Black Holes and Astrobiology at the Academy
Astrobiology—the search for and study of non-Earthling life—is not exactly like Hollywood presents it to be, where aliens infect space ships or little green men from Mars stare back at [...]
Use Science to Make the World Better
I was speaking to a colleague the other day, who had been in a car accident that was caused by another car breaking a traffic law. Luckily she was not [...]
Icarus at the Edge of Science
An exciting evening with physicist Brian Greene! The performance of “Icarus at the Edge of Time”, involving a full orchestra, music by Philip Glass, narrator Levar Burton, story by Greene, [...]
Peer Review in 5th Grade
In my fifth grade science class I put a lot of emphasis on experimentation. Students write scientific questions, design experiments, implement their experimental plans, and analyze and explain the evidence [...]
And the Oscar goes to…On the Silver Screen Part II
Movies and school don’t always seem to go hand in hand. But with the fast approaching Academy Awards it’s hard to ignore the extent to which movies are a part [...]
Design Thinking
In my last entry I described the Arduino project I did with my 5th grade students. They were really motived by using a micro-controller and loved manipulating the flashing of [...]
Physics Teachers NYC – AP Physics B&C
AP Physics B is undergoing a major redesign. The implementation of the new approach is expected to occur by 2015. Mr. Hernandez will outline the latest developments in Physics B [...]
Physics Teachers NYC – Meeting Notice
PHYSICS TEACHING WORKSHOP: Open-Ended Questions for Student Exploration and Research ORGANIZER: Fernand Brunschwig, Physics and Science Education, Columbia Teachers College WORKSHOP LEADER: Kofi Donnelly, Science Dept. Chair and Physics Teacher, [...]
Scientific Argumentation for Elementary Students
The new framework for K-12 Science Education put out by the National Research Council places a lot of emphasis on scientific argumentation. This is not surprising since this is an [...]
Getting Inspired by Your Students
Teaching science well means being organized and planning ahead. There are materials to order, goals to set, structures to put in place and class norms to set. All of the [...]
