Red Devil Science

BMS Science Olympiad 2011

2011-03-07T14:37:00.001-05:00

"Trebuchets, rockets, and frozen pancakes... oh my!"

Red Devil scientists prepare for competition at UNCW

I am extremely proud of the 17 Red Devil scientists that went this past Saturday to compete in the regional Science Olympiad tournament at UNCW. Many of them have had very little experience in the sciences on which they competed in and tested on. 12 of them are 6th graders, and I'm anxious to watch them grow and get better in their events. There are bigger and better things in store for these students and this competition.

Kolton put some great effort into the Tower competition.

These students represented BMS superbly and proudly. 17 students participating is a team high number from Burgaw Middle, as was competing in a team-high 18 events out of 23 possible. Some schools allow Science Olympiad members to prepare and practice daily; ours could only meet every other week during the school day, and then occasionally after-school.

Leo is anxious about launching the Battery Buggy toward the target.

I'm fortunate to work with some outstanding colleagues who share my passion in opening up opportunities for the students we work with. Mrs. Lawson, fellow science teacher and coach; Miss Fainn, took it upon herself to learn about food science and share it with two students so we could compete in that event; Miss Owens, who on top of her student internship was able to give up time after-school and on Saturdays to help out; Mrs. Glenn (my lovely wife) and Ms Regan, who were willing to give up a Saturday on competition day and get students where they needed to be, and were able to acquire a last-minute lunch change. Thanks!

I appreciate the support from Mrs. Harris and Mrs. King, our administrators. Thank you Mrs. Watkins for coming early to open the building (on two occasions). To Mrs. Trask for helping with all of our logistical needs. PTO, the shirts look awesome, thank you to Mr. Roots and Ms Johnson for working that out for us.

Jason drills away at getting the Trebuchet ready!

2011 marks a milestone year for our Science Olympiad program. I look forward to beginning preparations for next year and beyond. And I look forward to the great things that can happen as we explore science together.

NASA Tweetup - STS 133 - NCTIES11 Presentation

2011-03-07T12:12:00.000-05:00

Well, I have a lot catching up to do as far as the blog is concerned, so here's a good start... This is my presentation for NASA Tweetup that I shared at NCTIES 2011 last week. I'm hoping the links in the presentation will show. If not, I publish the videos in this post also. Thanks and I can't wait to share more.

NASA Tweetup - STS 133 - NCTIES11 Presentation

View more presentations from BMSscienceguy.

Bloomin'

2011-03-01T11:40:00.001-05:00

Ah, the blog might be dormant, but the trees are blooming nicely.

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Rainy Day, Quiz Day

2011-02-04T14:42:00.000-05:00

I'm happy that this year I've utilized Google docs for most of my my student quizzes. This fantastic tool lets me use multiple choice, matching, short answer, long answer, checklists and a few other types of questions, embed them into a website (saving paper), and produce the results with very little effort on my part after the initial setup. But that type of assessment doesn't always give the best picture of what students know. So today, since we can't be outside replicating Eratosthenes' experiment calculating the circumference of the earth, I decided to assess my students on our discussions on the sun-earth relationship. My assessment focus was for them to explain this relationship, and for the students to also evaluate the effects of this relationship on our daily lives. I gave them a choice of how to explain this: using a letter to a family member OR a brochure for a younger grade level. (I am a big fan of choice in assessments. - I remember my college history courses where the professor would give us four essay questions on an exam and direct us to choose two to answer in detail. It gave us ownership over the assessment.)

Students completed letters to family members or brochures for 5th graders for
their assessment on the sun-earth relationship today.

I observed two interesting things during while the students took the quiz. First, the split between taking option one or option two, was about even. The breakdown of who chose what, fell along lines I would predict, as far as whom I thought were my more art/drawing oriented students (chose brochure), and who were more oriented to writing (chose letter). The second observation I noted was that I did not have any trouble with time on task. Students took right to the assessment. Very few dilly-daddled or wasted time. Most students were focused, buckled down, and took to the tasks.

A third observation I would note, that I have seen recurring, is the students' need to seek assurance that they were doing "it" right. I strive to promote independence in student learning as one of my top priorities. Students are so focused on being "fed" every answer, and very concerned with being "right" the first time, instead of accepting mistakes and learning from them. When students ask, "Does this look okay?" OR "Is this right?" I simply tell them that they have to be the ones who evaluate their own work first. This premise, drives students crazy.

But independence in learning is important, and I'm not going to be around with these students forever, so they better learn to think for themselves. That's just it, they have to learn and find confidence in being independent learners.

Two Months Later...

2011-01-27T23:37:00.000-05:00

Hi. I've been inconspicuously absent for the past two months, and so much has happened that I need to share. We've finished Discovery projects in 6th grade, and we're set for Discovery Day this Saturday. I'll hold off on sharing some of these great projects now. We're moving forward with investigating planet Earth, and the challenges it poses for human survival. December brought opportunities to share my NASA tweetup experience with the community and Space Shuttle Discovery is now set to launch on February 24th. (Yes, I plan on getting there for the launch).

A Red Devil scientist uses
a computer model to design
a habitable planet.

Red Devil Science students have been busy learning about our solar system and space exploration. Students compiled time lines of significant events and discoveries made in observing and knowing about space. These period of time were divided into three large sections: before the telescope, with the telescope but before space travel, and then modern space travel.

On December 21st, I was able to capture
this partial shot of a full moon before it turned
blood red during a lunar eclipse.

Other highlights from the past two months include:
- a class field trip to the Ropes Course at UNCW
- Launching water rockets. (More on that in another post)
- A lunar eclipse
- Getting snowed in, in New Jersey.
- Getting snow and ice storms in North Carolina
- Receiving a shuttle tile from NASA

I was waist-deep in snow in NJ
this Christmas when I visited
family members. 34 inches fell
and the drifts were over my head.

NASA offered space shuttle tiles
to schools last month. Ours came
last week.

Many great things lie ahead. Science Olympiad will compete at the beginning of March. Soon we'll be discussing and exploring the relationships between the Earth, Sun and Moon. And then we dive into Planet Earth as we examine plate movement, earthquakes and volcanoes, all very soon.

Astronaut Rock Stars (NASA Tweetup)

2010-11-15T14:07:00.004-05:00

Photo by Paul Filmer

I'm still in the process of collecting my thoughts on my NASA Tweetup experience. I think I would be amiss if I didn't write a post on the astronauts that I was able to meet and speak with. These guys are the rock stars of science, and I was thrilled, like many other participants, to meet them. We found them down to earth (no pun intended), laid back and willing to speak to us and answer any of our questions. Some of the tweetup participants ran into astronauts at various restaurants, and most were willing share and sign autographs and take pictures together.

My astronaut interaction count is at three. On our first day of the tweetup we were able to hear from Astronaut Ron Garan, who is preparing for a future visit and stay upon the International Space Station. As he took questions, I was able to ask him about the effects of microgravity on the body when entering space, a followup to an activity I had done with the students before heading down to Florida. Here is his response:

Jim Reilly was the first astronaut I was able to meet. He gave a short talk about his experiences in space, and his motivation to become an astronaut. He spoke of his perseverance in chasing his dream to become an astronaut, applying eight different times before being accepted as a candidate.

On Wednesday, while walking around the visitor's complex, I noticed a group of people sitting at a picnic table wearing blue ribbons. I went up and inquired about the nature of the blue ribbons to find out that they were part of Astronaut Alvin Drew's invited guests to the launch. I thought this was a special treat. The two gentleman had worked with Alvin in rescue operations before he became an astronaut candidate. One of the ladies was a teacher, who had invited Alvin to her classroom a few years ago, and now, she was teaching the same group of students who were following Alvin's journey into space.

On Friday November 5th, everybody was very optimistic about the shuttle launching. Unfortunately the shuttle and its systems weren't ready. Despite the scrub of the launch, we were able to meet Dan Tani, who came to the tweetup tent to speak with us. Ms. Sheila Adams, a science teacher from New Hampshire, and I had agreed to webcast for our students that day, and after his talk to the participants in the tent, we were able to coax him over to speak to us and the students on the webcast. The interview turned out to be one of my favorite moments of the trip. Here is the entire webcast, which is about an hour and a half long. The interview begins at the 1 hour, 20 min mark.

Observing with the Naked Eye

2010-11-10T15:12:00.004-05:00

Today we spent our classtime talking about objects that we can observe with the naked eye. Students were fascinated with the story (Mr. Glenn's version of it anyway) and the simplicity in what to look for, and how the pattern of the stars was interpreted to portray Orion, the hunter. I look forward to hearing stories from students' stargazing adventures on Friday.

As for stargazing resources, I have found none better than Jack Horkheimer's videos. Unfortunately, I was unaware that Jack passed away this summer. We will miss him dearly. For now his program conitnues, the most recent is below.

Keep looking up.

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Discovery Classroom

2010-11-09T14:05:00.002-05:00

We are preparing for our quarter of "Discovery". Our driving question this nine weeks is: How has Discovery shaped our understanding of the universe over time? We look forward to exploring the answers to this question in all classes during the quarter.

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Dean Heath from CFCC

2010-11-09T12:40:00.002-05:00

We are grateful to have had a visit from Dean Heath, an admissions recruiter from Cape Fear Community College. He stopped by and spoke with Burgaw Middle students about preparing for high school and college. As students interacted with Mr. Heath, he passed out prizes and trinkets. Thanks, Mr. Heath for stopping by.

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NASA Tweetup People

2010-11-06T06:08:00.003-04:00

I'm happy I am able to publish this post before I leave Florida. I knew one of the many mini-opportunities of this experience was going to be the chance to meet some people from all over the world. While, I'm probably going to miss mentioning some, I'd like to introduce some of those amazing people, and a little bit about them. Astronaut Jim Reilly told us during our visit, that the best thing about space exploration is the people, and I'd have to agree that (~~maybe beyond seeing Discovery lift-off)~~ the best thing about the trip has been meeting the people and sharing the experience together. I've been working on this all week, please meet some of these fantastic people.

Susan
Susan is my traveling buddy, also coming down from Wilmington. We had a great 10-hour ride down that only felt like 3. We've hung out quite a bit at the space center complex and have been helping each other share the experience with our families back home. She teaches English back home, is married to another teacher (just like my wife and I) and has two great kids. Thanks Dale, Nat, and Mollie for lending her to be my traveling buddy.

Great smiles from Paolo and Cathy

Paolo and Cathy
Paolo and Cathy were two of the first NASA Tweeps that I met when I arrived in Florida and are a part of the house share - Beta House. Both are from the Philippines, having grown up there. Cathy is an actress. Paolo is a master photographer/filmmaker with some amazing talents and tools. He has been completely willing to mentor my amatuer skills. His talent included taking 3D photos and videos, including the first known 3D pic of me. I have thoroughly enjoyed talking with both of them. They made 2 superb dinners and are interested in coming to Wilmington. I hope to be able to host them.

Nick(need pic-beach)

Danny poses with R2's twin

Another dad like me, our kids are almost identical ages AND both of our sons went as Clone Troopers this year for Halloween. Nick is a webmaster from Texas and we've had some great talks the last few days.

Danny
What can I say about Danny? He is the idea guru, he's come up with so many different cool ways to extend the value of this experience. Danny will be remembered as the "caretaker" of our group. He's a tech guru from Minnesota who works with UMN extension campus.

Paul trying some of my space pancakes

Paul
Paul is quite the world traveler, and I have taken every opportunity to hear of his voyages. He grew up in Columbia and Canada, speaks four languages fluently and can manipulate several others for conversation. He had an opportunity to attend the Russian version of Space Camp. He works for the National Science Foundation.

Tim (need pic - Discovery in red light)
Tim is an outstanding graphic artist. He contributed one of the highlights of the trip when he spelled out discovery with light in a time-lapse photo. We shared some great moments looking at the sky and talking about what's up there.

Jeff


Jeff and Leslie, as we arrive for Day 1 of Tweetup at KSC

Jeff's from Philly and is a huge Phillies fan. We've shared some baseball war stories. He designs some pretty cool software and hardware that helps police and dispatchers work closely together.

Leslie
I've teased Leslie a few times because she kept forgetting who I am. She's a very positive, upbeat mom from Iowa. I'm not sure I've told her, but my grandmother and her family moved from Iowa during World War II to the east coast. I've enjoyed sharing some stories with her.

Andrea (need pic-astronaut cutouts)
Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, Oy! Andrea is an engineer from Australia with an enormous amount of charisma and energy. She seems to have all the inside contacts, and has enriched the experience by being able to share from that perspective. She also gave me some "Australian candy" to bring back and share with my kids and my students.

Sheila and I in front of Space
Education Center

Sheila
Sheila and I talked many times before coming down about sharing the experience with our students. She is a science teacher from New Hampshire, and was runner-up to S. Christa McAuliffe in New Hampshire for the teacher in space program. She ~~is going to help me share the launch day~~ helped share Friday's experience with students and people back home thru a webcast - I had the chance to interview Dan Tani and astronaut!

Danielle in front of Discovery

Danielle
Danielle is from California. She is a web designer. We were able to walk around the Visitor Complex together on Sunday and share in the awe of that experience together. Susan and I have enjoyed her company on several occasions.

David (need pic-Denny's)
David is another computer guru from New York. We had some good talks about family and raising our kids and politics and education. I'm sorry David wasn't able to be able to stay for the shuttle launch, but it was great meeting him here in Florida.

Jeannette

Jeannette and Adam enjoy some
of Paolo's 3D shots

Chi-chi-chi, Le-le-le, Chile! Jeannette is from Chile, and though she speaks very little English, she has been more than willing to share about Chile. I have learned about the miner rescue, the earthquake and San Pedro de Atacama through her perspective which has been enriching. I applaud her for putting up with my poor Spanish skills. Thanks to Paul, for helping us translate and communicate.

Adam
Adam is a software guru and amateur photographer from Knoxville, Tennessee, which is pretty close by (relatively speaking). He was using cat cam to check in on his cats the other night during dinner. Thanks to Adam, we began our stargazing exploration using his binoculars, and were able to gaze into the Orion nebula and get a close up look of Jupiter and the four Galilean moons.

Erinn


Erinn stopped by as I was Skyping with family.

Erinn is a retired archaeologist from Boulder, CO. Some of her work has included working with Mayans in Central America, using satellite technology to find Mayan remains. She has been very encouraging on my work with my students and I hope to use her as a resource when our students talk about Central and South America.

There were many, many more great people here, but I hope this gives you a snapshot of some of the ones I've been able to make a connection with. Cheers.

View BMSscienceguy NASA Tweeps in a larger map

Scrubbed

2010-11-05T15:42:00.002-04:00

STS-133 did not lift off this week as planned. Hours and days from now I will be able to rationalize my emotions and not feel so bummed. The obstruction to launch began with a fuel leak, which was then quoted as a "breach". We had just arrived at KSC media site for our day when we began to hear tthe rumors. When Discovery's flag was lowered from next to the clocked, we knew the mission was scrubbed. As we trekked across to the tent, some described it as a "death march." Literally, in an hour our emotions, went from being Christmas morning to being in a funeral home.

That said, it was later discovered that a crack in the foam of Discovery's external tank had allowed ice to form in a dangerous spot. I'm not sure to the extent of the danger, but I understand enough to understand the emphasis of safety versus risk. I appreciate the safety protocols that NASA has in place to prevent disaster. In the end, I'm content with bittersweet memories.

For a more detailed account of Discovery's delays this week, please check out the article at Space Flight Now.

The are happier moments in today's events, but I'll confine this post to the disappointment we shared this morning. It is a really bummed feeling to miss the launch. I look forward to when Discovery does get to fly soon.

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Dear Discovery

2010-11-05T00:26:00.002-04:00

Photo by Red Huber

Dear Discovery,

You are spectacular in your nighttime light, majestic in the reflection of a puddle. We know the rockets will prove their might, as they take you far into the heavens. Be proud this very night, of accomplishments you have achieved. You've been strong returning us to flight, despite the challenges of tragedies past. Oh, what a beautiful sight, 'twill be to see your engines roar. Godspeed, good night.

Photo by Red Huber

You've patiently kept us waiting. We are eager to see you fly. Please cooperate tomorrow so I can return and tell your story, of your mission, your glory. I have family and friends I long to see; thank you in the meantime for friends and family newly made. We are all confident tomorrow will be one to remember.

-dg


Discovery T-Shirt for Launch

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Some Pics for Now

2010-11-04T00:28:00.002-04:00

Sorry, I've neglected some pics. We're hoping for a launch soon. Discovery is ready on the pad. We'll see in the morning. For now, enjoy.

KSCVC Reflection

2010-11-01T08:16:00.000-04:00

Good morning, bear with me as I add pics during the day. I'm writing some thoughts down as I wait between broadcasts on WECT's Carolina in the Morning show. In a unique experience I was able to "hear" the segment thru my cell phone, but I haven't had the chance to see it yet. We're planning a Skype interview a little later this morning, and I'm excited about that.

Well, where to start??? Yesterday, I spent some quality time at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The experience was a "Disney-like" experience for me. Every little exhibit was high quality, and in something I wasn't expecting, had quite a bit of humor along the way. While, it is hard to choose just one of the exhibits to call a favorite, I particularly enjoyed Exploration Space: Explorers Wanted. The building had one purpose: to get young people motivated in the next generation of space exploration. I couldn't help but think of my own children and students, and my wish that they take the baton of scientific discovery and run with it.

With that theme in mind, it saddens me that the general public seems to have an apathetic view on NASA and space exploration. So, I thought I would list a few of my "thoughts" and ideas that I took in that regard from yesterday's experience:

1. Despite amazing efforts and tools to explore the known universe (Hubble 3D Imax was awesome by the way) we are still unique in that Earth is the only known planetary body that supports or could support life as we know it. How important is it then that we do a better job to take care of it? We should appreciate this little fact that I think we take for granted - in our known universe, we're the ONLY one like us.

2. We can not lose sight of the tremendous benefits society has gained as a result of space exploration: cell phone and computer technology, medical advancements, food safety, highway improvements just to name a few. (You'll have to get to KSCVC or pay attention in class so I can explain these and more). One of our exhibit guides, Ken, mentioned that for every $1 we've spent on Space Exploration, we (society) have had an $8 return. He also mentioned that for every tax dollar spent, only 42% of every penny goes to NASA. Now, think about what humans spend on pizza or fast food (billions of dollars) and it is almost depressing that we put up such a fight against spending any more money for NASA. (Ok, there's my shameless NASA plug for today).

3. Space Exploration fulfills our natural curiousity. As one astronaut put it, "The caveman in his cave could have stayed in his cave instead of exploring to see what was over that hill." I guess Columbus could have stayed on the other side of the ocean too. My point here, we take risks to explore because it is in our instinct to know about the world around us. Very often, those risks pay off large, and we shouldn't be afraid to continue taking those risks.

Other highlights of my day:
- Robot Scouts: we have a lot of hardware out there doing some serious work
- Rocket Garden: I was taken back at how small some of these rockets were
- Jim Reilly: I've now shaken hands with an astronaut
- Hubble 3D: An amazing story about one of exploration's greatest tools
- Shuttle Launch Experience: my neck flab has never moved or flopped so fast

Today begins the "Tweetup" portion of the trip. I'll be "in session" from 12-6 or so. If you have a question that you'd like me to share, please don't hesitate to @BMSscienceguy on twitter or email me at BMSscienceguy@gmail.com .

Cheers.

Jim Reilly

2010-10-31T16:57:00.001-04:00

Meet Astronaut Jim Reilly