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As I made the morning coffee today, I glanced out the window to see a beautiful nearly full moon shining through the morning mist. I hustled barefoot onto the back porch to grab a photo before the sky lightened and ruined the effect. Once I started today's posting, I found that a couple of recent postings were appropriate to the photo. Science Daily today carries Moon Gets A Lashing From Earth's Magnetotail. Last week, Dr. Tony Phillips Science@NASA had The Moon and the Magnetotail. Earth Day Tomorrow If you're looking for some last minute classroom Earth Day activities for tomorrow, here a few links:
Terracing
I finished up the garden terracing project I mentioned Friday in Declination Delirium with some final reinforcement with rebar. All told I ended up using three 6'x6'x8', four 6'x6'x12' treated timbers, and 24 3/8"x22" precut rebar sections. Send Feedback to |
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Science@NASA has an interesting posting in Moondust and Duct Tape. It tells how the Apollo 17 astronauts saved much of their mission by using duct tape to repair a moon buggy fender. This one is a good read for students (and home repair specialists :-). Earth Day Essay An essay by Hank Stuever in the Washington Post is an interesting commentary on the overkill of Earth Day. What Killed Earth Day? Too Much Fuss And No Bother talks about celebrity efforts, corporate PR, and "too many "green" issues of too many magazines." I wrote about the same thing a few weeks ago in Awareness Overload. For those not so jaded by the cacophony of Earth Day appeals, there's Hagar, Blondie, Beetle All Say Earth Day Is No Laughing Matter and Top eight planet-saving gadgets for Earth Day - don't be mean, be green. I'm spending the early part of my Earth Day in the garden today. I started before the wind picked up spraying our apple trees (with some probably "not-so-green" stuff). I have lots of transplants ready to go into a newly renovated section of the garden. I added a new affiliate advertiser last weekend to the long list for Educators' News. Years ago I really loved going through the Thompson & Morgan seed catalog, as the illustrations of the products were beautifully done. Their current web site is just as well done. Changes to NCLB Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings announced proposed changes to the No Child Left Behind program yesterday including "requiring states to use a single federal formula to calculate and report high school graduation rates" and requiring "schools to notify parents of their right to transfer students out of failing schools two weeks before the start of each school year, and to explain more fully to parents the opportunities for federally financed tutoring that are available to students attending troubled schools." Reaction from members of Congress was mixed.
Potential Earthquake Risk Maps A Science Daily posting tells about updated USGS National Seismic Hazard Maps that may be appropriate for some classroom instruction. The Science Daily article quotes USGS Director Mark Myers as saying, "The hazard maps released today incorporate more than a century of seismic monitoring and decades of research. These maps help policymakers and engineers make all of our structures - from our homes to our hospitals to the utilities that run beneath our feet - better able to withstand the earthquakes of tomorrow."
Study of First Decade of Life Washington Post staff writer Donna St. George tells of an interesting study today in For Children, a Better Beginning. The study released by the Foundation for Child Development is the work of Kenneth C. Land, a Duke University sociologist and demographer. Findings of the "look at how children have fared in their first decade of life" include sixth-graders feeling safer at school, reading and math scores up for 9-year-olds, more preschoolers being vaccinated, and fewer children poisoned by lead. Abstinence Only Sex Ed Debated Los Angeles Times staff writer Sarah D. Wire reports in Federal Funding of Abstinence-Only Sex Education Programs Debated that it appears Congress is taking a wider view of sex education programs, including "information about how teenagers can protect themselves from pregnancy or disease if they choose to engage in sexual activity." Periodic Table Paraphernalia An email today from Edmund Scientifics carried the subject line, "Periodic Table Paraphernalia Plus Free Drinking Bird." Hey, for a science nerd, it looked like fun, so I bit and clicked the link. I was presented with an amazing page of Periodic Table Paraphernalia, including, of course, the standard wall chart. The one that surprised me most was the Periodic Table shower curtain! So, if you are looking for something to perk up your chemistry class, give it a try! Make Teachers Part of the School Reform Process Brad Olsen, a former high school English teacher and now an assistant professor of education at the University of California, Santa Cruz, has some interesting views on school reform that he shared in the San Francisco Chronicle's open forum. Teachers should be part of school reform process speaks to the need for regular classroom teachers to be involved in school reform "on equal terms" with schools of education, politicians and school boards, professors and journalists, community advocates, district superintendents, and other policy makers. A Nation at Risk After 25 Years This weekend marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the release of the A Nation at Risk report. Described by some as the beginning of educational reform in this country and by others as the beginning of an all out assault on public education, the report nevertheless created a new awareness and discussion of education in the United States. Lots of articles and columns have appeared recently in the run up to tomorrow's anniversary of the release and major news outlets will have stories and editorials tomorrow, but below are a few of the better postings I've seen.
Computer Recycling for K-12 and Higher Education A posting from a listserve reminded me that Apple still offers free recycling without purchase for "eligible institutions having 25 or more computer pieces to recycle." Have a great weekend!
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©2008 Steven L. Wood