Funny student answers.
PERIOD 5
Types of Severe Weather:
1. Tornado
2. Hurricane
3. Tsunami
4. _____
PERIOD 7
Types of Severe Weather:
1. Tornado
2. Hurricane
3. Lava
4. _____
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Saturday, April 20, 2013
Fuel for Thought
An article (Warming to Global Warming—Sunspots and Sea-Surface Temperature) I previously published in the NSTA journal The Science Teacher has been chosen for inclusion in a NSTA Press compendium titled Fuel for Thought. This volume is intended to help high school and upper middle school teachers demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of energy in their classrooms. Woo hoo! Remind me to write more articles! :)
Fuel for Thought Prepares High School Students for Our Global Energy Economy
ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The concept of energy is central to all the science disciplines, seamlessly connecting science, technology, and mathematics. For high school and upper middle school teachers, NSTA’s Fuel for Thought comprises inquiry-based activities, lesson plans, and case studies designed to help teach increased awareness of energy, environmental concepts, and the related issues.
Drawn from NSTA’s award-winning, peer-reviewed journals, Fuel for Thought is divided into three overarching segments for learning and teaching: Student Activities and Investigations includes several activities that tackle such topics as “Energy, Heat, and Temperature,” “Vehicles and Fuels,” and “Living Connections.” Student Projects and Case Studies includes examples of extensive, question-driven student projects, and the last section, Issues in Depth, provides background content knowledge for deeper understanding of the critical energy issues facing the world today.
These interesting and meaningful investigations demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of energy, preparing students for the complex reality of our global energy economy.
You can browse sample pages of Fuel for Thought free at http://goo.gl/lZszT or at the NSTA Science Store website.
For additional information or to purchase Fuel for Thought and other books from NSTA Press, visit the NSTA Science Store at www.nsta.org/store. To order by phone, call 800-277-5300 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET weekdays. The 408-page book is priced at $25.95 and discount-priced for NSTA members at $20.76
Fuel for Thought Prepares High School Students for Our Global Energy Economy
ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The concept of energy is central to all the science disciplines, seamlessly connecting science, technology, and mathematics. For high school and upper middle school teachers, NSTA’s Fuel for Thought comprises inquiry-based activities, lesson plans, and case studies designed to help teach increased awareness of energy, environmental concepts, and the related issues.
Drawn from NSTA’s award-winning, peer-reviewed journals, Fuel for Thought is divided into three overarching segments for learning and teaching: Student Activities and Investigations includes several activities that tackle such topics as “Energy, Heat, and Temperature,” “Vehicles and Fuels,” and “Living Connections.” Student Projects and Case Studies includes examples of extensive, question-driven student projects, and the last section, Issues in Depth, provides background content knowledge for deeper understanding of the critical energy issues facing the world today.
These interesting and meaningful investigations demonstrate the interdisciplinary nature of energy, preparing students for the complex reality of our global energy economy.
You can browse sample pages of Fuel for Thought free at http://goo.gl/lZszT or at the NSTA Science Store website.
For additional information or to purchase Fuel for Thought and other books from NSTA Press, visit the NSTA Science Store at www.nsta.org/store. To order by phone, call 800-277-5300 between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. ET weekdays. The 408-page book is priced at $25.95 and discount-priced for NSTA members at $20.76
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Teacher stresses value of science to everyday lives
Teacher stresses value of science to everyday lives
Palm Beach Post
Erich Landstrom, a Seminole Ridge High teacher, was just named a mentor to other teachers in a science-engineering education program.
Palm Beach Post
Erich Landstrom, a Seminole Ridge High teacher, was just named a mentor to other teachers in a science-engineering education program.
By Carlos Frias
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
MEET YOUR NEIGHBOR: Erich Landstrom, 42,
Erich Landstrom, a Seminole Ridge High teacher, was just named a mentor to other teachers in a science-engineering education program. He taught a seminar at Santaluces High, as part of a day-long science and engineering seminar, on Feb. 19, called “Solar Max: Plotting sunspot cycles and global warming using TI graphing calculators.” (Jennifer Podis/The Palm Beach Post)
It’s OK with Erich Landstrom if you call him a science nerd.
After all, the sole reason he attended Wagner College in New York City to study physics was because the school had the country’s largest solar energy installment, plus a planetarium.
But his joy was not in theoretical science and math. What he loved most was figuring out how to apply science to engineering for the betterment of mankind. Nothing thrilled him more than when the local high schools sent fresh young minds to the planetarium to learn about science and Landstrom could teach them how they could use that science in the real world.
“That’s what I live for,” he said.
It’s a lesson he learned from his father, a U.S. Navy electrical engineer who worked on solar energy installations in Florida. It was then that he realized all science had to teach about improving the way humans live. Then, he fueled that interest as the head of the planetarium at the Miami Science Museum, where he luxuriated in teaching children about the role science played in their lives.
Finally, he brought the worlds together as a teacher at Seminole Ridge, where he was the 2010 national teacher of the year for the Southeastern Consortium for Minorities in Engineering. There, he brought the national program of teaching kids how to engineer solutions to today’s problems into the classrooms.
Last month, he was chosen as one of the country’s 13 new SECME mentors to help teach other teachers how to bring applied sciences to children.
Sometimes, students built devices to keep eggs from cracking when dropped off the roof of a building. Other times, he supervised students as they devised water-powered rockets. And the education was for children of all races and socioeconomic backgrounds.
“The only thing that matters is the grey between your ears not the color of your skin,” Landstrom said.
Who was an inspiration to you?
My dad was an electrical engineer, and my mother was a computer programmer, so there’s really no surprise there that I’d be into sciences.
That automated voice when you call Seminole Ridge High sounds awfully familiar.
Yup, that’s me. (Deepens voice) ‘Welcome to Seminole Ridge Community High School, home of the Hawks.’
Why is it so meaningful to you to not only be an applied sciences teacher, but a mentor to other teachers who teach this?
We know that if we train one teacher, we can reach 100 students. If you train 100 teachers, you can reach many thousands of students. That’s exciting.
What other hobbies to you have?
“I take taekwondo lessons together with my daughter (Lily, 8). I had a dream that we would both be black belts at the same time.”
Monday, November 19, 2012
Saturday, October 27, 2012
What would you ask an astronaut?
What would you ask an astronaut?
“It’s incredible for a small museum to be one of a handful of sites chosen worldwide,” said Lew Crampton, president and chief financial officer of the museum.Students in the Palm Beach County School District as well as area private school students and homeschooled students in grades 3-12 were asked to write a 250-word essay answering the question, “Why is space exploration important and what does it mean to me?”
The winners will have an opportunity to ask at least one question each to astronaut Akihiko Hoshide using the museum’s Amateur Radio Station, or Ham radio, with the assistance of the West Palm Beach Amateur Radio Group. The window of opportunity to ask questions will only remain open for about 10 minutes, so the kids and teachers practiced their questions, which range from waste disposal on the ISS to monitoring the health of coral reefs from space, at a dry-run at the museum a couple of weeks ago.
Below is the link to the live show on The Education Network (T.E.N). Anyone can click on this link at 11:30am Tuesday October 30th and watch the entire event. https://vodcast.palmbeachschools.org/player/ten1
What would you ask an astronaut? Here is what the kids said:
On Tuesday, the South Florida Science Museum in West Palm Beach will become “mission control” as 11 students and two teachers, including Mr. Landstrom, will make contact with the International Space Station. It’s a collaboration between NASA’s Teaching From Space arm and museums and educators worldwide to encourage kids to pursue careers in science.
The winners will have an opportunity to ask at least one question each to astronaut Akihiko Hoshide using the museum’s Amateur Radio Station, or Ham radio, with the assistance of the West Palm Beach Amateur Radio Group. The window of opportunity to ask questions will only remain open for about 10 minutes, so the kids and teachers practiced their questions, which range from waste disposal on the ISS to monitoring the health of coral reefs from space, at a dry-run at the museum a couple of weeks ago.
Below is the link to the live show on The Education Network (T.E.N). Anyone can click on this link at 11:30am Tuesday October 30th and watch the entire event. https://vodcast.palmbeachschools.org/player/ten1
What would you ask an astronaut? Here is what the kids said:
Chloe-Amelie Aikman, 9, Boca Raton (Calusa Elementary)
Question: When you look back on your life, what event or activity happened that had the largest impact on your desire to become an astronaut?
Emma Lilly Menzer, 8, Boynton Beach (Sunset Palms Elementary)
Question: When you exercise on the space station, what happens to your sweat?
Jerry Allison Stegenga III, 8, Boynton Beach (Pine Tree Lane Academy)
Question: Can Americans vote in space?
Finley Keefe Murray, 8, Palm Beach (Palm Beach Day Academy)
Question: If you can see coral reefs from space, can you measure them and if so, how?
Crista Johnson, 8, Palm Beach Gardens (Watson B. Duncan Middle)
Question: How has your perception of space’s size and expansion changed since leaving Earth?
Khiarra Carter, 10, Belle Glade (Gove Elementary)
Question: How is waste disposal currently handled on the space station and what is your opinion on how waste is disposed of?
Mary Dixon, 17, Wellington (Wellington High)
Question: Tell me about the integrated cardiovascular experiment you are performing on this mission, which will determine the effects of spending long periods in space on the heart.
Peter Rawlik, Palm Beach Maritime Academy
Question: In space, the human body is put through so much stress, physically and mentally. How did you train for this?
Connor Cane, Poinciana Elementary
Question: What future space discovery are you most excited about?
Gabriela Sanchez, Woodlands Middle
Question: What is the most beautiful or inspiring thing you’ve seen from space?
Catherine Zeng, Dreyfoos School of the Arts
Question: What are the benefits of doing experimentation in micro-gravity?
And what will the two teachers ask?
Linda Petuch, Pine Jog Elementary
Question: Albert Einstein said, “Imagination is more important than knowledge.” Do you find this to be true as a space explorer?
Erich Landstrom, Seminole Ridge Community High
Question: Other than looking at Earth, what brings you piece of mind?
What: The South Florida Science Museum’s Ground Control Mission with NASA
When: 11:30 a.m. Tuesday
Where: The South Florida Science Museum, 4801 Dreher Trail N., West Palm Beach
Info: 561-832-1988
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
20121017 Raingutter Regatta
(Click on the first picture to flip through a photostream of 2012 Raingutter Regatta)
Gotta Regatta Raingutter Race: Seminole Ridge HS physics students were challenged to make the fastest ferry for a Ping-Pong passenger. Using limited supplies teams had to design and build a boat that travels across a container of water.
Complete challenge is available here:
https://a629d397-a-62cb3a1a-s-sites.googlegroups.com/site/seminolesecme/curriculum-of-the-consortium/2012LowesLBSTrulesRaingutterRegatta.pdf
The Raingutter Regatta Racde is adapted the Design Squad "Watercraft" and "Paddle Power" activities.
http://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/resources/watercraft.html
http://pbskids.org/designsquad/parentseducators/resources/paddle_power.html
Monday, October 1, 2012
Seminole Ridge Science Teacher Selected to Speak with ISS
SEMINOLE RIDGE SCIENCE TEACHER SELECTED TO SPEAK WITH INTL SPACE STATION;
SOUTH FLORIDA SCIENCE MUSEUM TO SERVE AS GROUND CONTROL WITH NASA
(WEST PALM BEACH, FL) Roger that? The South Florida Science Museum will offer a seat in “mission control” to Mr. Erich Landstrom to make contact with an astronaut currently aboard the International Space Station. The event, scheduled to take place the week of October 22 culminates an essay contest where area students and educators competed for a chance to participate in the exciting astronaut Q&A via amateur radio.
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture among NASA and other international space agencies that coordinate scheduled radio contacts between astronauts aboard the ISS and school-based organizations. The South Florida Science Museum was one of few organizations in the country invited to make space station contact this year.
“Through our very own Amateur Radio Station (WS4FSM), we’ll partner with the West Palm Beach Amateur Radio Group and a selection of local student essay contest winners to serve as Mission Control when we connect with astronauts during their October flyover,” said Museum CEO, Lew Crampton. “This collaborative effort with the Palm Beach county School District, local ham radio operators and the Museum is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for area students and their families. This space contact is our chance to tune into a ‘real world’ application of science, technology, engineering and math through radio uplink. We are incredibly proud to have been invited by NASA as one of only a handful of US partners for this important event.”
Fifteen students and two teachers were selected from participants in an essay contest. Palm Beach County School District students, area private school students and homeschooled students in grades 3-12, and their teachers, were invited to write a 250 words or less essay on the topic: “Why is space exploration important and what does it mean to me?” Each school selected their most outstanding student and teacher essay to send to the South Florida Science Museum by Monday, September 24, 2012. From there, the winning essay was judged at the South Florida Science Museum by a panel including former astronauts, scientists, educators and area media.
Winners and their families are invited to attend a private party at the Science Museum Friday night, October 12th, from 6pm-8pm. Students and their schools will also be featured in the Palm Beach Post and local television broadcasts and newspaper articles the day of the event. Winners and schools are listed below:
Jerry A. Stegenga III, 3rd grade, Pine Tree Lane Academy Homeschool
Mary Dixon, 12th grade, Wellington Community High School
Peter Rawlik, 8th grade, Palm Beach Maritime Academy
Crista Johnson, 8th grade, Watson B. Duncan middle School
Connor Cane, 3rd grade, Poinciana Elementary School
Khiarra Carter, 5th grade, Gove Elementary School
Emma Lilly Menzer, 3rd grade, Sunset Palms Elementary School
Gabriela Sanchez, 7th grade, Woodlands Middle School
Chloe Amelie-Aikman, 5th grade, Calusa Elementary School
Harrison Fisher, 3rd grade, Palm Beach Day Academy
Catherine Zeng, 9th grade, A.W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts
Erich Landstrom, TEACHER, Seminole Ridge Community High School
Linda Petuch, TEACHER, Pine Jog Elementary
Mr. Landstrom was one of twenty teachers who submitted essays. He teaches physics and earth-space science, and volunteers for NASA’s "Solar System Educator Program" offering teacher training and classroom activities highlighting NASA missions of discovery and exploration. Landstrom is the winner of the 2010 SECME (Science, Engineering, Communication, and Mathematics Education) National Teacher of the Year Award, and the 2004 RadioShack National Teacher Award, recognizing outstanding high school math, science and technology educators.
“The NASA ARISS program will provide a unique and exciting opportunity for students in Palm Beach County,” said Wendy Spielman King, K-12 Science Manager, School District of Palm Beach County. “This program will certainly engage students in science by allowing them to talk directly with the crews living and working aboard the International Space Station. It is sure to be an experience that our students will never forget.”
The ARISS radio contact is one in a series with educational activities in the U.S. and abroad to improve teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is an integral component of Teaching From Space, a NASA Education office. The office promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of human spaceflight.
In addition to its amateur radio exhibit, the South Florida Science Museum provides curious minds of all ages with an entertaining and educational journey through science and technology. The museum features more than 50 hands-on exhibits, a digital planetarium, freshwater and saltwater aquariums, as well as natural history exhibitions. Each year the museum welcomes more than 125,000 visitors and reaches more than 45,000 students through workshops at the museum and outreach programs to local schools.
For more information regarding the Space Station essay contest, visit SFSM.org or reach the South Florida Science Museum at 561.832.1988.
“Why is space exploration important and what does it mean to me?”
By Erich Landstrom
1961: President John Kennedy proposed that our nation commit itself to landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. In that same special message to Congress on urgent national needs he then asked for more to be spent on accelerating the use of space satellites for world-wide communications and weather observation. He concluded, “…no one can predict with certainty what the ultimate meaning will be of mastery of space. I believe we should go to the moon.”
Improve our lives here. Extend Life to there. But space isn’t somewhere else. It’s here, there, and everywhere. There’s no “outer” to space. It begins at our feet, and our footprints are on the Moon. Space exploration is reorienting, an unsubtle shift from looking “up” to looking “around.” As long as you think of space as somewhere else, you lack cosmic awareness. Awareness opens your mind. In the deepest sense, exploration of space is an exploration of yourself. Probes span the solar system and from their new homes, so wonderfully different, look back to Earth. Even as we’re searching other worlds, we search for ourselves.
During a lunar eclipse I saw the long shadow we cast, there on the surface of the Moon. You sort of see all of us, the entire Earth full of inventors, investigators, users and improvers; the world’s whole population from pole to pole. How awesome then to be able to talk into the space between the two, and have the explorers answer back?
(WEST PALM BEACH, FL) Roger that? The South Florida Science Museum will offer a seat in “mission control” to Mr. Erich Landstrom to make contact with an astronaut currently aboard the International Space Station. The event, scheduled to take place the week of October 22 culminates an essay contest where area students and educators competed for a chance to participate in the exciting astronaut Q&A via amateur radio.
Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) is a cooperative venture among NASA and other international space agencies that coordinate scheduled radio contacts between astronauts aboard the ISS and school-based organizations. The South Florida Science Museum was one of few organizations in the country invited to make space station contact this year.
“Through our very own Amateur Radio Station (WS4FSM), we’ll partner with the West Palm Beach Amateur Radio Group and a selection of local student essay contest winners to serve as Mission Control when we connect with astronauts during their October flyover,” said Museum CEO, Lew Crampton. “This collaborative effort with the Palm Beach county School District, local ham radio operators and the Museum is a once-in-a-lifetime experience for area students and their families. This space contact is our chance to tune into a ‘real world’ application of science, technology, engineering and math through radio uplink. We are incredibly proud to have been invited by NASA as one of only a handful of US partners for this important event.”
Fifteen students and two teachers were selected from participants in an essay contest. Palm Beach County School District students, area private school students and homeschooled students in grades 3-12, and their teachers, were invited to write a 250 words or less essay on the topic: “Why is space exploration important and what does it mean to me?” Each school selected their most outstanding student and teacher essay to send to the South Florida Science Museum by Monday, September 24, 2012. From there, the winning essay was judged at the South Florida Science Museum by a panel including former astronauts, scientists, educators and area media.
Winners and their families are invited to attend a private party at the Science Museum Friday night, October 12th, from 6pm-8pm. Students and their schools will also be featured in the Palm Beach Post and local television broadcasts and newspaper articles the day of the event. Winners and schools are listed below:
Mr. Landstrom was one of twenty teachers who submitted essays. He teaches physics and earth-space science, and volunteers for NASA’s "Solar System Educator Program" offering teacher training and classroom activities highlighting NASA missions of discovery and exploration. Landstrom is the winner of the 2010 SECME (Science, Engineering, Communication, and Mathematics Education) National Teacher of the Year Award, and the 2004 RadioShack National Teacher Award, recognizing outstanding high school math, science and technology educators.
“The NASA ARISS program will provide a unique and exciting opportunity for students in Palm Beach County,” said Wendy Spielman King, K-12 Science Manager, School District of Palm Beach County. “This program will certainly engage students in science by allowing them to talk directly with the crews living and working aboard the International Space Station. It is sure to be an experience that our students will never forget.”
The ARISS radio contact is one in a series with educational activities in the U.S. and abroad to improve teaching and learning in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. It is an integral component of Teaching From Space, a NASA Education office. The office promotes learning opportunities and builds partnerships with the education community using the unique environment of human spaceflight.
In addition to its amateur radio exhibit, the South Florida Science Museum provides curious minds of all ages with an entertaining and educational journey through science and technology. The museum features more than 50 hands-on exhibits, a digital planetarium, freshwater and saltwater aquariums, as well as natural history exhibitions. Each year the museum welcomes more than 125,000 visitors and reaches more than 45,000 students through workshops at the museum and outreach programs to local schools.
For more information regarding the Space Station essay contest, visit SFSM.org or reach the South Florida Science Museum at 561.832.1988.
“Why is space exploration important and what does it mean to me?”
By Erich Landstrom
1961: President John Kennedy proposed that our nation commit itself to landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the Earth. In that same special message to Congress on urgent national needs he then asked for more to be spent on accelerating the use of space satellites for world-wide communications and weather observation. He concluded, “…no one can predict with certainty what the ultimate meaning will be of mastery of space. I believe we should go to the moon.”
Improve our lives here. Extend Life to there. But space isn’t somewhere else. It’s here, there, and everywhere. There’s no “outer” to space. It begins at our feet, and our footprints are on the Moon. Space exploration is reorienting, an unsubtle shift from looking “up” to looking “around.” As long as you think of space as somewhere else, you lack cosmic awareness. Awareness opens your mind. In the deepest sense, exploration of space is an exploration of yourself. Probes span the solar system and from their new homes, so wonderfully different, look back to Earth. Even as we’re searching other worlds, we search for ourselves.
During a lunar eclipse I saw the long shadow we cast, there on the surface of the Moon. You sort of see all of us, the entire Earth full of inventors, investigators, users and improvers; the world’s whole population from pole to pole. How awesome then to be able to talk into the space between the two, and have the explorers answer back?
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)