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National Center for Atmospheric Research

What it is: Today Anastasis students were lucky enough to visit the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, Colorado.  It was a truly fantastic experience (if you ever find yourself in Colorado, it is worth a visit! Open free everyday!).  The center has some fantastic interactive exhibits, much like what you find at Exploratorium in California.  In addition to the physical location, the National Center for Atmospheric Research has some wonderful online games, activities and resources for the classroom. In the Interactives and Simulations for weather, climate and atmospheric science section you will find: A virtual laboratory for creating a weather balloon. A simple virtual climate model. The build a tree dendrochronology activity where students can explore past climates. Compare IPCC scenarios interactive where students forecast carbon dioxide levels. The climate sensitivity calculator. The Earth’s Energy balance virtual lab. Compare solar eclipse photos activity. In the Games for weather, climate and atmospheric science section students will find: Solar eclipse memory Sun-earth connections memory  Clouds memory Atmospheric chemistry memory  In the classroom activities section, you will find: Paleoclimates and Pollen where students can study pollen. Model a moving glacier where students make a model of a glacier and create an experiment to study movement. Glaciers then and now where students study pictures of glaciers taken in the 1900′s and compare them to pictures of the glaciers today. The systems game where students observe a system. Looking into surface Albedo where students inquire into how color affects the way that the sun interacts with Earth’s surface. Feeling the heat where students investigate which parts of their school yard have a higher temperature. CO2 How much do you spew where students analyze energy consumption. The nitrogen cycle game where students play the role of nitrogen atoms traveling through the nitrogen cycle. The water cycle 0-18 and ice cores where students look at proxy data to determine past climate. In addition to the fantastic activities on the site, students can learn more about the sun and space weather, weather, atmosphere and climate on the NCAR website. How to integrate the National Center for Atmospheric Research into the classroom: If you are studying weather, climate or atmospheric research with your students this is a must stop site.  It is FULL of great activities, virtual labs and easy-to read and understand information.  Really, take a few minutes to dig in.  Today, when we visited we got to explore some of these virtual labs and games first hand.  Our students watched a short video introducing them to NCAR and what scientists do there.  Next we entered into a classroom where the fun began! Today we learned about the North and South Poles.  The fine people at NCAR had made globe paddles that had the north pole on one side and the south pole on the other (glued to giant tongue depressors).  They gave the students different facts about the north and south pole and students had to hold up their paddles with the correct answers.  Next, students learned about how polar bears were equipped for the COLD temperatures.  There were tubs of ice water on the table.  Students were asked to place their hands inside the ice water.  We timed how long they lasted in the cold water.  Next, students put their hands in a “blubber” paw and tried the experiment again.  The hand inside the layer of blubber could stay in the cold for a long time with no discomfort.  These blubber paws were actually made with 2 ziplock baggies with Crisco in between the layers and duct-tape at the top of the baggies so that they were sealed together around openings where the two baggies came together.  This left a Crisco pocket that formed the paw.  Students also learned about penguins and how they find their mate in hundreds and hundreds of penguins.  Penguins have particular sounds that help alert their mate.  The penguins can distinguish between the particular sounds that each penguin makes to find their mate.  Students simulated this by each taking a film canister with an object/objects in it.  The students had to shake their canister and find their match using the sound alone.  They had a ball with this!  They also practiced transferring a styrofoam egg from one pair of feet to another without using their hands the way that the penguin does.  Our students also did the glacier matching project (listed above) where they worked in teams to match the original pictures to the new pictures.  Some of these were really challenging as the second picture had NO glacier to be seen!  The kids learned that every glacier in the world is shrinking with the exception of two glaciers in Norway.  Fascinating! Our classroom today…can’t beat the view!   Touching clouds!   Our students got to follow the activities above with an exploration of weather, climate, and atmosphere science exhibits.  You could easily recreate the activities above and follow up with virtual simulations, videos and games.  These could be set up as centers for students to explore (the virtual centers on classroom computers).  There is SO much here that exploration of all that the NCAR site has to offer could take days.  The simulations and games would also be appropriate on an interactive whiteboard or projector-connected computer where students can explore and interact as a whole class.  Allow students to take turns playing scientist. Tips: While we were at NCAR, our guide, Tim, told us that NCAR was originally established in the 1960s to learn how to control the weather.  This brought up a great discussion about what could happen if humans could control the weather, and what unintended consequences might come along with that.  This would make for a great creative writing exercise or comic strip.  Our students came up with some insightful thoughts on this topic! Leave a comment and tell us how you are using  NCAR in your classroom.

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Education is like traffic- guest post

Posted by admin | Posted in education reform | Posted on 16-07-2012

Tags: , , , , , ,

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Thank you to @missmac100 for this awesome post!  My goal is to get you into my Google Reader regularly- until you start your own, you are welcome to post for me :)

Education is like traffic.

It all started with a tweet:

Mr. Anderson ‏@matthewquigley

Is traffic a metaphor for education? Everyone in line, but no one really going anywhere. Cc @ktenkely

After reading this tweet, I kept thinking about this metaphor.  Here are four I thought of- I would love for you to share your thoughts.

 

4 ways education is like traffic.

 

  • Everyone in line, but no one really going anywhere.

This is SO like education.  The hurry up and wait scenario.  Everyone is supposedly headed toward the same destination but moving at a turtle’s pace. Maybe that is because we are traveling the same road as everyone else to get there.  And, truth be told, most are traveling the crowded road because they have ALWAYS traveled on that road to get there.  I doubt some even notice the scenery (the students they are teaching) anymore.  It becomes monotonous. Driving with no thought is dangerous. So is teaching.

 

  • What do you do when you are stuck or lost?

People have different reactions to being lost or on a road that is at a stand still.  Some stay on the route planned no matter how delayed because going a different way is frightening.  I have met so many teachers with this view.  I don’t understand the fear because if does not go well, they can always fall back on what they know. So why not try something new?  Others reference maps or use a GPS (which is one of my very favorite inventions EVER) to solve being stuck or lost.  Both work well as long as the map or the GPS is updated.  It is limited to the last update.  If you are not reading, collaborating with a PLN or discussing new ideas in education, then you still may not end up where you want to ultimately want to be.

 

  • Are you following or leading?

Just a simple thought. You can do both but just know who you are following and where you are leading others.

 

  • Why not take the scenic route a.k.a the road less traveled?

Others have shared the best alternative routes.  Trying to avoid heavy traffic, I called friends that lived near the area. The trip may have taken longer but the benefit was seeing new things. Detours and alternate routes are like new educational tools and ideas. Twitter was one detour for me.  Our tech coach shared it and for the next 3 days I immersed myself in it. YES, it took a while to get where I wanted to be but now it is my favorite route to go for new ideas, comments, suggestions and encouragement.

So what is your destination as an educator? How about for your students? There are many ways to get there.  The choice is yours!

 

By: Carol McLaughlin @missmac100  

Comments (6)

Kristen Swanson said on 16-07-2012

Thanks for the great post. Here’s another thought. Sometimes the scenic route takes a bit longer, but it helps you understand the region, its peoples, and the culture. Isn’t education the same way? How often do we deprive our students of incidental learning because we need to take the “highway” approach to content?
Michelle Baldwin (michellek107) said on 16-07-2012

Yay! Your first blog post!! :-)

I really like how you took Matthew’s tweet and continued with the analogy. So much of what’s happening around us is reactive and fear-based. We have to be able to move past those fears and allow ourselves to TRY. The kids need us to do that with them!

I retweeted a quote today that said, “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” As soon as I read your post, I thought about that again. Trailblazers don’t look for the wagon trail with deep ruts. You can easily become stuck in the ruts. I’m glad I work with trailblazers.

Great post, Carol!
Carol @missmac100 said on 16-07-2012

My 1st blog post (guest blogger). Thanks @michellek107 @ktenkely 4the encouragement & to @jrichardson30 (the mentioned tech coach) for leading me to twitter. If you are not following all of these, do it now. :)

Cathy said on 16-07-2012

Love it.

Here’s another…
If you are clever you can find a way around the tough spots so you can reach your destination faster.
Carol @missmac100 said on 17-07-2012

Kristen: incidental learning is the best. Some of my best lessons where ones that came out of a student’s so called “rabbit trail”. I also find that you find connections with 2 roads you already knew but the learning is deeper because you have a new connection.
Carol @missmac100 said on 17-07-2012

Michelle: I love the quote you shared- “Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.” I am so glad I have trailblazers in my PLN. It takes many to go in the wilderness to make the way for others. :)

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