Arthur Eisenkraft (former NSTA president) asked an interesting question: Would Faraday have succeeded in today’s urban American schools? In many of today’s schools, Faraday might not have been eligible for a traditional physics class because of his lack of math background. Or this outstanding experimentalist might have been assigned to a class that did not [...]
Full disclosure–NSTA got me hooked on the CSI programs. So when given a chance to attend a session called “The Dead T-Shirt Contest” that promised to enlighten us about teaching forensic science, I had to go there, of course.
The great thing about traveling to an NSTA conference is that almost immediately you find yourself among friends.
Get some insight on students’ “Private Universe” in Philadelphia. You’ll find sessions addressing misconceptions at all grade levels, in a range of science fields.
A new series for a major cable network is searching for college students who are always inventing things and building things. If you know any smart, creative, and talented students who have a flair for science and engineering, please share this announcement with them. Ideal candidates should be freshmen or sophomores and have a couple of [...]
The word “data” for some people conjures up pages of numbers or a dreadful experience in statistics class. But get rid of the deer-in-the-headlights look and dig into lessons focused on forensics, snow, fruit flies, and Down syndrome. The protocols, rubrics, and examples can help you work with students in this critical inquiry process. I’ve [...]
Physics teachers have a chance to get physical—and biological—on Thursday at the NSTA Conference in Fort Lauderdale with a session called Muscular Physics. The hands-on workshop by Umadevi I. Garimella, director of the Arkansas Center for Mathematics & Science Education at the University of Central Arkansas (UCA) in Conway, Arkansas, and William Slaton, an assistant [...]
Seeing might be believing, but sometimes it’s what can’t be seen that’s most interesting. Since the 1930s, researchers have theorized that dark matter—which can’t be perceived by our eyes—is responsible for anomalies in the rotation of galaxies and other phenomena. Maybe it can account for socks vanishing from the dryer, or would that be a [...]
My favorite exhibit was Pasadena (TX) Memorial High School’s “Alternative Energy Digital Pipe Organ.” This was a full-size instrument (three keyboards and two octaves of pedals) with the sound of a pipe organ that was built by students at the school. I had a chance to talk with Matt Koby (the chief engineer) who is [...]
Ted Koehn of Lincoln East High School in Lincoln, Nebraska, holds a homemade inclined plane he uses in a variety of physics lessons. With humor and insight into teachers’ struggles during this troubled economic time, Koehn told a packed room of budget-conscious teachers how to do more than 60 chemistry and physics labs with low- [...]
