Posts Tagged ‘teacher’
Getting Kids Interested in Science – 40 Years of Bringing Science to Life in The Classroom
In 1961, John F. Kennedy famously beckoned the American people to journey into space and reach the moon by decade’s end. Both challenged and encouraged by our young president’s infectious and visionary attitude – the country heeded his call.
The Black Space Experience
The roots of the black space experience date back some 8,500 years when the first lunar calendar was crafted from a bone. Like ancient peoples elsewhere in the world, Africans (sub-Saharan black peoples) “shared the same inspiration and awe of the stars” and “struggled to make sense of it [through] creativity and intelligence” [1] patiently taking “countless generations to watch, justify and map the heavens”[2] and define their relationship with them. According to Dr. Thebe Medupe, a prominent astronomer at the University of Cape Town and the South African Astronomical Observatory, “[Africans] shaped constellations out of stellar patterns and came up with stories about them, …constructed calendars to organize their lives and even erected stone alignments… to follow the sun’s ‘path’ throughout the year.”[3] It was for this reason that Bernard Harris, Jr., the first black astronaut to walk in space stated, “When we look at history itself, you realize that astronomy – the study of the stars – that whole origin… [was] being done by people from Africa. And now I get to fly amongst those same stars” when emphasizing the importance of knowing and understanding history – “If you don’t know where you are and where you came from, you’ll never know where you are going.”[4]
How To Teach Mathematics
I once asked a math major what integration meant. The question must have caught her by surprise since she stopped, looked at me and said “I don’t really know, but I did get all A’s in Calculus.”
Why Send Telescopes into Space?
Universe sends us light in the entire electromagnetic spectrum. However, much of this light (or radiation) does not reach the earth’s surface. Our atmosphere prevents certain types of radiation, while allowing other types through. Fortunately for life on Earth, our atmosphere block the harmful high energy radiation like X-rays, gamma rays, and most of the ultraviolet light. The atmosphere also absorbs most infrared radiation. On the other hand, our atmosphere transparent to visible light, most radio waves, and a small window in the infrared region. Ground-based optical and infrared observatories are usually placed near the top of the mountain to get a lot of dry upper atmosphere. Radio telescopes can operate both day and night from the surface of the earth. This ground-based observatories to provide long-term studies of objects in space, but they can only detect light that passes through our atmosphere.
Herschel Infrared Experiment
PURPOSE / GOAL: To run a trial version from 1800, in which the form of radiation other than visible light was discovered by the famous astronomer Sir Frederick William Herschel.