10 Science Party Tricks for the Holidays

Entertain your family and friends (but as always, be careful and use proper saftey!) during those long holiday gatherings:

Fun stuff!

I love the carbon dioxide trick.

Has Dark Matter Finally Been Detected?

Possibly huge news!

Has dark matter finally been detected? The Guardian: “For 80 years, it has eluded the finest minds in science. But tonight it appeared that the hunt may be over for dark matter, the mysterious and invisible substance that accounts for three-quarters of the mass of the universe.

In a series of coordinated announcements at several US laboratories, researchers said they believed they had captured dark matter in a defunct iron ore mine half a mile underground. The claim, if confirmed next year, will rank as one the most spectacular discoveries in physics in the past century.”

We’ll be studying Dark Matter/Energy a great deal this Spring, so stay in the loop!

The 2009 Edublogs Awards Ceremony Tonight

Winners for the 2009 Edublogs Awards will be announced tonight at 7 P.M.

The 2009 Edublogs Awards Ceremony and Results… this week! – The Edublog Awards: “During the Ceremony we will be announcing the Winners and runner ups in each of the Award categories.

We’re hoping to invite the winners to speak and tell us more about their site/themselves — time permitting!”

I’ll let you know how it goes.

Regardless, thanks to all of the awesome SDS 8th graders for making this semester and this site so much fun and thought-provoking!

Classrooms in 2020?

Now that exams are over, here’s an interesting post about what a classroom in 2020 may look like (that I hope comes true!).

What do you think of the 21 items in the list?

TeachPaperless: 21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Education by 2020: “Well, just for kicks, I put together my own list of ’21 Things That Will Become Obsolete in Education by 2020′.

1. Desks
The 21st century does not fit neatly into rows. Neither should your students. Allow the network-based concepts of flow, collaboration, and dynamism help you rearrange your room for authentic 21st century learning…”

Anything you would add or subtract to the list?

Exams Are Graded!

Whew!

I’ve just completed grading your exams.

They will not be posted on MyGradeBook.com, however (because it messes up the math there).

So, you can come by and see your score or send me an email/IM and I’ll let you know your grades.

Fall '09 Exam

Here’s the exam!

Fall Exam ’09

What did you think?

Exam Podcasts

Here are four short podcasts ( < 2 mins each ) on the four types of questions you’ll have on your exam tomorrow starring myself and Mary Hudson (I don’t think she’s a fan of Type 2 questions based on her performance).

Hopefully, these will clear up any last minute questions you might have about the types of things you’ll be asked tomorrow on the exam. If not, get in touch with me!

Exam Question Type 1 (Current Events):

Listen!

Exam Question Type 2 (Big Picture):

Listen!

Exam Question Type 3 (Problems):

Listen!

Exam Questions Type 4 (DIY):

Listen!

Happy studying!

Exam Tips!

Our exam is Monday morning.

Here are three things I’d look over this weekend:

1) Exam Study Guide

2) Daily Notes (Where you can find most of the note sheets or presentation lessons we covered this semester).

3) Quizzes and Tests (I post up our main quizzes and tests, so go back and look over anything you might have needed extra practice learning).

Later today I’ll be posting up four podcasts reviewing the four question types that we’ll have on the exam.

If you need anything or are unclear about a topic, feel free to contact me (my phone number, email addy, Skype and IM are there)!

Otherwise, have a great weekend and stay warm!

The 4 Exam Question Types

On our exam next Monday you’ll get four exam questions and a “blue book.” You’ll get one question from each of the four types below.

You pick three and then provide excellent answers.

• 1 question will be a current events question complete with a newspaper or journal article.

• 1 question will be a “big picture” style question (what happens when a candle burns?) that asks you to synthesize various things we’ve discussed.

• 1 question will be a problems based question (similar to the isotopes or chemical balancing problems).

• 1 question will be a DIY comparison question/answer. In other words, you come up with a question that compares/contrasts two or more topics we’ve discussed in some fashion this semester and provide the answer.

Easy, right?

I expect all A’s based on how well you’ve done on our exam reviews this week!

Earth and the Great Gamma Ray Attack of '04

Five years ago, something quite scientifically interesting happened.

We survived a deadly gamma ray burst. Remember our discussions of gamma rays and how they are a high frequency, high energy radiation far on one end of the electromagnetic spectrum (yes, that will help you on the exam)?

Fascinating:

December 27, 2004: The Day Earth Survived the Greatest Stellar Attack -Ever: “For a brief instant, a couple of tenths of a second, on December 27, 2004 an invisible burst of energy the equivalent of half a million years of sunlight shone on Earth. Many orbiting satellites electronics were zapped and the Earth’s upper atmosphere was amazingly ionized from a massive hit of gamma ray energy.”

Fantastic. Go read the rest of the article to see what else happened.

Yay science!