AST 6, 8, and 9

Good morning astronomy students. Today is Tuesday April 1, 2008. There are 274 days left in the year.

In class today you’ll hear a short introduction of myself and of my goals for my classes here, for the next three months. Let me tell you again that I understand it might be a bit difficult making the transition to a new teacher, mid year. Rest assured that I want to make that as painless as possible, for you all and myself.

(And the answer [the ultimate answer], to life, the universe, and everything, is 42.)

But carry on we must, and get to know each other me must as well. And so to that end, I have an introductory assignment for you. It can be found on the Astronomy Assignments Page (you know, by clicking).

So click away, and get started. This is a short and sweet assignment that serves many purposes. Rest assured that any work I assign is meaninginful work. That is to say, I neither approve of nor assign “busy work”.

Tomorrow on this site, I shall explain the purpose behind this assignment.

So hop to it, k?

Shift happens

Did you know?

And so… what is our role as teachers in the 21st century?  What is your role as a students?  And the parents of students, what should they be demanding of the system?

It’s a brave new world out there.  And while the change is profound, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we throw out all that we know about teaching and learning. Even though the question “why do we have to learn this stuff?” will persist, the answer (it’s not the information, it’s the process you come by it) is no less correct now than a hundred years ago. Or ten.

I don’t think we as teachers (or we as an education system) have done enough to explain why we do what we do, or why it’s important for you (the student) to do it as well.

About “theories”

Words are funny things. Sometimes they don’t mean what you think they mean. Take the word “theory”, for example.

In normal, everyday language, it means a proposed explanation. Something we think, but do not know. But in science, it means something a bit different: a well substantiated explanation of some aspect of the natural world.

I don’t have the time to explore it right now, but rest assured that there’s a difference between “I have a theory about how to achieve world peace” and the theory of gravity.

Or periodic theory, which is of immediate concern to grade nine students. And the topic of this post. From reDiscovery.org, the theory of chemical periodicity:

It might not mean much to most of you (my students), but to grade nines who are currently in their chemistry unit, this is quite fun. See ti big (by clicking).

A vision

What should the 21st century look like to students?

This is one that I urge all parents, students, and – most importantly – my colleagues to watch. And consider.

Blinded by science?

My question is this: What’s so wrong with learning about the physical world, and how it works?

On Blogrolls

One of the great joys of running a blog or Website is in the sharing of sites and pages with people. There are literally dozens of science and technology blogs that I visit on a regular basis, and I will be sharing many of those with you on this blog.

Such (websites for sharing) are called the Blogroll, and you can find mine on the right hand side of this page. Cleverly listed under the heading “Blogroll”.

See how that works?

Every listing under the Blogroll will have a a blog entry by me. For example, APOD (the Astronomy Picture of the Day) was the first site I placed in the roll, and I talk about it, and why it interests me so much (and why it might interest you) in this post.

All of those kinds of pages (where I talk about why I chose a site for my blogroll) can be easily found by clicking on this page’s category. Under “Categories”, on the left hand side of this page, you’ll find “blogroll” as well.

And so, to summarize: to find my Blogroll, a list of interesting sites to me, find them on the right hand side. Click on a link, and you go to that site. To find my own page about why I like the site, click on the “blogroll” category on the left hand side, and you will get a list of pages in which I do so.

Clear as mud? Good.

Astronomy Photo of the Day

This site is an addition to my blogroll. It is a site that you should visit on a regular basis. It is, in fact, my starting page ( you know, when FireFox loads).

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Call it APOD. It’s run jointly by NASA and Michigan Technological University.

Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.

This site is changed every day, and every day it’s a new view of heavens – usually with some connection to current events. Today was the Cat’s Eye Nebula

An interesting feature of this site (and one that has won it Internet awards) is the use of hyperlinks. By clicking on the right thing, you can find out more about NGC 6543, the Hubble Space Telescope photos, or planetary nebulae.

And all this besides the fact that the photography is amazing.

Equal Night

Last night, at precisely 11:48 am, a very special thing happened: the Sun crossed Earth’s equator. This is what it looks like, courtesy of Astronomy Picture of the Day:

Now that explanation might not make a whole lot of sense. To understand it, you need to know a few things. Or be reminded of them.

First of all, recall that Earth spins. It spins about an imaginary pole (well, two of them if you include the north and south poles), the official term for which is axis. When that axis is directly up an down (vertical) with respect to our orbit around the Sun, the the Sun shines down directly on the equator.

(Here’s an animation that illustrates what we’re talking about here.)

And that’s what happened last night. The vernal equinox. Equal nights.

The upshot of all this is that spring has sprung. From here on in, the days become longer and the nights shorter. In 91 days we’ll have the longest day (and shortest night) and the days will begin to get shorter again.

Happy spring!

Additional Resources

An explanation of Earth’s Rotation (Wikipedia).
Motion of the Earth (from the Office of Naval Research).

Arthur C. Clarke

There are few giants in this world who have added so much to the world of science and literature as Sir Arthur C. Clarke. Practical science. He invented, among other things, the idea of communications satellites and geostationary orbits.

Sadly, he died this morning in his home in Sri Lanka. He was 90 years old.

I was in grade 6 when I first watched his most famous piece, 2001 – A Space Odyssey (it was actually based on his short story, The Sentinel), and even today, it is a work of art that shows a realistic view of space travel. This is not Star Wars or Starship Troopers; it’s much more Battlestar Galactica.

At some point, for my astronomy class, I might show the movie. It’s worth spending some class time on.

Since grade 6, I’ve read quite a few of his novels, including one that I read in my grade 7 ELA class, Childhood’s End. If you wanted an introduction to his writings, you would do worse than to start with that one, or Rendezvous With Rama, another one I read as a student.

Clarke was truly a pioneer and a visionary. He imagined things that no one else had, and had to put up with a lot of ridicule in the process. No one believed, for example, that there would one day be satellites in orbit around Earth, or that they would play such an important role in our everyday lives.

One of Sir Arthur’s pet projects was the space elevator. Think of a 50 000 km long cable, extending from Earth’s surface to outer space, where Earth’s motion keeps it tight.  Attach to this an electric (or solar or nuclear) powered truck, and preto: you have a cheap way of getting things into outer space. You can read more about Clarke’s thoughts on this in his own words.

As I said, he was more than just a writer of science fiction: he was a practicing theoretical scientist.

I’ll leave you with a quote of Clarke’s which is particularly revealing:

I’m sometimes asked how I would like to be remembered. I’ve had a diverse career as a writer, underwater explorer, space promoter and science populariser. Of all these, I want to be remembered most as a writer — one who entertained readers, and, hopefully, stretched their imagination as well.

It’s all about imagination.

Welcome

It is customary to welcome you to a new blog.

So.., um… welcome.

I am Ted Buracas, a middle school science and technology teacher with the Calgary Board of Education, currently posted with David Thompson Middle School. I don’t usually write-run on sentences.

This blog is my place.  It doesn’t represent the views of the CBE, my principals or administrators, or the cat down the block.  Although I don’t anticipate writing anything even remotely contentious (well, except for stories about  evolution and creationism – that’s always good for a phone call to the school), it goes without saying that the views expressed herein represent my own thoughts, and few others’.

Except that I’ve said it.

Anyhow welcome aboard, and feel free to participate.