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!