Snacks4theBrain!

Welcome, Snackers!

S4theB! episode 81 shares a remarkable article about using Science to teach Science. It’s such an important and clearly expressed advocacy of research-based pedagogy that I need to share it!

When a colleague at school shared it with me several weeks ago, I swore I’d do so with my listeners. Since then, I’ve recorded the 30 minute recording, edited it down, and laced it together with the podcast show elements to make it work, but I’ve been stymied by a choice for music. Today, I am happy to say it’s a show, and it’s yours! You can read it at the Change Magazine website, of course. But, would you rather listen on your walk, your commute, or while cleaning up the kitchen at home? Snacks4theBrain! Episode 81 is here for you! If you so want to read, or even if you want to pursue some other articles from this excellent resource for teaching and learning, here’s a link directly to the article. The editors of Change, a media outlet of The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, graciously granted me permission to podcast, and podcast I will!

Why Not Try a Scientific Approach to Science Education?
Too many students don’t learn enough from traditional methods of teaching science, but using the practices of science itself—gathering objective data, building on demonstrated effectiveness, and fully utilizing modern technology—can significantly increase learning, by Carl Wieman.

This article is adapted from his lecture at the Carnegie Foundation’s Centennial celebration at the Library of Congress and, as I mentioned, is shared with permission.

Oh, the music? It’s Baroque guitar from guitar master James Edwards’ Le Tresor dOrphee by Antoine Francisque at Magnatune.com!

Download Snacks4theBrain! Episode81 HERE!

Cheers!

At the request of my wonderful Center for Science Outreach Director Dr. Virginia Shepherd and with the blessing of School for Science and Math Director Dr. Glenn McCombs, a dozen or so staff and faculty from both institutions gathered for an hour in the School’s classroom on the Vanderbilt University campus to witness my best shot at explaining why I think Second Life (and by extension Virtual Worlds) have a great deal to offer for teaching and learning.

I started off by welcoming the assembled and introducing a guest, Digital Collections Archivist at the Vanderbilt University Library, and archivist for its DiscoverArchive.

Then I proceeded a bit unconventionally (no, not moi!) by viewing most of the ten minute ISTE in Second Life video that describes how that 85,000 member International Society for Technology in Education built a virtual community (of over 4,000 members, at current count) inside the 3D platform of Second Life, after which I launched into my Powerpoint presentation. True to Murphy’s Law, I failed to hit record on my little Olympus voice recorder until we were discussing the Peggy Sheehy slide, so I will append this dialog to the beginning of my very first “Slidecast” at Slideshare.net. This’ll be a long ‘un, so take from it what you will, and my hope is that it remains as a resource for innovative educators for a good while to come.

NEW! Here’s the Slidecast RIGHT HERE!

I’ll also be glad to travel with this show or one like it, upon delivery of a suitcase full of hundred dollar bills (just kidding).

Okay, if you want the full experience, visit the link to the ISTE video in the Episode 80 blog post at blogs.vanderbilt.edu/s4theb and watch it, then pop on into the slidecast. Settle back with a bowl of popcorn and let the ‘cast cast it’s spell.

THE LOST NARRATION

I believe that there are two kinds of people: 1) the kind who say there are two kinds of people, and 2) the others. I hope I am in set number 2. That said, I have in recent years noticed a clear dichotomy in the world between people who readily latch onto the value and potentials of online Virtual Worlds and those who pretty much refuse to entertain the possiblilty. There is also, thankfully, a broad spectrum in between those two camps. Hopefully, sharing this with you will help you sort things out for yourself and your school or business.

There is more text in this presentation than I would like there to be, but I include it because it’s important. Feel free to multitask as you will by reading as I’m blabbering.

TechTipTidbit comes to you via the COMPUTER TIP OF THE WEEK from Dr T — RTemlak4dds@aol.com, in turn by permission from the CompletelyFreeSoftware online newsletter.

Finally, the lovely music that plays you out of the episode is from master guitarist David Modica, courtesy of Magnatune.com (”We are not evil!”) and just one of the absorbing tracks on his beautiful CD, available at Magnatune, “Acoustic Earth, Electric Sky.” Thanks, David!

Download S4theB! episode 80 here!

Welcome to Episode 76, reporting out the November meeting of the Vanderbilt Web Spiders. There’s so much going on at Vanderbilt that I wonder if we’ll ever run out of topics for S4theB? Could that ever happen? I doubt it, Monty!

Case in point: Every month or so a group of 25-50 people who are interested in the Internet get together somewhere on Vanderbilt’s campus to share thoughts with one another. In the words of fearless leader Melanie Moran, Associate Director of the Vanderbilt News Agency, “Vanderbilt Web Spiders is a group of people interested in Web development from across Vanderbilt University that meets once a month to share ideas, identify needs, and ask and answer questions of each other about the latest and greatest in Web use and development.” Ms. Moran maintains a website at vanderbilt.edu/spiders which elaborates, “The Web has revolutionized the way Vanderbilt communicates with the world, and the number of people developing Web sites at Vanderbilt has exponentially increased. The Web Developer Group was started to provide a forum for networking, sharing, and learning. Anyone who is a member of the Vanderbilt community — student, faculty, or staff — can join the group. There are no dues.

Web Spiders meet for one hour each month, with topics ranging from browser compatibility to content management systems. We also have an email listserv where members can get meeting notices and post questions or tips for other web developers on campus.

Web Spiders archives an audio podcast for those who can’t make the meeting and I got permission from Ms. Moran to excerpt from that for this episode of s4theb. If you want to listen to the entire meeting you can get on over to http://blogs.vanderbilt.edu/spiders and do so, but I thought it’d be of service to post a bit from each of the three mini-presentations I got to participate in, including one from me about Education in Second Life. That day I shared a little video of the new Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach presence in Second Life, located on Lighthouse Learning Island, and the video can be accessed at blogs.vanderbilt.edu/s4theb, in today’s shownotes.

Let’s get into some music first, then I’ll share from PodSpiders! Since at least a portion of my shareout this episode certainly heralds a “new age,” let’s just stay with the “New Age” theme. I use a portion of Adam Fielding’s wonderful song “Traveling Light” from from his cd, Distant Activity, available for purchase and download at Magnatune.com, and then play you all out with another of his songs, this one a vocal entitled “Nostalgia.” I love his innovative rhythms and cadences, and I will reference him again, I’m sure.

I think that for brevity we’ll only share out two brief portions of presentations at the Web Spiders meetup. The first is from the Director of the Vanderbilt News Archive, John Lynch The Vanderbilt News Archive is an online-searchable database and collection of video recordings collected since 1968, find out more about it at tvnews.vanderbilt.edu. Mr. Lynch talked for around 20 minutes and I want to share a portion of his engaging chat from somewhere around its middle. Mr. Lynch shared a particularly amusing set of news spots from NBC News about one Buster Lee Blevins, then got all techie with us with some explanations about some of the things we saw in them.

I also share a portion of my piece, Education in Second Life, and lead you out with another tasty treat from Adam Fielding, master of new age ambience. Go listen, purchase, and download Adam’s indie music at magnatune.com.

Download S4theB! 76 here!

Finally, here’s the slideshare from my Web Spider’s shareout. You can visit slideshare for a larger display, and all the links are hot as hot can be!

Are you a teacher? Visit the ISTE Educators’ Portal online to get started in Second Life! See ya next time!!!

Greetings, Snackers!

For the week of July 21 through July 24 (that would be the first four days of that week), I helped six incredibly wonderful public school teachers (a broad range of grade levels in Metro Nashville Public Schools) dip their learning toes into the rapid-running river of dialog and information that is Web 2.0.

In a reprise/refinement of the week-long workshop I crafted and delivered for teachers at my own school last year, we spent our time looking at blogs, wikis, podcasts, social networks, micro-blogging, and VOIP/videoconferencing. The last half of the last day we spent in Second Life, the online virtual 3D metaverse that is becoming the “go-to” place for 24/7 online personal/professional networking. Our heads were spinning around by the end of each day, and one great upshot of it all may be a full four weeks of this kind of intense learning and exploration for teachers next summer.

While that remains to be seen, there’s matter herein that remains to be heard! Pop on over to your favorite podcast aggregator, or click here to download episode 73. Wait! You have another option! Click “Links” in the topbar and open up our very own Podcast Pickle Player and you can listen right here whilst you surf the Web for those cool shoes you’ve been shopping for.

Stay on through the very end of the episode: Blues-rocker Chris Juergensen’s band “Big Bad Sun” has a great song for you, “Sweet Melissa,” and no, it’s not a cover of the Allman Brothers’ classic!

As a bit of a bonus, I’d like to embed a brief chat we held during the workshop with the founder of the premier professional learning network (”social” network?) focused on Web 2.0 for education, “Classroom 2.0.” Here is our talk with Steve Hargadon (thanks, Steve!):


Find more videos like this on Classroom 2.0


Links:
VUCSOWeb20forUS! wiki
Jeff Agamenoni’s “From Mr. A to Mr. Z” blog
Skype
Twitter
Magnatune.com
Classroom 2.0

On July 10, 2008, ten School for Science and Math seniors and 19 Research Internship Program (RIP) students presented their summer research at two poster sessions in the north lobby of the Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Light Hall. Snacks4theBrain was there, amidst the bustling parents, teachers, and medical professionals who came to hear what these immensely talented students had to say.

Because it was so well attended, and because each student was talking at once in the great lobby of the newly renovated Light Hall, there’s a great deal of background noise. This can be experienced by you, the listener, as either really really annoying or really really exciting. I prefer the latter, as I share with you three talented high school students explaining how they spent the last month and a half of their working lives. The human brain wants to make sense of what it senses. Let yours register the joy and excitement of this very impressive morning of results from some of the most innovative science outreach in the nation!

First up? A few words from Tiffany Ellis-Farmer, Summer Research Coordinator for the RIP program. Then you’ll hear, in order of appearance, Hana Erhu, from the Nashville School of the Arts (and the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt), Tagbo Obi from Father Ryan High School, and Loi Hoang from the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt.

Innovative indie rock from Magnatune.com, Texas rocker Arthur Yoria, rounds out the podcast. BTW, I redid the opening welcome. What do you think? Comment here!

Download Episode number 72 of Snacks4theBrain! right here, or click “Links” in the sidebar and listen in our very own Podcast Pickle Player!

There’s also a little slideshow of pics I took at the session. Check them out:

Cheers!

The Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach recently commissioned a brief video to share out the work being done at the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt, and I’m pleased to share it with you, right here, right now.

The video was the painstaking work of a talented videographer from Atlanta, Georgia named Amy Cornett (Heartsong Productions), and I’d like to thank her. Download the podcast, Snacks4theBrain! episode 70, here, or click on the “Links” link in the navigation menu to open up your very own Podcast Pickle Player to listen.

Last episode I broke out the friend-music with a song from edgy Alternative rock meister Ross Falzone, a dear friend who drove the establishment of a High School level podcasting class at my school, University School of Nashville. I also shared out a song from friend Rocky Alvey’s new “Blackberry Jam (with other Fresh Ingredients)” CD on his new recording label “Muddy Sunshine.” I share another one each from each of these talented guys this week, Ross’s “Low-Fat Blues” and Rocky’s “It’s Just Me.” I know you’ll like ‘em!

And (drumroll please) watch the video!

The 69th episode of S4theB! features a brief interview with Vanderbilt Center for Science Outreach Program Manager Jennifer Ufnar, a talented, energetic environmental microbiologist who oversees grant-writing projects at the CSO and helps manage all kinds of things for this tight-knit, dedicated staff. Dr. Ufnar is chatting today about the Summer Science Institute offered this coming July at the Vanderbilt CSO. From the CSO website at scienceoutreach.org:

The Research Tools for Secondary Science Educators workshop invites secondary science teachers into Vanderbilt science laboratories for four one-week sessions. These interconnected workshops, funded by Tennessee’s Improving Teacher Quality program, will focus on science and technology content and tools for the classroom. Each of the first three weeks will focus on a different scientific discipline, one each on physics, chemistry, biology, with the fourth week covering technology tools. Each of the first three workshops are open to 25 teachers, while the technology workshop will be open to only 15 teachers.

In episode 69, Dr. Ufnar charmingly outlines some interesting details about the four weeks. They are intriguingly interwoven with leading edge content and each one promises invaluable learning, as well as a teacher stipend, for gosh sakes! Heck, I usually have to pay to take workshops! These experiences pay the attendees!

One of those workshops is mine, and you can get a glimmer of how that’ll go by my description in the podcast, and also by visiting my own little wiki-based site at ScottWeb2.0. It’ll be fun, and it’s limited to only 15 teachers, so drop on into the CSO website, download an application and get signed up! If you are thinking about hosting my week long workshop at your own school or district, contact me at scottgardnermerrick@gmail.com. There’s still time, but hurry!

Music this show is from two of my very good friends, alt-rocker Ross Falzone and Americana-folk newcomer Rocky Alvey. Some fab hammered dulcimer work from Snacks favorite Jamie Janover underscores some of the show’s narrative, courtesy of Magnatune.com. Support creativity outside the traditional box: Go visit these sites and buy independent creations!

Upload Snacks4theBrain! episode 69 here, or simply click the “Links” link up top and listen in your browser via the Podcast Pickle Player!

See you at the Research Tools Summer Institute!

Cheerio!

Dr. Ufnar’s picture courtesy of the University of Mississippi’s faculty profile page at
http://www.usm.edu/biology/faculty/Faculty_Profile_Jennifer_A_Ufnar.htm

October 29th, students at the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt had the privilege of videoconferencing with Captain Charles Moore and hearing him share his first-hand experience with the horror that is our world’s vast (and only recently discovered) unplanned pit of poisons.

Captain Moore is a sailboat captain. He was recently featured on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” as the captain of a research vessel investigating what has come to be called the “Garbage Patch” of the Pacific Ocean. This huge area, about the size of the state of Texas, is crowded with debris from our wasteful civilization, one which, according to Cap’n Moore, is pretty much doomed to strangle its own oceans by its profit-motivated culture, in which our most prevalent products are meant to be used once and thrown away. These find their way to just below the surface of the ocean, where they accumulate, float in suspension, and threaten the habitats of increasingly large numbers of living species.

It is noted that debris outweighs living plankton in the area by a factor of 6. mindfully.org goes on to note that “The levels of plastic particulates in the Pacific have at least tripled in the last 10 years and a tenfold increase in the next decade is not unreasonable. Then, 60 times more plastic than plankton will float on its surface.” According to the Institute for Figuring’s website, “a study by the United Nations Environmental Program estimates that in this region there are 46,000 floating pieces of plastic for every square mile of ocean and the trash now circulates to a depth of 30 meters.

Students Dissecting a Bird Bolus

Wow. If that’s not thought-food for these high school freshmen (who had just spent the morning disecting seabird boluses–is that the plural of bolus?–to discover how much plastic waste they had ingested recently), then I don’t know what is. I hope it’s also a healthy brainsnack for you!

Music for this show is from Manitoba’s “Wyrd Sisters,” from the podsafe music network, and “Now is Now,” an acoustic folk-rock trio based out of the state of Maine.

As an extra added bonus, this episode features a Tech Tip Tidbit!that suggests that snacking on YouTube video might be harmful to your computer!?

Download S4theB! 64 right here, or click “Links” above to use the Podcast Pickle Player!

On Monday October 23, the freshman class at the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt, settled in their chairs at the lab tables for a chat with with Mark Twickler, director of the National Ice Core Laboratory, to learn about how ice cores are collected and used in scientific research to reveal information about life and climate in past eras. This episode of Snacks4theBrain! will share out from that interaction, in which yours truly also learned some interesting new things, like about the lakes in Antarctica! Think you might be interested in participating in a research trip to the frozen south? Listen to what he says about the selection process…

Thanks to Mark Twickler and to the faculty and students of the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt, for this tasty morsel of a snack. Music for episode 63 hails from Magnatune.com’s Sun Palace, led by the capable and beautiful vocals of Andriette Redmann.

Download Snacks4theBrain! 63 right here, or click “Links” above to listen with the Podcast Pickle player!

Bonus links:
Polar Planet Palooza, podcasts from the poles.
Water, Water, Everywhere–blogpost by Amanda Dixon

On Monday, October 1st, the freshman class at the School for Science and Math at Vanderbilt visited the Harpeth River, at a beautiful stretch of its snakelike path through Davidson County and Middle Tennessee. The yellow Metro Nashville Public School bus pulled into picnic shelter number 11 at the beautiful Edwin Warner Park, located just a few miles from the School’s lab at the Vanderbilt University Medical Center’s Light Hall.

The students were out for a field trip with the intention of gathering data to assess the health of the stream. They were learning to use all manner of field instruments–digital levels, digital pH probes, GPS devices, and scientific magnifier lenses–and how to record and interpret the readings and observations from those instruments in meaningful ways. They also used their hands and their feet, “kick seining,” stirring up the stream to capture macroinvertebrates and capturing downstream-bound critters in a fine mesh sein, or net. The collected debris from these efforts was transferred into glass petrie dishes, where careful observation would identify the inhabitants of this watery evirons–would they be only the sort of creatures that could survive in polluted environments, or would they find more sensitive, delicate species that would indicate the river is satisfactorily healthy? Well, final interpretation of findings would have to wait until later, when all the data would be compiled back at the lab. For this episode of S4theB! you’re out here on the river with the students, listening in on the process.

The voices you hear will be those of students, their talented teachers, and the occasional crow, along with that of Pat Holiday, retired USGS ranger and geologist (and also Brittainy’s grandfather!). You’ll also be treated to two very nice bites of wonderful music, “The River,” and “Fire Dance,” from Jesse Manno. You can pick up these songs or the entire album, “Sea Spirits,” for a song at Magnatune.com! Alrighty, stalwart listeners, listen up right here or click “Links” up top to use the Podcast Pickle player at the site!!!

And BONUS!!! here’s a slideshow of pictures from the river visit: