One day, one of the students didn't have their presentation ready. My emergency backup lesson plan was to run a kahoot on random space questions.
Kahoot.it is the latest in clicker software, where students can use any technology whether it is a phone, laptop, ipad, etc. It's a good thing I was in the 21st century classroom as any student without a mobile device went over and grabbed a laptop or ipad.
Kahoot measures who gets the answer quickest and awards the fastest student...or teacher in my case.
Victory is mine! Kahoot on random astronomy questions for review! (old pic to maintain bragging rights) pic.twitter.com/y30G9BvB4s
However, I didn't always win - the youth that my students have over me was shown in the next game. Their reflexes were much faster. See exhibit B below:
Anyways, I had quite a bit of fun and was fully engaged. Some students took notice and included a kahoot into their next presentation. (I lost that one too...but my excuse was that I didn't fully pay attention to content as I was scribbling notes on their presentation as a whole to help provide them with feedback on their next presentation).
Another year, another post. This year's a little different than most with all of your applications to university due and you're wrapping up your 7/8 of your high school career. Exams are coming up as well as a multitude of final assignments and projects. You're probably experiencing stress as you have never felt before. I respond to you with this:
Colleges in the US and universities in Canada are turning to puppy therapy to help relax their students. Puppies can be found in libraries and study halls throughout the university as a proven stress reliever.
Now that you're a little more relaxed, you're ready to catch up with the latest in science news!
This professor can't get funding for his warp drive research because it's "too far out there". It doesn't stop David Pares though as he's willing to continue his research in his garage after a full day's work of teaching. He's convinced of all that anecdotal evidence of veteran pilots who have traveled through serious electrical storms around the world and in the Bermuda triangle and find themselves 100 miles away from where they should be. It's happened too often to far too many pilots in the past half decade that this man believes there's a correlation between high electrical activity and the ability to bend space. Some physicists actually believe he's on to something. Read more here.
Some person wondered what would each of the planets look like if they were as close as the Moon. Here's an animated GIF that I cannot corroborate on its authenticity but it's fun to look at nonetheless.
A 5,500 year old fossil of an aboriginal woman found in Canada has its DNA analyzed. It was found in BC's northern coast where many members of the indigenous First Nations currently live and apparently have lived for many years according to their history. Their claim of living there has been verified by matching the DNA of that fossil with a living person who is now scientifically the 200x great-grandaughter. That's a lot of generations. Take a look!
Remember those infographics and concept maps I assigned? They're an increasingly important method of visually communicating information and its shown in WIRED's top 2014 science visualizations of the year. Above what we see is a computer animation of a coronal mass ejection from the sun with the Earth in the background. Make sure to look at the rest and make sure to read the captions.
A mathematician has found a better way to get to Mars on less fuel. Instead of aiming at the intended target and using extreme brakes (fuel) to arrive safely, the mathematician has shown a method of slowing down earlier at a proper speed enough to be gently pulled into orbit by the gravitational pull of the target. It will be slower, but it's much cheaper.
Again, I've shown versions of this before, but here's a video version that came out xmas eve with extreme font to annoyingly hammer it home that we live in a very, very, small portion of the universe. Have fun in your last few days of holidays - I know I will, because I'm marking.
ASAPscience is one of my favourite youtube channels. It's quick and informative. As a extension of Dr. Reid's lecture today - I give you ASAPscience's latest segment: Can we actually live on Mars?
I notice that some of you procrastinate regularly in class. Some of you procrastinate with entertainment. We are entertaining ourselves to death. If you want to procrastinate, balance ourselves with consuming some self-improvement videos instead of mostly entertainment. May I present to you: LifeHack's "20 Most Inspiring TED Talks of All Time You Should Not Miss.
...and I leave you with this animated .gif. Start by following a leaf in the centre and see what it turns into. It's foreshadowing for our next unit.
Probably the best comic that I could find that encapsulates all aspects of our course, brought to you by Neil deGrasse Tyson, an American astrophysicist and director of the Hayden Planetarium, and brilliantly illustrated by zenPencils.com I'm looking forward to teaching this course. Can't wait to see you all soon!
