Hopefully Not Goodbye...

Thank you all, for your insight, discussions, ideas, and the experiences we had in our short little class.  During these three weeks, I've seen you all more than I've seen my own child (at least awake), what with work and class time.  I've learned so much from being in this class and from such awesome instruction from Dr. Kat.  Seriously, thank you for that lesson on the lunar phases!  I will never forget it, and I will always work that in to whichever grade I teach! 

On that note, I will leave you with a little poem that I wrote about my job as a zookeeper...  I hope you enjoy it!

Confessions of a Zookeeper

By Jennifer Coleman-Bonham

Copyright 2013

I do not like the monkeys at the zoo.

They will fling fruit and poo at you,

And they will conspire with their little monkey friends

When it is dark outside and you have to get them in.

They may look adorable and incredibly sweet

But they will gnash at you with their nails and teeth.

You may think, “Oh precious monkeys, this cannot be true!”

I used to think that as well, but boy, let me tell you…

I would rather scoop live mealworms for yummy tortoise snacks.

If I have to clean the python’s cage, I assure you, I’m relaxed.

Let the cliquish alpaca spit at me while I’m supplying their oats.

A few times, I’ve been butted by the cantankerous billy goat.

I would rather scoop sheep pellets while dripping with sweat

And saying, “Watch your step there, sir.  Those aren’t Raisinets.”

Let me empty and scrub out the anteater’s tub.

Let my leg be a toy for a feisty leopard cub.

After I dodge the wrath of a bad-tempered kinkajou,

Let the nosy toucans give me a Donald Trump hairdo.

Bring on the unprovoked hatred from the hawk.

Let me be slooooooowly attacked by a two-toed sloth.

I would rather do all of this, every single day…

Just please, don’t send me to the monkeys today.

P.S. Don’t even get me started on swans…

 

 

*Photo credit: http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8498000/8498058.stm

 

 

Your Favorite Teachers Knew Their Stuff.

There was a part in our reading assignment tonight that really struck me.  In Chapter 8 of Ready, Set, Science! the author made the point that successful teachers know their content really well.  We all have our pet subjects, and of those subjects, we have our pet concentrations.  My pet concentration happens to be biology.  However, I am also really interested in Earth science.  I'm not as good at chemistry and physics as I'd like to be, but I am going to push myself to REALLY learn that content so that I can be a great teacher.

One of my favorite teachers growing up was my 8th grade science teacher, Boyd Sykes.  He was an amazing teacher for many reasons, one being that he really listened to and supported his students in their endeavors.  He was enthusiastic about his craft, and it fizzled down even to the most rebellious of students.  He managed to captivate us when he spoke about several subjects but none more so than his pet project:  honeybees.

We had bees in our class.  He had rigged a pipe that came through the outer wall of the building and into the classroom.  He had this lovely glass window hive, and the queen was always marked with a dot so that we could see her and follow what she was doing.  We got to see her lay eggs and see the workers feeding the larvae, we got to see the "trash dump" where the workers would take the refuse out of the hive -- "taking out the trash," so to speak.  We learned SO much about bees in this class, and he would even bring us fresh honey from his own hives, right on the comb! 

He influenced me so very much -- not only because he encouraged me to pursue a career in science, but because he REALLY knew his stuff.  I learned everything I ever wanted to know about the water cycle, recycling (I started a recycling program a year later at my high school), and bees, not to mention everything else he taught.  His was really the first serious science instruction that I had experienced, and it was always hands-on and relevant. 

I wish that I could tell him how much of an influence he had in my life.  Mr. Sykes passed away two years after I had the good fortune of being part of his class.  But I will never forget him, and I, along with MANY others of his students, still tell the wonderful stories of his instruction and what he meant to us.  So, this post is dedicated to him and all the other amazing teachers who give their all just to make us smarter, more well-rounded individuals.  If you've had some great teachers, tell them, "Thank you."

*Photo credit: http://www.genehanson.com/bees.htm

There Are Plenty of Meteor Showers in the Sky...

So you thought the Camelopardalid was the one, and it just didn't work out.  Well, the good news is that, like people on the earth, there are still plenty of meteor showers to be seen in the sky.  Whether or not there are still plenty of fish in the sea is a topic for another discussion on a different day.

One that's coming up is the Perseid meteor shower, which will peak on the 12th of August.  We'll have a gibbous moon, so the viewing might be obscured by moonlight, but they usually yield about 100 meteors per hour, give or take a few.  You may want to give them a try at the beginning of August, when you don't have to fight with the moon to see them.  You won't see as many, but you might have a better chance at seeing good ones.  I didn't catch the meteor shower last year because if my brain remembers correctly, there was too much cloud cover to see anything.  But two years prior, they were really good!  Here's a shot of the Perseids:

One that seems to be hit-and-miss is the Leonid meteor shower, which will peak on the night of the 16th/morning of the 17th of November.  Usually, we only see about 10-20 per hour, but it seems that this year they are expecting about 30-300 meteors per hour.  We'll have a waning crescent moon, so unless there is cloud cover (or unless you have too much light pollution), then viewing conditions should be great.  Just load up on the hot chocolate and get some Hot Hands!

The last potentially good one this year will be the Geminid shower, which peaks on the 13/14th of December and can yield over 120 per hour.  Talk about cold!  But if you're brave enough, these meteor showers are slow and bright.  So by the time you manage to twist your frozen neck around to look at the one to your side, you'll probably still manage to get a good look before it fizzles out.

Here's a pretty picture for ya:

And remember -- colds are caused by viruses, so you probably won't die if you stay outside looking at stars in the freezing cold night.  Good luck!

These were only the higher-yielding showers.  There are several others that you can check out, as well.  I've seen meteors with the Draconids, Orionids, and Taurids before as well, and they are still to come this year.  Earthsky has a great guide with dates and descriptions of all the meteor showers:

http://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/earthskys-meteor-shower-guide

Also, Meteorwatch has a table for a quick reference to keep track of future meteor showers.  Bookmark it for later!

http://www.meteorwatch.org/meteor-info/meteor-showers-2014/


 

Outdoor Classroom Ideas

 

It's no secret that I prefer to be outside.  So far, as a substitute teacher, the most challenging days have been ones that the children couldn't go outside.  Sometimes, this was due to scheduling of recess.  Sometimes, if the kids have P.E. class that day, they don't allow a break for recess.  Other times, if it was raining or too cold, the children couldn't go outside, and recess had to be indoors.  Sixth graders got no outdoor time at all. 

I think this is one of the main reasons that we should start outdoor projects like gardens and outdoor classrooms.  It is so important for children and adolescents to have time outdoors (when the weather isn't inclement).  Time for play and relaxation is essential for a child's social, emotional, and academic development and should be allowed.  But if it's not, an outdoor class can provide some of the same benefits as outdoor play, such as being in nature and having fresh air and sunshine.

Here are some of my favorite ideas for an outdoor classroom.  I just did a search on Bing and got these pictures:

 These are the outdoor options with roofs.  While I think that having a roof over the outdoor class sort of lessens the point of being outdoors, I think that if you really want one, these are some good examples.  Benefits of this would be the ability to hold class if it's drizzling outside or if sunburn is a major concern.

 And while this is obviously a residential garden and patio, I really like the clear roof in this picture.  It would still protect children while letting sunlight in:

 

 

 And one day, I really hope that indoor classrooms can look a bit more like these:

 

 Also, one thing that would be really amazing to do is to certify your outdoor classroom area as a wildlife habitat.  You can do this through the National Wildlife Foundation:

http://www.nwf.org/How-to-Help/Garden-for-Wildlife/Schoolyard-Habitats.aspx

I hope that these give you some good ideas for starting an outdoor classroom project.  To raise money, you could do a class or school fundraiser or apply for a grant.  Get those kids outside!!

What's in Miracle-Gro?

In class, we had a question about plant food.  I knew that plants don't need soil to make their own food (all they need is water and sunlight), but I do know that Miracle-Gro makes plants grow bigger and faster than they would otherwise.  So, what's in this stuff?  I thought it might be hormones, but I was wrong!  It's mostly nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium, with trace amounts of other elements such as iron and copper. 

How do these elements make the plants grow?  Nitrogen helps the process of photosynthesis because it is an essential part of chlorophyll.  Too little of it, and the leaves will turn yellow.  Too much of it, and the plant can experience nitrogen burn and may die.  The trick is to find the happy medium. 

http://www.house-garden.us/articles/the-role-of-nitrogen-in-plants/


Phosphorous helps the plants to convert nutrients in order to grow, and potassium helps plants fight off disease and retain water during a drought.  You can find information about the roles of phosphorous and potassium in plants here:

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/phosphorus-plant-growth.htm

http://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/plants-potassium.htm

But there is a problem with using Miracle-Gro.  Too much of it can cause plants to become sick and die.  Also, there is the problem of fertilizer runoff.  Since it helps the production of photosynthesis, if it runs off into a water source, it can cause algal blooms in which algae growth experiences a huge increase.  The increased algae in the water requires more oxygen, which depletes the level of breathable oxygen for fish.  This can cause huge populations of fish to die.

What's the answer?  If you just HAVE to use commercial fertilizer, limit the use to whenever your plants aren't thriving and actually need a nutrient boost.  But compost pretty much solves all of these problems.  So, make a compost pile in your backyard, and use it!  Throw banana peels in for potassium, and you've got the perfect solution.  It's better for the soil, the plants, and the environment, as a whole.

These petunias are a good example:  The one on the right was grown in compost, while the one on the left was grown with Miracle-Gro.  In this case, the compost was even better!

Photo was taken here:  http://qualitygreenspecialists.com/index.php?p=1_16_Premium-blend-Compost

You can teach about plants and nutrients with a simple experiment in your class.  You could do this with outside plants or indoor potted ones.  Just make sure they are the same species and have the same access to sunlight and water.  Make one the control (no fertilizer and use only potting soil and water), put commercial fertilizer on one, and on the last, use organic compost, and record the growth and health of each plant over a period of two months.  During the lessons, discuss the process of photosynthesis, and allow the students to predict which plant will do the best and why. 

 And don't forget to put earthworms in your compost pile or bin!

Camelopardalid Meteor....Storm? Shower?

 

 

*Photo taken from this website: http://www.meteorwatch.org/meteor-info/meteor-showers-2014/

Yeeeeaaaah, not quite.  Maybe a drizzle.  I was SUPER excited for this amazing possibility of seeing over 200 meteors per hour (one website even had experts predicting up to 1000).  The discovery that Earth would come into contact with the dust trail of Comet 209P/Linear was made a couple of years ago.  Since the comet's discovery, it was proven to be a poor dust producer.  But scientists had no way of knowing how active it was back in the 1800s, which is when the dust would have been produced for this meteor shower.  So, if it was producing lots of dust back then, the meteor shower would have been really spectacular.   Here's a great site that really explains just about everything you ever wanted to know about this:

http://www.space.com/25982-rare-meteor-shower-camelopardalid-comet-unknowns.html

So I tried REALLY hard to get a group of people to drive out somewhere with me and find some dark skies to watch them, hoping for the "spectacular dust" scenario.  Apparently, NO ONE wanted to be AWESOME with me, and they had better things to do, like sleeping.  I even asked if I could crash the lawns of friends who lived away from the city, even if they didn't want to stay up and watch.  No dice. So, since I didn't have a dark place to go that I knew would be available, I caffeined-up, threw on a jacket, and took a camping chair outside to my backyard in Nashville.  At least the action would be in the north, where I had the clearest view and the darkest sky (our light pollution here is ridiculous). 

And so I sat and watched.  Almost all night.  Around 11:30, I started to see a couple of bright streaks here and there, and I started thinking that maybe there was something to this.  About an hour later, I was seeing what could either have been a LOT of really faint streaks or just my eyes playing tricks on me.  At this point, I started getting a little grumpy about the fact that I was trying to watch these with Nashville's light pollution.  I also got a little too excited over what turned out to be fireflies closer to the horizon.  At about 2:00, the clouds rolled in from the west and blocked the view, so I went back inside and kept checking the sky every now and then to see if it had cleared up.

By 3 a.m., even with the caffeine, I was so tired that I had to throw in the towel.  I didn't make it to sunrise to see Venus and the crescent moon rising, like I had hoped.

So that's my historic meteor shower story.  I checked this morning to see if other people around the U.S. had any luck, and their stories are pretty much the same, even with darker and clearer skies.  But I figure that, hey, I'm young.  There's always the next one!  Here's a picture taken by some lucky person who actually caught one on camera:

I got it here:  http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1136640

Winter and the Sun? They're closer than you might think.

When this discussion came up in class, I was shocked at how little I knew about the relationship between the proximity of the sun and the seasons on Earth.  I knew about axial tilt and the reason for summer and winter, but I didn't realize that Earth is closer to the sun in the northern hemisphere's winter.  I always knew that Earth has a very slightly elliptical orbit, but I never knew that it was enough to make much of a difference. 

This website explains everything fairly well:

http://www.space.com/3304-earth-closest-sun-dead-winter.html

Earth is closest to the sun in early January and farthest from the sun in early July.  For those people living in the southern hemisphere, it is true that Earth is closer to the sun in summer.  But for those of us here in the United States, or anywhere in the northern hemisphere, we're experiencing winter at that time. 

Picture was taken from: http://www.ngawhetu.com/Resources/TheRhythmicSky/index11.html

One way that you could teach this so that kids can remember and understand is to take them outside, where there is plenty of room, and replicate this picture with the students.  Have one student standing in the middle with a big yellow ball (the sun), and have another student hold a globe (Earth).  "Earth" will move around in a circular orbit around the sun.  Have other students hold representations of the seasons (a big snowflake for winter, a red maple leaf for fall, etc.).  Ask "Earth" to move a little closer to "The Sun" when he or she gets to "Winter."  It may not be as exact as the picture, but it gets them moving, and they may remember it better if they're acting it out.

This is a picture of the analemma, which is the pattern of the position of the noontime sun over the course of a year.  The highest point is during the summer solstice and the lowest point is during the winter solstice.  The figure-eight pattern is due to Earth's elliptical orbit.

I'm sure that some people knew this, but I sure didn't.  It just goes to show that there are a LOT of things that I still don't know, and there's always room to learn!

Failed Experiment? No Biggie.

One of the things that has been popping up in our readings and videos is the idea that it's okay to be wrong.  When I was in school, I never once heard a teacher say to the class, "It's okay if you didn't get the result you hoped for."  I could have used some encouragement in that area.  We all could have.

My classroom environment was very much a right-or-wrong-answer type of learning.  But in the field of science, sometimes you get results that you don't expect.  And that's okay.  In fact, sometimes the "failed" experiments are the ones that lead to amazing and helpful discoveries!  Some of the best "failed" experiments yielded such discoveries as penicillin and the properties and behavior of light.  With every unsuccessful attempt at nuclear fusion, scientists are closer to the realization that it either is or is not possible.  Some of those "failed" experiments and their benefits for human kind can be found here:

http://io9.com/5053093/the-most-spectacular-failed-scientific-experiments

It is so important to teach our students that inconclusive results are very common in the field of science.  They either provide an answer to a question or raise more questions -- quite often, they do both of these things.  This is how new hypotheses are formed and tested, and this is how new discoveries are made.  We need to provide our students with the skills they need to question and experiment, not harp on whether they were right or wrong in their thinking.  If we threw in the towel at every failed attempt at understanding, I'm pretty sure we would never have learned to cook our food, much less traveled in space.  And MTV never would have had the top of the hour rocket launch:






So remember, kids, your failed science experiment might lead to the next big thing.  And we wouldn't want to deprive future generations of music lovers from exploiting your discoveries now, would we?

Sometimes The Bird Isn't The Word

As I'm researching warblers for a class presentation, I can't help but notice the vast amount of information that the lovely Internet has provided.  There are so many websites you can access that can give you details on the species of plants and animals in your area, which is perfect for an outdoor lesson on native flora and fauna.  One of the first natural things I learned as a child was that we have an amazing number of indigenous species here in Tennessee.

However, I had a huge misconception about one of those species!  I was discussing with my group last night about the Nashville Warbler, pictured above.  I mistakenly thought that it resided here and that Nashville was its main breeding ground.  But if I were to rationally think about that, the chances of that being possible are pretty slim.  If a species were to have such a small area in which to breed, that would probably mean that there are very few of those creatures around.  In other words, the species would be very rare, indeed, and may even be on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Threatened or Endangered List.  It is not:

http://ecos.fws.gov/tess_public/pub/SpeciesReport.do

I found information about the Nashville Warbler at the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency:

http://www.tnwatchablewildlife.org/details.cfm?displayhabitat=forest&sort=aounumber&typename=FOREST&uid=09052508501285759&commonname=Nashville Warbler

The Nashville warbler does not breed in Nashville.  It was named so by a man who spotted one here back in 1811.  The bird was simply stopping by in between migration points.  So, if we stop to think about the logic of what we have learned, we may decide to go back and research it after realizing that some ideas just don't make sense.  And it's okay to admit that you were wrong about something.  Nobody knows everything!  Just be sure and check your sources.  Otherwise, you may get this look:

*Both pictures were taken from the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency

Broom Standing

Picture taken from this website:

http://incredibots.com/if/viewtopic.php?p=383861

I think this might not work for me in my house because my foundation is slightly off.  If you place a ball in the middle of the floor, it won't stay there.  It rolls south.  So I guess it would make sense that, no matter how hard I try to make my REALLY old, plastic-bristled angled broom with the bent handle to stay put, it just won't.  Maybe if I had a flat floor, I could do it.  Or a broom that didn't have a dent in the handle.

The trick, it appears, is the finding the broom's center of gravity.  It's a basic balancing act.  I think it goes, if an object has the same mass distribution throughout its body, the center of gravity should be in the middle.   I'm thinking that since the broom's mass distribution isn't equal throughout (skinny up top, wide on the bottom), you've got to mess with it a little bit to get it to balance without falling over.  In some cases, this might mean cramming the bristles down so that they spread out a bit more or twisting the head of the broom around a little bit.

*EDIT*

This can happen any day of the year, contrary to the myth that it can only happen during a spring/fall equinox or planetary alignment event. 

I didn't find this in any one place.  I had to go to several websites and just piecemeal it together based on what I found and what I know from school.  Shoot me if I'm wrong!

Here's a little activity on the center of gravity, by NASA.

"Center of Gravity, Pitch, Yaw"

http://www.nasa.gov/audience/foreducators/topnav/materials/listbytype/ETE_Center_of_Gravity.html

I'll be honest, physics makes my head hurt.  I was never any good at it.  I'm interested in the concepts of physics, but when you start to introduce all the equations and formulas, something in my brain shuts off and goes, "La la la la la la can't hear you la la la la la."  And to be truthful, I thought "yaw" was some sort of rapper-slang for "y'all."  Center of Gravity, YAW!

I'm still trying to figure out why I can balance perfectly well while doing yoga barefoot on my hardwood floor, but when you get me in a studio with a yoga mat, everyone thinks I've had a little too much of the drinky-drink.  Somebody explain that!  I'll give you a cookie.  :-)

Lessons From Thin Air

For this assignment, I chose to watch the video "Lessons From Thin Air."  You can find the video link on this page:  http://www.learner.org/resources/series26.html?pop=yes&pid=77

I chose this video because I think it's interesting to see how much students really know about the natural world in which they live.  It is essential that we learn which misconceptions our students have so that we can correct their thinking.  Teachers also may have some misconceptions about certain ideas and processes, and it is our job to research these ideas to know how best to teach them. 

I thought it was interesting that even though the 7th grade teacher was doing a good job of relaying information to his students, even the brightest of them didn't retain some of the key elements of photosynthesis.  Sometimes, unfortunately, that will happen, despite our best efforts.  I think that it will take many teachers to plant the seeds of scientific thinking, and starting at a very young age, in order for our students to be proficient at it.

I was shocked that the chemistry student thought that water molecules dispersed into their separate components when evaporating into the gas state.  I had a really good foundation in chemistry, and we were taught very early about the properties of solid, liquid, and gas substances. 

I have an idea for this as a lesson to elementary students.  H20 look like Mickey Mouse -- that's easy to remember.  So you could use that as an example.  Get students into groups of three to simulate the water molecules in solid, liquid, and gas form.  It would be best to do this outside so that they could spread out accordingly and move faster when they got to the gas state.  Obviously, you would tell them that they had to link arms with their group partners during the entire exercise.  Bring cubes of ice and cups of water so they get a visual representation.

I do wonder at the thinking of the 6th grade boy when he was asked about the air in the flask.  He knew that half of the air had been extracted, so that meant that half of the molecules were left and that they were evenly dispersed throughout the flask.  His teacher said that she didn't teach this because she thought the idea was too abstract for an 11-year-old to understand.  She changed her thinking when it became apparent that he was already forming these ideas for himself.

As for the decomposition lesson, I love that the children got to form their own questions and design their own experiments and ways to test their questions with guidance from the teacher.  This is scaffolding at its best.  I am amazed, however, that forest creatures didn't eat their experiments!  If I tried that at my house, everything would have been gone by the morning -- that little wire cage over the apples and carrots would have been a joke to the raccoons around here!  Lucky students!!

Outdoor girls stuck inside...

The mini-me has a springtime cold.  So we've been stuck inside doing low-key things like drawing and reading and building with legos for a couple of days.  And, of course, sick time means t.v. time.  So, we have been watching a few movies (I've seen Frozen how many times now?) and t.v. shows on Netflix.

I love Netflix.  You should seriously consider getting an account so that you can stream shows in class for special class rewards like lunch in the classroom.  Also because Netflix has a ton of Magic School Bus episodes and most kids LOVE the Magic School Bus.  It's entertaining and visual, and they get to learn a lot of great science.  (Plus, you just can't beat Lily Tomlin as Ms. Frizzle.) 

For the little bitties, Curious George is awesome.  The episodes are two shows that are about 12 minutes each, so you could even stop after one show, if you're running short on time.  So far today, we have learned how to build an igloo, how vending machines work and how to build one using a refrigerator box, the process of shearing sheep to make wool, and where trash goes if it gets swept into a storm drain (pollution is a topic on this one).  In past episodes, we learned the life cycle of a frog, how to make a garden, how to make a piñata, and how to make backyard chickens happy if you live in a busy neighborhood.  Just about every episode features some sort of experimentation and reasoning.  Great for getting those little wheels turning!

Here's hoping that Miss Stinkerbell's cold is gone by tomorrow and that the weather is warmer so that we can get OUT of this house for awhile.

*Photo taken from Gem City Images

http://www.gemcityimages.com/2009_05_01_archive.html

The Awesomely Awesome Discovery Center and Its Awesomeness

*photos taken by Dr. Katherine Mangione at the Discovery Center at Murfree Spring in Murfreesboro, TN, USA.

Seriously, I kind of want to live there.  Being at the Discovery Center turned me into a giddy little kid all over again.  I remember going to the Cumberland Science Museum in Nashville before it became the Adventure Science Center, and it was amazing.  THAT was my candy store as a little kid.

Murfree Spring was so gorgeous and therapeutic.  I really wanted to just hop over that log in the creek and just keep wading until the sun went down and I couldn't see anymore.  That also reminded me of being a kid.  My friend Emily and I would go creek stomping just about every weekend, as soon as it was warm enough.  We'd be out until dark and would come sloshing in for dinner, wet and dirty and incredibly hungry.  It never got old! 

So many kids don't get those opportunities.  They grow up in cities in front of televisions and computer screens, and they don't get to experience the things that some of us from previous generations did.  I think it's so important for us, as teachers, to provide our students with these experiences and possibly awaken an interest that they didn't know was there.  You never know when the next Neil deGrasse Tyson or Steve Irwin will be sitting in your classroom. 

In addition to the fact that we got to go outside and stomp in the creek, look for tadpoles and crawfish, and pet cute, feathery and fluffy animals (and a skink!), I also really enjoyed the activities we did.  The water cycle activity was a fun and refreshing way to learn, and it was so much more in-depth than the 2-D worksheets I remember in school. 

I think that my "A-ha" moment was watching the water drop activity.  ONE drop out of that huge cylinder was equal to the entire amount of potable water for all life on Earth that requires fresh water.  THAT was a shock.  I knew it was a small amount, but when it was put in that perspective, it really made an impact.

This was seriously some of the best fun that I've had in awhile.  That probably makes me a nerd, haha!  But really, I truly appreciate the experience of learning with everyone and having fun while doing it, and I'm going to use all of the outdoor lessons when I teach!

Misconceptions Quiz

So, I got 17/25.  Trickery, haha!

I should have caught on to the pattern that all the answers would be false after the first eight were statements that I knew to be false.  But that Einstein question!  I'd always heard that he was a poor student, and when I was struggling with making a (gasp) B or even a (double gasp) C in a challenging class like Trigonometry or Organic Chemistry, I always reminded myself of this "fact!"  It always sort of let me forgive myself for not being excellent in EVERYTHING, being the perfectionist that I used to be (and still revert back to sometimes).  Maybe if I'd ever had more than one science teacher tell me that it was okay to be wrong, I would have been more accepting of myself for doing the best I could.

Now, for the mice eating cheese..... I had pet mice, and I can tell you that they DID eat that stuff, because my dad thought it was funny to feed it to them!!  But, yes it's definitely true that they did prefer the healthier stuff like grains (which is what I fed them when my dad wasn't up to his antics).  And man, did they LOVE the peanut butter!

Moth larvae....  Getting technical, huh?  ;-)  Okay, you got me on that one.  Good move.

SOS... Now that was interesting!  I had no idea that it doesn't actually mean anything!  I guess we can thank cartoons for that!

You mean to tell me that A Bug's Life isn't real??  I thought that everything Disney made was factual!  But seriously, this is interesting!  Now I know that moths are actually circling around light, and that they aren't actually drawn to it.  And this is why I LOVE science. 

I also don't know much about boiling water and steam, as it turns out, haha! 

The most interesting to me was that penicillin doesn't kill bacteria but stops the formation of the daughter's cell wall.  I seriously never knew that!  So interesting!  That must have been amazing to be in the room when that discovery was made.  That makes me wonder about the exact mechanisms of all the other medicines and herbal remedies that are available.  I know they work, but HOW do they work?  Some research options for when I have some extra time, I guess....which is NEVER!  Ha!

I'm really glad we took that little quiz.  Life is about learning!  By the way, I spot a few excellent opportunities for outdoor learning in this quiz!

Introduction

So, I love Science, and I love being outside.  I think that, for this class, I will try to focus on ways to teach outdoors.  Does that count as a focus?  As a camp teacher and former zookeeper, that used to be my job, and I've seen the way that kids engage and really retain information when you take them outside for a lesson.  I'm not really sure what else to say on this blog yet.  I'm gonna have to get used to this.  Usually, if I have something worth saying, I say it in a conversation, so please forgive me if this is so short.

*Edit*

Now that I'm more awake and have a little more time, I'll add a couple of things.  I absolutely love that it's finally spring and that we're nearing summer!  I'm looking out my window and seeing nothing but green all around my house, with birds singing away in the trees, and that makes me so incredibly happy and peaceful.

I really want to teach outdoors as much as possible because of the literature that I've read which gives so many excellent reasons.  One reason is that after being outdoors, children are more focused and less anxious, especially children with ADD and ADHD.  In Middle Tennessee, unless you are working in downtown Nashville, you are going to see some trees when you step outside.  Being in nature lowers the blood pressure and relieves stress.  Many people use nature as therapy.  So it makes perfect sense to introduce lessons in nature, if only for this reason.  Another reason is that recess is so shortened now, and it is very important for children's development to have free play.  If we can't extend recess due to regulations, we can at least provide them with constructive time outside in the fresh air and sunshine.

I realize that outdoor class time isn't always an option and is completely dependent upon weather.  But we could incorporate it at least once a week when the weather is mild and sunny.  I've seen the effect that a 15 minute outdoor break has on an entire class.  They came back inside refreshed and ready to work, and behavior problems were nearly nonexistent.  They didn't even play.  We just went for a quick walk outside and came back in.  Imagine the possibilities of conducting entire lessons outside, and science is the perfect platform!