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Curious Cat Science and Egineering blog full tag cloud
I know it is colder at higher elevations (there is snow on the top of mountains when no snow is left on the bottom). When I was hiking this summer in Colorado and it started snowing I thought about why it was colder in higher elevations. My guess was that it was mainly due to lower air pressure and being higher up in the atmosphere where air was cooler than is was closer to sea level.
So I did some research online and the main explanations seem to be that at higher elevations the air pressure is lower (molecules and atoms under less pressure move more slowly which means the temperature is less).
Hot air does rise, but the amount of hot air is minor compared to the existing cold air in the atmosphere. So when hot air rises from the ground it is cooled down before getting far off the earth’s surface. And as it rises the pressure decreases, which cools it down.
Mountain Environments report, United Nations Environment Programme:
Photo of John Hunter at Hurricane Ridge in Olympic National Park.
Related: Why is the air cooler at higher altitudes? - Why is the Sky Blue? - scientific explanations for what we experience - Flint and Steel: What Causes the Sparks? - Mount Rainier National Park Photos - Low air pressure decreases temps at high elevation
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The Motorola Foundation today announced the recipients of its 2008 Innovation Generation grants, which provide $4 million to 92 K-12 education programs across the country.
Eileen Sweeney, director of the Motorola Foundation: “Building a diverse pipeline of critical thinkers, skilled scientists and engineers is a by-product of our efforts that not only will benefit Motorola and our industry, but it also will support a sustainable workforce and bolster the country’s competitive advantage in the global, knowledge-based economy.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, Strengthening Education: Meeting the Challenge of a Changing World, jobs requiring science, engineering or technical training will increase 24 percent between 2004 and 2014 to 6.3 million. The disparity between the growing demand for critical thinkers and the country’s ability to adequately prepare students to fill these jobs has been widening for decades. The lack of skilled graduates in these fields poses a significant threat to sustained U.S. competitiveness in the global, knowledge-intensive economy.
Examples of this year’s grant recipients include:
* American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) – The AISES National American Indian Science and Engineering Fair and Expo inspires American Indian and Alaska Native students from all 50 states to pursue their interest in science and engineering through in-person and virtual presentations of research, access to role models and mentors, and hands-on demonstrations of scientific and engineering innovations across industries.
* Edheads in Columbus, Ohio – A highly interactive website for middle school girls interested in engineering design will be used nationally by schools and after-school programs.
* Rochester Institute of Technology – TechGirlz weeklong camp for girls who are deaf and hard-of-hearing and entering seventh, eighth or ninth grades fosters their long-term interest in STEM and enhances their awareness of the opportunities available to them in these disciplines in higher education.
* University of Central Florida – My Sports Pulse engages Florida middle school and high school students in a youth mobile learning initiative that imparts science and technology concepts through interactive sports games and tests.
Related: High School Students in USA, China and India - The Importance of Science Education - Education Resources for Science and Engineering -USA Teens 29th in Science - k-12 Science Education Podcast
Fermilab offers some drawing of scientists by seventh graders before and after a visit to Fermilab. Wonderful visuals.
| Before | After |
|---|---|
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| I think of a scientist as very dedicated to his work. He is kind of crazy, talking always quickly. He constantly is getting new ideas. He is always asking questions and can be annoying. He listens to others’ ideas and questions them. | I know scientists are just normal people with a not so normal job. . . . Scientists lead a normal life outside of being a scientist. They are interested in dancing, pottery, jogging and even racquetball. Being a scientist is just another job which can be much more exciting. |
| by Amy | |
This is one of the more extreme ones but there are lots of other great comparisons. Very reminiscent of: Children’s view of Scientists in England.
Related: Scientists and Students - Kids in the Lab: Getting High-Schoolers Hooked on Science - Curious Cat Science and Engineering Search - Saving Fermilab - Matter to Anti-Matter 3 Trillion Times a Second
Do dolphins sleep?, MIT:
Related: Why do We Sleep? - Energy Efficiency of Digestion - interesting science facts - Why is the Sky Blue?
The dumbing down of science by Karen Heller
“Adults” happens to mean anyone over 11, a rather severe view for an organization geared toward students. Imax? That’s $5.50 extra. Audio tour? Yo ho ho, and an additional $6. For that kind of money, I left my two adults, 12 and 14, at home. New York’s American Museum of Natural History, a superior museum, offers $17 student tickets for ages 13 through 17
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The rub was that neither group appeared well-served by science. “Sports Challenge” is more Dave and Buster’s than lessons in physiology, a homage to hyperactivity where kids run around without ever stopping to learn.
“Sir Isaac’s Loft” contains one of those George Rhoads kinetic sculptures found in airports. “Sometimes you just can’t avoid science,” the caption reads, almost as an apology. “My intention is not to exemplify scientific principles,” Rhoads states on the plaque. Oh, great.
Frequently, the Franklin seems as scared of learning as it does of science. Lopping off the “Institute” is an indication. What I watched was kids dashing madly, going from one pit stop to the other, without absorbing much. There was so much insistent fun (!) and no, this-isn’t-really-science stuff that the place is transformed into just another consumer palace.
I think she makes very good points. I fear many museums are more focused on growing revenues than growing minds. That is a very sad state of affairs. I have nothing wrong with focusing on making money - just with museums (and even moreso science museums) doing so. Museums should focus on building minds (which does require balancing finances to stay in business, I understand). If you want to be a Dave and Busters like organization, go ahead, just leave our science museums to those that want to build minds.
Related: $40 Million for Engineering Education in Boston - Boston Travel Photos - 8 Year Old Math Prodigy Corrects Science Exhibit - Metropolitan Museum of Art photos - Malachite
NPR had a nice story on kids taking risks (a compliment our post from a couple days ago: Kids Need Adventurous Play) Camp Offers Kids A Chance To Play With Fire. Tinkering School gives kids a chance to make real things they use (boats, motorized bikes, bristle bots…). Their blog is awesome.
I started the Tinkering School because it’s the kind of thing I would like to have been able to go to myself.
I wish I could go. Related: National Underwater Robotics Challenge - Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids - La Vida Robot - Technology and Fun in the Classroom
A survey commissioned by Play England for Playday found a change in the places where children and young people today experience adventurous and challenging play. As children, 70% of adults enjoyed most of their adventures in natural outdoor environments. This compares with only 29% of children today as both the space and the freedom to roam has dramatically declined in recent years. Today, children’s experiences of adventure are confined to designated areas such as playgrounds (56%), their homes (48%) or theme parks (44%).
‘Playing is an essential part of growing up,’ said Adrian Voce, Director of Play England. ‘Starting from their earliest play experiences, children both need and want to push their boundaries in order to explore their limits and develop their abilities. Children would never learn to walk, climb stairs or ride a bicycle unless they were strongly motivated to respond to challenges – but we must accept that these things inevitably involve an element risk.
‘Adventurous play that both challenges and excites children helps instill critical life skills. Constantly wrapping children in cotton wool can leave them ill equipped to deal with stressful or challenging situations they might encounter later in life.’
Related: Creating a Nation of Wimps - 5 Dangerous Things You Should Let Your Kids do - Safe Water Through Play - What Kids can Learn - Leading Causes of Death - $500 Million to Reduce Childhood Obesity in USA
Students attend Powhatan’s first-ever engineering camp
The group even enjoyed a presentation from a NASA engineer, who spoke of his experience working on the Mars rover.
These engineering camps help kids enjoy their naturally inquisitive minds - which unfortunately they don’t get to do often enough.
Related: Toy and Entertainment Engineering Camp - Science Camps Prep Girls - Turtle Camps in Malaysia - Engineering Activities: for 9-12 Year Olds
I think we might have another young engineering on our hands, with the right training 
She knows what she wants and isn’t stymied by constraints that would probably blind most of us to the possibilities (even if we were her size). Quite a fun webcast: the reactions of the people are great.
How To Beat The Claw Game - Watch more free videos
Related: Science for Kids - Fun Physics Game - What Kids can Learn - Sarah, aged 3, Learns About Soap - Ministry of Silly Walks - Robin Williams Saves the Day
German groups seek next crop of engineers in the kindergarten
Groups such as Siemens and Bosch are among hundreds of companies giving materials and money to kindergartens to try to interest children as young as three in technology and science.
Many European countries from Switzerland to Spain suffer shortages of graduates. But the problem is especially acute in Germany, renowned as a land of engineering. German companies have 95,000 vacancies for engineers and only about 40,000 are trained, according to the engineers’ association.
“It is a new development in that we have seen we need to start very early with children. Starting at school is not good enough - we need to help them to understand as early as possible how things work,” said Maria Schumm-Tschauder, head of Siemens’ Generation21 education programme.
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Siemens has provided about 3,000 “discovery boxes” filled with science experiments for three- to six-year-olds to kindergartens throughout Germany, at a cost to the company of €500 (£395) a box. It also trains kindergarten teachers on how to use them as well as providing similar boxes around the world to pre-schools from China and South Africa to Ireland and Colombia.
Related: Fun k-12 Science and Engineering Learning - Middle School Engineers - Sarah, aged 3, Learns About Soap - Lego Learning - Ranking Universities Worldwide - Science Toys You Can Make With Your Kids
Very cool animation, by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and Interactive Knowledge, of the working of the inner workings of our bodies as they react to a cut. If you want to get right to the science, skip the first minute. Providing these types of educational animations is a great way for educational institutions to take advantage of technology to achieve their mission in ways not possible before.
It is annoying how many of those “educational” institutions don’t provide such educational material online (and even take material offline that was online). Have they become more focused on thinking and operating the way they did in 1970 than promoting science education? It is a shame some “educational” institutions have instead become focused on looking backward. I will try to promote those organizations that are providing online science education.
Related: Inside Live Red Blood Cells - Universal Blood
Engaging the YouTube Generation in Hands-on Science
Follow the link for a webcast. Somewhat ironically the NSF headline mentions YouTube but fails to take advantage of one of the things that has made YouTube (and others sharing videos: TED…) so successful. The ability to embed the videos on web sites, blog posts… The technical quality of the video is very nice (more pixels than YouTube videos).
Related: Einstein Fellowship for Teachers - Excellence in K-12 Mathematics and Science Teaching - NSF Graduate Teaching Fellows in K-12 Education - Ministry of Silly Walks - more posts tagged: kids
Put a Little Science in Your Life By Brian Greene
These are the standard - and enormously important - reasons many would give in explaining why science matters.
But here’s the thing. The reason science really matters runs deeper still. Science is a way of life. Science is a perspective. Science is the process that takes us from confusion to understanding in a manner that’s precise, predictive and reliable - a transformation, for those lucky enough to experience it, that is empowering and emotional. To be able to think through and grasp explanations - for everything from why the sky is blue to how life formed on earth - not because they are declared dogma but rather because they reveal patterns confirmed by experiment and observation, is one of the most precious of human experiences.
Excellent article by the author of The Elegant Universe.
Related: String Theory is Not Dead - E = mc² - science books - Café Scientifique Directory
Pelf Nyok has posted drawing of turtle camps students that she taught in Malaysia. On the image shown on the left:
Pelf is on her way to the USA for turtle conservation training on the Asian Scholarship Program for in-situ Chelonian Conservation:
And the remaining 3 months would be spent at the Wetlands Institute at Stone Harbor, New Jersey. The training will be conducted at the Wetlands Institute, together with other local participants.
The NASA Science Mission Directorate sponsors scientific research, and develops and deploys satellites and probes in collaboration with NASA’s partners around the world to answer fundamental questions requiring the view from and into space. SMD seeks to understand the origins, evolution, and destiny of the universe and to understand the nature of the phenomena that shape it. SMD also seeks to understand:
* the nature of life in the universe and what kinds of life may exist beyond Earth;
* the solar system, both scientifically and in preparation for human exploration; and
* the Sun and Earth, changes in the Earth-Sun system, and the consequences of the Earth-Sun relationship for life on Earth.
Maybe, for this site NASA actually listened to the engineers: as this site works rather than making false claims about the visitor’s browser. The site includes content specifically targeted at teachers, students, researchers and the general public.
Related: Great Self Portrait - Boiling Water in Space - Mars Rovers Getting Ready for Another Adventure
‘Vanishing’ colour gives schoolgirls chance to beat ban on nail varnish
The dramatic change is caused by a chemical reaction between the varnish and the ultraviolet light in natural sunlight. The polish was devised by pupils from Albion High School, Salford, who thought the “vanishing” colour may help them beat the school’s ban on nail polish.
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They came up with the idea while working on an enterprise project with Paul Haywood and Sam Ingleson from Salford University’s school of art and design.
Not exactly what I would create but it is great to see students using scientific thought to find solutions they desire.
Related: The Chemistry of Hair Coloring - Engineering Students Design Innovative Hand Dryer - Student designs a baby high chair - Engineering Student Contest Winners Design Artificial Limb
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