Gleanings of the Week Ending October 01, 2016

The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

Images of the world’s greatest cities before they were cities – Visual history.

Internet addiction may indicate other mental health problems in college-aged students – An Internet Addiction Test was developed in 1998; this study indicates that the test may need to be updates…that there are significantly more students having trouble dealing with their day to day activities because of their internet usage. Also – are mental heal issues a cause or consequence of excessive reliance on the internet?

UK’s Oxford tops world ranking of best universities; US had 3 of top 5 – This UPI article also provides a link to the annual list (here if you want to jump there directly). There is a short blurb for each school as well.

The Good Guide to Milk: Cow: Soy, Nuts & More – I’ve switched from almond to soy milk based on this article. I’d switched to almond milk several years ago when I finally realized that almost all my stomach issues were caused by lactose intolerance.

50-country comparison of child and youth fitness levels: US near the bottom – Not good. The US is 47 out of 50. I wonder how long it has been this bad. So much has changed over the past 50 or so years. Many neighborhoods are not walkable…streets are too busy/dangerous for bicycling…parents are worried about children being outside without direct supervision.

View 3500+ Art Exhibits Online – A blurb from Free Technology for Teachers. Another source for free ebooks, specifically about exhibits at MoMA.

Greenland ice is melting 7% faster than previously thought – The hot spot that feeds Iceland’s active volcanoes is responsible. Uplift is happening a differing rate as well.

Sesame: Little Seeds, Big Benefits – Another seed to keep on hand. I use chia seeds the most but sesame seeds (and tahini) are a close second.

Ancient Skeleton discovered on Antikythera Shipwreck – From 65 BC...and now they can use DNA to learn more about a person that lived 2100 years ago.

Grading the Presidential Candidates on Science – From Scientific America. A compilation of answers on a number of science related issues from all 4 candidates.

STEM Fair as Prompt

I was a judge for out county’s STEM (Science – Technology – Engineering – Math) Fair last Saturday. It was a well-organized event and I enjoyed it just as I have in years past. Every year the students seem to be better prepared and their projects even more interesting. This year I was judging 8^th grade projects and afterwards I thought a lot about how much things have changed since I was in 8^th grade. It’s been close to 50 years!

I did not participate in a Science Fair when I was in 8^th grade although I was in a general science class. It was not a required class and I was 1 of 2 girls in the class. These days the need for STEM literacy is even greater than it was 50 years ago and the schools are striving to upgrade curriculum to keep pace with the needs of the modern world. The students participating in the STEM Fair were the best from their school – and there were more girls than boys. I’m glad that more girls are participating these days but it’s very important for all students to be savvy about these topics.

8^th grade for me was ‘junior high’ but the more popular term these days is ‘middle school.’ My junior high was fed by neighborhood elementary schools and reflected the racial and ethnic diversity of those neighborhoods which were very homogenous (later racial integration would be achieved via busing); 99% of the student body were Caucasian. In my area now, the neighborhood elementary schools still feed the middle schools. The big difference is that the neighborhoods are racially and ethnically diverse so the student body is too. The students at the science fair were representative.

When I was in 8^th grade there were only a few instances when I was asked to present anything; it was not a focus in junior high at all. In high school – debate teams provided that experience to a few students. Now, the ability to present your ideas or work is part of the educational experience. It was clear that the 8^th graders had practiced their presentations and had anticipated the types of questions the judges were asking. Some of the projects were done by 2 person teams and their presentation was orchestrated so that both students talked and interacted with the judges.

Many of the students acquired things for their experiments that would have been very difficult to obtain (if they existed) 50 years ago: mealworms, empty gel caps, open top field chambers for saplings, iPads/smart phones to display pictures, and an online memory game. It is easy to acquire things like this now. I suppose that the student could have grown mealworms…but it would have made the experiment much more time consuming and maybe even distracted from the experiment.

The families of these students are most likely different than those from 50 years ago too. Fifty years ago fast food was an infrequent thing, most mothers worked part time or were at home when students got out of school, the school was not air conditioned and that was true for a lot of homes too, there were no computers, most students had one or more siblings, and jeans were not acceptable attire in many schools.

The big scary thing in the 1960s was nuclear war. As an 8^th grader it was something I was well aware of. It was related to science/technology just as the new big scary thing is for these students: climate change. Several of the students related their project to climate change --- one quite passionately.

There have been a lot of changes and as I think about them now – it is important that we integrate everything into the way we really want to be for right now and into the future. The students I met at the STEM Fair seem to be achieving that. I applaud them and the people (parents, teachers, friends, etc.) that support them.