other items on the blog, but not a straight update.  Due to the nature this year, one class, integrated studies and more of a homeroom setup, the former update structure does not seem to work as well. We have accomplished a lot of things in three months that doesn’t fit the confines of a math and science class.

Regardless, it feels appropriate to give you a low down of what has happened and what we have planned for the upcoming weeks.

In math class, the students cruised through the first couple of chapters in the algebra text.  They reviewed concepts such as, order of operations, writing and solving algebraic expressions, properties of numbers, proportions and solving for specific variables. We are now trying to put all these skills together to work through how to analyze linear equations. They are dealing with slope, x- and y-intercepts, slope-intercept and point-slope equations.

Our journey in science started with some philosophical discussions where science and humanities intersect. We contemplated where the earth came from and the role religion plays in our understanding. The Big Bang was discussed and explored.  Our first set of projects involved researching each of the planets in our solar system and doing scale comparisons.  Through that process, we decided to focus our attention on the earth and it’s history.  Before the Thanksgiving break, we shared presentations on the different periods of earth’s history.  This was fun for me, as I participated by making my own presentation of the Carboniferous Period.  Evidence of their research and projects should be up on their personal blogs if you would like to find out more.  We are in the process of identifying our next area of study, so stay tuned!

Besides all of this, the class prepared “Campus Hikes” for the Preschoolers, they went on the annual Harvest Hike, prepared and shared a “Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me” inspired presentation at Grandparent’s and Special Friend’s Day, and completed six high school visits.  Whew! 

 We hope the next three weeks will be calmer and we can get back to some basics.  Stay tuned for new posts from the students about their science and humanities projects. 

I love it when National Geographic Photo Contest comes  around.  The images are so evocative and compelling.  This photo had tremendous impact because I finally see why the Great White is considered so ‘great.’  

Please check out the other images.  You will not be disappointed.

(via National Geographic Photo Contest 2011 - The Big Picture - Boston.com)