Newton’s Dark Secret

Came across a wonderful video today called Newton’s Dark Secrets. You can view it here, and you can download it also, although you will need to download their video-player to view it.
The video makes the point that Newton wasn’t quite the rational hero of science which text-books make him out to be.
However it does seem to offer a fairly comprehensive overview of his life, including a nice description of how Newton came up with Calculus.

Guillaume Martin called in to the school today to say hello. He’s doing astrophysics with philosophy of science, which sounds wonderful. This is in Edinburgh.

As far as I know, Ireland is one of the very few countries in the western world which doesn’t have a History of Science, Philosophy of Science or Sociology of Science department in any of our colleges or universities.
And now with our obsession of all things monetary it’s unlikely that any will be created, at least in the near future.
Queens do have a History of Science department, led by Professor Peter Bowler, which has led to some pretty interesting findings in their specialist area, the history of evolution. If you ever get the chance to hear him speak, do.

Teaching ’bout evolution of the eye

Was at a very interesting lecture at the ISTA AGM in UCC over the weekend, where Dr Jeremy Pritchard gave a lecture entitled ‘The evolution of evolution’. He spoke about how the eye was a difficult subject for Darwin to explain.
While the audience was mostly Biology teachers, I got to thinking about how I could introduce evolution into my own teaching.
We do a little bit on short-sightedness and long-sightedness in the Leaving Cert Physics course (under the heading of Lenses), and this would be an ideal spot to open up a discussion.

Dissecting a cow’s eye used to be allowed, but no longer is, but there is a link to a nice video of it, plus some other useful links here although it can take a while to download.

There is also a movie clip of how the eye itself could have evolved here, and an animated version here

Every so often I notice that the school library receives a copy of a journal/magazine entitled (I think) creation science, or something similar. I must look into it to see why we get this.

The Applied Maths class and the religion class got together a couple of weeks ago to discuss/debate many of the issues that bring Science and Religion together and also which bring them into conflict. It went very well; hopefully we can build upon it and do something similar in the future.

video.stumbleupon.com

I came across this site quite some time ago, but it must have been in its early stages because I didn’t appreciate its potential at the time.
www.video.stumbleupon.com is an ideal starting point for videos on any given category, and it cross-references all the major video sites, such as google, youtube, metacafe etc.
I have just spent the last 6 hours browsing through its science category. Very impressive. It offers a lot of potential for science teachers, and indeed teachers in general.

I have just spent the entire evening browsing through the science/tech category and it is indeed very impressive.
There is usually a reference somewhere along the bottom to the original video, and sometimes a direct link to it.

these videos can then be saved for you within the site itself (assuming you have registered), or can simply be added to your favourites folder.

Alternatively you can download them directly to your desktop with a suitable video downloader program. This may mean that you have to view them within youtube or videogoogle because many of the video downloader programs recognise these but not the stumbleupon.com site.

As with my last post, this may offer a possible alternative to the mainstream video sites which are banned in schools, although there’s no guarantee that this site won’t itself be banned.

Anyway . . .
On a more immediate front, young Harper in form 5 has been bugging me about why light can travel through glass, but not concrete, and because there aren’t enough people who ask questions in this world I need to put some resources together, if only to point him in the right direction.
It’s late.
Maybe I’ll do it tomorrow . . .

Nuclear Radiation Misconceptions

Let’s get straight to it:
Myth 1.
Hundreds of thousands of people were killed as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.

Reality
Approximately 50 emergency workers died as a result of radiation poisoning (known as ARS – Aqute Radiation Syndrome).
A total of 134 emergency workers were diagnosed with ARS.

Approximaely 4,000 children contacted thyroid cancer, and nine children died as a result.
Children are the most susceptable to thyroid cancer because of their large take-up of milk, which contains concentrated radiation, but also because their cells reproduce more rapidly and are therefore more sensitive to radiation poisoning.
Among the general population exposed to the radioactive fallout, the radiation doses were relatively low, and ARS and associatied fatalities did not occur.

The possible increase in cancer mortality due to this radiation exposure may be up to . . . four thousand fatal cancers . . .

However a website based on this report does mention that there could be perhaps another 5,000 fatalaties in surrounding regions.

The italicised section is taken from a report entitled Chernobyl’s Legacy: Health, Environmental and Socio-Economic Aspects, which can be found here

This involved the input of many of all the relevant United Nations organisations, along with others such as the World Health Organisation.

The report does state however that the latent period for many cancers – apart from thyroid cancer and leukemia – is ofter of the order of 10 to 15 years or lmore, therefore there may be some increase in these in the future, but as of yet (data seems to have been collected up until 2002) there is no noticeable increase in other cancers.

Incidentally, how do iodine tablets work in the event of a nuclear accident?
The tablets saturate the thyroid gland with stable iodine in order to prevent it from accumulating any radioactive iodine that may have been released into the environment.
Taken from The Department of Health and Children website here

Myth 2.
Children who were born in this area suffered terrible deformities as a result of the radiation fallout having been passed on through genes. This also applies to children who were born to survivors of the atomic bombs which were dropped in Japan in WWII.

Reality
There has been a modest but steady increase in reported congenital malformations in both ‘contaminated’ and ‘uncontaminated’ areas of Belarus since 1986. This does not appear to be radiation-related and may be the result of increased registration.
Again, this is taken from the report mentioned above.

For information on the Atomic Bomb Survivor Research Program see the FAQ here.
Question 7 in particular is relevant:
What health effects have been seen among the children born to atomic-bomb survivors?
This was one of the earliest concerns in the aftermath of the bombings. Efforts to detect genetic effects were begun in the late 1940s and continue to this day. Thus far, no evidence of genetic effects has been found.

Relevant sources of information
Chernobyl forum FAQ here. This is a fairly user-friendly access point.
There is a nice link here to a CNN news report video clip on the results of the forum (2:30, 17 MB).
Click here for a video (4:30, 30 MB) on how animals were affected.

Now one option on reading this is to question the source of the information, and in this age one is right to be cynical. However if we refuse to accept the word of the organisations involved in this report, where else can we turn?

There are two more issues which haven’t been dealt with here
1. What do the people who were evacuated actually do when they get moved?
2. You can’t really evacuate the population of an island.

To be continued . . .

‘Story with Global Warming not on the syllabus?

The nice thing about Global Warming is that it that it may very well wipe us out as a species in the next couple of hundred years.
It is the single greatest catastrophe to hit human-kind EVER.

And in the grand scheme of things we couldn’t say we didn’t deserve it, or that we haven’t been warned.

Because it’s effects are not affecting us directly at this moment in time we just choose to bury our heads in the sand.
It’s like the story of the frog in the pot:
If you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will jump out instantly.
Yet, if you were to place it in a pot of cool water and slowly raise the temperature to boiling point, the frog will unsuspectingly meet its fatal demise.

You want to know what the Junior Cert Science syllabus has to say about this calamity?
Consider the following.
Junior Cert Biology:
Consider and discuss how human activity affects the environment, both positively and negatively (two examples in each case).

Junior Cert Physics:
List the advantages and disadvantages of different energy sources of energy, including nuclear sources of energy, as part of the solution to national energy needs.

Actually scratch that last one.
Apparently we only need to look at energy in terms of out national energy needs, not in terms of the fact that we are the single worst thing to ever happen this planet.
So that’s allright then.

Junior Cert Chemistry:
Nada.
Faic.
Not a cracker.

So how about the Leaving Cert?
Well let’s see.
There’s nothing in Biology (hopefully somebody will prove me wrong here) and nothing in Leaving Cert Physics.
Leaving Cert Chemistry does go into it in some detail (for the small percentage of students who do it at this level):
The greenhouse effect and the influence of human activity on it,
and later;
Possible implications of the increased greenhouse effect.

Well here’s one Possible effect of the greenhouse effect for you;
Your children may very well be the last generation to live what we now regard as a ‘normal’ life, and it may very well be too late for us to do anything about it now even if we did want to.
And let’s face it; with the current demand for chelsea tractors in this country, anything we do will amount to little more than lip-service.

And we can’t even say we didn’t deserve it.

Sweet dreams!

No evolution in Junior Cert? Say it ain’t so!

Okay, let’s get one thing straight.
The greatest single idea that mankind has ever – and I mean ever – come up with is The Theory of Evolution.
It is the greatest idea in the history of the universe, and even comes ahead of the idea of the origin of the universe itself. And I say this as a physics graduate.
It’s not on the Junior Cert Science syllabus.
see for yourself

Now I do believe there is a general outcry that not enough students are taking science subjects at Leaving Cert level, and indeed this revised syllabus was designed partly to address this.
Indeed the ‘Introduction and Rationale’ section of the syllabus states:
“Arising out of their experiences in the junior cycle, it is hoped that many students will be encouraged to study one of the subjects in the senior cycle, thus preparing themselves for further study or work in this area”.

So why would you leave out the most incredible, stupendous, unbelievable (almost!), bizarre, wonderful, horrible, exciting, humbling, uplifting, emotional and awe-inspiring idea that the students could ever possible come across in thier lives, never mind in their school experience?

And here’s the kick.
Every so often the media here grab hold of the fact that the U.S. education system is having difficultity keeping evolution in their syllabus, and we think to ourselves “oh those silly yanks”.
Meanwhile we remain in ignorant bliss that we never had it on our syllabus in the first place.
Of course, the percentage of the school-going public that take Biology at leaving cert level do come across this, but for the rest of us there is nothing.
At least not in their science education.

Interestingly, while I don’t see a mention of it in the Junior Cert Religion syllabus (now there’s another missed opportunity! Imagine being able to make religion interesting?), it does make an appearance in the Leaving Cert Religion syllabus (check it out here – it’s first mentioned on page 103 of 110 in the pdf document).
Here’s part of what it says:
“Outline Darwin’s Theory of Evolution and highlight the major areas of conflict with religion”
Now there’s one to get your teeth into.

This section also delves into the origins of the universe, along with concepts like Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle. I reckon there’ll be some serious nervous religion teachers going in to class that day.

The fact that there’s nothing about The Big Bang or Origin of the Universe in the Junior Cert or Leaving Cert physics syllabus is for another day . . .

Cool transition year project – Chain Reaction

“The Way Things Go” is a wonderful short film of a chain reaction put together in some large warehouse.

At some stage I was asked ‘why can’t we do that’?, and I thought ‘Well why not’?
So recently I gave the task to my transition years, and they have taken to it like no other project or experiment they have ever done (in physics at least).
They have to come up with their own design, use their own resources, it can be as simple or as complex as they wish.
In fact as an engineering project it is very useful because those who initially wanted everything in it, quickly realised how unpractical this is.
There is also serious teamwork involved, and whose who plan in advance tend to do best.

The most successful so far have been the teams who go for short simple parts.
They can they put the final project together inside teh lab or outside in a field. We video it, and they vote for the best project.

I used to be uncomfortable with this, primarily because I was handing over the class to the students, and therefore I had less control, but now I can see so many benifits that I would be very upset if I couldn’t use this any more.

So for any other physics teachers out there (and there’s no reason why it has to be just physics) why not give it a go?

We could always compare projects and have an inter-school challenge!
You don’t need any equipment, budget, or even much preparation on your part; it is, as they say, a win-win situation.

A strange thing happened last week.
I was teaching transition year physics when I got into a row with a student over something petty.
I was in bad form to begin with, chasing my tail to get experiments in order for the various classes.
The student in question waisn’t doing a whole lot wrong, just playing with a broken spring.
Anyway, long story short, I had a go at him about breaking equipment which wasn’t his. He claimed it was broken to begin with, but because this gentleman didn’t exactly have an exemplary reputation I chose not to believe him and continued to give out to him.

Previous to this there had been a nice atmosphere in the class, but afterwards there was a noticeable tension.
Anyway, halfway through the class, while they were working on their experiment, I had a think about it and realised that I was way out of order.
The student in all probability did nothing wrong.

I figured that because I had given out to him in public, I had to apologise in public, so I stopped the class right there and then and apologised.
Know what happened?
The class gave me a round of applause.
It was rather touching, and I suspect that the student in question doesn’t get many apologies from teachers in the course of his school day.
All in all, an interesting experience.

I love my job.

I teach Physics and Science in a private second level school in Dublin.
It’s a good school to work in.

I couldn’t imagine myself doing anything else; I like students, I like helping people.
I am not particularly clever but I know enough to realise that we are living in extraordinory times.
And I get to combine all this in one job.

I have classes in Physics and Applied Maths at leaving cert and fifth year, and they are all a joy to teach.

It’s always bugged me that we teachers are a very closeted group. We close the door to our classroom and we become kings of our own kingdom. This causes all sort of problems.

Anyway, this is an attempt to address this in some small way.
I hope this to be a very honest description of my job, warts and all.
Time will tell.

I have a website, but due to lack of expertise it’s progressing very slowly.

One day at a time.