Understanding Science

“Calling BS”: Watch Lectures for the College Course Designed to Combat the Bullshit in our Information Age This past January, we highlighted a syllabus for a tentative course called "Calling Bullshit," designed by two professors at the University of Washington, Carl Bergstrom and Jevin West. The course--also sometimes called "Calling Bullshit in the Age of Big Data"--ended up being offered this spring. And now you can see how it unfolded in the classroom.

The Field Book Project What is a field book? Field books or field notes are primary source documents that describe the events leading up to and including the collection of specimens or observations during field research. Field notes can take many forms depending on the information needs of the collector. Importance and challenges of field books Field notes are significant sources of information related to scientific discovery. They provide rich data for researchers to understand how biodiversity has changed over time and space.

Philip Zimbardo: The Secret Powers of Time (Animated) Bio Philip Zimbardo Philip Zimbardo is internationally recognized as a leading "voice and face of contemporary psychology" through his widely seen PBS-TV series, "Discovering Psychology," his media appearances, best-selling trade books on shyness, and his classic research, The Stanford Prison Experiment. Zimbardo has been a Stanford University professor since 1968 (now an Emeritus Professor), having taught previously at Yale, NYU, and Columbia University. He continues teaching graduate students at the Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, and at the Naval Post Graduate School (Monterey).

Interactive Whiteboard resources compiled by Sue Lemmer Home I've divided this page into two parts - Information about whiteboards and resources to use with whiteboards Also, explore The $99 Interactive Whiteboard Practical Physics This website is for teachers of physics in schools and colleges. It is a collection of experiments that demonstrate a wide range of physical concepts and processes. Some of the experiments can be used as starting-points for investigations or for enhancement activities. Many have links to carefully selected further reading and all include information and guidance for technicians. Common Core in Action: 10 Visual Literacy Strategies Do you wish your students could better understand and critique the images that saturate their waking life? That's the purpose of visual literacy (VL), to explicitly teach a collection of competencies that will help students think through, think about and think with pictures. Standards Support Visual Literacy Instruction Visual literacy is a staple of 21st century skills, which state that learners must "demonstrate the ability to interpret, recognize, appreciate and understand information presented through visible actions, objects and symbols, natural or man-made." Putting aside the imperative to teach students how to create meaningful images, the ability to read images is reflected in the following standards.

125 Great Science Videos: From Astronomy to Physics & Psychology Astronomy & Space Travel A Brief, Wondrous Tour of Earth (From Outer Space) - Video - Recorded from August to October, 2011 at the International Space Station, this HD footage offers a brilliant tour of our planet and stunning views of the aurora borealis.A Universe from Nothing - Video - In 53 minutes, theoretical physicist Lawrence Krauss answers some big enchilada questions, including how the universe came from nothing.A Year of the Moon in 2.5 Minutes - Video - The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter has been orbiting the moon for over a year. The footage gets compressed into 2 slick minutes.A Day on Earth (as Seen From Space) - Video - Astronaut Don Pettit trained his camera on planet Earth, took a photo once every 15 seconds, and then created a brilliant time-lapse film.Atlantis's Final Landing at Kennedy Space Center - Video - After more than 30 years, the space shuttle era comes to a close. Video runs 30 minutes.

5 Great Science Books to Expand Your Mind From the dynamics of social networks to market bubbles, science has a lot to say about the world of technology. One of the great discoveries of modern science was the realization of how interconnected the world is. The deterministic, Newtonian view of a clockwork Universe was replaced by the much more dynamic, uncertain and entangled world of Quantum Mechanics. The new world is the one where Godel forever cut hopes for completeness in mathematics and Turing showed that computation, like the future, is fundamentally unpredictable. Despite these unexpected setbacks, modern science is wonderful, powerful and thought provoking - and relevant to technologists.

Handwritten Fonts – Free Fonts of the Week nr. 6 Before inventing printing machines and metal types, handwriting remained the only way to save the literary works on paper and deliver the gained knowledge to the next generations. In many parts of the world, handwritten scripts achieved the levels of true art with aesthetic perfection of the lines and glyphs. Today, handwritten fonts remain extremely popular among designers, especially for such projects as logo or greeting cards designs, where personal appeal and high artistic qualities of the printed text value much more than its plain readability.

The Cell: A Learning Tool This interactive learning tool was developed to help middle school students attain a greater understanding of the cell, cell organelles and their functions, and to improve retention of scientific knowledge in preparation for the State of California Standards exams in life science. Onscreen and off screen ("hands on") activities are provided in this learning tool on the cell. Off screen activities include printing outlines of the animal cell, which the students cut out, color, assemble, and label. Onscreen activities include an interactive exploration of the animal and plant cells and a quiz. Technologies used include Flash and XML.

Teaching Information Literacy Now Last week, a new study from Stanford University revealed that many students are inept at discerning fact from opinion when reading articles online. The report, combined with the spike in fake and misleading news during the 2016 election, has school librarians, including me, rethinking how we teach evaluation of online sources to our students. How can we educate our students to evaluate the information they find online when so many adults are sharing inaccurate articles on social media? Mars Exploration Program: Mars for Educators You can participate in four major programs: Curriculum Supplements Robotics activities are available. Download the activity summaries (PDF, 1.33 MB) or the full activity set (PDF, 1.08 MB). The Mars Curriculum Modules are designed to help bring the topic of Mars into your 4th through 12th grade classrooms.

Concept Development Maps <div class='noindex'>You may be trying to access this site from a secured browser on the server. Please enable scripts and reload this page.</div> 21st Century Skills: Museums, Libraries The IMLS Project Team and Task Force considered the list of skills commonly referred to as "21st Century Skills" and modified it slightly to better align with library and museum priorities.1 The resulting list includes the following additions: Basic Literacy, Scientific & Numerical Literacy, Visual Literacy, Cross-Disciplinary Skills, and Environmental Literacy. Not every skill on this list will be aligned with every institution’s vision and mission.