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Archive for January, 2012

Posted from Diigo. The rest of Look Up! Educator Network group favorite links are here.

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TB

Middle-school students learn how to solder in an after-school science program.

For Ebony Green, a career as a scientist might have seemed unlikely just last year.

The stereotypical outcome for girls like Ebony, an eighth-grader at Frick Middle School in a rough part of East Oakland, isn’t necessarily a high-paying job in science, math, engineering or technology. In fact, 40 percent of Oakland Unified School District students drop out.

Still, despite her surroundings and the legacy of her race, gender, family background, and income bracket, Ebony sees a different future for herself. She wants to be a pediatrician, or maybe a vet, and she’s starting to take steps to get there.

Last fall, without her mother knowing, Ebony enrolled herself in Techbridge, an after-school science and math program geared specifically to girls. She signed up for math tutoring at school because she’s struggling in the subject. And her science teacher, Ken Eastman, says she even came to his science class twice a day for a while.

“Once these girls get that satisfaction from knowing they can do something that most adults don’t know how to do, that knowledge in itself is so empowering.”

Ebony’s interest in science stands in contrast to the reality of women working in STEM fields. Although women make up half the country’s work force, they comprise less than 25 percent ofSTEM-related jobs, according to a Department of Commerce report from last year.

Apart from the overall problem of cutting out hands-on science projects and tinkering in schools, the issue is even more pointed when it comes to girls. A recent study called “Why So Few” shows that only 20 percent of bachelors degrees in STEM fields go to girls.

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Phylm /’film/ n. [physics + film]

The fifth annual Phylm Prize is now open! Until May 13, anyone can enter a film — though students are especially encouraged — about physics. Year three’s winners were a set of students with the Special Relativity Rap. The second year was Science Made Fun about black holes (which I’ve inserted below), and year one was a kind of crazy video with a guy breaking flaming boards with his hand, using the Leidenfrost effect. When you drop water into a skillet and the beads dance across the surface — that’s the Leidenfrost effect. The beads of water are insulated from the hot pan because the liquid evaporates before it boils, creating a vapor layer that insulates the rest of the water from the pan. Anyway…

Last year they had a tie for first place, from Henry Reich’s Minute Physics and Derek Muller’s Veritasium.com. Both are part of a larger set of videos — check them out. These could be useful for people wanting to do some version, even a small-scale version, of the Flipped Classroom. Below is one of the winning videos, from Derek Muller, on misconceptions about why astronauts float. I think this is brilliant.

Interestingly, Derek Muller even has a short video on the Khan Academy (see it here). He’s clearly well-versed in the physics education literature, and very thoughtful about what works and what doesn’t. Here’s what he says about Khan …

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Although her career as a pilot lasted a mere 11 months, Harriet Quimby left an indelible mark on aviation history as both the first American woman to become a licensed pilot and the first woman to cross the English Channel. A gifted journalist with a deep love of the theatre, Harriet Quimby first made a name for herself as a writer at Leslie’s Illustrated Weekly. Primarily a writer of feature articles and stage reviews, Quimby also took photos for the publication of her many journeys around the world. …

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Posted from Diigo. The rest of Look Up! Educator Network group favorite links are here.

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