Women make Great Physical Scientists

Women make great Physical Scientists Too

Patchanita Thamyongkit was mistaken for a secretary at a major science conference in Thailand.  The presenter decided she was a secretary because her gender even though she has won numerous awards as biochemist.  This seemingly thoughtless gesture is an indicator of the inequalities of the nature of the field of science due to traditional culture values of her country.  This also true in the United States when analyze the data.  Women make up only 30% of the physical scientists employed but they make up nearly half of the science majors in the country.  

https://twitter.com/BlackPhysicists

Should Scientist have their OWN Country?

What should we do?

What science  brings can be a double edge sword.  Albert Einstien led the way for the world into the nuclear age and he knew at that time that although scienc is wonderful people can use i for the wrong reasons. The cold war can attest to that.  Now we have Iran and its nuclear progam reminding us of how science stays the sames but people can change.. The two scientists thrown into the political battle between the U.S. and Iran went to the same school M.I.T in Massachusetts.  The scientists are pure but are the politicians backing them?  Maybe we should have a country of just scientists and let them decide what secrets to let out?



http://physicsandphysicists.blogspot.com/2015/03/a-tale-of-two-scientists.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+blogspot%2FhNAhW+%28Physics+and+Physicists%29

Parent Toolkit

The American dream of having your child grow up be successful without constraints of society may be far fetched but most parents believe just that.  The interesting thing I found following this tweet about the American Dream was there was a parent toolkit to assess your childs programs and tricks to use to help your child develop in academics, social circles, and general self awareness.  This kit seems like how to  raise your kid to be successful but it is really just a way to help parents become more aware of their child's progress.  It is very interesting and could be helpful it is needed.  Parents in the past relied on their own upbringing to measure their children's progress this can be a good thing or a really bad th
ing depending on how objective a parent can be.  The fact that time is changing and what worked before may not work right now is a very real possibility so taking advantage of what is available ot you today as parents would be both loving and responsible.



https://twitter.com/educationnation

Let it Flow



Let it flow is a concept for helping students reach a level in their classroom work that completely envelops their senses.  They will ultimately lose track of time because they are so consumed by the material they are working with.  This type of mindset can be achieved on a more regular basis by first gaining regular feedback from students when it is achieved.   Once it is identified then slight modifications can be used to enhance the the effect.  Several guidelines have been found that will help maintain this Flow level.  Challenging the students to approximately 10% outside of their comfort zone seems to be very effective and being mindful not to make the project too difficult or too easy.  It is just like tubing down a river . Flowing down stream if there are too many obstacles you get stuck in an eddy you may get scared and if the landscape becomes flat then you go too slow and then you get bored but when your flowing along with a little excitement you want to keep going forever.


http://larryferlazzo.edublogs.org/

Just A Glitch

The New Educational Testing System in Florida has bugs.  The new testing procedures implemented in the public schools in Florida were being suspended until the glitches were address by the company who came up the testing procedures.  This company was paid to 220 million dollars to ensure  a seamless testing process for the state.  They call it a glitch but the real problem is that the school districts have no way to fix the problem.  The frequency of the errors or glitches of the computer related  issues with  the state and federal  government are on the rise.  The local level of control of the individual educational district in the United States is rapidly decreasing. There have been state takeovers of several city school districts such as Detroit, Atlantic City, Camden,just to name a few.  Even the manner in which a teacher is hired and retained is slowly going into the states hands not the schools based on tests with glitches.  It may have been a glitch but it is a sign of much worse to come.


https://twitter.com/educationweek/status/572794358052753409 

A Variation of Use.

I recently reviewed a blog by a math teacher where he noticed while typing in an equation into Desmos that while it graphed points it did not simplify the results.  Therefore if a mistake was made then it would be noticed immediately.  This insight adds another dimension into teaching a lesson by adding a layer for the students to  simplify.  The ability to find different uses of a tool while it is performing an entirely different task is the sign of astute educator.  We can learn how to use a product as it is intended but we can also find other uses for this same in a manner that is unintended and this is the backbone of advancement in some of man's greatest achievements.  This somewhat mundane or simple variation can sometimes have drastic effects on how we view the physical world.  This awareness of the digital teaching application may not qualify as earth shattering but the  creative thought involve is indictative of all our greatest inventions.  A simple variation of use. http://teachhighschoolmath.blogspot.com/

Gravity at work

Science classGravity at work on PhotoPeach