These are my thoughts about college counseling, science, and the environment.
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Good morning and happy new year! Back at school today after a lovely 3-week holiday in southern Spain, so it seems best to start with a celebration of one of my student’s Genius Hour projects. The animation below was created by 8th-grader Darik de Jong, and it explores the positive and negative impacts of biotechnology…
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Good morning! Today I am super excited to share the first of the Genius Hour projects from students in my grade 10 integrated science class. Traditional research papers, Prezi presentations, new lyrics for old songs, PowToons and other animations, TED-style talks, Tumblr and WordPress blogs, interactive board games – these kids have made some pretty…
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I found this TED talk while browsing for some resources for my physics unit this morning (okay, I got a little distracted). In his presentation, explorer Ben Saunders discusses the lessons he learned during his 1,800-mile round-trip walk to and from the South Pole. His public speaking style isn’t great – after all, he just…
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I’m an educator, which means I’m naturally drawn to things that encourage and improve student learning. I’m also a child of the late 70’s and 80’s, which means I grew up surrounded by the original Star Wars trilogy – Episodes IV, V, and VI, respectively. I collected hundreds of action figures, I’ve watched all 3 films…
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One of the things I love about Twitter is the sheer volume of ridiculously helpful and inspiring resources it brings me every day. With tools like Tweetdeck and Tweetbot, I get the best globally-crowdsourced information on science, education, educational technology, world news, and music – the categories most aligned with my personal and professional interests…
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Normally, I love living in Tanzania, surrounded by friendly people, amazing coasts, and almost unrivaled biodiversity. But a story recently published by The Guardian really saddens me. The short and dirty version (and it’s a pretty dirty story, in my opinion) is that the Tanzanian government wants to sell a massive chunk of land near Serengeti…
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Hello. It’s been a long time since I posted here. November’s been busy, busy, busy at school and at home. But I decided that I have something worth sharing today, and if you’re a student or a teacher, it should have a positive impact on the time you spend at school. Last night I came…
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My friend Todd just sent this to me a few minutes ago, and it’s got a great message. Just watch. Stay safe out there.
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“Chemistry is, well technically, chemistry is the study of matter. But I prefer to see it as the study of change.” -Walter White, Breaking Bad My last class today was one of those moments that keeps me teaching. My two grade-level collaborators and I just launched a Genius Hour project for our Grade 10 chemistry…
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Good morning. I’m back at school today after a fantastic break from classes, planning, and grading student work. It’s a bit tough to be here after the week I’ve had, which exemplifies exactly what’s kept me in Tanzania for six and a half years and counting. The first 5 days of the break I spent with…
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Good morning. My friend and colleague Steve Loschi passed along the following Radiolab podcast last night. In our current grade 10 chemistry unit, we’re challenging students to reflect on ways that chemistry has changed our world. The story of Fritz Haber’s work is not only a great example of how scientific inquiry has had a…
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Good morning! Yesterday I was searching for some content to help my 10th graders gain a deeper understanding of the mole concept, when I got distracted. Like really, really distracted. I started with the TED-Ed video asking “How big is a mole?” and ended up spending about 2 hours adding video lessons to all the…
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Good afternoon. For the past week, I’ve been teaching the mole concept and conversions between moles, mass, and particles, and even though I remember being somewhat confused by the concept when I was a student, I can’t figure out why this topic is so difficult year in and year out. Part of me thinks it’s…
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Good morning. It’s the last day of September, and if I lived in a temperate area, I would be anticipating the arrival of autumn’s cool weather and colorful leaves. Alas, I live in Dar es Salaam, where it’s hot, and the arrival of October just means it’s getting hotter. At least the rising heat in…
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Good morning! Some exciting tidbits in my news feed this morning (exciting for us science and astronomy nerds, at least) – the Day of Zero Shadows is rapidly approaching Dar es Salaam! Thanks to our local space gurus at Astronomy in Tanzania for this update. Between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Tropic of Cancer, the…
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Good morning. I don’t think of myself as someone who promotes or endorses products or services for commercial gain – I’m just a science teacher, after all – but I find myself constantly surprised at the sheer quantity of high-quality, exciting, engaging, and entertaining educational material available online these days. (How’s that for alliteration?) At…
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It’s been a while since I’ve posted, but I’ve stumbled across some valuable resources this morning – I shared them via Twitter – and they inspired me to share some more science-y things. Here are a few more channels I follow regularly on YouTube, all of which are great for support and/or inspiration in your…
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I can’t remember the last time Tanzania made the science news. Maybe during the Leakeys’ days working at Olduvai Gorge, unearthing the history of early hominids? In any case, it’s a rare event, but some archaeological work in southwestern Tanzania just made the science news in one of America’s biggest papers: the Los Angeles Times. …
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I don’t normally pass along posts from content generators such as the Huffington Post, but the article below popped up in my Twitter feed a little while ago, and even though it’s written for working professionals, I think there are some really useful hints for students. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/08/productivity-hacks_n_5775492.html?&ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067 The ones that really stand out for me…
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