Posts Tagged ‘Education’
Wha’ is the stars, Joxer?
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: February 21, 2010
Boyle: An’, as it blowed an’ blowed, I ofen looked up at the sky an’ assed meself the question — what is the stars, what is the stars?
…
Joxer: Ah, that’s the question, that’s the question — what is the stars?
Boyle: An’ then, I’d have another look, an’ I’d ass meself — what is the moon?
Joxer: [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
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. [...]
Assessment: the tail that wags the dog
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: August 25, 2009
All this talk about whether leaving cert results or aptitude tests are better for gaining information about a student’s ability to become a doctor reminds me of the story of the drunk looking for his keys under the streetlight.
A cop walking his beat one night finds a drunk on his knees, searching for something on [...]
Shhh, I got me this sweet deal goin’ on
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: March 25, 2009
Don’t tell anyone. I got a got a sweet deal with my bosses and I want to share it with just you.
Keep it to yourself.
These are in no particlular order. What have I left out?
See where I work nobody checks up on me.
I get paid over 60 grand a year and my job description hasn’t changed [...]
Why aren’t we teaching about global warming in schools?
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: March 18, 2009
Quietly in public, loudly in private, climate scientists everywhere are saying the same thing: it’s over. The years in which more than two degrees of global warming could have been prevented have passed, the opportunities squandered by denial and delay. On current trajectories we’ll be lucky to get away with four degrees. Mitigation (limiting greenhouse [...]
Ernst Mach: the problem with Science Education
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: January 15, 2009
1859 marks not only the 150th birthday of the publication of Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, but also a somewhat less well-known occasion; It was the year Ernst Mach published the first of his 500 publications (his last was published five years after his death, in 1921).
Most will know of this man through his [...]
Trainee teachers get a raw deal
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: November 27, 2008
Does a medical student get to work on a patient/diagnose a patient for the first time unsupervised?
Does a trainee mechanic get to work on the brakes of a car for the first time unsupervised?
So why is a trainee teacher who is on teacher practice in a classroom, usually unsupervised?
Because the main teacher has buggered off, [...]
Some cool science resources
Posted by: ozymandias1 on: July 15, 2008
Just got back from wonderful New Zealand yesterday and came across some of these impressive deals.
Digital calipers from aldi for €10, available from Sunday 13th (checkout blowtorch available also for €10). Why would anyone use the old-fashioned vernier calipers when you these cut out all the confusion. Ideal for ‘measuring the resistivity of wire’ experiment.
Dynamo torches [...]
Latest videos from New Scientist
- Gorillas at playGorillas at play
- Tricked octopusOctopuses have been tricked by HDTV
- Robot upgradeA baby robot is being redesigned to look and act more like a 2 year-old child.
- Wave powerSea creatures are inspiring systems that harness wave power.
- Tongue actionSee chameleons capture prey in different temperatures.
- Growl distinctionWatch dogs distinguish one type of growl from another.
- Far flung physicsFind out about a physicist's journey to the ends of the Earth.
- Volcano monitoringRobots inside Mount St Helens can communicate without routing data through a base station.
- Migrating brainA team of robots with one brain that migrates into different bodies will soon live with humans.
- Signing computerBy watching TV shows with subtitles and a signer, a computer has mastered sign language.
