Playing smart basketball: What would an academic March Madness result in?
It's the eve of the big event – March Madness kicks off tomorrow and hoops junkies like myself will be in heaven for three weeks. But what about academics junkies? For the fifth straight year, a college organization has run the NCAA men's basketball brackets through the academic wringer, advancing schools through the brackets based on a formula of classroom success for each school. The school with the more success advances through each round of the brackets. Past editions of the challenge have produced academic champions such as Bucknell, Holy Cross and Davidson. Last year, however, the academic and hoops championship teams were one and the same: North Carolina. Who wins this year's academic bracket challenge? You have to click here to find out. I will tell you that it's not my alma mater, Mankato State.
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Hard to watch: Will science education take another hit?
Courtesy Annie in BeziersIn an effort to cut costs the powers that be at Michigan State University are considering shutting down the Department of Geological Sciences. The vote to close the department could come as soon as December 1st. This is not good. Read about it here. Dinochick Blogs has posted a reaction to it from paleontologist Chris Noto. Also, you can sign an online petition against it.
Good, good: Kiss some of the other babies... and then threaten them. It'll be a landslide.
Courtesy Ti.moHere at Science Buzz we try to provide solid scientific information that Internet enthusiasts young and old might use to enhance their lives and their understanding of the world. Ding.
I’m sorry to admit, however, that we rarely offer advice directly to politicians. Sure, bloggers here might make their political leanings obvious from time to time, but we generally don’t give politicians pointers on how to enhance their careers.
Well there’s finally a Buzzer (me) with the courage (plenty) to stand up for the little guy (politicians) and hand out some advice (very valuable).
And here it is: If you want to manipulate people, make them afraid.
What? You sort of already knew that? Well no one sort of likes a smarty-pants, so zip it.
Besides, what you knew before was anecdotal. This is scientific. (Political science, but still, it was published, and that’s pretty good. Right?)
What’s more, it’s not quite so simple as the above statement. The real trick is to get your fear-mongering manipulation in when you’re dealing with a subject that people don’t understand very well. If the plebeians have solid mental footing, they’re much more likely to see through your crumby policies and deceptive statements. But if they’re uncertain about something, start up your scare engine and manipulate away.
Let’s do some practice runs:
“Your cats are unwholesome, and will eat your children. Kill them, and donate all money saved on cat food to my campaign.”
No, I know that isn’t true. If anything, the cats are in danger of being eaten by me. Plus I don’t own children. So I’m keeping that money, junior.
“Cloning research is unwholesome. It will de-value human life. I am against cloning, so vote for me.”
Say… I saw The Matrix. That was scary. I don’t know how cloning works, but it is scary. I am against cloning too. And I’m for you, junior.
“My opponent’s economic policies are going to ruin you. Check it.”
Hey… I’ll probably only live about 2 and a half billion seconds in my life. Economics involves trillions of dollars… that’s incomprehensible to me. I’m yours, junior.
See how easy and fun that was?
Science and scientific stuff is a good place to start, of course, because a lot of people don’t know a lot of stuff about science.
(On the offhand chance that you’re a non-politician reading this, I suppose you could get yerself educated about some science, etc, and have a better idea of when someone is trying to make you afraid and control you. But that’s not very nice to the politicians, is it?)
Information and communications technology
Courtesy edans
Tech trio wants to change what is tested
Three tech giants, Microsoft, Intel, and Cisco, have banded together to develop new ways of measuring skills and competencies that current and future generation of students will need for successful and prosperous lives in the 21st century.
Changing global educational systems
Based on extensive research, they concluded that most education systems have not kept pace with the skill sets that are required for students to succeed.
Barry McGaw will serve as executive director over leading experts and innovators from both academia and government.
“Reforming assessment is essential to enabling any systemic change in education. And change on a global scale is required to equip students of today with the skills they need to succeed in the workforce of tomorrow,” he says.
McGaw and his team of researchers, especially John Bransford and his working group on learning environments, will look into innovative classroom practices globally and identify those practices that support 21st-century skills.
"In many classrooms, the teachers teach what is measured," said Gupta. "By influencing international assessments, and working with countries to influence their policy and approaches to national assessment, we believe this project will have a direct and large-scale impact on what is taught and how it is taught in schools across the [world]. In this way, it is our hope that this project will help schools move to the style of learning environment that engages the current and future generation of students and delivers to students the skills and competencies they need for successful and prosperous lives in the 21st century."
Skills tech leaders recommend
- to think critically and creatively
- to work cooperatively
- to adapt to the evolving use of information and communications technology (ICT)
Learn more
Tech giants vow to change global assessments
Measuring 21st-century skills
Crime Scene: That elephant seems strangely out of place...suspicious...
Courtesy matt coatsImagine a crime scene that has hundreds of crime scene investigators. All of the students at Arlington High School in St. Paul, MN are working together to crack the case! As part of the school’s BioSMART program, intended to expose students sciences, engineering, business, etc., this school-wide lesson is drawing on a variety of different disciplines. Art students have become sketch artists, English language learners are questioning “persons of interest”, other students are working to determine the angles of blood spatter. I think this lesson is really a neat way to highlight how crime scene investigation draws on many different subjects and specialists. It is also a cool way to get students interested in subjects that maybe they would not have thought about before. What do you think?
USA Today has an interesting story today about the role museums can play in increasing science literacy in the country. You can read it right here.
Biology Browser
in Life Science, Diversity of Organisms, and Biological Populations Change Over Time
Biological research resource
A great biology teaching resource can be found at biologybrowser.org. Both the Biology Browser home page and their search engine are subdivided into:
- organism (animals, plants, viruses)
- subjects (biodiversity, botany, genetics)
- geography (Africa, Asia, North America)
To experiment, I entered the term "turtle" in the search box which resulted in 369 hits (the MN DNR web page entry, Turtles of Minnesota was #6).
Biological database gains several hundred links per day
A fourth column lists the latest additions to the BiologyBrowser database gleaned from the Biology News Net site. This week averaged about 300 new additions per day!
Access top papers and interviews with top scientists
Biology Browser
Courtesy Art Oglesby Another feature is the "Hot Topics" box inserted top and center of the page. Todays hot topic was "stem cells". The link took me to an Essential Science Indicators page listing the top 20 papers, authors, institutions, and journals.
An editorial section features, interviews, first-person essays, profiles, and other features about people in the stem cell field. Three scientists are featured, the first being Dr. Outi Hovatta discussing her highly cited paper, "A culture system using human foreskin fibroblasts as feeder cells allows production of human embryonic stem cells"
Check it out
If you wish to keep up with advances in the biological sciences, I recommend exploring BiologyBrowser and learn to use the tools they provide.
For the first time in its nine-year history, the prestigious Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology for US high schoolers awarded both of its grand prizes to girls.
Ball together now: More schools are getting rid of desk chairs and using exercise balls for students to sit on to help improve their health and help them learn better. (Photo courtesy of WittFitt)It’s a classic scene from NBC’s “The Office” that’s being played out more and more in classrooms across the country.
You may have seen that “The Office” episode that starts out with nerdy Dwight Shrute bobbing up and down at his desk, sitting on a huge inflatable ball, extolling all the health wonders to be had from it, including increased dexterity, and he then proceeds bump his coffee cup on the desk next to him. His workmate, Jim, proceeds to drive a scissors into the ball.
What’s funny on TV is becoming reality in more classrooms around the country today. Desk chairs are being taken out of classrooms and being replaced with exercise balls. The balls are most common in elementary classrooms, where high-energy students can wiggle while they work.
The initial idea was to provide a new alternative to the decreasing amount of school time devoted to physical education. Having kids bouncing on a ball all day is good at developing leg and torso muscles along with draining excess energy that can make kids fidgety in classrooms.
A company based in Hudson, Wisc. – WittFitt – is one of the top suppliers of classroom sitting balls. According to it’s website, it lists these positive benefits to using the balls instead of chairs:
• Assists in improving posture
• Allows for "active" sitting
• Enhances attention and concentration
• Promotes learning through movement
• Improves blood flow
• Improves balance and coordination
• Strengthens core (postural) muscles
• Adjusts for a customized fit
In many of the classroom, students have an option between using a ball or a chair. Invariably, balls are more popular than chairs. One second-grade student is quoted in a recent newspaper story as saying wiggling around helps her think better.
So what do you think? Is this a wave of the future for education and health or a flash in the pan? Do you have experience as a teacher or student using exercise balls in the classroom? Share your opinions here with other Science Buzz readers.
Q-drum: credit: P.J. HendrikseNinety per cent of Earth's population does not have regular access to food, clean water, or shelter. The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum currently has an exhibit titled "Design for the other 90%".
Design away poverty.
“The No. 1 need that poor people have is a way to make more cash,” says Martin Fisher.
Martin Fisher, an engineer who founded KickStart, says Kickstart's mission is to help millions of people out of poverty. Pumping water can help a farmer grow grain in the dry season, when it fetches triple the normal price. Dr. Fisher described customers who had skipped meals for weeks to buy a pump and then earned $1,000 the next year selling vegetables.
Another successful pump is the bamboo-treadle pump. Over 1.7 million have been sold in Bangladesh and elsewhere, generating $1.4 billion in net farmer income in Bangladesh alone.
Design and transporting water.
How can a child transport over 100 pounds of water more than a mile? The Q-Drum is a durable container designed to roll easily. With a Q-Drum even children can carry more than 100 pounds of water more than a mile.
Read about dozens of designs that make a big difference.
The Design for the other 90% exhibit is divided into categories. By clicking on each you will be able to learn more about these life-changing designs.
Source: New York Times
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