Ask A Scientist - Review

With the death of the former heavyweight-boxing champion, Joe Frazier early last week, many questions surfaced about his condition and how much of it was due to his prolific career as a hard-punching athlete. One of the major accomplishments in his illustrious career was his victory over the very flamboyant Muhammad Ali, who is currently suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Both athletes were known for their powerful punches, but more importantly, their ability to take numerous blows to the head.

The question I submitted was based on the inability of brain cells to regenerate. Brain cells are one of the only specialized cells not able to repair or replicate after a person is born. According to Bryson (2008), a person is born with 100 billion or so brain cells at birth and that is the most they will ever have. I have heard that brain cells never complete the cell cycle and that they usually stay in the interphase stage of mitosis for the duration of their lives.

What differentiates a brain cell, specifically the neuron, from other body cells (skin, hair, fingernails, etc.) that make it unable to complete mitosis?

I have yet to hear back from the scientists at Ask a Scientist and I am looking forward to their reply and explanation. Several questions surfaced during our discussion session in class that prompted me to do further research. Dr. Lyman posed a very interesting question linking dementia and Alzheimer’s disease to boxing related injuries. Here is what I found:

According to the American Academy or Neurology, boxing related injuries are common triggers for dementia and Alzheimer disorders (among boxers with more than 12 professional bouts) , but little information has been found that links Parkinson's, the disorder that Muhammad Ali is stricken with, with boxing. The reason stems from the location in the brain where these diseases arise. Parkinson's results from damage to the mid-brain, while dementia and Alzheimer's derives from damage to the temporal and frontal lobes respectively (Clancy, 2006). The research goes on to imply that Muhammad Ali would have been fated with his disorder even if he had been a lawyer. Despite this claim, there appears to be a genetic link between Alzheimer's and traumatic brain injury. One common gene variation known as ApoE4, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer's, has been linked to an increase in the severity of brain damage experienced by boxers (Clancy, 2006).

I initially had two questions when I started the search for answers, but was not willing to wait for a reply. I took it upon myself to research and find the answer to my question. The other question that stemmed from my study had to do with the size of our brains and heads. This may seem like a silly question, but I had a genuine curiosity about it. Effective learning requires that students take control of their own learning (BSCS, 2005).

An adult’s brain case is much larger than a newborn’s. If neurons do not regenerate, then what fills in the space?

After some investigating, I found the answer to my question about brain size. There is no doubt that neurons do not regenerate after birth, but what I found is that there is another type of brain cell called glial cells that are used in myelination of neurons (insulation/transmission). These cells continue to reproduce well into adulthood and are responsible for the white matter in the brain. It is also the major cell involved in individuals with multiple sclerosis.

Prompting discussion questions that are open to variations of interests allow students to “take control” of their learning. These discussion questions seem much more engaging because it allows us to search and study topics that pique our interest. Websites like “Ask a Scientist” allow students to connect with real scientists in the field. Being able to utilize this in the classroom can have major benefits to a student’s learning. Not only does it bring science to life, but also this communication between professional and student can turn out to have a lasting impact in the student’s pursuit of a STEM career. If the turn around on the replies were not too long, it would be a wonderful tool to use in the classroom.

Reference:

Bryson, B. (2008). A really short history of nearly everything. New York, NY: Delacorte Press.

BSCS. (2005). Information about the process of scientific inquiry (pp. 1–3). Retrieved from http://science.education.nih.gov/Supplements/NIH6/inquiry/guide/info_process-a.htm

Clancy, F. (2006). The Bitter Science: Head blows from boxing can cause dementia and Alzheimer's. Can the same chronic brain injury also lead to Parkinson's?. American Academy of Neurology. Neurology Now. March/April 2006; Volume 2(2); p 24-25.

Evaluating Web 2.0 Presentation Tools

Educators, nowadays, have access to many different tools to showcase the content they are teaching. Just recently have I discovered presentation tools that were not named, Powerpoint or Keynote. In fact, there are a plethora of web based presentation tools available online...for FREE! Ones that allow us to share our presentations over the web with educators across the world. What better way is there to make a global impact in the educational community? With the help of these tools we can create, present, and share without leaving the comfort of our homes or classrooms! In this blog, I will evaluate 3 different presentation tools available on line and give feedback of the features and capabilities of each. Like many educators, most of my experience with presentation tools have come from Powerpoint. As I evaluate Zoho, Prezi, and Google Docs, I will often compare their features with the features available from Microsoft Powerpoint.

From my limited experience with Zoho, I have surprisingly gained a lot of knowledge about Web-based presentation tools. The more I "messed around" with creating a presentation the easier and more comfortable I felt. Although it is very similar to powerpoint, it seemed to offer a lot more background designs and features. It was very easy to use and I found myself experimenting with different backgrounds and tools. On their website they offered a tutorial video, but for some reason it did not work or load, so I'm not sure how much more knowledge I would have gained from watching it. The website if absolutely free, you just need to create an account with them. I used my existing google account information to log on to their website and utilize the presentation tool. Just like other popular presentation tools, Zoho is capable of embedding a wide variety of multi-media files into the presentation, including images, sounds, and videos.

Google sites or google docs was very appealing to me, mostly because my teacher website is a google site. Although I have never used the google doc presentation tool, it would probably be much easier to share the presentation on my website if I were to choose to showcase my project using google docs. Compared to Zoho, google sites, although free, did not come with all the bells and whistles. This site offered basic background features and, from what I gathered, there were no tutorials or training of any kind available. Due to the simplicity of the site, I could understand why a tutorial was not set up. I found it very easy to use and very similar to Microsoft Powerpoint. Sharing a presentation using google docs seems very easy, especially if you already have a free account and website.

Prezi, by far, is the most unique presentation tool I have had the experience to deal with. The concept map configuration is a brand new concept for me in terms of the way a presentation is set up. I am used to the slide by slide presentation offered by the tools mentioned above. Prezi offered a wonderful training video that allowed me to start creating right away. I found myself experimenting with different looks and configurations, and honestly, found it very easy to use. The grid allowed me to link different "slides" together and gave me full control of the design and look of the texts and images.

Right now it is a toss up between Prezi and Zoho for the presentation tool I will use for my course project. Although I feel very familiar with the set up of Zoho, there is something about learning a new way of presenting that is appealing to me. Prezi gives me that feeling. All three of the tools evaluate are easy to use and very reliable. The all work on the current browsers and operating system I use (Mac OS, Safari and Firefox). The best feature of these sites are there ability to share and collaborate via the internet. The accessibility from any place that has an internet connection makes it much more useful to create presentations. I often use a flash drive to transfer presentations from home to school, or at times, if I have enough memory on my account or my file is not too large, transfer files via email. With these web-based presentation tools, I no longer have to worry about having a file to big or enough memory on my flash drive. The fact that these tools can potentially make a global impact in the educational community is by far the best feature. Students and teachers can learn and benefit from presentations created anywhere in the world. Who knows? Your presentation may be educating students you will never get the chance to meet or know!

21st-Century Topics and Tools

As I was contemplating a topic to research, I thought to myself, “What topic do most students have a hard time connecting to?” The first thing that popped into my mind was the periodic table. Students often have difficulty relating to the information on the periodic table to everyday life, and therefore becoming easily bored and disinterested with the topic. The websites listed below struck me as very interactive and informative. If students are engaged through these tools, it makes it easier for them to connect to the content. Each site provides examples and background information that can be used to research and present. Students can become more scientifically literate if they understand how these elements are connected to their daily lives, and therefore can make a personal connection to the periodic table. They will also become more aware of the chemicals that make up their world and have the opportunity to teach their peers about the elements and their individual properties.

http://www.webelements.com/

This website includes an interactive periodic table that provides information about each element. It gives a description of the atomic structure along with how this element is found in nature, if it actually is found in nature. The more common elements have pictures that represent how the particular atom is used in everyday life. This would a be a great introduction website for the students to explore and even become an expert at a particular element. You may even have them share a brief description of their element in front of the class.

http://www.ptable.com/

This website named “The Dynamic Periodic Table” provides a more in depth look at the periodic table. One of the most interesting features of this website is the thermometer located in the upper right of the webpage. Here, you can scroll along the thermostat scale, starting at 0 Kelvin and ending at 6000K, and the individual elements change color as they move from one state of matter to another. This could be another exploration tool for the students to become more familiar with the periodic table. This site also includes different boxes and tabs that you can check to modify the periodic table. It includes tabs such as electrons, properties (physical and chemical), orbitals, and isotopes.

http://www.chemicool.com/

This website is similar to the ones above although it includes information about the history of the periodic table including how it originated by Dmitri Mendeleev in 1869. Although not as informative as the one mentioned above, this site provides a general introduction to the periodic table and would be a great tool to utilize at the beginning of the unit. I would not recommend having students check this out as a class at the computer lab because it is not as interactive as the others, perhaps its use could be as a lecture piece during a teacher led presentation.

The challenge, as it is with all content areas, is to keep the students engaged. I can foresee issues involving students becoming disinterested in the periodic table and “wandering off” mentally or even technologically during the activities. I hope that these tools prevent the mental wandering and keep the students on task as they learn more about the periodic table, and ultimately about the world around them.

Heat Transfer

In this week’s “heat transfer” experiment I decided to work with four fairly common materials: aluminum foil, plastic wrap, newspaper, and cotton cloth (See picture below). The main reason I chose these materials is because they are all very common items, and their flexibility made it very easy to wrap around the mugs. When I decided on these items, the first material that stuck out in my mind as being the best insulator was the aluminum foil. It is often used to keep food warm and when used in extremely hot temperatures, foil often reflects the heat instead of absorb it. The plastic wrap seemed like a decent insulator except for the fact that it often melts at high temperatures. The two materials that seemed like they would be poor insulators were the newspaper and the cotton cloth. Both materials are very porous and allow heat to be released outside of the mug. Cloth being the most porous would likely be the poorest insulator of the bunch.

According to the results, my hypothesis was confirmed, although not in a very convincing fashion. The results only between the four materials only yielded a total difference of 2 degrees Celsius. If I were to set up this experiment in the classroom, I would definitely use laboratory apparatus, such as test tubes and glass thermometers. The tubes would allow for smaller pieces of material to be utilized and a much more secure seal around the mouth of the apparatus. The glass thermometers would allow for an increase of initial water temperature, which I believe would result in much more convincing differences in the data.

To make things more exciting for the students, I would have them bring in cups and lids from various coffee houses and tea shops, and have them test the quality of insulation from each vendor.

Due to the fact that some of the local coffee shops still serve their beverages in non-biodegradable styrofoam cups, students can show how much more effective or less effective each cup is.

They can also put together a report that shows how the use of these Styrofoam cups affect the nature of the business, and if the cost savings and quality are worth the negative environmental impact the material possess.

Another idea is to compare the differences between different fast food burger joints and how they serve their food to go. On several occasions I have ordered food through a fast food drive-thru just to open up the container at home to find a luke warm cheeseburger and soggy fries. Which materials make for the best insulators?

Several restaurants (fast food and sit in) have moved away from serving their food in styrofoam containers and instead have utilized foil, paper, and cardboard in an effort to be environmentally conscious.

I am sure there are several other ways to get students more engaged in an investigation involving heat transfer. Although I believe if they can get involved in a movement to make this world a better place, some of their passions can flow into the work that they are doing. There is nothing more uplifting as an educator than observing our student’s passion in the work that we assign.

Guided Inquiry Lesson Reflection

This week I participated in a guided inquiry lesson attempting to answer the question: How does the steepness and mass affect the outcome of a collision?

I initially set up the experiment by setting up a ramp with three different incline gradients as shown in the pictures. Using the same marble, I proceeded to roll the marble down the ramp and observed and recorded the distance the toy car traveled from its original position. As you might have expected, the steeper incline produced the furthest results and the more gradual incline produced the least amount of distance. This is due to the combination of the momentum formula and Newton’s second law of motion.

The second experiment set up is pictured below, with only the steepest ramp used. Instead of using the different gradients, I used a smaller marble with less mass. As expected the marble with less mass produced the least amount of momentum transfer and the more massive marble produced a larger transfer of force resulting in a distance twice a far as the light marble.

If I were to modify the result to provide more evidence for Newton’s second law, I would use a different vehicle, some more massive and some less massive to show that a greater force is needed to move an object with more mass. I would also experiment with the types of surfaces used to roll down the marble to enhance the lesson to include friction. Since this experiment can potentially have so many variables one of the challenges would be to try and reduce the amount of variables a student or group of students will experiment with. Once multiple independent variables come into play, student results will become more inaccurate and less reproducible.

Having students come up with their own experiments using materials to suit their interests would make this activity more engaging. Skateboarders could use skateboards and ramps, while baseball players could experiment with friction on grass versus dirt, etc. This would allow students the freedom to create and invent their own procedures resulting in more variety of products.

Students can ultimately learn that science can produce similar results using different materials. One can prove Newton’s laws of motion in more than one way. These laws hold true regardless of the environment or circumstances a person or object is placed in. I believe students can gain the skills to provide evidence of the laws of motion in various ways and think creatively and critically about how to go about achieving that goal.

Guided Inquiry Lesson on Density

This week I implemented a lesson on density using coke and diet coke as the prime example. To begin the lesson, students were asked to come up with explanations for what is being displayed. The photo attached is an example of some of the reasons students gave for the cans floating and sinking.

This type of guided inquiry starts off with a scenario and the students are asked to come up with ways to prove their explanations true. Through exploration, measurements, and research, students can find answers to their own questions with limited guidance from the teacher.

As an added assignment, I had students research different densities of common materials and add it to a spreadsheet I created through excel. The students were guided to different websites to find information on different materials and I had them order these materials by increasing densities. The next day I showed them the "stacked" liquids and materials in a graduated cylinder as a review and reinforcement activity.

The image below is very similar to the example I showed the students. As you can tell the liquids are layered according to increasing densities, with the most dense materials at the bottom. This demonstration kept the students engaged and it was evident that the students understood the nature of density through this activity. As an addition to this activity, I had different solids of varying densities and I had students hypothesize where they would be placed in the column of liquids. It was uplifting to see that most students knew exactly where the objects would end up based on the research done the night before.

Melting Ice Caps and Scientific Inquiry

9. Extended Questions

a. What happens if the polar ice caps melt?

Although I doubt this will ever happen, if the polar ice caps melt, the potential for famine and lost property would be more than we could ever imagine. The Earth’s entire climate would change, including average air temperature and water temperature. This would set off a huge domino effect that would be potentially catastrophic with many plant and animal species becoming extinct. Some scientists believe this could happen as soon as 2030 if changes do not occur to the emission of greenhouse gases into our atmosphere. If the world’s largest glaciers, located in the Antarctic, completely melt, worldwide flooding would occur.

b. What other questions do you have about this Science Inquiry Experience?

Would it be too much to argue both sides of the issue? Having students look at global warming from both sides of the coin could spur some very good debates and conversations. We are asked to encourage disagreements in class, and I'm sure this would be a great topic for students to research, argue, and defend.

Science standards reform all point toward teaching through science inquiry. This would definitely be a positive change to what we have today. As we begin to focus our lessons toward science inquiry, we are left with a challenging dilemma: How are we to teach through inquiry, which include a lot of observations, investigations, and hands-on activities, while making sure our students master the ever growing number of content standards set by each state? Don’t get me wrong. I love the idea of teaching through science inquiry, but find it almost an impossibility to teach each lesson in that matter.

STEM Strategies Lesson Plan Reflection – Egg Drop Project

Since the first day we stepped foot into a classroom or teacher preparation class, we were taught how to plan lessons. Beginning with an anticipatory set and concluding with some form of assessment, whether it is formally or informally implemented. Looking at planning lessons in a different way was a bit foreign, but very informative and definitely more useful. When focusing on STEM strategies throughout our lesson, we are preparing our students for situations that may occur in the field and, at the same time, challenging them in ways that will build those highly important critical thinking skills.

The 5 E’s Strategy made it helpful to focus on the details we want our students to learn, without losing the big picture and main concepts. Making sure our students are engaged throughout the lesson helped us plan activities that built upon prior knowledge. It is critical to keep our students’ young minds constantly engaged or else face the consequences of unfocused and bored adolescents. When planning a lesson in this manner, I tried desperately to transition between each stage of the lesson as seamlessly as possible by constantly building on prior knowledge.

The most challenging issue with implementing this lesson was trying to determine how I would modify and differentiate the assessment for my RSP and English Language Learners. I thought of ways to modify the assessment by providing additional materials for each student to work with. Here was the assessment for each group of students:

Using only 15 straws, 20 Popsicle sticks, 50 cm of string, a lunch-sized paper bag, and a meter of tape, design and construct a project that will safely land an uncooked egg when dropped from a height of 5 meters. Calculating the average speed of the projects in your class and graphing the results against success or failure, make a correlation, if any, between average speed and success/failure rates.

The challenge here was how to limit the amount of resources available for my diverse students. Do I give them an unlimited supply of straws or sticks? Is giving them a larger sized paper bag enough? How much, if any, extra tape and string do I allow? In the years past, I allowed all of the above for my diverse students, and to my surprise the percentage of successful projects (egg did not break), was similar to their mainstreamed counterparts. Is that an indication to continue these modifications?

Although I still have a lot of questions about differentiation, using this style of lesson planning was beneficial for several reasons. First, it helped me focus on the “lasting knowledge” each student should walk away with. The students needed to master certain skills and concepts to be successful at this project. Second, STEM strategies are used in real-world experiences. The introduction and use of these skills were emphasized, including collaboration and communication throughout the entire process. Lastly, it taught me to check for understanding at various points in the lesson and re-teach concepts if necessary. One of the worst mistakes I have made in the past was to assume that every student understood what was being taught and asked of them. It was not until the end of the unit that I realized some students did not “get it.” This is not only frustrating and heart breaking for us as educators, but devastating to those students in our classrooms.