Best website ever: runner-up goes to TED.com
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: February 7, 2010
- In: TED| ted.com
- Leave a Comment
I am amazed that so many teachers are not aware of TED.com. Tagline: Riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world
It doesn’t matter what subject you teach – there is something there for you. I like it because it is a counter to the compartmentalisation of knowledge which is so endemic in secondary schools.
So what should I recommend? I was going to try to list a few, but that would actually go against the spirit of TED; there is no ‘best’. Simply go to the home page and just browse through a category that interests you. It won’t be long before you get pulled out of your comfort zone.
But keep it a secret; if the powers-that-be find out how incredible it is they may just have to block it.
Last two videos watched:
Dan Ariely asks, Are we in control of our own decisions?
Jonathan Haidt on the moral roots of liberals and conservatives
Wonderful bank of science videos: howstuffworks.com
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: February 4, 2010
It’s no substitute for the real thing (YouTube) but howstuffworks.com is still a tremendous resource. The video section has taken hundreds of science videos and chopped them up into bitesize chunks, which is ideal for today’s student and their lack of attention-span.
I have included links to many of them in the website under the appropriate chapter heading, and it means that I now have links in almost every chapter at Junior Cert level, which is nice if I do say so myself. It means that teachers can get into the habit of checking out the relevant web-page every time they start a new topic.
Teaching crystals? Here are two wonderful (and beautiful) videos:
1. The largest crystals in the world are to be found in Naica, Mexico (2:40)
2. Watch crystals develop in a beaker of super-saturated solution (1:00)
Howstuffworks: a wonderful resource which deserves to be more well-known.
CESI annual conference next weekend
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: February 2, 2010
Once (and only once) a year do teachers come together from all sectors of education to share ideas and resources on teaching. You don’t get paid for attending, you don’t get a day off school and it doesn’t count as in-service training (although that wouldn’t be a bad idea) so the only teachers you will meet there will be enthusiastic and hard-working. Just like you.
CESI (the Computer Education Society of Ireland) is holding its annual conference next weekend (5th and 6th of February) in Portlaoise. There will be a highly-energised Teachmeet on the Friday night followed by a full day of presentations, workshops and seminars on Saturday.
Teachers are renowned for hoarding their resources, but here you are quite likely to see the swapping of usb files and at the very least the swapping of email addresses.
The theme for this year is Creative Technology in Challenging Times but don’t worry if you are a complete novice when it comes to technology – the very fact that you will make the effort to turn up means that you are a teacher keen to see what’s out there, and that’s all you need.
To find out more (including how to register, but you can also just turn up on the day), see the CESI conference page at http://cesi.ie/conference-2010
And to find out more about how CESI can help you why not sign up to their discussion forum (it now contains over 400 members, again from all sectors of education) at http://cesi.ie (look for the “Join the CESI mailing list” heading at the bottom of the page).
See you there.
Passion and Inspiration
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: January 25, 2010
Rule no. 1: Passion
I had only been teaching for about three years (mostly junior cert science and leaving cert maths) and was getting fed up with it. I would have liked to have been teaching Physics but there were already two physics teachers in the school so it wasn’t looking like that was going to happen any time soon. I reckoned a change of career was in order but had no idea what I wanted to do. When a colleague mentioned a masters program in science communication offered jointly by DCU and Queens I figured why not, so handed in my notice and bought a few homework copies.
I don’t remember much about the lectures in DCU – mostly they were to do with communication theory but the lectures were pretty boring (the irony wasn’t lost on me). There were two exceptions to this; one was the director of the program – Professor Kirk Junker, and the other was Professor Helena Sheehan. Kirk was an inspiration in that he was professionalism personified. I never once saw him get annoyed and every student was respected and treated as if they were the only student in his class. It was an example I have tried to follow ever since in my own teaching, but it is for others to decide how successful that has been.
Helena was most definitely a different kettle of fish. While she also had a deep respect for her students, the one word I would use to sum her up would be passion. I have never met anyone so passionate about their teaching and their subject matter.
For me it was a complete revelation. Apparently a teacher’s job is not to just impart knowledge to students – you can actually let them see how much the subject matter means to you as a teacher. And students won’t laugh at you as a result, in fact they will actually respect you a whole lot more. I can still remember sitting in her class and thinking that I have to get back into my own classroom and give this a go. If nothing else I owe it to my students. It has now become one of the first pieces of advice I would give to any new teacher – be passionate; if you find the subject matter to be fascinating then for God’s sake let the students in on it. No amount of technology can replace that gift.
It helped that I also found the subject matter of Helena’s lectures to be fascinating; philosophy of science? – I never knew such a thing existed. Science was just science, a disinterested pursuit of knowledge, and no proper scientist could be interested in dirty words like money or fame. How wrong I was, but that’s for another day (to get a feel for what Helena was teaching us just go to her web-page . To see a 25 min video of Helena in action click here for the 54 mg download or here for the 27 mg version (I don’t know why these aren’t just on YouTube – it’s powerful stuff).
This was all prompted by a wonderful post written by Helena as part of A University Blog: Diary of A University President
Helena finishes with the following words. They could only have been written by Helena.
When I was young, I was a 60s generation activist and I wanted to change the world. Much older now, I still do. The ensuing years have brought many disappointments and defeats. It has been difficult to sustain dissidence over the decades. The secret of doing so was to learn not be so all or nothing about it as I was then, to find what I believed and what I could do about it and to do it every day ‘like exercise’. I haven’t changed the world in any grand way, but perhaps I planted a few seeds that made it just a bit different than it would have been otherwise.
Some nice Quantum Physics resources
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: November 23, 2009
I may have mentioned previously that one simple way of seeing which science concepts appeal to the general population is to look at popular science programs and note what they are concentrating on; chances are there won’t be much of an overlap between this and the school syllabus. Quantum theory is a case in point – the BBC aired a wonderful Horizon documentary a couple of weeks back entitled “How long is a piece of string?” and while I didn’t catch it when it first went out I figured it was just a matter of time before it appeared on YouTube. Broken up into six ten-minute slots there is a lot of potentially useful material there for the physics class if you’re prepared to drift off syllabus.
The Beeb is understandably a little finicky about their programs appearing on YouTube so you might like to download it while you can.
Hat-tip to my colleague Jerome Devitt for reminding me about this – why is it that our colleagues in the humanities seem to be more comfortable discussing the philosophical implications of modern science than we are?
Have the rest of us really tested and tasted too much?
While I’m at it, probably the most popular YouTube clip on the weirdness of the quantum world has got to be the following clip taken from “What the bleep do we know?”.
It really is a wonderful crazy world out there.
Enjoy.
Evolution to be taught in UK primary schools
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: November 17, 2009
Evolution is to be taught in UK primary schools
And we still can’t get it on the Junior Cert Biology syllabus at secondary level.
Now when I say ‘we can’t get it on the syllabus’ that may be a little misleading – it may well be that no biology teacher cares enough to do anything about it. That may be a little harsh, but I have yet to hear any teacher raise the issue, and that’s what hurts.
There may well have been lectures on the topic of evolution over Science Week (because that’s when we show students that Science is interesting) and it is certainly one of the more popular topics when it comes to science documentaries (anybody else watching the incredible BBC series Life with David Attenborough?).
So why can’t we join the dots and teach it in our schools?
So next time you read about those silly yanks who want creationism taught in their high schools spare a thought for us equally silly paddies.
I hate Science Week
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: November 9, 2009
- In: Astronomy| Education
- 4 Comments
I find it very difficult to get excited by Science Week.
In fact let me just come straight out and say it; I hate Science Week.
Why does it exist? Like so many other great ideas we have here in Ireland, it seems we have one because England has one. And why does England have one? - for the same reason we have one; to let all our young folk know that science is fun. Obvious innit?
Well no actually. Irish students study three years of science at Junior Cert – surely this is enough time to convince anybody that science is fun (assuming it is).
But this is the point – Science as we teach it in school is definitely not fun. The science concepts which the department syllabus tells us must be covered could not be more mind-numbingly boring if we tried. Any hint of a concept which might be actually interesting has been very carefully removed.
How can you teach Biology without mentioning evolution?
How can you teach energy without mentioning the big bang?
How can we teach energy without explaining that it’s not just another chapter – it is the one concept which ties all others together?
How can you teach the atom without reference to the idea that the structure of the atom is such that we are all almost totally empty space?
How can we torture our students with graphs without ever expecting them to know why we use graphs?
How can we teach Ecology without mentioning global warming?
How can we teach reproduction without mentioning overpopulation or homosexuality?
How can we teach about food without mentioning obesity?
How can we teach genetics without mentioning forensic science – one of the few areas which has become ‘sexy’ of late?
How can we teach mass without mentioning that 90% of the mass of the universe is ‘missing’?
How can we teach about size without mentioning the incredible scale of the universe – from the very small to the very large? It’s incredible to think that there is absolutely no reference to astronomical or cosmological objects in any any science syllabus at secondary level – we might as well go back and tell that the Earth is the centre of the universe after all.
Check out this link for an interesting starting point to astronomy.
How can we mention time without giving reference to the incredible age of the earth?
How do we manage to avoid talking about extinction of species, radiation and cancer, the incredible complexity of the biological cell, the jiggling of atoms etc?
At the risk of being totally ridiculous could we not delve into psychology and look at the evidence which is there to suggest that we are very easy to manipulate and that almost all of us could be persuaded to do some very nasty things to our fellow humans given the right ‘persuasion’? Just because psychology didn’t exist when the first science syllabus was put together two hundred years ago is hardly justification for not including it today.
Obviously every teacher will have their own pet loves and hates, but underneath there must me a core set of ideas which are inherently interesting fascinating. Should we not be starting from this point and working out rather than the current approach which obviously doesn’t work?
Do we really need to focus on activities like measuring the density of a stone using an overflow can, plotting a graph of the extension of a stretched string or demonstrating the action of a digestive enzyme?
It’s one thing to blame ‘the system’ for not being able to change anything, but at this level we as teachers must surely have a strong voice, yet rarely if ever have I heard a teachers suggest that we should radically overhaul what we are teaching – indeed I suspect there would actually be considerable resistance to this at teacher level.
So forgive me if I don’t get excited by one more demonstration-lecture on exploding custard and water changing to wine. It’s just that the problem with science education is a bit deeper than this, and one week highlighting the so-called ‘fun’ in science does little more than remind us that for the rest of year it is as boring as dishwater and we’re doing a very poor job of rectifying this.
Secrets of the Van der Graff
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: October 20, 2009
The philosopher of science Michael Polyani referred to it as ‘personal knowledge’, sociologist of science Harry Collins called it ‘tacit knowledge’ and your local gardener would simply know it as ‘green fingers’. It is the knowledge which we possess as experts in any given field but which is difficult to articulate. A certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ if you will. I suppose it’s why these cookery programs are so popular. All these wonderful chefs giving the impression that ‘there’s nothing to it’ is music to our ears – until we try to repeat the exercise ourselves.
In fairness to cookery programs, they are so much better than cookery books because there are so many vital steps which would never appear in print, partly because the chef simply can’t think of everything, but also perhaps because some of the essential steps would be considered ‘too obvious’ by the expert.
Needless to say, the same applies to teaching, and even more so when teaching a practical subject.
So with this caveat, here are a few tips when using the Van der Graff generator in a physics lesson.
- Don’t make the mistake of waiting for a sunny summer’s day. Yes the air needs to be dry to prevent the machine discharging into the air, but if you think about it there is likely to be less moisture in the air in a cold, dry winter’s day than in a warm dry summer’s day (warm air holds more moisture).
- I say that like it’s the most natural thing in the world for a physics teacher to know, yet it was only pointed out to me last year. You see you don’t need to know everything to be an expert – you only need to know a little more than your neighbour.
- You must have a hair-dryer to hand. Ideally have a student spend 10 minutes warming up all the belt in advance of any demonstration, and if necessary continue to use it on and off throughout (but obviously have it off while speaking).
- You will also need to hair dryer when trying the hair-raising demo with a volunteer student. There isn’t any danger here (unless the student has a pace-maker!) and greatest chance of accident is if someone gets a shock accidently and falls and bangs their head.
- Here you will need to give the student a helping hand. Again it’s the hair-dryer to the rescue – use another student to help here (if the volunteer is a girl then the person with the hair-dryer should also be a responsible female, for obvious reasons). Get her to use the hair-dryer to ‘fluff-up’ the volunteer’s hair and the Van der Graff should keep it up there.
- Volunteer needs to be well insulted – standing on plastic box usually does the trick.
- Have another student hold up a mirror so the volunteer can see herself – it adds to the fun.
- Remember that not only can the volunteer be touched, but the electrons can ‘jump’ through the air, so you can’t even come close to her.
- When discharging, ask her to simply touch the wooden bench and she will discharge sufficiently slowly to prevent shock. The effect is most noticeable if there is contrast between the hair and the background, so ideally have the lights on and dark blinds on the windows.
- Don’t forget to try some of the other old reliable like aluminium trays, fluorescent light bulbs and even blowing bubbles at the dome.
Hope this helps.
Have fun!
Physics notes – now with a full set of solutions
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: October 12, 2009
- In: notes
- Leave a Comment
I may have mentioned that puting together the Junior Cert notes took rather a long time. Well it wasn’t much compared to how long it took to update the Leaving Cert notes.
For these I took all the exam papers from 2002 to 2009 at both higher level and ordinary level and broke up each question into the smallest chunks possible.
I then arranged these questions by topic, in the order in which the concepts appear in the notes themselves, so we’re left with a pretty comprehensive bank of questions.
Oh, and I typed up full solutions for these also.
This will hopefully be beneficial not only to students, but also to teachers (particularly new teachers) who want to make sure that they have all the material covered, and at the correct depth.
While it may have taken all Summer to put together, updating it each year shouldn’t prove too onerous.
Again, the intention is to see if it’s possible to publish this online for anyone to download as a booklet rather than coughing up beaucoup de moolah in these somewhat troubled times. This would also involve replacing the odd copyright image with a more legimate substitute and problably sticking in some sample questions in most chapters also.
All in good time.
I also dug out some (okay – all) of the comments which teachers and students have sent my way over the last couple of years and put a link to it on the homepage – it is really is hugely rewarding to receive these, so if that’s you then thanks!
www.thephysicsteacher.ie
Nice resources for atomic bonding
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: October 6, 2009
A rather unorthodox approach to revising atomic bonding:
It dovetails nicely with one of the many free resources from absorblearning – in this case an animation of an oxygen atom bonding (covalently) with two hydrogen atoms to form a water molecule.
There are over 100 other free resources like this from the same site (you can see more on the right-hand side of the pages).
It would be ideal if one could link directly to the resourse but instead you have to click on the icon on the top left to arrive at the required distination. Just as well it’s worth the trip.
The plan is put links to most of these in the relevant junior chemistry page of thephysicsteacher.ie
Latest videos from New Scientist
- Photo fixNew software can make bad photos more pleasing to the eye.
- Sharing bonoboA bonobo "freely" shares food with another, something that only humans had been known to do.
- 3D videoconferenceA technique based on a century-old illusion is beinig adapted for teleconferencing.
- Shoot-out scienceResearchers have tested why the bad guy in Hollywood westerns always draws first but gets shot.
- Hybrid videoA new system can blend ordinary and infrared video footage.
- Secrecy tourFind out about a behind-the scenes tour of scientific locations.
- NS TV - Nov 2009Follow us to an insect festival, see some ultra-realistic dinosaurs and a huge camera obscura.
- NS TV - Jan 2010See how technology is transforming greeting cards, a new exhibit on identity and how to walk on water.
- NS TV - Dec 2009See a 3D videoconferencing technique, art that deals with human-animal interaction and an ultra-realistic mapping technique.
- NS TV - Feb 2010See some ladder-walking locusts, high tech scans of ancient teeth and a secret pollinator.
