Instructify

Instructify recently backed out of talks with a certain upcoming summer blockbuster. I can’t name the movie in question, nor can I reveal why negotiations ran aground, nor can I confirm or deny that my own personal “unreasonably greedy disposition” made things go sour. Let’s just leave it at this: their movie about mechanical things that trans — er, change — into other mechanical things would have had some terrific synergy with this posting about Constructor.

The description on the Sodaplay website sums up Constructor so well that I won’t even try rephrasing it with my own words: “Sodaconstructor is a construction kit for interactive creations using masses and springs. By altering physical properties like gravity, friction, and speed, curiously anthropomorphic models can be made to walk, climb, wriggle, jiggle, or collapse into a writhing heap.”

Constructor runs in a separate Java app, so you’ll need to make sure you’re updated. You might do best using it to lead a lesson first and then turn it loose on your students. I searched around in both the application and the homepage, but I couldn’t find any instructions. That means you’re going to have to do some goofing around and exploring on your own, but that’s the fun part anyhow. -NICK YINGLING

Constructor

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Let’s Have Some Phun: Physics Gets Creative for Young Learners

My high-school buddy Umar was obsessed by the number 137. For reasons I didn’t understand, it’s a very magical number for physicists (if anything can be magical for men of science). Now that I’m grown, I have a (slightly) better understanding of 137 thanks to Sixty Symbols, a site that explains the meaning behind a bunch of (that is, 60) scientific symbols. Those symbols include “α,” the fine structure constant, which kinda relates to 137 somehow (hey, I’m not a scientist).

Sixty Symbols features short YouTube videos of physicists and astronomers just chatting about the meaning behind various symbols. It makes for good background information on why certain symbols mean what they do, and I always enjoy watching people talk about something that interests them. Your physics students may enjoy learning about a few of the symbols and terms that show up in their homework, too. Sixty Symbols might even inspire some of them to learn more about 137. If they do, send them my way so they can explain it to me. -BILL FERRIS

Sixty Symbols

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It’s time again for our random roundup. This month’s theme: NASA, pioneers of space and subjects of an awful lot of posts.

Do-it-yourself is in, even with podcasting at NASA!
It seems that every time you turn around these days someone’s encouraging you to complete a DIY project.  Why pay for someone else to do it when you can do it yourself?  Apparently, NASA has the same attitude on its website on Do-It-Yourself Podcasts.

Set the controls for the closest planet to the sun: NASA Mission to Mercury
This site includes up-to-the-minute clocks that record the elapsed time of the mission as well as the Orbit Insertion time. Watch the actual August 3, 2004 launch of Messenger from mission control. You can take your class through a tour of images already taken by Messenger as it zooms toward Mercury.

Blast Off with the NASA Kids’ Club
NASA Kids’ Club is a great way to learn more about space exploration. It’s got great pictures, games and activities that will pique the interest of space-minded kids. As a no-cost way to learn about the space program, the NASA Kids’ Club is the Right Stuff.

Observe NASA’s Earth Observatory
What if we were able to turn our telescopes around and get a closer look at what is happening right below our feet? The folks at NASA have done just that with their Earth Observatory site. Teachers, head right for the Experiments tab and give your students interactive ways to study global warming and plant biomes around the world. If you love reading blogs (and I know you do!), check out the Expedition to Siberia blog that offers almost daily updates and pictures of this fascinating trip.

Cool satellite image from the inauguration
Check out this great picture from the presidential inauguration. As the GeoEye-1 satellite hurtled through the cosmos,  it took this snapshot to commemorate the historic occasion. That’s a lot of people! Not only that, I now know the roof of the Capitol is tarheel blue.

Observe Mars in 3D
Still have some of those promotional 3D glasses kicking around from after the Superbowl? Fire up one of NASA’s 3D image galleries to take your students on a tour of Mars.

You’ve almost certainly got a few sports fans in your science class, and probably a few who play on one team or another for your school. Sport Science from Fox Sports Net might be a good way to teach some scientific concepts to them in a manner they can easily relate to. Athletes like Jerry Rice, boxer Chris Byrd, hockey legend Luc Robitaille and, one of my favorites, running back Maurice Jones-Drew serve as test subjects as the show demonstrates the science behind dunks, slap shots, and speed.

However, don’t assume only the athletes in your class would get a kick out of Sport Science. I myself am an avid sports fan, despite having no athletic ability of my own (similarly, I enjoy cartoons despite not being able to draw, and being a lousy cook has never discouraged me from eating). While you can’t count on everyone in your class wanting to know whether a collision between two sumo wrestlers packs more force than a punch, or whether Barry Zito’s curve ball defies physics (take one look at his ERA and you’ll know it doesn’t), Sport Science should appeal to enough kids to be useful.

The FSN site doesn’t have videos of the show, but they’re widely available on YouTube (if YouTube is banned at your school, see our entry on How to cope when your school blocks YouTube). Seeing science in action is almost always fun, and Sport Science gives you that, plus a little competition, too. -BILL FERRIS

Sport Science

Quick! Name five famous discoveries honored by the Nobel Prize…(crickets chirping)….Um, Al Gore won one, right? Ask your students and you’ll likely get a similar response. The people at Nobelprize.org decided that they didn’t want children growing up not understanding the significant accomplishments honored by the Nobel Prize. By visiting the educational outreach section of the website, you can introduce your students to these accomplishments in a fun and engaging way, as well as teach your course content.

The site offers several interactive activities for each category of Nobel Prize — physics, chemistry, literature, medicine, peace, and economics. There are games, readings, and simulations in each section. In my class, I’ve used the blood typing game to help students understand the differences between blood types. In the physics section, there is an interesting simulation about microscopes. By using this, you could show students what the different types of microscopes can do. There is also a microscope quiz that could be used to assess understanding. Another neat feature is the readings. In the DNA-RNA-Protein reading, for example, you can select a “Basic” or an “Advanced” text. This would be excellent for differentiating instruction.

Lest you think this site is only good for Science, there is a section about the Nobel Prize in Literature, and a game about William Golding’s classic, Lord of the Flies. I’m kind of a science gal, so I didn’t do so hot on that game; maybe your high school English students will do better. Regardless, you will find this site useful. -REBECCAH HAINES

Educational Games via Nobelprize.org

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Are you a galactic tyrant whose subjects have grown insolent? Have you built, or are you planning to build, a space station the size of a small moon with which you plan to blow up the home planet of said insolent subjects? Are you a physics teacher familiar with Star Wars? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you should read The Physics of the Death Star by Matt Springer from Built on Facts. Using the formula Springer cooks up, you’ll know precisely how much energy it will take to blast a planet to smithereens.

If you happen to be a teacher, your class should appreciate the science behind the Star Wars series. Looking through the comments section should also be worth your while — several commenters pose questions worth bringing up to your students. For example, while the Death Star puts out a lot of energy, what exactly is the energy doing? Heating it up like an ant under a magnifying glass? Put these questions to your class to get a discussion going. These are the sorts of considerations you have to make when planning planetary destruction.

Darth Vader said, “The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of The Force.” Good luck coming up with an equation for that one. -BILL FERRIS

The Physics of the Death Star

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Celebrate weird science with the Ig Nobel Awards

If you’re a teacher who likes your science to be of the mad variety, then you might already know about the Ig Nobel Prize. For those who don’t, each year, Annals of Improbable Research, a magazine of science-humor, honors scientific research that’s as funny as it is thought-provoking, all in the name of stoking public interest in the sciences. Since part of your job is to get your students fired up about science, this stuff should be right up your alley.

What sort of research wins an Ig Nobel? Projects like electronically modifying the crunch of a potato chip to make people believe it’s fresher than it actually is. Or measuring how one armadillo can thwart an archaeological dig. Or the groundbreaking discovery that fleas living on a dog can jump higher than fleas living on a cat. Any one of the winning projects are great discussion-launchers about science for science’s sake. Also, during election years, candidates love questioning how obscure research projects like these got funding. This may be a good opportunity to talk about what benefits this sort of work has that may not be readily apparent. For bonus points, maybe your class can brainstorm some ideas worthy of an award of their own.

You can listen to a condensed version of the awards ceremony via podcast from Talk of the Nation‘s Science Friday with Ira Flatow. In addition to hearing about these great projects, you’ll also hear the 24/7 lectures — complex scientific studies summed up in 24 seconds, and then again in a mere seven-words — as well as some hilarious acceptance speeches from award winners brave enough to attend (and no Oscar-style long speeches, either — if a speech goes on too long, the long-winded winner hears a small child say, “Please stop, I’m bored,” over and over).

The Ig Nobel Prize is a fun way to introduce science to people who might otherwise have no interest in it. Conversely, it may also make a few of the winners rethink how they’ve elected to spend their lives. In the words of the Ig Nobel committee, “If you didn’t win an Ig Nobel Prize this year — and especially if you did — better luck next year.” -BILL FERRIS

Ig Nobel Prize

Ig Nobel Prize ceremony via Talk of the Nation/Science Friday

Sometimes I feel bad for NASA. They’ve done so many incredible things — creating and remotely controlling robots to photograph the surface of Mars, conducting research into wild, futuristic things like wingless airplanes, pushing satellite technology to ridiculous new levels. And remember when they put a guy on the moon? But to hear popular culture tell it, you’d think NASA’s most noteworthy contribution was the phrase “Houston, we have a problem.” (Which isn’t funny anymore. Do you hear me, sit-com writers?)

But NASA doesn’t care. They’re still hard at work, coming up with great ideas. A perfect example is their INSPIRE program, designed for students in 9th to 12th grade who are interested in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics. Students who are accepted into the program participate in a year-round online community with other like-minded students, learn about future career opportunities, and become eligible to compete for summer experiences at a NASA facility. They also have opportunities to participate in video conferences with NASA scientists and engage with each other in design competitions.

INSPIRE would be a perfect program for students who could use an extra challenge beyond their science and math coursework, and it comes highly recommended by program alums. One writes, “This program has been literally the most rewarding experience of my life so far.” Another reports, “INSPIRE has been such an incredible and unique experience. Now I can say that I physically worked on a rocket.” And yet another says, “Houston, we have a totally awesome online community.” (I made that last one up. But I bet someone said it.) -EMILY JACK

[Editor's note: the application deadline is December 31, 2008]

NASA INSPIRE program

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Battles on the high seas used to involve pirate ships, cannons and swashbuckling. Today we have nuclear submarines and aircraft carriers. If you’d like your ocean-based conflicts to be a little safer, consider the Blue Heron Bowl, part of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl, which pits your students’ knowledge of marine science against that of other schools.

The Blue Heron Bowl (February 21, 2009 in Wilmington, NC) tests students with multiple-choice and short-answer questions about all facets of the oceans, including atmospheric science, biology, chemistry, geology, physics, “as well as from topics on the contributions of the oceans to national and international economics, history and culture.” The Blue Heron Bowl serves as the North Carolina regional competition, and the winner gets an all-expenses-paid trip to the national competition in Washington, DC in April, 2009.

North Carolina’s Blue Heron Bowl is open for registration. Visit their site to register, then get practicing. Even though there are no pirate ships involved, your team can still stage an oceanic attack and go home with the treasure.  -BILL FERRIS

Blue Heron Bowl

National Ocean Sciences Bowl

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I was never great at remembering the periodic table, except for knowing the symbol for iron is “Fe” for “ferrous,” which sounds like my last name. Maybe I struggled with the rest of the table because I didn’t have an equally catchy way to relate the other elements to my life. Too bad I didn’t have WebElements back then.

WebElements lets you look at the periodic in different contexts, depending on your specialty or interest area. For example, if you’re a biology teacher, you can click on the Biology tab. Then if you select, say, hydrogen, WebElements will display information on hydrogen most relevant to biology. Same goes for physics, chemistry, geology, and even history (some elements, like gold, are more historically interesting than stuff like caesium or ununtrium). For English majors like me, you can hear an audio pronunciation for each element — now I can say ununquadium properly (it comes up more often than you’d think).

The best thing about WebElements is that it lets you learn about the elements in whatever context works best for you. If they ever add an “English” tab, I may just have to become a scientist myself. -BILL FERRIS

WebElements

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Last year we reviewed Kidipede – History for Kids. Not to be labeled a one-trick insect, Kidipede has just rolled out a science site. Designed for middle-schoolers, Kidipede – Science for Kids offers useful info about biology, physics, chemistry, geology, as well as mathematics, the language of science.

You’ll find articles, videos, plus recommendations for further reading. Each article links to dozens of sub-articles, so if your students are reading about tectonic plates, they can feel free to go off on learning tangents and read up on earthquakes and volcanoes while they’re at it. Kidipede has more bits of information than a centipede has legs. -BILL FERRIS

Kidipede – Science for Kids

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I’m sure you’re familiar with the periodic chart of elements. Here’s a bare-bones rundown of how it’s laid out: hydrogen and helium are hanging out at the top all on their own, elements in the same row have something in common, and so do elements in the same column (but not all columns). And that’s the basic scheme. Cool with everything so far? Great. Now all you have to do is go through the painful, tedious memorization of each element on every square. Awesome, I’ll see you in a week or two.

So maybe rote memorization of the periodic chart isn’t quite cutting it for your students. Maybe it’s the opposite: your students have taken such an interest in the periodic chart that they’ve not only memorized it, but now they have you cornered and are demanding further explanations for Ununbium and Protactinium. Whichever direction things are going in your science classroom, The University of Nottingham’s Periodic Table of Videos has you covered. They provide a video for EACH AND EVERY element on the periodic chart, with concise explanations and several demonstrated experiments.

I’ll also point out that Professor Martyn Poliakoff isn’t afraid to rock the Dr. Emmett Brown/Einstein hairstyle, which, to me, gives him more street cred as a scientist.
–NICK YINGLING

Periodic Table of Videos

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8 Tips to Help You Think Like a Genius – I don’t need these tips, personally, because me am already genius. You might find them useful, though. ZME Lifetips recommends visualization, being productive, and thinking metaphorically amongst others. Start using these tips and you’ll be a geinus in no time.

5 Questions That Will Save You Time and Money – Lifehack presents this list of questions you should ask yourself to tell if you are being productive or actually wasting time. There are a lot of do-it-yourself-ers out there who think they can do-it-themselves but they end up not-doing-it-right so they end-up-paying-for-it-later. The first of these five questions sums it up nicely: Do I have the skills necessary for the task?

6 Best Ways to Learn Physics… For Free – I don’t know much about physics, but I do know it is easier to understand if you see it in action. Blog Learn Out Loud has compiled this list of a few good video demonstrations you can find on the web. Included on the list is a great video we mentioned before about the 10th dimension.

List of Educational Web 2.0 Apps to Jumpstart Your Productivity – There are a lot of Web 2.0 applications out there, but only a few are catered toward becoming a better learner. DiplomaGuide has found some of the better ones available. These 25 applications are divided into categories like ‘organization’ and ‘note taking’. There seems like a good mix here, so sort your way through to find what you can recommend to your students. -JEREMY S. GRIFFIN

Photo credit: Szagi on flickr

Learn the workings of the solar system by building your own. With My Solar System you can see how suns, planets, moons and comets interact.

You choose the number and size of heavenly bodies in your solar system. And size matters – make your sun too big, and watch a planet crash into it (which is kinda cool, actually). Make a planet too small and its moon will ditch it to just revolve around the sun instead.

My Solar System also has preset solar system alignments, which are definitely worth checking out. My favorite – the slingshot, where a planet is revolving around the sun, minding its own business, then gets caught in another planet’s gravitational field. Next thing it knows, it’s getting flung into deep space because that meddling planet #2 doesn’t have enough gravity to hang onto it. So tragic. So fun.

Your students should enjoy My Solar System whether you’re an elementary teacher studying the planets for the first time, or if you’re a physics instructor demonstrating gravitational pull. And don’t forget to discuss the ethical implications of creating planets specifically hoping they’ll collide. -BILL FERRIS

My Solar System

Here’s a way for your students to exercise their creativity as well as their capacity for smashing stuff. Phun lets students learn about physics, friction and resistance in a virtual world, which means your classroom won’t incur any collateral damage.

Phun lets kids create shapes out of thin air that collide with one another. Use chains and springs to connect or, my favorite, send one object smashing into another.

Your kids should be able to learn to use Phun in a couple of minutes just by messing aroud with it. Want to make a boulder? Draw one. It’ll plummet into the abyss, though, unless they create a floor to land on. From these humble beginnings, they’ll soon move on to knocking over rectangular walls with the boulder from Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Swedish grad student Emil Ernerfeldt of Umeå University built Phun as a “2D physics playground.” True enough, you can create your own virtual swing set, as well as tetherball and sling shot if you so choose. Just none of the scrapes and bruises. -BILL FERRIS

Phun

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